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The Business of TV
Time Warner’s Bewkes Talks About The WB's Prospects
By Jay Sherman TVWeek.com January 10, 2006
Breakup Unlikely: Time Warner President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Bewkes said Tuesday that it is likely The WB Network will look to "restructure and improve" the agreement with WB affiliates as a way to improve the network's financial performance.
Mr. Bewkes also said repeated that it is unlikely Time Warner will break itself up at this particular point and noted that Time Warner management doesn't see how a split up of the media giant would improve shareholder value.
Speaking at a Citigroup investor conference in Phoenix Tuesday, Mr. Bewkes, who was promoted to his current title last month, told an audience that The WB, which operates in the red, has a young audience that advertisers covet but operates in a crowded broadcast environment.
He added that while the network is in need of a hit to improve its fortunes, it also needs to restructure and improve its affiliate relationships, and he told the audience, "Look for that this year."
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9157
They are also requiring a switch from owned to lease.
Yes, they are, I already lease a 942(after a $250 one-time charge) and another $100 for the new dish and STB/DVR is reasonable to me but I can see how folks who purchased the 942 outright would be a little peeved. If I had purchased the HD-Tivo at $600-1000 I would also be a little miffed, as it was the HD-TiVo cost me $36.
What's curious is that I just got a letter from DirecTV offering a $200 rebate on a HD-DVR, when in fact I have already received the $100 from the HD-TiVo purchase.
RussTC3
01-10-06, 04:58 PM
I've been meaning to ask you this fredfa, and I'm not sure if it has already been discussed, since I've been out of the loop here for a few weeks.
The Nielsen Ratings have started to include DVR same day viewing right?
So, what are the results? Has viewing gone up significantly at all? Are they still reporting the figures without the DVR stats?
Also, is this being done for all forms? Network, Cable and Syndication?
Thanks!
Alan Gordon
01-10-06, 05:13 PM
What's curious is that I just got a letter from DirecTV offering a $200 rebate on a HD-DVR, when in fact I have already received the $100 from the HD-TiVo purchase.
I got the same letter from DirecTV talking about how I purchased an HD receiver from them, and here was my rebate. Only problem is, I still haven't received my rebate check, and the rebate they sent me is only good if you got the HD receiver after October or November, and I got mine in August, so it's not even good.
~Alan
1. The Nielsen Ratings have started to include DVR same day viewing right?
Yes, that started with last week's ratings (same day being until 3 AM ET). But next week we'll get the final version of the ratings +7 days DVR viewing.
2. So, what are the results? Has viewing gone up significantly at all?
Viewing levels seem to be just about the same, but the DVR levels are so enormously low in the sample they really haven't kicked in yet. I think "House" two weeks ago picked up a tenth of a point in 18-49 and was the first show to add anything measurable.
3. Are they still reporting the figures without the DVR stats?
Not that I am aware of.
4. Also, is this being done for all forms? Network, Cable and Syndication?
As far as I know, yes. But remember it will be quite some time until DVRs reach the appropriate level in the Nielsen sample. They are being added gradually. If I rmembered how long the roll out is supposed to take I'd tell you, but it is measufred in many months. :)
I got the same letter from DirecTV talking about how I purchased an HD receiver from them, and here was my rebate. Only problem is, I still haven't received my rebate check, and the rebate they sent me is only good if you got the HD receiver after October or November, and I got mine in August, so it's not even good.
~Alan
The only difference here, Alan, is that I actually got my rebate check from DirecTV.
Programming notes
Eisner to Host Prime-Time Interview Show for CNBC
By Michele Greppi TVWeek.com January 10, 2006
Less than a year after he retired as Walt Disney Co. chairman and CEO, Michael Eisner has agreed to host a bimonthly, prime-time interview show for CNBC. Mark Hoffman, CNBC president, made the announcement Tuesday.
"Conversations With Michael Eisner" will focus on creativity and innovation and how to recognize, nurture and develop great ideas and fresh talent. The hour-long program, whose launch date and time slot are still to be announced, will be seen on CNBC, CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia.
"Our affluent audience, which includes business executives, financial professionals, investors and other well-educated individuals, expects CNBC to give them access to the top business and political leaders of the day and provide them with perspective and insight that they cannot get anywhere else," Mr. Hoffman said.
"Today's announcement reinforces our commitment to that promise and I know that Michael's unique point of view and the guests that he assembles will be compelling, informative and highly entertaining."
"Conversations" will originate from NBC's Studio 8H, the home of "Saturday Night Live." Mr. Eisner also will be an executive producer of the show.
"I am very excited that in my circle of life, I am returning to the same NBC studio where I was a page for the 'Tonight Show With Johnny Carson' in the 1960s," Mr. Eisner said in a statement.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9153
TV Review
“The Shield” hints this may be its last season
Ethical tug of war heats up as cop faces prospect of paying for many sins
By R.D. Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal
”The Shield” starts its fifth season tonight with echoes of its first -- and hints that this might be the last.
Airing at 10 PM ET/PT on FX, the drama has followed Vic Mackey (played by Emmy-winner Michael Chiklis), a Los Angeles cop who is at once corrupt and idealistic -- believing that the most extreme acts are permissible to protect his streets and his extended family.
Viewers were challenged at the very beginning of the show, when Vic killed another cop to protect his own schemes. Ever since, the show has been at its heart an ethical tug of war, as Vic tries to be a good cop but cannot resist the lure of shady deeds.
This season, he may finally have to pay for the past. Internal affairs investigator Jon Kavanaugh (Forest Whitaker) is on Vic's case, and he has begun nosing around that cop's murder. And Kavanaugh is just as ruthlessly rule-bending, and fundamentally idealistic, as Vic himself.
``The payment for certain sins can be delayed,'' series creator Shawn Ryan said ominously. ``But they can't be avoided.''
The return to the show's roots has prompted speculation that the show is heading into its last season, and Ryan did little to dispel that notion during a recent conference call with reporters.
Although he won't say for sure that the show is ending, Ryan said it is on ``a path that is heading toward a conclusion....
``It is important that we end it right,'' he said.
Toward that end, The Shield has been making 21 episodes this season, far more than usual, although the airing of those episodes will be drawn out.
Eleven will air consecutively, followed by a two-month hiatus, then the airing of the remaining 10 around January 2007.
Based on a preview of the first four, viewers will probably feel a Sopranos-like longing for those 10 episodes once the first 11 are done.
This is a season full of tension, both for the audience and the actors on the show.
``Right now, I'm quite edgy,'' said Chiklis. ``Very on edge. I don't know myself what the future (of the show) is... so there's a tremendous amount of tension -- sort of life imitating art.... Not knowing is somewhat excruciating to me.''
Chiklis, after all, considers The Shield ``one of the most gratifying experiences I've had as an actor.'' The first season earned Chiklis respect and fame his previous work had not achieved. And Ryan thinks that, while the buzz has diminished some, ``he's only getting better.''
He's so good, in fact, that the show has had to look hard to find people who can stand up to him on the show. Last season, Glenn Close made an extended foray into television to play Vic's boss -- a character who tried to help Vic find his way back to his good side.
This season, it's the powerful Whitaker who has joined the series, although as a nemesis to Vic. We don't even see the two of them on the screen together for most of the first three episodes, even though each is well aware of the other. ``I kept thinking, when am I going to meet with Chiklis?'' Whitaker said.
But when they do meet, it's at once high drama and weirdly comic. ``It's one of the most passive-aggressive scenes I have ever seen,'' said Chiklis.
And it's good. In fact, The Shield continues its two-season rebound from a third season where Vic fell too deep into bad deeds and a lack of conscience. The fourth season appeared to put him on the way to redemption. The fifth hints that redemption is not a possibility.
Not only is Whitaker a good addition to the cast, there are also plenty of stories involving the other regular characters. And in the middle is Chiklis, who has a couple of goosebump-raising moments in the first four episodes. Yes, it is still profane, violent and at times depressing. It's also very good TV.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/entertainment/columnists/rd_heldenfels/13590158.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
(Sorry I missed this yesterday) ----
The Winter TV Critics Tour
Why are we here ?
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger January 9, 2006
Welcome back to the All TV press tour blog! For the next two weeks, Matt and I will be coming at you live from beautiful Pasadena, Calif., where a few hundred half-shaven TV critics and an equal number of well-pressed TV executives will act like they all enjoy each other's company. Sometimes, they won't even be acting.
It's the start of the winter version of the Television Critics Association press tour (TCA or “press tour” for short), one of the strangest, coolest, most confusing parts of our job.
Long story not that short: Twice a year, TV critics and reporters from every significant publication in the greater United States and Canada swoop down on a single hotel in the greater L.A. area. For two weeks (three in the summer edition), we're shuttled from room to room as we attend news conferences, one-on-one interviews, parties and other events featuring executives, producers and stars from every major network, broadcast and cable.
The networks are here because they get major bang for their buck, hawking their upcoming wares to as many as 200 reporters at one time, depending on the session. In their perfect world, we would march from session to session, ask softball questions and write puff pieces about how wonderful all their new shows will be. The reality is a lot more unpredictable; depending on a program's subject matter, the charisma and intelligence of panel participants and the press corp's mood and interest level, the tone of any given press conference ranges somewhere between a birthday party, a Friar's Club roast and the Watergate hearings.
The reporters are here because it’s an all-access pass to TV Land (and MTV, HBO, NBC, etc.), an epic, democratic free-for-all where a writer from a small paper in Kansas can interview the cast of “Desperate Housewives” right along with the major players. And even for those of us who can get many of the actors and behind-the-scenes people on the phone for interviews, there’s no substitute for doing it in person. I’ve had five-minute conversations at press tour that were more enlightening and quotable than hour-long sessions over the phone.
Other areas of show business have more scaled-down versions of press tour, but none is as long or as wide-ranging. Movie junketeers fly in for a weekend, catch a flick or two, do a few hours of interviews, and fly home. (Many of them also travel on the movie studios’ dime; TV critics have been paying their own way to press tour for the last few decades.) We’re here for weeks on end, coming face to face with everyone from former presidents (usually when PBS is on the schedule) to puppeteers (also a PBS staple, come to think of it). We have to ask knowledgeable questions of the fifth co-star on “NCIS” and the chairman of Viacom's cable divisions.
The presence of the network suits is one of the unique parts of press tour. Not many other businesses force their top executives to regularly stand in front of a room full of hostile reporters and explain their every blunder; at press tour, it’s a ritual. Some love the scrutiny, some despise it. CBS head honcho Les Moonves used to turn his press conferences into grand performances; even though he's now so high up on the company food chain that he doesn't really need to mingle with the great critical unwashed, he still shows up to take questions from an adoring throng. Conversely, as soon as critics' punching bag Jeff Zucker got promoted out of the head of primetime entertainment job, he cut back his press tour presence to the bare minimum.
I’ve been attending press tours for a decade, and while I have to pull long hours each time, I never get tired of going. There are too many fascinating people to talk to (including some of the other critics), too much news made, too many weird encounters with the famous and quasi-famous.
Highlights of this tour should include an appearance by the "Sopranos" gang (where the famously press-shy James Gandolfini will squirm at innocuous questions for 45 minutes to an hour), Robert Redford trying to drum up interest in Sundance Channel's new original programming, Pierce Brosnan narrating a Jacques Cousteau special for PBS, Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee attached to a PBS nature film called "True Adventures of the Ultimate Spider Hunter," legendarily profane playwright David Mamet discussing network standards and practices now that he's doing a drama for CBS called "The Unit," and "West Wing" founding fathers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme showing up for the "West Wing" press conference at the end of tour - presumably to announce that they're coming back to pay tribute to John Spencer and/or do the end of the series.
Once the tour begins, our blog entries (with Matt doing the first week and me doing the second) will be much shorter and quicker, but we wanted to get you up to speed on what the hell we're talking about, including this glossary of the most common tour traditions. Feel free to refer to it if you come across an unexplained reference to The Scrum a few days from now:
The Press Conference: The staple of the tour. Each day features eight or more of them, ranging from 30-60 minutes. The cast and creators of a show are led onto a stage so brightly lit that they can't see anyone in the audience, and reporters fight for the microphone to ask questions -- some smart, some dumb, some inexplicable. ("Your sons, they're both boys?")
The Fillibuster: A phenomenon that usually pops up at press conferences for struggling networks executives, wherein the exec uses up a third to a half of the allotted time giving a speech about useless demographic trivia, a strategy designed both to trim the time for Q&A and bore the critics so much that they're too sleepy to ask the appropriate "Why do you still have your job?" type questions.
The Transcript: Each press conference is transcribed by a pair of court stenographers to save the critics some time and trouble. Sometimes, transcripts can conveniently omit an embarrassing moment for the network in question, or they can introduce an embarrassing new moment on their own. (A transcript for an "SNL" press conference described Lorne Michaels as doing a Dr. Evil impression when he was just talking like himself.) In one of the oddest transcript-related moments of all time, a few years back a critic spotted Max "Wojo from Barney Miller" Gail working in the transcription room. (Happy ending: Gail is again a transcribee, as a co-star of ABC's upcoming comedy "Sons & Daughters.")
The Scrum: For 5-15 minutes after each session, reporters surround one or more of the panelists to ask follow-up questions or parochial stuff they wouldn't feel comfortable asking in front of the group. ("How did growing up in Boise shape your acting?") Because the circumstances are more intimate, the answers tend to be much better, which is why many veteran reporters save their questions for the scrum, leaving plenty of dead air during the press conferences for the dumb stuff.
The Scrum Evacuation: Sometimes when the press conference is over, the producers and writers will beat a hasty retreat through the backstage door rather than loiter onstage or come outside to take follow-ups. This is usually a sign that (1) the show is in trouble, (2) the network is terrified that the talent might say something unflattering about the network, or just plain dumb, (3) a star from another field (usually music or movies) who considers themselves above one-on-one contact (Diana Ross once stationed bodyguards in front of the stage to prevent a scrum) or (4) the network is blowing off the print and Internet reporters in order to get their people across the hotel in time to do pre-scheduled puff piece interviews with TV outlets like "ET," "Access Hollywood" and "CNN Showbiz Today," which attach themselves to press tour as remorahs attach themselves to the underbellies of sharks.
The Working Lunch: While the critics pay to travel and stay at the tour hotel, the networks make breakfast, lunch and dinner available for free, mainly as a means of keeping every critic from fanning out to the restaurant of his or her choice and losing attendance for the sessions. Some meals are just meals, but lunch often includes a press conference in order to maximize a channel's time that day. Also, most lunch sessions are devoted to shows that the critics might be inclined to skip if there wasn't the promise of convenient nourishment attached. In my proudest moment on the tour, I was trapped years ago at a Martha Stewart working lunch where the lunch was delayed more than an hour, first because Martha couldn't bother to show up on time, then because she insisted on doing a cookie-decorating demonstration before she released the waiters. Determined to bring an end to this tyranny, I took Martha up on her offer to show my cookie design off to the rest of the room: it read "FEED ME." Lunch was served inside three minutes.
The Non-Party Party: Press tour is a dawn till midnight affair, and every night ends with a "party" thrown by that day's network that, in theory, is designed to give the critics more informal access to the stars, producers and executives. Problem is, in order to get their top talent to come to the thing, the networks try to throw actual parties, complete with music so loud that it's all but impossible to conduct an interview. One year, a critic on the verge of retirement entered a WB party filled with interchangeably attractive20-something actors all talking amongst themselves while the reporters who hadn't already left in disgust stood along the walls; the critic waded into the middle of the room, held up his notebook and loudly asked, "Does anyone here have a personality?"
The Celebrity Elevator Ride: The celebs are either staying in the tour hotel for a day or two, or they're being sent to all parts of the hotel to do TV interviews and photo shoots. Either way, odds are strong that a critic will find himself sharing an elevator with a famous person at least once a day, often to comical effect. One critic once spent her ride explaining her dislike of Sam Waterston to a colleague - until Waterston silently exited the elevator from behind them.
The Rule of Jay: Named in honor of genial Tribune Media reporter Jay Bobbin, who fills two valuable public services at press conferences: 1) He is always able to come up with the perfect simple question at the start of a session to put the panelists at ease; and 2) When a show is so bad that no one can think of anything to ask the panelists, Jay is able to think of question after question to fill the dead air. Another critic once realized that, whenever Jay asks seven or more questions in a session, the show is doomed to fail, no exceptions. So when it becomes obvious that Jay is on a roll, the critics start keeping tallies to see whether a show will live or die by Jay's microphone, while some of the savvier publicists do everything in their power to end the session before Jay hits the magic number.
And, to quote a show that I believe was felled by The Rule of Jay ("Line of Fire"), that's that with that. More from the first cable day sometime tomorrow.
http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/
Did I screw up my vote submission? In this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6821507&&#post6821507), Eyes had 2 votes. After my vote above, it still has 2 votes.
Xesdeeni
Nope, I screwed up. Sorry.
I've fixed it now.
The Winter TV Critics Tour
Fred, since you're in the LA area, will you be going to this?
Critic’s Notebook
Back in TV land
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Monday, January 09, 2006
The other day, I got an email which said, simply: "Where have you been?''
Well, it's called vacation and, I have to admit, it was something of a quick exit right after Thanksgiving. If you read the print edition of the Mercury News, you know I left behind a bunch of end-of-the-year goodies but I neglected this blog for more than a few weeks. Too bad because I didn't get the chance to jump in on the deaths of Richard Pryor and John Spencer, the appearance of Dick Clark on New Year's Eve, the joust between David Letterman and Bill O'Reilly and more than a few other things worthy of comment.
I did, in print, weigh in on "The Book of Daniel'' which generated a whole lot of email and on "The Shield'' which makes its fine fifth season debut Tuesday night and on "Country Boys,'' a terrific PBS documentary miniseries that began tonight. But this is my blog return -- and it's just in time for the semiannual Television Critics Association press tour.
Yep, I'm back down in TV land -- specifically, in Pasadena where The Tour is being held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Starting Tuesday, I'll post notes about a bunch of stuff ranging from the return of "The Sopranos'' and the possible end of "The West Wing.'' Stay tuned.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html
RussTC3
01-10-06, 07:02 PM
Cool, thanks for the info fredfa.
What are the statistics on DVR's? 10-15 Million?
The Winter TV Critics Tour
Fred, since you're in the LA area, will you be going to this?
No, Antonio, I am not a member of the TCA.
Also, I can get a far wider range of comments and reports on the tour posted by scouring the various websites and blogs.
Critic’s Notebook
The Olympics on NBC
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Tuesday, January 10, 2006
How big are the Olympics to NBC? Really, really big.
The network and its cable channels will televise 416 hours of Olympics coverage from Turin, Italy, starting Feb.‚10, the most ever for the Winter Games and an increase of 41 hours from what the network carried four years ago. Spread across the network, USA, MSNBC and CNBC, the NBC coverage will include 200 hours of live telecasts over the Olympics' 17 days, with many of the top events airing in high definition and 5.1 surround sound. During the 2002 Winter Olympics, NBC offered just 140 hours of live telecasts even though the Olympics were held in Salt Lake City.
(If you live on the West Coast, the live part of the NBC schedule comes with an asterisk for the West Coast because all of the network's prime-time shows and its late-night coverage will be on a three-hour tape delay in the Pacific time zone. The NBC daytime shows and the cable telecasts will be shown in real time everywhere.)
Among the notable aspects of the NBC coverage:
Four years ago, when the Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, NBC showed none of it in high definition, which was then a developing technology. Two years later, the network provided some HD coverage of the Athens Summer Olympics, but it was on a separate feed from NBC's regular telecasts, with second-string announcers. In February, many of the events carried on the network itself -- including figure skating, hockey, long- and short-track speed skating, ski jumping, freestyle aerials and moguls, and the opening and closing Ceremonies -- will be available in HD.
NBC has signed venerable skating analyst Dick Button, a fixture of Winter Games TV when the Olympics were carried on ABC, to join Tom Hammond, Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic and Andrea Joyce on skating. Button will also be one of the co-hosts of "Olympic Ice,'' a daily behind-the-scenes look at the skating competition that will air on USA.
All 54 games of men's and women's hockey will be aired live, most on USA but with the championship contests on NBC. All the games involving the U.S. teams, as well as the gold-medal games, will be shown commercial-free.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html
Marcus Carr
01-10-06, 07:09 PM
Cox to Roll Out Family Package
By Ted Hearn 1/10/2006 6:12:00 PM
Cox Communications Inc., joining Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corp., said Tuesday that it would launch a $32-per-month family-programming package, with initial rollouts in San Diego; Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla.; and northern Virginia in the first quarter.
Cable operators are putting together family-friendly tiers in response to political pressure from Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. But some cable critics, such as the Parents Television Council, insist that allowing consumers to buy cable programming on a per-channel or a la carte basis is preferable to programming tiers devoid of racy content.
In a statement, Cox said its “Family Package” would include 40 channels, combining local TV stations from the basic tier with some well-known names from expanded basic like C-SPAN, Disney Channel, CNN Headline News, Nickelodeon and Discovery Communications Inc.’s The Science Channel.
Cox added that local systems "have the ability to tailor the package" by adding The Weather Channel, Weatherscan Local, C-SPAN2 or C-SPAN3 and religious and Spanish-language channels.
Including a set-top equipped with an interactive program guide and parental controls, the Family Package will have a monthly average cost of $32, Cox said.
In forming the Family Package, Cox said it sought channels that were effectively G-rated and that would not include "objectionable content or disturbing images.”
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6298553.html?display=Breaking+News
Cool, thanks for the info fredfa.
What are the statistics on DVR's? 10-15 Million?
Apparently nowhere near that many yet. The prevailing widsom is that something fewer than eight million households (about seven per cent of the TV homes) have them.
Some analysts think the number will grow dramatically in the next two-three years.
CPanther95
01-10-06, 07:31 PM
HOTP - TIME CAPSULE: Post #185
wow, i wonder:
What combination of events led to Desperate Housewives premiere beating everything?
..............
:D
There is some pretty amusing reading back in the beginning.
(Not to mention all the folks who thought they were going to love "LAX"!)
Maybe You Can Help!!
A ”West Wing” plea
Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon-Journal is, as you may know, one of my favorite critics.
The other night, in a monumental mistake, he forgot to watch or record “The West Wing”.
Does anyone have it TiVo’d…and could they transfer it to DVD and send it to Rich?
If so, he can be contacted at rheldenfels@the beaconjournal.com.
Thanks!
The Winter TV Critics Tour
Mental whiplash
By Matthew Zoller-Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Tuesday, January 10, 2006
F. Scott Fitzgerald believed “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” I am not convinced that's true, because if it were, everyone who attended TCA Press Tour would emerge a genius.
From start to finish, this tour is all about cognitive dissonance. Hour by hour, over the course of one or two weeks' worth of 12- to 18-hour days, as we take in one press conference or meet-and-greet after another, pausing just long enough to bang out a report on what we heard, call our bosses or visit the loo. We jump from channel to channel and program to program willy-nilly, with nothing remotely resembling a decent segue. It's like that all-purpose 1970s newscaster segue mocked by the late, great cultural critic Neil Postman in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death": "Now ... this." One minute they're shoveling mountains of demographic data at you ("We're number one in households and women aged 18-34, with 230 percent growth in clearance relative to last year") and the next minute they're showing a "powerful" clip from a new drama or a "heartwarming" clip from a reality show or a "hilarious" clip from a new sitcom. (I put quotes around those adjectives because it's one of the truisms of this business that you can make anything look good in a two-minute trailer.) It is not uncommon for, say, a cable channel to follow, say, a panel discussion on counterterrorism by bringing out a hammy biologist who yammers about the wonders of nature in broken English while a komodo dragon snoozes on his lap.
The cable portion of the January, 2006 press tour opened this morning with a presentation by the Disney channel that began with programming president Gary Marsh offering a thumbnail portrait of the channel's success last year ("...We have just finished a remarkable year during which our children's business grew dramatically ... We're a Top 5 basic cable network overall ... averaging our highest ever yearly delivery").
This was followed by a panel discussion with the producers and cast of the upcoming "Hannah Montana" (March 23), a sitcom with canned laughter (they'll get a live studio audience next year, they promise) about a 14-year old girl (Miley Cyrus) who has a secret life as a pop star. Country star Billy Ray Cyrus, the lead actress' real-life dad, plays her father on the show. Minutes after Marsh's demographic summation, the press was shown a clip on which the dad and his son (Mitchel Musso) tried to cheer up a grumpy Hannah by dueting on a potty-training song from her childhood: "I love to sing/I love to dance/but that's hard to do with poopy in your pants!"
To which the writer's jet-lagged brain replied: "Oh, right. I'm at press tour."
The National Geographic Channel's panel, which took place later that afternoon, kicked off with a panel discussion on "The World's Most Dangerous Gang" (Feb. 12), about the El Salvador-derived MS-13 street gang, a dangerous criminal syndicate that's expanding rapidly around the globe. Host Lisa Ling, formerly of "The View," joined a panel of criminal justice experts who talked about the gang's roots in Central American guerilla warfare, their extreme adaptability and their habit of sending hard-to-prosecute minors to commit some of their most heinous assaults and murders. "The more egregious the crime you commit, the higher you move up in the ranks," Ling explained.
"And now let's move on to something lighter," said senior vice president of programming John Ford. "He's been called 'Dr. Phil for dogs, with good reason..." Then came a National Geographic panel heralding the second season of National Geographic Channel's hit reality series "The Dog Whisperer" (Fridays at 8 p.m.), in which trainer Cesar Millan tries to get unruly pooches to behave by treating them as dogs rather than surrogate children, and disciplining rather than merely coddling them. (A revolutionary idea, but interesting...)
The session for TV One, a 2-year old, lifestyle-oriented, African-American cable channel that's not yet available in New Jersey, was even more of a hodgepodge. Their omnibus panel promoted three programs - respectively, documentaries on urban theater, airbrushed art and the rise in plastic surgery among black Americans - and put guests from all three on the same stage alongside the channel's president and CEO, Jonathan Rogers.
The audience then lobbed questions to everyone onstage (their ranks included pioneering African-American plastic surgeon Rose Lewis and playwright David Talbert) plus Johnson, who stood nearby behind a podium. A question about TV One's ability to get seen was followed by a question about the ethical acceptability of Michael Jackson's nose job, and those were followed by a questions about the relative success of African-American regional theater and whether graffiti could be said to have artistic merit.
The mind reeled. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The tour is like TV. Nothing is connected, and there's always something on.
http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/
jim tressler
01-10-06, 08:50 PM
alan - I am in the same boat as you.. no rebate check yet (sent it in twice) and just received the $200 rebate.. I may call customer retention and get a $100 credit in leau of the rebate check and maybe just send in the $200 one from today to see what happens...
jim
I got the same letter from DirecTV talking about how I purchased an HD receiver from them, and here was my rebate. Only problem is, I still haven't received my rebate check, and the rebate they sent me is only good if you got the HD receiver after October or November, and I got mine in August, so it's not even good.
~Alan
Alan Gordon
01-10-06, 08:57 PM
alan - I am in the same boat as you.. no rebate check yet (sent it in twice) and just received the $200 rebate.. I may call customer retention and get a $100 credit in leau of the rebate check and maybe just send in the $200 one from today to see what happens...
I will be calling DirecTV tomorrow myself, but I won't bother with the rebate (especially since I know I won't get it).
~Alan
Deadgummit!! I spent 30 minutes yesterday working on my choices, then didn't get around to posting them...
~Alan
Go ahead and PM them to me, Alan, I'll add them.
The only difference here, Alan, is that I actually got my rebate check from DirecTV.
Got mine too, I'm not sure exactly what this new letter and form is for, it's as if they want to give me another $200... :confused:
The Really Final “HOTP” 2005 TV Poll
As of 7:01 PM PT Jan 10, 2005
Now that the Broward County election officials have looked under the table and found the last wayward ballot, here again are the (I believe) final returns from the “Hot Off The Press” TV Programming Poll.
Thanks to all who took the time to vote.
Favorite new network prime-time shows which debuted in anytime in 2005:
Grey’s Anatomy 51
My Name Is Earl 38
Medium 27
Prison Break 27
Bones 22
Criminal Minds 17
Surface 13
Commander In Chief 10
American Dad 9
Threshold 9
Everybody Hates Chris 7
Ghost Whisperer 7
Numb3rs 6
How I Met Your Mother 5
Invasion 5
Eyes 4
Close to Home 3
Related 3
Law & Order: Trial By Jury
Favorite new prime-time cable shows:
The Closer 45
Wanted 36
Weeds 22
Over There 14
Rome 10
Extras 9
Sleeper Cell 4
Footballers Wives 3
Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Starved
Unscripted
Wildfire
Favorite veteran prime-time shows:
House 49
24 39
NCIS 36
Lost 25
CSI 20
Veronica Mars 18
The West Wing 16
Without A Trace 14
Arrested Development 12
Cold Case 11
Law & Order: SVU 10
CSI: Miami 8
Gilmore Girls 8
American Idol 6
CSI: NY 6
Law & Order 6
Monday Night Football 5
Law & Order 4
Survivor 4
60 Minutes 3
Boston Legal 3
Las Vegas 3
One Tree Hill 3
Scrubs 3
Smallville 3
Supernatural 3
Crossing Jordan 2
ER 2
Family Guy 2
According to Jim
Joan of Arcadia
Nip/Tuck
Favorite veteran cable prime-time shows:
Monk 38
The Shield 34
Rescue Me 29
Battlestar Gallactica 26
The Sopranos 23
Dead Zone 17
The Wire 14
South Park 12
Rescue Me 11
Entourage 8
Deadwood 7
Six Feet Under 6
4400 4
Curb Your Enthusiasm 4
American Chopper
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Mythbusters
NFL Prime Time
Silent Sundays on TCM
Waking The Dead
Favorite TV actors:
Hugh Laurie 45
Gary Sinise 17
Kiefer Sutherland 22
James Gandolfini 14
Patrick Dempsey 11
William Peterson 11
John Spencer 11
Jason Lee 10
Jerry Orbach 9
William Shatner 9
David Boreanaz 6
Benjamin Bratt 6
David Caruso 6
Vincent D’Onofrio 6
Terry O’Quinn 6
James Spader 6
Chris Noth 5
Jason Bateman 4
Rob Lowe 4
Martin Sheen 3
Alan Alda 2
Jim Belushi 2
Rainn Wilson 2
Will Arnett
Zack Brack
Michael Cera
Larry Joe Campbell
Kevin James
Michael Imperioli
Favorite TV actresses:
Mariska Hargitay 29
Maura Tierney 25
Kristen Bell 23
Patricia Arquette 20
Jennifer Garner 17
Marg Helnegberger 15
Melina Kanakaredes 13
Mary Louise Parker 11
Carla Cugino 10
Ellen Pompeo 9
Katherine Heigl 8
Jessica Walter 7
Dana Delany 6
Alyson Hannigan 4
Evangeline Lilly 4
Stephanie March 4
Chandra Wilson 4
Glenn Close 3
Sandra Oh 3
Robin Weigert 3
Jennifer Love Hewitt 3
Mädchen Amick 2
Pamela Anderson 2
Dianne Farr 2
Jenna Fisher 2
Cobey Smulders 2
Rachel Bilson
Evangeline Lilly
Rachel Nichols
Amber Tamblyn
Favorite TV sports production:
Monday Night Football 22
The Masters 10
NASCAR on Fox 9
Sunday Night Football 8
NCAA Football on CBS 7
NASCAR on NBC 4
Yankees on YES 3
Real Sports 2
San Diego Padres on Cox 2
US Open on CBS 2
MLB on HDNet
MLS on HDNet
NHL on HDNet
NHL on OLN
Favorite TV news program or (cable net)
CBS Evening News 32
Fox News Channel 28
Nightline 17
ABC World News Tonight 14
NBC Nightly News 12
Countdown (Keith Olbermann) 5
Hannity & Colmes 5
Hardball (Chris Matthews) 4
CNN 3
MSNBC 3
Bill O’Reilly 3
The Daily Show
Show the critics most overlook:
Battlestar Galactica 27
NCIS 26
How I Met Your Mother 21
King of Queens 18
Numb3rs 12
Without A Trace 14
Cold Case 11
According to Jim 5
The Comeback 3
Related 2
Still Standing
Show the critics most over-hype:
Arrested Development 37
Nip/Tuck 29
How I Met Your Mother 23
Commander In Chief 22
Lost 21
Desperate Housewives 16
Grey’s Anatomy 5
Battlestar Galactica 4
Six Feet Under 3
Actor who makes you cringe
David Caruso 29
Matt LeBlanc 22
Jeremy Piven 16
William L. Peterson 11
William Shatner 10
Vincent D’Onofrio 6
Benjamin Bratt (in E-Ring) 4
Sam Waterston 3
Anderson Cooper (not an actor, but…)
Actress who makes you cringe
Lara Flynn Boyle 24
Pamela Anderson 22
Geena Davis 14
Jill Hennessy 11
Jennifer Love Hewitt 11
Marg Helgenberger 8
Sarah Jessica Parker 4
Kathryn Morris 3
Nancy Grace 2
Nicole Richie 2
Mischa Barton
Vanessa Marcil
The one show you hate most to miss:
24 22
Lost 20
Grey’s Anatomy 18
NCIS 17
House 16
Arrested Development 8
Bones 6
Prison Break 5
Veronica Mars 4
The Office 2
Former favorite which has lost your interest:
Alias 35
Crossing Jordan 28
Desperate Housewives 17
Lost 15
Boston Legal 14
The Amazing Race 11
Malcolm In the Middle 11
Cold Case 10
The Simpsons 9
Two and a Half Men 8
Survivor 8
American Idol 7
COPS 6
Law & Order 5
Law & Order: CI 3
George Lopez
Law & Order: SVU
That 70’s Show
WWE Raw
(Actress: Melina Kanakaredes)
(For HD viewers only) Favorite program to show off your HD setup to friends and neighbors:
Lost 30
CSI: Miami 27
NFL 21
NFL on CBS 7
MLB 6
Smart Travels 4
Surface 4
NHL 3
Las Vegas 2
SEC Football on CBS 2
Soundstage 2
(For HD viewers only) Is there any show you enjoy so much you'd watch it even in SD?
Grey’s Anatomy 32
Battlestar Galactica 28
Veronica Mars 19
The West Wing 18
Arrested Development 14
Family Guy 6
The Office 4
American Chopper 2
The Simpsons
South Park
Original series on FX, SciFi and TNT
Programming notes
Ex-Disney Chief to Be Host of a Talk Show on CNBC
By Laura M. Holson The New York Times January 11, 2006
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10 - When Michael D. Eisner vacated the chief executive's suite last fall after two decades at the Walt Disney Company, he had little to say about what he would do next. Now he's ready to talk.
CNBC, the cable network, said on Tuesday that it had tapped Mr. Eisner for an hourlong prime-time talk show called "Conversations With Michael Eisner," which will be broadcast every other month. CNBC has not announced a date for the first show, but expects to do so soon.
In hiring Mr. Eisner, CNBC is acquiring a controversial personality who is well known in mainstream America. While at Disney, Mr. Eisner turned the company into an entertainment powerhouse in movies, theme parks and television. He was host of "The Wonderful World of Disney" on ABC and frequented the company's theme parks, where he was recognized by children. Mr. Eisner's later years, though, were plagued by boardroom turmoil; he was the target of an investor revolt two years ago led by Roy E. Disney, the nephew of the company's founder.
Mr. Eisner remains one of the entertainment business's most recognizable faces, and CNBC's parent company, NBC Universal, which is owned by General Electric and Vivendi Universal, hopes to parlay that celebrity into high ratings. NBC Universal executives are no doubt looking to the success of other business personalities like James J. Cramer, the excitable Wall Street investor who has a show on CNBC, and Donald J. Trump, who used his real estate fame to be host of a successful NBC reality show, "The Apprentice."
Mark Hoffman, president of CNBC, said he got the idea for the new show after Mr. Eisner was a guest host on "The Charlie Rose Show" in October. Then Mr. Eisner interviewed two longtime friends: John Travolta, whom Mr. Eisner has known since the actor was on the 1970's ABC series "Welcome Back, Kotter," and the entertainment executive Barry Diller, with whom Mr. Eisner worked early in his career. Mr. Hoffman called Mr. Eisner in November and sealed the deal by the end of December.
"It was a good way for me to stay at the top of my game," Mr. Eisner said in an interview on Tuesday. "Like everything else in my life it's like, 'Let's go put on a show.' "
He added: "Frankly, I want to have a good time."
Mr. Eisner, who declined to disclose his salary, said he was most interested in discussing creativity, innovation and ingenuity with founders of American business, a dialogue he said was missing these days as executives focus more on financial results, safety and corporate control. "The more I talk to people, this should be at the top of the list, not at the bottom," Mr. Eisner said.
He added that he would probably book his own guests, and that the show was only the first of several projects he hoped to announce in coming months.
"I'm not hiding," Mr. Eisner said, with a laugh. "I'm thinking about a lot of things. I want to be careful. I want to make sure I am excited about what I want to do."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/11/business/media/11eisner.html?pagewanted=print
Sports On TV
NBC has cable-hold on Torino
By Michael Hiestand USA Today January 11, 2006
NBC's prime-time coverage of the Torino Winter Olympics will be traditional. Once again anchored by Bob Costas, the coverage will get first dibs on all marquee footage, will focus on proven mass-audience lures led by figure skating and will remain NBC's top priority.
But NBC's cable TV tonnage — on NBC-owned outlets MSNBC, CNBC and USA and two NBC high-definition TV channels — will be unprecedented.
Just a decade ago, NBC had no cable coverage of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games. But for the Torino Games, which start Feb. 10, NBC with its cable outlets will have 416 TV hours — up from 375.5 for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games — and at least some coverage of every session of every sport. And with the six-hour time difference between Torino and the U.S. East Coast, many evening events can air on daytime cable TV — about 75% of daytime action might be live.
And why not? Daytime Olympic cable coverage draws tiny ratings compared with prime time. But NBC's $613 million rights fee — NBC expects $900 million in ad sales — gives it TV rights to everything. And, like any rights-holder, it can always use the Games' world TV feed, which shows every second of every event.
The big winners: fans of curling, a TV star of the 2002 Games, and ice hockey, a sport getting more popular at NBC as the network begins its new NHL coverage this weekend. NBC's cable outlets will show 26 curling matches — 15 live — and have first-ever coverage of all 54 games in the men's and women's hockey tournament, including showing U.S. games ad-free.
But NBC's coverage also will resurrect an old Olympic TV tradition. ABC's Dick Button, the figure skating analyst who hasn't been part of network Olympic coverage since 1988, will be on NBC's pairs skating as well as on a new daily Olympic Ice show devoted to skating on the NBC-owned USA Network. Analyst Scott Hamilton will return for men's and women's figure skating and will appear on USA's Ice. Button is sort of the Dick Vitale of figure skating — probably his sport's most-recognizable TV analyst without calling his sport's very biggest events.
NBC Olympic coverage has already drawn announcers from other networks, using ABC's Jim McKay for the 2002 and 2004 Olympics. NBC also will deploy CBS reporter Lesley Visser for short-track speedskating and ABC/ESPN reporter Melissa Stark on speedskating.
NBC Sports executive producer David Neal says the Olympics seem to bring about a TV truce: "It speaks to the unique nature of the Games that as long as a broadcaster doesn't have an assignment conflict, our competitors seem incredibly open" to lending their announcers.
Neal says NBC has "the deepest and most accomplished" on-air roster ever used on Olympic TV. It includes Jim Lampley, who'll break McKay's record of 12 Olympic TV network assignments by hosting NBC's late-night Torino shows. "We're the '27 Yankees," Neal says. "Or the '72 Dolphins." But with pancake makeup.
People:
Expect Todd Blackledge, the college football analyst who considered leaving CBS for ABC/ESPN in 2005, to make that move this year, according to people at ESPN familiar with the negotiations. He'd join Paul Maguire and Mike Patrick, who worked ESPN's now-completed Sunday night NFL games, as newcomers on ABC and ESPN, which will fully integrate their college football production next season. ... HBO replaces boxing analyst Roy Jones Jr. with trainer Emanuel Steward, who could become the permanent replacement. ... Cris Collinsworth, joining NBC's Sunday night NFL game coverage next season, might be a game analyst with John Madden. Or not. "I know no decision has been made," Collinsworth says. "And you can't throw out a (production) scenario we haven't discussed."
Programs:
ABC/ESPN last week launched the first video sports event coverage that's downloadable to iPods. ABC's Rose Bowl coverage has been the most-downloaded video each day, beating top draws such as Desperate Housewives shows and Jessica Simpson's These Boots Are Made for Walking video. ... Donald Trump's Trump Million Dollar Invitational, a made-for-TV golf event announced Tuesday, follows the TV poker model. Prize money comes from player fees; the event, open to players not on pro tours, costs $15,000 to enter. And since the players are largely unknown, the May event won't air on ESPN until two months after it's played. But otherwise, it sounds like a fresh, exciting idea.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-01-10-nbc-preparations_x.htm
The TV Column
Ryan Seacrest: Icon, Non-Scientist, Pipe
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 11, 2006; C07
PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 10---A hundred years from now, when viewers are watching documentaries about the early 21st century, we are going to be defined by Ryan Seacrest.
Think about that.
Seacrest is the face of the most watched program on television, "American Idol," and don't underestimate the importance of his role on that show. He also has replaced both Casey Kasem and Dick Clark -- two cultural icons of the past millennium -- as host of the world's most popular radio countdown show, "American Top 40," and as host of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC.
And, most recently, he signed a deal to become the face of cable network E! as managing editor and lead anchor of "E! News" and executive producer of the "Live From the Red Carpet" specials.
How fitting, then, that E! Networks President and CEO Ted Harbert trotted Seacrest out for the first day of Winter TV Press Tour 2006 -- during which, for maybe the first time in press-tour history, a bit of on-air talent actually said, "What I do for a living is not rocket science."
Which made us like Seacrest better.
In fact he went even further, likening what he does on the air to an air traffic controller's job: "My role is more as a conduit than anything else."
After taking a few questions -- When was the last time you talked to former "American Idol" co-host Brian Dunkelman? How do you feel about being the butt of so many late-night monologues? -- Harbert introduced fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi and Giuliana DePandi, who will cover the red-carpet arrivals with Seacrest at the Golden Globes on Monday.
Mizrahi noted right off how thin Seacrest is, telling the reporters, "Clap for that." He also said he really liked the way actress Selma Blair looks in clothes because she's always 20 pounds underweight, which, he explained, is a lot better than being 10 pounds underweight. The fashion industry is wonderful, isn't it?
Though apparently pro-anorexia, Mizrahi noted sniffily that he is definitely "anti plastic surgery."
"Me, too," said Seacrest.
"Obviously," snapped Mizrahi.
"Wow -- I made a good decision," Harbert marveled from the podium.
________________________________________
Winter TV Press Tour 2006 had not begun auspiciously.
More than 100 of the Reporters Who Cover Television, from around the country and even Canada, descended on Loopyville West this week to spend two weeks discussing Ideals and the Future of Television at the gorgeous old Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel.
It was a homecoming of sorts for the group, which for a decade had held its semiannual confab at the Huntington, chatting up suits and celebs in freezing ballrooms by day, dining on the networks in the Horseshoe Garden at night -- followed, weather permitting, by a little late-night viewing from room balconies of TV celebs swimming and engaging in other activities in the pool.
But, as with so many other beautiful relationships -- Brad and Jen, Jessica and Nick, Renee and Kenny -- this one began to crumble and about three years ago reporters decided to take their business to a hotel across the street from a Hooters in Hollywood. Monday night, at the National Geographic Channel Check-In Party, they celebrated their return to the site of so many happy, happy times.
The next morning the tour officially got underway when Billy Ray Cyrus and his 13-year-old daughter, Miley, got up onstage to hawk their new Disney Channel series, "Hannah Montana." It's about a girl who, unknown to her fellow students, lives a double life as pop singer Hannah Montana, entertaining legions of prepubescent fans with songs written by her manager-dad.
It's hard to focus on Ideals and the Future of Television after you've just watched a clip of Billy Ray Cyrus -- who will now try to do for the Neo-Prince Valiant with Tips and Streaks what he did in the '90s for the mullet -- singing:
I like to sing,
I like to dance,
But I can't do it with poopy
In my pants.
Which, according to the clip, is a song his manager-dad character wrote when Hannah, aka Miley Stewart, played by Miley Cyrus, was a tot.
Miley (Cyrus, that is) confided to the reporters that it can be hard, the pressure of being part of a performing dynasty, but -- speaking for herself and cast mate Emily Osment (daughter of Eugene, sister of Haley Joel), which Miley did a lot of during the Q&A -- "we love what we do so much, it's our dream and we're living it out." Billy Ray said he swore after doing Pax's "Doc" he'd never do another series but decided to audition for the "Montana" role after reading the script because "it all begins with what's on the page."
At HGTV's Q&A session, reporters learned that viewers have given the network permission to broaden its definition of "home" to include such things as an airplane that's been tricked out with all the creature comforts. And that HGTV viewers are very, very sticky, which is industry-speak for hanging around a lot, and that there has been so much growth in bathrooms.
"I couldn't be more excited about bathrooms!" gushed Angela Chee, host of HGTV's "I Want That!"
And they learned a lot about crafting, from the hosts of DIY Network's new series "Creative Juice." The hosts used to work in the movie industry, doing set designs, costume designs and such, then decided to open a craft shop across from one of the studios where Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Love Hewitt -- Love to her friends -- have showed up to "craft." Decoupage, by the way, is so out it's in, but the big trend in crafting is "recrafting." Which, they explained, is similar to punk-rock crafting -- you know, hubcap chandeliers and scrapbooks made out of license plates.
Just three hours into Winter TV Press Tour 2006, BET had already staged the tour's first filibuster, filling up so much of its allotted 45 minutes with executive blah, blah, blahing that reporters had only eight minutes in which to ask questions of the exec producers of returning "College Hill," new "Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown" and a docudrama about the football players and marching band at Grambling State University, among other shows. Reporters who attempted to ask them questions right after the Q&A session were told sternly to get out of the way so that photographers could take pics of the people onstage.
They did learn that BET's newish entertainment president, Reginald Hudlin, feels the whole Lil' Kim situation -- she's now serving a year and a day in the slammer after lying to a federal grand jury and again on the stand at a trial about what she saw at a shooting outside a Manhattan radio station in 2001 -- is "very Fellini-esque." (He and "Countdown to Lockdown" exec producer Tracey Edmonds didn't call it lying, they called it "not snitching.") And members of the Grambling State marching band performed, which was for sure the highlight of Day 1 of Winter TV Press Tour 2006.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/10/AR2006011001711_pf.html
Ratings Report
Rumble in space: “Battlestar Galactica”
Premiere of critics' favorite down 16 percent
By Abigail Azote MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 11, 2006
“Battlestar Galactica” remains one of Sci Fi Channel’s most-watched programs and a favorite among critics as well. They continually praise it for its gripping drama and intelligent content.
Yet the series may be showing hints of aging, at least judging by last week's debut for the second half of season two.
Airing Friday at 10 p.m., "Galactica” averaged 1.55 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic. Among 25-54s, where it's been particularly strong, “Galactica” averaged 1.73 million viewers.
That represents a 16 percent decline for both demos as compared to the debut of the first half of season two, which began in July. The declines are even steeper compared to season one’s premiere ratings, down 16 percent among 18-49s and 23 percent among 25-54s. Season one’s premiere averaged 1.9 million and 2.2 million in those demos, respectively.
Even so, last week’s performance was good enough to land “Galactica” in No. 11 among all of ad-supported cable in the 18-49 demo. Among 25-54s, it ranked No. 5. And it was up 10 percent among 18-49s from where it left off in September, when its last episode averaged 1.41 million viewers. Among 25-54s it was up 7 percent from the last original episode’s 1.61 million.
Whether the show is actually weakening is unclear. It could well be that July's premiere did better because it was in the summer, when competition from broadcast networks is lighter. Another factor could be the three-month hiatus since the last episode. Viewers tend to straggle back after such long layoffs.
What has not cooled is the adoration of critics. “Galactica” made many publications’ list of top programs for 2005, including the Chicago Tribune’s. Newsday called it “TV’s most provocative drama.” And last Sunday the American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best TV shows in 2005.
“It’s a complex show, dense and well executed. It has nicely done what a lot of classic cult series have done—create a universe of its own,” observes Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Center for the Study of Popular Television.
http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2147.asp
archiguy
01-11-06, 09:57 AM
All I know is I pity the fools that aren't watching this show (BSG), perhaps the tightest, most intense drama on TV right now. Which is, uh, a lot of 'em. Those ratings numbers baffle me; this show should be drawing 5-6 million, as some of Sci-Fi's very average mini-series have done, or other cable series like Monk or The Closer. Makes no sense, especially with all the critical raves.
Is mediocrity, which seems to play well in Peoria, the best American viewers can aspire to anymore? If this show dies on the ratings vine, it will be a long time before we get anything this good again.
TV Reviews
The bad shows just keep on coming, and one of them we can even blame on J-Lo
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday, January 11, 2006
South Beach: Drama, 8 PM ET/PT tonight, UPN.
Crumbs: Sitcom, 9:30 PM ET/PT Thursdays, ABC
If you're keeping track at home, television's midseason began just as 2006 did, and the onslaught will continue for months. So far, it's an O-fer.
Zero quality shows in the new year.
"In Justice" on ABC -- seriously flawed.
"Four Kings" on NBC -- terrible.
"Emily's Reason's Why Not" on ABC -- not enough reasons why.
"The Book of Daniel" on NBC -- too much soap for our eyes.
That's 0-4.
And tonight, "South Beach," a drama on UPN that's executive-produced by Jennifer Lopez and set in the sexy climes of Florida's party central. Tomorrow night, yet another comedy from ABC, this one called "Crumbs," starring Fred "Wonder Years" Savage, Jane Curtin and William Devane.
Result? 0-6.
That's an O-fer. A donut. You can claim that the over-the-top nature of "Daniel" holds your interest. Or that Heather Graham's top holds your interest in "Emily." But neither are series worth spending much time with, particularly now that the holidays are past and fresh episodes from good series are beginning to air. So congratulations to everyone who chose returning series like "Scrubs," "Battlestar Gallactica" and "The Shield." Sometimes it pays to go with what you know.
Now, about the failures of No. 5 and No. 6. Let's just say that when we talk about taking a bullet for you, this is precisely what we mean. In a span of 48 hours, you could have been hit by one egregiously bad drama (elapsed time lost: two hours for the pilot, plus who knows how many painful promos for other UPN shows you won't watch), plus a sitcom with a laugh track that bloodies your ear like a crowbar swung from a deranged drunk in a back alley (elapsed time lost: 30 minutes, not counting however long you'll pass out from boredom).
If you're wondering why something touched by the hand of J-Lo has gone so far below the radar as to be invisible, try on this theory: People are running in the opposite direction from it, including UPN.
"South Beach" is about two guys from Brooklyn who decide they're going nowhere, so why not jump in the IROC mobile and head to South Beach. There's something about tracking down the ex-girlfriend model of one of them, then something oppressively predictable about a trendy club, some mobster nonsense and a lot of soapy dross. (This kind of soap makes "The Book of Daniel" seem like a PBS documentary on religion.) Anyway, it's pointless to talk about who "stars" in this bloated music video, but the agents for both Vanessa Williams and Giancarlo Esposito need to be fired, summarily.
Why UPN wanted this series isn't too difficult to understand. The network could claim to be working with Lopez. Plus, the South Beach locale presented a nice opportunity to mix in thumping beats, beautiful people in bikinis and a young multicultural cast geared scientifically to attract a certain demographic. The only glitch -- it's lousy.
Worse, UPN gave up on a series called "Platinum" not long ago that was executive produced by Sofia Coppola and was infinitely better. Don't expect "South Beach," an awful, flat and boring offering, to stick around much longer. By the way, has anyone heard from J-Lo lately?
How about Savage? You will undoubtedly remember him from "The Wonder Years," though now he's all grown up and you can see him in his boxer shorts in "Crumbs." (He also starred in "Working," an NBC sitcom of little note from 1997 that hung around incomprehensibly for nearly two full seasons.)
Savage is the least of the problems in "Crumbs." He's got timing and he can act, but the script about his "crazy" family is cliche-ridden, predictable and unfunny -- even if it is based on the real-life family of creator Marco Pennette. He's the guy responsible for "Caroline in the City" and "I'm With Her" (and this season's quickly canceled drama "Inconceivable"), so apparently the piles of meritless cash he's made gives him the green light to write about his family. It appears Pennette typed in "inappropriate, crashing laughter here" quite a bit.
"Crumbs" is about Mitch Crumb, a once successful Hollywood writer who returns to a "small New England town" (read: our back lot) where his mother, Suzanne (Jane Curtin), is about to be let out of a psychiatric hospital. Apparently she tried to run over her husband, Billy (Devane). Billy has since hooked up with some pretty young thing. Knocked her up, too. When dad bailed he left behind the family restaurant business to be run by Jody (Eddie McClintock), the dumber of the two sons.
This is all apparently supposed to be wacky. See, Mitch is gay but hasn't told his family. Billy hasn't told his ex that he's got the PYT pregnant. Jody likes to put his "meat thermometer" on the food people send back and none of the family is really talking about the other brother who died in a tragic accident. As the ABC announcement says: "They have issues ... major issues." Well, yeah, but this is a comedy and there's nothing funny about it. You'd think that might be a major issue with the people who program ABC.
But no. "Crumbs" comes to you with a head-damaging thunk, and remember, you've still got the crowbar to the ear thing ahead. When the jokes fall flat, Pennette tries schmaltz, but that doesn't help either. Curtin and Devane are entirely wasted and, frankly, ought to be as embarrassed as Williams and Esposito.
We watched a second episode of "Crumbs" just to make sure there wasn't something hilarious for you under a rock, some morsel of humor left over. Um, no. Go about your viewing -- on a different network. If Winnie Cooper shows up to convince Kevin Arnold to go straight in the next sweeps period, we'll let you know.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/11/DDG7FGKOS21.DTL&type=printable
Marcus Carr
01-11-06, 10:05 AM
Poll finds growing interest in HDTV
Jan 10, 2006 8:00 AM, HD Technology Update e-newsletter
A survey from Panasonic shows that 26 percent of U.S. households either owns or plans to own a high-definition television by the end of 2006. This is up from 15 percent one year ago, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
Historically, deciding what kind of television to buy has apparently rested with men, and 66 percent of those recently were polled by Opinion Research said the decision was still theirs. However, these men may face some opposition from their significant others, because 46 percent of the women surveyed said the decision was up to them rather than their partners.
And the debate doesn't end with the decision to buy, according to Panasonic's survey. Seventy percent of men are interested in purchasing an HDTV with either large — 51in and above — or medium — 37in to 50in — screen sizes. However, 76 percent of women lean more towards a smaller size screen.
The survey was conducted nationwide by phone with 1061 adults aged 18 to 65. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percent.
http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/hd_tech/20060110/#Poll
TV Review
Music to My Ears
”Love Monkey” business hits all the right notes
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic
No one dies in the pilot episode of the mid-season charmer ”Love Monkey” (premieres Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 10 PM ET/PT), and that has me worried. Can CBS and its audience embrace an hourlong show that dares to exist outside the world of the crime-drama procedural? (Didn't work so well for the sci-fi Threshold.)
But maybe Love Monkey will turn out to be CBS' next Northern Exposure. Granted, the music scene in New York City is a far cry from Cicely, Alaska, but this amiable comedy-drama shares the attributes of quirky humor, great banter from cool characters and a passion for living life on one's own terms. It's sexy, funny, hip and heartfelt.
The funky title, adapted from Kyle Smith's novel, refers to Peter Pan-ish hero Tom Farrell (Ed's still-lovable Tom Cavanagh). Tom's an idealist in the cutthroat world of music deal-making, "a good guy with a fantastic ear" on a streak of discovering new talent, which doesn't keep him from getting fired. Matters are even messier in the dating arena, and his best friend, Bran (Judy Greer), warns him he'll "end up one lonely monkey" if he doesn't stop the reckless swinging.
Tom also hangs with three buds — two single, and one (Jason Priestley) who's married to Tom's pregnant sister — and before you start thinking "male Sex and the City," this show has its own grungier identity and smart voice.
Now if only CBS would put CSI in the title, I could stop fretting over my new pet Monkey.
http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/review/
drkashner
01-11-06, 10:21 AM
I will be calling DirecTV tomorrow myself, but I won't bother with the rebate (especially since I know I won't get it).
~Alan
I posted this on the 10-250 forum. I would keep calling them. Still haven't received mine either.
mentioned this before, on the forum, here's the latest. I ordered my HD DVR on Aug. 18, 2005. It was installed and activated 5 days later. I sent the rebate form in as soon as I got my bill the first of Sept. with all the charges on it. After 13 weeks, I sent them an email that I hadn't received my rebate. After 2 days I got an email back that , yes I was eligible for the rebate, but they couldn't find anything in the system that they received by rebate form, so I was supposed to send it in again. I sent it again to the address in the email, and printed out a new rebate form from their website, which the email told me to do, and also sent a copy of the email. I sent it Dec. 6. Last Friday, Jan. 6, I got a letter from Directv saying that I was not eligible for the rebate. It had been a very bad week, and now I was really pissed. I called them right away, waited for a half an hour for the csr to research, and he came back and told me I was eligible for the rebate, and he didn't know why I got the letter. He put me on hold again and talked to his supervisor. The supervisor came back and said that he didn't know why I got the letter, but the check had been sent on Jan. 5, and I should have it in a couple of days. Yesterday I got another rebate form in the mail, telling me to send it in. So I called again right away. By now I am fed up. The csr took all my info again and said yes I was eligible for the rebate and I should send the rebate form and info in again. At this point, I told him that no way in hell was I sending it in a third time. I wanted to talk to customer retention. He transferred me to another person. He looked up everything and said, yes I am elgilble again. He checked on the system and said that my rebate was approved and that a check should be issued soon. So on Friday, they basically lied to me that the check had been mailed. The person in customer retention said there was no way for him to tell if the check was mailed. He said there had been problems that some people had not received the rebate form and they sent them out again. I told him that I have been a Directv customer ever since it was available in the east, that mine was the first system the store sold when I bought it, but if I don't get my rebate I will be gone. He said call back if I dont receive it in the next 2 weeks.
Thanks for reading this long message, but I just had to tell someone about this.
__________________
drkashner
TV Ratings
'Star' turn for ABC's dance contest
Sweet payoff for midseason return of hit
By Abigail Azote MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 11, 2006
The big question heading into the second-season debut of “Dancing with the Stars” was whether the show could match its breakout ratings of last summer. The answer was a resounding yes.
“Stars” debuted Thursday with a two-hour opener that averaged 17.4 million total viewers, up 29 percent from season one’s June premiere. The episode also bested season one’s 16.8 million average by 4 percent. Among 18-49s, the show averaged 6.2 million viewers, up 13 percent from the summer.
As the season progresses, the question that remains is how much of a boost "Stars” can give ABC for the rest of the year.
The answer, say media insiders: a lot.
ABC has a 0.1 lead over CBS season-to-date among adults 18-49, and "Stars" stands to widen it, perhaps considerably. It also helps that the show airs on Thursday, a night that ABC has traditionally struggled with.
ABC took a big chance bringing "Stars" back in January. There's always the risk with any summer reality show that it will wilt during the regular season, facing off against tougher scripted shows. And if it does wilt, it may be for good, killing any chance for bringing it back the following summer.
But John Rash, director of broadcast negotiations at Minneapolis’ Campbell-Mithun, says ABC's gamble with "Stars" seems to be paying off.
“Even if it doesn’t keep the same ratings, it’s still highly competitive on a difficult night for ABC, which will help them in the overall ratings race,” he says.
“Stars’” early boost may soon be tempered when CBS goes full force with new “CSI” episodes and the return of “Survivor.” Still, says Rash, it’s good counter-programming against NBC’s comedies and provides the opportunity to increase ABC’s viewership on an important advertising night.
Stacey Shepatin, director of national broadcast at Boston's Hill Holliday, agrees, saying that the show is a good mid-season replacement for ABC.
“Once ‘Survivor’ comes on, [‘Stars’] can still deliver better [ratings] than what ABC previously had in the time period,” she says.
This season, ABC has expanded "Stars," adding a half-hour results show on Friday nights at 8 p.m. The first of such episodes averaged 12.9 million viewers last week and was the second most-watched program that night, behind a new episode of CBS’s “Numb3rs.”
http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2148.asp
taz291819
01-11-06, 10:31 AM
I got the same letter from DirecTV talking about how I purchased an HD receiver from them, and here was my rebate. Only problem is, I still haven't received my rebate check, and the rebate they sent me is only good if you got the HD receiver after October or November, and I got mine in August, so it's not even good.
~Alan
Alan, I got the same letter, and knew that it was in error since I purchased the receiver in August.
Low and behold, another letter showed up last Friday, stating that the original letter was sent in error.
TV Reviews
“South Beach”, “Beauty and the Geek”
By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Jennifer Lopez's fingerprints are all over UPN's new prime-time soap "South Beach." If she scrubs really, really hard, maybe she can get them off — along with the stench of this stinker.
It's glitzy. It's glamorous. It's loaded with beautiful people wearing hideous clothes.
It's also full of actors (and I use that term loosely) spouting laughably bad lines in a series that's all about form, and pretty much lacking in substance.
"South Beach" (which airs episodes tonight at 8 and 9 PM ET/PT on UPN) starts out in New York City, just like Lopez, who's credited as an executive producer. But the scene quickly switches to South Beach, which we are led to believe is the center of all things shallow and beautiful.
It's sort of a cross between "Miami Vice" and "Melrose Place," using the stupidest parts of both shows.
The series opens with a pair of New York guys, Matt (Marcus Coloma) and Vincent (Chris Johnson), heading for the "alluring paradise" of South Beach. Matt is hoping to reconnect with his old girlfriend, Arielle (Odette Yustman), an aspiring supermodel. It turns out she's now dating Alex (Lee Thompson Young), the manager of a hip nightclub in a hip hotel owned by his mother, Elizabeth (Vanessa Williams).
Elizabeth, who has a history of dating much, much younger men, hires Matt to be her go-to, problem-solving guy at the hotel — despite his utter lack of qualifications and experience. (Well, he is young and pretty. As a matter of fact, the guys in "South Beach" are probably prettier than the girls, who are gorgeous.)
Chris, meanwhile, falls in with a bad guy, Robert (Giancarlo Esposito), who owns a minority interest in Elizabeth's hotel. You can tell he's bad because of the shootouts and murders that follow in his wake.
It's actually dumber than it sounds. There's a fashion show in which Elizabeth makes super-modeling sound like a spiritual experience. And the clothes come from the J-How-Lo-Can-U-Go collection. (You see what they're wearing, and you still can't believe it.)
"South Beach" is all about pretty, stupid people — a show that defines "vapid."
BEAUTY AND THE GEEK, which opens its second season Thursday at 9 PM ET/PT on the WB is a stupid "reality" show.
Just be careful, because if you start watching it, you might not be able to stop.
This is the story of eight girls and eight guys who live in a house and compete for $250,000. But it's not a dating show.
On this side, we have eight gorgeous young women who aren't exactly members of Mensa. On the other side, we have eight extremely smart but exceptionally geeky guys.
They pair off in groups of two, compete in various challenges and — if luck is with them — actually learn something from each other. The girls certainly have plenty of room to improve their intellectual skills. The guys are super nerds who have lots of room to improve their social skills.
They keep telling us this is a social experiment, and it is, in a way. One of the geeky boys gets sort of drunk with power after winning the initial challenge in Thursday's premiere and acts like a total jerk. But you can feel sorry for him, because he's completely oblivious to the fact that he's acting like a total jerk.
Yes, the show makes fun of how dumb the beauties are. And of how nerdy the geeks are. But it's actually quite good-natured and warm-hearted.
Now, if only they could stop repeating so much of the show by showing us previews of what's going to happen, then showing us what happens, then repeating what happened, over and over and over again. . . .
http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,635175279,00.html
Xesdeeni
01-11-06, 10:52 AM
[Disclaimer: I'm not a Lifetime viewer, just intrigued by events, and enjoying the show.]
Apparently the Lifetime director didn't take Dish up on their offer to talk about things on Monday's "Charlie Chat." Lifetime (and Lifetime Movies) are still MIA from Dish. And the sniping continues: http://www.lifetimetv.com/about/dish_openletter.html
Xesdeeni
TV Review
“South Beach”
Dumb & dumber hit South Beach. Actors are pretty; performances not
Tom Jicha Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinal TV and Radio Writer January 11, 2006
Slick, sexy Miami Vice transformed South Beach from an outdoor hospice into an international jet-set destination. Fortunately, TV doesn't have the same effect in reverse. If it did, South Beach could do more damage than Hurricane Wilma.
The new UPN drama -- which is often an unintentional comedy -- depicts the area as a haven for posers, wannabes and gangs that can't shoot straight. It's a visual treat -- if you've never seen a woman in a bikini -- but the plot has the depth of a beer commercial. The stars, Marcus Coloma and Chris Johnson, are pretty faces you've probably never seen before and, judging by their performances, are unlikely to see again.
Matt Evans (Coloma) is supposed to be the brains of the lead twosome but it's a status he earns by default. After his father raids his college fund to pay off gambling debts, he decides his buddy Vince's idea of a road trip to Miami isn't a bad idea. Vince (Johnson) is a ne'er-do-well aspiring wise guy who quotes Scarface. He also must be a NASCAR candidate, because they leave Brooklyn after dark and by the time the sun comes up they're tooling down Ocean Drive.
Then again, these guys do everything fast. They're in town about 10 minutes before they're hooked up with all the cool people. Not long after that, they land only-on-TV jobs. Matt plays dragon slayer to a damsel in distress, Elizabeth Bauer, owner of the hippest hotel along the beach, so she hires him as a trouble-shooter. Vanessa Williams is well within her range in the do-nothing-but-look-good role of Elizabeth
Vince needs something to keep himself busy, so he pleads for and gets a gig spritzing the glistening backsides of rows of supermodels at the pool. As if.
It's only a temp spot. Eavesdropping on a couple of muscle clowns, he hears something that allows him to ingratiate himself with a shady character named Robert Fuentes, a cartoonish figure who dresses and behaves like a villain from Rocky and Bullwinkle. Fuentes is everything the dim-witted Vince sees himself as being, so he jumps at the chance to become a toady. Giancarlo Esposito will someday cringe at his portrayal of the farcical Fuentes.
Matt has a hidden motive for jumping in the car with Vince. His longtime girlfriend, Arielle, had moved south to pursue a modeling career and he wouldn't mind picking up where they left off. Unfortunately, she's attached herself to Elizabeth's son Alex, who runs the hot club in his mother's hotel. The look on her face when Matt shows up in Miami is what you would you get from partying teens whose parents come home from vacation a night earlier than expected.
Alex isn't the most vivid neon on Ocean Drive, but he's bright enough to recognize that while Arielle and Matt might have turned out the lights on their relationship, the party is definitely not over.
Odette Yustman, who plays Arielle, might have a future as a model; as an actress, not so much. Lee Thompson Young, as Alex, comes off almost as silly as Esposito. They're lucky that on this show, their performances are the norm, not the exception.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-tv-southbeach0111,1,2090554.story?coll=bal-tv-utility
Critic’s Notebook
The critic: Let viewers stay in the dark -- for a while
By Matthew Gilbert The Boston Globe staff January 11, 2006
To be a model TV-viewing citizen in 2006 -- and I know you want to be -- you have to be a cagey monkey.
You have to learn to see no spoiler, hear no spoiler, and speak no spoiler to your friends, even if you're mad at them and want to blurt out a plot twist from last week's ''Lost," which they still have waiting in their TiVo queues.
Rule No. 1: Don't declare anything out loud without checking with the listener first. We have to start treating TV shows more like movies when it comes to divulging plot. The time period before movies can be openly discussed can last a long time, sometimes up to a year. I will declare ''Soylent Green is people!" to the world today, but I certainly wouldn't have talked about the second half of ''Million Dollar Baby" last year, or probably even now, as it's still getting around on DVD and on pay cable.
The period of discretion can last a month or two with TV series, and even longer with the miniseries-like pay-cable shows. But there is no hard and fast equation, no scientific determinations about when the spoiler-alert period ends. It's more of an intuitive sense most of us have, that it's probably OK to talk out loud about the death of Boone last season on ''Lost," but maybe not OK to talk about an equally important ''Lost" death this season (accompanying article notwithstanding). We all have to keep our antennae up, get a sense of whether we're conversing with someone who generally moves a little behind the buzz, or whether we're discussing a show that's particularly plot sensitive.
Of course, some eager viewers thrive on tracking down spoilers for future episodes. They surf the Internet for clues about upcoming twists, and they find them. There are entire sites dedicated to what will be, and there is network misinformation to foil them. But spoiler lovers are exposing themselves to information by choice. Whether they are happier knowing what will happen, rather than enjoying the growing suspense and mystery, is something only they know.
What I know about myself is that when I'm in a movie theater, I fume when I see a trailer that gives away an entire movie. I lose my patience, but if I tried to hide out in the lobby, I'd lose my seat. Cornered!
As a TV critic, I've had to adjust the way I write for the newspaper. I can no longer assume the reader has already watched an episode I want to schmooze about. Sometimes that means sticking a flagrant ''Spoiler Alert" into a story before completely disclosing a plot turn. When a big or unexpected event happens on a series, my job is to talk about it with readers who've seen it. I'm not going to ignore the sudden death of a major TV character (or the slow death of, say, Jimmy Smits on ''NYPD Blue") simply to protect time shifters. But it's also my job to preface that story, or its particular lines of revelation, with a clear warning: Proceed at your own risk.
At the same time, particularly when I'm reviewing a show that hasn't aired yet, I must be able to write around the revelations. Generally, there is plenty to say about a new series or a TV movie without getting into the nitty-gritty of its twists. If critics couldn't write about movies and series without giving them away, they would be poor writers indeed. Occasionally, though, even the most diligent critics accidentally let a plot detail slip into an article without notice. Hey, we're human. Forgive us.
Most good shows aren't good only because of the directions their plots take. I've deeply enjoyed episodes of ''The Sopranos" a second and third time around, knowing the outcome. The artfulness of the writing, the acting, and the layering of allusions are enduring pleasures. But still, especially on a serial such as ''24," the unspooling of story line can be a critical part of the thrill. The first-time viewing experience of ''24" should be virgin, so that it can have its full impact. Watching a favorite show should be an opportunity to discover what happens, not just to wait for what you already know will happen.
It should be a trip into the unknown, and not just a confirmation of fact.
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2006/01/11/the_critic_let_viewers_stay_in_the_dark____for_a_while/
Carl Jones
01-11-06, 11:36 AM
Ratings Report
Rumble in space: “Battlestar Galactica”
Premiere of critics' favorite down 16 percent
By Abigail Azote MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 11, 2006
“Battlestar Galactica” remains one of Sci Fi Channel’s most-watched programs and a favorite among critics as well. They continually praise it for its gripping drama and intelligent content.
Yet the series may be showing hints of aging, at least judging by last week's debut for the second half of season two.
Airing Friday at 10 p.m., "Galactica” averaged 1.55 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic. Among 25-54s, where it's been particularly strong, “Galactica” averaged 1.73 million viewers.
That represents a 16 percent decline for both demos as compared to the debut of the first half of season two, which began in July. The declines are even steeper compared to season one’s premiere ratings, down 16 percent among 18-49s and 23 percent among 25-54s. Season one’s premiere averaged 1.9 million and 2.2 million in those demos, respectively.
Even so, last week’s performance was good enough to land “Galactica” in No. 11 among all of ad-supported cable in the 18-49 demo. Among 25-54s, it ranked No. 5. And it was up 10 percent among 18-49s from where it left off in September, when its last episode averaged 1.41 million viewers. Among 25-54s it was up 7 percent from the last original episode’s 1.61 million.
Whether the show is actually weakening is unclear. It could well be that July's premiere did better because it was in the summer, when competition from broadcast networks is lighter. Another factor could be the three-month hiatus since the last episode. Viewers tend to straggle back after such long layoffs.
What has not cooled is the adoration of critics. “Galactica” made many publications’ list of top programs for 2005, including the Chicago Tribune’s. Newsday called it “TV’s most provocative drama.” And last Sunday the American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best TV shows in 2005.
“It’s a complex show, dense and well executed. It has nicely done what a lot of classic cult series have done—create a universe of its own,” observes Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Center for the Study of Popular Television.
http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2147.asp
This is a little disappointing. It's a great show & the recent opener was superb!
I'm curious (perhaps this has been discussed before), I recorded the later airing of this episode because of other programs in the que at that time & because I can. The episode is shown many times during the week making it easy to "pick up" when there are no conflicts. Are the other airings during the week accounted for in rating or just the first airing?
drkashner
01-11-06, 11:44 AM
This is a little disappointing. It's a great show & the recent opener was superb!
I'm curious (perhaps this has been discussed before), I recorded the later airing of this episode because of other programs in the que at that time & because I can. The episode is shown many times during the week making it easy to "pick up" when there are no conflicts. Are the other airings during the week accounted for in rating or just the first airing?
Also... I watch it in HD on Universal HD instead of SciFi on Sun. nights. Is this counted?
The original overnight ratings contains just the rating for the people who saw a show between the time it aired and 3 AM ET.
Final ratings are released two weeks later with all DVR use added in. (It should be noted that the Nielsen DVR sampling is tiny at the moment and it will be some months until Nielsen has it built out to accurately reflect DVR usage around the country.)
In addition many cable nets will add up the total views in various timeslots of their shows and report those totals.
(From Marc Berman’s Wednesday, January 11, 2006 Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
National Ratings in Primetime: Week of Jan. 2-8, 2006
It was no contest in this first full week of 2006, with an original episode of Desperate Housewives, the return of Dancing With the Stars, the NFL Wildcard Game 2, and the four college bowl games – Rose Bowl (USC vs. Texas), Orange Bowl (Penn State vs. Florida State), Fiesta Bowl (Notre Dame vs. Ohio State) and Sugar Bowl (West Virginia vs. Georgia) – lifting ABC into the top spot.
Comparatively, ABC’s advantage over No. 2 CBS was 40 percent in households, 5.96 million viewers and as much as 90 percent in the three surveyed demos. Year-to-year, ABC was up by margins of 10 to 20 percent, with its biggest audience and best rating among adults 18-49 since the week of the 2003 Super Bowl telecast. Despite the severity of the competition, CBS also increased over the year-ago week by as much as 11 percent.
The remaining four networks -- NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB -- declined year-to-year, with Fox suffering the greatest erosion, and NBC not benefiting by the slow start for controversial drama The Book of Daniel.
In a week with a number of series-premieres and season-openers, take a look at the results for the first crop of midseason 2005 (ranked by total viewers):
Dancing With the Stars (ABC) – Thurs. 8-10 p.m. (season premiere)
Viewers: 17.46 million (#12 overall)
A18-49: 4.8/12 (#16t)
Dancing With the Stars – Voting Show (ABC) – Fri. 8 p.m. (time period premiere)
Viewers: 12.88 million (#24)
A18-49: 3.0/ 9 (#52t)
In Justice (ABC) – Fri. 9 p.m. (time period premiere)
Viewers: 9.20 million (#43)
A18-49: 2.8/ 8 (#57t)
The Book of Daniel (NBC) – Fri. 9-11 p.m. (premiere)
Viewers: 9.02 million (#45)
A18-49: 2.7/ 8 (#59t)
Four Kings (NBC) – Thurs. 8:30 p.m. (premiere)
Viewers: 8.86 million (#46), A18-49: 4.2/11 (#24t)
Scrubs (NBC) – Tues. 9 p.m. (season premiere)
Viewers: 7.69 million (#59)
A18-49: 3.8/ 9 (#29t)
Also of note were relocated NBC sitcoms
My Name Is Earl (Viewers: #34, 11.19 million
A18-49: #14, 5.2/13) and
The Office (Viewers: #48, 8.73 million
A18-49: #20t, 4.5/11) off to a respectable start in the Thursday 9 p.m. hour.
Here are the final national ratings for the week of Jan. 2, 2006 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago period in parentheses).
Households:
ABC: 12.0/19 (+20)
CBS: 8.6/13 (+ 9)
NBC: 6.1/ 9 (-12)
Fox: 3.8/ 6 (-30)
UPN: 2.0/ 3 (- 9)
WB: 1.7/ 3 (-11)
Total Viewers:
ABC: 19.10 million (+20)
CBS: 13.14 (+ 9)
NBC: 9.24 (-11)
Fox: 6.05 (-31)
UPN: 2.94 (- 9)
WB: 2.35 (-17)
Adults 18-49:
ABC: 6.6/17 (+10)
CBS: 4.0/10 (+ 8)
NBC: 3.3/ 8 (-13)
Fox: 2.6/ 7 (-28)
UPN: 1.2/ 3 (- 8)
WB: 1.0/ 2 (-17)
Adults 25-54:
ABC: 7.7/18 (+13)
CBS: 5.0/12 (+11)
NBC: 3.9/ 9 (-15)
Fox: 2.6/ 6 (-33)
UPN: 1.1/ 3 (-15)
WB: 1.0/ 2 (- 9)
Adults 18-34:
ABC: 5.5/16 (+12)
CBS: 2.9/ 8 (+ 7)
NBC: 2.6/ 8 (-13)
Fox: 2.6/ 7 (-19)
UPN: 1.2/ 3 (-14)
WB: 1.0/ 3 (-23)
• Source: Nielsen Media Research data
Overnight Ratings
Fox trot: Guest pumps 'Boston Legal'
Ex-'Spin City' star plays cancer patient
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 11, 2006
Former “Family Ties” and “Spin City” star Michael J. Fox still attracts viewers, even for a show trending downward like ABC’s “Boston Legal.”
Fox guest starred as a millionaire cancer patient last night, and it gave the show a nice boost.
“Legal” averaged a 3.3 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 in its 10 p.m. timeslot, a 14 percent increase over the 2.9 the show had averaged over its previous two episodes.
Still, “Legal” has been sinking over the past few original episodes. Even last night’s rating was slightly off the 3.4 the show had averaged through its first 10 episodes of the season.
The show had consistently pulled ratings in the 3.4 to 3.7 range before December, then returned after a few weeks off to average a 2.9 over its next two episodes.
Of course “Legal” is getting a weaker lead-in these days from the 9 p.m. “Commander in Chief,” which has also been down significantly in recent weeks.
http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2151.asp
mbarloewen
01-11-06, 02:38 PM
All I know is I pity the fools that aren't watching this show (BSG), perhaps the tightest, most intense drama on TV right now. Which is, uh, a lot of 'em. Those ratings numbers baffle me; this show should be drawing 5-6 million, as some of Sci-Fi's very average mini-series have done, or other cable series like Monk or The Closer. Makes no sense, especially with all the critical raves.
Is mediocrity, which seems to play well in Peoria, the best American viewers can aspire to anymore? If this show dies on the ratings vine, it will be a long time before we get anything this good again.
I wonder if it was an awareness issue. My friend who turned me onto the show and who is as big a BSG fan as there is was shocked to find out that the premiere had aired and he had missed it when I called him to discuss it.
The fact that my SCiFi fanatic fan missed it makes me wonder if others simply weren't aware it had come back.
Just a thought...
Whitearrow
01-11-06, 02:47 PM
Did I screw up my vote submission? In this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6821507&&#post6821507), Eyes had 2 votes. After my vote above, it still has 2 votes.
Xesdeeni
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. None of my three choices for favorite actor ended up on the list.
Whitearrow
01-11-06, 03:02 PM
All I know is I pity the fools that aren't watching this show (BSG), perhaps the tightest, most intense drama on TV right now. Which is, uh, a lot of 'em. Those ratings numbers baffle me; this show should be drawing 5-6 million, as some of Sci-Fi's very average mini-series have done, or other cable series like Monk or The Closer. Makes no sense, especially with all the critical raves.
Is mediocrity, which seems to play well in Peoria, the best American viewers can aspire to anymore? If this show dies on the ratings vine, it will be a long time before we get anything this good again.
I agree with you. But for a lot of people, the show either flies below the radar, or has to deal with the huge baggage of sharing a name with a 70's series that's sentimentally remembered by some, but not all. I can easily imagine young people who might have first seen it in some kind of rerun in the past 10 years thinking the original is a total cheesefest, and people who were too old when it first aired to have that sense of wonder associated with it feel the same.
I admit that I wasn't sure if I even wanted to watch the miniseries when it first aired, having heard little about it for the year before other than "Starbuck's a woman, it's gonna suck." And when I did watch it? I didn't tell anyone until my friends started talking about it first :)
Then there's just the fact that it's Sci-Fi. I know for a fact that both of my parents, for example, would love this show. My dad for the military stuff, the thriller aspects, battles, etc. and my mom for the interpersonal drama and performances by McDonnell, Olmos, etc. But I can't get either of them to even take a look at the miniseries. The "sci-fi" label just carries a lot of baggage.
OTOH, I wouldn't worry too much. BSG is still doing really well for the Sci Fi Channel, by its own standards, and has already been renewed for a third season. And Sci Fi, like UPN, really, really loves having a show that's a critical darling, and BSG is the best they've ever had. (Farscape was popular among certain critics, but it never made a ton of top 10 lists like BSG did this year.)
All I know is I pity the fools that aren't watching this show (BSG), perhaps the tightest, most intense drama on TV right now. Which is, uh, a lot of 'em. Those ratings numbers baffle me; this show should be drawing 5-6 million, as some of Sci-Fi's very average mini-series have done, or other cable series like Monk or The Closer. Makes no sense, especially with all the critical raves.
Is mediocrity, which seems to play well in Peoria, the best American viewers can aspire to anymore? If this show dies on the ratings vine, it will be a long time before we get anything this good again.
Many people tend to see what is on the surface, a SciFi space show, and reject it on that basis alone. Everyone who I have touted this show to has said the same thing. I have to go into depth about the writing, themes and characterization even to get a rise out of them. The only other person(other than folks on this board) that was excited about the show as me was my younger brother, good genes no doubt. :D
From Media Week,
Comcast's Golf Channel Nabs PGA Tour Cable Rights
Anthony Crupi and John Consoli
JANUARY 11, 2006 -
Comcast has scooped up the cable television rights to the PGA Tour in a long-term deal, moving in after ESPN opted out of the negotiations.
Under the terms of the unprecedented 15-year deal, the operator’s Golf Channel will be the exclusive cable home for the PGA, which will officially announce the agreement this afternoon. Although details are sketchy, the Golf Channel will have the rights to carry Thursday and Friday rounds of PGA events, with weekend play getting picked up by CBS and NBC.
On the broadcast side, CBS and NBC signed a deal through 2012, with CBS expanding its current coverage from 16 events a year to 20, including a majority of the tour’s West Coast events, such as the Buick Invitational in San Diego. NBC, meanwhile, will double its weekend coverage with 10 events, including the Player’s Championship, which is moving to May.
ESPN’s contract with the PGA expires at the end of this year.
ESPN insiders said the network passed on reupping with the PGA because it thought that the association’s asking price was too high and that advertising in a significant golf ad category, financial services, has been underperforming. The sports network is also said to have been frustrated by the PGA’s unwillingness to shuffle its tee times to ensure that stars like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson would enjoy greater TV exposure in the early rounds.
Although the loss of the PGA reduces the breadth of their overall golf coverage, ESPN and ESPN2 will still continue to televise professional golf, as the networks still have a deal in place with the U.S. Golf Association for the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, and the U.S. Senior Open.
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. None of my three choices for favorite actor ended up on the list.
I'll go back and check again.
Obviously it has been a hand count procedure. And we all know how prone those are to errors.
The Really, Really Final “HOTP” 2005 TV Poll
As of 1:12 PM PT Jan 11, 2005
Now that Fred has looked under the desk and found (he hopes) the last (Whitearrow's) wayward ballot, here again are the new and improved final returns from the “Hot Off The Press” 2005 TV Programming Poll.
Thanks to all who took the time to vote – and for all your patience as I have tried to tabulate every ballot.
Favorite new network prime-time shows which debuted in anytime in 2005:
Grey’s Anatomy 51
My Name Is Earl 38
Prison Break 28
Medium 27
Bones 22
Criminal Minds 17
Surface 13
Commander In Chief 11
American Dad 9
Threshold 9
Everybody Hates Chris 7
Ghost Whisperer 7
Numb3rs 7
How I Met Your Mother 5
Invasion 5
Eyes 4
Close to Home 3
Related 3
Law & Order: Trial By Jury
Favorite new prime-time cable shows:
The Closer 46
Wanted 36
Weeds 23
Over There 14
Rome 11
Extras 9
Sleeper Cell 4
Footballers Wives 3
Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Starved
Unscripted
Wildfire
Favorite veteran prime-time shows:
House 49
24 41
NCIS 36
Lost 26
CSI 20
Veronica Mars 18
The West Wing 16
Without A`Trace 14
Arrested Development 12
Cold Case 11
Law & Order: SVU 10
CSI: Miami 8
Gilmore Girls 8
American Idol 6
CSI: NY 6
Law & Order 6
Monday Night Football 5
Law & Order 4
Survivor 4
60 Minutes 3
Boston Legal 3
Las Vegas 3
One Tree Hill 3
Scrubs 3
Smallville 3
Supernatural 3
Crossing Jordan 2
ER 2
Family Guy 2
According to Jim
Joan of Arcadia
Nip/Tuck
Favorite veteran cable prime-time shows:
Monk 38
The Shield 35
Rescue Me 29
Battlestar Gallactica 27
The Sopranos 23
Dead Zone 17
The Wire 14
South Park 12
Rescue Me 11
Entourage 9
Deadwood 7
Six Feet Under 6
4400 4
Curb Your Enthusiasm 4
American Chopper
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Mythbusters
NFL Prime Time
Silent Sundays on TCM
Waking The Dead
Favorite TV actors:
Hugh Laurie 45
Gary Sinise 17
Kiefer Sutherland 22
James Gandolfini 14
Patrick Dempsey 11
William Peterson 11
John Spencer 11
Jason Lee 10
Jerry Orbach 9
William Shatner 9
David Boreanaz 6
Benjamin Bratt 6
David Caruso 6
Vincent D’Onofrio 6
Terry O’Quinn 6
James Spader 6
Chris Noth 5
Jason Bateman 4
Rob Lowe 4
Martin Sheen 3
Alan Alda 2
Jim Belushi 2
Rainn Wilson 2
Will Arnett
Zack Brack
Michael Cera
Larry Joe Campbell
Kevin James
Michael Imperioli
David Krumholtz
Wentworth Miller
James Purefoy
Favorite TV actresses:
Mariska Hargitay 29
Maura Tierney 25
Kristen Bell 24
Patricia Arquette 20
Jennifer Garner 18
Marg Helnegberger 15
Melina Kanakaredes 13
Mary Louise Parker 11
Carla Cugino 10
Ellen Pompeo 9
Katherine Heigl 8
Jessica Walter 7
Dana Delany 6
Alyson Hannigan 4
Evangeline Lilly 4
Stephanie March 4
Chandra Wilson 4
Glenn Close 3
Sandra Oh 3
Robin Weigert 3
Jennifer Love Hewitt 3
Mädchen Amick 2
Pamela Anderson 2
Dianne Farr 2
Jenna Fisher 2
Cobey Smulders 2
Rachel Bilson
Evangeline Lilly
Rachel Nichols
Katee Sackoff
Amber Tamblyn
Favorite TV sports production:
Monday Night Football 22
The Masters 10
NASCAR on Fox 9
Sunday Night Football 8
NCAA Football on CBS 7
NASCAR on NBC 4
Yankees on YES 3
Real Sports 2
San Diego Padres on Cox 2
US Open on CBS 2
MLB on HDNet