Hot Off The Press! The Latest Television News and Info [Text View] - Page 35

fredfa

01-10-06, 06:49 PM

(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/

fredfa

01-10-06, 06:54 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

Nope, I screwed up. Sorry.
I've fixed it now.

AFH

01-10-06, 06:58 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour

Fred, since you're in the LA area, will you be going to this?

fredfa

01-10-06, 07:02 PM

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?

fredfa

01-10-06, 07:03 PM

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.

fredfa

01-10-06, 07:06 PM

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

fredfa

01-10-06, 07:10 PM

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

fredfa

01-10-06, 08:10 PM

There is some pretty amusing reading back in the beginning.

(Not to mention all the folks who thought they were going to love "LAX"!)

fredfa

01-10-06, 08:15 PM

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!

fredfa

01-10-06, 08:49 PM

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

fredfa

01-10-06, 09:11 PM

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.

keenan

01-10-06, 09:39 PM

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:

fredfa

01-10-06, 10:05 PM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 01:28 AM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 02:02 AM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 08:30 AM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 09:48 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

archiguy

01-11-06, 09:57 AM

fredfa

01-11-06, 09:59 AM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 10:20 AM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 10:29 AM

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.

fredfa

01-11-06, 10:50 AM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 10:56 AM

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 11:00 AM

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

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?

fredfa

01-11-06, 11:45 AM

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.

fredfa

01-11-06, 12:44 PM

(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

fredfa

01-11-06, 01:05 PM

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

Whitearrow

01-11-06, 02:47 PM

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.)

keenan

01-11-06, 03:03 PM

keenan

01-11-06, 03:18 PM

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.

fredfa

01-11-06, 04:02 PM

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.

fredfa

01-11-06, 04:12 PM

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
MLS on HDNet
NHL on HDNet
NHL on OLN
Olympic Figure Skating

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 13
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
My Name Is Earl

Actor who makes you cringe
David Caruso 30
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
Jennifer Love Hewitt 12
Jill Hennessy 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 21
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 12
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 31
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 29
Veronica Mars 20
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

fredfa

01-11-06, 04:22 PM

TV Notebook
Letterman remark could be first shot in contract war

By Michael Starr The New York Post

Did David Letterman let something slip about his future on "The Late Show" Monday night?

Letterman sparked speculation around the TV business with a casual remark he made during an exchange with guest Albert Brooks, who was kidding Dave about this Friday being his last show ever.

"I don't think that's true," Letterman said.

"I think we are going to be here another two or three years."

Almost immediately, Dave-watchers were wondering if Letterman had made a backdoor announcement that he was thinking of retiring in two or three years. Letterman reportedly has nearly three years left on the "Late Show" deal he inked in 2002. That contract pays him a reported $31.5 million per year.

Letterman, 58, is notorious for keeping personal matters, such as contracts, close to the vest � which made the remark about his contract unusual, even if it was said in jest.

In three years, he will be 61.

It would also be 2009, the same year Jay Leno is scheduled to vacate his "Tonight Show" desk in favor of "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien.

For the record, Letterman's spokesman told The Post yesterday: "Dave has no plans to retire."

Insiders say Letterman actually is "interested" in extending his deal with CBS beyond '09.

In fact, Letterman may have simply just opened contract negotiations with the suggestion he is thinking of retirement.

The whole thing began with a gag on Monday's show, when Brooks joked that he'd heard Friday would be Letterman's last show.

"I have had a knot in my stomach all day because obviously this will be the last David Letterman show I will ever do," Brooks said, adding that he heard the news about Letterman leaving from "the William Morris Agency."

After some banter, Brooks -- parodying Bette Midler's serenading of Johnny Carson on his penultimate "Tonight Show" in 1992 -- then sang to Letterman, while holding his hand, to the tune of "Thanks for the Memory."

Brooks made up funny lyrics about past news-making "Late Show" guests, including Drew Barrymore, who famously flashed Letterman on the air, and Farrah Fawcett, who seemed to have a meltdown on the show back in 1997.

Letterman signed the new deal in 2002 after threatening to jump to rival ABC when it looked as if that network was getting ready to cancel "Nightline" and enter the late-night comedy wars with CBS and NBC.

ABC ended up putting "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in the post-"Nightline" timeslot.

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/pfriendly_new.php

fredfa

01-11-06, 04:26 PM

Rudi Bakhtiar Update

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

For all of you who have written asking about Bakhtiar, here's today's news, via a Fox News Channel release:

Rudi Bakhtiar has joined FOX News Channel (FNC) as a general correspondent, announced Bill Shine, Senior Vice President of Programming, FOX News.

In making the announcement, Shine said, “Rudi’s experience anchoring and reporting from around the world make her a great asset to Fox. We are excited to have her on board as we enter an exciting new year.”

Bakhtiar recently served as a primetime contributor on CNN, based in New York. During her tenure at the network, Bakhtiar held various positions, including a three year stint (2002-2005) as anchor for CNN Headline News’ nightly newscast. Prior to that, Bakhtiar was the morning anchor on Headline News and was on air during the terrorist attacks in 2001.

Throughout her career at CNN, Bakhtiar’s international reporting has taken her to various foreign regions including Jerusalem, South Africa, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Mali. After joining the network’s Los Angeles bureau in 1996 as an intern, Bakhtiar later relocated to the network’s headquarters in Atlanta where she became a video journalist for CNN International. She also served as a segment producer for CNNfn and assisted in the launch of numerous business programs on CNN International, before becoming an on-air reporter for CNN Newsroom in 1999.

A graduate of UCLA, Bakhtiar is a recipient of the 2002 Iranian American Republic Council Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding achievements, excellence and accomplishments within the Iranian American community. That same year, Lycos named her as one of the top 20 most popular television news personalities in the broadcast industry.

(end Fox announcement)

According to the network, she will start soon but a date hasn't been set yet. Nor do I know what her first assignment is; she will be based in New York City.

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

fredfa

01-11-06, 07:25 PM

Thanks to keenan for posting on this earlier -- I've been away from the computer much of the day. Here are more details on the PGA Tour announcement:

Sports On TV
PGA Tour reaches television agreements

PGA Tour Press Release Jan. 11, 2006

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. -- The PGA TOUR Wednesday announced the completion of new television agreements. Under the term of new six-year network deals, CBS and NBC will provide weekend coverage of the PGA TOUR FedEx Cup competition for the 2007 through 2012 seasons. Also beginning in 2007, The Golf Channel will become the TOUR’s exclusive cable partner. The new agreements also provide for the move of THE PLAYERS Championship to a new May date and a new broadcast format with limited commercial interruptions.

PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said, “We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of these discussions. We have been able to streamline and solidify our television presence for the long term through this alignment with two very strong network partners and an exclusive cable provider. These agreements will drive enormous value to sponsors. And it’s a big win for our fans, because these television partners will provide the continuity and quality of coverage that will bring out the drama of the season-long FedEx Cup competition, while also positioning THE PLAYERS Championship for maximum impact and fan interest.”

“We are also delighted with the financial benefits of these agreements,” Finchem said. “We achieved our primary objective of securing continued solid growth in financial benefits to players. Under the new agreements, total prize money and other financial benefits to players will increase approximately $600 million over the term as compared to the previous six years, a 35-percent increase.

“The new agreements also improve our ability to generate charitable giving through our tournaments at a level sufficient to reach our goal of a second billion in all-time charitable donations in less than 10 years,” Finchem said. “In addition, these new agreements will allow us to increase the resources necessary to assist our tournaments in their continued growth.

“Our sport is now very well positioned for long-term continued growth and success,” Finchem said.

Some of the highlights of the new agreements include:

CBS agreement

CBS will expand its current role as the dominant carrier of PGA TOUR golf, increasing its annual event coverage from 16 to 19. It will have the majority of West Coast events, including the broadcast of the Buick Invitational in San Diego and the Nissan Open in the Los Angeles market. CBS will also have a strong run through the spring and summer months of FedEx Cup competition, including the World Golf Championships - Bridgestone Invitational, the PGA Championship and the first event of the four-event Championship Series, which culminates the FedEx Cup season.

“CBS is delighted that it has expanded its relationship with the PGA TOUR,” said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. “We value our relationship with the TOUR very highly, and have tremendous confidence that the TOUR is well-positioned for continued growth and success. We’re excited to play such a key role in that growth, and look forward to our expanded schedule. Continuing as the lead carrier of events was very important to us, because we believe the new season-long FedEx Cup competition will bring additional fans to the sport and add drama throughout the schedule.

NBC Agreement

NBC will add five new PGA TOUR events, doubling its current roster of five. In addition to continuing its weekend telecasts of THE PLAYERS Championship, now moving to an early May date, NBC becomes the network home of the final three weeks of the Championship Series. NBC has also secured the rights to two World Golf Championships, including the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in late February as a prelude to its traditional five-event March run. Newly added to the March run of events will be the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, to be played at Doral Golf Resort and Spa. (A separate announcement is also being issued about this new WGC event). NBC has also secured the rights to continue coverage of The Presidents Cup through the 2011 event.

“We knew going into our discussions with the TOUR that NBC wanted to become an even bigger player in TOUR programming,” said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. “We are delighted that we are doubling the number of TOUR events we’ll cover. We’ll be continuing our coverage of golf’s Southern Swing in March and we are particularly excited to extend our relationship with THE PLAYERS Championship, which should have an even greater impact in its new May date. We’re also excited about covering the final three weeks of the Championship Series, two World Golf Championships and The Presidents Cup, and the high level of competition and drama those events each embodies.”

Commissioner’s Comments on Network Agreements

“We are extremely enthused about the alignment with two network partners of such reach and experience for the FedEx Cup season,” Finchem said. “Both CBS and NBC present the PGA TOUR at a high level, and have the talent, tradition and commitment to elevate PGA TOUR telecasts yet again. We feel we are now very well positioned for the long-term with these two outstanding partners, each of whom offers the TOUR the broadest possible reach to both avid and casual fans of golf.

“Over the long-term, we think this new two-network model is going to work extremely effectively for the TOUR,” Finchem said. “It offers fans and sponsors the very significant benefits of better continuity and promotion.”

“We would like to acknowledge the contributions that ABC and ESPN have made to our sport over many years,” Finchem said. “They have been tremendous partners, and we thank them for their support and commitment.”

The Golf Channel agreement

The TOUR has formed a strategic, exclusive cable partnership with The Golf Channel. Under the agreement, The Golf Channel will provide early-round coverage of all TOUR official money events. In addition, The Golf Channel will provide full coverage of the first three events of the PGA TOUR FedEx Cup season (Mercedes Championships, Sony Open in Hawaii, and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic), as well as the Fall Series events following THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

In addition to event coverage, the agreement with The Golf Channel provides for significant PGA TOUR promotion and branding. Also, TGC and the TOUR will work closely together to further increase distribution beyond the already significant 70 million homes and increase The Golf Channel’s visibility and appeal to the TOUR’s fan base. In order to fully accomplish these joint objectives, the agreement with The Golf Channel provides for a term of 15 years.

“These new agreements represent a huge step forward for The Golf Channel, and offer fans of PGA TOUR golf a consistent and quality home for a very significant amount of programming,” said Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation. “The Golf Channel has had a great first 10 years, and this dynamic new long-term relationship will take it to the next level in the years to come. We look forward with significant enthusiasm to our expanded PGA TOUR partnership.”

“Given The Golf Channel’s core golf audience and ever-growing number of new viewers, developing a long-term, strategic partnership with the TOUR makes sense for both parties,” said David Manougian, president of The Golf Channel. “Golf fans around the world know us as ‘Golf’s Home,’ and we are looking forward to showcasing the excitement and drama the TOUR can deliver to our viewers week after week. Coupled with our exclusive commitments to the Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour, The Golf Channel will reinforce its strength as the best destination for golf on TV.”

Commissioner’s Comments on The Golf Channel Agreements

“Adding a very significant PGA TOUR role for The Golf Channel further solidifies the presentation of our sport to the fans,” Finchem said. “The Golf Channel has developed at a tremendous rate over only a decade. This agreement provides us the opportunity to work together with The Golf Channel to fully inform our fans about our players, tournaments, sponsors and charity. We are delighted with the commitment they are making to significant production and promotional enhancements in the years to come.

“Further, the association with Comcast is especially appealing,” Finchem said. “The wide array of Comcast’s promotional assets and its forward thinking in the media and communications industry substantially enhances the value of this new partnership.”

Champions Tour

The Golf Channel will also be the exclusive cable partner of the Champions Tour. The term of the agreement is 15 years to coincide with the PGA TOUR agreements. The new PGA TOUR agreements also provide for network coverage of select Champions Tour events, and a separate announcement on these events will be made within the next 30 days.

Nationwide Tour

The agreement for The Golf Channel to cover Nationwide Tour events has also been extended for the same 15-year period. During the agreement, The Golf Channel will cover a minimum of 14 Nationwide Tour events per year, and will be the exclusive cable partner of the Nationwide Tour.

THE PLAYERS Championship

Beginning in 2007, THE PLAYERS Championship’s new date will be the second week in May. The new date will elevate the focus on the event and improve the schedule’s overall spacing of those events that bring all the world’s best players together. Further, THE PLAYERS Championship will be televised by NBC under a limited commercial format with commercial messages restricted to three exclusive partners.

Additionally, THE PLAYERS will feature enhanced television coverage and air times, with six hours of early round coverage each day on The Golf Channel, followed by new later air times on the weekend during the NBC broadcast, which will run from 2-7 p.m. ET each day.

These new developments are coupled with previously announced plans to restore the firm, fast playing conditions of the famed Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass. Additionally, an improved on-site fan experience and a complete upgrading of the facility’s infrastructure through the creation of a new clubhouse and other amenities, will ensure that the 2007 PLAYERS Championship will be fundamentally enhanced for both competitors and fans.

Commissioner Finchem said, “In partnership with NBC and our sponsors, we will now be able to offer the golf fan an absolutely premium experience. The limited commercial inventory, coupled with a competition that traditionally features the year’s strongest field tackling an extremely challenging golf course, will ensure that THE PLAYERS becomes a ‘can’t miss’ viewing experience for the fan.”

World Golf Championships

As previously mentioned, NBC will become the network broadcast partner of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, to be played in March, 2007 at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. This event replaces the current World Golf Championships-American Express Championship, which will be played in September, 2006 at The Grove in Hertfordshire, England. Eligibility will continue to be the top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking along with top finishers on the money lists of the six Tours comprising the International Federation of PGA Tours.

NBC will also be the network home for the Accenture Match Play Championship. This dramatic match play event will continue to be played in February and feature the top 64 available players based on the Official World Golf Rankings.

CBS will broadcast the season’s final World Golf Championships event, the Bridgestone Invitational, to be played annually in early August at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. This event also features an elite field comprised of approximately 75 players, including members of the last-named U.S. and International Presidents Cup and U.S. And European Ryder Cup teams, top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking and other tournament winners from around the world.

The Golf Channel will telecast early round coverage for each of the three World Golf Championships events throughout the term.

http://www.pgatour.com/print/info/company/story/9158540

fredfa

01-11-06, 07:27 PM

Given the PGA Tour announcement, one would think that either The Golf Channel will begin an HD channel, or it will simply shunt off its HD coverage to OLN HD, while continuing to use TGC as an SD carrier.

fredfa

01-11-06, 08:37 PM

I've updated the complete Olympics schedule with events of interest and their real-time scheduled starts.
The list is in the second post of this thread (under the HD Football listings).

fredfa

01-11-06, 08:53 PM

Sports On TV
Is their carpet red?

By Matthew Zoller-Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Since TCA press tour doesn't pay enough attention to celebrity culture - these are the jokes, folks - E! Entertainment Television finished off Tuesday's roundelay of cable presentations by rigging up a red carpet in the hallway leading to its presentation/evening party, and lit it with what appeared to be the same lights used to illuminate the landing strip in "Close Encounters." Inside, E! introduced the new trio of anchors for its red carpet coverage - fashion maven and professional gadfly Isaac Mizrahi, E! News Live host Giuliani DePandi and DePandi's future cohost, Ryan Seacrest of "American Idol."

Seacrest is being positioned as the Brian Williams of E! In addition to cohosting the nightly "E! News Live" and coanchoring red carpet coverage (starting with the Golden Globes Monday night), the "Idol" ringmaster also been entrusted with producing original documentaries for the channel. That's on top of his regular gig hosting a morning show for LA-based KISS FM and cranking out installments of "American Top 40." If he takes on any more gigs, he'll have to clone himself.

The channel's president and CEO, Ted Harbert - formerly of ABC - joked that Seacrest had "more jobs than Heidi Fleiss." To keep him centered, E! signed Seacrest to a multi-year deal and arranged it so that he could do his radio stuff from E! headquarters. Seacrest assured inquiring minds that he could handle all that work, and that if "American Idol" fell into scandal again, he'd report the news on E! "... fairly and honestly."

Echoing Seacrest, the proudly sockless Mizrahi said he'd react to celebrity attire "... the way I normally respond, and spontaneously as well" so that the broadcast would "really happen, as opposed to being so pre-gurgitated, you know." Asked by DePandi define the latter term, Mizrahi replied, "That means like chewed."

If that doesn't reassure you that pop culture is headed down a satisfying path, E! also announced that it's bringing back Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's "The Simple Life" for a fourth season, plus reruns of the first three.

The new season will be subtitled "Till Death Do us Part" - which, oddly enough, is also the title of an upcoming Court TV series dramatizing real life cases in which one spouse murdered another. Just in case you were wondering if the latter will be irreverent, Court TV hired director and camp master John Waters to host, playing a wisecracking character who's like the Crypt Keeper by way of Paul Lynde. (At a Court TV party last night, Waters confessed that his real motivation for hosting the show was to make himself seem unsettling, so that people will stop inviting him to weddings. "I hate weddings," he said. "Gay, straight, whatever. I'm hoping people will stop asking me to come because they'll be afraid of seeing me standing there in the back.")

Tuesday's session for the sixth-month-old Current TV - the fledgling news network co-founded by Al Gore, and not yet available in New Jersey - highlighted the channel's quick evolution from a hard-left alternative to the major news channels to something more akin to cable access, or maybe an alternative newspaper.

Which is to say, they're collecting much of their material from freelance contributors, who shoot, edit and submit short news stories according to style notes outlined on the channel's web site www.currenttv.com. Would-be newscasters who visit the site can find downloadable style guides, release forms and information on pay scale.

Finished segments are then submitted to Current, and if the channel likes what it sees, it posts the piece on the site; viewers and web site visitors then rate each segment, and the best-liked, most-watched segments rise to the top of the heap, presumably causing Current TV's gatekeepers to commission more pieces. The more pieces get accepted, the more money contributors get paid. (Which is not to say a person could get rich off Current TV - according to the site, the maximum pay rate is $1,000, although if the channel likes what it sees, it might commission the filmmakers to make more pieces for a better rate.

It sounds like a recipe for a TV sweatshop, but the twenty- and thirtysomething journalists on the Current TV panel seemed grateful for the exposure.

New Orleans-based talent scout and filmmaker Kikala Diallo did his first piece for Current TV in September, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - a feature on the "Hip-Hop Diaspora" caused when the storm shattered and dispersed the city's rap community. "I went to film school at the University of New Orleans, and after the storm, obviously we had to leave," Diallo said. "So the news was covering all the basic stories about trying to survive afterward. But (depsite) hip-hop being a major aforce in the media and commercially - and on an underground, grassroots level - nobody was really covering the stories about its rappers. So its like, now everybody has a voice."

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

fredfa

01-11-06, 09:48 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Court TV makes its case for new shows

By Lynn Smith Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 12, 2006

After winning fans as a director ("Pink Flamingos"), author ("Shock Value"), photographer and actor ("Seed of Chucky" and "The Simpsons"), John Waters said Wednesday he's thrilled to have a new audience on Court TV "without it being my own trial."

Looking funereally thin, with thinning hair and a pencil-thin mustache, Waters spoke to members of the Television Critics Assn. meeting this week in Pasadena, about his role as "The Groom Reaper" on the irreverent docudrama " 'Til Death Do Us Part," Court TV's first foray into original scripted series, scheduled to air in late summer into early fall.

The show guides viewers through the stories of low-profile marriages that ended in murder. Citing research statistics, executive producer Jeff Lieberman said 55% of such murders are committed by husbands, but by the end of the show, wives may close the gap.

As they spoke, Court TV had plates of doughnuts topped with a bride and a groom brought to the journalists.

The cases to be aired had little in common except that the perpetrators were often amazingly stupid, Waters said. One wife bought the murder weapon using her charge card, he said. There were usually few indications that trouble loomed. "But if your wife comes home with an ax," he said, "it's not a good sign."

Court TV also previewed a panel of mystery writers, including James Ellroy, Michael Connelly, Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman and Lisa Scottoline, who will host a series called "America's Crime Writers: Murder They Wrote." The series, to air late summer and early fall, will also look at real cases that have intrigued the writers. Each will host an episode of particular meaning to him or her. Ellroy will trace the mystery of his mother's murder in 1958 when he was 10.

In separate news, Court TV also announced it would open a full-time news bureau in Washington to cover legal and judicial news in the nation's capital.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-wk-courttv12jan12,0,948572,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

01-11-06, 10:39 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Still 'NoTORIous'

Tori Spelling sends up her image on a new show for VH-1
By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Pilot season can be rough on an actor. Audition, audition, audition. Get the part, play the part. Part gets killed along with the show when the network chooses other shows over yours. And back you go to the drawing board, or your nearby 90210 mansion.

For Tori Spelling, this got old. Come on, says the 30-something former "90210" virgin who has led a very 90210 life. Are viewers really supposed to buy her as a down-on-her-luck woman in a low-income bracket? It seems those were the only parts the daughter of Aaron Spelling had been getting ever since her character, Donna, finally had sex on "90210" and the show went off the air.

So Spelling, who has recently been the fodder of supermarket tabloids due to her $1-million marriage, quick divorce and even quicker second engagement, took matters into her own manicured hands. She created her own show, "so noTORIous" for NBC last year.

Alas, NBC passed - even though in this comedy Spelling doesn't play a down and out babe. In this one, she plays herself. She has moved out of the mansion and into a condo next door to Farah Fawcett, who appears in the pilot. The scripts are "loosely" based on her life, which essentially means that Spelling tries to borrow silver serving trays from her mom, Kiki, played by Loni Anderson, and she drives up to her daddy's mansion with the theme song from "Dynasty" playing in the background.

VH1 to the rescue! The basic cable network will premiere "so noTORIous," its first scripted comedy, on April 2. Produced by Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler, whose credits include "Murphy Brown," "Reba" and "Whoopi," the show is meant to poke fun at Spelling's image as the nation's #1 Daddy's Girl. Clips of the first episode were shown to television critics at an industry gathering at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel on Wednesday.

"After years and years of trying to get past my family and my life ... if people want to see this side of me, I decided to put it out there," explained Spelling, who was holding her pug, Mimi LaRue, on her lap. "My family loves that I am poking fun at myself, and they think it's very brave, and they support it."

Spelling's courage extends to a kitchen discussion with her childhood nanny about whether her breasts are natural or purchased.

"I thought it was so incredibly brave," piped in co-star James Carpinello. "I was laughing out loud when I was reading the script. I can't believe she's doing it."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-tori12jan12,0,4555168,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

01-11-06, 10:43 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Lewis, Richardson promote movies

By Matthew Zoller-Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Actors Damian Lewis ("Band of Brothers," "The Forsyte Saga") and Miranda Richardson ("Spider") showed up today at the BBC America session to promote two upcoming original movies, both written by Stephen Poliakoff, who's already being tagged as "the new Dennis Potter." (After the late author of "The Singing Detective," "Lipstick On Your Collar" and other classic BBC miniseries.) During the panel discussion, Richardson was asked to talk about the death of Princess Diana.

The event figures prominently in the Poliakoff movie she stars in, the late-1990s social drama "Gideon's Daughter," about a high-powered public relations consultant (Bill Nighy of "Love, Actually") whose personal crises and disenchantment with celebrity culture lead him into a complicated relationship with Richardson's character, a clerk at an all-night drugstore.

"We'd never seen anything like it," Richardson said. "I questioned myself at the time for being cynical about it. There was an outpouring. It was like Day of the Dead in Mexico. It was so touchy-feeling for the British that I went, 'Here we go again, inauthentic. ... You know, nobody is really feeling this. They are just doing what they thought they ought to, and that seemed so not British to me."

But then Richardson realized that Diana's death did spur a real sense of loss, "... all sorts of loss. It's a painful time, I think, where we're all going. We're not rooted at all, especially spiritually. Ther are programs on television, I notice more and more now, about blaming religion ... and I think the debate is good. It's all part of a time when we don't know what to believe in anymore."

Lewis waxed eloquent on his film, "Friends & Crocodiles," in which he plays a Jay Gatsby-like character who has a powerful, long-term platonic relationship with a female friend (Jodhi May of "Last of the Mohicans"). Then he took a somewhat lighter question about how his character managed to age convincingly over the film's 20-year timespan.

"Booze," Lewis cracked.

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

fredfa

01-11-06, 10:56 PM

Sports Media and Business
A New Swing in the Tour's TV Deals

By Richard Sandomir The New York Times January 12, 2006
(Damon Hack contributed reporting from Honolulu for this article.)

The PGA Tour announced new television agreements yesterday that will provide more tournaments for CBS and NBC and shift all of its cable arrangements to the Golf Channel starting next year.

Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour commissioner, and network executives declined to disclose financial details for the deals. CBS and NBC will have six-year contracts, and the Golf Channel will have a 15-year agreement.

The current deals with CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN and the USA Network were worth a reported $850 million over four years, and all were said to lose money for the television companies. CBS and NBC officials said their new agreements would be profitable.

But ABC and ESPN backed out of negotiations around Christmas, a week or so before the Golf Channel deal was completed, and USA stepped away much earlier.

"The right deal wasn't there to be made," said John Wildhack, a senior vice president of ESPN. "We would only make a profitable deal with a schedule we desired."

Although Finchem was careful not to say that rights fees would rise under the new deals, Ed Moorhouse, an executive vice president of the Tour, said that they would.

The contracts come soon after Finchem shuffled the PGA Tour schedule and announced a new season-long FedEx Cup points program and a four-tournament title series to end in September with the Tour Championship. CBS will carry the first of the four events, the Barclays Classic, with NBC showing the final three.

In all, CBS picked up three additional tournaments, giving it 19 annually, and NBC doubled its roster to 10. But the biggest change will come with the shift on cable to the Golf Channel, which will carry the first and second rounds of 33 tournaments and the entirety of 15 others.

The 11-year-old Golf Channel, which was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and is owned by Comcast, carries a few lesser PGA Tour events and fills its schedule with stops on the European, Champions, Nationwide and Southern Africa Tours. The channel has 70 million subscribers and also features news, talk, and instructional and reality programs. A new reality series, "The Daly Planet," starring John Daly, begins next week.

"The reality series show that we understand the emotions connected to the game of golf and that there are lots of ways to portray golf entertainment," said David Manougian, the president of the Golf Channel. "We'll continue to push that throttle."

Five years ago, Finchem said, he would not have made a season-long deal with the Golf Channel. But Moorhouse said that the PGA Tour grew more confident in such an arrangement as the network added Champions and Nationwide coverage and was acquired by the powerful Comcast.

The network has about 20 million fewer subscribers than ESPN or USA, a situation that echoes the movement of National Hockey League games this season from ESPN to OLN, which has nearly 30 million fewer than ESPN or USA.

Brad Faxon, speaking at the Sony Open in Honolulu, said, "Obviously, whereas with ESPN, people that turned it on for sports might watch golf, someone who turns on the Golf Channel, it will be for golf."

Tom Pernice Jr., also playing at the Sony event, added, "I think the deal will make it easier for the general public to find golf."

Manougian said the network's suddenly elevated profile should help boost advertising and persuade cable operators to increase distribution beyond the 70 million subscribers.

"We felt this was the next logical step," he said.

This year's schedule will feature only the Reno-Tahoe Open and the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, two so-called PGA Tour opposites that are carried on the same days as World Golf Championship tournaments. But next year's slate will begin with full coverage of the Mercedes Championships, the Sony Open and the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and conclude with the six or seven tournaments after the Tour Championship in what will be called the "Quest for the Card" to determine player eligibility for the next year's FedEx Cup.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/sports/golf/12sandomir.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

01-11-06, 11:02 PM

Press Tour Journal:
A marching band! Puppies! Ryan Seacrest! Oh my!

By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Back on the West Coast for the winter edition of the TV critics press tour, the three ring circus where networks present their midseason programming to 150 members of the Television Critics Association.

After about five years away, the tour has returned to the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, a little bit off the beaten path from the studios in Hollywood, but a location the pampered stars like to visit. It's not too shabby for the critics, either.

This tour began with cable, and the first day turned out better than I expected. On paper, the sessions - press conferences with stars and/or network execs -- looked a little so-so, but proved worthwhile. That's especially true of a session for National Geographic Channel's "The Dog Whisperer," which I plan to write about for Post-Gazette.com in the near future.

And love her or hate her, self-described supermodel Janice Dickinson (formerly a judge on "America's Next Top Model") is always outrageous and entertaining ("I was the star of 'America's Next Top Model' as far as I'm concerned," she said) and she didn't disappoint at a session for her upcoming Oxygen series.

But, as always, some network executives never learn that the best way to annoy the press is to filibuster for 20 minutes and allow little time for questions. After getting off to a strong start with a brief performance by the Grambling State University high stepping marching band, BET was the biggest offender.

E! newcomer Ryan Seacrest and Isaac Mizrahi showed up at an E! session to talk about Golden Globes red carpet arrivals coverage. Both are new to E! award show coverage, but Mizrahi seemed more shaky about what his role would be as co-host.

"I like and dislike everything equally," he said of celebrity fahions. He then emphasized his desire for spontaneity, commenting on coverage that is "pregurgitated. That means, like, chewed."

Mizrahi went on praise Seacrest's wardrobe, particularly his suit.

"Did you have a fitting on it?" Mizrahi asked. "I like the lining. It's the best part."

"How long is this deal," Seacrest jokingly inquired of his new E! bosses.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06011/636197.stm

fredfa

01-11-06, 11:33 PM

Obituary
George Walsh, 88; Voice of "Gunsmoke"

By Valerie J. Nelson Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 11, 2006

George Walsh, who became known as the voice of "Gunsmoke" after he introduced the western series on CBS radio for nearly a decade then followed the show to television as its announcer, has died. He was 88.

Walsh, an announcer and a newscaster at KNX-AM (1070) from 1952 to 1986, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 5 at Garfield Medical Center in Monterey Park, said his daughter, Fran.

Beginning in 1952, Walsh opened the weekly series that was broadcast live on radio with these words: "Around Dodge City and in the territory out West, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that's with a U.S. marshal and the smell of 'Gunsmoke.' "

The radio version of "Gunsmoke," which starred William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, aired until 1961. When it moved to television in 1955, James Arness took over the starring role but Walsh remained as the show's announcer.

Walsh, who once said the "Gunsmoke" cast thought the radio show would last forever, had only to look at the streets of Los Angeles in the 1950s to see the future of episodic drama.

"It was unbelievable. People were standing in the rain outside department stores watching television when it was new," Walsh told The Times in 2000.

For 34 years, Walsh worked at KNX as an interviewer, sports reporter, newscaster and announcer for a number of shows, including a fashion show hosted by film costume designer Edith Head.

One show, "Music 'Til Dawn," featured mainly classical music and aired overnight from 1952 until about 1970. The show won a Peabody Award in 1966.

Another, "This Is Los Angeles," aired nightly at 8:15 and earned him a Golden Mike Award in 1961 from the Radio and Television News Assn. of Southern California.

During one radio show, while Walsh waited to do a commercial, Danny Kaye pulled a prank with an egg sandwich.

"He suddenly walked up and shoved it into my mouth," Walsh told the Riverside Press-Enterprise in 1998. "I don't know how, but I kept talking."

Walsh's voice also reached a broader audience when he recorded "Only you can prevent forest fires," the signature line of Smokey Bear. His voice was used in the West Coast ad campaign, his daughter said.

George Russell Walsh was born in Cleveland on Nov. 29, 1917. Days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Walsh joined the Army Air Forces, serving overseas with Armed Forces Radio and emceeing USO shows.

Upon returning to the United States, Walsh became the program director at an ABC-affiliated radio station in Roswell, N.M., where he broke a story, which he was proud of decades later, about a UFO "landing" on June 17, 1947.

When an Air Force press officer claimed that a "flying saucer" had been captured near Roswell and sent to Washington, D.C., for analysis, Walsh went with the story, which was reported around the world before the military realized that the so-called UFO was actually a radar target.

Walsh came to Los Angeles to attend broadcasting school and was soon hired at KNX as a vacation relief announcer.

After he retired from broadcasting, Walsh worked in the shops on Main Street in Disneyland, a place his daughter said he "just loved."

A careful listener might have been able to connect the Candy Palace clerk with another part of the park — Walsh's voice was featured on the rides Flight to the Moon and Mission to Mars, which have since closed.

His daughter recalled Walsh, a longtime resident of Monterey Park, as a "kind and gentle man" who insisted on leaving a weekly thank you atop his garbage can on trash day: a chilled bottle of Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino.

In addition to his daughter, who lives in Riverside, Walsh is survived by his wife of 49 years, Charlotte; two other daughters, Janice of Fontana and Carolyn of Monterey Park; two brothers; two sisters; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-walsh11jan11,0,1514560,print.story?coll=la-news-obituaries

fredfa

01-12-06, 01:11 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Warning: 12 days with the crazies in TV land are gonna twist this sister

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Thursday, January 12, 2006

After last summer's TV press tour, a few of you wondered if I'd cracked. I had not, but thank you for asking. You had good reason to think so. For, whether we're talking summer or winter, the Television Critics Association Press Tour is a lovely parade of lunacy and stupidity.

Two or three straight weeks of it, with no chaser like a weekend, and a person's mental state tends to collapse. For a week afterward, one can't do much more than sit at home, rocking back and forth in a corner with Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" blaring from the CD player.

Or at least, that's what I did.

Anyway, my bosses have sent me back to Pasadena, Calif., for Winter Tour, which is a strange name for something that seldom leaves a hotel. For nearly two weeks, my fellow critics and I will watch a parade of TV honchos, stars and hopefuls expound on why their shows are the greatest thing since "The Simple Life."

I'm sure that by the end, I'll fit right in. Because by now, you know what keeps Hollywood going, right? Right.

It's the crazy people.

Human beings who, when offered a kiss by Lady Fame, slipped her a little too much tongue and emerged from her divine embrace short on level-headedness and with egos the size of zeppelins. These are the people your friendly P-I has charged me, a woman of little patience, to sidle up to and, if not get a few words, at least witness them doing, as Bobby Brown would say, how they do.

For 12. Long. Days.

To be fair, there are many high moments on press tour. Loads. Some come from finding out that most of these actors are working folks like you and me, and still behave like real human beings. James Denton of "Desperate Housewives"? A mensch. Christopher Gorham, star of "Out of Practice"? Lovely man. You should watch his shows. Even if that one doesn't make it, he'll be in others that will. Trust me.

Evangeline Lilly may take a ribbing for being outed as a Live Links girl before her star ascended on "Lost," but she is a genuine sweetheart, as is everyone else I've met from that cast. I'm always happy to report that kind of dish.

It's also wonderful to meet the entertainment and news industry's mavericks, men and women who earned our awe and respect and graciously give us an audience. Scanning the list of supposed-to-shows during this 12-day sentence: John Waters. Robert Redford. Monty Python's Eric Idle. Walter Cronkite. Ted Koppel.

HBO is bringing us Chloe Sevigny, Helen Mirren, Annette Bening, Sir Ben Kingsley and members of "The Sopranos" cast, as well as series creator David Chase.

Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme, ousted executive producers of NBC's "The West Wing," are listed among those we're scheduled to see on that panel.

But as I was saying, for every one or two of those, we get Eric Balfour, a guy who suffers from chronic diarrhea of the mouth and always seems to find work. Why, Hollywood lords, why?

We get Tori Spelling, who manages to show up at just about every press tour, usually for a series yanked faster than you can finish a sneeze. This time she has a better chance because her alleged comedy, "So NoTORIous," is on VH1, the channel that rarely cancels.

We get John Edward, seeing an opportunity now that "Medium" and "Ghost Whisperer" have returned a hint of allure to his profession, helming a new series for WE: Women's Entertainment.

We get the promise of a reality series about Lil' Kim's last days before her prison term -- but no Lil' Kim. Heaven help us, we get Janice Dickinson, granted an extension on her 15 minutes with Oxygen's "The Janice Dickinson Project" (its working title).

These are the figures that put the "color" in our tales from the Dream Factory. Well, they get credit, as well as network heads who come before us and lie their designer trousers off, vainly attempting to smoke-screen their failures and mediocrity.

Be assured, you will get all the news, the scoop, the blather, whatever you want to call it, from Pasadena and the surrounding areas. But I know what you really, really want, and I hope you appreciate what we critics go through to get it.

Yes, we are going to take it. For you, dear readers. Twelve days of stars, filthy rich executives, cold rooms, recycled air and half-truths.

Let the insanity begin.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/255257_tv12.html

keenan

01-12-06, 03:20 AM

From The Hollywood Reporter,

Nets take flight with host of pilot orders

Jan. 12, 2006
By Nellie Andreeva

Pilot season '06 kicked in to high gear Wednesday as broadcast and cable networks handed out a slew of greenlighted orders for drama projects, many with high-profile creative talent attached.

ABC ordered "Six Degrees," from executive producer J.J. Abrams; CBS gave the nod to "Jericho," executive produced and to be directed by Jon Turteltaub, and to "Orpheus," from executive producers Ridley and Tony Scott; Fox greenlighted "Faceless," which "Narc" helmer Joe Carnahan is on board to direct and executive produce; and NBC gave a thumbs up to "Heroes," from "Crossing Jordan" creator Tim Kring, and to "Seeing Red," from writer-producer Graham Yost.

USA Network, meanwhile, gave the formal production nod to the dramedy pilot "Underfunded," which is eyed as a companion piece for "Monk," after settling on stage actor Mather Zickel for the lead role, lifting the cast-contingency on the project.

Separately, UPN has cut a deal with Grammy-winning soul star Alicia Keys for a drama series project loosely inspired by her life. Writer Felicia Henderson (Showtime's "Soul Food") has been tapped to pen the show, a coming-of-age story about a girl from a biracial family.

Among the broadcast networks, the pickup orders come right on schedule as programmers gear up to finalize their pilot slates in preparation for the annual spring ritual of schedule-setting and upfront presentations in April and May.

At ABC, "Six Degrees," from Touchstone TV and Abrams' studio-based Bad Robot, is an ensemble soap about the intertwined stories of a group of strangers in New York from different walks of life.

Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner (ABC's "What About Brian") penned the script and are executive producing with Bad Robot's Abrams, Thom Sherman and Bryan Burk.

Zicherman, Metzner and Bad Robot are repped by WMA.

"Jericho," from writer/executive producer Stephen Chbosky ("Rent") and Paramount Network Television, chronicles the social, psychological and physical chaos that ensues in a small town when it becomes isolated from the rest of the world after a nuclear disaster. Turteltaub is exec producing through his Junction Entertainment banner.

The project was one of three developed under Turteltaub's three-for-one deal with CBS, which included three scripts, at least one of which was guaranteed to go to pilot (HR 12/16).

Chbosky and Turteltaub are repped by WMA.

"Orpheus" hails from Paramount Network TV and studio-based Scott Free Prods. Written by Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer-director Nicholas Meyer ("The Human Stain"), the project centers on a young man whose girlfriend is involved in a sophisticated, modern-day cult.

WMA-repped Meyer is exec producing with Scott Free's Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and David Zucker.

"Faceless," written by Dario Scardapane (USA's "The Darkling"), centers on a federal prosecutor who goes undercover as a criminal in order to take down a sprawling underworld organization.

Carnahan, Tony Krantz, Daniel Rappaport and Evelyn O'Neill are executive producing the 20th Century Fox TV pilot, with Scardapane serving as a co-exec producer.

"Heroes," from NBC Universal TV Studio, is a two-hour pilot described as a large ensemble drama about a group of seemingly everyday people who discover that they have superpowers.

Endeavor-repped Kring is the writer/executive producer.

NBC Uni TV's "Seeing Red," which has received a cast-contingent order, centers on an eccentric, brilliant cop who talks to dead victims that help him solve his cases.

CAA-repped Yost is the writer/exec producer.

UPN's Keys project is said to be inspired by the life story of the 24-years-old musical prodigy, who was born into a biracial family in the gritty Hell's Kitchen area of New York.

Keys, repped by WMA, is on board to executive produce the project, which has received a script commitment from the network, along with her manager, Jeff Robinson, and Henderson. Henderson, whose series credits also include UPN's "Moesha" and NBC's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," is repped by Endeavor.

Written by David Breckman and Ross Abrash, USA's "Underfunded" centers on Darryl Freehorn (Zickel), star agent for the little-known Canadian Secret Service whose brilliance in the field compensates for the woefully underfunded agency's lack of resources.

"Mather Zickel's comedic sensibility is a perfect fit for the character David and Ross created," USA executive vp original programming Jeff Wachtel said. "This show will make Mather Zickel a household name, if it isn't already."

John Fortenberry (Fox's "Arrested Development") is set to direct the NBC Uni TV pilot, which is slated to begin production Feb. 6 in Vancouver. Breckman and Abrash serve as co-executive producers, with Ric Kellard exec producing.

Zickel is best known for his recurring role as Mike Powers on Comedy Central's "Reno 911!" and for portraying Bill Murray in the ABC biopic "Gilda Radner: It's Always Something."

He is managed by Andy Corren and Kara Welker.

fredfa

01-12-06, 08:05 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Court TV Presents A Killer Lineup

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 12, 2006; C01

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 11--When Court TV first approached cult film director John Waters about playing the role of the "Groom Reaper," the host of its first scripted series, dramatizing actual marriages that ended in murder, he thought they'd asked him to play the "Groom Raper."

Either way, he told TV critics at Winter Press Tour 2006, he would have said yes.

Instead he will be seen at the opening of each episode of " 'Til Death Do Us Part," attending the wedding of the happy couple, then guiding viewers through scenes from the doomed marriage until they find out how and why one spouse whacked the other.

Despite the disappointment, Baltimorean Waters -- best known for such flicks as "Pink Flamingos," "Polyester" and "Hairspray" -- says he's happy to be part of the show because he hates weddings and hopes that if the show is a hit no one will ever invite him to one again.

" 'Til Death Do Us Part," envisioned as a series of mini horror movies, was created by Jeff Lieberman, a cult icon of the horror flick genre whose works include "Squirm," "Blue Sunshine," "Just Before Dawn" and who can forget "Satan's Little Helper."

Lieberman declined to discuss whether he picked Waters to tap into his reputation as a purveyor of bad taste. He said he was looking for "the irony that's built into the idea of it all . . . that marriages that end in spousal murder . . . started out in a beautiful, loving relationship defined by a wedding. . . . It's not the Groom Reaper's fault that these people do this, so I don't think it's in bad taste, no."

"It's a thin line these days, as you all know, between bad and good taste," Waters chimed in.

Another critic wondered how, given that the show had a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek going on, they'd deal with the fact that "so many marriages involve spousal abuse when there's a murder involved."

"I am not interested in doing any story that involves physical spousal abuse," Lieberman shot back. "I don't think it's entertaining."

Even Waters sensed the absurdity of that statement:

"I'd rather be abused than murdered," he said. When John Waters becomes the voice of reason, it's time for us all to throw away our Thorazine.

"And think about it: If they really were abused, they would not be convicted of murder," Lieberman added, which was so sweet and naive and so not what you'd expect from a horror flick director.

Court TV CEO Henry Schleiff, noticing all the red flags flying around, jumped in:

"I think it's a really good question, fine line between good and bad taste, fine line between how you tell these stories without glorifying spousal abuse in any respect," he said. "The important thing is, besides having a very active Web site -- we're going to treat some of these issues on that -- we think we have a pretty good reputation on that score. But most importantly, I think what you see substantively, all humor aside, is that these people are caught, punished and sometimes executed for these heinous crimes."

* * *

Author James Ellroy wants you to think he is one seriously messed-up guy with a compulsive need to shock and a Norman Batesian obsession with his dead mother, who was strangled when he was just a boy.

Naturally, Court TV asked him to revisit his mother's murder for an episode of its new series "America's Crime Writers: Murder They Wrote." He's one of five crime writers the cable network has recruited to share their insights on mysteries that have fascinated and touched them in some way, through actual footage and first-person accounts. The others are Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, Michael Connelly and Lisa Scottoline.

Sitting onstage in front of two large bookcases tastefully filled with copies of their novels, bottles of what appeared to be poison, carved heads, something floating in a pickling jar, and stuffed crows -- such a cliche -- the writers took turns doing the blah, blah, blah about his or her murder of choice for the TV critics.

Aside from Ellroy, they spoke rationally about the real-life murders they had picked and why, and mentioned how happy they were to get out of the little "burrow" in which they're holed up for hours, slaves to their art. If they'd been more observant, they'd have noticed how pasty the critics are, owing to the endless hours they spent in their little burrows watching TV shows and writing reviews, and they would have realized how that pity party would not play well here. They're not that observant -- which is interesting, since they're crime writers.

Anyway, Ellroy kicked off his blah, blah by calling the critics "peepers, prowlers, pederasts, [knickers enthusiasts], "punks and pimps" -- no doubt mistaking the gathering for a James Ellroy convention.

(In fairness, he also referred to himself as "the deliriously dystopian and darkly defined demon dog of American literature" and his colleagues on stage as "the greatest one-room aggregation of degenerates since the last Bush Cabinet meeting." Still, it's hard to warm up to a guy who's just called you a knicker enthusiast and a pimp.)

The skinny bald 57-year-old author, who sported small round glasses, a dark jacket, red shirt, khaki pants, maroon socks, brown shoes and a scowl, told critics that he was just 10 when his mother was killed in a "[poop]hole suburb 12 miles southeast of here."

"My bereavement was complex and ambiguous and she hot-wired me to sex and to crime in all its forms," he said, on a roll.

"She owns me. She claimed me in her death and she runs my life and serves as my muse to this day."

When he tried to solve her murder in the '90s and write a book about it, it was "a big media event," he assured the critics, but he and the retired L.A. County sheriff's homicide detective who was working with him did not discover who killed her, which, Ellroy added philosophically, "doesn't matter because closure is [horseradish] and I would love to find the man who invented closure and shove a giant closure plaque up his [heinie]."

Ellroy wanted to be sure the critics knew that his segment of the series will differ from those of the other four writers in that he will be "the complete on-camera host and I will script and narrate the entire program as well as appear on camera throughout the entire show."

"This show is in essence a paraphrase of my best-selling, award-winning 1996 memoir 'My Dark Places' -- you have that book in your press kits," he said, sounding for all the world like he was on a home shopping network.

When one critic asked why the writers thought viewers seemed so fixated by murder stories, like the Laci Peterson case that played endlessly on cable news networks to high ratings, Ellroy said, "We want to touch the darkness of crime and retain our immunity."

Another wondered about "the reality of serial killers versus the fiction of it."

Ellroy assured them "serial killers are a statistically minuscule anomaly" and that "your chances of running into a crazed, [nonsensical unprintable] are somewhere between slim and none -- you are much more likely to run into some lunatic crackhead who will knife your [heinie] for 20 bucks.

"Serial killers distance us as viewers because of their basic outlandishness and their statistical rarity," he continued. "They allow us to live in the fatuous notion of closure by their basic extremity."

At the end of which, Court TV's Schleiff assured critics that while Ellroy is going to host, write and produce his segment, "we will be editing his segment."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/11/AR2006011102442_pf.html

fredfa

01-12-06, 08:11 AM

TV Review
It has a cast you want to like, but “Crumbs” is true to its name

By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

You want to give this crowd the benefit of the doubt. Fred Savage, all grown up from ‘B]The Wonder Years[/B]. Veteran pros Jane Curtin and William Devane.

But when you get into the second episode and the chef stuffs the hamburger down his pants to give it the old temperature test with his most sensitive instrument, that's it.

For some reason, the family in the show is named Crumb, and the show is named Crumbs, and at least that's pretty decent truth in advertising. It premieres on ABC, tonight at 9:30 ET/PT, which gives you a pretty good idea that the network doesn't much like it either, even if it is after Dancing With the Stars.

Odds on a sitcom surviving Thursdays on ABC: about the same as an upper-middle-class suburban mother hooking up with a group of recovering meth addicts. That happens, too, in the show's second episode.

In the first, she's hooking up physically with the hulking orderly, named Elvis, at the high-class psychiatric facility in Connecticut where she's staying. It's named Silver Hill.

There is a real high-class psychiatric facility in New Canaan, Conn., named Silver Hill, and you've got to believe the show's creators are as crazy as their character, because it seems impossible that the real place, which has had such famous patients as Billy Joel, Liza Minnelli and Mariah Carey, will sit still for being associated with such a cheesy show.

Curtin plays mom Suzanne, who decides to stay an extra night in the sanitarium because "the schizos are performing Grease after dinner." She wound up there in the first place after trying to run over her husband as he was leaving to take up with his girlfriend.

Whenever the jokes about the crazy mom or the philandering husband or the one closeted gay brother (Savage) or the other oversexed nincompoop brother get too much, Crumbs turns off the laugh track and turns on the sweet background music, and everybody reminisces about a third brother who's dead.

So not only do you get insufferable comedy, but phony drama, too.

The gay brother's too embarrassed to tell his family that his hot Hollywood career, based on the film he wrote about his brother's death, has frozen up. The horny chef brother worries he may be next in line for film treatment.

"The joke's on you, pal," he tells his brother. "Because I don't intend to do or say anything interesting."

There are no decent jokes on Crumbs, but that second part's right on the money, and he could spread it out to the whole family.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13604801.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

01-12-06, 08:45 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Curtin keeps "Crumbs" together

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic Jan. 11, 2006

Jane Curtin has perfected the essence of a brittle, well-bred WASP on the verge of (another) nervous breakdown. Without her, "Crumbs" really would be a mess.

The conscience of "Saturday Night Live," versatile enough to create sitcom history on "Kate & Allie," strong enough to parry with John Lithgow for six years on "3rd Rock From the Sun," Curtin is great as a straitlaced comic foil or as the eccentric hyper-medicated maniac. In her new sitcom, "Crumbs," she is required to bray and howl as a deranged mom about to be sprung from a mental institution.

"Crumbs," launching tonight on ABC (9:30 ET/PT), is more often referred to as "the Fred Savage show." That's not surprising, given that Curtin and her biggest fans are in the wrong (older than 34) demographic. In fact, it's an ensemble show with a strong cast in search of an author.

"Crumbs," starring former "Wonder Years" star Savage, Curtin and William Devane, was created by Marco Pennette and based on his own family - heaven help them.

Savage plays Mitch Crumb, a Hollywood screenwriter who moves home to Connecticut to help with his family's restaurant business, run by his brother Jody (Eddie McClintock). Gay sibling Mitch is closeted to his family; straight sibling Jody is a proud womanizer. They clash, they joke, we wait for Curtin to reappear.

Curtin is Suzanne Crumb, the mood-swinging mom, playing opposite Devane as Billy Crumb, the motorbike-riding dad who dumped his wife after 30 years for a younger woman, who is now pregnant with his child.

As we know from watching too much TV, they will all need to learn to stop keeping secrets, begin to trust each other and generally strive for more admirable character goals, unattainable in any comedy intent on a future.

Skipping past the fact that mania, mental illness, the death of a family member and attempted homicide are not really hilarity-rich topics, this half-hour sets a major challenge for itself. These folks passed dysfunctional long ago and are quickly barreling toward intolerable.

Writer-creator-producer Pennette has his work cut out.

How to keep America laughing at the thought of an institutionalized woman who tried to run down her ex-husband with the family car? How to make the rage she endures seem endearing over the long haul? What's the best way to blend a serious dramatic core - the continuing trauma of a death in the family - with a comedic overlay?

Most important, what can they do to keep ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" audience from bolting?

"Crumbs" is bold enough to be eye-catching in its opening minutes, thanks mainly to Curtin's searing, self-deprecating comic style. But it seems unlikely to wear well.

Some observers suggest "Crumbs" is the leading candidate to replace "Arrested Development" in the hearts and TiVo to-do lists of fans. That's overly optimistic. The series share the premise of a dysfunctional family revolving around a sane everyman, but any similarities end there.

Where "Crumbs" relies on the relationship between two unlike brothers for a central theme, "Arrested Development" is less tied to a credible plot line, less interested in realism altogether, and more intent on making us laugh. "Crumbs" wants to be taken semi-seriously, dangling a tragic subplot beneath the surface, and that's not going to happen.

Sadly, the result is a fine cast underemployed.

Disappointment for NBC

NBC finished the week with a pair of ratings downers.

Controversy couldn't help the numbers for "The Book of Daniel" and renewed interest following the untimely death of actor John Spencer couldn't boost ratings for "The West Wing."

Both hours suffered meager ratings. "Daniel" was third in its Friday time slot with 9 million viewers; "West Wing," back from a month-long hiatus, was fourth in its Sunday slot with 7.3 million viewers. Five more episodes of "West Wing" have been shot; Spencer will appear on two more episodes.

Because of pre-emptions for the Winter Olympics and other specials, the last of the five episodes now completed won't air until March 19. NBC isn't saying how Spencer's death may affect the outcome of the election story line.

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3392886

fredfa

01-12-06, 08:49 AM

Critic’s Notebook
''Lost'' Again

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

I don't know if I have said this before, but ''Lost's'' episode (Wednesday) night reminded me once again how the show is sometimes like watching Sugar Ray Leonard against Marvin Hagler -- Leonard hanging back, letting Hagler dominate most of a round, then revving up in the final moments to impress the judges.

While there were many good things in the episode, which focused on Mr. Eko, it felt a little too methodical at first. Eko's back story was interesting enough, and there was a nice twist ending the speculation that he had actually been on the drug plane.

Still,it was as if it knew the audience had been away for a long time (since the show had gone through an extended rerun period) and needed to be brought gently back into the story. (The recap telecast preceding it was part of that re-entry process, of course, and I saw first-hand how important those shows are. As we caught the remainder of the recap, my wife looked at one scene and said, ''I forgot that!'') And I have to say that the smoky entity just looked silly,

But when it kicks in, gosh it kicks in, and it did so in the closing scenes tonight. The images in the camp, for one thing, suggested that the survivors are no longer just people in the same situation; they're a community, living in their own small town, and they have begun to build lives where the idea of being rescued is no longer front and center. And there was the bending of our emotions, from sadness over Charlie's exile, to the evidence that Charlie's demons may be far stronger than even the most cynical of viewers thought.

I was even more impressed by ''Lost'' after watching the first hour of the new season of ''24.''

You're going to see a grittier, grimier, pulpier Jack Bauer, but this show is only peripherally a character portrait. There are currents of politics, with clear allusions to the Nixon era, but it will always sacrifice political meditation for the sake of melodramatic action.

The first hour includes the deaths of two significant characters, and nostril-flaring on a level that recalls daytime dramas at their most overwrought.

I have three episodes to go before I pass judgment on ''24's'' start; still, at this point, it feels even sillier than in previous years.

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

fredfa

01-12-06, 08:56 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
The Weather Channel goes to hell

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”

A little harsh, that headline. But still. Remember when cable channels could be described in two words or less? "Weather Channel." "Headline News." "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network." OK, that was four words but it arguably did not allow for "The Junction Boys." Nor did Headline News mean a green light to give Nancy Grace yet another soapbox. But we digress.

The Weather Channel made a presentation to critics today, its first appearance on press tour (I'm told) in its 23-year history, to pitch "It Could Happen Tomorrow." Wait, I feel compelled to put that in the all caps font they use in the logo: "IT COULD HAPPEN TOMORROW"! It kind of yells at you, which is what makes its presence on The Weather Channel so jarring.

But Weather is facing the same problem a lot of legacy cable channels are facing: You can get what they offer pretty much everywhere. So now what? Well, you put entertainment programs on the air to fill the time between storms and keep the Nielsens this side of pathetic.

During the luncheon they showed critics a clip from the pilot, which it said was filmed in April 2005. The pilot asked: What would happen if a Category 5 hurricane hit New Orleans? You won't see that one on The Weather Channel, for obvious reasons, but you will see: What if a 8.0 earthquake hit San Francisco, 100 years after the 1906 quake. What if a hurricane hit NYC. What if The Weather Channel went commercial-free and replaced all the spots with product placements and sponsor banners so it wouldn't have to pander for viewers with shows like this one?

http://www.tvbarn.com/

fredfa

01-12-06, 09:08 AM

Critic’s Notebook
TV's contest for Thursday begins to heat up again

By Mike Brantley Mobile Register Thursday, January 12, 2006
(Note: all times are Central.)

No, there's no pushing aside TV's most-watched program, the CBS dramatic juggernaut "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Week in and out, it's the No. 1 show in its slot, in prime time, on the air.

The best the competition can hope for, it seems, is No. 2.

No. 2 isn't so bad. Last Thursday night, for example, ABC scored a better-than-decent second-place finish with the return of "Dancing With the Stars," which occupied two hours of prime time and went up against the double-whammy of a strong "CSI" rerun at 7 p.m. and a fresh "CSI" at 8 p.m. The night will get tougher when CBS' "Survivor" reoccupies the 7 p.m. position beginning next month.

"Dancing" managed to bring 17.46 million viewers to ABC's Thursday party a week ago, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was on top in its first hour, when 15.1 million viewers were looking at the "CSI" rerun over on CBS, but at 8 p.m. a week ago the week's first-run episode of "CSI" raked in 27.36 million watchers.

Tonight, ABC's programming -- as well as the second week of a reconstituted NBC Thursday night comedy lineup -- may gain still more traction against CBS as the latter network offers a "CSI: Miami" encore and a "CSI" rerun.

NBC used to own Thursday nights, but that was then. This is now, and the Peacock's programmers will have to be more than satisfied for the time being with the respectable ratings it scored in third place last Thursday.

"Will & Grace," a comedy finishing out its last season, was moved to 7 p.m., where it attracted 7.98 million viewers. (That series airs its second live episode tonight.) Newcomer "Four Kings," a half-hour later, increased the NBC audience to 8.84 million viewers.

No one expected "My Name is Earl" to clobber the first-run "CSI" competition at 8 p.m., but its 11.2 million viewers was a potent performance for the rebuilding efforts of NBC. A lot of those watchers dropped out at 8:30 p.m., when "The Office" went back to 8.83 million viewers -- almost the same as watched the "Four Kings" premiere.

Soon, with the February sweeps period looming, all the networks -- not just these top Thursday night performers -- will be operating on all cylinders. That means no reruns -- and the return of "Survivor" on CBS.

My favorite Thursday show this season remains the revived "Smallville" on The WB, and that's what I'll be watching at 7 tonight. Last week's rerun ranked in fifth place for the hour, with only 2.8 million viewers, but there's a fresh episode on tonight.

On ABC, meanwhile, "Dancing With the Stars" still will begin at 7 tonight, but the program cuts its share of prime time down to 90 minutes as the network debuts a new comedy at 8:30 p.m. That program, called "Crumbs," stars Fred Savage as a devoted son who moves back home to help his insane mother (Jane Curtain).

http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/entertainment/1137061393317540.xml&coll=3

fredfa

01-12-06, 10:35 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
MTVN Talks Up VH1, TV Land, Spike, CMT

By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com JANUARY 12, 2006 -

At the second day of the TV Critics Association’s annual winter convention, MTV Networks chose to bypass presentations by MTV and Comedy Central and highlight the work being done at VH1, TV Land, Spike and CMT.

VH1 kicked off the session with panels on its semi-autobiographical Tori Spelling sitcom So Notorious, premiering April 2, and its four-part documentary Heavy: The Story of Metal, debuting May 1.

Panelists on the latter included rocker Sebastian Bach, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, and a wizened Ronnie James Dio who replaced Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in the 1980s. Dio bemoaned the continued disregard among critics for heavy metal music, saying, “It’s pretty hurtful after a while not be appreciated for what you’ve done.”

TV Land’s section featured a panel about the network’s Black History Month entry, That’s What I’m Talking About. Premiering February 1, the three-part conversation series hosted by Wayne Brady, features three groups of black entertainers, ranging from filmmaker Spike Lee to actress Diahann Carroll discussing African-American culture.

One TCA member asked whether the show addressed issues such as the use of the so-called “N” word, to which filmmaker and panelist John Ridley responded, “One of the things we talk about in the show that really bothers me is--the fact that you won’t say ‘nigger’ makes it a bad word.”

Spike featured its ten-episode reality series Pro’s vs. Joes, premiering in March. The series pits average viewers against pro athletes in a series of often grueling competitions. Among the athletes appearing on the show are football vets Bill Romanowski, Herschel Walker, and Bo Jackson, Olympic decathlete Dan O’Brien, and women’s softball star Jennie Finch.

Finch, a co-host on This Week in Baseball, and a featured panelist at the TCA event, may still need some coaching when it comes to public speaking. “I really enjoyed getting to know Bill Romanowksi, and Bo Jackson and Dan O’Brien off the field, and having that locker room comaradity,” she observed, clearly having meant to say “comraderie.”

Finally, CMT highlighted its broadcast of the 2006 Miss America Pageant on January 21, bringing all 52 contestants into the conference room where the panel was held. After a gleeful uproar, several TCA members questioned Miss America Organization president and CEO Art McMaster about the pageant’s relevancy, particularly the program’s seemingly gratuitous swimsuit segment.

“It’s not about how anyone looks in a swimsuit,” McMaster said. “It’s about health and fitness.” Those remarks drew even a greater response than the opening parade of contestants.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001842913

fredfa

01-12-06, 10:49 AM

Sports On TV
“Hope” Will Get a Cable Hookup

Event will go off the networks and on the Golf Channel in 2007, when PGA Tour gets shaken up
By Thomas Bonk Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 12, 2006

If you're looking for the Bob Hope Classic on television beginning in 2007, you'll have to find the Golf Channel on the remote control.

Under the PGA Tour's new six-year television contract announced Wednesday, the cable channel will be the new home of the 47-year-old tournament, which will not be telecast by a network for the first time. ABC's final Hope telecast is next week.

When Commissioner Tim Finchem announced the tour's new television arrangement with broadcast partners CBS, NBC and the Golf Channel in a conference call, the notable absentees were ABC, which was expected, and ESPN, which was something of a surprise. Neither ABC nor ESPN are involved in the new PGA Tour television package, nor is USA Network, which has handled some early-round tournament coverage.

But perhaps the most surprising change involved the Hope. Officially the third event on the PGA Tour calendar beginning in 2007, it joins the season-opening Mercedes Championships and the Sony Open as tournaments that will be carried entirely on the Golf Channel.

That also means that the Hope will be played opposite the NFL playoffs for six years, which could be seen as further clouding the situation because of the television ratings at stake and what that might mean to tournament title sponsor Chrysler.

John Foster, a member of the Hope executive board, said the tournament's relationship with the Golf Channel could work out all right.

"We'll be a big fish in a small pond there," he said. "The image of it is probably a bigger deal than the actual effect. Hopefully. We're just not going to have a network provider. [The PGA Tour's] reasons for doing it are their reasons and sometimes we can't understand them."

Finchem said the Golf Channel is expanding into more households, attracts the desired audience and that any other problems with the Hope move don't add up.

"We just concluded that being in that third week with the NFL and covering it on the Golf Channel makes a lot of sense," he said. "The Golf Channel is a platform we think is going to be exactly where we want it to be in two years."

Finchem said 70 million households have the Golf Channel and that number will reach 90 million in two years.

Nielsen Media Research estimates the Golf Channel reaches 67.8 million households in the U.S., or 61% of the nation's 110 million television households. The major networks essentially reach all 110 million. Nielsen Media Research said ESPN reaches 90 million, or 82% of the total number of households.

Comcast, which owns the Golf Channel, also owns OLN, a cable network that carries the NHL.

Finchem said the tour's new 15-year agreement with the Golf Channel is simply strategic planning.

"We're not going in this with blinders on," he said. "We've been working on this for three years."

He said the PGA Tour has every reason to ensure the success of the Golf Channel and not just to make the Hope tournament officials feel more secure. The Golf Channel will also carry early-round coverage of the so-called FedEx Cup season, including the series-ending World Golf Championships and the Tour Championship, plus the Players Championship that's being moved from March to the second week of May in 2007.

Where this leaves the Hope is clear — a different television home on a different cable format. As for the networks, CBS is expanding its tournament coverage from 16 to 19 and will continue to carry the Nissan Open while NBC will double the number of its tournaments, from five to 10.

The PGA Tour's four-year, $850-million television contract ends at the end of this year. Finchem did not disclose the rights fees associated with the new deal, but he said the tour is projecting a $600-million increase in player benefits, prize money and retirement plan contributions as a result of the six-year contract.

There is more money to consider. If the Hope knows where it's going to be, whether Chrysler will continue to sponsor the event is unclear.

Chrysler's deal with the Hope ends with next week's $5-million tournament and it is already dropping its title sponsorship of three events in 2007 — at Greensboro, N.C., Tampa and Tucson, which will be eliminated completely as a tournament once the complete PGA Tour schedule is released in the next few weeks.

Tucson has had a PGA Tour event since 1945. The PGA Tour event in Milwaukee is also expected to be eliminated from the schedule. It has been a tour event since 1968.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-golftv12jan12,1,4246454,print.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports

AFH

01-12-06, 10:58 AM

fredfa

01-12-06, 11:04 AM

There has been no announcement, but I would expect by 2007 all the network golf will be in HD. And that would also push TGC's coverage to OLN HD, I would guess.

fredfa

01-12-06, 11:18 AM

TV Notebook
What NBC has riding on 'Four Kings'

It's the promise of attracting younger men
By Tom Watson in MediaLifeMagazine.com

Critics tore it up. And on the face of it, viewers didn't seem to think much of it either, awarding its premiere a third-place finish last week. To say the least, NBC's new Thursday sitcom "Four Kings" is not the quality television that NBC was once known for.

No matter. The sitcom about four New York guys is dear to the hearts of NBC executives, and it could be dearer still tomorrow morning. All depends on how the show does tonight, its second outing, and whether it can return anything like the audience it drew last week.

True, "Kings" may have placed third in 18-49s last week, but it did impressively well among men 18-34 and men 18-49, critical demos for the network as it struggles against an alarming loss of younger viewers (See today's "As NBC sags, its viewers are also aging").

“Kings” won its time slot among males 18-34, averaging a 3.1 rating and 10 share, and it finished second among men 18-49, averaging a 3.4 and 10, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

Also promising, "Kings," airing in the 8:30 p.m. hammock between “Will and Grace” at 8 p.m. and “My Name is Earl” at 9, built on its “W&G” lead-in among 18-49s by 20 percent, delivering a 14 percent improvement versus that timeslot's season average.

Overall, media people are impressed.

“NBC has not had a strong Thursday line-up among men since the glory days of ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Frasier,’" says John Spiropoulos, vice president and group research director at MediaVest. "If ‘Kings,’ in combination with ‘Earl’ and ‘The Office,’ can bring some of that back, it would be a big win for the network.”

Heralded as “Sex in the City" with guys and “Friends" without girls, “Four Kings” follows the lives of four twenty-something male friends sharing a Manhattan apartment. It’s from “W&G” co-creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, and stars Seth Green.

But reviewers passed on all the positive comparisons, finding "Kings" sophomoric and suffering from an overload of frat-house wit.

"It's clear that NBC wants the young male market to buy into 'Four Kings.' The series is littered with the type of one-liners seemingly mined from UPN's old 'Shasta McNasty' or even NBC's own failed British import 'Men Behaving Badly,'" wrote Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

And David Kronke of the Los Angeles Daily News opined: "It's as generic as sitcoms get, exemplified by lame gags such as Barry proclaiming, 'And the weekend officially begins' as he takes off his jeans, explaining, 'The boys have got to breathe.' NBC did a previous uninspired sitcom, "Men Behaving Badly," to which this seems an even more wan cousin."

The Washington Post's Tom Shales wrote: "Four Kings" isn't just tediously sitcommy, it's painfully sitcrummy."

Spiropoulos says NBC’s big challenge will be to ignore the reviews and get the show sampled before the network turns its schedule over to coverage of the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb.10 and run through Feb. 26.

“After that,” warns Spiropoulos, “CBS will be bringing ‘Survivor’ back to the Thursday 8 p.m. hour, and the competition will be even more intense.”

Spiropoulos dismisses the show's critical drubbing.

“Critical opinion seldom translates to rating success or failure,” he says. “If it did, longtime hits like ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ – vilified by reviewers when it debuted – would never have gotten a second airing, and critical successes like ‘Arrested Development’ would be our No. 1 show.”

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2177.asp

archiguy

01-12-06, 11:19 AM

There has been no announcement, but I would expect by 2007 all the network golf will be in HD. And that would also push TGC's coverage to OLN HD, I would guess.

By next year? Sorry Fred, but based on the pathetic progress so far - not even the U.S. Open has been telecast in HD yet - I don't see that happening. It's been 2 years now since CBS's abortive attempt to telecast the summer tournaments in HD. If I'm not mistaken, there are still technological hurdles with regard to wireless transmission of HD signals to overcome. And the net's unwillingness to pull the trigger and "just do it" - that's the biggest hurdle of course. But I'd like to be wrong on that...

fredfa

01-12-06, 11:25 AM

You could well be right.

But I believe by 2007 it will be the very rare top-tier nationally-televised sports event which won't be offered in HD.

If it had to, even Comcast probably would kick some of the needed extra cash in to finance the HD broadcasts so it could farm the Thursday-Friday coverage to its OLN HD -- immediately increasing the value (and penetration) of that network far more than the NHL deal.

fredfa

01-12-06, 11:27 AM

Research
As NBC sags, viewers are also aging

By Kevin Downey MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer January 12, 2006

NBC is slowly pulling itself out of a ratings slump with hit shows like Thursday’s “My Name is Earl,” but big troubles persist, most notably with viewers younger than 35 years old.

The network is posting double-digit declines in 18-34s, down 22 percent, and among people 12-34, down 19 percent.

That's even as NBC stems declines in older demographics. Its rating on a year-to-year basis among people older than 35 is down a relatively modest 4 percent, based on an analysis of fourth-quarter Nielsen Media Research ratings by media buying agency Magna Global.

NBC ranks No. 4 in 18-34s behind ABC, Fox and CBS so far this season. NBC has a 2.5 rating in the demographic, compared to ABC’s 3.2, Fox’s 3.1 and CBS’s 2.8.

Among adults 35 or older, NBC ranks No. 3 with a 4.6 rating. CBS has a 6.9, ABC has a 4.9, and Fox trails with a 3.3 rating.

NBC’s 18-49 rating is down 14 percent in fourth quarter, ranking it No. 3, according to Magna, and the network's audience had risen to 49.1 years old, up from 46.7 for the year-earlier period. That compares to a median age of 47.1 for all six broadcast networks and 37.3 years old for all television viewers.

Two factors are driving NBC's declines among younger viewers, explains Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna.

The first is the absence of top-rated sitcoms like “Friends,” which nearly two years ago finished its decade-long run on NBC’s once dominant Thursday lineup. The second reason, closely related, is that the bulk of the network's highest-rated shows are now dramas, which tend to attract an older audience.

“Without ‘Friends,’ and the young effect that that show had on [its] whole Thursday lineup, many of NBC’s most successful shows, primarily dramas, skew older,” says Sternberg.

“All three ‘Law & Orders,’ ‘Crossing Jordan,’ ‘Las Vegas’ and ‘Medium’ each have median ages of 49 or older, as does the NBC Saturday movie, ‘E-Ring,' ‘West Wing’ and both ‘Datelines.’ That’s more than half its lineup.”

Moreover, the viewers watching some of NBC’s current sitcoms are older than the audience that had watched sitcoms no longer on the air.

“'Joey’ is about five or six years older than ‘Friends,’ and that has resulted in ‘Will & Grace’ getting older,” says Sternberg, referring to the sitcom that follows the "Friends" spinoff.

NBC’s rating declines are most pronounced among young women.
The network’s overall rating in the 18-34 demographic is down from a 3.2 in fourth quarter 2004 to a 2.5. Among women 18-34, it's down from a 3.9 to a 3.1.

NBC’s struggle to attract younger viewers has to be all that more painful for network executives because it was precisely its hold over that audience that enabled it to dominate the 18-49 demographic for two decades, becoming in the process the most lucrative network. As recently as 2003, NBC generated nearly $3 billion dollars in the upfront ad-selling season. By last spring's upfront that figure had shrunk to about $2 billion, putting the network behind both CBS and ABC.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_2178.asp

cgh3rd

01-12-06, 11:39 AM

There has been no announcement, but I would expect by 2007 all the network golf will be in HD. And that would also push TGC's coverage to OLN HD, I would guess.

It should have been something The PGA asked for in the new deal. Every sport should demand this since it only makes their sport look better. I hope you are correct Fred.

fredfa

01-12-06, 12:10 PM

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

fredfa

01-12-06, 01:02 PM

Overnights
A wet blanket debut for 'South Beach'

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 12, 2006

UPN’s new Miami-set drama “South Beach” had received sour reviews, and it appears viewers took those reviews to heart.

The show’s premiere averaged a mere 1.0 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 in its 8 p.m. timeslot last night, even with what the network had averaged in the slot over the last four weeks.

That’s especially disappointing considering UPN had aired mostly reruns of “Eve,” “Love, Inc.,” “Girlfriends” and “Everybody Hates Chris” in that slot over the last month. The only original program to air in that time was an “America’s Next Top Model” reunion show, which averaged a 1.4 overnight rating on Dec. 14.

Even more discouraging for UPN, a second episode of “South Beach” aired in the 9 p.m. slot last night, falling 10 percent versus the premiere to a 0.9 average overnight rating among 18-49s.

Critics have been most unkind to “South Beach.” The Washington Post’s Tom Shales wrote this week: “The ‘drama’ is like an overheard conversation on an elevator that stops at no floors. Fortunately, there is a way out: your channel-changing remote, wondrous transport to that blessed refuge known as Anywhere Else.”

Just 2.4 million viewers tuned in for the premiere.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_2200.asp

fredfa

01-12-06, 01:06 PM

It should have been something The PGA asked for in the new deal. Every sport should demand this since it only makes their sport look better. I hope you are correct Fred.

Perhaps HD is in the contract, we don't know.

But as for the PGA demanding things, let's get serious: ABC, ESPN and USA all walked away. I think the ability of the PGA Tour to demand too much might not be as great as people think.

fredfa

01-12-06, 01:30 PM

The Digital Revolution
Hit CBS Shows Now On Demand From Comcast
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Survivor and The Amazing Race Now Available

(Comcast Press Release) Thursday January 12, 2006

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Four of CBS's top-rated prime-time series, including television's highest-rated program, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; NCIS; Survivor; and The Amazing Race are now available on Comcast's ON DEMAND video-on-demand (VOD) service.

Comcast Digital Cable customers in markets served by CBS owned-and- operated television stations (including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Dallas, Salt Lake, Denver, Miami, Chicago and Sacramento) now can watch on-demand episodes of each show as early as midnight following their broadcast on CBS. Episodes cost 99 cents each, and are available in the "Network Primetime" section of the ON DEMAND main menu. Viewers can watch programs as many times as they want for up to 24 hours after they select them.

The four programs are some of the most popular shows on television:

• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - the number one scripted series on television, with a weekly audience of 26 million viewers, is a fast-paced drama about a team of forensic investigators trained to solvecrimes by examining the evidence.

• NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) - Tuesday's most-watched program is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor, it focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents travel the globe to investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.

• Survivor - television's number one reality program has 16 Americans competing in a contest of physical and mental endurance that will reward the Ultimate Survivor $1 million.

• The Amazing Race - the three-time Emmy Award-winner for Best Reality Series pits 11 teams of two in a race around the world as they compete in a series of challenges, some mental and some physical, and only when the tasks have been completed will they learn of their next location. The first team to arrive at the final destination wins $1 million.

Episodes of CSI and NCIS will be available on Comcast ON DEMAND until the day the next weekly episode airs. When the new seasons of Survivor and The Amazing Race debut in February, each episode will be available for customers to view for the remainder of the season. Prior to that, customers can enjoy the complete seasons of Survivor: Guatemala and The Amazing Race 7.

"Adding CBS's top-rated shows to ON DEMAND is another way that Comcast is giving consumers the flexibility to watch television's best programming whenever they want to watch it," said Page Thompson, Vice President and General Manager of Comcast ON DEMAND. "Millions of people are already viewing programs on demand, and with prime-time network hits, VOD will continue to be the destination for customers who want the most choice and control in their home entertainment experience."

The new CBS series are part of Comcast ON DEMAND's growing library of more than 3,800 programs, including more than 800 movies each month, music videos and programs, kids' shows, sports highlights, news and informational programs. With ON DEMAND, customers can play, fast-forward, rewind, pause and restart their selections as many times as they want for up to 24 hours after being selected.

keenan

01-12-06, 01:39 PM

From TV Technology

Date posted: 2006-01-11

ESPN Accepting Spots for HD/SD Simulcasts

Ten years ago, it would have seemed like an April Fool's Day joke, but ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD are now accepting commercial spots in HD formats--produced to air simultaneously on ESPN's HD and SD channels. Starting on April 1, ESPN said it will allow an advertiser to produce a single commercial for HD (16:9) and SD (4:3).

Accordingly, each commercial must be produced to allow for a "center cut" or "sweet spot" to accommodate both aspect ratios, in order to air concurrently on ESPN and ESPN HD (or ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD). The simulcast option will be available on the ESPN channels on a 24/7 basis, the company said.

The HD/SD spots will be fed through the ESPN Digital Center, which was built in 2004. Promotional spots recently aired using the new system were produced for Capital One Bowl Week, the Chic-Fil-A (formerly Peach) Bowl, and the Alamo Bowl.

fredfa

01-12-06, 02:21 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Olympic skating drama starts tonight

By Diane Holloway Austin American-Statesman Thursday, January 12, 2006

Tonight’s the night when I begin my pre-Olympic hysteria.

The Turin Winter Olympics don’t begin for a month (Feb. 10-26 on NBC), but tonight is the beginning of the figure skating championships that will determine at least two-thirds of our female team and all of our male team.

And let’s face it, figure skating is what the Winter Olympics are all about. Unbelievable feats, Vegas-style costumes.

“The U.S. Figure Skating Championships”, dubbed “the nationals” by fans and insiders, arrives on ESPN2 tonight at 7:30 PM ET with the short programs for both the men and the women, live from St. Louis.

The long programs, which will decide medals and thus who goes to the Olympics, airs Saturday night at 8 ET on ABC.

If you’re a fan, you know that the women’s side is in a bit of a tumult right now because favored Olympic contender Michelle Kwan withdrew from the nationals with a hip injury. She has petitioned Olympic officials to award a berth anyway, based in part on her record of winning nine national championships, five world championships and silver and bronze medals in the most recent two Olympics.

Doll-like Sasha Cohen is favored to win the nationals in Kwan’s absence, despite battling the flu for several days. Other contenders include Alissa Czisny, Kimmie Meissner and Emily (sister of gold medalist Sarah) Hughes.

There always seems to be a world of drama surrounding women’s figure skating, peaking with the knee-whacking of Nancy Kerrigan involving Tonya Harding and cohorts in 1994.

Tonight’s short programs on ESPN2 will prep us for Turin — and give us a peek at the supreme melodrama to come.

Mommy, make them stop!

My heart sank when I watched the preview of ABC’s new sitcom “Crumbs” (debuts tonight at 9:30 ET) and witnessed Jane Curtin, William Devane and Fred Savage acting like cartoon characters on meth. Stop it. Please.

Whoever told them to adopt this style of super-duper-overacting should be taken to the shed and spanked hard.

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/

AFH

01-12-06, 02:38 PM

Hey Fred, I love to read Tom Shale's stuff when I get a chance, but I haven't noticed any reviews post here from Shales. Granted I just go back to reading the thread after taking a couple of weeks off.

fredfa

01-12-06, 03:41 PM

I usually post Shales when I see new reviews-- he has been pretty quiet since November.

I did post his "Emily's Reasons Why Not" review a couple of days ago -- and I'll pay special attention to make sure I post all of his reviews in the future for you.

RussTC3

01-12-06, 04:50 PM

AGH!!! No curling in HD?

[Vader Voice]NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!![/Vader Voice]

Best.Event.EVER!

:D

fredfa

01-12-06, 06:40 PM

Sorry Russ.

(From the NBC Press Release)

NBC HD

The Torino Games will feature the most high definition coverage in Olympic television history. For the first time, Olympic HD viewers will see a simulcast of the analog broadcast -- same time, same broadcasters, same graphics -- but in High Definition and in 5.1 surround sound.

Figure skating, hockey, long and short track speed skating, ski jumping, freestyle aerials and moguls, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies will all be broadcast in 1080i high definition because those venues in Torino are wired for high definition coverage by the host broadcaster. From those venues where the host broadcaster is unable to provide a high definition signal, a 16:9 signal will be upconverted by NBC.

Your local NBC affiliate's digital channel will carry the high definition simulcast of the network coverage.

UNIVERSAL HD

Since USA, MSNBC and CNBC, like most cable networks, do not have high definition platforms, Universal HD, NBC Universal's high definition cable network will carry a live simulcast of much of the cable coverage, featuring Olympic hockey like it has never been seen before.

fredfa

01-12-06, 06:46 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Welcome Back, “Commander in Chief”

By Kevin D. Thompson Palm Beach Post Television Writer January 11, 2006

Great to see ”Commander in Chief” back on last night after what seemed like a two-year hiatus. As usual, the show was in fine form as Lady Prez Mac worked overtime to rescue the crew of a U.S. submarine that ran into trouble off the coast of North Korea.

I just loved how Mac stood toe-to-toe with those steely-eyed military dudes without even blinking. Talk about female prez power! I loved even more how Mac's politically savvy Chief of Staff (splendidly played by Harry Lennix) put those military dudes in line for dissing Mac and not giving her the commander-in-chief props she deserves.

Can't wait to see how it all turns out next week.

One reason I love Commander so much is watching Donald Sutherland as a dastardly Speaker of the House. Nathan Templeton is Commander in Chief's J.R. Ewing. But I was little concerned that Templeton was coming off as too much of a good guy last night. Did he get a lobotomy, or what? Templeton was even downright humble as he tried re-hiring his former -- and way hot! -- chief of staff.

And was it just me, or was Templeton extremely too nice and too helpful to Mac while offering a smart solution to her thorny North Korean problem? Like all politicians, you know the guy's gonna want something in return somewhere down the line.

Note to writers: Keep Templeton slithery. Make sure that devilish glint never leaves his eye. It did last night. And that can't happen again.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/thompson/entries/2006/01/welcome_back_co.html

fredfa

01-12-06, 06:50 PM

An apology.

I have probably posted 30-40 items over the past few months from Kevin D. Thompson Palm Beach Post Television Writer.

He has some interesting takes on the world of television.

My only problem is that I have consistently misspelled his name as "Thomspon".

Although regular readers of this thread may be used to my creative formatting problems, there is no excuse for such a continual screwup.

So, I offer Kevin my apologies. I've got his name right at last.

fredfa

01-12-06, 07:46 PM

TV Review
“24”: Back From the Dead, a Secret Agent Is Ready to Save the World Again

By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times January 13, 2006

There are a few shows that are sophisticated and also have a childish appeal. Even some of the most jaded television snobs look forward to the season premieres of "The Sopranos" or "Curb Your Enthusiasm," as if those HBO shows were Christmas morning. On Fox, a new "24" also has the power to make grown men squeal.

And amazingly, the new season, which once again drags the special agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) back into the line of duty, does not disappoint. "Sleeper Cell, " a Showtime series about an undercover F.B.I. agent who infiltrates a Muslim terrorist cell in Los Angeles, is a spookier, subtler thriller. But "24" still provides an irresistible blend of iPodish computer wizardry and "Perils of Pauline" cliffhanger suspense.

Fox asked critics to swear a blood oath not to reveal the plot of the first 10 minutes of the four-hour premiere that will be shown in two parts on Sunday and Monday nights, and even most spoiler Web sites have shown admirable restraint. But obviously, dire things happen, leaving many lives and national security at stake. Bauer, who last season saved the nation from a cataclysmic nuclear attack and then had to fake his own death to avoid extradition to China, is the one man who can save the day, or in this case, Day 5.

This countdown clock begins ticking at 7 a.m., 18 months after the end of Day 4. (Each episode takes place over one hour of a 24-hour day that ends at the conclusion of the season.) Bauer, who is still officially dead, has assumed a new identity as Frank, an oil rig worker who lives in Mojave, Calif., with a girlfriend, Diane (Connie Britton), and her surly teenage son, Derek (Brady Corbet).

There has been considerable turnover at Bauer's old office in the Los Angeles branch of the counterterrorism unit, but fortunately, the best computer savant, Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub), is still hard at work in the unit, and she remains as delightfully irritable and awkward as ever. This season, she has a suitor, of sorts, yet even romance does not soften her demeanor. And she is still willing to break rules to decode and reroute all kinds of computer data to help Bauer.

Mr. Sutherland does the best he can to suggest the inner turmoil of Jack Bauer, a character who is too busy fleeing his friends and pursuing his enemies to reveal much personality. Haunted and hard-boiled, Bauer is a classic action-adventure hero: a man of few words but many tricky martial arts moves. So color on "24" is mainly provided by secondary characters. Unfortunately, Jack's annoying daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), is fated to make a return appearance. But at least there are a few, new enjoyable faces.

Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) is still a Nixon-lite president of the United States - vain, volatile and prone to panic. (He routinely lashes out at senior aides, who stare back at him with dismayed stoicism.) This time, however, the story includes his wife, Martha (Jean Smart), who appears to be mentally unstable and somewhat paranoid when off her medication - a latter-day Martha Mitchell. The first lady suspects that a sinister plot is afoot, but her husband and his top aides keep assuring her that she is imagining things, like Ingrid Bergman in "Gaslight." But they sometimes do have a point: no first lady in her right mind would wear plunging décolletage and thigh-high stockings to a summit meeting with the Russian president.

Well, maybe in a West Coast White House. "24" was created by Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, both of whom worked on the hit series "La Femme Nikita." Their latest endeavor has an indelible Los Angeles flair: the counterterrorism unit office looks more like the headquarters of Creative Artists Agency than the Central Intelligence Agency, and for some reason, all the villains, be they Islamic fundamentalists, drug smugglers, American oil brokers or Russian separatists, keep picking Los Angeles as a target for attack. This could be a signal that the world now views America as a superpower in show business alone, and that the epicenter of any first strike should be Hollywood. More likely, the show's creators preferred to keep location shoots close by.

It doesn't really matter; the series is not meant to be plausible, it is supposed to be cathartic - a way of working out our worst fears of modern-day terrorism, be it bio, cyber or nuclear, in a fantasy that brings us right to the brink of destruction until one superhero prevails. It's the same scenario every season, and each one provides the same, ever-escalating brushes with catastrophe. Keeping any thriller going for 24 episodes is not an easy matter, however, and each season is over-packed with contorted plot twists, false leads and red herrings. Inevitably, there are moments when the series's creative verve starts to flag.

"24" is a little like childbirth: by the end of each season, the process seems unbelievably long and painful, but once it is over, that is forgotten and most are ready to start all over again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/arts/television/13twen.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

01-12-06, 07:51 PM

TV Review
USA Renews Monk, Adds Two Shows

By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable1/12/2006

USA picked up a fifth and sixth season of its original hit series Monk, as well as rights to strip the show beginning in 2008, the network said today at its Television Critics Association press tour presentation.

The NBC Universal cable network has ordered 16 episodes for seasons five and six and will strip all six seasons, a total of 93 episodes, beginning in 2008. The show, about an obsessive-compulsive detective, is produced by NBC Universal Television Studio in association with Mandeville Films and Touchstone Television.

USA also unveiled a pilot for Underfunded, a one-hour drama about the Canadian Secret Service. Mike Powers, best known on TV for his role on Comedy Central’s Reno 911!, has signed on for the starring role.

The network is also at work on The Great American Christmas, an unscripted holiday movie from Gary and Julie Auerbach, whose Go Go Luckey! production company produced MTV’s hit drama/reality show Laguna Beach and A&E’s own current hybrid Rollergirls. Christmas, about six dysfunctional families during the holidays, will run in December 2006.

USA averaged 2.67 million viewers in prime during fourth quarter.

fredfa

01-12-06, 07:56 PM

TV Notebook
USA Renews Monk, Adds Two Shows

(USA Network Press Release) Published: January 12, 2006

16 Episode Orders for “Monk” Seasons Five & Six; Strip to begin in 2008

LOS ANGELES, CA -- January 12, 2006 -- USA Network announced today that MONK, the award-winning original series starring Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner Tony Shalhoub, has been picked up for seasons five and six, with a 16 episode order per season. Additionally, USA has picked up the back-end strip rights to MONK from NBC Universal Television Distribution. Beginning in 2008, USA will strip all six seasons of the show, totaling 93 episodes. The announcement was made jointly by Jeff Wachtel, USA's executive vice president, original programming and Jane Blaney, USA's senior vice president, programming.

"MONK is the cornerstone of USA's original programming," said Wachtel. "It remains one of the highest-rated series in basic cable history. We are so proud to bring it to the next level."

"We are thrilled to keep such an acclaimed and beloved series in our stable of programming," added Blaney. "MONK is such a consistent performer, we are confidant that it will have a long, successful life on USA for many years to come."

Tony Shalhoub ("Big Night," "Wings," "Men in Black") has earned two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two SAG Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Adrian Monk, a brilliant detective who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Monk's psychological disorder costs him his position as a legendary homicide detective on the San Francisco Police Force. Due to the tragic unsolved murder of his wife, Monk has developed an abnormal fear of germs, heights, crowds and virtually everything else, which provides an unusual challenge to solving crimes ... not to mention his day-to-day existence.

Traylor Howard ("Two Guys and a Girl," "Me, Myself and Irene"), Ted Levine ("Heat," "Moby Dick") and Jason Gray-Stanford ("Taken," "A Beautiful Mind") also star.

fredfa

01-12-06, 08:34 PM

TV Notebook
'24's' Jack Bauer still a mystery
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Thu, Jan. 12, 2006

There are so many things that Fox doesn't want me telling you about Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and the first four hours of this season's "24" (8 PM ET/PT Sunday and Monday) - the no-nos outlined in a letter where nearly every other sentence is either boldfaced, underlined or both - that I'd be lucky to string together more than 24 words on the subject without getting summoned before a grand jury.

Or worse.

No one, after all, knows for sure that "24's" top-secret CTU doesn't actually exist, its employees there to do the bidding of Fox honcho Rupert Murdoch.

I could talk, I suppose, about Sutherland's alleged holiday attack on a London hotel's 12-foot Christmas tree, as reported earlier this month in the Sunday Mirror, but if he did it, it wasn't really very Jack of him.

Jack doesn't attack Christmas trees (at least not so far), and while he does have some history with heroin (a habit he picked up in the line of duty), we've never seen him in the state of inebriation Sutherland reportedly was in when he told a hotel employee, "I'm smashing it - can I pay for it?"

Which is too bad, because there's more character development in that line than we've seen in four seasons of "24," and the first four hours of Season 5 aren't going to even things up.

Four seasons ago, when I still thought that Jack Bauer was just a nice guy having a very, very bad day, his lack of conversation didn't really bother me.

The clock, after all, was ticking.

But if I stick it out after Sunday and Monday's four-hour season premiere, this will be the fifth day I've spent with the guy, and I'm not sure I know him much better than the people who met him while he was living incognito (in an undisclosed location, but nowhere, I think, near Dick Cheney).

Women keep falling for him, though. I think I can safely say that, even if I probably shouldn't say much about the latest victim of Jack's strong, silent "gotta go" charm, except to say that she's just as pretty as all the earlier ones, and just as clueless.

I mean, what does this guy talk about on a date? The finer points of electronically enhanced interrogation? The disarming of nuclear warheads? The Lakers?

For years now, I've talked about "24" in terms of an amusement park ride or a video game, and I guess I should know better than to expect meaningful dialogue from a show whose main purpose is to induce an adrenaline rush.

But once you've seen Jack save the world a few times - using torture and killing along the way - you've got to wonder:

Just what's it going to take to get this guy to talk?

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13606437.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

bgooch

01-12-06, 10:46 PM

what do they mean "featuring Olympic hockey like it has never been seen before"? will UHD be live to the west coast? will the Universal HD simulcast of the olympics be in HD or WS or SD?

fredfa

01-13-06, 12:59 AM

UHD will be live to the west coast as far as I know.

Apparently UHD will be HD all, or virtually all, of the time.

We will know more when NBC releases the schedule of the events it plans to broadcast.

But remember that most of the events will be available live on the various cable channels. It appears that hockey will take up a big chunk of UHD's schedule.

fredfa

01-13-06, 01:04 AM

TV Review
What could be Jack's worst day looks like a great one for '24' fans

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Friday, January 13, 2006

When you think about it, Jack Bauer's kind of a drag. He's quiet, he's duty bound to have little use for idle conversation, he gets the girl but never manages to keep her. Whenever we check in on him, it's during one of the worst days of his life.

Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) is reliable, too. There's never any question as to whether he will succeed. He always does. The kind of man he'll be by the time it's over, that's the mystery that really keeps us on our toes.

Last May, the Chinese government wanted him imprisoned for his part in killing a dignitary in their embassy, so Bauer, as far as anyone aside from four people knew, was killed. Then Chloe, the Counter Terrorist Unit's super nerd (Mary Lynn Rajskub), Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) and Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth) revived him, allowed him one phone call to bid former President Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) adieu, and he vanished.

That last shot of Jack, his iconic stroll down the train tracks into the sunset, was brilliant -- and worrisome. It was a point-of-no-return kind of finish in a season that seemed impossible to top. (They crashed Air Force One, for goodness sakes!)

Executive producers Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran and the rest of the writers should be commended, then, because "24" roars back brilliantly. The first 15 minutes of the four-hour season opener, airing Sunday and Monday at 8 on KCPQ/13 before moving to its regular Monday 9 p.m. time slot the next week, are stuffed with a number of unexpected brutalities that suggest this may be Jack's worst day ever.

After rocketing through that shock and awe -- honestly, message boards will be screaming by 10 on Sunday -- Jack gets to work. Only in this go-round, he's considered a rogue. To reveal the specifics as to why would be criminal, of course. (Addicts who want to know what he's been up to can check out the 10-minute prequel included in the season four DVD set.)

What I can say is that in addition to staving off another international catastrophe, there's a very personal element to Jack's one-man crusade. The fact that he technically doesn't exist makes it tastier. Sutherland's manner seems different, cold and emotionally charged at the same time, so he's less comparable to the old Jack Bauer than to Jason Bourne.

That means a whole lotta killing. Obviously. Is it wrong to cheer at that prospect?

From a purely moral point of view, probably. "24's" outright cruelty, committed by both its terrorists and its hero -- but mostly by the hero -- is a nasty byproduct of Jack plowing through evildoers to stop the doomsday clock. It's not as if they don't have it coming. Even so, the fact Bauer's annual marathon of finger-breaking and fun with pain techniques recently influenced our national political discourse on torture may transform a sheer pleasure into a guilty one for a few of us this season.

A very few, we think. Most see the show for what it is -- television's best weekly action show and about as true to life as a Schwarzenegger flick.

Beyond the escalation in violence and insane situations, "24" really hasn't deviated from its basic framework in four seasons. Terrorists stage a horrible attack that serves as a distraction, allowing the real disaster to be set in motion. The first wave of bad guys are never the true criminal masterminds. There's never any time for our heroes in L.A.'s Counter Terrorist Unit, especially Bauer, to go to the bathroom or nibble a power bar, but they can always scrape together a few seconds to exchange tender moments worthy of daytime television.

It's all quite ridiculous, really. Within one "real time" hour, Jack can die and not only be brought back to life, but subdue his torturers and run from the scene of his demise. That's nothing. In a day, he has kicked heroin; witnessed warring ex-lovers get all sweaty at the thought of planet Earth exploding and reconcile; seen presidencies ascend and fall; chased heavies back and forth over international borders; and halted nuclear disaster. Twice. No thinking person would buy any of this.

Yet dedicated viewers always hunger for another season -- even after the Year of the Cougar -- because we know the allure is in what happens around the central crisis, not the crisis itself. "24" also gives back to its faithful, as it did last season when Chloe, always the put-upon, pouty wallflower at every party, got to turn a machine gun on the man trying to kill her. Those who rooted for her then will rejoice to know her time of living dangerously didn't end with that Rambo moment.

Season five's cast includes a number of new faces, such as Sean Astin, who may end up being the best or worst thing to happen to CTU; Peter Weller, set to join the crew in an upcoming episode; and the most compelling person in the season opener, Jean Smart as the first lady.

In the first four hours, Smart creates a new kind of female on a show known for veering between extremes in its women characters. Martha Logan isn't the ultimate Lady Macbeth, like Sherry Palmer, or a victim in the mold of -- heck, take your pick. She's a caged Cassandra, medicated to the brink of sanity and ignored. Smart makes us empathize with her frustration without overselling it.

As always, the conspiracy looks like it goes all the way to the top, where Jack no longer has an ally. Eighteen months after the season four finale's events, President Logan (Gregory Itzin), a power-hungry man with a will as weak as his chin, is dead set on signing a treaty with the Russian premier while staying at his midcentury modern Los Angeles pad.

By the way, if these things always happen in L.A., why keep staging important events there? Ever heard of Washington, D.C.?

Too late for those questions, because terrorists -- headed, according to reports, by a billionaire played by Julian Sands -- don't want that to happen, and are willing to go to outrageous lengths to stop it. And the head of CTU is forced to watch his back when Lynn McGill (Astin) gets called in to oversee the handling of the crisis by the unit and Audrey Raines (Kim Raver).

I have always been of the opinion that "24," a perennial award nominee, received nods in seasons that didn't deserve it. For two seasons, the series premiered strong, fell into a middle-plot slump, then redeemed itself near the end of the day. Last season it kept its tightrope from slackening, which gives us hope for this one. Maintaining the tension established in these first four episodes is a difficult task, but if the writers can do it, prepare to experience a lot of happy anxiety between this month and May.

There is one bright spot in day five: Jack's hell begins at a reasonable hour, between 7 and 8 a.m., as he's sitting down to pancakes and orange juice with a female friend, Diane (Connie Britton) and her moody teenage son.

As for whether he gets a bite of those pancakes ... what do you think?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/255468_tv13.html

fredfa

01-13-06, 01:09 AM

TV Notebook
'Lost' actress fined in DUI case

Honolulu Advertiser, Thursday, January 12, 2006---"Lost" actress Cynthia Watros was fined $312 and ordered to undergo an alcohol assessment and 14 hours of counseling after pleading guilty to a single count of drunken driving today.

Watros, who appeared in Kane'ohe District Court before Judge James Dannenberg, told the court "I'm sorry," after her guilty plea. She plays Libby on the award-winning ABC show.

Prosecutors also waived a crossing white line citation that had been tacked onto the DUI.

Prosecutors say the sentence is typical for first-time offenders.

Watros, 37, and fellow "Lost" actress Michelle Rodriguez, 27, were arrested Nov. 24 in Kailua driving separate cars.

Rodriguez last month entered a not guilty plea on a charge of DUI. Her trial is set for March 30. She plays Ana Lucia on the show.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jan/12/br/br03p.html/?print=on

bgooch

01-13-06, 01:37 AM

Thursday, January 12, 2006
SLEUTH ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION DEALS WITH DIRECTV AND ECHOSTAR
Released by Sleuth
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20060112sleuth01

Additional Carriage Agreements with Time Warner Cable and Knology, Among Others Put Sleuth in more than 22 million homes by Summer 2006

Englewood Cliffs, NJ - January 12, 2006 - NBC Universal Cable Entertainment's new crime/mystery/suspense network, Sleuth, will launch on satellite TV providers, DIRECTV this Spring and on EchoStar's DISH Network by Summer 2006, the announcement was made today by David Zaslav, President NBCU Cable and Jeff Gaspin, President NBCU Cable Entertainment, Digital Content and Cross-Network Strategy.

Sleuth, the 24-hour channel -- dedicated to the crime, mystery and suspense genres debuted January 1 to more than 5 million subscribers through previous distribution deals with Time Warner Cable, Knology and others, bringing the network's distribution to more than 22 million homes by Summer 2006.

"The major support from our distributors out of the box for Sleuth is reflective of the popularity of the crime/mystery genre," commented Zaslav. "Our research and discussions with our affiliates showed us that this was a network that they would be interested in and this recent announcement demonstrates that. We appreciate the support of our affiliates."

"We had a number of goals when we began discussing the launch of a crime, suspense and mystery channel - to create something special for viewers who love this popular and enduring genre, to utilize our extensive library of great crime dramas and to offer a channel that cable operators would embrace, said Gaspin. We are thrilled to be achieving these goals and in a position where Sleuth can be seen in more than twenty-two million homes."

SLEUTH is the first network to offer a digital triple pack service, which features a standard definition digital channel (SD), hi-definition simulcast channel (HD), and a video-on-demand (VOD) channel offered as a digital bundle. The SD digital channel launched on January 1, 2006, with the VOD and HD offerings available later in 2006.

About SLEUTH
SLEUTH, an NBC Universal Cable digital suite of networks launched in first quarter 2006, is the premier entertainment cable channel dedicated to the popular crime/mystery/suspense genre, 24/7. SLEUTH features exclusive crime and mystery programming from NBC Universal's extensive collection of feature films, classic television shows, reality series and documentaries, from "Miami Vice" and "Homicide" to "Scarface" and "Casino." The unique Sleuth digital suite will include video on demand (VOD) content and a high-definition (HD) simulcast. To uncover more, visit: www.sleuthchannel.com.

About NBC Universal Cable
NBC Universal Cable, a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's preeminent media companies, drives the company's cable strategic development and growth including video-on-demand, pay-per-view, HDTV and retransmission consent, and oversees the cable distribution, marketing and local ad sales of fourteen properties (Bravo, CNBC, CNBC World, MSNBC, mun2, NBC Weather Plus, SCI FI, ShopNBC, Sleuth, Telemundo, Telemundo Puerto Rico, Universal HD, USA and the Olympics on cable). NBC Universal Cable also directs and manages the company's cable and new media investments including A&E, The History Channel, History Channel International, The Biography Channel, National Geographic International, the Sundance Channel and Tivo.

The above press release was issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.

keenan

01-13-06, 02:57 AM

From The Hollywood Reporter,

Jan. 13, 2006

Small-scale Fox 21 sets large slate

By Nellie Andreeva
When 20th Century Fox Television launched low-budget project division Fox 21 about 18 months ago, it quickly was dismissed by some as another destined-to-fail attempt to curb the upward spiral of primetime series production costs.

Today, the company is a well-established brand in the creative community, with three series on the air, including its breakthrough international hit "Beauty and the Geek," whose second season launched Thursday night on WB Network.

Fox 21's busy development slate includes the drama pilot "Saved" for TNT -- toplined by Tom Everett Scott -- which is in production; a comedy presentation for Fox starring comedian Jeffrey Ross; "Amped," a sci-fi miniseries in de¬velopment at Spike TV from "The X-Files" alums Frank Spotnitz and Vince Gilligan; a docu-reality show in the works at Fox; and about a dozen pilot scripts.

"It has been a success," Fox 21 head Jane Leisner said. "It shows that you can accomplish a lot when you spend time (on the projects) and produce smartly."

In addition to "Geek," Fox 21's roster of series includes the comedy "Free Ride," slated for a midseason launch at Fox, and "Fountain of Youth," a reality show for WB, a collaboration with "Geek" co-producers Katalyst and 3 Ball Prods.

Also in production is the Jeffrey Ross project. To be directed by Joel Gallen, it features the comedian in front of a live audience.

Fox 21, once touted by 20th TV brass as a "lean and mean" production company, has grown just a little size-wise since its inception, with Leisner's team including three creative executives and two business and production executives.

The minimalist feel has helped the company, which has a distinct independent vibe, Leisner said.

"It's been a workshop," Leisner said. "It's a family atmosphere; everybody wants to be part of the creative process."

Indeed, all Fox 21 staffers attend the company's development meetings; writers, producers and directors of Fox 21 projects are free to use the company's digs; and even Leisner's office has doubled as an editing room for "Free Ride."

After making a name for itself in the alternative area with "Geek," whose format has been sold throughout the world, Fox 21 will focus its attention on the toughest nut to crack in the low-cost arena -- creating a compelling network drama series on a shoestring budget, which the major networks have unsuccessfully tried in the past few years.

"My big goal for next year is to get a smart drama on the air," said Leisner, who has high hopes for "Saved."

Naturally, the company's development slate is heavy on edgy drama projects, including:

n "StandOffish" for NBC, from writer Ben Queen (CBS' "Century City"), which follows an ensemble of thirtysomethings forced to make extreme decisions as they face their quarter-life crisis.

n "Middle America East" for Fox, from writer Andrea Berloff (Oliver Stone's Sept. 11 project), which examines three families who live in a company-run planned community in the middle of Saudi Arabia.

n "Cost of Living," also for Fox, from writer Trey Callaway ("I Still Know What You Did Last Summer"), which centers on a man who inherits a troubled town.

n "The Group," for FX, from writer Richard Rayner, about a group of suburban "swinging" couples in Orange County.

n "Innocence," also for FX, from documentarian Joe Berlinger and Richard Stratton (Showtime's "Street Time"), about a defense attorney who investigates convicted criminals who swear by their innocence.

Additionally, the company is working on a supernatural medical dramedy from writer Ben Edlund (WB's "Angel").

keenan

01-13-06, 02:59 AM

From The Hollywood Reporter,

Jan. 13, 2006

Fuqua piloting Fox's 'Vanished'

By Nellie Andreeva
Antoine Fuqua has come on board to direct and executive produce the Fox drama pilot "Vanished."

Meanwhile, ABC is reuniting with comedian Bonnie Hunt, ordering a comedy pilot starring the comedian.

ABC has also picked up the drama pilot "Secrets of a Small Town," while NBC has given a pilot order to the comedy "Lipstick Jungle."

"Vanished," from 20th Century Fox Television, chronicles the disappearance of a senator's wife over the course of the season. On the pilot, Fuqua will serve as executive producer alongside writer Josh Berman through the director's exclusive deal with 20th TV. In addition to the pilot, Fox has ordered two more scripts.

This past development season, Fuqua directed another Fox/20th TV drama pilot, "Murder Book." The helmer, whose feature credits include "Training Day" and "The Replacement Killers," is repped by CAA.

The untitled Bonnie Hunt/Don Lake comedy, from Touchstone TV and longtime collaborators Hunt and Lake, will star Hunt as a newly divorced mom who works as a detective.

Hunt and Lake are the writers/executive producers with Hunt also attached to direct.

Hunt and Lake last teamed with ABC and Touchstone on the Hunt-starring 2002 series, "Life with Bonnie," which ran on the network for two seasons.

On the big screen, Hunt stars in "Cheaper by the Dozen 2."

"Secrets," from Touchstone Television, is a murder mystery set in a small town.

"Melrose Place" and "Desperate Housewives" alum Chuck Pratt penned the script and is executive producing with Chris Brancato and Bert Salke.

Based on Candace Bushnell's book, "Lipstick" chronicles the lives of three powerful New York business women who would do anything to get ahead and stay on top (HR 11/15).

Bushnell penned the pilot script with Robin Schiff. The two are exec producing the NBC Universal TV Studio comedy, which is the first project developed through NBC Entertainment's New York development unit to be picked up to pilot.

keenan

01-13-06, 03:03 AM

From The Hollywood Reporter, some of this has been posted before but there is some new stuff included in this article.

Jan. 13, 2006

Sci Fi, Spielberg putting 'Lives' at stake

By Kimberly Speight
PASADENA -- Sci Fi Channel is getting into business with Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks Television again by giving the green light to production of a 12-hour miniseries titled "Nine Lives," NBC Universal Cable executives said Thursday.

"Nine Lives" will focus on characters who are each grieving over the loss of a loved one and somehow discover how to reunite with them in the afterlife through near-death experiences, Sci Fi executives said during NBC Uni Cable's portion of the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel.

Sci Fi's collaborated with Spielberg on the Emmy-winning 2003 miniseries "Steven Spielberg Presents Taken." Les Bohem, who wrote "Taken," also will pen the script for "Nine Lives" and will executive produce with Spielberg and DreamWorks TV co-presidents Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank.

Meanwhile, USA Network said it has picked up two more seasons of its detective dramedy series "Monk" along with rerun rights to all six seasons of the show, which ranks among basic cable's highest-rated original series. "Monk's" Season 5 and 6 orders are for 16 episodes each, USA said during NBC Uni Cable's portion of TCA.

USA has bought out off-network rights to the NBC Uni-produced show from NBC Universal Television Distribution and plans to strip all six seasons of the show -- 93 episodes -- starting in 2008.

"To borrow a line from our current marketing campaign, we're feeling a bit 'Monk'-ish for years to come," said Bonnie Hammer, president of USA Network and Sci Fi Channel.

Also Thursday, NBC Universal Television Group CEO Jeff Zucker made a surprise appearance in place of Jeff Gaspin, president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, Digital Content & Cross-Network Strategy, who couldn't attend because of illness. In his comments, Zucker said NBC Universal is planning to "put our content in as many places as possible," adding that more announcements about new partnerships in the digital space can be expected in the coming months.

In other NBC Uni Cable announcements Thursday:

-- Sci Fi has announced three reality series: "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" from Bruce Nash's Nash Entertainment will follow Stan Lee as he challenges contestants to create their own superhero in a six-episode, one-hour series. "Medium at Large," produced in association with Stuart Krasnow, Krasnow Prods. and FremantleMedia North America, is a six-episode, half-hour reality series that follows psychic Char Margolis. "The Gift," from Tony Krantz and Victoria Holt, is a six-episode, one-hour reality series that follows eight people who compete in a "boot camp for intuitives" to test their psychic abilities.

-- Sci Fi also is developing a scripted dramedy titled "The Bridge" in which a group of cynical, flawed souls are trapped in purgatory and must effect positive changes to get out. It's from executive producers Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner under their production banner, Hazy Mills Prods.

-- Also in development at Sci Fi is a new series project titled "Warehouse 13," about a federal forensic accountant and an assistant U.S. attorney banished to a storage facility after bungling a government case.

-- Sci Fi and BBC Worldwide Americas announced a licensing deal for the first series of the latest "Doctor Who" adventures.

-- Bravo announced a new reality competition series titled "Top Chef," featuring 12 aspiring chefs who are evaluated by judges. The show premieres at 11 p.m. March 8. It is from executive producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves.

-- Bravo also announced a new reality series titled "Work Out," centered on gym owner Jackie Warner and her trainers and clients, set to premiere in the third quarter. It's from Mentorn Prods.

-- Bravo announced BrilliantButCancelled.com, a broadband channel dedicated to programming "canceled before its time." It will launch this year.

fredfa

01-13-06, 09:19 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
“God or the Girl,” A& E's Faith-Based Initiative

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 13, 2006; C07

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 12--Notwithstanding the tight shot of the tight T-shirt on the well-endowed woman in the clips shown to critics, the docu-soap "God or the Girl" treated the four young men trying to decide whether to enter the priesthood with the utmost respect, said executive producer Darryl Silver of the project for A&E -- the network of "Dog the Bounty Hunter," "Criss Angel Mindfreak," "Dallas SWAT" and "Rollergirls."

As filmmakers, they wanted to take advantage of the controversy in which the Catholic Church has mired itself, Mark Wolper, the reality series' other exec producer, told The TV Column after the Q&A session at Winter TV Press Tour 2006. During the Q&A, he'd told the Reporters Who Cover Television that "we completely shifted 180 degrees as a result of what we learned from these gentlemen and how much respect grew in us for their decision, for them as men and for the struggle they were going through."

What they learned from these gentlemen, he told The TV Column, is that these guys could not be manipulated to do things, as participants on other reality series can. So "God or the Girl" is more of a straight documentary, said Wolper, who executive produces the Penn & Teller show on Showtime as well as TV movies such as CBS's holiday flick "Snow Wonder" starring Mary Tyler Moore and TNT's remake of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" starring Rob Lowe.

And, that tight shot of the very snug green T-shirt in the promo shown at the start of the Q&A session?

"More MTV than the show," Silver assured us.

Okay, how about the cheesy "Temptation Island"-esque title? wondered one critic.

"We look at the title in a very positive aspect. These are two amazing choices that could be made, and whether they choose God or choose the girl, either one -- it's a positive," explained Silver, who according to the Internet Movie Database was a task producer on "Apprentices" 2 and 3 and a consultant on the ninth edition of "Survivor."

They had trouble casting "God or the Girl," for obvious reasons.

"The guy that first approached me, I did everything that I could to get him to get off my back, but he kept coming at me with his message of what they really wanted to portray,'' one of the participants, Steve Horvath, told the critics. He says he was told "they wanted to portray the truth."

Horvath said he reached his decision to participate by "taking that to prayer every day and realizing that this isn't about me trying to gain popularity or stardom or anything, but this is about my life and my life is about God and being a witness."

"So it came down to, if this is even remotely what he says it is and this is an opportunity for me to portray my life on camera -- it came in the faith," he said.

Another participant, Dan DeMatte, said he hoped the people who watched "Temptation Island" will watch the five-part series "because it will blow their minds.

"You have this world of sin and lust, giving over to your body, versus the world of dying to yourself and serving the Lord every second," he continued. "So, if they tune in, then . . . reality TV has served its purpose and God's triumphant again. It's funny how that works."

DeMatte said he decided to participate because he prays that "I could be someone that could bring His message to the world and could help others turn to Him.

"This was an opportunity that He put in my life and it was a huge struggle because if I did decide to go into the priesthood and I wanted to enter a seminary, yet this show portrays me and us in a scandalous way, then all of a sudden my diocese won't let me in the seminary and I've lost my call to the priesthood."

He says his participation in the show is still a battle of faith every day for him, but he trusts "that God is going to use this video in a way that glorifies Him as opposed to glorifies our culture of death."

Heaven help him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011202487_pf.html

fredfa

01-13-06, 09:24 AM

Critic’s Notebook
“Monk” keeps things deliciously quirky

By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Writer January 13, 2006

"Monk," a simple idea that has proven surprisingly resilient - a neurotic genius solves quirky crimes - resumes its fourth season tonight with a particularly silly case.

Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), fearing that his favorite shirt-factory inspector is slipping, discovers her to be distraught over the apparently unfair imprisonment of her son over the murder of a supermodel. But there's really no mystery involved - the episode tips its hand way too early on a number of levels. But the humor manages to endure: At a runway show, Monk advises against eating the food: "I just saw a model throw up."

"Monk" returns tonight at 10 ET/PT on USA.

http://dailynews.com/ontv/ci_3395488

fredfa

01-13-06, 09:31 AM

Sports On TV
NBC: One more shot with NHL

By Neil Best Newsday January 13, 2006

Hark! Hockey suddenly has a pulse in and around our island idyll.

So what if it took a once-in-a-decade Islanders shakeup and a Garden retirement ceremony that became the hottest ticket since the warm, fuzzy glow of June 1994?

Two back pages in a row? Hockey will take it.

Still, for all the improvements in the product and in attendance around the NHL (although not so much at Nassau Coliseum), the measure of hockey's popularity that ultimately means most is TV ratings.

As usual, that's a problem.

Numbers are down compared with 2003-04 for all three local teams, who have rated from a high of 0.54 for the Rangers on MSG to a dismal 0.13 for both the Isles and Devils on FSNY. It is not much better on OLN, the league's new national cable home, which averages 0.2.

Without getting technical, those numbers are really, really low.

Beginning tomorrow, though, there will be a new factor in the mix - one with national reach and a much lower channel number than OLN - and those involved are as excited about it as jaded TV types get.

NBC producer Sam Flood knows all about the 40-year, mostly failed history of hockey on network TV. But he is a true believer, the son of a hockey coach and a former captain at Williams College.

Asked whether he knows hockey better than any previous network executive, Flood said: "I don't know, but I figure I have had a lot of time training. My whole youth was playing the damn game and now I get to do it after doing all the other sports."

Flood spoke in a Garden suite last week as the Rangers lost to the Flyers, and it appeared there were few places he'd rather be. Except perhaps in Detroit tomorrow, where the Rangers visit and he will oversee the featured game of NBC's regional slate; its coverage runs through Games 3-7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The aim is for the broadcast, with Doc Emrick and John Davidson in the booth, to serve core fans while phasing in innovations.

They include a "goalie cam" offering a view from the Rangers' net and a reporter standing between the teams' benches to both relay information and converse with the booth. On the lead team, it will be former NHL coach Pierre McGuire.

"We'll do our best to show how great the game is," the ubiquitous Davidson said.

Back in New York, pregame and intermission (with guest Mark Messier) will originate from the rink at Rockefeller Center, which will be used to demonstrate plays. (Fans are invited to watch in person.)

NBC's deal with the NHL is a partnership with no real economic risk for the network, but based on TV history, the upside will be modest at best.

The wisest thing the NHL and NBC can do is accept that reality, after all these years. Hockey is a niche sport with regional hot spots. So? In the ever more fractured TV world, everything this side of football is a niche sport.

Speaking of history, might NBC revive the most infamous symbol of its last try at regular-season hockey, which ended in 1975? That would be Peter Puck, the cartoon that debuted in 1973 and explained the game between periods.

"That's top secret," Flood said. "If I told you, I would have to shoot you."

Slap shot or wrist?

Ratings on ice

On this Friday the 13th, NHL execs might want to borrow Jason's goalie mask and cover their eyes before reading these frightening numbers:

Last Saturday night, women's hoops on YES featuring Penn vs. Princeton - with John Sterling on play-by-play! - more than tripled Islanders and Devils ratings at the same time. (Hockey surely was hurt by the 14.7 rating for Jaguars-Patriots in New York, but still ...)

Game / Network / NY rating
Penn-Princeton women YES 0.14
Islanders-Hurricanes FSNY 0.04
Devils-Sabres MSG 0.04

http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ny-spwatch134585992jan13,0,6236510,print.column?coll=ny-sports-columnists

Marcus Carr

01-13-06, 09:50 AM

"a much lower channel number than OLN"

Not necessarily. OLN is channel 2 on Comcast in Baltimore.

fredfa

01-13-06, 09:51 AM

TV Review
'24' in rare form in its 5th season

By Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune TV blog

It’s not unusual for fans of “24” (8 PM ET/PT Sunday and Monday, Fox) to wonder, midway through a season, what the show can possibly do to top itself.

After all, in its four previous seasons, the thriller has depicted everything from the explosion of a nuclear bomb to the release of a bioweapon that threatened to kill thousands, if not millions.

But even the most ardent fans of the show are probably not expecting “24” to bust out jaw-dropping developments in the first 10 minutes of the fifth season. Surprising doesn’t begin to describe what happens. You just have to watch.

The show, in the four hours that air Sunday and Monday, pulls more rabbits out of its hat than anyone has a right to expect, especially this early in the 24-episode season. To give even a tiny portion of those surprises away would be deeply wrong. But every development is plausible (well, within the confines of this roller coaster of a show), and a few plot twists even tug at the heartstrings.

In this era of DVRs and VCRs and such, we tend to take our TV viewing a bit more casually. Usually. But “24,” especially this season, isn’t like that. Once Jack Bauer dons the Sunglasses of Vengeance, you’ll be counting down the minutes ’til the next fresh episode airs.

A few details on the setup for the new season won’t ruin things for you: When “24” opens, it’s 18 months after the end of the previous season, and anti-terrorism agent Bauer is living off the radar, doing day labor under an assumed name. He had to fake his own death at the end of last season, thanks to a bit of aggravation with the Chinese government, but soon enough, our man Bauer gets sucked into another terrorism investigation.

The genius of “24” is not just that viewers get to root for a riveting hero (though Bauer certainly uses questionable methods at times), but that the show, in its fifth year, gives us a compelling anti-hero as well.

President Charles Logan, who has been around since last season and is still in power in Season 5, is more concerned with his image than with doing the right thing when evil comes to call. There’s a heavy Watergate vibe hanging over Logan (who’s well played by Gregory Itzin): He not only makes a series of bad, self-serving decisions, but he also works out of a California hideaway done up in hepcat Palm Springs-in-the-’70s decor and he’s even got a mentally unstable wife named Martha (Jean Smart in a deliciously flashy performance).

Logan’s worst flaw, however, is that he’s weak. He’s not really on the side of truth and justice; he’s much more obsessed with what the media think of him and he lets his own quest for lasting glory and good press drive all his decisions.

In other words, he’s the kind of elected official whom all viewers, whatever their political affiliations, will love to hate.

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

fredfa

01-13-06, 09:56 AM

Critic’s Notebook
The Fine Line

The Newark Star-Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall TV blog Friday, January 13, 2006

There's such a fine line between stupid and clever...

...and "The O.C." has been on the wrong side of it all season. Two years ago, last night's episode would have been filled with meta references and gags -- at the very least, this should have been the show where Summer wore the "Donna Martin Graduates" t-shirt -- but here the silly Marissa plot was played straight. And for anyone who's actually watched the show for more than a few minutes knows what a bad idea that was.

Everytime the episode tried to firmly clamp itself to Marissa's ass, I found myself calling bullshit. Marissa was incredibly popular before Taylor's mom got her kicked out of school? No; she's been a Harbor School laughingstock ever since she OD'ed in Mexico. She was "a model student"? Um, isn't this the girl who basically stopped going to school for most of season two while she bunked with Alex?

Meanwhile, in the craptacular tradition of Evil Dean, we get another cartoon villain in Taylor's mom, who hates Marissa because... why? I get that once upon a time, it may have been a calculated move to increase her daughter's social standing and get her some friends, but now Taylor actually has friends, and mama Townsend is still waging vendetta against Marissa? Huh? Even before Julie had her occasional heart of gold moment, there was a little nuance to the awful things she did, most of which she thought were for the good of her family.

Between this episode and those skeevy commercials with that 14-year-old girl doing a Lolita impression as the long-lost Kaitlin, I think I may be out. The only reason I watched this one live was because I'd already seen last night's "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" in advance. And speaking of which...

I thought last week's "Earl" (written by an ex-"Arrested Development" guy) was one of the stronger so far, but this was a bit of a backslide. Some jokes worked, like retainer girl's crush on Earl (cheap but effective), but Favreau's karma-free life wasn't ridiculous enough for it to work. At the very least, would it have killed them to put in a mug that reads "Who's the big winner?"

"Office," on the other hand, was brilliant. I didn't think they could get broader or slapstickier than the martial arts episode, but somehow, they did.

The bizarre cause of the injury, Dwight's frenzied attempt to get to Michael even after crashing his car, Ryan's constant look of anguish at realizing Michael is about to ask him to do something horrible, Michael trying to stick his foot in the CT machine... I was in pain for all of it, and not the usual kind of pain associated with watching this show (that kind popped up during the staff meeting with the wheelchair-bound building manager).

Originally, the episode last night was supposed to be a follow-up to Jim telling Michael about his thing for Pam, but I guess NBC wanted to go with the stronger show early in the new timeslot.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/

fredfa

01-13-06, 10:10 AM

The 2005-2006 TV Season
Ask Matt

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

Question: I have never written on behalf of anything on television before, but tonight I felt compelled. I'll apologize ahead of time because this isn't so much a question as a hope — a plea, if you will — and, well, a venting of sorts. Please tell me that there are some really wonderful reviews coming in on The Book of Daniel and that all the hoopla from the few "loud ones" are not getting all the attention. Please tell me that this series has a chance! I know you know this, but Aidan Quinn is a remarkable actor, and the rest of the show is brilliantly cast. The writing is witty, intense, tasteful, serious and, yes, even funny and entertaining at times. It is, of course, called entertainment, for goodness' sake, and it's fiction! Please tell me that NBC will not bow down to the vocal, narrow-minded population trying to make decisions for the rest of us about what we should and should not watch. Personally, I don't care for all the crime- and sex-related shows on television, but guess what? I don't watch them! I, for one, am so thankful for The Book of Daniel, and anyone who gave it a chance tonight, I believe, will agree. Please give it a giant cheer! I apologize, but I just had to vent to someone — not that it will help. I was a fan of Once and Again, and look what happened to that! Thanks anyway — I really enjoy your reviews! — Lisa K.

Matt Roush: It has been a while since I've received mail quite as passionate as the early response to The Book of Daniel, which I'm glad to note was almost all positive. After, that is, the letter from someone who, before the show had even aired — how typical — felt compelled to question my credentials as a Christian for having given the show a good review. (For the record, my spirituality is a private matter but is something I equate with the virtues of being open-minded and open-hearted, which certainly wasn't the case with many of this show's predictable naysayers.) If you want to read what it was like being in the crosshairs of this so-called "controversy," check out the second installment of our blog from Daniel creator Jack Kenny.

Another letter, from Laurie, summed up the consensus feeling of the mail I've been receiving: "I've heard that a lot of Christians wanted to boycott The Book of Daniel before it even got started, but I was not one of them. I found it refreshing to see a minister's family portrayed as flawed beings rather than cookie-cutter perfect characters. I especially enjoyed the conversations Daniel had with Jesus. It really showed how Daniel could turn to Him when he was in trouble, just as people really do every day. I hope this show stays on the air long enough for people to get past their biases and give it a chance!"

I'm also hopeful that Daniel will at least get to play out its initial "limited" run, including two pivotal episodes set to air after the Olympics. Daniel's early ratings weren't great, though far from disastrous, but NBC has done the show few favors by scheduling it on Friday night, and advertisers weren't exactly clamoring to get aboard something with this much baggage. So let's acknowledge the risk NBC has taken by even putting this show on the air — albeit with a little too much hand-wringing in the viewer advisories. (Thanks to Sarah K. for calling that to my attention. Having previewed the show, I didn't watch it on air the first week.)

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Question: With the beginning of the new season of Dancing with the Stars, I can't help but wonder why viewers love this show so much more than the Fox summer show So You Think You Can Dance. Personally, I loved Fox's dancing reality series much more than ABC's version because of all the variety in dance styles, which includes hip-hop, disco and Broadway, to name a few, while Dancing with the Stars only has ballroom dances. Why do you think Dancing with the Stars is a much more successful show? — Lauren

Matt Roush: Fair question, but I think the success of Dancing with the Stars has more to do with the amateur nature of the "stars" involved than with the actual styles of dancing. Fox's summer series was too much of an American Idol clone, and watching young wannabes dance before judges turned out not to be quite as tempting a draw as a singing competition. The appeal of Stars (and, soon to come, Fox's Skating with Celebrities) is in watching well-known (more or less) folks struggle not to completely humiliate themselves (as Kenny Mayne did in Dancing's opener). There's a word for watching the mighty fall, and it's even the name of a song in the great Avenue Q musical: schadenfreude. Look it up. It tells you everything you need to know about why Dancing with the Stars is a hit, and why Skating may well be, too.

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Question: So what's the deal with Invasion and its future? I know it's returning from hiatus, but how many more episodes will air this season? And what's its prognosis for renewal, given how the rest of ABC's plate is already so full with higher-rated hits? — Tony

Matt Roush: Invasion has been picked up for a full season of 22 episodes, and I've heard nothing to lead me to think that the order will be cut short. (For my take on the show at the mid-season point, check out my Dispatch from earlier this week.) I'm not sure the show can regain the viewers it's lost, but given the revved-up pace of the storytelling recently, this is a perfect time for people to give Invasion a second chance. As for renewal: haven't a clue. It's certainly not a slam-dunk at this point. Like CBS' treatment of Threshold, ABC is in a position where it doesn't need to carry a marginally rated show into a second year at this point. (Let's be thankful Alias didn't premiere on the current ABC.) But if the media start buzzing about Invasion again, and the ratings begin to reflect the show's new urgency, then maybe the network will do the right thing come May. But I'm betting it will be down to the wire.

________________________________________

Question: According to the SAG Awards, Boston Legal is a comedy. James Spader, William Shatner, Candice Bergen and the show itself all received nominations in the comedy category. The show is hilarious at times, don't get me wrong. But after all these episodes and all those Emmy/Golden Globe wins in the drama category, I never knew it was a comedy series. What gives? — Marcus

Matt Roush: Excellent question, and it comes with an interesting answer. David E. Kelley's company submitted Boston Legal to the SAG Awards as a comedy, feeling that the show has evolved this year into a hybrid that's more comedic than dramatic, regardless of the drama awards the show has reaped previously at the Emmys and at the Globes (which ignored the show this year). Last time I checked, Kelley's camp hadn't yet decided how to enter the show when the time comes for Emmy consideration. The debate goes like this: Given the past wins in the drama category, why fix what isn't broken? But given that the show itself isn't likely to be nominated against such a tremendous slate of heavy-hitting dramas this season, maybe it makes more sense to try Boston Legal's chances against a more diminished comedy field. The problem: Talk about mixed signals. The solution would be to create new categories for dramedy hybrids, but no one thinks that's likely. (And that's OK by me.) Variety reported this week that the TV Academy may set down new guidelines that might prevent these hourlong hybrids (including Desperate Housewives) from competing against half-hour comedies. But I hope it doesn't come down to that either. Boston Legal is in a very interesting situation, but I tend to think that since it entered the field as a drama, it should probably stay there. (Same reasoning applies to Housewives. Once a comedy, always a comedy.) But since I also don't take most awards-giving all that seriously, given the flaws inherent in most of their systems, I guess it's up to the show where it wants to compete. The real complication here is that Boston Legal seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis these days, at least where awards are concerned.

________________________________________

Question: OK, I know you were disappointed with the new season of Desperate Housewives (I was, too) but don't you think that the last three episodes were the best of the season? I especially loved the last one (Jan. 8). The interaction between characters who usually don't share scenes (Gaby-Tom and Lynette-Carlos) was brilliant. And it was great to see (at last) Andrew sharing (hot) kisses with his boyfriend. I was afraid ABC wouldn't let them do this (I can't remember which big networks aired the first kiss between two men or two women). I hope our Wisteria ladies are back for good! — Hudson

Matt Roush: Got quite a bit of mail, all positive, after last Sunday's comeback episode, and it really was a comeback. Even Susan, arranging the bowling party for Zach and Mike, came off as much less of a ditz than usual. And Bree's conflict with Andrew is certainly juicy, going a lot farther than I ever remember things happening on Knots Landing. All in all, a very fun and saucy hour and a sign that things are trending upward for the show. Which makes this observation from James, who wrote in with his own rave about the episode, very timely: "Now that most seem to agree the show is out of its rut, when will the media lighten up on the show and loss of buzz? I'd hate to see what happens to Grey's Anatomy or Lost when they start to slow down and lose their buzz, as the media will have another reason to call a show over when they smell blood in the water."

Isn't that the truth? I seriously don't enjoy piling on when a show has a so-called "sophomore slump" or (worse) "jumps the shark," and I'm happy to put Housewives back in my winner's circle, even if I still think it pales next to Grey's Anatomy these days. Which brings me to the next topic.

________________________________________

Question: In your Jan. 9 posting, Christine asked why roughly five million people who watch Desperate Housewives do not watch Grey's Anatomy. You presented one logical explanation, that some people do not watch past 10 pm/ET due to work the next day. Then you seem perplexed by the rest of us who like to stay with Housewives but not with Grey's Anatomy. To start out with, I would consider myself a connoisseur of television. I say this so that you won't consider me a simple dolt who just watches action and procedural shows. I love good writing, chemistry between the actors, intelligent interactions, interesting background. But to me, it's simple. I do not like shows with a straight-out "soap opera" formula (their main focus is how many people they can get their characters involved with in varying situations) like ER, Grey's Anatomy, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Gilmore Girls, etc. I admit that I watched the first few shows of Anatomy, ER and L.A. Law but soon grew bored by the soap-opera story lines. I sometimes even revisit soap-type shows because I want to see if the writing and character chemistry have sustained. But it is just not my cup of tea. I am a male who watches Desperate Housewives because of the attractive women and the crazy story lines. I consider Housewives a fun satire of the soap-opera model. I perceive (perhaps wrongly) that people involved in Grey's Anatomy, etc., take themselves too seriously. There are many males whom I know do not admit to watching Housewives but watch it because of Eva, Nicollette, Teri, Marcia and Felicity. I bet about at least half of the drop is due to people like me who are still awake and watch their recordings of missed shows like Veronica Mars, Numbers, Medium, CSI, Arrested Development, Smallville or Everybody Hates Chris. — Mike

Matt Roush: What a fruitful topic this turned out to be. There seem to be as many explanations for Housewives-to-Grey's tune-out as there are people. Everything from the late time period, to having fallen behind and not wanting to join the show midstream, to not liking medical shows, to using the time period to catch up on other shows, to instances (like the above) of simple viewer preference. This letter no doubt ruffled a ton of feathers with its generalized disdain for what is termed "soap opera," so let me point out that within any genre, there is room for good and bad, formula hackwork and great innovation. Happens in procedural crime dramas, happens in soaps, too. While I agree that Housewives works best as a parody of the genre, I would strongly disagree that Grey's Anatomy takes itself more seriously, although there are many serious moments. When both shows are on their game, both are delightful. Of course that also applies to a show like Gilmore Girls, which defies any pigeonholing: comedy, drama, soap. It's all of those and none of those. Just because a show has continuing story lines involving romantic entanglements is no reason to shun it. Unless, of course, that's your choice.

________________________________________

Question: Matt, thanks for writing the column. I make sure to read it every Monday (and now Friday). I know you've answered a lot of questions about congested time periods, and I just realized that there might be another one coming up soon: Tuesdays at 10, or 9 here in Minnesota. I have made a season commitment to Boston Legal, and The Shield is now back as well. With your recommendation, and my appreciation of Ed and Tom Cavanagh, I'd like to give Love Monkey a chance, but is it good enough to give up one of those shows? Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. — Josh F.

Matt Roush: One of the other explanations I heard for why some people ditch ABC after Housewives is because they weren't willing to give up Crossing Jordan. (I know.) Truth is, TV is a medium of habit, and it's difficult to give something up when it's part of your routine. And Josh didn't even mention the dominant show in this Tuesday time period: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. At this point, I've only seen the pilot of Love Monkey, and it intrigued me enough that it's now in first position for my attention in that time period for the duration of its run (given that I can watch The Shield immediately afterward in one of FX's replays). But all of these shows are so different that it's hard to give absolute advice. What I would suggest is giving Love Monkey at least a first look, even at the risk of missing an episode of Boston Legal (not an easy choice, I suppose, what with Michael J. Fox guest-starring these days). I'm just glad that now that CBS has opted to air Love Monkey at 10 pm/ET instead of an hour earlier, I don't have to choose between Monkey and Scrubs (on which Cavanagh made several memorable appearances as J.D.'s brother).

________________________________________

Question: I've seen the many promos for the upcoming series Love Monkey and plan to watch because of Tom Cavanagh. My question is, do you know if Josh Randall (also from Ed) will be in any episodes? I've noticed him doing guest spots on a few different shows recently and would really like to see the two together again. Seriously, how much would you like to see the $10 bet at least one more time? The show looks funny enough to throw it in at least once. On a different note, I still don't agree with you that Battlestar Galactica is a top-ranked show. Sure, this half of the second season finally shows a little promise, but I think it's still nowhere near as good as Farscape or Firefly. — Eric

Matt Roush: No disrespect to Farscape or Firefly (which should be obvious if you've ever read me before), but Battlestar is hardly comparable to those more fanciful sci-fi/fantasy series. (As with soaps in the earlier discussion, it's dangerous to judge shows against each other merely because they exist within the same genre.) As for Josh Randall: I doubt we'll see him anytime soon on Love Monkey. He's currently playing the love interest in another CBS mid-season show: Courting Alex, starring Jenna Elfman. But, given that Alex is a complete snooze and Monkey is so promising, maybe he'll get the chance to reunite with his old bud if CBS keeps Monkey around past this first batch of episodes.

________________________________________

Question: Considering the wonderful praise given to Rescue Me by you as well as other critics, it saddens me that this show seems to be snubbed come nomination time. It's made plenty of critics' Top 10 lists and I'm happy it made AFI's list. It simply amazes me how Denis Leary does not get an acting or writing nomination for Tommy Gavin and Season 2 for the Golden Globes. It's not the first time a deserving series has been ignored, but I am just surprised given the "FX is the new HBO" attitude as of late. In HBO's prime, it got tons of nominations. Finally, what saddens me most of all is that the ensemble of this show will simply never be recognized. Jack McGee and Daniel Sunjata deserve recognition for their story lines. The wonderful work of Steven Pasquale, John Scurti and Michael Lombardi will never be awarded since their story lines are mostly comedic in a dramatic program, even though the show would not work without them. The drama is so poignant because we are able to laugh with the characters at other moments. But most of all, the best part of the show is the bond between the firefighters, which is sincere, endearing and indicative of the chemistry between the actors. Is there any hope that at least some of the guilds will take notice of this wonderful show in the future, since they obviously did not this year? — Jamie

Matt Roush: I'll be honest: I was disappointed but not surprised when the show was shut out at the Globes — that's such a random and unpredictable group, and there were an awful lot of buzzworthy dramas from which to pick and choose. What really bothered me was the SAG Awards ensemble-cast nominations, dipping back into the tired wells of The West Wing and Six Feet Under instead of honoring the bold work being done on any of FX's shows — Rescue Me most notably, for all of the reasons mentioned above.

________________________________________

Question: I would like to know why Fox had to move Bones to Wednesday night at 9 pm/ET. There is too much competition there for it. It will be up against Lost and Criminal Minds — both of which I like, and my DVR can only record two things at a time. Is this a permanent move, or are they likely to change it back again? — Donna

Matt Roush: Where Fox is concerned, I wouldn't describe anything as a permanent move. But the reality of the situation is that, for Fox, everything from now to the end of the season in May is secondary to American Idol. And when Fox decided to keep House on Tuesday following Idol (instead of the original plan to move it to Monday and put Bones after the Tuesday Idol), Bones had to go somewhere. And there simply aren't any safe time periods anywhere. There were serious conflicts Tuesdays at 8 pm/ET as well (NCIS was crushing it, for instance). Maybe Mondays before 24 would have worked, but Prison Break will return there in March, which makes more sense. There are worse fates than getting an Idol lead-in on Wednesday, even if it means going up against Lost, and if you are asking me to pick between procedurals, the clever and appealing Bones wins out over the grotesquely mannered Criminal Minds (my least-favorite actual new "hit" of the current season). But I wouldn't worry just yet about Bones. Something tells me Fox knows it has a quiet winner on its hands here — maybe not a megahit like House but a utility player that's very much worth keeping around.

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

fredfa

01-13-06, 10:22 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Sci Fi Unveils Spielberg’s “Nine Lives”; “Monk” Reups

By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com JANUARY 13, 2006 -

At NBC Universal’s cable portion of the Television Critics Association’s annual winter convention, the media conglomerate held three panels: One on Bravo’s upcoming contest show Top Chef; one on Sci Fi’s upcoming scripted series Eureka; and one on USA’s critically hailed Monk.

Bravo president Lauren Zalaznick announced that despite sister network Trio’s dissolution as a cable channel, it would be resurrected as a broadband Web site, including a separate Web site for Trio’s most noteworthy series Brilliant But Cancelled.

Meanwhile, Top Chef, the latest show from Project Runway producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, will premiere March 8 at 11 p.m., following Runway’s finale. The self-explanatory contest series then will move to its regular 10 p.m. slot on the following Wednesday. Acknowledging the obvious format similarities between the two programs, Cutforth suggested that the contest genre in reality programming may have reached exhaustion.

So then why make Top Chef? “Food shows have been around for ever,” he said. “Food is universal. We all eat. We all have a relationship with food. Chefs are the new rock stars, and restaurants are so focused on--in the media. I just think there’s an appetite for a show that really gives you an insight into that world.”

USA Network and Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer introduced Sci Fi’s executive vp and GM Dave Howe, who announced production on several new series, including the 12-hour mini-series Nine Lives. From Steven Spielberg and Taken writer Les Bohem, the series looks at what happens after death.

Also on the docket is reality series Who Wants to be a Superhero?, in which Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee will search for the next great comic book character.

Premiering this summer, Sci Fi’s Eureka was described as a cross between Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure and The Twilight Zone. Set in a small town in which the government has relocated all of the nation’s most brilliant minds for research purposes, the show stars Joe Morton (Terminator) as a former rocket scientist and Debrah Farentino (Get Real) as a woman who knows all of the town’s secrets. Let the hijinx begin!

Hammer returned to the stage to announce production on two scripted series for USA: One titled Psych, about a guy who lands a job as a psychic detective, with no prior experience as a psychic; and Underfunded, about a Canadian Secret Service agent, whose department is low on cash. She described both programs as “strong, smart dramas with a twist of comedy.”

On the Monk panel, series star Tony Shalhoub was asked whether he reads all of his fan mail. The actor, who won an Emmy Award for his role as a detective with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, responded, “It’s actually one guy writing the letter over and over.”

Another TCA member wondered whether viewers ever confused the actor with the character, to which he quipped, “I do get offered a lot of Handi Wipes. And I can tell you, after four hundred times, it’s a little hard to, you know, laugh, as if it’s the first time it’s ever happened. But people just think that is so funny.”

Hammer announced a fifth and sixth season pickup of Monk. That news came in advance of the fourth season's second half debut this weekend, following a brief hiatus. Sound confusing? Well, Hammer defended the network’s somewhat erratic scheduling of the series, saying it was necessary to avoid competing with bigger draws on the bigger, broadcast networks. “It’s a puzzle,” she added. “You really have to take a look at what makes sense for the show, build up your audience, keep them, but not throw in repeat episodes, and hope they’re going to come back or remember that after three repeat episodes, there will be a brand new episode.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001843655

fredfa

01-13-06, 10:29 AM

TV Review
“24” Jacks up the action in fifth season

By David Bianculli New York Daily News TV Editor Friday, January 13th, 2006

* * * * (Out of 4)

When "24" returns for its fifth season, (8-10 PM Sunday and Monday, Fox) it doesn't just hit the ground running.

It hits the ground like a bullet train, then soars into space with the speed and determination of a guided missile.

Fox sent out the first four hours for review, and they zipped by in what felt like four breathless minutes. No surprises will be revealed here, because they're all too good to spoil. My only job, at this point in the season-long day that is the narrative thread of "24," is to let you know whether this fifth go-round for Kiefer Sutherland's overworked and presumed-dead Jack Bauer possibly can match what has come before.

Four hours in, living up to past standards no longer is in question. Setting new ones is what's going on here, as "24," partly by cashing in on our knowledge of and commitment to previous seasons and characters, gets off to its best start ever.

At the end of last season, Jack was facing life in prison, or worse, at the hands of the Chinese, and avoided extradition by faking his own death and going underground with a new identity. It's now 18 months later, and except for the people who helped Jack escape, he's still presumed dead by everyone, colleagues and family alike.

What's safe to reveal is that all of Jack's closest confidantes - former President Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), CTU agents Tony (Carlos Bernard) and his reunited ex-love Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth), and sulky computer genius Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) - are onboard as we begin season five. Other familiar faces, including Kim Raver as last season's love interest, Audrey, are back, too.

It's also safe to say, because it's established immediately, is that Jack, unknown to them all, has established a new life as Frank, a day worker hiding in nowhereville (actually, Bakersfield) with a new lady friend, Diane (Connie Britton), and her teen son Derek (Brady Corbet).

In no time at all, even by the standards of the fast-forward world of "24," Jack is given a compelling reason to resurface - and the roller coaster begins again, this time seemingly without any brakes.

Other new faces introduced early include Jean Smart as Martha Logan, the fragile First Lady to last season's still-in-charge President Logan (Gregory Itzin), and Sean Astin as Lynn McGill, a new authority figure who oversees CTU. As for other old faces, let's just say that Edgar (Louis Lombardi) is back for now, and others are set to arrive later.

Don't worry, though. This year's opening four hours, presented Sunday and Monday night in a welcome compact bunch, will have all those faces - old and new - whizzing by in a blur. Don't miss this year's "24."

And don't blink, and try your best to breathe.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/col/dbianculli/v-pfriendly/story/382399p-324649c.html

Xesdeeni

01-13-06, 10:33 AM

Sci-Fi has also announced they'll be airing the new Dr. Who in March! These 13 episodes are as good as Dr. Who has ever been! I highly recommend it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/

Xesdeeni

fredfa

01-13-06, 10:35 AM

"a much lower channel number than OLN"

Not necessarily. OLN is channel 2 on Comcast in Baltimore.

The guy is writing from Long Island -- that comment concerned Nassau and Suffolk country cable viewers. I'd be willing to bet that the local NBC station has a lower channel number than OLN on 90% of the nation's cable syetms.

That being said, obviously OLN will often find itself with a significantly lower channel number on Comcast cable systems than on, say, on the sets of Cablevision subscribers.

fredfa

01-13-06, 10:47 AM

TV Review
TV Notebook

New York Daily News
Walters' special wins spot before Oscar night

Barbara Walters' annual Academy Awards special will not air on the same night as the Academy Awards this year.

ABC programmers have moved the show to March 1, which is ahead of the March 5 Oscarcast.

This way, viewers on both coasts will be able to see the show easily. In the past, the highly rated show aired before the Oscars on the East Coast and after it on the West.

"I am very pleased that the special will be seen across the country at the same time of night," Walters said in a statement. "And, being seen earlier in the week gives us much more flexibility than in the past in terms of guests."

Names of Walters guests this year have not been released. --Richard Huff

Koppel's in at NPR

Ted Koppel will join National Public Radio as a "senior news analyst" and commentator, the network announced yesterday.

Starting in June, he will do "analysis and commentary" on several NPR programs, including "Morning Edition" and the afternoon "All Things Considered." He will also contribute to NPR's new-media offerings, including www.npr.org and NPR podcasts.

Koppel stepped down last year after a quarter century as the host of ABC-TV's "Nightline." Since then he has also announced he will produce a series of documentaries for the Discovery Channel. And he will write occasional op-ed pieces for the New York Times.

Koppel joked that NPR is ideal for him because over the years, "I have stolen untold excellent ideas from its programming. It's time to give something back." --David Hinckley

fredfa

01-13-06, 11:05 AM

TV Review
“Love Monkey”

By Barry Garron The Hollywood Reporter

Tom Cavanagh is an actor with innate TV charm, and his new series, "Love Monkey," (9-10 p.m., ET/PT Tuesday, Jan. 1,7 CBS) benefits immensely from his likable persona. Cavanagh's character, Tom Farrell, works in the record business, which means that music -- listening to it and talking about it -- is a big part of this series. Even with all that, what we've got here is yet another show about friends, most of them single, living unimaginably fun and carefree lives in always-vibrant New York.

Ah, New York, the magical city. It's a place where every misfortune is invariably and immediately followed by a stroke of great luck. Pickup games of basketball are everywhere, and you're never more than a few steps from a cozy restaurant/cafe that doubles as a second home for you and your friends.

So it is with "Love Monkey," based on a book by Kyle Smith. Tom's support system consists of Karen (Katherine Lanasa), Tom's pregnant sister; Mike (Jason Priestley), her husband; Brandy (Judy Greer), the old friend who knows Tom too well; and good buddies Shooter (Larenz Tate) and Jake (Christopher Wiehl). They are all so well-suited to each other that, when they talk, they speak in a syncopated rhythm that only could have come from years of practice.

In the opener, it quickly becomes clear that Tom knows and loves good music. He also loves his job, which is finding and signing promising musicians. But there's little love for his boss, a crass and amoral creep who fires him without warning. Not much later, his stunning girlfriend realizes Tom isn't marriage material and splits.

It's a one-two whammy that might have put lesser men into heavy-duty therapy, but Tom, insulated by his buddies, takes these developments with surprising grace. But, then, even his friends seem nonplussed by the calamities befalling Tom. Losing a job or losing a girl in creator/writer Michael Rauch's teleplay turns out to be no more stressful or heartbreaking than just missing the subway train. Hey, there will be another one along in just a few minutes.

The premise of an attractive group of friends living and loving in the Big Apple is not exactly a novel idea, but there's always room for a series that resonates with a distinctive new take, a unique perspective or memorable characters. Unfortunately, this isn't it. "Love Monkey" offers up only a bland appeal, a soft, emotional comfort zone and some fine cinematography from Richard Rutkowski and Tom Houghton.

Bottom line: It's hard to go ape over this mostly routine series about yuppies in New York.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001843279

fredfa

01-13-06, 11:09 AM

TV Review
“24”

By Barry Garron The Hollywood Reporter

Whether you've ever watched "24" (8-10 PM ET/PT Sunday and Monday, Fox) during its previous four seasons, this would be a particularly good time to tune in. The fifth-season premiere, a four-hour, two-night affair, is a heart-pounding, mesmerizing adventure unlike anything else up or down the dial.

What's it about? Don't ask. Seriously, don't ask because I can't tell. Fox, probably in defiance of the Geneva Convention, sent the first four hours of "24" to critics along with a note requesting they not reveal what happens, even in the first 10 minutes of the first hour. Particularly in the first 10 minutes.

It's like telling Leslie Moonves not to boast or Bill O'Reilly to stick to the facts. All I can say is that legendary CTU agent Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland), presumed by all but a few to be dead, is called into action once more as a result of terrible and unexpected events. See? I told you I couldn't say anything.

Sutherland has never been better. He is joined in the fifth season by Jean Smart, Sean Astin, Julian Sands and many returning cast members. Suffice it to say that this brilliant creation of Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran will enhance its reputation as the most reliable and involving thriller in TV history.

Bottom line: A heart-pounding, mesmerizing adventure unlike anything else up or down the dial.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001842610

AFH

01-13-06, 11:47 AM

fredfa

01-13-06, 11:58 AM

Strip means that USA will play it Monday-Friday ("strip" it across the week).

That is what the various networks do with the Law & Orders and other shows with sufficient episodes. Generally it is believed you need about 100 episodes before you can strip a show -- that takes you through a 20-week cycle before you start showing the same episodes again.

fredfa

01-13-06, 12:50 PM

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

fredfa

01-13-06, 12:55 PM

AFH

01-13-06, 03:00 PM

Breaking News
“Arrested” To Make February Exit

By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable

Fox has set Friday, Feb. 10, for a two-hour season finale episode of critically acclaimed Arrested Development. (That will put the finale against the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies on NBC.)

The 8-10 p.m. edition could be the final airing of the comedy from 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine TV on Fox, where it continued to under-perform as the 8 p.m. lead-in on Monday nights last fall.

Both ABC and Showtime have reportedly expressed interest in picking it up.

Judge Reinhold will guest star.

Thanks for answering my previous question. I have another one for ya. Do you have any stories about ABC and Showtime possibly picking Arrested?

It funny in the last episode of Arrested b/c there was a scene in which they slyly eluded to being picked up by Showtime or HBO. It was funny b/c the writers were able to joke about being dropped from Fox without making it too obvious.

fredfa

01-13-06, 03:34 PM

Antonio, every time I see a story mentioning the possible future of "AD" I post it.

I personally have no inside information on that front.

Maybe something will come out at the current Winter TCA tour. We'll see.

fredfa

01-13-06, 03:42 PM

Breaking News
One Last Shot for ''Arrested Development''

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

Fox has decided to give ''AD'' one more airing, a two-hour ''season finale'' burning off a bunch of episodes on Feb. 10. (Yes, that's a Friday. You didn't think Fox was going to move around the shows it likes, did you?)

Here's a description from Fox:

In the season finale, George Sr. hires a new attorney who asks the Bluths to participate in a mock trial to help prepare them for the real thing.

The attorney gets actor Judge Reinhold to preside over the mock case. Meanwhile, Buster fakes a coma to get out of testifying and George Michael and Maeby participate in a mock wedding to entertain hospital patients.

Back at the office, Michael discovers he may have a long-lost sister named Nellie Bluth (Justine Bateman). In an effort to get to the bottom of things, Michael tracks down Nellie and hires her as a consultant for The Bluth
Co.

Unfortunately, Michael discovers Nellie’s hands-on approach is more than he bargained for.

Meanwhile, Gob goes to Iraq to perform his Christian magic act on the USO tour and ends up incarcerated. Michael learns George Sr. sent Gob to Iraq to burn down the model home he built there, so Michael and Buster fly to Iraq to spring Gob from prison.

Together, the Bluth brothers head to the model home, where they make a discovery that could end the family’s legal troubles forever.

Back in Orange County, Lucille decides to throw a yacht party to celebrate. The Bluths gather aboard the Queen Mary for a trip that ends up being far from smooth sailing.

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

fredfa

01-13-06, 03:45 PM

TV Notebook
Taste the happy

By Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune TV blog January 13, 2006

Put the "Arrested Development" deathwatch on hold -- again.

Fox announced Friday that the much-loved (but low-rated) comedy will have a 2-hour season finale on Feb. 10 -- the night that NBC will air the opening ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Fox cut "Arrested Development" down to 13 episodes in its third season, but the network has not officially canceled the show. If it does, other networks are reportedly interested in bringing back the Emmy-winning comedy.

In the Feb. 10 finale, Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) finds out he may have a long-lost sister, Nellie, who’ll be played by Bateman’s real-life sister, Justine Bateman. Meanwhile, Michael’s brother, Gob Bluth, joins a USO tour and takes his magic act to Iraq, only to end up in prison there.

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

fredfa

01-13-06, 03:49 PM

TV Notebook
"Arrested Development" lives... sort of

The Newark Star-Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall TV blog Friday, January 13, 2006

From a Fox press release (some spoilers included in the second paragraph):

“A two-hour season finale episode of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT will air Friday, Feb. 10 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

In the season finale, George Sr. hires a new attorney who asks the Bluths to participate in a mock trial to help prepare them for the real thing. The attorney gets actor Judge Reinhold to preside over the mock case. Meanwhile, Buster fakes a coma to get out of testifying and George Michael and Maeby participate in a mock wedding to entertain hospital patients. Back at the office, Michael discovers he may have a long-lost sister named Nellie Bluth (Justine Bateman). In an effort to get to the bottom of things, Michael tracks down Nellie and hires her as a consultant for The Bluth Co. Unfortunately, Michael discovers Nellie’s hands-on approach is more than he bargained for. Meanwhile, Gob goes to Iraq to perform his Christian magic act on the USO tour and ends up incarcerated. Michael learns George Sr. sent Gob to Iraq to burn down the model home he built there, so Michael and Buster fly to Iraq to spring Gob from prison. Together, the Bluth brothers head to the model home, where they make a discovery that could end the family’s legal troubles forever. Back in Orange County, Lucille decides to throw a yacht party to celebrate. The Bluths gather aboard the Queen Mary for a trip that ends up being far from smooth sailing.”
------------------------------------------------------------

Well, it ain't a pickup by Showtime or ABC, but at least we don't have to wait for the DVDs to see the last four episodes. And Fox is doing this in sweeps, no less -- albeit a weird sweeps where everyone is mostly playing dead opposite the Olympics. Feb. 10, not coincidentally, is the night of the opening ceremonies, so Fox is just using "Arrested" as cannon fodder.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/

fredfa

01-13-06, 03:54 PM

TV Notebook
‘24’ comes to crowded field

By Diane Holloway Austin American-Statesman Friday, January 13, 2006

With “24” returning Sunday and Monday, “The Shield” back with a vengeance on Tuesday nights and “American Idol” revving up Tuesday, too, I’m worried about finding time to watch everything I need (OK want) to watch.

In fact, I’m fighting off a panic attack about this. I’ll definitely have to record several programs, but even with that capability, there are only so many hours in the night to watch them.

And I refuse to record sports and awards shows, so I’m basically stuck watching the live telecast of “The Golden Globes” on Monday night.

After the previous month of mind-numbing reruns and specials, having such bounty is a nice problem to have. But I wish schedulers would do a better job of spacing things out, because I really am in a dither here.

The biggest can’t-miss, of course, is “24,” which begins its fifth season Sunday night with a two-hour debut and continues Monday with another two-hour episode at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox

OK, now that I’m in the worrying mode, I’m worried about “24” spending four of its 24 hours in two consecutive nights. Does that mean they’ll run out of episodes sooner, like before May? Are they going to cram all 24 hours of this particular day of national crisis into a much shorter period of time than usual?

For now, I’ll try to calm down and enjoy the “24” mini-marathon, which brings back Jack Bauer from the dead (literally) 18 months after last May’s finale. Tick-tick, tick-tick, real-time suspense begins.

Sunday night’s opener gives us a heart-stopping security breach and the introduction of Jean Smart (“Designing Women”) as first lady Martha Logan, wife of weasly President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin).

As usual, some cast members are gone (although there’s always the chance a few of them will magically reappear during the season), and new ones will arrive.

But it’s comforting to know that the always-scowling, exceedingly competent but decidedly grumpy Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is back. CTU would collapse without her.

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/

AFH

01-13-06, 04:11 PM

Thanks for posting the recent Arrested stories. It seems like almost every tv critic has his/her own blog.

DoubleDAZ

01-13-06, 05:21 PM

I really feel sorry for folks who have not entered the wonderful world of DVRs. I had to make so many decisions in past years and miss shows I really wanted to watch. Now, I just record the network shows as scheduled and then catch the cable shows when they are repeated, if needed. Being in the Mountain time zone, that doesn't happen all that often, but it sure would be nice if the networks took a cue and repeated primetime programming late at night, like 2:00-5:00 am. There are still a few network shows I have to miss because 3 or more are on at the same time, like Sunday night when 24, DH, and Jesse Stone are all on at the same time. I'll probably opt to watch Jesse in SD. :(

fredfa

01-13-06, 06:59 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
'Monk' lovefest

By Matthew Zoller-Seitz Newark Star-Ledger Friday, January 13, 2006

USA's session promoting the new season of the obsessive-compulsive detective series "Monk" made something official: the show has now entered the pantheon of programs so universally respected that whenever its creators appear at TCA Press Tour, the press conference turns into a lovefest.

The guests included actors Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford, star and co-producer Tony Shalhoub, executive producer David Hoberman, and his partner, executive producer and creator Andy Breckman, who supervises the writing of the show's scripts from a "Monk" compound in Summit.

The new season, which starts tonight, includes several plotlines that are so promising that just imagining them can make you laugh. Monk goes to a dentist for the first time since childhood. Monk serves on a jury. And my favorite - so promising I wish I were watching it right now - Monk bumps his head, gets amnesia and ends up in a small town where he doesn't know anyone, whereupon a local resident (played by Laurie Metcalfe) tells Monk that they're married.

"You'll laugh," Breckman said drolly. "But then you'll find yourself wiping away a little tear."

"He still has these compulsions, and he discovers them one at a time," Shalhoub said.

The producers said that they continue to receive a lot of mail from the obsessive-compulsive community, which has mostly embraceed the series.

"I recently joined the Board of the Anxiety Disorder Association of America," Hoberman said. "I can tell you that there are a lot of people around the country and around the world that pay attention (to the show) and that are familiar with the show and respect how we treat the character on the show."

What does the fan mail look like?

"It's actually one guy writing a letter over and over and over," Shalhoub joked. "It's the same guy. And I don't think he's seen the show."

Breckman said USA hadn't pressured him to move the series' writers from Summit to Hollywood, where "Monk" is shot and edited. "When we started the show, (USA) did ask if I wanted to relocate to Los Angeles. It probably would have been easier. I think the show is better for the writers being 3,000 miles away from the suits. Not that I don't love the suits. But we get to focus like a laser, as they say, on the scripts ... I think the product is better for it."

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

fredfa

01-14-06, 01:52 AM

TV Notebook
The Twist for '24' May Be in Its Ratings

By Neil Amdur The New York Times January 14, 2006

The rituals will begin again this weekend - the ticking clock, a country in crisis and Jack Bauer trying to save the world. For millions of "24" fans, the start of the fifth season brings back-to-back two-hour episodes Sunday and Monday on Fox, and please, no phone calls until the show is over.

Maintaining its prime-time grip on a loyal (some might say addicted) following can prove challenging, especially since "24" now has competition in the terror business from other shows. Its producers' answer has been to ratchet up the threats, which seem to mirror real events, from bioterrorism to torture. Last season's plots included a middle-class, Islamic sleeper-cell family in Southern California, nuclear footballs, deadly rocket attacks, strained Sino-American relations and a shaky American president. Woven through this political mosaic were countless personal subplots within the show's counterterrorist unit that, at season's end, left Agent Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) presumed dead, in the tradition of James Bond, Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne.

But as one of Bauer's antagonists noted wryly in Season 3, "the guy has more lives than a cat." Promotional trailers on Fox are trumpeting "Jack Is Back" in large type, and the newly released DVD set of Season 4 includes a 10-minute prequel of Season 5, with Bauer, looking shaggy in a hooded sweatshirt, on the run in Chicago.

The larger question is whether "24" can build on its average viewing audience of 12.1 million from Season 4 (an increase of 20 percent over the previous year) and sustain enough new and plausible plotlines to complement its trademark split-screen images and tense action sequences. Or will viewers shift to newer, equally edgy terror-themed shows like Showtime's critically praised "Sleeper Cell," or "The Unit," which will begin on CBS in March starring a familiar "24" face, Dennis Haysbert?

Joel Surnow, who created "24" with Robert Cochran, said in a telephone interview from the show's offices in Chatsworth, Calif., that some of the new season would necessarily entail "Jack Bauer kicking down doors and saving lives." But he continued: "You have to find inspiration with new sets of characters or stories. Those are as important as the necessity of stopping the bomb or the weapon of the season."

One potentially intriguing element in Season 5 will be a new president. Vice President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) was sworn in nervously as president late last season after terrorists downed Air Force One; if he and his unpredictable wife, Martha (Jean Smart), prove as intriguing as David Palmer (Mr. Haysbert) and his power-hungry wife, Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald), who dominated earlier seasons, "24" die-hards should be satisfied. More romantic connections also loom for Bauer, and an expanded role and love interest for the irrepressible counterterrorist-unit analyst Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), whom Mr. Surnow affectionately dubs "our Napoleon Dynamite," should also push emotional buttons.

The new season creates a fresh identity (at least at the outset) and more maneuverability for Bauer, as he works anonymously in the California oil fields. "There's a freedom in the character that's never existed before," Mr. Sutherland said during a recent phone interview. "He wants to make it without any obligations to himself or anybody else."

Mr. Surnow, Mr. Cochran and Fox network executives have moved past their initial concern that constructing a 24-episode season in real time was impossible for viewers accustomed to weekly resolutions. The show reaped the dividends of Fox's gamble last year to open Season 4 in January for the first time, with two-hour segments on successive nights, the first following a ratings-heavy N.F.L. playoff game. (Another playoff game will precede Sunday's opener.) Starting in January instead of September also allowed the show to run continuously until its May season finale without the weight of reruns that might slow momentum and viewer buzz.

Last season's doubleheader was seen by 15.3 million viewers on the first night and 13.3 million on the second, according to Fox. In reaching its 100th episode this year, "24" has become Fox's most upscale show and its strongest franchise behind "American Idol." The series is being shown around the world, syndicated reruns are airing on cable and local channels, and DVD sales of last season were 56 percent higher in the first week than sales for Season 3, according to Fox. (DVD sales of Seasons 1 through 3 have totaled 2.5 million units.) Fox has also decided to pair "24" and its successful new series, "Prison Break," on Mondays, with "Prison Break" returning to the schedule in March.

Another barometer of the show's impact is the increased traffic on various Web sites that vie not only as "spoilers," with advance plot clues that may or may not be accurate (one such site is "The 24 Insider," at www.24spoilers.tvheaven.com), but also offer debates about the plausibility of various high-tech gadgets and escape mechanisms.

Fox executives prefer to avoid commenting on plot specifics raised by Web sites, but Peter Liguori, the president of entertainment for Fox, said, "it does deepen the audience relationship to the show" and gives viewers a choice on how much they want to know in advance.

The willingness to take on sensitive issues has worked for "24." Last season, before "Sleeper Cell" took viewers inside Islamic terror minds, "24" turned the Iranian-born actress Shohreh Aghdashloo's portrayal of Dina Araz, the matriarch of a Muslim-American family, into a painfully realistic performance. Clifford Peterson, a professor at Ramapo College in Mahwah, N.J., plans to use material from the current season as part of a course on terrorism next fall. "It has raised a number of issues before it was raised by the media," Mr. Peterson said. "That's a real contribution the show makes beyond the entertainment value."

The show's audience composition also belies certain stereotypes for action-based dramas. Last season, according to Fox research, 53 percent of the audience was male, 47 percent female. The previous year, it was 52 percent female, 48 percent male.

Mr. Sutherland said the positive audience response to his character "working alone as a lone wolf" has challenged him. He cites Bauer's tearful breakdown in a pickup truck at the end of Season 3 as his most poignant moment to date, but both he and Carlos Bernard, who plays the long-running character Tony Almeida, described a scene they recently shot together as "awesome" and among their most satisfying.

Unlike Mr. Surnow, who envisions as much as an 80 percent audience turnover by the end of this season, Mr. Sutherland said he felt that the core viewer had remained since the first season.

That may include the chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft, Bill Gates, an otherwise infrequent television viewer. Mr. Gates told The New Yorker in October that he watches "24" while on the treadmill and would be prepared to discuss Season 4 more fully after he spent several days with the DVD. On how long the show can continue to hold its grip, Mr. Sutherland says, "as much pressure as it is to stay in real-life confines, that question of how many bad days we'll allow is how many the audience will tolerate."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/arts/television/14four.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

01-14-06, 01:57 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
"The Sopranos" crew appear, but they ain't sayin' nothin'

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

I suppose we should consider ourselves fortunate that David Chase, Edie Falco, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli and Lorraine Bracco deigned -- or, in the spirit of Tony's frequent malapropisms, dwayned -- to speak with TV critics at all Friday afternoon.

But beyond the basic details regarding the sixth season of "The Sopranos," kicking off Sunday, March 12 at 9 p.m., we don't have a whole lotta dish.

The new season will be its longest, consisting of 20 episodes in total. The first twelve new episodes air through the spring; then, the series returns in January 2007 for the remaining eight.

"Sopranos" creator David Chase also confirmed that this will, indeed, be the final round for the New Jersey mob family. That's probably for the best.

The sixth season's storyline revolves around the fact that Johnny Sack has been arrested and is now facing a RICO trial for murder. "People have the chance to see a possible, potential future for themselves in that, and it has a ripple effect," Chase said.

Beyond that, HBO asked the actors not to snitch, which made the entire question and answer session, in the words of a good friend and fellow critic, like trying to open a can of condensed milk with one's teeth.

What we do know is the list of guest stars. Tim Daly returns, along with Frankie Valli. Lorraine Bracco's sister Elizabeth is on deck, as are Lord Jamar, Treach and Jerry Adler. Hal Holbrook will play a scientist who falls in with the mob. Julianna Margulies appears as a real-estate agent, and curiously, Sir Ben Kingsley is set to show up as...Sir Ben Kingsley.

They also revealed the cast's equivalent the kiss of death for anyone due to be whacked.

"We take 'em to dinner," Imperioli said. "Lots of rituals revolve around food, as you saw. When you're asked to dinner, it's not such a good thing."

Then the actors shared what it feels like to be near the end of creating an epic television series. (They're currently filming episode 11, by the way.)

"I wish I didn't know it was ending when it's ending," Falco admitted. "I go to work with this sort of a gravity about the time I'm spending with these people that I wish I didn't have."

Gandolfini expressed similar thoughts, although he added that once the show is finished, he'll be done playing Tony Soprano and every other mobster. "I'm too tired to be a tough guy or any of that stuff anymore. We pretty much used all of that up here… I don't know. I'm thinking about finishing this in the right way."

"It's a dark, dark world, and you're in it a lot," he said. "However, if you're going to be in a dark world, I can't think of a better one to be in."

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/print.asp?entryID=101102

humdinger70

01-14-06, 03:20 AM

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but....

What the heck happened with Friday's "Dancing with the Stars - The Results" show? It was scheduled for a 1/2 hour time slot at 8:00 PM (followed by Hope&Faith at 8:30 PM).

Instead, we got a 1/2 hour recap show then the results show - so the whole thing ran an hour. Anybody (like me) who setup their recording unit to record only the half-hour show got a rude surprise - no results.

This was NOT announced (or was it?) and I doubt ABC deliberately cancelled one of their own shows without notifying anyone. Was there a problem with the 8:30 program that forced them to do this?

By the way, since I don't have it, which couple got dropped this week??

keenan

01-14-06, 03:32 AM

From The Winston Salem Journal,

Money at crux of TV debate
Sinclair, Time Warner at odds over charge to carry HD signal

By Tim Clodfelter
JOURNAL REPORTER
Saturday, January 14, 2006

Super Bowl Sunday is coming to ABC on Feb. 5. But unless something changes in the next few weeks, most viewers in the Triad won't get a chance to see the big game in high definition.

That's because, unlike other local channels that broadcast in high definition, local ABC affiliate WXLV-TV's high-definition channel isn't available on Time Warner Cable.

The reason is a dispute over money between Time Warner and Sinclair Broadcast Group, the company that owns WXLV.

Sinclair wants Time Warner to pay for the right to carry WXLV's high-definition signal. Time Warner says no and that such a move would likely force it to raise cable customers' bills.

The dispute affects Sinclair-owned stations around the country, including 11 ABC affiliates.

"The FCC has rules called 'must carry' and 'retransmission consent,'" said Buck Yarborough, the director of government and public affairs at the Greensboro division of Time Warner Cable. "This gives local broadcasters the option of choosing mandatory carriage on a cable system or opting for retransmission consent, which means we must have an agreement and their permission to carry their signal."

Often, channels will choose "must carry," since that gets their programming out to the most viewers. But in the case of high-definition programming, some stations have a different view.

"We made a $6 million investment to bring HD to the community," said Ron Inman, WXLV's station manager. "The FCC, when they forced us all to provide HD, gave us a way to seek compensation."

The old analog signal is being broadcast on equipment that had long ago been paid for, Inman said, which is why viewers can receive the standard broadcast of WXLV on local cable. WXLV chose to stick with "must carry" for analog, but in mid-2003 Sinclair decided to ask for monetary compensation for its HD signal.

Sinclair has made similar demands in other markets, and has reached agreements with some other cable services, including recent deals with WideOpenWest Cable in Ohio and Insight Communications in Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky.

Last year, Sinclair and cable service Comcast made a deal a few days before the Super Bowl, allowing Comcast subscribers to get HD programming on Sinclair-owned stations in time for the Super Bowl.

Time Warner doesn't plan to start paying for the right to retransmit what is essentially free, over-the-air programming, though.

"Our official position is, we don't pay cash for over-the-air broadcast signals using the public airwaves," Yarborough said.

"We feel that the fact that we extend their reach to essentially 350,000 households, in this 12-county region that we serve, expands their advertising reach. That's how they make their money, by advertising. That's the advantage to being on cable."

Time Warner carries HD versions of UNC-TV, WGHP, WFMY and WXII on its digital-cable tier as channels 501, 510, 520 and 540, respectively.

In the case of WXII, for instance, the station made a retransmission-consent agreement with Time Warner, but it would not discuss specifics of the agreement.

Subscribers with high-definition TV sets who get digital cable can get an HD cable box at no extra charge to pick up those channels.

Time Warner also offers a package of HD cable channels, including HD Net Movies, ESPN HD and several On Demand channels, for an extra $6.95 a month.

Viewers with HDTV sets do have options beyond cable.

Nationwide, about 65 percent of households have cable television, and 22 percent have satellite dishes. The remainder watch over-the-air programming. Locally, the percentages are similar.

An HD antenna receiver allows viewers to receive the high-definition signal over the airwaves, and DirecTV, a satellite-TV service, hopes to transmit the high-definition signal from WXLV in June or July of this year, according to Inman.

Both Time Warner and WXLV frequently hear from viewers wanting to see ABC in high definition on cable. Such calls become more frequent as HD continues to grow in popularity.

The numbers are still slim. About 11 million households in the U.S. had an HDTV set at the end of 2004.

But with set prices dropping, the numbers will increase. According to a recent survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, seven in 10 consumers plan to buy a digital, cable-ready HDTV as their next television set.

By 2009, all TV sets in the United States will need to be either HD or have a converter box to receive digital programming; that is when television stations nationwide are scheduled to switch off their analog broadcasts.

Yarborough said that some frustrated viewers have asked why Time Warner doesn't import another ABC affiliate into the market.

"That's not allowed, because FCC rules dictate what's considered a local broadcaster," he said. "WXLV is the designated local broadcaster for this area, for this television market. We're restrained by law from importing an out-of-market ABC signal."

Negotiations continue on the corporate levels of Time Warner and Sinclair.

"There's interest in getting a deal done," Inman said. "No one's walking away. We know what's at stake here.

"There's an economic model here that both of us are working hard toward. We'll find it, because long-term it's in our best interest to find it."

fredfa

01-14-06, 12:44 PM

Sports On TV
NHL: NBC is hoping that hockey will finally score with viewers

By Rich Hammond Los Angeles Daily News Staff Writer

No, the puck won't be glowing. But the game will be up close and personal.

NBC embarks on a venture today - showing NHL games on network television - that for years has mostly proved to be a fruitless and frustrating venture for its broadcasting brethren in the United States.

Many years and many technological advances have passed, with the sport seemingly no closer to widespread interest and high ratings in this country than it was in 1966, when NBC became the first U.S. network to broadcast a NHL playoff game. The league and the network believe that will change.

Why does NBC believe it will succeed when, most recently, Fox and ABC have failed? Because those involved think the game is better, and that they can show it in a more interesting way.

That means spotlighting players similar to the way NBC does in its Olympic broadcasts. It means players wearing microphones. It means a hockey version of sideline reporters, and a "goalie cam."

"I believe the things that go into making a successful broadcast are things that NBC will try to do," commissioner Gary Bettman said. "This sport can't be broadcast on a cookie-cutter basis. We needed an opportunity for broadcasters to look at new and innovative ways to get people closer to the game.

"Is it going to make a difference this Saturday, where all of a sudden people look at it and say, 'Holy cow, they fixed it'? Of course not. This is a process that is going to take some time and this is a journey that we're delighted to be beginning with NBC."

The marriage of hockey and television has always been a tenuous one. After a decade of poor ratings, ESPN declined its option to televise the NHL this year after the league returned from its lockout.

Little-known cable outlet OLN entered the picture with a two-year, $135-million deal, but has averaged a miniscule 0.2 rating. Then there's NBC, which paid no rights fees to broadcast games on six Saturdays during the regular season plus coverage throughout the later rounds of the playoffs.

NBC bases its coverage from its Rockefeller Center studios and will have a rink set up to illustrate points made by its commentators. The names will be familiar, as broadcast veterans Bill Clement, John Davidson, Mike Emrick and Pierre McGuire are aboard, plus former players Ray Ferraro and Cammi Granato.

"There's no glowing pucks or glowing helmets or glowing goal posts, but what there's going to be is passionate hockey conversation," said Sam Flood, producer of the NHL on NBC broadcasts. "We're not reinventing the wheel. What we are doing is showing a great game in a new light."

The changes won't be monumental, although NBC hopes that high-definition broadcasts will revitalize the way games are seen. The network is hoping that the on-ice microphones and its up-close correspondents will provide insight during the game that will pique the interest of viewers.

Look also for a greater focus on individual players. The NHL came under some criticism after the lockout for its advertising campaign, which featured an actor dressed as a player as the league chose to spotlight the game itself rather than some of its personalities in its marketing efforts.

That's not to say that every intermission will feature the type of tear-jerking vignettes that NBC made famous in its Olympic coverage, but NBC wants viewers to get more familiar with the players.

"There are so many wonderful examples of personality on the ice," Clement said. "Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have given us a platform to reintroduce people to the personalities of the sport."

Bettman said NBC's personality-driven coverage isn't a change in philosophy as much as it's a reflection of the "new NHL" and cooperation from players who will allow things such as on-ice microphones.

"We're going to have more and better access, both in terms of the cooperation we're getting from the players and the opportunities we're going to afford the media to get closer to the game," Bettman said.

But will it be enough? Will people watch? And does it matter?

Despite conservative projections, league revenues now are expected to exceed $2.1 billion this season and possibly exceed numbers from the pre-lockout 2003-04 season. And that's without a broadcast television deal, since NBC is paying the league nothing to broadcast the games this season.

With pundits praising the style of play under the new rules and the league on pace for an overall attendance record, some might question the importance of television. Even Bettman said, "Anything we can do incrementally on television will be a plus," given the league's current economic health.

Perhaps it matters more to the players, since their salary cap is tied to league revenues, and a big network contract would be a boom for them.

Kings forward Jeremy Roenick, critical of the league's past television dealings, said NBC's plans sounded good but that the league should go further.

"They should let cameras and microphones go everywhere," Roenick said. "On the ice, on the bench, in the dressing room, everywhere. The more people can see, the better.

"The goalie cam sounds nice, but they should put a camera on the referee, or cameras players. Put a camera on a guy who is crossing the blue line and is about to get hit and have his head taken off.

"There's a lot they can do. Be interactive, on the Internet or whatever. Pick a fan, and if they correctly guess who scores a power-play goal or something like that, they win game tickets, or plane tickets or something. Be interactive and give people a reason to want to watch."

http://www.dailynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3400941

fredfa

01-14-06, 12:46 PM

keenan

01-14-06, 12:51 PM

Sports On TV
NHL: NBC is hoping that hockey will finally score with viewers

Conan O'Brien did a funny skit on this last night about how NBC scored a "major coup" with hockey....the 32nd most popular sport in the country. :D

fredfa

01-14-06, 12:53 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Tony Soprano's finale

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

"The Sopranos" will definitely conclude its run next year, series creator David Chase said Friday.

HBO's mob drama returns with 12 new episodes on March 12. An additional eight installments will appear in early 2007.

"And that will be the end," Chase said.

In one of the more awkward sessions on the Television Critics Association tour, Chase and the "Sopranos" stars sidestepped questions or gave brief answers.

"We've been asked not to reveal things," said Lorraine Bracco, who plays Dr. Jennifer Melfi.

But here are a few tidbits: Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley will play himself. "ER" alumna Julianna Margulies plays a real estate agent named Julianna. Hal Holbrook portrays a former scientist who becomes mixed up with the mob.

And Chase ruled out an oft-rumored "Sopranos" movie for theaters. "It's hard to see how it would work," he said. "What we're going to be doing the next year and a half will be what would have been that movie."

The mental health of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) came up several times. Did he get better after sessions with Melfi?

"It's job security that he doesn't," Bracco said.

A critic asked: "Why does Tony keep going to the psychiatrist? He doesn't seem to get anything out of it."

"Well, we're trying to depict real psychotherapy," Chase said. "Of course, he gets nothing out of it."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2006/01/tony_sopranos_f.html

fredfa

01-14-06, 12:57 PM

TV Review
“24”: The world needs Jack more than ever in season 5

By Dusty Saunders (Denver) Rocky Mountain News January 14, 2006

I often chuckle when a network sends a "do not divulge the plot" memo along with a preview of a show.

Often this is part of the public relations game - an attempt to create a mind-set that what I'm about to see is really stunning stuff. The pitch: If the plot is outlined in print, the readers' fun will be destroyed.

Such a notation arrived with the DVD containing the first four hours of the fifth season of Fox's ”24”, which premieres Sunday.

And in keeping with the dramatic theme of 24, the memo was almost threatening. Included was the warning: "Our continued ability to send these preview mailings to you depends on your cooperation."

Wow. The Fox PR staff is really caught up in this espionage mind-set.

But dramatic memo aside, Fox makes its case. It would be a disservice to viewers to detail what happens in the first 10 minutes of Sunday's opening.

And there's also pragmatism in my decision to follow Fox's plea. A long, written dissertation about the pulse-pounding opening wouldn't do it justice.

So I'll tell you just enough to whet your viewing curiosity. Fans of the series know that last season's finale ended with Counter Terrorism Unit agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) "dying." That cliffhanger was a prelude to new adventures, as Bauer begins another frantic 24 hours to save the U.S. and possibly the world from devastating terrorist attacks.

(For the uninformed, each episode represents one hour. Thus Jack Bauer has 24 hours, over 24 episodes, to prevent the ultimate disaster.)

Since his orchestrated "death," Bauer has been living for 18 months under an alias (Frank Flynn) and working as an oil digger in Bakersfield, Calif. To add to the realistic disguise, Bauer-Flynn is "living" with a local woman (Spin City's Connie Britton).

But his life spins quickly out of control during a series of devastating events that will affect Bauer, the people around him and, of course, the nation he serves.

Unlike the previous four seasons, which built up to major confrontations, this fifth edition immediately moves into the tragedy and disaster mode. And there are major problems on more fronts than in past seasons.

The main enemies this time are an eastern European bloc of terrorists who, during the first two nights, make the previous 24 villains look like bingo players in a church basement.

The head of this sinister operation is Vladimir Bierko (Julian Sands), an oil billionaire cut from the same villainous cloth as the James Bond bad guys.

Several cast members return from last season's fourth day, including Bauer's love interest, Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), along with Tony (Carlos Bernard) and Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth) who are running their own security firm and thus get involved with Bauer's bloody espionage activities.

Also back is Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian, Bauer's loyal agency pal who's as fast on her computers as she is with sardonic one-liners. Bauer's irritating daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), also returns. Her meddlesome misadventures earlier in the series often detracted from the major plot.

President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin), still shellshocked from Day 4's major nuclear threat, returns. But the most fascinating character living in the White House is his wife, Martha (Jean Smart), a chain- smoking, pill-popping first lady whose actions and attitude probably will heavily affect Bauer's war on terror. Is she unstable or strong?

Also new is Sean Astin of Lord of the Rings fame, playing Lynn McGill, a know-it-all bureaucrat sent by President Logan to oversee operations at the Counter Terrorism Unit. Followers of 24 know how Jack Bauer detests authority, particularly when it comes from young know-it-all Washington bureaucrats.

I recall watching the first hour of the series when it premiered. While mesmerized by the style, drama and action, I wondered how producers were going to sustain such a format over an entire season. Four years and four days later, Jack Bauer is still saving us from disaster as the clock ticks on.

Watching most dramatic television is an exercise in suspending reality. You don't suspend reality while viewing 24 - you throw it away.

Enjoy the upcoming relentless scenarios.

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_84_128,00.html

fredfa

01-14-06, 12:57 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Ted Koppel's new gigs

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

Get ready for Ted Koppel, media critic. The former "Nightline" host will be weighing in on the state of network news, including old employer ABC, in his new jobs as Discovery Channel managing editor, contributing columnist to The New York Times and senior news analyst at National Public Radio.

The broadcast networks, driven by fierce competition, are concentrating on youthful demographics and avoiding more serious stories, Koppel told TV critics Friday. He was equally critical of cable news channels.

"We don't need 36 straight hours on some unfortunate missing young woman in a Caribbean island," Koppel said, referring to Natalee Holloway. "It's a tragic story. It is a legitimate news story. It deserves to be covered, but it is not as important as the fact that 4 million people have died in the Congo over the last seven years as a direct and indirect consequence of a terrible war. It is not as important as what's going on in Iran right now. It is not as important as some of the reasons why we are in Iraq. Those things all require far more attention and, by and large, they're not getting it."

Koppel pointed to NPR as a media organization that's thriving for the right reasons.

It "has built a really massive radio audience by doing all the things that the network news organizations seem to be afraid to do: longer stories, serious subjects, over and over again."

Koppel said he hoped to bring that lesson to Discovery Channel.

"If you focus on interesting, important issues and you cover those stories fairly and well, they will come," Koppel said. "People will watch. People will listen."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2006/01/ted_koppels_new.html

fredfa

01-14-06, 01:02 PM

TV Review
Best check your sanity at the couch. '24' takes 10 minutes to go nuts.

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle

A friend has one of those youth-mentor stories that never gets old. He took a bunch of kids to see "E.T." ages ago and the kids sat there rapt, soaking up the lovable alien tale. Then Elliott and "E.T." took that magical bike ride in the sky -- and the kids were apoplectic with angry disbelief. No way. Bikes don't fly. Aliens -- no problem. But all bicycles must obey the laws of physics.

Which brings us -- isn't it obvious? -- back to "24," the adrenaline-fueled Fox series that begins its fifth season on Sunday with a two-hour premiere, followed by two more hours on Monday, depending on whether your heart can stand it. And your head. Logic and "24" -- they've never met.

As usual, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is avoiding the Hand of God while saving the world -- implausible eye candy at every turn.

See, what you bring to the table -- or the couch, as it were -- in the form of mental baggage is what most informs your opinion of a television series and whether or not you're able to go with it. Back in the day it might have been called the "E.T." Flying Bicycle Theory. But we crave modernity and there's a more relevant example at hand, which we've used before: The polar bear on "Lost."

In the first two hours of the hit ABC series, viewers had to not only believe that more than 40 people survived a midflight explosion of an airliner, but also buy into the fact they were on a tropical island with some kind of Jurassic Big Bad pushing through the trees and one very random polar bear in the lush greenery. When the Polar Bear Moment was revealed -- it was shot dead in the scorching heat -- that was it, the checkout point for a lot of viewers. Not so here. The leap of faith that is "Lost" is inherently the most fascinating part of the show. It's so clearly not supposed to be rooted in reality. It may, in fact, be taking place in a parallel universe. Hey, even better.

Of course, we opted out of another Fox series, "Prison Break," because the Polar Bear Moment had a white-collar professional robbing a bank on purpose so he could get sent to a prison to break out his brother, who was on death row. Who cares if he's got a full-body tattoo hiding the prison schematics -- it's stupid, period.

Did we buy into it? No, we did not.

Which brings us back -- even more clearly -- to the precepts of "24." They are stupid. First season -- a near-revolutionary TV trick; an entire season played out in real time, each episode imagining an hour of time, ending in one full day. A whole lot of implausible situations, sure, but crackling action abounded. Speaking of crack, Season 2 hit the pipe hard, burning logic at every turn. And yet, we watched. "24" had this magic spell, this thrilling quality that allowed you to forgive the gaping holes. Each episode felt like chugging Red Bull and running recklessly and pointlessly down the streets of Pamplona.

By Season 3, the Kim Bauer Drinking Game had pretty much made alcoholics of an entire viewing nation. At some point, Jack Bauer may have worn a cape and flown. Does it matter? By Season 4, nobody in his or her right mind lived in Los Angeles, which had become a redundant terrorist target. And watching "24" was no longer tenable in the same way that "Alias" was, for example. At least in "Alias" everybody knew it was stupid. The Polar Bear Moment in "Alias" was the costume change. Waify Jennifer Garner was going to put on a hot little number -- don't forget the wig -- and foil the bad guys. But at least no one in his or her right and centered mind thought it was the best show on television. "24," on the other hand, really wanted to be taken seriously despite a previous 72 episodes of Swiss cheese logic.

Four words: Could. Not. Abide. That.

Having argued with other TV critics about the merits of "24" ceaselessly, there was a personal stalemate at hand. Loved the first season, tolerated the second, thought the third was a sitcom, the fourth fatuously unnecessary.

And now, as Season 5 blows up your screen on Sunday? Well, we've made a separate peace with the Polar Bear Moment that is "24" -- the implausibility. Look, if you have shared our fondness for logic that is rooted in the realistic depiction of certain genres -- you can have weird ears on "Star Trek," but you can't shoot lasers on "The Wire"; you can ride a Mustang but not drive one on "Deadwood" -- then here's some advice that took years of grinding contemplation: Buy into "24." Learn to let it go. No, Jack Bauer hasn't gone to the bathroom in, like, forever. He's essentially Lazarus with semi-automatic weaponry. And for the life of him, the guy can't extricate himself from disaster, chaos and mayhem.

But this Season 5 -- damn. Having seen the first four episodes, you need to be a part of this. You need to doff the skepticism and get on the ride. Yes, Jack Bauer faked his own death last year and walked off into the sunset. But -- here's a shocker -- there are more terrorists in Los Angeles and this time they've made him mad. They tear his heart out. They flick his ear as he walks away. They get up in his business. And you know what that means?

Jack's back.

The savvy among you may have noticed there's really no detail about Season 5 herein. The reasons why:

• In the first 10 minutes of "24," there are several stunning events that we can't talk about. Now, the media landscape -- old and new school -- is littered with critics who give out spoilers because they're callous hacks. But television is bad enough as it is without sucking the joy out of it, so we have a rule about giving away major plot points. That rule: Don't.

• What more do you need to know, anyway, than Jack is back, there are terrorists in Los Angeles, and he's on the clock?

• "24" is five seasons into it. Most of the people who tune in are diehards. But the point here is to tell people who either watched the first season or never watched at all -- forget the past. Yes, tuning in now may seem confusing and stupid and implausible, but ain't it always? Watch the two-hour premiere on Sunday. It's a rollercoaster. Cut the top of your head off and throw your hands in the air. There are worse things in the world than getting a rush from television.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/13/DDGE4GLR6K1.DTL&type=printable

fredfa

01-14-06, 01:07 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
End of the line for “The Sopranos”

By Matthew Zoller-Seitz Newark Star-Ledger

It’s over. And this time they mean it.

“The Sopranos” principals gathered tonight at HBO’s spring preview to put a period at the end of an influential chapter in TV history. Departing from a longtime policy of never saying never, series creator David Chase and stars James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli and Lorraine Bracco definitively confirmed what the show’s fans had long suspected: the sixth and final season will be the last.

The sixth season of the critically acclaimed, controversial mob saga will be broken into two parts, said Chase. HBO will debut 12 episodes this March, give the cast and crew a several-month break while Chase and his writers plot out the show’s concluding arc, then resume production in the fall. The final eight episodes of “The Sopranos” will roll out in January 2007.

And that’ll be it. Really.

Chase, who might direct the series finale himself but hasn't yet committed, even seemed to rule out a theatrical spin-off. He said he had not discussed a “Sopranos” movie with HBO executives “in a long time … It’s hard to see how it would work.”

Chase and his cast said they hadn’t yet figured out exactly how the show would end, and partook of the usual “Sopranos” press conference ritual of ducking and weaving around other plot-related questions. Chase said the season’s narrative spine would be the trial of New York mob boss Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola), who was arrested at the end of season five, and Imperioli said vaguely that the episodes would deal with “dissatisfaction, the feeling that things aren’t going too well.” Beyond that, the panel offered only shrugs and blank stares.

But they talked a lot about their mixed feelings about ending a show that had brought them so much attention, and sometimes notoriety.

An uncharacteristically relaxed, talkative Gandolfini told reporters he would be glad not to have to play such a violent, tortured character as mob boss Tony Soprano. But he added that he was still grateful to have had the opportunity to work with rich material, alongside actors who have become his friends.

“It’s a dark, dark world, and you’re in it a lot," Gandolfini said. "However, if you’re gonna be in a dark world, I can’t think of a better one to be in. The writing is still wonderful and I love the people I work with. There are a lot of pluses.”

Gandolfini said that looking back, he even appreciated the unpleasant aspects of the experience - carrying Tony’s dark thoughts home with him at night, being hounded by reporters, seeing his private life splashed all over TV and newspapers – because it was a learning experience.

“When we started out, a lot of us were reasonably unknown,” Gandolfini said. “You learn so much about success and money and celebrity and all kinds of stuff. It’s been an incredible life lesson that a lot of us would never had.”

The press conference’s suggestive but unspecific opening clip reel showed a number of famous guest stars, including returning guest actor Tim Daly, former “ER” lead Julianna Margulies (who plays a real estate agent who might or might not be Tony’s newest affair), Hal Holbrook (playing a terminally ill Bell Telephone scientist who gets tangled up with the family), and Ben Kingsley, who Chase said plays himself. (No explanation, of course, as to exactly what that might mean.)

The actors agreed that despite early fears of typecasting, they were glad to have been able to spend several seasons playing particular characters and watching them evolve.

Imperioli, who plays Tony’s young cousin, rising gangster Chris Moltisanti, said when the character started, “He was like a kid,” but over the years, Chris had “… closed some of the generation gap (with) Tony. To play a character that actually progresses throughout time and matures is, I think, a luxury.”

“You get to follow the character through a lot of the same ups and downs that you go through in your own life,” said Falco, who plays Tony’s wife Carmela. “It’s not about finding the character anymore, it’s about being in it, and going wherever she goes.”

Gandolfini said the key to playing the same character for seven years was “…the changes that age brings. You slow down a little bit, and you’re not so quick to explode in certain cases … The writers are smart enough to write all those changes in that life gives you … I’m too tired to be a tough guy.”

Afterward, Gandolfini stood against a wall outside the hotel ballroom surrounded by about 25 reporters sticking tape recorders in his face and peppering him with questions. This is a common sight at press tour, but Gandolfini’s unhurried, comfortable demeanor was something new. The actor was long known as one of the most press-averse stars on TV. Years ago, after accepting an acting award at the annual Television Critics Awards dinner, Gandolfini was so flipped out when the press corps surrounded him during a cocktail reception later that night that he panicked and left the event.

But now, after seven years in the spotlight, he was a seasoned pro.

He joked about possible endings for “The Sopranos,” saying that sending Tony off with a heart attack would be “kinda lame,” but relishing the idea of incinerating the entire family in a nuclear explosion. “Nobody would see that coming,” he said. He told reporters that he was in negotiations to play Ernest Hemingway in a drama about the novelist’s affair with journalist Martha Gellhorn. “But it’s a ways off,” he said. He couldn’t see beyond that because he’s “not much of a multitasker.” “I’m not the guy who can take four phone calls (at once). I just want to concentrate on what I’m doing.”

He listed the good aspects of being famous. “It’s very good at hospitals. It’s very good at emergency rooms and restaurants, you know. It’ll get you on the sideline at ball games … It opens a lot of doors.”

He said shooting “The Sopranos” on location in New Jersey and at Silvercup Studios in Queens was a blessing, because it insulated them from much of the media scrutiny they’d have to deal with in Hollywood or Manhattan.

“You have to remember, we mostly work out in Long Island City, in the middle of nowhere. You know, we’re separated from a lot of this,” he said, sweeping his gaze around the reporters gathered around him. “That’s been a great thing. We do our work, we go home … When I leave, I leave. I think (the job) kind of spilled over a bit in the beginning. But it’s just something you learn.”

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

fredfa

01-14-06, 02:32 PM

Friday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest Prime Time Ratings news which is the first post in this thread.

RussTC3

01-14-06, 06:40 PM

Could the reviews for the season 5 premiere for 24 be any better? :D

I'm glad I decided to watch this show (watched season 1-4 over the past few months, just watched the finale of season 4 a few days ago).

I can't wait for Season 5!

fredfa

01-14-06, 09:52 PM

The New York Times Obituary
Shelley Winters, Winner of Two Oscars, Dies

By Aljean Harmetz The New York Times January 15, 2006

Shelley Winters, who once described her life as a "rocky road out of the Brooklyn ghetto to one New York apartment, two Oscars, three California houses, four hit plays, five Impressionist paintings, six mink coats and 99 films," died yesterday. She was 83, although some sources say she was 85.

Ms. Winters died of heart failure at the Rehabilitation Centre of Beverly Hills, her publicist, Dale Olson, said. She had been hospitalized in October after suffering a heart attack.

A major movie presence for more than five decades, Shelley Winters turned herself from a self-described "dumb blond bombshell" in B pictures to a widely respected actress who was nominated four times for Academy Awards.

Her first Oscar, for best supporting actress, was for her performance in "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959) as the middle-age Mrs. Van Daan, one of eight Dutch Jews hiding from the Nazis in an attic.

She won again for best supporting actress as the vicious mother of a blind girl in "A Patch of Blue" (1965).

After a series of bit parts, Ms. Winters received her first big break as the waitress who was strangled by Ronald Colman's jealous actor in "A Double Life" in 1947.

Four years later, she dyed her hair brown, rubbed the polish off her fingernails, and convinced the director George Stevens that she could play the mousy factory girl who was made pregnant and then drowned by Montgomery Clift so that he could marry the rich Elizabeth Taylor in "A Place in the Sun." She was nominated for an Academy Award as best actress for that performance.

Tough-talking and oozing sex appeal, Ms. Winters was blowzy, vulgar and often pathetically vulnerable in her early films. In movie after movie, she played working-class women who were violently discarded by men who had used them.

When her gullible waitress couldn't lead the hymn-singing preacher to a cache of stolen money in "The Night of the Hunter" (1955), he slit her throat.

As a rich man's poor mistress in "The Great Gatsby" (1949), she was casually run over by her lover's wife.

In Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" (1962), James Mason married her to get close to her young daughter; when she finds this out she blindly runs in front of a car and is killed.

Even when she became the dominating force in many of her later movies, Ms. Winters often played vulnerable monsters. As Ma Barker in the 1970 cult classic "Bloody Mama" - in which she is first seen giving her four grown sons their Saturday-night baths - she was murderously maternal while brandishing a tommy gun.

Shrieking, shrewish, slutty or silly, Ms. Winters always seemed larger than life on screen. The critic Pauline Kael called her lovelorn culture-vulture Charlotte Haze in "Lolita" a "triumphant caricature, so overdone it recalls Blake's 'You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.' "

Off screen Ms. Winters lived with an equal gusto, which she captured in her best-selling 1980 autobiography, "Shelley, Also Known as Shirley," and in a second book, "Shelley II." With a hearty appetite for food and men, she was not hesitant about naming the actors with whom she had shared a bed, including Sean Connery, Errol Flynn, Farley Granger, Sterling Hayden, William Holden and Burt Lancaster. Ms. Winters and Mr. Holden had a "Same Time, Next Year" relationship, meeting in his Paramount dressing room on Christmas Eve for five years. Her two- year relationship with Mr. Lancaster was more serious. She ended the affair when the actor's wife became pregnant with his third child.

She was born Shirley Schrift in St. Louis on Aug. 18, 1922, according to many sources, though others give her birth year as 1920. Her stage name came from the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and from her mother, Rose Winter, an amateur soprano who had once won a Municipal Opera contest in St. Louis. Her father, like many immigrants in the early 20th century, came to the United States in steerage. Her mother, a first-generation American, was born in St. Louis. The Schrifts soon moved to Brooklyn, where Ms. Winters grew up.

When her father went to Sing Sing for arson (he was exonerated later), 9-year-old Shirley retreated into a fantasy world that, Ms. Winters wrote, "has been a powerful tool in my acting" but "used to play hell with my real life." In junior high school she discovered she could sneak into Broadway theaters during Wednesday matinees; she never again went to school on Wednesday afternoons.

As a teenager, wearing high heels borrowed from her older sister, Blanche, and with six powder puffs stuffed into her bra, she auditioned during a nationwide search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind." The director George Cukor was kind. Go to acting school, he told her, and become known on the New York stage. She took his advice. Less than a decade later, Cukor cast Ms. Winters as the sexy waitress who serves more than dinner in "A Double Life."

A high school dropout, Ms. Winters modeled in the garment industry by day and attended the New Theater School at night, and spent two summers doing sketches on the borscht circuit in the Catskills. She got hired for the chorus of Broadway musicals because she was funny and could sing, but then she got fired because she couldn't dance. She landed a part in the national company of "Meet the People" in 1941.

Soon afterward, Max Reinhardt was preparing "Rosalinda," his English-language version of "Die Fledermaus." Charmed by the brash Brooklyn girl who had no idea she was auditioning for an opera, the director gave her a small comic role, which he kept enlarging. When the president of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn, saw the show, he arranged for a screen test.

Hollywood was not immediately overwhelmed. As a Columbia contract player earning $100 a week, Ms. Winters made her 1943 film debut with one line in "What a Woman!" She took acting lessons at the studio and joined the Actor's Lab to study real acting at night.

Ms. Winters played a harem girl in "A Thousand and One Nights" (1945), was lent to Samuel Goldwyn to play the heroine's younger sister in the film version of "Knickerbocker Holiday" (1944) and was jettisoned by Columbia after a year for not being "movie material."

Finally, "A Double Life" gave her a lift. "To this day I feel that getting 'A Double Life' was a miracle," she wrote in her autobiography. "So much of a successful career depends on standing on the right corner at the exact right moment."

A seven-year contract with Universal Studios was the reward for her performance in "A Double Life." Ms. Winters played gangsters' girlfriends ("Larceny," "Johnny Stool Pigeon"); a bad-girl cabaret singer whose piano player is Liberace ("South Sea Sinner"); the Marlene Dietrich role in a warmed-over-lightly version of "Destry Rides Again" ("Frenchie"); a better-quality nightclub singer who is the object of Frank Sinatra's affections ("Meet Danny Wilson"); a waitress in the Old West married to bad guy ("Untamed Frontier"), and a number of other good/bad girls. As a dance-hall girl In "Winchester '73," her co-stars were James Stewart and a rifle.

For a while, Ms. Winters shared an apartment in Hollywood with a painfully insecure Marilyn Monroe. At night Ms. Winters studied acting with Charles Laughton, who borrowed her from Universal while he directed "The Night of the Hunter."

In 1955 Ms. Winters returned to New York. She formally joined the Actors Studio (she had sat in on classes a few years earlier) and starred on Broadway with Ben Gazzara and Anthony Franciosa in the Studio-created hit play "A Hatful of Rain," about the taboo subject of drug abuse.

During the 1960's Ms. Winters found her métier as a character actress. In addition to her Oscar-winning roles, she played the mother of a murderer in "The Young Savages" (1961); a middle-age woman who throws away a happy marriage for a handsome young man in "The Chapman Report" (1962); Michael Caine's voracious bedmate in "Alfie" (1966), and an ex-movie star who has made a bad choice in husbands in "Harper" (1966).

Ms. Winters's fourth and last Oscar nomination came in 1972, for her supporting role in "The Poseidon Adventure." She played a former swimming champion who sacrifices her life to help save fellow passengers on a doomed ship, although reviewers found it hard to accept the stout Ms. Winters in the part. The publicity department at 20th Century Fox announced that the studio had told Ms. Winters to gain 30 pounds for her role in "The Poseidon Adventure." But by the 1970's she had simply lost her lifelong struggle to control her weight.

Ms. Winters never stopped working, dividing her time among movies, plays and television. In films she played the witch in "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" (1971); the perfect Jewish mother in "Next Stop, Greenwich Village" (1976); the mother of a fat boy in "Heavy" (1995); and Nicole Kidman's selfish aunt in Jane Campion's "Portrait of a Lady" (1996). In the sitcom "Roseanne" she played Roseanne's grandmother. An early marriage during World War II to an Army Air Force captain, Paul Mayer, lasted until the war ended. Ms. Winters married the Italian actor Vittorio Gassman in 1952. The couple divorced in 1954 after the birth of her daughter and only child, Vittoria, who is now a physician working in Connecticut. In 1957 Ms. Winters married Mr. Franciosa, her co-star in "A Hatful of Rain." That marriage ended in 1960. Ms. Winters is survived by her companion of 19 years, Jerry DeFord; her daughter, Dr. Vittoria Gassman of Norwalk, Conn.; and two grandchildren.

If, during her last years, Ms. Winters fit more comfortably into a muumuu than a sheath, she never lost her sense of laughing delight in what the world had given a poor girl from Brooklyn. In 1996 she defined herself to an interviewer as "a senior-citizen sex bomb." She added: "I get 1,000 letters a month. I send people a postcard of myself in short hair and a checkered blouse that was taken 50 years ago."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/movies/15winters.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

01-14-06, 09:54 PM

Shelley Winters

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

I think Shelley Winters is one of those performers whose place in your personal history depends on when you saw her. If, for instance, you knew her only from her talk-show appearances in her later years, you would remember her as a big woman and a brash talker, too loud at times for the mellow confines of bedtime TV. If you saw her in her occasional appearances on ''Roseanne,'' you would think of her as an old lady who might well have sprung from the comic's off-camera family.

But if you saw her on ''Inside the Actors Studio,'' where she hushed the crowd with a recitation, you would know she was one fine actress -- even if you were unaware of her Oscars and her Emmy.

I've got all those images in my head while reflecting on Winters's death. And one more: She was someone you were bound to stumble across if, like me, you spend too much time watching old movies on the largely gone late-late shows or on Turner Classic Movies. Indeed, it was on the latter that I saw Winters not long ago, as TCM replayed ''Winchester '73,'' a western starring James Stewart and featuring a tough, sexy, scene-grabbing Winters. She's good in that movie. She was good a lot of places. Because she obviously felt the need to work, she sometimes took roles and went into movies that did not serve her well. But her body of work was formidable. And it only took a few minutes on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' for her to remind people that she had chops.

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

fredfa

01-14-06, 10:12 PM

The Los Angeles Times Obituary
Shelley Winters, Two-time Academy Award Winner, Dies at 85

By Claudia Luther Special to The Los Angeles Times January 14, 2006

Shelley Winters, a blond bombshell of the 1940s who evolved into a character actress best remembered for her roles as victims, shrews and matrons, died Saturday. She was 85. Winters, the first actress to win two Oscars in the best supporting category, died Saturday of heart failure at The Rehabilitation Centre of Beverly Hills, her publicist Dale Olson announced. She was hospitalized in October after suffering a heart attack.

Although most sources give her birth date as Aug. 18, 1922, she told Variety's Army Archerd in 2004 that she had lied to studio head Harry Cohn when she signed with Columbia and was born two years earlier.

A little bit Jean Harlow, a little bit Mae West, Winters was once lumped with such sexy starlets as Marilyn Monroe. But Winters from the start was willing to give up glamour for a good role. After years on studio contract playing negligible parts, she got a break in George Cukor's 1947 film, "A Double Life," in which she played a waitress who was murdered by Ronald Colman.

Four years later, she became a full-fledged star as the dowdy factory girl Montgomery Clift lets drown to be with the beautiful, rich Elizabeth Taylor in George Stevens' "A Place in the Sun." Winters was nominated but did not win a best-actress Oscar for the portrayal.

But Winters did win in the best supporting category for her roles as Mrs. Van Daan in Stevens' "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959) and Rose-Ann D'Arcy, the abusive mother who tries to turn her blind daughter into a prostitute in "A Patch of Blue" (1965). The actress donated the first Oscar statuette to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Also among her 130 films was "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972), which earned her another best-supporting actress nomination.

Winters was the author of two well-received autobiographies: "Shelley, Also Known as Shirley" (1980), which was on the bestseller list for many weeks, and "Shelly II: In the Middle of My Century" (1989). In them, she told rollicking stories that didn't always put her in a favorable light, taking readers "down the rocky road that leads out of the Brooklyn ghetto to: one New York apartment, two Oscars, three California houses, four hit plays, five Impressionist paintings, six mink coats," etc., and including a slew of famous lovers. Many of these stories she hilariously recounted on late-night television shows like Johnny Carson's.

Born Shirley Shrift in St. Louis, Mo., the daughter of a garment cutter-salesman-designer and a mother who had aspirations to be an opera singer, Winters grew up mostly in Brooklyn. While still in high school, she took acting lessons and got interested in show business.

As a young teenager, she auditioned for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in David O. Selznick's production of "Gone With The Wind." Though she didn't get the part, the director, George Cukor, "was the first person to treat me as if I were really an actress," she wrote in "Shelley, Also Known as Shirley."

While still in high school, she entered local beauty contests, modeled and acted in school plays. She got a part in the national company of "Pins and Needles," but when the director found out she had borrowed a friend's union card, she was let go. The director advised her to study acting, which took her to a dramatic workshop at New York City's New School for Social Research. It would, she said, "change my life, my Art, my politics and, I think, my soul."

For a couple of summers, she was an entertainer at one of the hotels in the "Borscht Belt" in the Catskills. She also did a little vaudeville, an off-Broadway play and a national company tour of the Broadway musical, "Meet the People." She met and married her first husband, Mack P. Mayer, who went off to World War II; they divorced when he returned.

When she was appearing as Fifi in the hit Broadway show "Rosalinda," Cohn spotted her blond good looks and comedic possibilities and asked her to do a test. Soon she was in Hollywood under contract. Her first lines were spoken to Rosalind Russell in "What a Woman!" (1943): "You can't go in there now, miss."

Many more films and similar lines later, she was feeling discouraged when Cukor cast her as the doomed waitress in the film he was directing, "A Double Life." It was to prove her breakthrough role.

Even with this credit, however, Stevens refused to let Winters test for Alice Tripp in "A Place in the Sun," thinking her too blond and pretty. Winters finagled a meeting at the Hollywood Athletic Club, dyed her hair brown and put on a loose, gray coat, brown shoes and white bobby sox. She waited in the club's lobby.

When Stevens arrived, he didn't recognize her, and she didn't go to him. When he rose to leave, he finally spotted her. She got the test, and the role.

From Stevens, she learned a valuable lesson in acting. After she had done a particularly important scene in which she "wept buckets and thought I was great," Stevens suggested that she hold back her tears.

"He was right. When I didn't cry, the scene had much more impact on the audience," she said.

Among her other films was the well-regarded "The Night of the Hunter," which starred Robert Mitchum and was the only film directed by actor Charles Laughton, a mentor with whom she also studied Shakespeare.

Her study of her craft also took her to the Actors Studio, and she eventually became a valued acting teacher.

"I'm a Method actress, you know," she told journalist Maryln Schwartz in 1982. "I find feelings of my own to correspond with what's in the script. On stage, I look at a bottle of champagne with craving. Inside my head, I'm thinking of a great big banana split."

Eventually, Winters gave up all pretense of being a sexy star and slipped comfortably into the role familiar to audiences today: a blunt, bawdy, comical, overweight broad.

Pauline Kael, writing in the New Yorker magazine about Winter's performance as the "hysteric on the loose" mother in Paul Mazursky's "Next Stop, Greenwich Village" (1976), said: "With her twinkly goo-goo eyes and flirty grin, [she's] a mother hippo charging — not at her son's enemies but at him. Fat, morose, irrepressible, she's a force that would strike terror to anyone's heart, yet in some abominable way she's likable."

Film historian and critic David Thomson said Winters was "at her best when driven to wonder, 'How did a girl like me get into a high-class movie like this?' " Her career, he said, had "never lost its sense of loudmouth fun."

And Diane Ladd, who directed Winters in a 1995 TV movie, "Mrs. Munck," said Winters was wonderful to direct because "she lives one-sixteenth from her subconscious. She just lets it pour out."

That generosity of spirit also applied to Winters' private life.

There were doubtless many other starlets with stories to tell, but who but Winters could tell the tale of the night when Burt Lancaster — the married lover who had just broken her heart — showed up at her apartment at 5 a.m. as she was sleeping off a night of sexual healing with Marlon Brando?

"Burt came up the slow elevator, and I quickly straightened the apartment up as much as I could and then threw on a flannel nightgown," Winters wrote in "Shelley, Also Known as Shirley." Brando escaped via stairs to the roof.

And who would ever have told of other liaisons — some brief, some lasting many years — with William Holden, a same-time-next-year Christmas Eve kind of relationship; Farley Granger, to whom she was engaged but never married; Errol Flynn, about whom she once said, "I can assure you [he] was not a homosexual"; and Sean Connery, whom she once lent rent money and who paid her back much later with a mink coat?

She also told how she mistook Howard Hughes, whom she met at a Hollywood party and later became friends with, for a set decorator. And playwright Bertolt Brecht for a janitor.

And she confessed to a screaming on-the-set fight with Frank Sinatra, with whom she starred in 1952's "Meet Danny Wilson." "Ah, well, the fires of youth," Winters wrote decades later of this episode. "I never have real good fights with anyone anymore."

Winters said she was a "role model" for Monroe. When, as young actresses, they shared an apartment in Hollywood, it was she who taught Monroe the sexy, lips-apart look for which Monroe became famous, Winters said. There also are pictures of each of them wearing the same striped, two-piece swimsuit for cheesecake photos.

The two of them once decided that they needed to think like men, when it came to lovers, and "sleep with the most attractive men and not get emotionally involved." They made up separate lists of men they wanted to have sex with. Among Monroe's: Zero Mostel, Albert Einstein and Arthur Miller, whom she later married. Winters' included Laurence Olivier, with whom she later became friends.

Though Winters' tell-all autobiographies probably had more to tell than most, she told the Chicago Tribune when she was in her 60s: "Compared to today, I wasn't Polly Promiscuous, although I wasn't exactly Vera Virgin either."

Winters was appreciated for her willingness to help other actors. Among her proteges was Sally Kirkland, who said she learned from Winters that "you can be an Oscar-winning actress and have a sense of truth and a sense of humor all at the same time."

Late in her career, Winters became a favorite on late-night talk show programs, beloved for her sense of humor and saltiness. She provided Carson with one of the most memorable moments on "The Tonight Show" when she dumped a glass of water over the head of English actor Oliver Reed, who had annoyed her with an anti-feminist remark.

"I have bursts of being a lady, but it doesn't last long," Winters once said.

Besides her marriage to Mayer, Winters was wed and divorced twice more. Her tempestuous third marriage, to actor Anthony Franciosa, lasted three years.

With her second husband, Italian actor Vittorio Gassman, she had a daughter, Vittoria Gina Gassman, a physician, who survives her.

(This article was written by Claudia Luther when she was a member of The Times' staff. It was updated by Myrna Oliver.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-winters15jan15,0,3365747,print.story?coll=la-story-footer

fredfa

01-14-06, 10:19 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Hey, Rosie's A Shill!

By Chase Squires St. Petersburg Times television critic

So I'm listening to Rosie O'Donnell ...

Out here in Pasadena, Calif., for the Winter Meeting of the Television Critics Association, and yep, HBO trots out Rosie O'Donnell and her life partner/producer Kelli O'Donnell to pimp this new movie she has for HBO called All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise.

It's about Rosie and Kelli organizing and putting on a cruise (like, on a huge cruise ship) for gay parents and their families. So the promo they showed us has lots of kids, parents, people on cruise ship stuff. And it's all nice, and they're telling us how important it is, and then it hits me .... This is a giant advertisement for Rosie and Kelli's new business venture, which puts on cruises for gay parents and family.

Hey. A stinkin' commercial?

Rosie, explaining how there are very successful cruise organizers for childless gay people: "We're the first gay cruise that allows children to come on board ... Olivia's the women, for women. Atlantis and
RSVP are for men. Olivia's been in business over 25 years and makes millions of dollars in profit every year. We hope one day to be as successful ... Our Alaska cruise is sold out, we do have another one. In '07 we'll be doing two cruises ... and we were talking to other cruise companies and were begged by the Norwegian cruise line to continue to do business with them at a very discounted, healthy price .... "

And a TV critic, in a question, says "So, Rosie, you're actually, you're a tour director."

Yep. And a saleswoman. And it's okay, and we know that the Travel Channel and other companies do the shilling for Vegas places and stuff (ie: American Casino) but HBO?

A critic asks HBO excec Sheila Nevins: "It's a 90-minute infomercial for Our Family Vacations."

Sheila says, uh, in a way, but that's not why HBO is airing it ... HBO is airing it because it's "tough" and "controversial" and promotes adoption to loving, gay parents ... whatever. It's an infomercial.

And ...

Saw creator of The Sopranos, David Chase, and star James Gandolfini, and Lorraine Brocco and Edie Falco, and others from the show. Thought they'd maybe tell us what to expect in the new season ... Fuhgedaboudit. Not a hint.

Well, maybe one hint, looks like we see Tony's sister, Janice, in a wedding dress in a promo clip. But that was it. Chase said he keeps this stuff secret on purpose, it's not just an act, because he wants audiences to be surprised. Sheesh.

And ...

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying ... In the summer, the tour hotel was the Beverly Hills Hilton. Nice location, downtown BH, close to everything, and gorgeous rooms, with huge 42-in plasma TV and a smaller TV in the john. This time, we're at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena. With a name like Ritz, you expect, well, Ritzy .... Not really. It's a nice enough room, nice grounds around the hotel, and stuff ... but really, not what I'd expect. Small room, ordinary TV, it compares to the Hilton I stayed at one night in Omaha, Neb. Very nice, but, like .. well. I guess a rube like me is happier imagining what the inside of a Ritz-Carlton looks like than actually seeing. I expected, I dunno, butlers like Cadburry in those Richie Rich comics.

Yeah. A butler.

One thing I've learned, the nicer (more expensive) the hotel, the less likely they are to give you an in-room coffee maker. No kidding. The Ritz is no exception, no in-room coffee maker. This is no Day's Inn, you know. My wife (we'll call her "Saralee") for Christmas bought me a mini coffee maker cheap at Big Lots, along with some small coffee packets. I brought the stuff with me. I had coffee this a.m. typing in the blog. Take that, you Ritzies!

http://www.sptimes.com/blogs/tv/

fredfa

01-14-06, 10:36 PM

fredfa

01-14-06, 10:41 PM

TV Review
24 Gets to Know Jack

By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic

The review disc of the first four episodes of this season's 24 (debuts Sunday, 8 PM ET/PT) comes with a message from Fox, in bold and underlined: "Do not divulge to your readers the events of the first 10 minutes in the first hour." Given that 24 is a serial show, that makes it kinda impossible to tell you anything about what happens in the next 10 minutes, or the next, and so on. Of course, 24 viewers are so jealous of its suspense that you probably wouldn't want me to, anyway. I could tell you, but you'd have to kill me.

So here's what I can say. When Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) begins the season, he is still playing dead in order to escape international prosecution for the unfortunate etiquette breach of invading a Chinese consulate and getting someone there killed. A crisis arises that forces him to resurrect himself pretty quickly. The show continues to prove its delightfully homicidal willingness to kill characters. Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) continues to be able to hack into complex computer systems faster than you can withdraw $20 from the ATM. And the CTU continues to have an apparent mole-to-agent ratio of about one to one.

A lot of critics loved the last season, but I thought it went off the rails with a storyline that lurched from one plot of supervillainy to another: nuclear plant meltdowns, a stolen warhead, a-what?-electromagnetic pulse bomb. It became like watching a cranky version of Alias. The problem, I think, was that the show had backed itself into a corner, upping the ante so dramatically in seasons 2 and 3 with nuclear and then a biological mass terror plots that it had nowhere to go. Short of having someone bust out of the TV and hold you hostage in your living room, there was no way of generating a greater sense of threat.

In the first few episodes of this season, at least, 24 seems to have found a solution. It's reduced its scale, focusing, as the first season did, on a more intimate, small-scale threat involving Jack. The show signaled that in its last shot of last season, showing newly "dead" Jack stalking off into the sunset in a dramatic, poignant scene: nuclear threats or no, it's always really been about him. Who knows if it will continue a scene at the end of the fourth episode, which I can likewise tell you nothing about suggests that the show could be headed toward another Lex Luthorian threat. At least in the first four hours, which play out in double shots Sunday and Monday night, the show reminds us of the intense thrills it can provide even without threatening to blow up the entire planet.

But you didn't hear that from me.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/2006/01/24_gets_to_know.html

fredfa

01-14-06, 10:55 PM

TV Review
The magic number is '24'

Time marches on for die-hard fans eagerly awaiting the fifth-season premiere Sunday night at 8 on Fox

By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer January 15, 2006

The following will take place Sunday between 8 and 10 PM ET/PT.

About 15 million people will tune in to the fifth-season premiere of Fox's "24," and most of these viewers - or around 3 million more than last season's average, by the way - are what might be call hardened "24-nistas." They are a passionate, dedicated, obsessive crowd who have waited anxiously for this hour to arrive. The preceding NFL playoff game is a mere obstacle to be endured before 8 p.m. Nirvana.

They have spent the past eight months dreaming about their show. They've watched and rewatched the fourth-season DVD collection. They've planned "24" parties for Sunday night. And they've studied every reported fifth-season development with dutiful and slavish attention.

They know, of course, that Counter-Terrorism Unit agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) feigned his death at the end of last season. And they know that he's been forced to adopt a new identity because weaselly President Charles Logan (Greg Itzin) sanctioned his murder to prevent a diplomatic meltdown with the Chinese (long story ... don't ask).

They know that big-time actors such as Sean Astin, Julian Sands, JoBeth Williams and Peter Weller have joined the cast for the forthcoming season. They also know that Jack has an assumed identity (Frank Flynn) and that he's now living and working in the oil patch near Bakersfield, Calif. They may even know that the White House will play a far more prominent role this season than ever before, and that Jean Smart - whom you may best remember as Charlene on "Designing Women"will be the Martha Mitchell-like first lady. Her name? Martha, naturally.

Yes, they know EVERYTHING.

Then, there will be everybody else. And (yes) they know NOTHING. They are what might be called the drive-by viewers who are wondering what all this silly fuss over "24" is about. If recent history is a guide, many will be appalled by the violence, bored silly by the intricate plot lines and utterly clueless about the elaborate mythology that surrounds the show. Most will never return. Many never do.

And so it goes with "24." Entering its fifth season, this may be the least-recognized minor classic of the medium – "The X-Files" or "Mission: Impossible" of its day that is not only revered by fans and critics, but by the TV production community as well. Imitation being the sincerest form of TV, a handful of shows based loosely or directly on "24's" real-time narrative plot device are in the production pipeline, like NBC's "Heist," about three teams of jewel thieves who rob Rodeo Drive jewelry stores while the Oscars are in progress; and ABC's "Kidnapped," about a 15-year-old kid who's snatched from his wealthy New York family.

Small potatoes

Then, there are the snubs, and they have a way of enduring, too. While "24's" audience grew slightly last season, it remains small potatoes by comparison to giants like "CSI" (26 million) or "Desperate Housewives" (23 million). "24" has never cracked the top 30 and landed only once in the top 40. Last season it ranked 39th among prime-time shows.

And despite four best drama nominations, Emmy voters have also rejected "24" four times. (The show did win in 2003 for best writing in a dramatic series.) The Golden Globes have been more on the mark. "24" won best television drama series in 2004, while Sutherland got a best dramatic actor trophy in 2002.)

How can one show be so good and yet so dissed at the same time? Howard Gordon, one of show's executive producers, along with creators Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow, says, "I'm surprised myself, and I have two theories.

"One is that may be too great a [time] commitment" because the entire season plays out in one 24-hour period. "And the price of entry is high. It's a hard show and it's not just that the commitment is hard, but not everybody likes a roller coaster. It's not an easy show to watch because it takes you to an adrenalized place and is designed to rattle your nerves. Some people don't want that level of intensity."

While recognizing that the show is an acquired taste - code for "modest ratings" - Fox's commitment to "24" has never wavered, and the show is under contract through the 2006-07 season. There have even been intermittent discussions with producers about the creation of[B] "Law & Order" or "CSI"-type spinoffs to give the franchise - and Sutherland - a rest. These talks never went anywhere for the obvious reason that producing one roller coaster is hard enough in one season. (A movie version is under discussion, however.)

In recent seasons, the network has also rejiggered "24's" scheduling to boost its profile and audience, with some success. The show began its season in January last year as well, mostly to remove it from the annual prime-time traffic jam that happens each fall. The January start also means episodes can air in sequence, without repeats. Sunday's two-hour premiere following the NFL playoff game will then be followed by another two hours Monday night. The reasoning is that if enough viewers are drawn into the first four hours of the show - the first four hours of Bauer/Flynn's day, that is - then they'll come back for more next week, and then the week after.

Or at least that's the idea. "While ['24' is] doing well, it's not a show that people usually expect on Fox, and it's [also] an extremely violent show," says Preston Beckman, Fox's scheduling mastermind who engineered Sunday's "24" event. "For the first two years it followed ”American Idol” and was the first thing you saw coming out of ['Idol']."

Lead-ins may not matter

Beckman eventually moved "24" to Mondays at 9 p.m. Unfortunately, until[B] "Prison Break" returns to Fox March 20, "24's" lead-in at 8 will be "Skating With Celebrities." How many celeb skating fans will stick around for Bauer & Co.? Your guess is as good as Fox's.

But lead-ins, no matter what their subject, may not matter much. Says Beckman, "24" is "about terrorism, and for a lot of people, that's not necessarily the subject matter they want to live with every week. There are people who are going to go to shows [like this] and people who are going to run away from shows" like this.

For you newbies out there who may consider running to (or away) from this, "24's" unique level of intensity - and occasionally intense silliness - is unlike anything else on television. A true original in the land of copycats, each season takes place over the course of one day, or 24 hours, and each episode, or hour of the day, begins with these portentous words: "The following takes place between 7 and 8 a.m.," and so on.

What follows can be - shall we say - enervating. At peak form, "24" is a splendid and stylish thriller with first-rate actors (such as Alberta Watson, who played CTU chief Erin Driscoll last season) and a driving narrative that's often superior to anything on the large screen, or small. Oh, yes, there is violence, and enough bodies pile up in the course of an average season to fill Woodlawn Cemetery.

But it's the plot that keeps most fans coming back, and what plots these are. There was a presidential assassination attempt (in season one), a nuclear bomb attack by terrorists (two), a weaponized virus attack (three), and the kidnapping of the Defense Secretary, the downing of Air Force One and the heist of the president's nuclear "football" (all last season). Phew!

But clever as the real-time device is, there are drawbacks, too. The obvious one is: Just how much can happen in the course of 24 little hours? Plot stretch marks can appear as the season (or rather "day") wears on and on. For "24" to work, there has to be a willing suspension of disbelief on the part of viewers, and while that's expected of anyone who watches a theatrical thriller, "24" demands that viewers do this for an entire season. And this can mean increasingly nutty or flat-out-wacky storylines by, say, early "evening." Did anyone ever wonder how a major defense contractor just happened to have an electromagnetic pulse bomb stored in its headquarters, which was then detonated and blacked out half of Los Angeles last season? Just asking.

Gordon, a Roslyn native who was a top member of the "X-Files" production team, too, says this season "starts off with a bang in a way that's different than last season," but he also says the show will be more character-driven this year. There is, for example, a "funny White House story" with Logan, who's "one-part Richard III and one-part Richard Nixon, and his wife, who's a little mentally unstable and a conspiracy theorist.

"We couldn't go much bigger in terms of action," he adds. "We've done nuclear bombs twice and a fair amount of scorched earth, and so we had to find drama in a different place. We've made Jack into this living dad, and put him in the center of the drama, so we've taken pages out of 'The Bourne Supremacy' or 'Three Days of the Condor.' We already forced him to die, having lost the woman he loved . Now he's obviously out of hiding, so there's the collision between the world he's been living in and the world he left behind. There's a lot of emotional texture."

Love, death and mayhem. What more could you ask of this terrific roller coaster?

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv4584236jan15,0,565940,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

fredfa

01-14-06, 10:58 PM

TV Notebook
“24”: Eight new faces in season five

Along with improbable plot twists, another "24" trademark is loading up each season with a bunch of new characters. Here's a look at the new faces who will be making Jack Bauer's life more interesting in season five:

SEAN ASTIN
You know him from: "The Lord of the Rings"
He plays: Lynn McGill, a cocky bureaucrat sent by the president to oversee CTU

JULIAN SANDS
You know him from: "A Room With a View"
He plays: Vladimir Bierko, a Russian billionaire and this season's baddest of the bad

PETER WELLER
You know him from: "Robocop"
He plays: Christopher Henderson, the allegedly corrupt federal agent who got Jack into the counterterrorism racket

JOBETH WILLIAMS
You know her from: "Poltergeist," "The Big Chill"
She plays: Martha Henderson, Christopher's wife

CONNIE BRITTON
You know her from: "Spin City" and "Friday Night Lights"
She plays: Diane Huxley, who provides shelter for the on-the-run Jack. Possible love interest?

JEAN SMART
You know her from: "Designing Women"
She plays: First lady Martha Logan. The "24 Insider" Web site describes her as "having a history of mental instability."

JAYNE ATKINSON
You know her from: "Syriana," Broadway's "Enchanted April"
She plays: Karen Hayes, a "heavy-handed" Homeland Security official

STEPHEN SPINELLA
You know him from: "Angels in America"
He plays: Miles, a Homeland Security official

• (By Andy Edelstein, Newsday)

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv4584236jan15,0,3013559.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

fredfa

01-14-06, 11:47 PM

TV Notebook
HBO to debut series on Utah polygamists

Producers stress the fictional family does not belong to the LDS Church
By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News Saturday, January 14, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. — HBO is going to give its subscribers a new series about polygamists living in suburban Salt Lake City — sort of a plural-marriage answer to "The Sopranos."

These polygamists are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a fact the series makes pretty clear. But is it clear enough?

HBO and the producers certainly think so.

"I think what the show does very clearly is it makes a very big distinction between the mainline church and the characters in the show," said Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO Entertainment. "It is interesting how many people are ignorant about the Mormon Church and think that (it) actually does condone polygamy.

"So, in an odd way, this show is sort of beneficial in drawing that distinction."

"Big Love," which premieres in March, revolves around a businessman (Bill Paxton), his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin) and their seven children, who all live in three adjacent houses in Sandy.

Shot mostly in California, some filming was done in Utah, and a lot of local sites — including the Salt Lake LDS Temple — are clearly visible.

Although the fictional family has familial ties to a polygamist clan and its evil leader, they've left that behind and are sort of independent polygamists.

The producers made a point of separating Mormons from those polygamists.

"People do have this misconception. There is a blurring of Mormons and polygamy in the same breath," said executive producer Mark V. Olsen. "I want (viewers) to get it. That is important to us."

LDS Church officials are aware of the HBO project and somewhat concerned.

"We know a little bit about it," said church spokesman Dale Bills, who declined further comment beyond an official statement about "Big Love" in the newsroom/comments section of the lds.org Web site:

"Polygamy was officially discontinued in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1890. Any church member adopting the practice today is excommunicated. Those groups which continue the practice in Utah and elsewhere have no association whatever with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and most of their practitioners have never been among our members.

"The church has long been concerned about the continued illegal practice of polygamy, and in particular about reports of child and wife abuse emanating from polygamous communities today. It will be regrettable if this program, by making polygamy the subject of entertainment, minimizes the seriousness of that problem.

"Through its Los Angeles public affairs office, church representatives have asked the producers at HBO to consider a disclaimer at the beginning of the program, dissociating the practice of polygamy today from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The producers have said they are willing to consider that request."

In fact, a disclaimer will run at the end of each episode stating that the LDS Church does not condone polygamy.

Having asked a dozen or so TV critics who've seen at least some of the first five episodes, most agreed that it's a clear distinction. One, however, was surprised to learn mainstream Mormons aren't polygamists — and he'd seen all five episodes.

The producers also took great pains to make it clear that "Big Love" is not anti-Mormon.

"When we brought this project to HBO, there were two caveats that we had. . . . We were not interested in the glib, the sensational, the tawdry, the salacious. Our interests went much deeper than that," Olsen said. "And we also wanted to communicate to HBO (that) we had no ax to grind against the Mormon Church. And those remain our guiding principles in this material."

While the central family in "Big Love" seems relatively normal — almost average — the darker side of polygamy is also portrayed. Wife No. 2's father (Harry Dean Stanton), the leader of a polygamist cult, has a teenage bride. And the producers promise that storyline will be played out.

"It is very important to us to take responsibility and, in our dramatization of this family, also dramatize some of the groups that exist," said executive producer Will Scheffer. "I think that we are going to show a wide variety of polygamous behavior. And, certainly, some of it is not going to be shown in a good light."

"We do feel very much the responsibility not to give short shrift to the abuses of polygamy," Olsen said.

While he has no Mormon background, Olsen has done enormous research and has a firm grasp of the culture. It's not just that the scripts are sprinkled with LDS references, but they're in context. And he speaks easily and knowledgeably about various polygamous groups ranging from Bluffdale to Colorado City.

He knows enough that he edited out a scene in a later episode that featured temple garments being treated disrespectfully.

"I just couldn't leave it in. We really don't want to offend members" of the LDS Church, he said.

But he's not going to be surprised if they are. And, make no mistake, this is an HBO show that's far from family fare. Olsen expects church members to be offended by the sex scenes, which are HBO-explicit. But, clearly, they're not aiming for an LDS audience.

"If, at the end of the day, there is at least a recognition that we have attempted to be fair and transparent in our handling of this material, that is all we could ask out of the mainstream church," Olsen said.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,635176322,00.html

fredfa

01-15-06, 11:46 AM

TV Review
Lincoln's Toughest War

Documentary Traces a Lifetime of Inner Turmoil
By Patricia Brennan Special to The Washington Post Sunday, January 15, 2006; Y05

Vikram Jayanti wanted to call his portrait of the nation's 16th president "The Darkness of Abraham Lincoln."

In fact, he said, that was the production's working title for nearly three years. Rather than create a biographical documentary, he planned to show how one man "transcended depression and turned it into light."

Jayanti's film airs under a simpler title, "Lincoln," (8 PM ET Monday, The Histiory Channel)) but it still focuses on the traumas the president endured over his lifetime, ending with a war that claimed more American lives than any other -- including his own.

The New York-born filmmaker acknowledged that his own struggle with depression informs the film. "Our model of depression, as a society, is that you're broken and lost if you're depressed," Jayanti said. "Here's a man who, because of his depression, becomes a transcendant human being."

In a film he saw as youth, Jayanti said, "Charlie Chaplin says, 'Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the world.' Well, Lincoln freed himself by freeing the slaves."

Andrew Solomon, author of "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression," and one of many featured experts, agrees: "The way some people distract themselves [from depression] is by functioning brilliantly and with a certain intrinsic genius, and so for Lincoln . . . it happens to have been a wonderfully productive way of running away from it."

Lincoln, Jayanti said, was "a very calculating guy, a bare-knuckled warrior. Had he lived, I think he was the only person who could have reintegrated the South in a wholesome way."

History Channel commissioned the film in January 2003, but Jayanti spent more than a year doing research and thinking about how to portray Lincoln. He decided to go beyond the marble statuary and yellowed photos and explore the man's emotions and what drove him.

Lincoln, an up-by-the-bootstraps frontiersman, left no autobiography. But Jayanti found what Carl Lindahl, History Channel's vice president for historical programming, called "a lot of new scholarship about Lincoln." The voices of those scholars and writers, rather than that of a narrator, carry Lincoln's story. None of the actors speaks lines.

"Each person I interviewed at some point wept, they feel Lincoln's life so personally," Jayanti said. "I wanted the film to work not in the language of information, but in the language of emotions."

Jayanti, who produced "The Christmas Truce" for History in 2002 and won the 1997 Oscar for best feature documentary for "When We Were Kings," called this "a very ambitious film."

"A lot of it is done with cinema effect -- things are a bit hallucinatory, the action is smeared across the screen," he said.

The film begins with melodramatic and disconcerting close-ups of an actor's eyes, the sound of a ticking clock and the assertion that "in his final days, Lincoln dreams of his own assassination." (As Solomon remarks in the film: "When you're depressed, you have dreams . . . about the end of everything.")

The film explores the emotional trauma that may have resulted in Lincoln's depression and his proclivity to hide his feelings. Experts discuss his fear that he might have contracted syphilis from prostitutes, and whether he had homosexual relationships.

"I was desperately concerned not to do a hatchet job on Lincoln," Jayanti said. "You can do a 'gotcha' on anyone, but Lincoln is bigger and better than that. What I was trying to do is to make Lincoln more human. That's not available if he's made of marble."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/11/AR2006011101941_pf.html

fredfa

01-15-06, 11:52 AM

TV Review
'24' slam-bangs back into action tonight

By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

When we last saw Jack Bauer, he was walking down the railroad tracks, officially declared dead, on his way to a life of oblivion in Mexico.

But you knew that wouldn't last. His ratings were too high. Tonight, all hell breaks loose again - murder by high-powered rifle and explosive, a mole in high places, Slavic butchers shooting hostages (live on TV, of course), and poor Jack the only one who can save the day.

In the case of Jack's show, 24, which premieres for its fifth season tonight on Fox at 8, it really is a day that's saved. Each of the season's 24 episodes covers one hour in a ridiculously dangerous and jam-packed day. In the past, highly skilled terrorists threatened presidents and plain citizens, lots of them, and Jack and his loved ones, too. Nuclear bombs and poison gas were their favorite weapons.

A couple of years ago, Jack protected the world by hiding behind a rock as an A-bomb detonated a few yards away. Was that before or after his sexpot daughter was stalked by the mountain lion and held captive by the crazy guy?

Like the exploits of James Bond or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the predicaments of Jack and those unlucky enough to be associated with him are wholly preposterous. But the show's creators make it so much fun to watch that only the fussiest fussbudgets protest the fantasy.

Crackpot shows like 24 and Fox's new Prison Break succeed because viewers have never met anybody like the people in them and are completely unfamiliar with the worlds they inhabit. (Prison Break's Michael Scofield, a structural engineer, tattooed jail blueprints all over his body, then got arrested so he could spring his falsely convicted brother.)

It's pretty easy to suspend disbelief when you haven't got much to believe in the first place.

Cop and lawyer and doctor shows are a little different. Their milieus seem to be realistic representations of things we know. But how many real police officers, attorneys and physicians watch them for any other reason than to mock?

Dramas that get panned as unrealistic frequently are set in the everyday world. See NBC's Book of Daniel and Inconceivable this season, in which the novelty of life in the church or fertility clinic was not enough to mask the contrivance of characters who were ostensibly like you and me.

To gain popularity, a fantasy/adventure show must have an obvious thrust. A child can understand the need to escape, to stop terrorists, to be found when stranded on the isolated isle. With a relatable premise, producers can throw in giant polar bears, impossible computer pyrotechnics, or demons created out of whole cloth and still hold an audience.

One of Buffy's classic episodes, "Hush," involved creepy demons called the Gentlemen, who stole the voices of everyone in Sunnydale because the only thing that could stop them was a scream. Outlandish, but not difficult to follow. Can somebody just speak up and save the town?

Despite starring Jennifer Garner, the People's Choice Award winner for favorite TV actress, Alias never quite caught on, and it's headed now for cancellation, because it was difficult to comprehend the overarching reason why its spies ran all around the world.

But it's not too tough to figure out what Jack Bauer is trying to do - avert the end of life in America as we know it.

Apparently, Jack never made it to Mexico, but wound up getting a haircut and working anonymously in the well-known oil fields of the Mojave Desert, where, as he always does, he got involved with a lady. Conveniently, she had an impetuous son who will obviously get in the way and need saving from some fiend at some point.

"Relax, he's good at this," compugeek Chloe O'Brian tells the kid while they're sitting in the van, as Jack sets out to conk a G-man and take his uniform. Nobody seems to care that the Chinese government will still want to imprison Jack for last year's killing of an ambassador, as soon as it finds out he's alive.

Chloe, one of TV's best supporting characters, is back and big.

"She sounded strange when I talked to her," says fat Edgar Stiles, her archrival.

"She always sounds strange," says a new Counter Terrorist Unit agent.

Also returning is that insufferable, sniveling President Logan. This year, he has a wife, played by Jean Smart, and she's just as intriguing, in entirely different ways, as Penny Johnson Jerald was as first lady Sherry Palmer.

That's about all you'll get from me about this year's new day, which starts with a bang at 7 a.m., and, like the days that have come before it, gets so nerve-racking you're almost thankful for the commercials.

Fox plans four straight episodes, two tonight and two tomorrow, from 8 to 10 p.m., before the show settles into its regular slot, Mondays at 9.

By the time they're over, you'll have way more questions than answers, which is always the way with 24. Even the producers, they say, are never sure where they're going.

In those four hours, Jack steals a helicopter and a car, hides in a van, shoots one bad guy the old-fashioned way and blows up another, using secret, special computer/cell phone telemetry. He evades 167 government agents (Chloe can track them all on her laptop), but gets captured by somebody else, escapes and then gets captured again by a completely different outfit.

Real people barely get to work and finish their morning coffee by then. No wonder so many of them find 24 so entertaining.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13618534.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

01-15-06, 11:55 AM

TV Review
Sweet music: A crime-free CBS show shines

You might think “Love Monkey” is a pale, male version of “Sex and the City,” but give it a chance
By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic January 15, 2006

In a true change of pace, Love Monkey is a CBS drama in which no one dies. There are no corpses, no forensics, no ghosts.

There is, however, a staff meeting to chill the blood. A record-company boss threatens employees: Improve the bottom line or brace for firings. A gung-ho executive counters that music should matter more than money. He gains colleagues' applause -- and a whacking from the corporate buzz saw.

But no one dies. This refreshing comedy-drama, which debuts Tuesday, reminds us that CBS can move to sounds other than the sirens of crime drama.

At first glance, Love Monkey might seem like nothing more than a male version of Sex and the City. Like that trend-setting HBO comedy, Love Monkey springs from a book (by Kyle Smith in this instance), showcases New York locales and surrounds its central character with three chatty pals.

Like Carrie Bradshaw, record executive Tom Farrell shares his observations through quirky narration. Love Monkey draws its energy mainly from two sources: Tom's idealism and his confusion.

He's idealistic about the music business, which results in his firing. He's confused about his love life, which creates juicy complications. Top of the list: Friends agree that Tom is dating a woman who's all wrong for him.

Best of all, Tom is played by Tom Cavanagh, the charming star of Ed. (Somebody at CBS must have liked that NBC show because Ed co-star Josh Randall is portraying Jenna Elfman's love interest in Courting Alex, a comedy debuting next week.) Cavanagh plays boyish immaturity with wit and without embarrassing himself. His characters grow up in distinctive ways.

Record executive Tom draws on advice from male pals: down-to-earth brother-in-law Mike (Jason Priestley), ladies' man Shooter (Larenz Tate) and sportswriter Jake (Christopher Wiehl). Their topics for discussion vary widely, from proper grammar to Grant's law (a nod to actor Hugh).

Shooter says of Tom's lover: "That woman is so defective you can return her and get your money back."

The other women in Tom's life are equally frank. Karen (Katherine LaNasa), Tom's pregnant sister, tells him he deserves someone better. Friend Bran (Judy Greer) lectures Tom that he thinks only about himself. She has a point, although he's still likable.

With no pretension, Love Monkey slips in frequent music references, from Sting to the Ramones to the appropriateness of a Bob Dylan CD as a baby-shower gift. In the premiere, Tom's quest to sign a young singer generates suspense and soul-searching, and that talented performer, Teddy Geiger, deserves the drama.

The opener dangles tantalizing clues about Tom's friends. Love Monkey, which Michael Rauch created, unfolds more like an independent film than a network show.

On CBS, that style could mean quick cancellation. But at least the Eye Network isn't shutting its corporate logo to taking chances. All those successful crime dramas have become something of a straitjacket. Will viewers respond to another kind of CBS drama?

The record company's honcho (creepily played by Eric Bogosian) cares only about money. With this show, CBS executives are signaling they realize there's more to their business than just numbers. After all, Ed was never a huge hit.

But it had offbeat flair, and so does Love Monkey. Tom's love for the music makes him an anomaly in his business and a welcome addition to the TV scene. Love Monkey puts out sweet sounds.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-haltv1506jan15,0,1854922,print.story?coll=orl-caltvtop

fredfa

01-15-06, 12:00 PM

TV Review
In "24," shades of Watergate follow the clock

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic January 15, 2006

Synchronize watches. "24" returns with a bountiful four hours - two tonight, two more Monday - rearranging the cast and returning Jack Bauer to clock another day.

Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) is back, 8-10 PM ET/PT. on Fox both nights, not a moment too soon for national security or desperate viewers.

A security breach in the breathtaking first minutes of tonight's premiere launches "Day 5." No spoilers here, except to say that a subplot involving Jean Smart is a highlight of what promises to be a compelling fifth season.

Smart ("Designing Women") plays first lady Martha Logan, a colorful insider reminiscent of one of political Washington's memorable supporting players, Watergate gabber Martha Mitchell. It doesn't hurt that Gregory Itzin, as President Charles Logan, looks Nixonian.

In a nod to Watergate gossip, "24's" Martha is heavily medicated and dismissed by her husband and his advisers as delusional. But she's clearly onto something big. The first lady is smarter and less crazy than everyone thinks.

In the 1970s during Watergate, Martha Mitchell, the wife of John Mitchell, Nixon's attorney general, was noted for calling Woodward and Bernstein and other reporters in the middle of the night to rat out Nixon. In turn, the White House leaked dirt on Martha's drinking problem and painted her as an unstable nut case.

In "24," the first lady is aware that documents are being doctored, facts are being shaded, and a coverup is in progress. Getting anyone to believe her will be difficult.

Once again, "24" proves its taut "real time" device is perfectly applied to plot lines involving domestic terrorism. The reverberations from entertainment to real-life crises remain unsettling. As mock "breaking news" updates from Fox News Channel play on screens throughout the Logans' Western White House and at CTU (Counter-Terrorism Unit) headquarters - no CNN in these parts - the threat of the moment feels all too real.

At a time of continuing fears of terrorist attacks, hostage situations, phone-tapping and security gaps, the raw material is ripe for exploitation. "24" effectively exploits our worries while giving us a hero to cheer.

While the cast shake-up means an end to certain familiar characters, be thankful that Mary Lynn Rajskub continues as the permanently cranky but competent Chloe O'Brien.

As a way to spark interest in the new season - and to let ABC's "Lost" know it doesn't have the field to itself - Fox produced extra material, never broadcast but available for purchase in another medium. Sutherland and Rajskub appeared in a 10-minute "prequel" included on the Season 4 DVD, which went on sale last month. Consider this an increasingly common way to "extend the brand," and connect the dots between the broadcast, the Internet and other gizmos.

The clip, sponsored by Toyota and built around a car chase, was designed as a way to give more rabid fans a "sneak peak" into Jack's movements since he faked his death and went into hiding.

According to a Fox release, "Set 14 months after the events of Season 4, and four months prior to the events of the upcoming Season 5, the short film begins with a clandestine meeting between Jack Bauer, who has been working and living deep undercover, and his CTU colleague Chloe O'Brien, and ends with a high-speed pursuit between Bauer and an unknown enemy."

Like everyone seeking ways to add new content to established shows in order to entice actively searching consumers, "24's" producers know it's no longer enough to crank out a solid television product. Extra minutes on DVD and extra audio and video downloads on the Internet are becoming expected inducements. And like every sponsor looking for ways to connect with audiences, Toyota knows a name-brand car chase is smart product placement.

Created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, "24" has promising life beyond the small screen. That's not counting a planned feature film based on the series, which remains an intention but not a done deal.

The producers are learning what hard-core fans have known all along: Not only are viewers capable of following the intricate plot lines and expanding casts, they demand more.

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3397024

fredfa

01-15-06, 12:05 PM

TV Review
“24”s' number just about up in its fifth real-time season

By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Writer
** 1/2 (out of four)

As great a concept as the "real-time" thriller "24" has been, in execution its serialized story line always seems to get seriously derailed about midway through each season.

You know the drill - each day (which plays out over the course of a season) terrorists threaten the country with assorted moles planted in high-level government positions, and during that same 24-hour period Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) kills a few dozen bad guys in order to save the day. But things invariably go crazy - someone's kidnapped three times in one day; a cougar springs out of nowhere; Air Force One crashes.

The best way, it seems, to enjoy "24" is to watch the first few episodes in order to get the season's players down, then follow the show through snarky commentators such as those at televisionwithoutpity.com or humorist Dave Barry's blog as they point out all the bizarre inconsistencies. The show's writers strive to hurtle the action along so breathlessly that it can be tough to figure out if what's going on actually makes any sense.

Season five opens tonight and Monday with four hours kicking off the action in urgent order. Fox has sent along a note to critics begging, "Please, when you write about the premiere, do not divulge to your readers the events of the first 10 minutes in the first hour; what (initiates a major plot point); and (another major plot point)." Which, of course, doesn't really leave much to discuss.

Let's see: Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) - whose death was faked at the end of last season - looks ruggedly dashing in a gray/olive-drab work shirt and jeans; as usual, his first response when there's a knock at a door continues to be to draw a gun. One of those aforementioned plot points addresses why his former employer, the Counter Terrorism Unit, doesn't trust him, but then CTU never seems to trust him.

As action opens, last year's wussy President Logan (Gregory Itzin), he of the petulant temper tantrums, is preparing to sign an anti-terrorism treaty with the Russian president, a treaty with which, of course, some Russian terrorists have issues.

They take hostages at the Ontario airport, including the son of the woman (Connie Britton) Jack has been cozy with since he went on the lam last season. The terrorists want the treaty scrapped; Logan, of course, gets all whiny. "I never thought anything like this could ever happen," Jack tells the kid. Um ... after the past four seasons? Really? And yet another cache of deadly canisters is uncovered.

A couple of familiar faces return, including touchy technophile Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub), and Jack's paramour from last season, Department of Defense operative Audrey (Kim Raver), who literally spends the first four hours standing around doing nothing (nice work if you can get it). Sean Astin joins the cast as meddling weasel agent McGill.

One of many wild cards in all this - but the one that looks to inspire the most snide commentary - is neurotic first lady Martha (Jean Smart), whose cranium seems to serve merely as a collection basket for blinkered conspiracy theories.

"24" continues to lead all of television in its use of the word "protocol" for ostensible verisimilitude, and of course its endless supply of just-go-with-it techno-gibberish, such as, "The traffic's redirected to an external socket" and "Try using an NP-safe adaptive search."

But this new saga strains credibility pretty early on: Jack enters a heavily protected area filled with agents he knows are seeking him with a shoot-first-ask-questions-later mentality. Fortunately for him, they prove as porous as the 9/11 Commission recently warned our actual national security really is.

At one point, as Jack ventures into danger's way, Chloe apprises a neophyte (in what should be the show's tagline), "Relax ... he's really good at this." But he's been better at it in the past.

http://www.dailynews.com/ontv/ci_3400757

fredfa

01-15-06, 01:00 PM

Saturday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest Prime Time Ratings news which is the first post in this thread.

fredfa

01-15-06, 01:30 PM

The Business of TV
Zucker punch

Last-place NBC fights back with exec shifts, new lineup

By Josef Adelian, Michael Schneider Variety.com Sun., Jan. 15, 2006

NBC is not expecting an immediate turnaround from its No. 4 status. But with last month's promotion of Jeff Zucker to NBC U TV Group chairman -- making him Bob Wright's heir apparent --the network's overhaul is shifting into high gear.

Zucker and NBC Entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly -- who is even more under the gun --aggressively kicked off 2006 by reshaping the network's development team. Ghen Maynard, second-in-command to Reilly, was shown the door last week, as were two of the net's most senior development execs.

What's more, Zucker named top lieutenant Marc Graboff as NBC Universal TV's West Coast prexy, a job that gives him oversight of Reilly in some areas.

The pressure is on for a comeback. Aside from the immediate problems -- hundreds of millions in lost ad revenue -- there is the question of corporate pride, and corporate pressure.

The TV network is part of the GE empire, which prides itself on dominating every industry it enters, from light bulbs to nuclear reactors.

NBC is down a jaw-dropping 16% from last year among adults 18-49, posting a 3.1 rating (percent of overall TV viewers) and 8 share (percent of viewers watching at any given moment) -- tied with Fox for last place among the Big Four nets. The Peacock also has sunk to third among total viewers, averaging 9.1 million.

It's not just NBC: GE has been having problems in virtually every sector of its entertainment empire.

On the film side, NBC Universal still is smarting from the loss of DreamWorks following drawn-out negotiations with stringent GE dealmakers. Universal Pictures chair Stacey Snider has not yet renewed her contract, leading to nervous buzz within the studio. And the studio's worldwide box office declined 3% in 2005 to $1.76 billion.

At the Peacock, Zucker has made moves that would counteract a longtime criticism: that NBC's problems were worsened by his initial slowness to completely turn over the primetime reins to Reilly.

"Reilly has never really been given a chance to succeed or fail based on his record," one industry sage says.

That appears to be starting to change, with Zucker spending more and more time working on other parts of his empire. As Zucker has gobbled up more power and turf at NBC U, he's pushed himself further away from Burbank, allowing Reilly to sink or swim this development season.

When a network is down, it's easy to overlook the bright side.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a single pundit who forecast the success of "My Name Is Earl," the season's top-rated new comedy. And even inside NBC, there were a number of suits who thought Reilly had lost his marbles for sticking by "The Office" after the show's low-rated first season.

But both shows are on the rise, lending some momentum to the net's much-ballyhooed return to a four-comedy block on Thursdays.

On the unscripted side, "The Biggest Loser" has turned into a quiet Nielsen heavyweight, while December saw a surprisingly strong start for brainless gameshow "Deal or No Deal."

"It feels like the ice is starting to thaw," Reilly says. "As unsexy as they are, the (network's overall) ratings have remained stable. It hasn't been a free-fall. There have been pockets of success."

Another potential ray of light is the NFL's return to NBC in September. There's no predicting how well the Sunday night franchise will perform, but at the very least, it's four hours of primetime Reilly no longer needs to worry about in the fall.

One of the benefits of being TV's loser network is that taking chances is easier.

"Even though you feel like you're under a world of crap, (being in last place) is one of the best times to make changes and bet on things you creatively believe in," says "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence, who argues that scribes looking for success would be wise to gravitate toward troubled nets.

"There's more opportunity for writers when a network's at the bottom than when they're on the top," he says. "When you're on the bottom, your standards for what's successful are lower and the execs are more patient."

On a macro level, the merger of NBC and Universal has made the Peacock's primetime problems less worrisome to the conglom's overall bottom line. Newly acquired cablers USA Network and Sci Fi are veritable ATMs, padding the company's profits and cushioning the blow of the broadcast net's fall from grace.

And though its primetime woes are legions, NBC still does well in other dayparts. Its latenight lineup is as strong (and profitable) as ever, while the net's news division is finding its footing after recent setbacks.

In primetime, the "Law & Order" franchise remains solid; a fading-but-powerful "ER" still pulls 'em in on Thursdays; and the Olympics delivers a guaranteed blockbuster audience every two years.

While some observers saw Zucker's handiwork in last week's exec shuffles, Reilly insists he was the key architect of the changes.

"These were tough conversations," he says. "These are individuals that I like personally and have a good professional relationship with. It's the hard part of management."

It's also worth noting that few modern network entertainment presidents have a truly free hand to run their divisions. Whether it's Leslie Moonves keeping an eye on Nina Tassler or Peter Chernin keeping Fox's Peter Liguori in check, these days the truly big decisions at the Big Six get made by the Big Guns. (The situation is similar to complaints from former ABC chiefs of interference from Bob Iger and Michael Eisner.)

For Zucker and other top brass at NBC U, waiting for a recovery is the hard part.

"At some level there's always a degree of impatience, especially when you're talking about a company that was No. 1 for most of the last decade and hasn't been in this position for a long time," Zucker admits.

ABC endured five years of hell before "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" began the net's salvation. Moonves needed almost as long before CBS was back on its feet.

The cyclical nature of the TV business ensures that every network, no matter how mighty, will get its turn in the Nielsen basement. And when that time comes, it's never pretty.

The inevitable financial strain almost always translates into cost-cutting and penny-pinching.

And good news on the ratings or development fronts often gets overshadowed by all the industry noise about failure.

"The external perception problems won't go away until we start performing better," Reilly says. "That just goes with the territory."

If the Peacock's promising 2006 development yields a single "Housewives"-size hit, it's not hard to see the net back in the game as soon as next year.

On the other hand, with tentpoles such as "Will & Grace," "ER" and "The West Wing" fading or on their way out the door, it's possible NBC could sink further, despite Peacock pronouncements that things have stabilized.

Zucker and Wright have steadfastly insisted Reilly has their full support, with Zucker scoffing at the notion that Reilly's job is in danger.

When a network's in fourth place, even the most clearly worded statements of support aren't enough to end rumors of a possible regime change. That doesn't mean top brass can't try.

"I think a turnaround takes at least two to three years," Zucker says. "Kevin and the team out there are planting seeds for that turnaround."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117936140&categoryid=10

fredfa

01-15-06, 09:14 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Life after 'Nightline'

By Matthew Zoller-Seitz Newark Star-Ledger

Former “Nightline” host Ted Koppel appeared at press tour Friday with his longtime producing partner, Tom Bettag, and took questions about the state of TV news and his new deals with The New York Times (as an editorial writer), National Public Radio (as a news analyst) and his host that morning, Discovery Channel (for whom he and Bettag will do documentaries, starting in early September with a program looking at how America has chanced since 9/11).

Koppel’s demeanor was very “Nightline” - polite but curt.

He shot down repeated questions about his meeting with the soon-to-be-launched American version of Arabic news service Al Jazeera, which has been depicted as an enemy propaganda outlet by the Bush administration. (The news channel recently announced that it had hired “Nightline” correspondent Dave Marash.)

Koppel said he and Bettag talked to “… almost anyone who called us at one point,” and did meet with an Al Jazeera executive, but “… it took us not very long to decide that that wasn't something we were going to do.”

“I'm not going to prejudge what the English-language Al Jazeera's going to look like,” Koppel said. “Dave Marash is a supurb reporter. He's as honest as the day is long. I think if he feels … in any way that he is being used or misused by Al Jazeera, I'm sure he'll leave as quickly as he has signed on.”

Bettag called the American Al Jazeera “an interesting experiment” and cautioned that while Americans view the channel as representing the cultural biases of the Arab street, such assumptions cut the other way as well. “CNN is perceived in the world as the American international news and BBC is seen as the British international news.”

“I know it's fashionable just to look upon Al Jazeera as being a propaganda outlet for Al Qaeda,” Koppel added. “You know, Tom and I have been covering the Middle East for many, many years, really the past 40 years, and all I can tell you is Al Jazeera is a huge step up from where the Arab world's journalism has been over the past 40 years … Are they more inclined toward anti-American stories perhaps than American networks are? That may be possible, although I suspect if they want to make any progress with their English-language outlet here in the United States, that will not be true of the English-language channel.”

Asked if the Discovery deal would allow him to do stories he couldn’t do at ABC, Koppel bobbed and weaved a bit. The answer seemed to be a qualified yes - that even during his final stretch at ABC, the network continued to give him plenty of leeway, but that the realities of TV news made “Nightline”-style big picture journalism harder to fund, produce and air.

“I think the same thing would be true of CBS and NBC News,” Koppel said. “I think what's been happening over the last 20 years or so is that with the advent of all the different cable outlets, the competition has become so fierce that all news divisions, indeed all networks, are trying to focus on particular segments of audiences.”

Koppel said the networks’ thirst for “youthful demographics” – which was behind ABC’s embarrassing, aborted attempt to lure David Letterman from CBS and give him the “Nightline” timeslot – had caused broadcasters to resist “… some of the more serious stories, the kind of stories that Tom and I have tried to specialize in over the 14 years that he and I have been working together, and the 26 years that I was doing ‘Nightline.’ That is not a restriction that we're going to face here at Discovery Channel.”

“I think it is often a little bit demeaning to younger people, thinking that they're not interested in things that are serious,” Bettag said. “I have two sons that are in their 30s, and assuming that all they're going to care about is ‘American Idol’ and 'Fear Factor’ (is an assumption) I dislike.”

Koppel and Bettag both declined to assess the radical format changes at “Nightline,” which switched to a multi-anchor, multi-story format after Koppel and Bettag left.

Koppel reminded TV critics that the day after the original “Nightline” debuted, influential Washington Post critic Tom Shales savaged it. Koppel said that after he read the review, he called Shales and asked why he couldn’t have given the program a week to settle in before panning it. “He acknowledged that that would have been fair and promised to come back a few months later, and indeed, (he) did come back about eight or nine months later and gave us a glowing review then.”

Asked what spurred him to become a journalist, Koppel replied, “I probably wasn't cut out to be much of a success in any field where I was required to do something that really required great brain power. I might have made it as a lawyer, but I'm not sure … I became a journalist because it - you know, the_more I thought about it … you get to meet with the most interesting people. You get to go to the most interesting places.

“I was a very shy kid when I grew up, and being able to put the initials ‘ABC’ after my name – ‘Ted Koppel, ABC’ - gave me a license to talk to people,” he said. “I've never wanted to do anything else.

“I don't think I would have been any good at anything else.”

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

fredfa

01-15-06, 10:24 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
'Sopranos' swan song: Nobody is singing

By Glenn Garvin Miami Herald Sun, Jan. 15, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. -- Nothing is more feared around the set of The Sopranos than a dinner invitation, the traditional prelude to learning your character is about to be whacked, an occurence of some frequency on HBO's suburban mobster series.

''When you're asked to dinner, it's not such a good thing,'' confides Michael Imperioli, one of the show's young Mafia lieutenants.

So when I say that every time an actor at Friday evening's press conference on the season premiere of The Sopranos was asked a question, he looked over at producer David Chase as if expecting a summons to a local steak joint, you know what I mean.

Chase is notoriously reluctant to discuss plot developments on the show, and at least once fired an actor whose girlfriend blabbed too much to a reporter. The result is that press conferences about The Sopranos are about as instructive as a mime performance inside a locked closet at midnight.

Sample exchange:

Q: Are you glad you got to play these characters?

Edie Falco, who plays Tony Soprano's wife, Carmela: ``I am.''

Lorraine Bracco, who plays his psychiatrist: ``I am.''

Q: Could anybody else please, please talk about this?

Bracco, fearfully: ``Well, you know, we've been asked not to speak, so it's really hard -- ''

Chase: ``Who asked you not to speak?

Bracco: (Silence.)

So with The Sopranos back after an 18-month hiatus, heading into its final 20 episodes -- a set of 12 will air beginning March 12, and the last eight will begin early next year -- we know roughly as much about the new season as we do about the address of Osama bin Laden's cave. But here's what could be pieced together from the press conference and some brief video clips shown to TV critics here:

• The action will be triggered by the racketeering trial of Tony Soprano's rival don John Sack, who was arrested in the final episode of 2004. His potential conviction will touch off a wave of jealousy and ambition among mobsters.

• Tony's gang considers getting involved in a movie; actor Ben Kingsley (who played a vicious mobster in Sexy Beast) will guest-star as himself in at least one episode.

• Other guest stars include Hal Holbrook as a scientist gone bad, singer Frankie Valli as a mobster, and Lorraine Bracco's sister Elizabeth as a gangster's wife. ''I'll have to talk to my parents,'' Bracco said in wide-eyed surprise as she nervously eyed Chase.

• Clips from the show make it appear that Carmela will hire her own husband to kill one of her enemies this season. And in one snippet, Tony was seen kissing an unidentified woman.

• The opening line from Shakespeare's Richard III, ''Now is the winter of our discontent,'' was featured in one clip, which seemed to bode ill for Tony Soprano (Shakespeare's play ends with the death of the title character). But Chase said to fuhgeddaboudit: ``That was just a line of really bad dialogue.''

Attempts to find out how the series does end, however, nearly resulted in a dinner invitation from Chase to a TV critic.

Q: Are you heading toward an ending where the viewer would feel, OK, the entire story has been told? Or one where these characters' lives are going on, they're just going on without us?

Chase: ``Tricky man, tricky man. It's going on without you.''

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/entertainment/television/13629602.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

01-15-06, 11:40 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
PBS tidbits

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

PBS president and CEO Pat Mitchell underscored a recently added word in her title this week: Outgoing.

She's been on her way out the door since last year. But about a week ago, Mitchell officially accepted the job as the president and CEO of the Museum of Television and Radio. The PBS search committee plans on announcing her replacement by the end of month; one source told me the news could arrive as early as Jan. 23.

And in characteristic fashion, Mitchell said a great deal to critics without saying much of anything at all. However, among her and PBS's more interesting announcements:

• PBS will encore the late Henry Hampton's multiple Emmy winning 1987 civil-rights documentary, "Eyes on the Prize," on "American Experience" this fall. In addition to the original three, two-hour programs, eight new hours will premiere at a later date.

• "American Experience" also will air a film about New Orleans in 2007.

• "The Supreme Court" will be the first television series to examine the highest court in the land, and is scheduled to premiere at some point during the 2006-2007 television season.

• And it's probably no surprise that PBS is still searching for major funding for "Masterpiece Theatre," although the program received a grant from CPB's and PBS's Opportunity Fund. "There is no way that we're going to let 'Masterpiece Theatre' leave our schedule," Mitchell said.

Having hit a number of walls, "Masterpiece Theatre" executive producer Rebecca Eaton and PBS have brought in a outside consultant, Sports Solutions International, to market the program as a "sponsorship opportunity."

• Finally, it is Mitchell's hope that one day soon, viewers will be able to download "Masterpiece Theatre" episodes and other PBS programming onto their iPods, cell phones, computers and other devices, for a fee. "We're allowed to get revenue in any way that's consistent with the mission as long as the revenue goes right back to the mission, which is funding more programming," Mitchell said.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/archives/101111.asp

fredfa

01-16-06, 01:00 AM

The Business of TV
Most Bankable Stars: Which Personalities Are Sure Bets?

TVWeek's Survey Names the MVPs of Syndication
By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com January 16, 2006

The queen of talk is still far and away the driving force of daytime, nighttime and beyond, though other names on this year's list are playing musical chairs.

For the fifth year in a row host Oprah Winfrey is No. 1 on the annual TelevisionWeek list of the Most Bankable Stars in Syndication. The list, as chosen by our jury of television insiders, has its share of position changes, with last year's fourth-most-bankable star, "Everybody Loves Raymond's" Ray Romano, rising to No. 2 and edging out the 2005 runner-up, Phil McGraw, who now sits at No. 3.

This year's list has only one rookie, which makes it more stable than last year's, when three newcomers made it to the elite list. Every year, as the National Association of Television Program Executives conference approaches, TVWeek asks jurors to assess which syndicated talent is best able to attract viewers and affect the media business.

Asked to name the top personalities who either ran in syndication in the 2005 calendar year or are expected to debut in 2006, the jury stuck with veterans over newcomers nine times out of 10, trading out only lifestyle show hosts. Last year's No. 8, Martha Stewart, who was then in the media spotlight over her impending release from federal prison and the launch of both her NBC Universal syndicated series and a prime-time reality show, was transitioned out for an almost generational shift to King World's Rachael Ray, this year's No. 10, who is expanding out from cable to front a new how-to strip for the fall.

Other fall 2006 hopefuls, including "Will & Grace" star Megan Mullally, author and comedian Greg Behrendt, Judge Cristina Perez and Judge Maria Lopez, garnered votes, but not enough to overcome the syndicated tried and true.

The other notable 2004-05 freshmen-talk strip host Tyra Banks, the courtroom genre's Judge Alex Ferrer and weekly variety showman Tom Joyner-couldn't crack the top 10 this year.

While on the first-run side Ms. Ray was able to make strides by slipping into the annual list, the jury included the same off-network talent that made the winner's circle last year, opening up no spots for newcomers like "Two and a Half Men's" Charlie Sheen, a popular choice in this year's rankings but not popular enough to enter the top 10.

The closest any other off-network strip personality came to making the list was the creator of a series that may not even be on the schedule in 2006 and a character who doesn't really exist. Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Twentieth Television's "Family Guy," and his animated evil genius toddler Stewie Griffin nearly surpassed Ms. Ray for the No. 10 spot, despite the fact that Twentieth has not yet announced it is going forward with a syndicated launch of the show for next fall.

The other notable off-network talent to almost make the list was the cast of "That '70s Show," another established syndication presence.

One juror placed so much importance on off-network talent she made her top three choices the casts of veterans "Friends," "Seinfeld" and "Raymond," noting they deserve the distinction because comedies are "the backbone of syndication and in danger of extinction."

While the dawn of the 2005-06 season may introduce new bankable stars to syndication, the established names are still the most formidable TV personalities, led by the lady from Chicago, Ms. Winfrey. With an eye to the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, one juror said of Ms. Winfrey that she is "the gold, silver and bronze standard."

1. Oprah Winfrey

For the fifth year in a row Ms. Winfrey tops the Most Bankable Stars list, thanks to her continued rapport with audiences, top-tier ratings and ability to touch on subjects her viewers most want to explore. One juror wrote that with a contract to remain on the air through 2011, Ms. Winfrey is likely to be the bankable star to beat for the next five seasons, and noted she is "not to be dethroned for the foreseeable future."

Ms. Winfrey continues to develop her media empire, and that includes producing the Broadway musical "The Color Purple" and made-for-TV movies and continuing to back emerging syndicated talent such as Rachael Ray, who gets her own Oprah-approved talk strip this fall.

This past year Ms. Winfrey proved her ability to stay current. Her coverage of the aftermath of the South Asian tsunami and her ability to bring the enormity of the tragedy down to a personal perspective resonated with her viewers. Her interview last January with frequent guest Nate Berkus, who usually talks only about interior decorating and has been targeted as a possible talk show host, profiled his survival of the tragedy while he was vacationing in Sri Lanka. Ms. Winfrey was able to communicate to the audience Mr. Berkus' pain at not knowing what had happened to his partner, photographer Fernando Bengoechea, who was lost in the disaster.

The ability to directly cover tragedy on a grand scale distinguished Ms. Winfrey from most of the other stars of syndication. For her 20th-season opener, she left her Chicago studio and went to the Gulf Coast region to report on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Not all of Ms. Winfrey's notable headline moments in 2005 were so sobering. In May Tom Cruise appeared on her show and infamously jumped up and down on Ms. Winfrey's couch to express his love for new girlfriend Katie Holmes. The incident showed Ms. Winfrey's importance to A-list talent like Mr. Cruise and how events on her show can be true media moments.

"Really, she should have a list of her own," wrote one panelist who voted Ms. Winfrey No. 1. "She is the dean of the university for talk shows."

2. Ray Romano

Ray Romano, the man at the center of the traditional and immediately classic King World sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," continues his steady rise on the Most Bankable Stars list, up two spots from last year, up three spots from 2004 and well ahead of the No. 8 spot he held in 2003.

In a world where broadcast networks seem to be continually on the search for a convention-breaking comedy that will redefine the genre, "Raymond" and Mr. Romano's very relatable style are a throwback to the era when all a good sitcom needed was a couch, terrific scripts and a talented cast. This year Mr. Romano surpasses the comedian who once overshadowed him when they were both airing in broadcast-Jerry Seinfeld, whose "Seinfeld" is now regularly eclipsed in the syndicated ratings by "Raymond."

The comparisons between the two series still resonate, with one juror calling Mr. Romano "the 'Everyman' Seinfeld." But another juror, who voted Mr. Romano No. 1 on his list, noted that the daily foibles of the show's Barone clan and Mr. Romano's reactions to them "still proves the popularity of his family-friendly comedy in syndication and cable."

"Raymond," which ended its nine-year broadcast run on CBS last May with 32 million viewers tuning in to the series finale, was like the little engine that could. The show's growing popularity over the years helped send it into syndication, where new viewers became fans of "Raymond" and, in turn, of Mr. Romano.

Network broadcasters seem to have finally ended the comedy curse and introduced successful new half-hours in the current season, and Mr. Romano benefits from being involved with one of the relatively new off-network sitcom properties in syndication. But it would be a mistake to assume that Mr. Romano is bankable only because there is a lack of new product.

As one juror predicted, Mr. Romano will "be around for a very long time to come."

3. Phil McGraw

Despite being down one spot from last year, Phil McGraw's eponymous advice show "Dr. Phil" is still the perennial silver medalist when it comes to daytime talk, second only to big sister "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Currently in its fourth season, the "Oprah" spinoff came into its own soon after its launch, with Mr. McGraw drawing in audiences with his no-nonsense talk and ability to reach out to viewers wrestling with life's most difficult problems.

Mr. McGraw's work will continue for some time to come, considering the agreement signed in August by distributor King World Productions, which distributes "Dr. Phil." The deal extends the life of the show an additional five years from its previous production order, which would have taken "Dr. Phil" to 2009. Now Mr. McGraw is set to coach couples and confront family crises through the 2013-14 season. As part of the deal, "Dr. Phil" was renewed on a number of CBS-owned stations through 2011 and transferred this past September from NBC Universal stations in Chicago and Los Angeles to the CBS fold.

While some critics have chastised Mr. McGraw for boiling down complex treatments and oversimplifying family or couples therapy, his loyal viewers couldn't care less what some in the psychological establishment say.

"You can't argue with audience affinity," one juror wrote.

"Dr. Phil," which is produced by Paramount Domestic Television, has grown beyond being solely a counterpoint to the softer, more co-dependent talk that dominates daytime to a franchise that other producers hope to emulate. Most notable among the studios looking to capitalize the need for on-air counseling is Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, which is grooming a television therapist of its own, Keith Ablow, for 2006-07.

"He continues to establish the benchmark for therapy-relationship programming," one juror wrote. "Phil has now spawned the possibility of Dr. Keith Ablow on the fall horizon."

4. Ellen DeGeneres

Rising five spots from No. 9 last year, Ellen DeGeneres' improved ratings reflect the TV industry's approval of her relaxed, conversational style.

While still out of the top-tier league in terms of syndication ratings, Ms. DeGeneres can boast the best year-to-year gains of any syndicated strip this season through Dec. 26, growing 15 percent in households to a 2.3, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Looking back to her debut three seasons ago, it seems silly to recall the reservations the marketplace had about Ms. DeGeneres, questioning whether her quirky humor would translate to daytime, since it had failed so recently in prime time, and wondering whether an openly lesbian stand-up comedian would relate to the red-state soccer moms who form the backbone of the daytime audience. Today, those concerns have been appeased, one juror wrote.

"Ellen DeGeneres has become a fixture on the daytime landscape and put to rest any concerns about her being accepted in Middle America," the juror wrote. "She is now the funny member of the family that visits every day to share a slice of life."

Daytime Emmy voters comprise another group that accepts Ms. DeGeneres. In May voters awarded her a statuette for outstanding talk show host-her first such award-and gave her show its second consecutive outstanding talk show Emmy.

Part of Ms. DeGeneres' success is the fact that she is being herself, something that endears her to her audience. "She does her one thing the best," another juror said.

If anything, the daytime talk format is the most natural setting for Ms. DeGeneres' unique and varied talents, a third juror wrote, noting she has "finally found the format fit for her funny-and fun-style."

5. Jerry Seinfeld

After two years in the third spot on Most Bankable Stars, Jerry Seinfeld slid down to No. 5. "Seinfeld" is no longer the top off-network comedy in syndication, and Mr. Seinfeld's drop coincides with Mr. Romano's ascension on the list, a pattern that mimics the weekly ratings race between the comedians' respective shows in syndication.

But things are hardly bad for Mr. Seinfeld in terms of his place in the off-network universe. Out of production since 1998, "Seinfeld" is still one of the hottest comedy properties in television, a fact that one juror particularly admired when he described the legendary "show about nothing" as "defying the test of time."

This past November Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (whose sister company, Sony Pictures Television, distributes the show in syndication) released seasons five and six of "Seinfeld" in two DVD volumes. Just months before Sony had released the fourth season on DVD, marking the event by having Mr. Seinfeld throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the final game of the New York Yankees/New York Mets Subway Series in May.

The fifth- and sixth-season DVD package was much more than just the discs themselves. The boxed set included a miniature version of Mr. Seinfeld's "puffy shirt," a crucial prop in one of the show's best-loved episodes and a garment that is now immortalized in the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. Seinfeld is still a huge stand-up draw, booking major venues and bringing in sellout crowds wherever he goes. But in terms of television, he is still linked to the simple episode titles that came to define the show-ask any fan of the series and he or she will be able to tell you the synopses of "The Junior Mint," "The Contest," "The Big Salad," "The Nonfat Yogurt" or "The Hamptons."

Using one of the show's signature lines, another juror captured how Mr. Seinfeld's observational, almost mundane take on life has resonated so well in syndication: "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

6. Cast of 'CSI'

In its second year on the Bankable Stars list, "CSI" has moved up four spots, reflecting both its top-rated spot among hour weeklies and anticipation for the syndication rollout of the next series in the franchise, "CSI: Miami."

The flagship "CSI," which continues to regularly top the weekly charts as the No. 1 show among network prime-time series, is currently down from its debut season in syndication but still the leading off-network drama for 2004-05. Even with increased competition from rookies such as Twentieth's "24" and Buena Vista's "Alias," King World's "CSI" is still the highest-rated weekly hour season to date in syndication. Through the week ended Dec. 26, "CSI" scored a season-to-date national household rating of 4.9, according to Nielsen Media Research.

For the vast majority of stations, which run the series on Saturdays and Sundays, "CSI" has been a welcome addition to their lineups. One juror called the show "a weekend workhorse."

Part of "CSI's" allure is clearly its cast, which is arguably more flashy than the by-the-book casting of that other procedural franchise that has made a name for itself in its syndication and cable runs.

"This franchise may have more juice than its version-loving cousin, 'Law & Order,'" another juror said.

"CSI" leads Marg Helgenberger and William Petersen give a little juice to the series, and the same can be said of David Caruso and Emily Procter, two of the stars of "CSI: Miami," which premieres in syndication this fall.

"From the original Las Vegas-based series to Miami and now finally New York, these casts and their ability to be different yet the same in procedural forensic drama have dominated CBS [and] cable," a third juror said.

"CSI: Miami" has also received the official seal of approval from Katz Television Group, which is recommending the show to its client stations.

If the sheer number of hours covered by a franchise is any indication of its bankability, "CSI" and its spinoffs will continue to rise on the list once "CSI: NY," the newest of the series, comes to syndication in 2008.

7. Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa

If consistency itself is a virtue, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, the hosts of Buena Vista's "Live With Regis and Kelly," get extra credit for their spot on the Most Bankable list this year: they remain in the same position they held last year.

The pair's unscripted, conversational start of every show is something of television legend, a without-a-net format that even the most accomplished syndicated talent might shy away from.

Mr. Philbin, who has been with the talk strip for 18 seasons, and Ms. Ripa, who joined "Live" in 2001, have so finely tuned their act that they are the definitive syndicated series in the mornings.

Ratings bear this out, with "Live" No. 3 among talk strips (behind "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Dr. Phil") with a 3.4 national household rating season to date through Dec. 26, according to Nielsen Media Research. That performance is even more impressive considering "Live's" talk competition, which tends to benefit from later time periods with more viewers, and in theory should perform better against Mr. Philbin and Ms. Ripa's midmorning chats.

"As a team, they are so comfortable that their 'over coffee' banter has the ring of an old couple," one juror said.

The use of humor and the pair's willingness to make fun of themselves is something viewers and advertisers have come to enjoy about the morning strip. This past Halloween-a traditional signature show for "Live"-Mr. Philbin and Ms. Ripa came out in various costumes over the course of their hour, once as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, and then even more improbably as the Olsen twins.

The wear and tear of the daily talk grind have done little to slow down either host, a juror noted.

"Each has made their mark, with Kelly becoming the queen of magazine covers while hosting and co-starring on [ABC prime-time sitcom] 'Hope & Faith,'" the juror said. "Regis has his Christmas album, New Year's Eve on Fox, [upcoming ABC prime-time reality series] 'This Is Your Life' on ABC, the most frequent guest and target on 'Late Show With David Letterman.'"

"Does anyone even remember Kathie Lee?" another juror asked.

8. Cast of 'Friends'

Down two spots from last year's list, the "Friends" alchemy of Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer is still a magic draw for our jurors two years after the show wrapped production on NBC.

One could say this wasn't exactly the best year for some of the "Friends" alums, considering Mr. LeBlanc's spinoff "Joey" has continued to disappoint in the hit show's old time slot (and was yanked from the schedule this month), while Ms. Kudrow's HBO behind-the-scenes series "The Comeback" met with mixed reviews and a reduced episode order. But the former friend facing the most turmoil in 2005, at least in her private life, was Ms. Aniston. With the very public breakup of her marriage to Brad Pitt, and Mr. Pitt's almost immediate coupling with his feature film co-star Angelina Jolie, Ms. Aniston found herself in the middle of this generation's Debbie Reynolds-Eddie Fisher-Elizabeth Taylor-type media circus.

If anything, the Warner Bros.-distributed show has benefited from all the drama, one juror suggested, noting that Ms. Aniston's tale of betrayal was a top story for the year.

"Every time viewers check out magazines at the checkout line, she reminds them of 'Friends,'" the juror said, pointing out that Ms. Aniston is now even more of a glossy cover girl favorite as she develops her film career.

Even The New York Times indirectly gave the syndicated show free publicity in 2005, when in a year-in-review article on notable buzzwords it pointed out that the phrases "Team Aniston" and "Team Jolie" were popping up on T-shirts across the country, allowing wearers to publicly state their allegiance.

In syndication at least, the cast of "Friends" is still as successful, fresh and funny to viewers as ever, especially in a marketplace where a new sitcom has yet to come on-air that can successfully compete with the Central Perk crowd five days a week. As another juror put it, the "Friends" ensemble is "the cast that still can."

9. Alex Trebek

Thanks to Ken Jennings, Alex Trebek had a great 2004, landing at No. 5 on last year's Most Bankable list. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that his ranking slipped slightly this year. Mr. Jennings is no longer on the show, but Mr. Trebek's smooth demeanor and his ability to pronounce nearly any word imaginable show he is just as bankable without a star contestant's bringing "Jeopardy!" newfound notoriety.

Mr. Trebek, who has been the host of the Sony-distributed game show "Jeopardy!" for 22 seasons, shared his ranking last year with Mr. Jennings, who in the summer of 2004 began a 72-game winning streak that ultimately brought the Utah computer programmer more than $2 million.

While down in the ratings from the previous season's resurgence, for the 2005-06 season to date through Dec. 26 "Jeopardy!" was the No. 3 show in syndication with a 6.4 national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research.

If anything, Mr. Trebek's stewardship of the show is such a television institution that many industry insiders may take his success as a given. As one juror noted, Mr. Trebek "may be the longest-running syndication personality out there," a major feat considering the dozens of talk show and game show hosts who have come and gone since "Jeopardy!" made its debut with Mr. Trebek in 1984.

Not everyone takes the show for granted. At the Daytime Emmys last May "Jeopardy!" won for outstanding game show for the 10th time, breaking the tie it held with another syndication stalwart, "$100,000 Pyramid." And last November Sony had such faith in Mr. Trebek it released a DVD set of some of "Jeopardy's!" greatest moments, including Mr. Trebek's first show. The release made "Jeopardy!" one of the first syndicated game shows ever to get a DVD.

In a nod to the classic "Jeopardy!" format and its host's signature delivery, another panelist chose to describe Mr. Trebek in a form even causal viewers of the show will warmly recognize: "The [answer] is, 'What is syndication consistency?'"

10. Rachael Ray

Breaking into the top 10 before her upcoming show even airs, Rachael Ray, the chef, world traveler and author who has made a name for herself on Food Network over the past few years, is the only new personality to appear on the 2006 list. A couple of factors make Ms. Ray, who grew up working in restaurants run by members of her family and was discovered giving cooking demonstrations at an upstate New York grocery store, such a high-profile talent.

First off is her association with both King World Productions, which has not launched a new daytime strip in three seasons, and Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, a formidable company that generates interest and buzz because of its famous owner. Second is Ms. Ray's track record, which shows she can master not only the world of cable television but also book writing, product endorsement and her latest venture, magazine publishing.

Two jurors pointed to Ms. Ray's association with Ms. Winfrey in particular as a sign she will be a force to reckon with once she makes it into syndication; both called Ms. Ray Ms. Winfrey's "protégée."

The goal of an Oprah Winfrey protégé is to emulate the successful Phil McGraw and not the less successful Gayle King, who had a King World-distributed talk show in the '90s. While both had the backing of their famous sponsor, only Mr. McGraw succeeded, because he was able to effectively communicate to an audience in a format that best highlighted his unique talents.

Daytime syndication has flatly rejected many good-natured hosts who have succeeded in other media venues, and at face value Ms. Ray has to be careful this fall as she transfers the skills she used to succeed with cable shows such as "30 Minute Meals" and "Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels."

Ms. Ray has what it takes to overcome the obstacles inherent in doing a syndicated strip because of her experience in television and the strengths of her syndication partners, a juror wrote.

"Several shows on the Food Network help to establish her potential," the juror wrote, "but the endorsement and production involvement of Oprah Winfrey are the biggest steps up for any offering."

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=29195

fredfa

01-16-06, 01:05 AM

The Business of TV
At CBS, it's a feeling of good news again

The “CBS Evening News” has gained viewers, and many credit stand-in anchor Bob Schieffer
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 16, 2006

NEW YORK -- A year ago, the mood in the West 57th Street headquarters of CBS News was bleak.

An independent panel had just issued a scathing report that blamed the network for "fundamental deficiencies" in rushing to air a piece that raised questions about President Bush's military service — a story that CBS News ultimately had to admit was based on unverified documents. In the wake of the controversy, four staffers were forced out and anchor Dan Rather, who had reported the story on "60 Minutes Wednesday," retired from "CBS Evening News."

The crisis deeply shook network employees. When veteran Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer took over as interim anchor of the evening broadcast in March, he recalled, "It's all people were talking about, it's the only thing people were thinking about."

But there are some signs that CBS News may be shaking off the depression that had hung over it since the controversial story about Bush aired in September 2004. The emerging confidence in the newsroom illustrates how quickly fortunes and moods can change in a fast-paced media environment — even within news organizations that have suffered blistering public critique.

Whether the optimism is premature, or misplaced, remains to be seen. Much of the improved morale stems from changes at the flagship broadcast, the once-top-ranked "CBS Evening News," which has lagged its competition at NBC and ABC in recent years. The newscast remains in third place this season, but it is the only broadcast to have gained viewers since last year, albeit by an increase of 3%.

Network employees have seized on the slim ratings increase as a welcome sign of larger positive change, especially when coupled with the recent appointments of two energetic executives — CBS News President Sean McManus and Rome Hartman, the new executive producer of "CBS Evening News." Both intensely competitive, McManus and Hartman have stressed that they are determined to restore the news division's luster and regain its top standing.

"The team at the top has real belief in CBS News, and people are taking a lot of comfort in that," said the network's chief White House correspondent, John Roberts. "A lot of people weren't quite sure whether CBS News was so deeply wounded that it wouldn't be able to come back. I think those anxieties have disappeared."

Some of that is due not only to a reinvigoration of the news division but a new clarity about its mission. After a period of experimentation in which network chairman Leslie Moonves and CBS executives contemplated rethinking the entire format of the evening news, the network has quietly decided for now to simply build on the existing newscast, reaffirming a commitment to delivering a traditional, hard-news program.

"We have an evening news that works, and my job is to try to make it work better," said Hartman, who took over the newscast Jan. 9.

Added Schieffer: "We're not going to change the look of the broadcast very much. This is very much going back to basics, and the basics are to find the news that's most important and tell people about it in ways they can understand."

Courting Couric

Meanwhile, CBS' courting of "Today" co-anchor Katie Couric to take over the helm of the newscast when her contract at NBC is up in May has bolstered the spirits of many in the newsroom, who view it as a sign that CBS officials are serious about investing in the news division.

"When we start going after the big money players on the other teams, we're really saying what a baseball team says when it goes after the big salaried players," said Schieffer, who added that he hopes Couric will take the job. "We're saying, 'We're trying to win the World Series.'

"I think we've come a tremendous distance here. We had been beaten about the heads and shoulders so badly for so long there that people were pretty quiet about the office. People are talking again. They're having more fun, and they're smiling more."

The atmosphere is starkly different than just last fall, when the newsroom swirled with anxiety as staffers tried to decipher what changes were afoot.

Moonves, having declared that viewers no longer wanted a "voice of God" anchor, had asked news executives to develop a wholesale makeover of the evening news. Many editorial employees feared that the CBS chief was trying to turn the venerable newscast into more of an entertainment show, especially after he was quoted in the New York Times Magazine suggesting, half in jest, that producers should look to a British program that features women delivering the news in lingerie.

Andrew Heyward, then president of the news division, put together a series of pilot newscasts for Moonves that stressed a "60 Minutes"-style of in-depth storytelling. He and other news executives also suggested adding more on-screen graphics and features that took viewers behind the scenes.

But Moonves was still dissatisfied, and in late October, Heyward stepped down — a decision he and the CBS chief characterized as mutual — and was replaced with McManus, the well-liked president of the sports division. Newsroom employees who feared the post was going to go to an entertainment executive from one of CBS' sister cable channels breathed a sigh of relief — especially after McManus addressed the newsroom.

"There was hunger inside the organization to get going, and I think Sean came in and he immediately tapped into that," Hartman said. "He said: 'I care about this place. I love CBS, and I want to win, and I want to help you win.' I saw people in that room that day who just wanted to get up and cheer."

A month later, Jim Murphy, the longtime executive producer of "CBS Evening News," decided that he was ready for a change. McManus then named Hartman, a 23-year veteran of the network, to lead the broadcast and advise him on news gathering and talent recruitment.

Since they took over, Heyward's initiative to develop pilots for the evening news has been abandoned. Network officials said that Moonves — now busy with responsibilities as head of the newly formed CBS Corp. — is content to let McManus decide what needs to be done with the program. McManus said that he is not looking for Hartman to reinvent the form.

"His [Hartman's] plan is not to break the mold of the evening newscast but rather to take the best of what currently exists, improve upon that, and inject some new energy and a true commitment to putting on the best newscast in the business," McManus said in an e-mail to The Times.

Hartman praised his predecessor and Schieffer for the changes they had made to the broadcast in the last year, saying the anchor's expanded give-and-take with correspondents has contributed to "a kind of loosening of the tie, metaphorically."

"I'm grateful to have the tailwind, and I just want to continue it," Hartman said, adding that his goal was twofold — to be "relentlessly original" and to improve the quality of the writing and production.

The newscast still has substantial ground to regain. Just five years ago, it attracted an average audience of 9.5 million people, 2 million more than this season.

But "CBS Evening News" has drawn an average of 214,000 more viewers since last year, while "NBC Nightly News" and ABC's "World News Tonight" are down more than 700,000 viewers each, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Network competitors

The other two network newscasts still far outstrip CBS in viewership; NBC by more than 2.2 million people, and ABC by more than 1 million on average this season. But internally, CBS employees say they feel a sense of momentum, one they credit largely to Schieffer and the folksy approach he's brought to the newscast.

"Bob is a terrific presence, someone whom the viewers are very comfortable with," said correspondent Roberts, who added that Tom Brokaw's retirement and Peter Jennings' death may have prompted viewers to begin searching for a new broadcast and be drawn to Schieffer. "He's not a polarizing figure ... and he exudes a certain sort of confidence and gravitas that people are looking for."

Schieffer, who planned to fill in on the broadcast for just two months, said he now planned to stay at least through the spring, when Couric was expected to make a decision about her next move.

"I never realized I'd be doing this at this particular time in my life," said the 68-year-old anchor, who commutes home every weekend to Washington, where he continues to anchor the Sunday show "Face the Nation." "But if I can move this organization forward and get it back to the position it was in when I came here [37 years ago], I'm going to feel very good about that."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-cbs16jan16,0,3242078,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

01-16-06, 01:13 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Bad “West Wing” News
Guess who's *not* coming to press tour
The Newark Star-Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall TV blog

I don't leave for press tour for another couple of days, but some friends who are already out there told me that Sorkin and Schlamme are not going to be on the panel for the "West Wing" press conference. When I checked with someone at NBC, I was told that their inclusion on the guest list "was a clerical error," and that they were never scheduled to come.

Ah, well. If NBC picks up "Studio 7," Aaron and Tommy will be back at the tour in July, but that won't be quite the same as them giving their old baby a proper send-off.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/

RemyM

01-16-06, 11:29 AM

PGA Tour Press Release Jan. 11, 2006

The Golf Channel agreement

Also, TGC and the TOUR will work closely together to further increase distribution beyond the already significant 70 million homes and increase The Golf Channel’s visibility and appeal to the TOUR’s fan base. In order to fully accomplish these joint objectives, the agreement with The Golf Channel provides for a term of 15 years.

http://www.pgatour.com/print/info/company/story/9158540

Considering what Comcast did with their NHL broadcasts on OLN, this part scares me. They blacked out the NHL games on OLN unless the channel was available to 40% of a MSO's subs. Will they do the same with TGC's PGA Tour coverage?

fredfa

01-16-06, 12:47 PM

It is possible, but remember that golf gets far higher ratings than hockey. And (with no offense meant to hockey fans) the golf audience is a far, far better economic demographic.

I would suspect there won't be much arm-twisting needed to get the Golf Channel available in almost every cable home. As a matter of fact, I am sure Comcast will do its best to couple carriage of TGC with OLN.

fredfa

01-16-06, 12:56 PM

The TV Column
The Cronkite Doctrine

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 16, 2006; C01

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 15--Walter Cronkite has been old for a really long time.

So long that he thinks it's a good idea to poke fun at people who stutter in front of a room of reporters.

So long that he remembers when the network news operations weren't required to make money.

So long that he thinks the effort of news operations to make money does not affect content.

So long that virtually every story he told at Winter TV Press Tour 2006 Sunday he'd told a dozen times before.

At age 89, Walter Cronkite hasn't been the anchor of the "CBS Evening News" since 1981, but no one has ever replaced him as The Most Trusted Man in America. And so his appearance at the tour to tout PBS's July "American Masters" biography on him drew The Reporters Who Cover Television to him like Jedi trainees at the feet of Yoda, gobbling up his every word on the state of journalism, politics and the war in Iraq:

Mr. Cronkite, can you talk about how that weekend you did a marathon anchor stint during the Kennedy assassination changed the way news is covered?

Mr. Cronkite, how much has the role of the network anchor diminished in recent years?

Mr. Cronkite, what do you think of the anchor team at ABC?

Mr. Cronkite, who do you think should be the replacement for Bob Schieffer at "CBS Evening News"?

Mr. Cronkite, did you see the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" and what did you think of it?

Mr. Cronkite, what advice would you give to the next CBS anchor?

Mr. Cronkite, we have some vivid memories of some rare moments when you betrayed more emotion. Do you think for an anchor, when it comes to betraying emotion, less is more?

Mr. Cronkite, has CBS recovered from the Dan Rather Memogate fiasco?

At one point, two reporters got into a shouting match over who would get the floor to ask Cronkite a question. It reminded Cronkite of how, in the old days, reporters would always ace out New York Herald Tribune correspondent Homer Bigart, who spoke with a stutter, under similar circumstances, until Bigart would finally shout, "Wait a damned minute!" -- with a stutter, which Cronkite faithfully imitated to tittering from the room.

It played so well that, like a seasoned comic, Cronkite went back to it a couple more times during the very long and often entertaining Q&A session.

Asked what was his proudest moment as a journalist, Cronkite quickly said it was the night he delivered his editorial on the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War. Nearly 38 years ago, he closed a broadcast with an editorial that is credited with hastening the U.S. pullout from Vietnam.

"To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past," Cronkite said that night. "To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. . . . It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best they could."

On Sunday he was asked if he thought the Iraq war had reached the same point and would he have tried, if he were anchor today, to deliver a similar editorial (good luck on that).

"Yes, I would!" Cronkite blurted out before the reporter even got to the end of his question. The editorial he said he would have delivered following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, would have been: "Mother Nature has not treated us well and we find ourselves terribly missing in the amount of money it takes to help these poor people out of their homeless situation, to help rebuild some of our important cities of the United States, and therefore we are going to have to bring our troops home."

He told the reporters: "We would have been able to retire with honor.

"We've done everything we can. We're going to have to leave it with [the Iraqis] someday, and it is my belief that we should get out now."

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

Speaking of old things at Winter TV Press Tour 2006, the Q&A session with organizers and participants of the Miss America pageant was a real doozy.

As happens so often when the subject of the Miss America pageant comes up at a cocktail party, political convention or congressional hearing, people become sharply divided into two camps: Pro-Bathing Suit and Anti-Suit.

This year, to mark its move to Country Music Television -- CMT, as it prefers to be called -- the pageant is returning to its "traditions" and "values," according to pageant CEO Art McMaster, which means the return of the Miss Congeniality competition and raising the swimsuit competition to account for 20 percent of each contestant's total score. (When Deidre Downs was named Miss America 2005, it was only 15 percent. That's from her own lips at the Q&A, up onstage.)

Creeping bathing suit-ism alarmed several critics -- especially in an event its keepers promote as a "scholarship competition" -- and they said so in no uncertain terms.

Miss America started off as a bathing suit competition and it can't get away from that, McMaster said. Besides, he added, studies show that pageant fans want it to continue.

This argument may have played well in Atlantic City, but it did not go over big with TV critics in Pasadena. But McMaster, a sly fox masquerading as a dumpy, balding, beige kind of guy, had another trick up his sleeve: A bathing suit competition is not a skin show, he said: It's "all about health and fitness."

I'm sorry to report that did not float, even with the Pro-Suiters, and groans and snickers were heard in the crowd.

"No, it's true!" said McMaster.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/15/AR2006011501112_pf.html

fredfa

01-16-06, 01:03 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Media stars find free rein in new niches

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic

Ted Koppel and Howard Stern, an unlikely pair, are separately demonstrating a law of the new, fragmented media world: Established media stars now have the liberty to pursue their dreams and a multitude of outlets on which to display their talents.

A corollary, still being tested: Those stars will take their audiences with them.

Stern switched to satellite radio and continues to mine the titillating, junior high humor that has made his commercial radio persona a hit with a certain slice of the male demographic for years. Without the government monitoring his words (and lewd sounds), he's free to be himself on Sirius Satellite radio. So far, he's attracted 1.1 million new, paying listeners. Perhaps it's a gimmick - Sirius is paying him $500 million over five years to find out - but the idea is to use Stern as a lure to the new technology.

Koppel announced last week that he'll follow his quarter-century "Nightline" reign and 42-year ABC News service with new gigs at National Public Radio and The New York Times.

Starting Jan. 29, Koppel will be a Times columnist with a periodic spot on the op-ed page. Come June, Koppel will provide weekly commentary to NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" along with the new midday magazine "Day to Day." He also will serve as an analyst during breaking news and special events and be part of the NPR web presence.

He'll trade the one-stop shopping of ABC News' mass audiences for substantial and more plugged-in "decision-maker" audiences at the Times and NPR: some 5 million daily Times readers and 26 million weekly NPR listeners.

Far from the commercial network front lines, Koppel won't have to worry about courting advertisers. He won't need to check overnight ratings, compete with more frivolous colleagues or the entertainment division, or defend story choices from the wrath of affiliates.

As a columnist/commentator he'll enjoy more freedom and more clout.

Meanwhile, Koppel and his graying Howdy Doody hair still will be on television, at a cable outpost. He and the Discovery Channel recently announced their new association: Koppel will be a managing editor in a new unit, along with his longtime executive producer Tom Bettag and eight "Nightline" staffers, producing long-form programming exclusively for the cable channel. This after a much rumored flirtation with HBO and its documentary film unit.

The once-revered "Nightline" remains in flux. Last fall, when Koppel left saying he was pursuing other options, ABC named Martin Bashir, Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran as an anchor triumvirate to succeed him. The network intends to rework the show to try to lure younger audiences. So far, it's just another magazine show. If it doesn't do well in the ratings it will be dismantled and replaced by something even lighter. A line of comedians presumably waits to audition.

Koppel and Stern exemplify two bright media stars - albeit working in different constellations - looking for their own chosen paths in an expanding media universe.

They're giving up the strictures of their old-media jobs, stretching out in new niches.

Of the two, Stern's is the leap of faith, requiring his audience to pay for satellite service when, really, they could hear David Lee Roth for free and pocket the $13 a month as extra beer money.

Koppel's is the less risky shift.

Think about it: Koppel probably could have gotten away with going to a pay service, like HBO, since his audience is as loyal as Stern's and, moreover, boasts extra discretionary income. The affluent, educated pay-cable audience is more inclined to watch a serious documentary than ABC's non-paying, commercial-watching mass audience. But for now, Koppel chose to stay in the free radio world and the basic cable world of Discovery.

Channels, sites and gizmos are proliferating. Consumers are proving willing to pay for subscriptions, whether for radio services or for online journalism sites like Times Select. To serve them, and to fulfill their own aspirations, more talents as diverse as Stern and

Koppel are going to find niches in new places.

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3403175

fredfa

01-16-06, 01:07 PM

TV Review
'Love Monkey' lads show promise in quest for sex and next big thing

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Monday, January 16, 2006

If you didn't already know that the new CBS series "Love Monkey" was based on a popular "guy-lit" novel by Kyle Smith, you might optimistically (and accurately) think it's a pretty impressive American TV knockoff of Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity."

Not bad, that.

It certainly beats being called the male version of "Sex and the City," as tiring a comparison as one can make with such little effort. At some point, these comparisons will be used on "Love Monkey," and they may be apt in their own way. But if the primary knock on the book of the same name -- about a fantastically juvenile thirtysomething guy in New York trying to work out his life while constantly on the scrounge for the ladies -- was that the character wasn't ultimately likable, consider the problem solved in the television version. Tom Cavanagh, as anyone who watched the late NBC drama "Ed" can attest, is one very likable guy. You can make him say stupid things and yet -- still likable.

The best news on this series is that, based on one very buzz-heavy pilot episode, there's not a lot of stupid things Cavanagh's character, Tom Farrell, is forced to say. "Love Monkey" manages in one hour to be both funny and endearing, a more option-rich version of "Ed" (which is inescapable, because Cavanagh's wise-cracking, self-deprecating, romantically troubled persona defines both characters).

Tom is an A&R guy in the music business, club-hopping in hopes of signing new talent (a slight tweak from him working at a tabloid newspaper in New York in the book). Tom has a passion for great (read: not chart-topping) music and his joyfully adolescent pursuit of happiness is truly engaging.

And while the book's detractors called it shallow (the "guy-lit" tag meant to invoke the superficiality of "chick-lit"), none of that really matters in a television series, not only because the writers are wholly different but because Tom and the friends who surround him can be fleshed out with care over the course of a season. Well, at least a truncated season. CBS supposedly has eight episodes for midseason and will mull the future of the series after that (which may be complicated, since it goes up against "Boston Legal" on Fox, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" on NBC and even "The Shield" on FX).

Not that it should matter much. Though "Love Monkey" is an extremely different kind of series for CBS (no cops or coroners, actual coolness), it's wonderfully played from start to finish, capitalizing not only on Cavanagh's charm and the sharpness of the pilot's writing, but on the potential that's obvious here. "Love Monkey" is one the few series about relationships that has entry points for both sexes. With his passion for music (Tom is said to have a "golden ear" for signing really great acts) and the attraction of his guy's-guy juvenilia lifestyle (a fondness for cereal; a passion for hip clothes without the fussy metrosexual stuff; a love of sports and booze; a cool-divey NYC apartment and a penchant for saying things like, "She listens to Jewel and weeps, and I prefer music" -- what's not to like?).

On top of that, well-drawn female characters populate the cast, most notably Judy Greer as Bran, Tom's closest friend and confidante. (Greer played the unstable, breast-baring Kitty on "Arrested Development" but is finely nuanced here.) Katherine LaNasa plays Tom's sister Karen (who's married to Mike, played by Jason Priestly in a welcome, against-type role as the friend who settled down and loves it, much to the mockery of his single pals). Later we meet Julia (Ivana Milicevic, from "Mind of the Married Man"), who appears to be the female equivalent of Tom -- she's hip without having to prove it, has impeccable music taste and turns her back to commitment.

What needs work in "Love Monkey" -- and hopefully has more to do with the burden of all pilots: to give each character screen time, no matter how limited -- is Tom's male friends. They all seem a little too, well, "Sex and the City" pat. Mike is married with a kid on the way and consequently wears no pants in the relationship. Larenz Tate plays Shooter, who's got no trouble with the ladies. And Christopher Wiehl plays a former professional baseball player who, because of that and his athletic build, also has little trouble finding a mate (though he does have a good secret he's keeping from the guys). The problem is these three who orbit Tom's life seem to have so little in common, more caricature than characters at this point.

Still, the bet here is they eventually get fleshed out. In the meantime, this is Cavanagh's show. He does the voiceover narration and plays Tom with just the right mix of impish loser and opinionated musical purist. Oh, and with likability -- remember? In the pilot, he's dating the female singer in a band that he secretly loathes, a nice joke that plays out hilariously in less than one hour. At a vegetarian restaurant she loves, he spins a speaker away from the table as it blares Air Supply at him. "As if it's not hard enough digesting vegetarian food as it is," he says. She calls him a music snob (he gave "The Essential Bob Dylan" to his sister at the baby shower), and they argue, only to stumble back to his place and passionately strip off their clothes. It leads to the kind of rarely seen subtle-physical joke television invariably botches, but not on "Love Monkey": they stumble in the door, kissing, disrobing, nearly falling, kissing, peeling off layers, stumbling again, until he finally looks at her -- she's still wearing two shirts -- and says: "Are you kidding me?"

So you've got the Cavanagh factor, good writing, cynicism in the one-liners and a love of top-shelf music, which gives it that "High Fidelity" cachet. There's a rich visual style in "Love Monkey," attacking New York from fresh angles. But this is ultimately a grown-up series about music and the passion it inspires. Yes, it's a what-am-I-doing-with-my-life tale of discovery and also features a commitment-phobe looking for sex in New York, but the music is the core, and CBS has apparently cleared quite a bit of good music.

A smart, snarky-sweet look at thirtysomething confusion -- on CBS? What's the catch? Hopefully there's not one. But CBS certainly seemed lukewarm on the series until the rolling critical buzz. Plus, eight episodes is no endorsement, nor enough to build much traction going into season's end. And honestly, one episode for review is just not enough for a series like this.

But with the midseason a critical bust so far, there's no reason not to jump all over this one, with fingers crossed.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/16/DDGOSGN8871.DTL

fredfa

01-16-06, 02:52 PM

Sunday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest Prime Time Ratings news which is the first post in this thread.

fredfa

01-16-06, 02:58 PM

TV Preview
Golden Globes Odds

(The Chicago Tribune)

Racetrack odds on Golden Globe winners were drafted by David Scott of America's Line (americasline.com) based upon the opinions of the experts cited below. The odds are issued for entertainment purposes only and should not be used for gambling.

TELEVISION

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Lost 7/5
Grey's Anatomy 8/5
Commander in Chief 3/1
Rome 8/1
Prison Break 30/1

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, "House" Even
Patrick Dempsey, "Grey's Anatomy" 6/5
Matthew Fox, "Lost" 8/1
Kiefer Sutherland, "24" 10/1
Wentworth Miller, "Prison Break" 25/1

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief" 11/5
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer" 12/5
Glenn Close, "The Shield" 7/2
Polly Walker, "Rome" 4/1
Patricia Arquette, "Medium" 5/1

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES
Desperate Housewives 7/5
Entourage 3/2
My Name is Earl 7/2
Curb Your Enthusiasm 20/1
Weeds 20/1
Everybody Hates Chris 20/1

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY ACTOR
Jason Lee, "My Name is Earl" 6/5
Steve Carell, "The Office" 3/2
Zach Braff, "Scrubs" 5/1
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men" 6/1
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" 40/1

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY ACTRESS
Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives" 8/5
Teri Hatcher, "Desperate Housewives" 5/2
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds" 3/1
Felicity Huffman, "Desperate Housewives" 7/2
Eva Longoria, "Desperate Housewives"
20/1
MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE

BEST
Warm Springs 11/10
Sleeper Cell 6/5
Empire Falls 9/2
Lackawanna Blues 30/1
Into the West 40/1
Viva Blackpool 50/1

BEST ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, "Warm Springs" 7/5
Billy Nighy, "The Girl in the Café" 3/1
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "Elvis" 4/1
Ed Harris, "Empire Falls" 5/1
Donald Sutherland, "Human Trafficking" 6/1

BEST ACTRESS
S. Epatha Merkerson, "Lackawanna Blues" 8/5
Cynthia Nixon, "Warm Springs" 9/5
Halle Berry, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" 2/1
Mira Sorvino, "Human Trafficking" 15/1
Kelly MacDonald, "The Girl in the Café" 20/1

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage" 3/2
Donald Sutherland, "Commander in Chief" 8/5
Paul Newman, "Empire Falls" 2/1
Naveen Andrews, "Lost" 20/1
Randy Quaid, "Elvis" 30/1

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy" 3/5
Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal" 5/2
Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds" 4/1
Joanne Woodward, "Empire Falls" 20/1
Camryn Manheim, "Elvis" 30/1

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

fredfa

01-16-06, 03:13 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
"Sopranos" fans can expect a downbeat season

By Gary Levin and Robert Bianco USA TODAY Jan. 16, 2005

PASADENA, Calif. — The Sopranos begins its sixth and final season March 12 with the Mob family in a bit of a funk: "Disquieted, sort of rattled, not feeling like things are going well," creator and executive producer David Chase told TV critics here Friday.

Like the series, which ended its last season in June 2004, the plot picks up nearly two years later, as Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni (Vincent Curatola) is in prison awaiting trial, and the New Jersey clan sees glimpses of its future in the New Yorker's fate.

The theme is melancholy: "Dissatisfaction with one's life, failed expectations," says Michael Imperioli, who plays Tony's cousin Christopher. Apart from that, Chase and stars James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco and Imperioli were largely tight-lipped about details of the coming season in a session with TV critics Friday, hewing to Chase's obsessive desire to protect secrets.

A promo reel teased with scenes of eating and violence, and had glimpses of upcoming guest stars: Chase says Ben Kingsley will play himself, but wouldn't elaborate; Julianna Margulies will play a real estate agent; Hal Holbrook plays "a scientist who used to work for Bell Labs in New Jersey (who's) ill (and) becomes involved with the Mob," and Bracco's sister, Elizabeth, plays a wiseguy's wife.

Among regular characters, looks for Anthony Jr. (Robert Iler) and Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) to have expanded story lines.

Chase has twice changed his mind and agreed to extend the series, but by all accounts this season is the last. The bright side: As HBO did with the final stretch of Sex and the City, it has expanded Sopranos to 20 episodes (from the usual 13), with 12 due this spring and eight to follow next January.

•Idle hands. Eric Idle is one busy Python. He's preparing for the Feb. 22 debut of the six-part PBS series Monty Python's Personal Best, which kicks off with his collection of favorite skits, and for the March road-tour launch of his hit Broadway musical Spamalot. And thanks to the success of Spamalot, he's already planning another musical. "Definitely, without any question." Just don't expect any of those projects to include a reunion Python performance. "We're all over 60. Comedy's really a young man's game."

•Killer, queen. HBO has cast two Oscar nominees as two larger-than-life women: Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth in the April miniseries Elizabeth I, and Annette Bening as convicted killer Jean Harris in the February film Mrs. Harris.

Elizabeth, says Mirren, is one of the "great female roles ... a character of such depth and breadth that it can be assailed time and time again by many different people." And it has been, by Bette Davis, Flora Robson, Glenda Jackson, Judi Dench — and Mirren's favorite, Miranda Richardson, who put a grand comic spin on the role in Blackadder II.

For Mirren, the hardest part was the love scene with a young (30) Hugh Dancy as Essex, who sat next to her on stage. "The scene when we were romping around on the cushions and you were pretending to be excited about it with a terrible old woman underneath you, I've never been so mortified."

Unlike Mirren, Bening could talk to the woman she played. And she did so, at the request of Harris, who killed Scarsdale Diet doctor Herman Tarnower. "She was incredibly complimentary of him, and said he was a great dancer ... When they were dancing, he made her feel like Ginger Rogers."

As an actress, did Bening find it hard to tap into the idea that a woman would shoot her cheating lover? "Are you kidding?" she says. "That's what is so fascinating about these stories for all of us. We've all been there."

•Sci Fi Steven. Steven Spielberg plans his second miniseries for Sci Fi Channel: Nine Lives, a 12-hour drama due in 2007, explores the afterlife, focusing on characters grieving over the loss of loved ones, with whom they reunite through "near-death experiences."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-01-15-tca-sopranos_x.htm

SVonhof

01-16-06, 03:58 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
"Sopranos" fans can expect a downbeat season

A downbeat season or a beat-down season? :D :eek:

fredfa

01-16-06, 04:00 PM

They have made us wait so long that I am just not sure I have the energy to get reconnected to the show. We'll see.

keenan

01-16-06, 04:11 PM

They have made us wait so long that I am just not sure I have the energy to get reconnected to the show. We'll see.
and to stretch the last 20 eps into two different showings ending in May and re-starting in Jan is cruel and unusual punishment.

DoubleDAZ

01-16-06, 04:26 PM

I don't really care all that much about The Sopranos anymore, especially since this is the end of the series, but if HBO continues this tact with it's original series scheduling, they may just lose this long-time customer. I've subscribed to HBO since day one, but there are simply too many other good programs available elsewhere that I don't think we should have to put up with this scheduling baffoonery. HBO, are you listening?

fredfa

01-16-06, 05:55 PM

The Business of TV
EchoStar to Lifetime: “Take This!”

(Dish Network Press Release)

DISH Network Launches Oxygen Network; Oxygen, the Only Television Network Owned and Operated by Women, and DISH Network Satellite TV Enter into Long-Term Carriage Agreement

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2006--EchoStar Communications Corporation announced today that Oxygen Media, the nation's only woman-owned and -operated TV network, is now available to DISH Network satellite TV customers. Oxygen and DISH Network entered into a multi-year agreement and will provide 12 million DISH Network viewers with a free preview of Oxygen immediately.

Oxygen is a 24-hour television network on a mission to bring women (and the men who love them) the most innovative entertainment on television. From "Mo'Nique's Fat Chance," which takes America's average beauty competition and repackages it for America's average-size women, to Oxygen's newest hit, "Campus Ladies," Oxygen brings brave, original programming to women every day.

"Oxygen is a bold new network that is continually raising the bar in delivering important women's programming and entertainment, and we're pleased to accommodate our customers by providing the most requested channel over the last several years," said Eric Sahl, senior vice president of Programming at DISH Network. "We've been working with Oxygen since last summer looking for ways to give our customers greater choice."
With this agreement, Oxygen now reaches a total of 65 million homes. The network has enjoyed double-digit ratings growth and has the second-highest concentration of women 18-49 on cable and satellite television.

Oxygen airs a diverse array of original series including the spontaneous, unscripted "Oprah After the Show;" "Snapped," a true crime series that explores the minds and motives of women who kill; "Girls Behaving Badly," a hidden-camera prank show with the only all-female cast, and Oxygen Original Movies. Oxygen also sponsors the "Mentor's Walk," a national movement to help bring along the next generation.

"This is a huge milestone for Oxygen," said Geraldine Laybourne, chairman and CEO of Oxygen. "We're adding millions of DISH Network viewers just at the time when we are on a ratings roll. Now with EchoStar's DISH Network as a partner, we've got fantastic potential to reach women in meaningful new ways."

DISH Network is offering a 30-day free preview of Oxygen, located on DISH Network channel 127. After the free preview, Oxygen will be available in DISH Network's America's Top 120 and DISH Latino Dos packages.

fredfa

01-16-06, 06:21 PM

The Business of TV
'Arrested' development

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” Monday, January 16, 2006
TelevisionWeek (from which I also stole the headline) is reporting that both ABC and Showtime have offered the producers of "Arrested Development" deals to continue the series on their networks.

And it's all above board because when Fox reduced this season's order from 22 to 13 episodes, "the reduction triggered a clause in the show's contract enabling producers to shop the series elsewhere," sayeth TVWeek.

The producers are said to be "mulling both offers," a one-year deal from ABC and a two-year deal from Showtime, part of the CBS fambly.

http://www.tvbarn.com/

harley1

01-16-06, 06:51 PM

fredfa-Please post any NBC NHL ratings,if you find them.

Thanks

fredfa

01-16-06, 07:38 PM

harley1, sports ratings usually come out a week after the rest of the weekly ratings (that is, this past weekend's ratings will be released by Nielsen next Tuesday. (This week's ratings will be delayed until Wednesday by the Martin Luther King Day holiday.)

But I'll see if NBC has any early word, based on metered market overnights.

fredfa

01-16-06, 09:51 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
The WB Meets The Press

The big handoff

By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Monday, January 16, 2006

Hey, it's Alan once again. I just flew in from Jersey (insert Catskills punchline here) and took over from Matt (Soller-Zeitz of the Star-Ledger). In an attempt to fight jetlag, I waded hip-deep into the tour, taking in both of the WB's afternoon sessions.

The first was for "The Bedford Diaries," a drama about a college
human sexuality class, which I'll be writing more about for
Wednesday's All TV column. More blog-worthy was the second session,
which reminded me of a press tour tradition I forgot to define back
in the first entry for this tour: The Session That's Funnier Than The
Show.

The late Gene Siskel had a measuring stick for movies: is this film
more interesting than a hypothetical documentary with the stars
having lunch would be? At press tour, we don't need to bother with
hypotheticals, since we've been witness to many, many press
conferences that badly outshone the series being plugged.

Today's pleasant surprise involved "Misconceptions," a sitcom starring
Jane Leeves as a stuffed-shirt single mom horried to discover that
the sperm donor who fathered her precocious 13-year-old daughter
isn't the Ivy League brainiac she'd always assumed, but a blue-collar
slob. Not only is it not a very good show, but it's at least the
third show in the last year to deal with sperm bank hijinks,
following NBC's short-lived drama "Inconceivable" and one of the two
finalists for Bravo's comedy talent search contest "Situation:
Comedy."

The latter project was so eerily similar to "Misconceptions" that,
after no one could think of a polite first question to ask, one
critic had no choice but to wade in with the compare/contrast stuff.

"This is your first question?" asked a mock indignant French Stewart,
who plays Leeves' brother. "No dinner, no dancing? I will hop down
like a kangaroo and beat your a--, lady!"

The critic replied, "I waited an appropriate amount of time for
someone to ask 'How are you like your character?' and nobody did."

Stewart, the live-wire "3rd Rock" alum, later described the process
of picking a new series, explaining that early in pilot season, he
tries to be choosy, "by May, the girls get prettier at closing time!"
And after one critic noted that "Misconceptions" had been stuck in
development hell for two years, Stewart turned the tables, asking the
room, "Why aren't you at the Golden Globes? What the hell? 'Oh, well,
we were going to go to the Golden Globes, but these things take
time...'"

Eventually, he turned to young Taylor Momsen, who plays Leeves'
daughter, and asked, "Do you think I'm creepy?"

Add in an out-of-left field Billy Barty reference, and you had the
makings of something really promising. As someone always says at the
end of sessions like this one, "They should just throw out the pilot
and air a tape of this."

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

fredfa

01-16-06, 10:01 PM

TV Review
'Monkey' business

Familiar role for former 'Ed' star Tom Cavanagh
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Monday, January 16, 2006

"Love Monkey" (Tuesday night at 10 ET/PT CBS)

A single record company executive looks for love and the next hot band in a new series starring Tom Cavanagh, Judy Greer and Jason Priestley.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Ed Stevens. He had a wife, a great Manhattan apartment and a promising corporate law job. Then he caught his wife cheating on him and moved back to his hometown of Stuckeyville, where he bought the bowling alley, set up a law practice inside and set about wooing his old high school crush, Carol Vessey.

That story was told on NBC's late, great "Ed." Tomorrow night, CBS introduces "Love Monkey," which is the story of what happened when Ed dumped Carol, moved back to New York and got a job in the music business.

Well, not exactly, but close enough.

In fact, "Love Monkey" is based on the comic novel by Kyle Smith, part of a post-"High Fidelity" wave of responses to chick lit (lad lit?), about a tabloid headline writer named Tom Farrell who explains his bachelorhood by admitting, "I played the field, and so far, the field won."

In the show, Tom is an A&R executive for a record company, a much more glamorous gig and a career that allows "Love Monkey" to play off the trend of shows like "The O.C.," where you tune in as much to hear the soundtrack as to watch the actors.

More importantly, Tom is played by former "Ed" star Tom Cavanagh, he of the omnipresent grin and odd speech rhythms. If Tom isn't Ed back in the big, bad city, he's close, especially in his naive, exuberant belief that the music business should emphasize the music, not the business.

Early in the pilot, Tom has a Jerry Maguire moment in the middle of a staff meeting -- "Money shouldn't be our goal," he preaches. "Our goal should be finding the music and putting the music out there that would change people's lives." -- and winds up on the street like Jerry, minus the goldfish.

His pal Mike (Jason Priestley) is married to Tom's sister Karen (Katherine La Nasa), and for all that Tom and buddies Shooter (Larenz Tate) and Jake (Christopher Wiehl) bust on Mike for being a boring dad-to-be, Tom can't shake the feeling that he wants the thing he's mocking.

He has a girlfriend, a crunchy yoga type with whom he has nothing in common ('She listens to Jewel and weeps, while I prefer music"), but when he takes her at her word about never wanting to get married, she breaks up with him.

"A woman in her 30s saying she isn't into marriage is like a guy saying he isn't into sex," insists his platonic female friend Bran (Judy Greer).

"No, a guy saying he isn't into sex is... well, it's never happened," Tom replies.

Tom narrates his life and spends a lot of time discussing relationships with his three same-gender friends. In the pilot, Shooter expounds on "Grant's Law," inspired by Hugh Grant's cheating on Elizabeth Hurley with an ugly hooker, as proof that men can never be satisfied with what they have.

But no matter how much CBS and certain members of the media may wish it, it's not the male "Sex and the City." (Can we stop saying that any new show, male or female, is the next "Sex and the City," please?) The tone is gentler and more wistful. CBS is already breaking its formula enough by not making Tom a forensic scientist (though in explaining his job, he says, "I fight crime. Crime as in bad music."); the network's not going to suddenly start including nudity and frank discussions of sexual positions.

"Love Monkey" isn't as funny as "Sex and the City" at its wildest, or "Ed" at its wackiest, nor, in the pilot, does it tug at the heartstrings as well as either of those shows could. Like the novel that inspired it, it's a beach read; engaging in the moment, not too taxing, but inconsequential.

CBS' more conservative personality also seems to color the writing of Tom, who's more of a CBS idea of a hip record exec than the actual thing. His references are almost exclusively to classic rockers like Clapton and Dylan. His great discovery, a 16-year-old singer-songwriter prodigy named Wayne (Teddy Geiger), sounds like John Mayer's kid brother, competent and catchy but not someone capable of making life-changing music. At his sister's baby shower, Tom proudly gives her "The Essential Bob Dylan," even though a music snob like him would want nothing to do with greatest-hits compilations. (He'd have made the baby listen to "Blonde on Blonde" in its entirety.)

Still, the soundtrack, chosen largely by cutting-edge L.A. deejay Nic Harcourt, is a nice mix of old and new, from the Rolling Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown" to Beck's "Que Onda Guera." And like the better Cameron Crowe movies (i.e., the aforementioned "Jerry Maguire" and not "Elizabethtown"), "Love Monkey" knows how to underline the emotions of a scene with just the right pop song.

The show and its music may not change your life, but it should keep you smiling.

http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/columns-0/1137390143116940.xml&coll=1

fredfa

01-17-06, 10:58 AM

The TV Column
With High Costs, '7th Heaven' Hasn't Got a Prayer

By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 17, 2006; C07

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 16--The WB is cutting bait on "7th Heaven" in May because the former hit will lose about $16 million this season, network CEO Garth Ancier told surprised critics Monday.

In fact, the prime-time soap, starring Stephen Collins as a minister with a large, very busy family, has been a money loser for the network for a few seasons, Ancier said. Like other much-loved shows, "7th Heaven" will bite the dust because the increasing wage demands of its expensive cast and crew slammed up against plummeting ratings and ad revenue.

But here's a bit of good news for "7th" fans: It may have a reincarnation. Network suits are waiting for show creator Brenda Hampton to pitch them a spinoff that would feature only "7th Heaven's" younger and less expensive stars and cheaper writer-producers, bringing the costs down considerably, Ancier said at Winter TV Press Tour 2006.

"In an ideal world, we would rather that show not go away," programming chief David Janollari said.

This got critics to thinking about, and fretting over, WB's other long-running and by now more expensive shows -- "Gilmore Girls," "Charmed" and "Everwood," to name a few.

"Charmed," about three witch sisters, is still a "really solid performer, and though it is one of our more expensive shows it's not in the territory of '7th,' " Janollari assured them.

"We are not losing money on 'Smallville' or 'Everwood' or 'Gilmore Girls,' " Ancier chimed in.

To be more specific, "Everwood," the network's doc drama set in Colorado, is less expensive than "7th Heaven," as is "Gilmore Girls," Amy Sherman-Palladino's chick drama about a mom and her daughter who are best pals. "Smallville," the Superman teen-angst drama, is as expensive as "7th" but is higher rated and it repeats well, Ancier said. ("7th Heaven" episodes are repeating poorly this season, which further brings down ad revenue.)

Ancier -- the only top dog of a broadcast network who is not too yellow to get up on the stage at a press tour and answer questions on the record -- went unusually deep into the economic model behind his network, which has struggled in the ratings after a few years of gangbuster growth.

It happened when one critic noted that Nielsen began sending out early stats for Spanish language network Univision each day, which revealed that it sometimes pulls in more prime-time viewers than the WB.

Even though the WB in its best year makes a couple million dollars and in its worst year loses a couple million, that's not how the network is judged, Ancier insisted. The bigger moneymaker for parent Time Warner is Warner Bros. Television -- the most prolific producer of small-screen programming in the business, selling to all the TV networks. The value of the WB network is that it puts half of that production on the air, thereby opening up the possibility that all those shows may become eligible for syndication, overseas sales and other back-end deals, where the big bucks can be found. "Frankly, what would be the point of owning this network," which is a break-even proposition, Ancier said, "if you weren't going to have 'Smallville,' which is worth hundreds of millions in back-end value?"

Speaking of back-end value, Ancier said all the networks are trying to figure out the actual economics of the deals they're making fast and furiously to repurpose programming for iPods and the rest of the digital zoo.

"This is a tumultuous time for television as a medium, and I'm not quite sure what the economics . . . of it are," he said.

"Technology continues to change our industry. Thanks to innovations, you can now watch television on your iPod, your PC, your cell phone," WB's goodwill ambassador, Keith Marder, had said in his traditional WB Press Tour Opening Comedy Bit.

"Good luck -- we can't even get people to watch television on television sets."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601206_pf.html

Xesdeeni

01-17-06, 11:05 AM

fredfa

01-17-06, 11:46 AM

The TV Column
WB struggling in the ratings

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Tue, Jan. 17, 2006

You know things aren't going too well at the WB when an actress in a neck brace can steal the spotlight from former Victoria's Secret model Rebecca Romijn.

But then how many neck braces are studded with Swarovski crystals?

Brooke Burns, who'll play Romijn's sister in the upcoming hourlong comedy "Pepper Dennis," broke her neck in a Nov. 11 diving accident. Yesterday, she showed up for a press conference at the Television Critics Association's winter meetings wearing a post-surgical neck brace that glistened like a Miss America tiara.

Reporters, most of whom first saw the "Pepper Dennis" pilot - in which Romijn plays a pratfall-prone Chicago TV reporter - more than six months ago, couldn't seem to work up much interest in the show, but we were crazy about Burns' brace, which she designed herself ("it was a lot of bed hours").

Coincidentally, the show's producers said they'd written at least one episode before Burns' accident that would involve putting her in a neck brace. Ironically, by the time she films that episode, she won't need the brace anymore (as it is, she's now permitted to remove it to shoot scenes).

Burns' brace might well be a metaphor for her struggling network, which is currently pinning much of its hopes on the recent successful return of "Beauty and the Geek," the Ashton Kutcher-produced "reality" show.

But not even studding that with crystals could distract attention from disappointing ratings for scripted shows like "Related," or from the traditionally youth-oriented network's failure so far to cash in on the latest TV craze: offering programming for download onto iPods, cell phones and computers.

"All this is such uncharted territory and has come so fast," said WB chairman Garth Ancier, while acknowledging that "we all knew it was coming."

The deal between ABC and Apple has sent every network scrambling for a piece of the very-small-screen pie, but Ancier, who predicted that a year from now, "everyone will have the same deal with the same companies," seems wary of wading in without knowing exactly where the profits lie.

Inviting reporters to question ABC executives - who'll be here later this week - about the details of their deal with Apple, he said, "I'd love to know how many episodes they've actually sold... on the iPod platform."

Earlier in the morning, WB spokesman Keith Marder, a former TV critic whose stand-up-comedy intros have become a fixture of the network's press presentations, had alluded both to the rush to offer programming for iPods and cell phones and to the WB's own rating woes by saying - as a picture from its failed drama "Jack & Bobby" flashed behind him - "Good luck - we can't even get people to watch television on their TV sets."

Like 'Monkey,' anyway

You either like Tom Cavanagh or you don't. Even if I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't.

Fans of NBC's "Ed" will probably feel comfortable with Cavanagh's slightly edgier new role in CBS' "Love Monkey" (10 tonight, Channel 3), an hourlong comedy where he plays a record company exec searching for love and the next big music sensation, though not necessarily in that order.

"Love Monkey's" Tom Farrell, whose story is based on Kyle Smith's novel of the same name, may share more than a few of Ed Stevens' nervous habits, but he's a hair less self-consciously quirky. And of the current crop of TV men who are supposedly trying to behave less badly, he's the only one who may really mean it.

Singer Teddy Geiger, who plays a recurring role as Tom's latest discovery - and who really does seem worth discovering - adds a note of authenticity, reminding us, if nothing else, that wherever "Love Monkey" takes Cavanagh, he's not in Stuckeyville anymore.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13642556.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

01-17-06, 11:58 AM

The TV Column
Golden Globes Scorecard

(The Los Angeles Times) January 16, 2006

The complete list of television category nominees and winners of the 63rd annual Golden Globe awards.

DRAMATIC TV SERIES
"Lost" (Winner)
"Commander in Chief"
"Grey's Anatomy"
"Prison Break"
'Rome"

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
Hugh Laurie, "House" (Winner)
Patrick Dempsey, "Grey's Anatomy"
Matthew Fox, "Lost"
Wentworth Miller, "Prison Break"
Kiefer Sutherland, "24"

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief" (Winner)
Patricia Arquette, "Medium"
Glenn Close, "The Shield"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"
Polly Walker, "Rome"

TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
"Desperate Housewives" (Winner)
"Curb Your Enthusiasm"
"Entourage"
"Everybody Hates Chris"
"My Name is Earl"
"Weeds"

BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Steve Carell, "The Office (Winner)
Zach Braff, "Scrubs
Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm
Jason Lee, "My Name is Earl
Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men

BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds" (Winner)
Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives"
Teri Hatcher, "Desperate Housewives"
Felicity Huffman, "Desperate Housewives"
Eva Longoria, "Desperate Housewives"

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
"Empire Falls" (Winner)
"Into the West"
"Lackawanna Blues"
"Sleeper Cell"
"Viva Blackpool"
"Warm Springs"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
S. Epatha Merkerson, "Lackawanna Blues" (Winner)
Halle Berry, "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Kelly MacDonald, "The Girl in the Café"
Cynthia Nixon, "Warm Springs
Mira Sorvino, "Human Trafficking

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "Elvis" (Winner)
Kenneth Branagh, "Warm Springs"
Ed Harris, "Empire Falls"
Bill Nighy, "The Girl in the Café"
Donald Sutherland, "Human Trafficking"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy" (Winner)
Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal"
Camryn Manheim, "Elvis"
Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds"
Joanne Woodward, "Empire Falls"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Paul Newman, "Empire Falls" (Winner)
Naveen Andrews, "Lost"
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
Randy Quaid, "Elvis"
Donald Sutherland, "Commander in Chief"

CECIL B. DEMILLE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Anthony Hopkins

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/globes/env-globesnomslist13dec13,0,7929053.htmlstory?coll=env-globes-left-nav

fredfa

01-17-06, 12:02 PM

MTV launches high-definition channel

By Mark Brown (Denver) Rocky Mountain News

The view outside the studio where George Oliphant works is breathtaking: skiers and snowboarders streaking by, enjoying a sunny day on Vail Mountain in Colorado.

High atop the ski mecca, MTV Networks has blown out what used to be old office space. In its place is a new TV studio with cathedral ceilings, mocked up as a rustic mountain cabin with two large windows looking out over a seemingly endless stretch of snowcapped Rocky Mountain peaks.

Meanwhile, down the road in Breckenridge, stagehands are putting the finishing touches on a stage and set for concerts by the Goo Goo Dolls, Dashboard Confessional and others.

Welcome to ground zero for MHD, the newest MTV channel. On Monday, it started offering concerts, interviews, videos and other programming 24 hours a day in high definition, bringing the Rockies into homes across the nation in dazzling detail.

High-definition TV had largely been a hypothetical for many consumers _ something they'd heard of but rarely seen. But it's finally happening as costs drop and more content hits the airwaves.

It's also a strange time, says MTV executive producer-director Alex Coletti, who pioneered MTV Networks' Unplugged series, worked on VH1's Storytellers series and was in Breckenridge this week to shoot the concerts for MHD.

"We're at a time now where the rules keep getting rewritten," Coletti says. "It's a constant learning curve."

Fans of live music will find plenty of it on MHD, including the concert series that started with this week filming in Breckenridge. The series includes a Goo Goo Dolls concert.

"I'm not really a technophile," says Johnny Rzeznik of the band, who took time out from mixing the new album, Let Love In, to fly in special for the Breckenridge concert. "But it's just nice to be asked to be involved in something that's new and cutting edge."

MHD also will have access to the concerts of four MTV-related networks: VH1, MTV, MTV2 and Country Music Television.

"We have the luxury of being able to show five of their music shows: Life in Rhymes, Two-Dollar Bill, Unplugged, Crossroads and Storytellers," Oliphant says.

Even without high-definition broadcast quality, MTV has been shooting that way, building up a cache of pristine shows for MHD.

"Knowing this channel was coming, for the past year or year and a half, we've been shooting all our shows in high def, converting them for air but saving a high-def master with 5.1 audio. Now I've got a shelf full of stuff I can't wait to get out there," Coletti says.

"One of the cool things about MHD is not just the music videos we show you, but the opportunity to show you all of our live music series in HDTV," Oliphant says. "It's kinda like watching a live concert sitting at home on the couch, except the guy in the back row is not spilling beer on you and you don't need the earplugs. It just pops."

Coletti recalls the first time he was wowed by the promise of high definition, using an early analog version of it to tape Aerosmith for Unplugged in 1990.

"We did dabble in it even then, and it was an amazing experience. The guy in the back row is wearing his credential. How did I see that, this guy in the audience? It made you all of a sudden really have to pay attention to lighting, set direction," Coletti says. "Makeup artists will be the hot commodity in the high-def world. It's a beautiful format, but it doesn't let you get away with anything."

Even youthful artists who don't have anything to worry about worry about it.

"I did the Alicia Keys Unplugged in high def. We were watching it back together," Coletti says. "She was like 'Wow, you see everything. That close-up is really tight.' "

MTV Networks Executive Vice President Jeff Yapp oversees the Vail operation, which launches a new phase for the network.

"I find that each delivery or technology change tends to expand the business and the opportunity," he says. "You go back in time when there was newspaper and radio showed up and was going to kill it. I love the one where the VCR was going to kill theatrical. It added dramatically to the business."

For the viewer, high definition "just puts you in the concert," Coletti says. "Someone once said to me that music on TV was the third-best way to enjoy it. ... I think this gets it to No. 2 on that list. It captures it in such a way that it really adds to the emotion.

"Also shooting in the wider format, the 6:9 format, allows so much more composition-wise and camera work-wise."

Taping on top of Vail Mountain daily in the studio will help emphasize that improvement: With high def, the soaring outdoor shots will be broadcast in stunning quality.

"It's crazy. ... It's like a painting," Oliphant says. "That's why we chose Vail. You have the peaks, the contrast of the blues and whites with the trees. Everything just pops. It's a beautiful location."

The production will stay in Vail through the end of the ski season and then move to another gorgeous backdrop ("Tropical is the word on the street," Oliphant says).

http://www.shns.com/shns/printthis.cfm

fredfa

01-17-06, 12:07 PM

I'll say two things about the Golden Globes, and leave it at that:

It wasn't in HD. :-P

And they made me wonder if I'm out of touch with the norm because I haven't traded in my wife for a guy.

Xesdeeni

I wouldn't get too weirded out over whoever wins the Golden Globes. The Hollywood Froeign Oress Association is a very strange group. Here is a story I posted about a month ago which gives you a little background:

Suicide Reveals Strife in Group Behind the Globes

By Sharon Waxman The New York Times (December 20, 2005)

As Hollywood primps for next month's Golden Globes ceremony, the small group of foreign journalists behind the awards has been shaken by the suicide of a colleague who was suspended in one of several disciplinary actions to roil the organization in recent years.

The writer, Nick Douglas, hanged himself on Dec. 8 in a charity resale shop in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he had taken work, according to his former editor at the city's Big Buzz magazine. He was suspended last year after having sold a photograph of Tom Selleck to a tabloid newspaper and then lied about it.

The events surrounding the suicide, which occurred four days before this year's Globe nominations were announced in Beverly Hills, offer a rare glimpse at the inner workings of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which has used disciplinary procedures to protect a lucrative show that has become an important part of the Hollywood awards game.

Barry O'Kane, the magazine's editor in chief, said Mr. Douglas had been writing an entertainment column for Big Buzz, a local entertainment magazine. But Mr. Douglas had to drop it when his suspension cut off access to press junkets and celebrity interviews open exclusively to members of the association, which sponsors the Globes.

The writer had been despondent over his inability to find other journalistic work, though he had recently agreed to start an entertainment broadcast for a local radio station, said Mr. O'Kane, who said he last spoke to Mr. Douglas a few weeks before his death.

''They basically took a livelihood away from a guy who was out there trying to earn a living,'' Mr. O'Kane said. ''It led completely, directly to what ended up happening to Nick.''

Saying that he was shocked to learn last week of Mr. Douglas's death, Philip Berk, the association's president, challenged the notion that it was linked to the writer's dispute with the group.

''We've had many people suspended for actions we deemed harmful to Hollywood Foreign Press -- we're trying to protect our image,'' Mr. Berk said. ''Certainly none ended up in suicide. If Nick did take his life, which seems apparent, I don't think you can say there's a causal relationship between the two.''

But at least one member of the association disagreed. That member, Karen Martin, wrote in an e-mail message to the leadership of the association this past weekend, ''So Nick is dead and my question to you is: How do you all feel?''

Ms. Martin, who had defended Mr. Douglas during the grievance process, continued, ''I want you to know that I hold you (and everyone in the membership who voted for your recommendation) responsible for this unbelievable tragedy.'' Mr. Douglas was 40, his sister, Inga Douglas, said in a telephone interview last week. She declined to comment on the reason for her brother's death.

Mr. Douglas's suicide reduced to 85 the number of journalists, many of them freelance writers, who make up the association -- though a spokesman had put the number at 86 when queried just ahead of the group's announcement of this year's nominations for the film and television awards.

The prizes will be presented at a ceremony Jan. 16 to be broadcast on NBC. They are coveted in the entertainment industry as a promotional tool and have become a closely watched indicator of prospects in the annual Oscar race. Advertisements for Focus Features' ''Brokeback Mountain,'' for instance, are already touting its seven Globe nominations, including one for best drama.

But studio executives, who court Globe voters with gifts and catered affairs, have also complained about the foreign press organization's grip on a ritual that has become a big business.

According to its most recently disclosed federal tax return, the nonprofit group earned $5.7 million in 2003 from the show. The Globes ceremony generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind the Oscars and the Grammys, and takes in millions of dollars for NBC, which has broadcast it since 1996. Viewership of the 2005 show dropped 40 percent, to 16.7 million viewers, from the year before.

Internally, the press association functions like an exclusive club, admitting a maximum of five new members a year, though more often -- as this year -- accepting only one. Any single member may object to a new member, making it extremely difficult to join. The association does not represent internationally renowned publications like Le Monde or The Times of London -- indeed, it has repeatedly rejected applications from a correspondent for Le Monde, while accepting applications from freelance writers from Bangladesh and South Korea.

Mr. Douglas's suspension, which occurred in August 2004, sheds light on the group's often contentious disciplinary procedures. The actions are intended to improve the association's image, but they have also led to tensions among members, some of whom say they are occasionally used to settle scores -- as Mr. Douglas believed happened to him, Mr. O'Kane said.

According to members of the association, Mr. Douglas, who was also an aspiring actor, was disciplined for various violations, but mainly for having sold a picture of himself and Tom Selleck to The Globe for $50, which is against the group's rules, and for having taken unopened beers from a reception thrown by MGM.

Mr. Douglas at first denied having sold the picture, Mr. Berk said, and concocted an elaborate lie to defend himself (which he ultimately admitted). Movie stars take pictures with each individual member of the association at their press conferences. Members may not sell the photos to the tabloids, largely because of the objections of the stars.

In a second matter, a member of the association, Scott Orlin, complained that Mr. Douglas had taken the beers, Mr. Berk said. According to the grievance documents, taking the unopened beers was seen as going against ''the best interests'' of the group. Mr. Orlin, who writes for German publications, said in a message left on voice mail that he had not acted from any animosity toward Mr. Douglas.

Mr. Douglas's one-year suspension ended in September, but he had been banned for a further five months from trips to movie press junkets and film festivals paid for by the association. Mr. O'Kane and other friends of Mr. Douglas described the ban as a blow to the journalist, who had worked for 12 years for Big Buzz and written a column called Nick's Hollywood Gossip.

Notes from board meetings and the grievance procedure, provided by people familiar with both who are concerned that the group is abusing its authority, show that disciplinary proceedings take up a significant amount of the group's attention.

In 2003, a member, Frances Schoenberger, was suspended for flinging a glass of wine in another member's face at a party for ''Gangs of New York,'' while the film's director, Martin Scorsese, stood nearby, an incident that became public. That same year, Mr. Berk wrote a letter of apology to the actor Brendan Fraser for having grabbed the actor's buttocks during a ceremony to announce a charitable contribution, though Mr. Berk said in an interview that he did no such thing and wrote the letter only to mollify the actor.

Mr. Douglas, after his suspension, returned to his hometown of Belfast in March of this year, his sister said last week.

The return, Mr. O'Kane said, ''was a bit of a culture shock for Nick.''

''Nick was 'the Man From L.A.,' '' he added. ''We have 800 photographs in our files of him with celebrities.'' He said that in Belfast, Mr. Douglas ''was just completely depressed -- he was missing L.A.; he'd spent most of his adult life working there.''

Mr. Berk said he received e-mail from Mr. Douglas in September and again in November saying that he was ''seriously unwell and under doctor's care, but would be better in time to attend the Golden Globes.'' Mr. Berk said Mr. Douglas received transcripts from association press conferences and could have continued to do his work that way. But others in the group said Mr. Douglas was primarily a photographer and could not reasonably work via the transcripts.

A couple of weeks before his death, Mr. Douglas came in to Big Buzz magazine to ask Mr. O'Kane for advice about whether he should go back to Los Angeles.

''He came into the office, his soul was dying; he was cranky, there was no talking to him,'' Mr. O'Kane said. ''I told him, 'Go back to L.A., Nick; that's what you know.' '' But Mr. Douglas was dubious, Mr. O'Kane recalled. Although the suspension had been lifted, Mr. Douglas believed that other members of the foreign press were out to get him and that he would end up in trouble again.

Mr. Douglas's body was found hanging in the charity shop by its owner, Mr. O'Kane said. He said the writer's funeral was attended by more than 500 people.

fredfa

01-17-06, 12:17 PM

(From Marc Berman’s Tuesday, January 17, 2006 Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
Press Tour 2006: Welcome to the Ritz Carlton

LIVE FROM THE TCA WINTER PRESS TOUR IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

One week at The Winter Press Tour followed by five days at the NATPE convention in Las Vegas is a long time to be away from your loved ones. But it’s nice to be home, so to speak. Nothing, not even the livelier Beverly Hilton Hotel, can top the one-of-a-kind Ritz-Carlton, even if picturesque Pasadena is miles…and miles…away from all the hot spots. A drive to the Fox lot last night for a tour on the House set reminded just how far away The Ritz-Carlton is (and just how hot a show House is).

Actually, this is my first Winter Press Tour, which unlike the long, hot summer focuses on the midseason entries in a more compact schedule. While there will also be panels on returning shows (like the WB’s Beauty and the Geek today, and Fox’s American Idol and 24 tomorrow), the meat of the network portion of the Winter Press Tour is the upcoming arrivals. If my math is correct, look for more than 20 new network series from now through May, and keep a positive eye on MTM-like CBS sitcom Courting Alex, with the statuesque Jenna Elman, and the WB’s Pepper Dennis, with the equally appealing Rebecca Romijn.

After what I heard was an uneventful cable portion of the tour, the network week kicked off with WB funnyman Keith Marder, who could potentially cure the network’s current sitcom woes with a show of his own. The best from the man called Marder:

“Technology continues to change our industry. Thanks to innovations, you can now watch television on your iPod, your PC, and your cell phone. Good luck. We can’t even get people to watch television on television sets.”

“The Simple Life lives on as E! Entertainment has picked up the series. In this installment Paris and Nicole will run households, acting as the wives. It’s actually a two-year deal. Next season the series will follow the husbands as they’re treated for Chlamydia.”

“When we last met, we reported the death of Michigan J. Frog. It was originally believed to be a murder. Actually, Michigan committed suicide so he didn’t have to see his image on an episode of Blue Collar TV.”

On that note, let the network games begin.

The WB: Opening Executive Comments

Yes, no one ever said trying to broaden your audience would be easy, and it certainly has not been for the WB. Year-to-year, and according to Nielsen Media Research, the network is down by 270,000 viewers (3.53 to 3.26 million) and 13 percent among key adults 18-34 (1.6/ 5 to 1.4/ 4). But there is hope on the horizon courtesy of the return of Beauty and the Geek and one upcoming show in particular, romantic comedy Pepper Dennis, which could be beneficial if scheduled properly.

“We are staying very committed to our 12-34 demographic, said David Janollari, president, entertainment of the WB. “Since I’ve gotten here that’s been the mantra -- to rebuild and replenish new, ongoing long-term hits. We’re in a place of rebuilding.”

7th Heaven, the decade old hit family drama, which is ending this spring because of the high cost (estimated at a loss of $16 million this year), maybe not be officially over.

“We are continuing our conversations with Brenda (Hampton) about trying to craft a spin-off of sorts,” said Janollari. “I don’t know what that’s going to be yet. I’m waiting for her to figure out what she wants to be.”

The jury, meanwhile, is still out on the network’s second oldest series, Charmed.

Although the WB has had mixed early results programming the Monday to Friday 3-5 p.m. daypart in place of Kids’ WB! programming, the network is committed to the affiliate stations.

“We worked with the stations to figure out an economic formula of how to do this,” said Garth Ancier, chairman, the WB. “And all the feedback has been very positive. The biggest question is should it be a drama, or should it be comedies in there. So far 8 Simple Rules is doing better than ER, but ER is one of those serialized shows that tend to do better over time. So I think the jury is still out as to whether we should go in the comedy or drama direction long-term in the future.”

While the WB, of course, is focusing on the positive, the next time it brings back an aging star like Don Johnson in a drama like Just Legal, the only way to broaden the audience is to give a program the chance to find an audience. Axing a show after three episodes is no way to rebuild the future. Finding the right time period for a solid looking project like Pepper Dennis and demonstrating patience -- and plenty of it -- is.

As for the weekday afternoon block, my advice is to stick with comedies. Viewers won’t have the patience to commit to repeats of an hour long drama. And the next time you throw a party, turn the lights on!

On the WB Panel Front:

PEPPER DENNIS (one hour comedy)
Time period to be determined

The Premise:
An ambitious reporter at a top-rated evening newscast in Chicago (Rebecca Romijn) is determined to balance a demanding career with her family, friends and romantic life outside of the office.

Who Was on the Panel:
Rebecca Romijn, Brooke Burns, Josh Hopkins, Lindsay Price, Rider Strong, Alexandra Barreto and executive producers Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts and Shawn Levy.

The Scoop:
According to Executive Producer Aaron Harberts:

“Tomorrow is our first day of shooting Pepper Dennis. What we really want to do with the first four episodes is set up the dance between Charlie (Josh Hopkins) and Pepper (Rebecca Romjin). We really want to get the audience invested in this slow burning relationship and the attraction between the two, and not bring romantic entanglements for Pepper in too early. We really want the audience to get comfortable with our ensemble, to get to know the characters. For now it’s very important for us to explore the characters we have and the dance that they’ll take around the newsroom romantically.”

Although the WB does not have the luxury of many protected time periods to nurture the promising looking Pepper Dennis, patience and a plan to air all 13 episodes (instead of breaking them up in the spring and summer a la sitcom Living With Fran) could, and should, work in its favor. Considering the network’s Gilmore Girls still has oomph, personally I would schedule Pepper Dennis Tuesday at 9 p.m. and move Supernatural to Thursday out of the compatible Smallville (after the short-flight Beauty and the Geek concludes in March). As for Everwood, which was temporarily bumped for Beauty and the Geek, put it back to Monday at 9 p.m. out of 7th Heaven and admit the currently slated Related may not turn into the hit the network is looking for.

[COLOR=deepskyblue]BEAUTY AND THE GEEK
Thursday 9 p.m.

The Premise:
Eight beautiful, sexy and socially savvy single women are paired with eight overly bright but socially inept single men for a chance to win $250,000.

Who Was on the Panel:
Sarah Coleman, Josh Herman, Amanda Horan, Jennipher Johnson, Tyson Mao, executive producer Jason Goldberg, and executive producer Ashton Kutcher (via telephone).

The Scoop:
According to Ashton Kutcher, here are the qualities the producers look for when Beauty and the Geek is cast:

“We are really interested in people who are looking to change. And willing to step outside their comfort zone. And realize that they have things for themselves that they need to work on. We are not trying to be a mean-spirited show. We’re not trying to make fun of people. The idea of the show is to help them become better people. And so we’re looking for guys who are having difficulties in their social world and their social spectrum. But also having something real to offer and to share and to give.”

The Reality:
With full retention out of solid lead-in Smallville in the season two opener last week, the WB has a solid, long-term hit non-scripted series on its hands. Although the show expanded from six episodes in season one to nine (including the casting special) at present, the network should extend that to 13 installments in seasons three and beyond.

In Case You Are Wondering:
Ashton Kutcher was not available in person because he currently has a film commitment in Louisiana.

MODERN MEN (sitcom)
Time period to be determined

The Premise:
Three childhood friends (Josh Braaten, Max Greenfield and Eric Lively) at different stages of their lives as far as women are concerned seek the professional help of a notorious life coach (Jane Seymour).

Who Was on the Panel:
Jane Seymour, Josh Braaten, Max Greenfield, George Wendt (Norm!!!), Marla Sokoloff, and executive producers Marsh McCall, Ross McCall, Jonathan Littman and Aaron Peters.

The Scoop:
In the event you think the therapy element of Modern Men sounds too “California,” here is what Max Greenfield had to say: “Dr. Phil is on TV every day for hours ad nauseam. And I don’t think it’s so far out.”

The Reality:
As modern as this sounds, doesn’t the premise sound oddly limited? How much can Jane Seymour’s character really get involved in her client’s lives? No wonder the network ordered juseven episodes.

THE BEDFORD DIARIES (drama)
Time period to be determined

The Premise:
Set at a fictional New York City based college (which looks an awful lot like NYU), the focus is on a youthful ensemble of students (is there anything else?) as they explore their identities, relationships and sexuality in the city that never sleeps.

Who Was on the Panel:
Penn Badgley, Victoria Cartagena, Tiffany Dupont, Corri English, Milo Ventimiglia, Ernest Waddell and executive producers Tom Fontana and Julie Martin.

The Scoop:
While I personally am not the target audience (hell…I feel even too old to even watch CBS’ upcoming 30something Love Monkey), the pilot looked liked a more complex version of Dawson’s Creek.

The Reality:
As good a fit as The Bedford Diaries might seem out of Wednesday drama One Tree Hill, keep in mind that One Tree Hill’s audience is limited.

Did You Know?:
Milo Ventimiglia played bad boy Jess on the WB’s Gilmore Girls.

MISCONCEPTION (sitcom)
Time period to be determined

The Premise:
A single mother (Jane Leeves) must explain to her 13-year-old daughter that the dream father she thinks she has (that she has never met) was actually a donor from a sperm bank.

Who Was On the Panel:
Jane Leeves, French Stewart, Adam Rothenberg, Taylor Momsen, Dave Higgins, Eddie Shin, and executive producers Michael Saltzman and Jeff Kleeman.

The Scoop:
Although failed NBC drama Inconceivable about a fertility clinic came, and went, after three episodes (or was it two?), to the reporter wondering if that was a concern, this is a comedy. That was a drama. There should be no concern.

The Reality:
As creepy as this sounds it’s actually funny, and it’s nice to see Jane Leeves free from the clutches of grating Niles (David Hyde Pierce) on Frasier. Too bad, though, that the WB has no decent time period to schedule this in. Considering veteran Charmed may be bidding adieu this spring, why not pair Misconception and Modern Men in the Sunday 8 p.m. hour and move Charmed to the killer Sunday 9 p.m. time period?

Did You Know?:
Prior to her 11-year-stint on Murphy Brown, Jane Leeves played nerdy Miles’ (Grant Shaud) girlfriend on Murphy Brown.

Press Tour Tidbits: Notes of Interest

Survival of the Richest on the WB:
Seven wealthy young individuals will be paired up with seven cash-poor young people in upcoming WB reality summer series Survival of the Richest. Hosted by Queer as Folk star Hal Sparks, the rich and the poor will be paired off into teams of seven under one roof for a cash prize of $200,000.

My Dog Sparky on the WB:
Ellen DeGeneres will team with her writer brother Vance for a comedy pilot on the WB called My Dog Sparky, which will depict family life from both the perspective of the people and their pets. DeGeneres will voice the family dog, Sparky.

Also In Development at the WB…
…A drama from the creators of Smallville based on the Aquaman superhero, a half-hour romantic comedy with Nick Lachey, a sitcom with Moesha star Brandy at the center of a multicultural female ensemble, a male version of Beauty and the Geek (brainless surfer dude types and bright Plain Janes), a sci fi drama called Cult with Flightplan star Matthew Bomer, and a teenage ensemble series called Juniper Hall set in a New England boarding school. In addition, look for Fountain of Youth, an Amazing Race-type non-scripted series from the creators of Beauty and the Geek pairing the young and the old.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

Marcus Carr

01-17-06, 12:56 PM

DirecTV Faces Lower Subscriber Adds In 2006
Kate DuBose Tomassi, 01.17.06, 10:32 AM ET

Prudential Equity Group analyst Katherine Styponias downgraded The DirecTV Group (nyse: DTV - news - people ) to “underweight” from “overweight” and reduced the price target to $17 from $19 citing a “relatively weak” fiscal fourth quarter and lower net subscriber additions in 2006.

"Stricter credit requirements for new subscribers imposed in November are resulting in lower than expected subscriber net additions, especially from third-party dealers,” Stynopias said.

The analyst emphasized that competitor EchoStar Communications (nasdaq: DISH - news - people ) has rolled out a stronger high-definition offering that is likely to appeal to high-end, desirable customers.

"In light of the DirecTV plans to potentially invest in broadband technologies, we believe the Street may be disappointed with the size of the stock repurchase that is eventually announced,” said the analyst.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/economy/2006/01/17/directv-echostar-0117markets02.html

fredfa

01-17-06, 01:27 PM

Monday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest Prime Time Ratings news which is the first post in this thread.

cgh3rd

01-17-06, 03:45 PM

Monday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest Prime Time Ratings news which is the first post in this thread.

Fred,

I'm unable to visit this thread daily. I was wondering if there was a way you could keep the last 2-3 days of daily ratings info posted somehow for those trying to catch up. If it is too much of a pain or messes up your format too much then don't worry it. I've turned into the TV news junkie because of this thread and hate to miss out on any info. :)

Thanks,

Chuck

Gecko85

01-17-06, 04:15 PM

fredfa

01-17-06, 07:16 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Fox: Post-Idol Premieres and Program Farewells

By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable

Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori said Tuesday that, if and when the network re-enters the late-night arena, it will do so very carefully.

“It is highly unlikely that we, all of a sudden, come out with a big announcement, a big proclamation, a big piece of talent, and do what has been done in the past,” he told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif.

Fox is looking to get back into the late-night wars after its December hiring of former Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn executive producer Todd Yasui as senior VP, late night programming.

But Liguori said the network will proceed with extreme caution.

“Once we find someone we want to do a show with, or find a show we want to put in late night, [we’ll] launch it in a more measured fashion, maybe in a protected time period, late night Saturday night or Friday,” he said.

The Yasui hiring marked the second time in recent years that Fox has looked at a late-night talk show, after the network in 2002 went after NBC’s Conan O’Brien, who subsequently decided to stay with NBC.

Liguori also answered several questions about Arrested Development, the critically acclaimed but ratings-starved comedy that is on its last legs on the network.

“I have to be frank with you, it is highly unlikely the show is coming back, but no definitive final answer has been made,” Liguori said.

While Liguori said moving the show to sister cable network FX is something they “have though about,” he insisted it wouldn't make economic sense. But he thinks the rumored move to Showtime (ABC is also said to be interested) could possibly work.

“I know nothing about those negotiations,” he said.“From a numbers standpoint, if Showtime were able to migrate the absolute numbers Arrested gets on Fox to Showtime, that would be by far and away its No. 1 show.”

Among other news from Liguori’s session with reporters Tuesday:

Fox will use the Wednesday American Idol results show to launch two new series in March. Free Ride premieres Wednesday, March 1, after Idol, then moves to its regular Sunday at 9:30 slot on March 12. The Loop premieres Wednesday, March 15, after Idol, then moves to its regular Thursday at 8:30 slot March 16.

The network has yet to schedule what will permanently get the plush post-Idol results-show time slot beginning March 22, but Liguori said some reality ideas currently in development are possibilities.

That ’70s Show will air its 200th and final episode Thursday, May 18.

Malcolm in the Middle will close its seventh and final season Sunday, May 14.

The network is still considering whether or not to bring back King of the Hill. If it returns, it would be for January 2007.

fredfa

01-17-06, 07:22 PM

Fox Says Bye-Bye to '70s, Malcolm

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

From the Fox press bundle today:

''That '70s Show'' packs up the polyester bell-bottoms, Zeppelin 8-tracks and lava lamps when it ends its eight-season run Thursday, May 18 ... The series finale also marks the 200th episode milestone.
The award-winning comed
y ''Malcolm in the Middle,'' currently in its seventh season, will celebrate its series finale Sunday, May 14 on Fox. The penultimate episode will mark the series' milestone 150th.”

Both shows were sturdy performers for the network. And ''Malcolm'' was at times fabulously funny, notably in its early years.

But shows wear out, or viewers move on. I can't remember the last time I sat through an entire episode of either show, and I used to be a faithful viewer of both.

jim tressler

01-17-06, 11:01 PM

Thas 70's Show.. funny as hell the first few years - we really enjoyed it! I hope they bring back all the cast for the final few episodes..

jim

Fox Says Bye-Bye to

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

From the Fox press bundle today:

''That '70s Show'' packs up the polyester bell-bottoms, Zeppelin 8-tracks and lava lamps when it ends its eight-season run Thursday, May 18 ... The series finale also marks the 200th episode milestone.

.....

Both shows were sturdy performers for the network. And ''Malcolm'' was at times fabulously funny, notably in its early years.

But shows wear out, or viewers move on. I can't remember the last time I sat through an entire episode of either show, and I used to be a faithful viewer of both.

fredfa

01-17-06, 11:21 PM

Fred,

I'm unable to visit this thread daily. I was wondering if there was a way you could keep the last 2-3 days of daily ratings info posted somehow for those trying to catch up. If it is too much of a pain or messes up your format too much then don't worry it. I've turned into the TV news junkie because of this thread and hate to miss out on any info. :)

Thanks,

Chuck

Chuck:
I can keep them up for more than one day, if that is what people want.

I keep the weekend ratings up through Tuesday for those who don't visit the thread over the weekends.

Nielsen wants ratings information deleted after a week, whcih is why I keep updating the overnights in the first post. I hate to have people wade through even more info, but if it is desired, I could probably leave the most recent three days's ratings available.

Would that be enough?

(And thanks for the compliment!)

fredfa

01-17-06, 11:24 PM

Gecko:
If someone subscribes to the thread, does a "view" get registered when she or he actually reads it?

(The only way I know if the thread is being useful to you all is by the page views --which are more than double what they were jut six months ago. )

fredfa

01-18-06, 01:03 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
For Fox, the TV set is just fine

Although ABC and NBC have struck distribution deals with Apple, the usually bold Fox network is willing to wait and see, for now.
By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 18, 2006

Fox President of Entertainment Peter Liguori isn't in a big hurry to offer episodes of "24" or "Family Guy" on your iPod. In this new age, when people seem to be watching TV everywhere but on their television sets, patience is a virtue, Liguori told a gathering of television critics at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena on Tuesday.

Since ABC announced in October its Apple deal to let viewers download episodes of some of their favorite shows via iTunes, the industry has been awash with announcements and questions.

What could be cooler than catching up on "Lost" on your video iPod while on an airplane, or laughing with Golden Globe winner Steve Carell of "The Office" while on the treadmill? (NBC announced its own Apple deal last month.)

But as hip as the innovation might feel, and as many new formats for watching the tube are developing every day, there are many questions about who will pay for what in the industry. So the network known for being the boldest is sitting this fight out — temporarily.

Fox, explained Liguori, is thinking like Coke and Budweiser. When Diet Pepsi and Miller Light seemed to be all the rage several years ago, Coke and Budweiser waited it out, counting on taste to be the ultimate arbiter, he said.

"Being a counterpuncher in the new technologies is probably not a bad idea," he said. "I'm a marketing guy by way of background and one of the things we discussed was: Look at way back at the beer and soda wars.... [Pepsi and Miller] defined what the game was and then [Coke and Budweiser] went in and stayed with their strategy. To us, it's a content strategy. We want to make sure we're putting the best content forward. If we have the best content, we're going to be able to take advantage of all the other distribution sources."

Like the other networks, Fox has been approached by Yahoo, Google and the rest of the Internet gang about making its mark in the new media world, Liguori said.

"In terms of the new technologies, it's so early," Liguori said. "It's in the nascent stages in terms of what we can do with this.... We're taking a more measured approach to what works and what may not work. I think with all the new technology that [this] is the quintessential marathon — not a sprint."

Calling it a "tumultuous time for television," Garth Ancier, chairman of the WB, who spoke to the critics on Monday, acknowledged that the new economic models for the industry are unclear.

Warner Bros. Television will begin offering old TV shows, such as "Welcome Back, Kotter," on AOL in March with 15-second commercials, Ancier said.

"You have to look at each of these things and how many people are participating, what they're paying, what their pain tolerance for paying is, do they want it with commercials, without commercials, do they want to own it, do they want to lease it," he said. "I think everything right now is basically in sort of a test stage."

In other programming news, Fox announced:

"Malcolm in the Middle" will come to an end May 14 after seven seasons.

"That '70s Show" will wind up its run May 18 after eight seasons.

The season finale of "Arrested Development" airs Feb. 10 and, in all likelihood, the episode will serve as the series finale unless another network picks it up.

Fox is in talks with the producers of "King of the Hill" to continue the show. If it does return to the schedule, it will not be until next January.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-fox18jan18,0,606860,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

Marcus Carr

01-18-06, 02:48 AM

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

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

The result?

The little guy won.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

fredfa

01-18-06, 11:27 AM

TV Preview
Fox's 'Skating': Olympians and Triple Klutzes

By Jose Antonio Vargas Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 18, 2006; Page C01

Oh, the blood on the ice!

Not on tonight's premiere of Fox's "Skating With Celebrities" -- and a more appropriate title would be "Skating With C-List Celebrities" (8 PM ET, PT, then Mondays at 8 PM ET/PT) -- but boy oh boy, you can almost see it coming in subsequent episodes. Someone is going to get hurt. Figure skating, after all, has a move called a death spiral, and former "Diff'rent Strokes" star Todd Bridges, realizing the trouble he's in, wears knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards to practice.

\Forget triple axels. Put a few ER doctors on call.

In this brand of you-can-do-it-too! programming, so in vogue thanks to "American Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars," Fox's offering is a novel idea, at least on paper. Take six world-class figure skaters -- two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan and four-time world champion Kurt Browning among them -- and team them with the likes of singer-songwriter-actress Deborah Gibson, of "Foolish Beat" fame, and actor-comedian Dave Coulier, the goofy uncle on the old "Full House." No skating experience? No problem.

The result is rarely funny, often humdrum, surprisingly predictable fare. Of course the skaters, all former Olympians, are trying to pull out all the stops. The would-be celebrities, all but one of them skating neophytes, surely cannot tell a lutz from a salchow, much less execute one.

"Skating With Celebrities" is "Skating for Dummies" for the small screen, similar to watching the upcoming Winter Games in Turin, Italy, in slow motion -- minus the big jumps, the dizzying spins, the fancy footwork. It's like a one-hour skating show without the glorious skating. You don't hold your breath in admiration. You hold your breath in sheer fear.

As legendary skating coach Sir John Nicks, playing the role of a mini-Simon Cowell in the three-person judging panel, says to Bridges after he survives his first skate: "It was a very exciting performance, but it was exciting because any minute I thought you were gonna fall down and break your neck."

It's a simple concept. Tonight, the six pairs will skate their respective programs, with the celebrity skaters required to complete a technical feat: a spin with at least three revolutions. Next week, besides spins, they'll be required to do synchronized steps covering at least half the rink. With each subsequent week, the skate programs will get tougher. And starting next week, the pair with the lowest score (technical and artistic marks are combined) will be eliminated, with one pair left standing in the seventh and final episode -- barring any judging controversies, of course.

"To put on the most entertaining program possible is the object of the game," says the show's host, Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, one of the sport's elder statesmen, who for the life of him can't seem to find more to say than "Wow!" or "Unbelievable!" after each pair's perfunctory performance.

Skating has always been shrouded in some mystery. The scoring! The jumps! The sequins! Yet every four years, it proves to be the most watched of all Olympic sports, bringing us the likes of Torvill and Dean, Oksana Baiul, Gordeeva and Grinkov, Johnny Weir and Michelle Kwan.

It's a sport, it's an art, it's a sport-slash-art where a coach tells his skater, minutes before the skater steps onto the ice: "Never let the audience see you sweat." What would Brian Boitano do? you ask. Whatever it is -- a triple lutz, a spread-eagle, a forward scratch spin, you name it -- you'll never see Boitano look as if he's trying too hard.

So it's a little disorienting to see the skaters -- the professional skaters and the celebrity skaters -- so visibly tired, not only in practices but in performances. And all the work doesn't look all that fun, or entertaining.

There are times when Bruce Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon champ, looks downright scared while skating with U.S. pairs champion Tai Babilonia. When actress Kristy Swanson ("Dude, Where's My Car") asks, "What have I gotten myself into?" you wonder the same thing. Swanson is left-handed. Her teammate, Lloyd Eisler, a world champion pairs skater, is right-handed -- meaning Swanson spins one way, Eisler the other. And that just about sums up their time on the ice. Seeing Browning, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first skater to land a quadruple jump in competition, skate with Gibson to the tune of "How Do You Like Your Eggs" is like watching a Lamborghini being driven by a reckless 15-year-old.

The only celebrity skater who looks moderately at ease on the ice is TV personality Jillian Barberie ("Fox NFL Sunday"), and that's because she skated as a youngster -- and, with her flowing arabesques and pointed toes, it shows. Her skate with John Zimmerman, a U.S. pairs champion, adds up to a gold medal, since everyone else's performance falls way below the medal podium. Even Nancy Kerrigan's.

Somewhere behind the cameras, out of the hot lights of embarrassment, Kerrigan is crying, "Why me?"

Not because Tonya Harding is in the rink, but because Kerrigan's teammate is Coulier, a hockey nut who seems far more interested in holding a hockey stick than holding Kerrigan. He shows up to practice on hockey skates. A skater on hockey skates trying to figure-skate? The perfect recipe for a bloodied disaster. Run, Nancy, run.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/17/AR2006011701723.html

fredfa

01-18-06, 11:38 AM

(From Marc Berman’s Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
The Winter TV Critics Tour
Fox: Opening Executive Comments

With American Idol back, we know Fox will pick up considerable steam, and eventually challenge ABC and CBS for dominance in 2005-06 among adults 18-49. At present, and based on Nielsen Media Research through Jan. 8, 2006, ABC ranks first in the coveted demo with a 4.0 rating/11 share (up 3 percent year-to-year), followed by CBS (3.9/11, - 3), Fox (3.1, - 9) and NBC (3.1, -16), UPN (1.4/ 4, no change) and the WB (1.3/ 4, -13).

Although fourth quarter minus American Idol has never necessarily been a period worth remembering on Fox, this year the network has two additional key future building blocks to work with -- the growing (and critically acclaimed) House and sleeper hit Prison Break, which returns fueled for momentum on Monday, March 20 at 8 p.m. If the network can strengthen its comedy presence (and it is trying to courtesy of upcoming sitcoms The Loop and Free Ride), the road to the future could be paved with prosperity. Unfortunately, fall starter The War at Home is not worth keeping, The Bernie Mac Show is on its last legs, and veteran comedies That ‘70s Show and Malcolm in the Middle are ending this spring.

In an opening session with Peter Liguori, president, entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company (who, if you close your eyes and listen to, sounds exactly like Alan Alda), the first question addressed was the future of Arrested Development, which will end the season with four back-to-back episodes on Feb. 10.

“I have to be frank with you, it is highly unlikely Arrested Development is coming back,” said Liguori. “But no definitive final answer has been made on that. Right now the sitcom genre overall is not in its most healthy state, but we’re always just one great show away from turning that around.”

Next up, of course, was a question on the investigation of Paula Abdul, who was a last minute no-show at the American Idol panel.

“We stand behind the findings,” said Liguori. “I mean we went out, got an outside counsel, did an extremely thorough investigation, and the investigation is geared toward the sanctity of the competition and making sure that all those votes count and that the competition is fair.”

Elsewhere, although veteran sitcom King of the Hill was thought to be a goner, Liguori suggested it could potentially return with original episodes as early as January 2007. And the rumor about former animated occupant Futurama coming back may not necessarily be false.

“There have not really been any active negotiations to bring Futurama back at this point,” noted Liguori. “But I would be an ostrich to just stick my head in the dirt and not realize that the Family Guy model worked outstandingly.“

As for the conclusions of veteran comedies That ‘70s Show and Malcolm in the Middle:

“We didn’t want to see these shows kind of crawl to their ending,” said Liguori. “We’d much prefer to have them go out with a loyal audience and with some strengths, so that the shows have a fertile afterlife.”

While that is certainly admirable, does anyone out there even know that Malcolm in the Middle is still on the air? If Fox really wants both shows to go out in style, personally I would alternate the two and schedule them in their former Sunday 8:30 p.m. time period. Out of The Simpsons, that would be the right thing to do.

Fox March Premiere Dates: Mark Your Calendars

Fox’s primetime midseason schedule, which unofficially kicked off last night courtesy of ongoing blockbuster American Idol, will feature new comedies Free Ride and The Loop, the return of drama Prison Break, new time periods for Bones and Malcolm in the Middle, and a second weekly telecast of The Bernie Mac Show. Here is the Fox schedule effective in March:

Monday
8:00 p.m. Prison Break (time period premiere on March 20)
9:00 p.m. 24

Tuesday
8:00 p.m. American Idol
9:00 p.m. House

Wednesday
8:00 p.m. Bones (time period premiere on March 8)
9:00 p.m. American Idol (Results Show)
9:30 p.m. TBA

Thursday
8:00 p.m. That ‘70s Show
8:30 p.m. The Loop (time period premiere on March 16; preview on Wednesday, March 15 at 9:30 p.m.)
9:00 p.m. The O.C.

Friday
8:00 p.m. The Bernie Mac Show
8:30 p.m. The Bernie Mac Show (time period premiere on Jan. 20)
9:00 p.m. Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy

Saturday
8:00 p.m. Cops
9:00 p.m. America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back

Sunday
7:00 p.m. Malcolm in the Middle (time period premiere on Jan. 29)
7:30 p.m. King of the Hill
8:00 p.m. The Simpsons
8:30 p.m. The War at Home
9:00 p.m. Family Guy
9:30 p.m. Free Ride (time period premiere on March 12; preview on Wednesday, March 1 at 9:30 p.m.)

On the Fox Panel Front:

AMERICAN IDOL
Tuesday and Wednesday 8 p.m.

The Premise:
Unless you are living under a rock, you know what American Idol is all about.

Who Was on the Panel:
Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick.

Who Was Mysteriously Missing:
Paula Abdul. Apparently, Paula hurt one of her eyes and could not attend. Hmmm…

The Scoop:
Since you are all wondering how the panel responded to the obvious Paula Abdul scandal question, here goes:

Question:
“For the producers, since Paula Abdul is not here to talk about this, would you jump in and voice your opinion on the alleged scandal regarding the contestant and all the surrounding publicity and hype that went with that last year?”

Nigel Lythgoe:
“I think Peter Liguori (who danced around the same question in his earlier session) put an end to that this morning. And I am very happy to leave it there, to be quite frank with you. The series needs to move on, and we have to move on, too.”

As to what the official rules between a judge and a contestant now are, and how they differ from before, according to Lythgoe:

“They don’t differ at all. They’re exactly the same. I just think they have been brought out again and pointed out again. But it has always been the same, and that is no fraternization.”

The Reality:
Since American Idol airs in only a five month (January through May) window, there is no reason to believe this amazing juggernaut will slow down anywhere in the near future. But considering last season’s aforementioned Paula Abdul scandal, it might have been time to put the cheerleading coach (who offers nothing but unnecessary gushing) to permanent rest.

THE LOOP (comedy)
Thursday 8:30 p.m.

The Premise:
The youngest executive at the corporate headquarters of a major airline (Bret Harrison), the first of his friends to get a job, must find a way to balance his career and the serious social demands of his three roommates.

Who Was On the Panel:
Bret Harrison, Philip Baker Hall, Amanda Loncar, Sarah Mason, Mimi Rogers, Joy Osmanski and executive producers Will Gluck and Pam Brady.

The Scoop:
For a true feel of what The Loop is really about, according to Will Gluck:

“Both Pam (Brady) and I both had our first jobs pretty young, and we both had friends that didn’t have jobs yet. So we would have to go to work and try to be adults and then come home. And we didn’t want to be adults at home yet. We still wanted to be kind of young after-college people. So it was tough – and the people at work did not understand the stuff at home, and the people at home did not understand the stuff at work. So there was this kind of dichotomy that was tough.”

That is The Loop.

The Reality:
With both That ‘70s Show and Malcolm in the Middle officially ending, it makes sense for Fox to find a new comedy populated with young, lively faces tailored to an adult 18-34 audience. But given that Fox has scheduled its other new comedy, Free Ride, in the better time period (Sunday at 9:30 p.m. vs. Thursday at 8:30 p.m.), The Loop will face an uphill battle for survival. Opposite CBS’ Survivor and out of the fading That ‘70s Show, this is a long-shot.

Did You Know?:
To-date, Mimi Rogers is 0-3 in the regularly scheduled series department. Remember short-lived The Rousters (1983), Paper Dolls (1984) and The Geena Davis Show (2000)?

FREE RIDE (comedy)
Sunday 9:30 p.m.

The Premise:
After moving back with his parents in his small Midwestern town, a recent college graduate (Josh Dean) finds that life as he once knew it is no longer necessarily the same.

Who Was on the Panel:
Josh Dean, Erin Cahill, Loretta Fox, Allan Havey, Dave Sheridan, and executive producer Rob Roy Thomas.

The Scoop:
Since what could set Free Ride apart from the typical network sitcom is being partially improvised, here is how Dave Sheridan compares Free Ride to Arrested Development:

“I think the overall difference is that Arrested Development worked with a 30-page script. We work with an eight-page outline, never more than eight pages. There is no preparation. You don’t have to read the script, so I literally would wake up, take a shower, and show up. And even though we were working out of an eight-page outline, the way Rob would work is he didn’t want the actors to get too far along.”

The Reality:
Obviously, there is no reason to believe Free Ride will fully maintain its Family Guy lead-in. That won’t happen opposite the second half of ABC’s Desperate Housewives. But if the retention comes close to 80 percent, there could be potential.

SKATING WITH CELEBRITIES
Wednesday 9 p.m.

The Premise:
In this clone of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars set on ice (what would a season be without Fox not copying another network’s successful formula?), six “C” level celebrities (you’ll know what I mean when you see the names in attendance) are paired with six professional figure skaters to compete for the figure skating title.

Who Was on the Panel:
Celebrity skaters Jillian Barberie, Todd Bridges, Dave Coulier, Deborah Gibson, Bruce Jenner and Kristy Swanson; skating professionals Tai Babilonia and Lloyd Eisler; judges Dorothy Hamill, Mark Lund and Sir John Nicks; host Summer Sanders; and executive producers Arthur Smith and Kent Weed.

The Scoop:
As to how the six “celebrities” were chosen, according to Arthur Smith:

“We had over 75 celebrities come out and try to make it on the show. And then you build a cast with the most interesting, diverse people that you can find. We have such a great group. Their dedication is going to amaze you.”

The Reality:
If this is the most interesting, diverse cast they can come up with, I would hate to think who the other 69 “celebrities” trying out were. Out of American Idol, there should be plenty of audience left to make Skating With Celebrities a reasonable, short-term, hit.

THIEF (FX, drama)
Wednesday 9 p.m.

The Premise:
Led by Andre Braugher’s Nick Atwater, a robbery crew of desperate individuals attempts to pull off the most unlikely and dangerous heist of their careers -- $40 million from the U.S. government.

Who Was on the Panel:
Andre Braugher, Clifton Collins, Jr., Malik Yoba, Yancey Arias, Will Yun Lee, Mae Whitman and Michael Rooker; executive producers Norman Morrill and David Manson; and FX President and General Manager John Landgraf

The Scoop:
What HBO’s The Sopranos is to the concept of a mob drama is what Thief could be to the concept of a crime drama. In other words, it’s more about the characters -- who they are and why they behave the way the do -- than the actual crime itself.

The Reality:
No, FX is not perfect. Recent drama Over There and sitcom Starved is proof of that. But considering FX, the HBO of basic cable (translation: quality scripted programming), is current home to The Shield, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me, keep an eye on Thief. Based on the premise, and a multi-faceted layer of characters, it looks like this serialized drama could be in a class of its own.

Press Tour Tidbits: Notes of Interest from Fox

So Long, That ‘70s Show and Malcolm in the Middle:
Veteran Fox comedies That ‘70s Show and Malcolm in the Middle will be ending this spring. That ‘70s will conclude in celebration of its 200th episode on Thursday, May 18 at 8 p.m. Malcolm in the Middle, which is shifting to Sunday at 7 p.m., will end its six-and-a-half year run also in May.

Up Next: CBS

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

fredfa

01-18-06, 11:49 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Randy & Simon dish on new 'Idol

By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News

PASADENA, Calif. - The talent gets better every year, the best singers always win, and sure, Paula Abdul has an "eye infection."

Staying on message is usually no problem for the producers and judges of Fox's "American Idol," which returned to the air last night to begin its entertaining, exasperating, excruciating search for the next Carrie Underwood, Fantasia Barrino, Ruben Studdard or Kelly Clarkson.

Not necessarily in that order.

But here at the Television Critics Association's winter meetings, "Idol" judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson weren't even bothering to back up Fox's story that judge Paula Abdul - who'd been on "The Tonight Show" with them only hours before - was a last-minute no-show at a morning press conference because she was heading for her doctor's office to deal with an infected eye.

"It fell out," said Simon of the eye.

What's more likely, I'm afraid, that Paula herself fell out rather than face questioning by reporters on the still-touchy subject of whether she'd had an overly tactile relationship with a former "Idol" contestant while he was still on the show.

A Fox-commissioned investigation last year cleared Abdul - apparently no one actually saw her having sex with anyone - but some TV critics, who have a longer attention span than you might expect from people who watch TV for a living, still have some questions.

Simon and Randy, meanwhile, have some schtick.

When producers were asked what changes had been made in the non-fraternization rules on "Idol" (none - turns out it's always been against the rules to hang out with the contestants), Randy quipped, "I can't touch Simon."

"I wish I'd known that before I signed my contract," replied the cheeky Brit.

"How do I quit you, Simon?" asked Randy, "Brokeback Mountain" references being pretty much the only ones anyone in this town makes these days.

No one's going to be quitting Simon anytime soon, though, given that his new contract reportedly runs for five years.

And while he may still be down on Paula, he's publicly, at least, supportive of "Idol," for which he shelved his own project, "The X-Factor," a move he admitted was made to protect the franchise.

"If I thought the show wasn't going to be popular in three or four years' time," he said, he wouldn't have re-upped.

As for a report in USA Today that the show hasn't yet been able to clear some of Clarkson's songs for its performers - producers noted Clarkson herself may not even know of the problem - Simon seemed inclined to think the worst of his former favorite.

"No matter how talented Kelly Clarkson is, she would not be in the position" she is without "Idol," he snapped.

The daughter did it?

Fans of Fox's "Reunion" - you know who you are - may never know for sure whodunit on the serialized mystery drama that got canceled before the true killer, or killers, could be found.

Turns out even Fox entertainment president Peter Liguori didn't know for sure who killed Samantha (Alexa Davalos) on the show, because producers themselves hadn't decided before the show premiered, he said yesterday.

(Pause here to consider how a network that's been down this road before, with serialized shows like "John Doe" that left their audiences hanging, would keep scheduling series whose basic arcs hadn't been mapped out ahead of time.)

But I digress.

"The best guess at that particular time was that it [the killer] was going to be Sam's daughter," Liguori said.

No wonder they couldn't show us that - at the point the series was cut off, Sam's daughter was still a little kid.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13650607.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

01-18-06, 11:55 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Eye infection makes Abdul an optical exclusion for TV critics

By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Writer

The controversy that would not die rose from a simmer to a boil Tuesday at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour in Pasadena, exacerbated by a conveniently timed eye infection.

"American Idol" judge Paula Abdul, who came under attack last season due to allegations of an improper relationship with Corey Clark, a contestant from season two, was a last-minute no-show at "Idol's" press conference. She was at the eye doctor, reporters were told, though she looked to be in fine condition during her appearance Monday on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

Fellow judge Simon Cowell mirrored the level of concern among the press when he joked of Abdul's eye, "It fell out."

Earlier, Fox Broadcasting Co. Entertainment president Peter Liguori, who took the job last year, long after the incident was said to have occurred, declared that an "extremely thorough investigation" found that Clark's claims were "unsubstantiated."

"We stand behind those findings," Liguori said. "There was no need for any action on our part. We clarified and reclarified our position on fraternization."

"Idol's" executive producers refused to comment further on the matter. "The rules are the same as they've always been," said Nigel Lythgoe. "No fraternization between judges and contestants."

Reporters remained skeptical. One, speaking of a bizarre contestant who appeared on Tuesday's season premiere, pointedly noted, "He wasn't accused of anything so he didn't get an eye infection," while another spoke of "whatever credibility you have left."

"Last year, there was so much controversy - I love the controversy," Cowell said, wandering off script. "I hope there's more."

Producers did suggest that this year's contestants are a bit more contentious than in previous years, when they appeared to be big happy families on the show. Cowell says that's never been true.

"Ask Carrie (Underwood, last year's winner) how many congratulatory e-mails she received from the other contestants," Cowell said. "I like (the friction) because they've entered the show because they want to win. They hate each other."

Another controversy may be brewing over the fact that first-season winner Kelly Clarkson has apparently declined to allow her music to be played on the show, although producers admitted this particular roundelay may be a simple case of innocent miscommunication between Clarkson and her managers.

Which didn't stop Cowell from scolding Clarkson: "If you're ignoring the show, you're ignoring the people who put you there, which is the audience," he stated flatly.

LAME-DUCK SITCOMS: Meanwhile, sitcoms are dropping like flies at Fox, which announced Tuesday that series finales of former hits "Malcolm in the Middle" and "That '70s Show" will air at the end of this season.

Add to that "Arrested Development," which Fox appears to be giving something less than a Viking funeral by airing its final four episodes on Feb. 10 - opposite the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. Nonetheless, Liguori said he has not definitely canceled the series. (ABC and Showtime are said to be interested in reviving it when Fox does pull the plug.)

Moreover, long-running animated series "King of the Hill" has not been in production all season (the series had enough stored up to run through 2005-06) and seems unlikely to return, though again, Liguori said no final verdict has been reached. "The Bernie Mac Show" likewise has lost a lot of viewers, but Liguori offered hopefully, "Creatively, we feel the show is strong." Critics forgot to ask about "Stacked," starring Pamela Anderson, but maybe they're hoping Liguori will, too (it's not on the March schedule).

Liguori said the success of the network's development of new series for the 2006 season will decide the fates of sitcoms on the bubble. "It's daunting" to create a successful new comedy, Liguori said, "but you're always one great show from turning that around."

The network introduced two new comedies on Tuesday that will premiere in March: "The Loop," about 20-something friends in Chicago, and "Free Ride," a partially improvised comedy about a boomerang kid forced to return to live with his parents in his small-town Midwestern home after enjoying the good life at UC Santa Barbara.

http://www.dailynews.com/ontv/ci_3411283

fredfa

01-18-06, 12:01 PM

Simon says, “You’re awful!”

By Diane Holloway Austin American-Statesman Wednesday, January 18, 2006, 09:38 AM

Mean and nasty Simon Cowell was worse than ever in the fifth season opener of Fox’s “American Idol.”

Now, I’m fully aware that Simon and his nastiness are big draws for this show — as are the pathetic early-round contenders.

But I find some of these meltdowns excruciating to watch. It’s abundantly clear that these kids take themselves seriously. And more than a few of them are, shall we say, a bit off-kilter. They seem emotionally fragile and not quite in touch with the real world.
Simon told one young woman she sounded like a screeching cat. Is that really necessary? Just say thanks but no thanks and let it go at that. He also has an evil penchant for making mean comments about weight, fashion and even fake tans. These kids are human beings, after all, and have been camped outside the audition area for hours and hours — to be insulted?

Further evidence of meanness: The “Idol” judges gave thumbs up to a couple of Tuesday night’s Chicago contestants who were patently awful (that nasal-sounding, Sinatra-wannabe crooner? Puleeze!). The judges seemed to be sending him to Hollywood as a cruel joke. Even Paula voted to push one awful contender through.

What I’ve always enjoyed about “American Idol” is the impressive talent we see in the Final 12. Most of the dozen finalists really are good, and I find myself rooting for a favorite or two.

The early episodes of “American Idol,” however, are just cruel and not funny. I’ll tune in when the Austin auditions are featured later this month, but I’m going to skip the rest of these painful displays and return when the actual talent show begins.

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/

fredfa

01-18-06, 12:43 PM

DIRECTV to Offer Family Programming Package

(DirecTV Press Release)

New Tier Offers More Than 40 Channels of Family-Friendly Programming Including Boomerang, Disney, Noggin, PBS Kids Sprout and a Wide Variety of Public Interest Channels
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2006--DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading digital television service provider, will offer a new family-friendly programming package in mid-April.
The DIRECTV TOTAL CHOICE(R) Family package will include more than 40 channels of programming suitable for family and younger viewers, including some of the most popular family-oriented channels like Boomerang, Disney, PBS Kids Sprout, National Geographic and Noggin, and 12 Public Interest channels that provide a wide array of programming including NASA, National Religious Broadcast Network, Link TV and World Harvest TV.
"The new DIRECTV TOTAL CHOICE Family programming package is appropriate for viewing by family members of all ages and includes popular children's, religious and general family entertainment programming," said Dan Fawcett, executive vice president, Programming, DIRECTV, Inc. "We have answered the call from concerned parents and policymakers and have designed a programming package to meet the needs of DIRECTV families."
In addition to providing a new tier of family-friendly programming, DIRECTV continues to offer free parental locks and limits features on all of its systems/receivers that enable parents to lock out entire channels, block access to specific programs based on TV or MPAA rating, or restrict TV viewing hours.
Consistent with other DIRECTV programming offers, the TOTAL CHOICE(R) Family programming package will offer consumers more family channels at the best value. The TOTAL CHOICE Family package will be available nationwide for $34.99 a month and will include local broadcast channels and the following programming services:
- Bloomberg
- Boomerang
- BYU TV
- CNN Headline News
- C-SPAN 1
- C-SPAN 2
- Daystar
- Discovery Kids
- Disney East
- Disney West
- DIY Network
- EWTN
- Fit-TV
- Food Network
- Hallmark Channel
- HGTV
- HITN
- HSN
- Link TV
- NASA TV
- National Geographic Channel
- Nickelodeon/Nick at Night East
- Nickelodeon/Nick at Night West
- Noggin/The N
- Nicktoons
- NRB Network
- Once TV
- PBS Kids Sprout
- QVC
- RFD TV
- Shop at Home
- Shop NBC
- TCT Network
- The Science Channel
- The Weather Channel
- Toon Disney
- Trinity Broadcasting Network
- Word Network
- World Harvest Network
- XM Kids
- XM Disney Radio

fredfa

01-18-06, 12:51 PM

Tuesday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest Prime Time Ratings news which is the first post in this thread.

keenan

01-18-06, 02:44 PM

THIEF (FX, drama)
Wednesday 9 p.m.

Still no date for this?

fredfa

01-18-06, 02:49 PM

None yet that I have seen.

fredfa

01-18-06, 03:56 PM

Coalition Requests Conditions for Adelphia's Acquisition

By Doug Halonen TVWeek.com January 18, 2006

A coalition that includes satellite TV operators DirecTV and EchoStar Communications announced Tuesday that it is asking the Federal Communications Commission to condition Time Warner and Comcast's $17.6 billion acquisition of Adelphia Communications to ensure that the giant cable TV operators won't discriminate against competitors.

According to a coalition spokesman, the group is requesting a condition that would bar Time Warner and Comcast from unreasonably denying independent programming networks access to cable company subscribers. In addition, the spokesman said, coalition members want assurances that programming controlled by Time Warner and Comcast is available on reasonable terms to competing services that deliver programming to subscribers.

The other members of the coalition are the Media Access Project, the Center for Creative Voices in Media, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, The America Channel and RCN Corp.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9211

fredfa

01-18-06, 03:58 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
CBS Taps Sony for HDTVLocal News

By Glen Dickson Broadcasting & Cable

CBS announced Thursday that it will be purchasing Sony’s new XDCAM HD optical-disk cameras and recorders for news acquisition at its 17 owned-and-operated stations.

In March, WBZ Boston and WBBM Chicago will be the first two stations to get the XDCAM HD gear, said CBS VP of advanced technology, Bob Seidel, at a New York press conference that detailed the new Sony format.

XDCAM HD, which begins shipping in March, offers hi-def camcorders ranging from $16,800 to $25,800 and optical “decks” starting at $9,500, all of which handle video as files, afford nonlinear access to clips, and can generate standard definition or high definition outputs.

Whether the CBS stations will begin broadcasting HD newscasts remains to be seen, with CBS stations and other broadcasters are waiting for new digital microwave gear to be deployed by Nextel as part of a spectrum deal with the FCC.

CBS stations in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia are also in the midst of overhauling their facilities and won’t launch HD news until those rebuilds are completed.

Pending the receipt of the new microwave gear, however, WBZ Boston “could go right to HD” this spring, says Seidel. He adds that the XDCAM HD purchase is consistent with CBS’ policy of buying new gear that can support both standard-definition and hi-def pictures, such as dual-mode studio camera and switchers, and points out that the new Sony HD gear is cheaper than some SD equipment on the market.

fredfa

01-18-06, 04:19 PM

CBS again swept to victory in all categories in week 17 of the TV season. Last week’s complete network average prime-time results (with demographic averages) are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS the first post in this thread.

AFH

01-18-06, 06:44 PM

Fred, I think that the Super Bowl start time listed in the first post of this thread under "Hd Sports" is wrong. I thought that the start time was 6:00pm eastern time with a 6:18pm eastern time kick off as usual. Am I wrong?

fredfa

01-18-06, 07:41 PM

Thanks for catching the typo, Antonio!

fredfa

01-18-06, 07:46 PM

Many on this board complain about CBS not showing more sports in HD. So Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star went to the source. The answers is in an MP3 interview linked below:

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Why CBS Sports isn't 100% HD

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn"

Marty Franks is the general counsel of CBS Corporation and its government liaison. He's also a high-tech aficionado and the network's point man on high definition.

A number of you have emailed or called me with your frustrations over the network's failure to go all hi-def. Three NFL games a week, at most, are carried in HDTV. And there's a pecking order to March Madness: there are games that look great and then there's the game you're watching.

So I asked Marty, during a break in CBS's presentations today, why the network hasn't upgraded to all hi-def, all the time. And the way he put it was ...

(Go to the link below to download the interview)

http://www.tvbarn.com/

keenan

01-18-06, 08:45 PM

Many on this board complain about CBS not showing more sports in HD. So Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star went to the source. The answers is in an MP3 interview linked below:

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Why CBS Sports isn't 100% HD

(Go to the link below to download the interview)

http://www.tvbarn.com/
Great info, catch the part where they "mention" FOX and the grass for football games..? :p :D

Thanks for posting that Fred. Good stuff. :)

fredfa

01-18-06, 09:39 PM

The Business of TV
EchoStar, DirecTV to Offer Family Tiers

By Todd Shields MediaWeek.com JANUARY 18, 2006 -

Following the lead of the two leading cable operators, the two dominant direct-broadcast satellite companies on Wednesday said they were rolling out programming tiers shorn of explicit sex and violence.

The announcements of family-friendly tiers by satellite leader DirecTV and No. 2 EchoStar Communications come as Congress prepares to resume scrutiny over racy programming with a hearing Thursday before the Senate Commerce Committee.

TV executives see family tiers as a way to lessen pressure from lawmakers who have suggested applying indecency regulations to cable and satellite. The regulations affect only traditional broadcasters.

Witnesses at Thursday's hearing are to include EchoStar chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen, who "is expected to unveil (a) new low-cost, robust family-friendly programming tier" on EchoStar's Dish network, according to a press release from the company.

DirecTV said that in April it would introduce a family package that would include more than 40 channels of programming, including Boomerang, Disney, PBS Kids Sprout, National Geographic and Noggin.

Earlier, Comcast and Time Warner said they would offer family-friendly packages.

The offerings follow pressure from lawmakers, activists and the Federal Communications Commission, where chairman Kevin Martin long has backed family tiers.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001881122

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:14 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
CBS

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The new president of news at CBS took questions from television critics Wednesday, and did little to dispel the rumors that he plans toreplace Bob Schieffer as the anchor of "CBS Evening News" with Katie Couric.

Sean McManus praised the 67-year-old Schieffer's fill-in work on the "CBS Evening News," calling him "the oldest overnight sensation that Iknow." But he added, "Bob doesn't want to be the anchorman at CBS News for the next five years." McManus would not set a timetable for replacing him.

Several times McManus said that an "anchorperson" would take Schieffer's place, and also that person would "probably" come from outside CBS. Both comments seemed to point to Couric, who reportedly has been offered $20 million by CBS to leave the "Today Show."

McManus, who helped return the network's sports division to preeminence, said that "every single person at CBS News is currently being evaluated." McManus would not comment on the National Guard memos story for which Rather and former CBS news president Andrew Heyward came under fire.
But, he said, "the luster and the image of CBS News ... quite frankly have been tarnished over the last year and a half."

He added that he had not spoken to Rather since taking over CBS News.

• Playwright David Mamet has written two episodes of a new military drama, "The Unit," airing on CBS in March. The show, which revolves around a top-secret commando force, stars former "24" star Dennis Haysbert and former "Felicity" star Scott Foley. The show's co-creator, Shawn Ryan, who also created "The Shield," said Mamet also directed an episode of "The Unit."

• Much of the buzz in Pasadena on Wednesday centered on the stunning overnight ratings for the new season of "American Idol." The show attracted 35 million viewers, or 10 percent more than last year's record-setting debut, according to Nielsen. It beat the combined ratings of the six other broadcast networks. The president of CBS entertainment, Nina Tassler, said she was "blown away" by "Idol's" numbers.

• Today, the UPN and Showtime networks present their winter programs. Both networks were recently folded into the new CBS Corporation, which split off from Viacom.

Quote of the Day: "I was the reason for the season." -- Dennis Haysbert, star of the upcoming CBS drama "The Unit," about the decision to kill off his character in the first 10 minutes of the new season of "24"

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/01/cbs_the_a2_vers.html

cocoon

01-19-06, 12:46 AM

DIRECTV to Offer Family Programming Package

(DirecTV Press Release)
- Noggin/The N
- Trinity Broadcasting Network
- Word Network
- World Harvest Network

My guess is that these "Family Tiers" are for conservative christian types? I find it interesting that they include Noggin/The N as one of the channels. They have this show called Degrassi: The Next Generation which has such family friendly topics as penis pumps and oral sex.

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:49 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
CBS' focus on flagship network

By Cynthia Littleton The Hollywood Reporter Jan. 19, 2006

PASADENA -- CBS is embracing the brave new world of emerging media platforms in a big way this year, but most of their efforts are undertaken with an eye toward driving viewers back to the mothership broadcast network, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler told reporters Wednesday.

"We see all this as an opportunity to enhance the network's marketing power and distribution so that more people see our hit shows," Tassler said during CBS' portion of the winter Television Critics Assn. press tour at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel. "Philosophically, we know we need to get our programming to the audience -- where they are, when they want to watch it." But at the same time, Tassler emphasized that "clearly, our intention is to drive people back to that first-run broadcast."

Tassler said that CBS' burgeoning experiments with "mobi-soaps," programming snippets designed for Verizon's VCast service and all of the marketplace buzz about video-on-demand, IPTV, mobile and wireless entertainment options is having an impact on the network's creative development processes. Development executives and producers are being encouraged to think about "multiplatform" strategies and creative initiatives to promote and enhance CBS programs.

"We're coming up with companion promotional narratives. We're thinking about different ways that we can sort of engage the audience, sort of pique their curiosity, (and) get them interested in the ancillary narratives that go along with your regular broadcast," she said. "But ultimately the goal is to bring that audience back around to that first-run (telecast). In essence, once an audience gets either additional information or learns something new about a character, they bring that to the first-run (viewing)."

The fact that promise of new technologies was the dominant theme of Tassler's roughly 45-minute executive session underscored how strongly CBS has performed so far this season. Tassler noted that the network has maintained its clear advantage as the most-watched broadcast network with a 15-week winning streak in total viewers (which ABC snapped this month with the help of the blockbuster Rose Bowl telecast), something no other network has achieved since at least 1988. Moreover, CBS is tied with ABC in the season-to-date race for No. 1 in the key adults 18-49 demo, a notable feat given that the eye network bid farewell to what had been primetime's top comedy series, "Everybody Loves Raymond," in May.

One of the few weak spots on CBS' primetime schedule is its Sunday 9-11 p.m. movie block. Tassler conceded that network brass will have to take a hard look at how its original longform productions have performed during the annual spring schedule-setting process.

"It will probably be a more serious conversation than we've had before" about shifting away from movies in the time slot, Tassler told a small group reporters following the main session. "It is more competitive than ever before" on Sunday and will only become more so in September when NBC launches its Sunday football block.

During the session, Tassler talked up the success of CBS' freshman series, particularly Wednesday drama "Criminal Minds," which has done a yeoman's job of drawing an audience in the killer 9 p.m. slot opposite ABC's "Lost." She also gave a shout-out to Tuesday 8 p.m. drama "NCIS," which she noted didn't miss a Nielsen beat in its airing this week despite going up against the buzzsaw of Fox's "American Idol" premiere.

"That show is competition-proof," she said.

Tassler also was peppered with questions about CBS' effort to develop at least one "telenovela," or serial, to run twice a week for a 13-week run during the summer months (HR 12/15). She confirmed that one of the five projects in development is being shepherded by best-selling romance novelist Nicholas Sparks.

"We're basically taking the telenovela structure and asking creators such as Nicholas Sparks to tweak it with original material and their creative stamp," she said. With telenovelas, viewers get "close-ended stories (and) serialized storytelling. It should be a nice surprise."

Tassler confirmed the network has optioned the format rights from FremantleMedia to an internationally successful property dubbed "Game Show Marathon," which will feature a half-dozen celebrity contestants competing in a different classic game show ("The Price is Right," "Match Game," "Beat the Clock," etc.) each week.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001881343

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:57 AM

For ABC, Monday's no laughing matter

New comedy strategy takes a hit with axing

By Kevin Downey MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 18, 2006

ABC’s new female-focused Monday comedy block at 9 p.m. is in jeopardy only two weeks after launching with a slew of promotional spots on ABC’s Sunday hits “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

The sitcom “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” is no longer in production, after airing only once just over a week ago, as reported here yesterday. And though ABC hasn’t announced plans for John Stamos’ “Jake in Progress,” that show will most likely also get canned or at least moved, perhaps in favor of a reality show, giving ABC a three-hour unscripted block.

Dismal ratings and chilly reviews did in “Emily.” Now, with stiffer competition from Fox’s soaring “24”, ABC isn’t likely to stick with comedies. ABC as of late yesterday wasn’t discussing its plans for the night.

“[ABC] is going to have trouble at 9 p.m. because ‘24’ has a very loyal following and CBS has a very strong comedy following on Mondays, so it will be tough to launch comedies in that time period,” says Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming at Carat. “There are already so many viewers spoken for.”

ABC, of course, had hoped to create a new block of high-rated programs on Mondays.

Its strategy was to go into midseason with a lineup counter-programming male-focused dramas on Fox and NBC, fading dramas on the WB, and comedies on UPN and CBS.

ABC’s strategy is of immense importance to the network because its "Monday Night Football," which for decades dominated the night in the first half of the season, is moving to ESPN.

But while ABC’s strategy makes sense – create a night for women – the comedy block at 9 p.m. was iffy even before its premiere earlier this month.

Both “Emily’s” and “Jake” are quirky – no laugh tracks, often using a movie-style single camera – and, more significant, the sitcoms were positioned against CBS comedies, notably “Two and a Half Men.”

“I didn’t have high hopes for that lineup,” says Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research at MediaCom. “They are going up against the No. 1 comedy on TV. They also have a reality lead-in ['Wife Swap'], which is a totally different genre. And this is a timeslot where ABC typically [targeted] men, so they are asking people to change viewing habits. That’s a tall order for any show.”

At 8 p.m., reality show “Swap” is doing well. It ranked No. 1 among adults 18-49 in its timeslot last week, based on Nielsen overnights. It was No. 3 this past Monday against NBC’s Golden Globes and Fox’s “24.”

At 10 p.m., the latest incarnation of reality show “The Bachelor” is generating so-so ratings, ranking a distant No. 3 last week against CBS’s “CSI: Miami” and NBC’s “Medium.” It also ranked No. 3 this past Monday, when it was competing with the Globes and a repeat of “CSI: Miami.”

But decent ratings for a “Bachelor” repeat in “Emily’s” and “Jake’s” timeslots this week may have convinced ABC that a comedy block wasn’t the way to go. “Bachelor” averaged a 2.9 adult 18-49 rating, based on overnights, compared to a 2.6 the prior week for “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” and “Jake In Progress.”

Still, ABC’s lighting-fast decision to close the door on “Emily’s” is something of a surprise.

ABC doesn’t have any hit comedies to speak of, so many media pundits had expected the network to give “Emily’s” and “Jake” time to find an audience.

But “Emily’s” badly faltered with women, the demographic ABC is zeroing in on. Among women 18-24, for instance, the show trailed not only CBS, NBC and Fox, but also UPN and Univision.

“I’m not sure this [female] strategy is a misstep for ABC,” says Brill. “They are trying to revamp the night in the face of it being a non-NFL world for them. But I don’t know what they can do instead that would make them better off.”

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2276.asp

Marcus Carr

01-19-06, 10:14 AM

CBS Converts all 17 O&O Stations to Sony's XDCAM HD Format

By Staff

At the Sony pre-NAB press conference yesterday, Bob Seidel, CBS's vice president of engineering and advanced technology announced that the network would convert all 17 O&O stations to Sony's XDCAM HD format, upgrading from its current XDCAM format. WBZ in Boston and WBBM in Chicago will be the first stations to receive XDCAM HD gear come March.

Stations that have a complete HD infrastructure will begin HD ENG acquisition. Stations not ready for HD, such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where new facilities are being constructed, will continue to shoot in SD. Currently, seven stations are HD-capable with a dual mode SD/HD infrastructure.

As with other HD productions from CBS, HD news will be center-punched for standard definition broadcast. The timeframe for completion of the transition is 18 months.

Also at the Sony pre-NAB press conference, Sony announced a second XDCAM HD camcorder, the PDW-F350 which will provide undercrank and overcrank variable frame rate from 4 to 60 frames per second in 1 frame increments, with no post processing required for viewing. Also announced was an XDCAM SD field recorder and cart systems with 80 disks with future expansion up to 640 disks.

Pricing for the XDCAM HD camcorders and decks was also announced:

--F330 1/2" 3-CCD camcorder will be $16,800 without lens
--F350 1/2" 3-CCD variable frame rate camcorder will be $25,800 without lens
--F30 playback only deck will be $9,500
--F70 record/playback deck will be $15,990
--LO-32BMT, a 2/3 inch to 1/2 inch lens adapter, currently retails
in the $600-700 range

The Sony XDCAM HD will be available in March.

http://televisionbroadcast.com/articles/article_1169.shtml

hammerdwn

01-19-06, 10:57 AM

I searched my Tv schedule for the next two weeks, but did not see ALIAS. I read here that it is gone at the end of the season, but what's the word on when ALIAS is returning? And for how many episodes?

Thanks
Hammer

humdinger70

01-19-06, 11:25 AM

Another thing (I saw this is my local paper - San Diego Union-Tribune)...

"Dancing with the Stars, the Results" will be expanded to be 1 hour long instead of 1/2 hour. The 8:30 PM program on Friday (Hope & Faith) is being put on hiatus until at least after February sweeps.

humdinger70

01-19-06, 11:27 AM

I didn't see anything on Fox's "Skating with Celebrities". How did that go? Unfortunately, I forgot to program it into my DVR.

Who looked the best? Who is really in need of getting booted?

cocoon

01-19-06, 11:31 AM

Alias returns on March 2 2006 according to most websites I have seen.

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:02 PM

The TV Column
Fox Bows to Golden 'Idol'
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 19, 2006; C01

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 18--The season debut of "American Idol" smashed Fox ratings records again Tuesday night, delivering the network's largest entertainment programming audience in its history.

About 35.5 million people caught the start of "Idol's" march to May. Randy, Simon and Paula auditioned would-be contestants in Chicago, where "Lady Marmalade" appears to be the song of choice among the Seriously Delusional, and Seriously Twitchy Guy somehow got through to the next level of competition thanks to Paula and Randy, who were asked about that at Winter TV Press Tour 2006 by the Reporters Who Cover Television.

At least Randy was; Paula was a no-show at the "American Idol" panel on Tuesday after suffering a spontaneous eye infection.

The season unveiling outstrips the singing competition's previous audience high of 34.2 million for the second-edition finale in May '03. That's when Ruben Studdard edged Clay Aiken for the "Idol" crown, about which we're still pretty sore.

Once again, "Idol" logged more viewers than ABC, CBS and NBC combined.

"It's great to be wrong. I am drop-dead surprised," Fox reality programming guru Mike Darnell told The TV Column on Wednesday, having told us the day before that he thought "Idol" debut numbers would be down this year. (In fact, Tuesday's debut snagged 2 million more viewers than last year.)

Wednesday, Darnell had recovered his sense of optimism and then some, calling "Idol" the Super Bowl of entertainment programming.

"It's become that much a part of the fiber of the American culture. There's television hits and then there's this thing," he said.

Fox network programming chief Peter Liguori, who on Tuesday had kicked off the Just Us Chickens Here portion of Winter TV Press Tour 2006, also had been asked to forecast "Idol's" debut numbers. He noted that last year's Fox network programming chief had forecast the debut audience would drop about 10 percent and it went up 4 percent, so he forecast it would go down 20 percent in hopes it would in fact go up 8 percent.

Tuesday's "Idol" debut went up 9 percent among the 18-to-49-year-olds the network promised to deliver to advertisers.

Next stop for the auditions: Denver. Meanwhile, pray for Paula's eye.

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

It's too bad about Liguori's appearance at the press tour. At last summer's tour, when he was still a broadcast TV Press Tour Virgin, Liguori had some interesting things to say. Six months later, however, his handlers have completed his transformation into one of the Chickens Who Program TV. Genuinely lovely people all, and some very good programmers -- just afraid to say anything in front of a room full of reporters.

Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, and one of our faves, took the stage Wednesday.

She was willing to discuss some subjects with a minimum of fowl-itude, like her effort to bring the telenovela, a popular genre with Hispanic audiences, to CBS. She's developing five such projects, the best of which will be produced to air over the summer.

On the other hand, she said, "the bosoms might not heave as much" on the CBS project as they do on your typical telenovela, and a telenovela typically has "a lot of hyperbole and there's a lot of melodrama," which "I think we're going to modify . . . for our audiences." And they're going to be in English.

Last we checked, telenovela in English without too much bosom-heaving was spelled A-a-r-o-n S-p-e-l-l-i-n-g s-o-a-p.

But mostly, fowl-itude prevailed:

Q: Are you going to back off on all the storylines about violent crimes against women on your many procedural crime dramas?

A: Brawwwwwk, brawk, brawk, brawk! trusting our audience, brawk, brawk, we have Standards and Practices, brawwwwwwk, we trust our producers, brawk.

Q: Are you looking to expand your "CSI" franchise again?

A: Brawwwwk! never say never, brawk, brawk!

Q: Your Sunday movie has done badly this season, does it have a future?

A: Brawwwk, brawk, brawk, we are looking at the time period and realizing that it presents challenges, brawk, brawk.

Q: You've been careful to try out the new means of programming delivery in markets where CBS actually owns the CBS TV station; how are they reacting?

A: Brawk, brawk, they know we, brawk, respect them, brawk.

Q: Are you tired yet of the Male Pattern Optimism sitcom (hot wife married to tubby, dense man)?

A: Brawwwwwk, brawk, brawk, well, you know, my husband is . . . he would kill me, kill me, brawk brawwwwwk!

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

If Bob Schieffer wanted to remain anchor of "CBS Evening News," the job would be his, CBS News President Sean McManus said Wednesday.

But since Schieffer doesn't want it, the network will probably hire from outside, he said.

"If Bob wanted to do it, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion right now," he told critics, who peppered him with questions about Katie Couric, the NBC morning show diva who is presumed to be the network's primary target for the gig replacing Dan Rather.

McManus, who also heads CBS Sports, called Schieffer "the oldest overnight sensation that I know," noting that the newscast is in a closer ratings position to its broadcast competitors than it has been in years.

"Bob is respected, he's trusted and he's very, very comfortable giving the news and I think people are starting to appreciate this," McManus said.

"The other thing about Bob is, Bob talks like you and I do," he continued.

Schieffer's style, which McManus described as "the antithesis of 'voice of God,' " is what they're looking for in Rather's replacement -- someone who can deliver the news "in a respectful and a comfortable way, not as if you were preaching the Gospel from Mount Olympus."

That's about all McManus was willing to give up about his search for the new anchor during his Q&A session.

One clever critic finally asked him, "Is there any chance that you'll make an announcement of who the anchor is before Katie Couric's contract expires in May?"

"That is a very well-phrased question. I don't have a timetable," he responded.

"I thought you said you had a timetable," the critic shot back.

"Oh, a timetable I can discuss . . . You should work for '60 Minutes,' you already got me trapped up here. Yeah, sure, it's possible."

Morale is back at CBS News since he came on board, McManus insisted.

Of course, he also said "every single person at CBS News is currently being evaluated." And that people there "are a little bit scared."

"So I would say that there is not a fear at CBS News, but there is an understanding that 'I better be pretty darn good at what I do and better be working every single minute of my waking hours to make sure I'm doing the best job I can or I'm going to have a problem.' But to me, that's the way to run an organization. That's healthy."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011802430_pf.html

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:12 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
From CBS News Chief, New Hints on Anchor Job

By Bill Carter The New York Times January 19, 2006

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 18 - Sean McManus, the new president of CBS News, said here Wednesday that he expected to name a new anchor for "CBS Evening News" within a year; that it would be a solo anchor, not a team; and that the person he selected would come from outside CBS News.

Mr. McManus ruled out commenting on whether Katie Couric, a host of NBC's "Today" show, was the focus of his interest, but all his descriptions of the kind of person he is looking for fit Ms. Couric, especially his commitment that the new anchor would come from outside the network's current news staff. Mr. McManus specifically ruled out a front-runner under the previous leadership at CBS News, John Roberts, the White House correspondent.

Listing the qualifications he was looking for, Mr. McManus mentioned "credibility, a persona, a presentation, great journalistic credentials, someone who had covered a lot of major stories, probably for a network."

Beyond that, he said, the new anchor should already have a high profile. "Ideally when we make the selection of who the anchor is going to be, it should be a person everyone associates with big news stories, and somebody who is very recognizable to the American public," he said.

In every particular that sounded like Ms. Couric, who has been the subject of CBS's rumored wooing for months. Mr. McManus refused to discuss anything about Ms. Couric. She cannot formally negotiate with CBS until May, when her NBC contract expires.

But when asked whether it was possible that CBS News might fill the position before Mr. Couric's contract runs out, Mr. McManus hesitated before saying, "I have no timetable." However, he had already said he did have a timetable in his head for making the move, so he added, "a timetable that I can discuss."

Bob Schieffer remains the anchor on an interim basis and has promised to remain in the job as long as CBS needs him. Mr. McManus said he was thrilled with Mr. Schieffer's performance. In recent months "CBS Evening News" has experienced ratings gains and has closed on the second-place network, ABC, which recently underwent an anchor change of its own, bringing in the team of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff.

Mr. McManus said he applauded ABC for trying something new but saw no reason to go with co-anchors. "If I could think of a reason why it's better to have two anchors, I would certainly consider that," he said. "I just haven't come up with that reason." He added that "the verdict is out on how the audience will react" to the ABC changes.

Mr. McManus's general view of the future of the CBS anchor job seemed to differ drastically from the one expressed exactly a year ago by the CBS chairman, Leslie Moonves, who argued for revolutionary changes. Mr. McManus said, "I don't see any reason for us to tear up the format or break the mold."

Mr. McManus conceded that not many names would be in the pool of people who fit his criteria. "It is a very, very small number of people," he said. He also seemed to clear the way for CBS to pay the record-setting salary - the rumored figure has been $20 million a year - that many have predicted it would take to win Ms. Couric.

Mr. McManus shrugged off a recent recommendation from Andy Rooney, the "60 Minutes" commentator, that CBS spend the money it may have to lavish on Ms. Couric to hire a batch of new correspondents instead. Mr. McManus said that CBS would have ample resources to pay for news coverage and come up with a big salary for a new anchor.

Mr. Roberts would clearly have cost the network much less, but Mr. McManus said he was not in the running. "Right now we are looking in a different direction," he said, adding, "John has been an excellent White House correspondent."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/arts/television/19cbs.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:19 PM

(From Marc Berman’s Thursday, January 19, 2006 Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
The Winter TV Critics Tour
CBS: Opening Executive Comments

With a potpourri of hit product tailored to audiences of all ages on six nights of the week (Saturday, of course, is the exception), CBS remains a textbook example of how to program a network. The Eye net, in fact, won the first 15 weeks of the season in total viewers – the longest consecutive winning streak of any network since 1988. Season to-date, CBS also ranks a solid No. 1 among adults 25-54, and remains in a horse race for first with ABC among adults 18-49. With established hits like Survivor, The Amazing Race, Two and a Half Men, King of Queens, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Without A Trace, 60 Minutes, Cold Case, Numb3rs and now…Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer and Close To Home, CBS is poised for continued success in the future.

As the network looks ahead, in addition to sitcoms Courting Alex and The New Adventures of Old Christine, and dramas Love Monkey (which debuted to modest results on Tuesday) and The Unit in midseason, CBS has acquired the rights to Game Show Marathon. Combining quiz and reality, Game Show Marathon is a tournament-style competition where celebrities (you know, the “B” level ones, I’m sure) compete in a classic game show in every episode. Also coming up at CBS are several telenovela-style dramas that are being targeted for two airings per week this summer, the return of last summer’s Rock Star: INXS, and a micro-series called The Courier. The Courier is a short film that will air in primetime during commercial breaks in serialized installments of one minute or less over seven nights.

Although I personally have questioned CBS’ over-emphasis on crime related programming, the recent success of Criminal Minds (which airs opposite ABC’s Lost) tells me there is no end in sight to this cluttered, but successful, type of story-telling. Maybe the network should develop a comedy with a crime solving flavor (a la ABC classic Barney Miller).

CBS, in addition, remains supportive of its perennial Sunday Movie franchise, despite the absence of the long-form format on its competitors, and is still in development with George Clooney for a live remake of classic theatrical Network.

As to the perennial question of whether the network will expand its successful CSI franchise, according to Nina Tassler, president, CBS Entertainment:

“Never say never, but right now we are feeling confident that the three hours that we have are growing creatively, and still performing very well. So right now we have no plans.”

Regarding what we can expect in the current development season on CBS:

“This year I can tell you that we certainly concentrated on thinking outside of the box, trying new genres, experimenting with new kinds of storytelling,” said Tassler. “One of the projects we have picked up is a show called Jericho, which is about a small community in the Midwest that looks out over the horizon one afternoon and sees a mushroom cloud over the Denver area. And the story unfolds in a sort of mysterious way, with slightly comedic relationships between the characters in this small town.”

Although the return of Fox’s American Idol will likely shift the balance of power among adults 18-49 in primetime, rock-solid CBS should have no trouble remaining the dominant player in total viewership.

On the CBS Panel Front:

COURTING ALEX (comedy)
Monday 9:30 p.m.

The Premise:
Statuesque Jenna Elman is Alex, an attractive, single, workaholic attorney who has everything in life with the exception of one thing…a life.

Who Was on the Panel:
Jenna Elfman and executive producer Rob Hanning.

The Scoop:
Regarding the inevitable comparison to the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, according to Rob Hanning:

“Back then it was the 1970s and it was a huge deal, Mary striking out on her own, moving to a new city, working in the man’s world. We tried to sort of update that concept a little bit, but now it’s sort of coming back the other way. Women can work their whole lives to prove they’re as good as men, but then at a certain point realize they have lost an important part of who they are. They can get so caught up in having a career that they forget about what the wonderful part of being a woman is in the first place.”

The Reality:
Sandwiched between Two and a Half Men and CSI: Miami, there is no reason why the affable Courting Alex should not succeed. Although I am never one to tout a new series that is reminiscent of a former classic, the pilot episode of worthy Courting Alex has the look and feel of the old Mary Tyler Moore Show (complete with her Lou Grant-like TV Dad Dabney Coleman). Let’s hope that subsequent episodes have that same flavor.

If Jenna Elman and company can match the ratings of respectable former occupant Out of Practice (which is on the fence, despite dramatically improving in quality), there is a future for Elfman’s Alex, who just might be able to turn the world on with her smile.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE (comedy)
Time period to be announced

The Premise:
Former Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus attempts another comeback (remember the awful Watching Ellie?) in a comedy about a divorced working mother who finds her life suddenly complicated when her ex-husband starts dating a younger woman.

Who Was On the Panel:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and executive producer/creator Kari Lizer

The Scoop:
Since it was obvious Julia Louis-Dreyfus would be asked a question about her former character on Seinfeld, here is what she had to say about distancing herself from Elaine.

“I don’t want to break away from her. I feel very proud about playing that part for a long time. My goal is to play somebody just plain funny. And I think the difference with this character is that perhaps she is a little more grounded and a bit more real in a way that Elaine wasn’t. But I would say that she has a pathetic quality that is similar, so set your TiVo’s.”

The Reality:
Although the Seinfeld “curse” looms on the horizon (think The Michael Richards Show, Bob Patterson, Listen Up, and the aforementioned Watching Ellie), had Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her former co-stars taken a well-deserved (and much-needed) break from the sitcom world, appealing looking The Old Adventures of Old Christine would seem like more or a sure thing. With Courting Alex occupying the plum Monday 9:30 p.m. time period, maybe Old Christine can temporarily inherit the Monday 8:30 p.m. slot in place of the overrated How I Met Your Mother. If it ends up on Wednesday, the Seinfeld curse will likely snag another victim.

Did You Know?:
The New Adventures of Old Christine is actually Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ fourth regularly scheduled sitcom. One year prior to Seinfeld she was featured in NBC’s short-lived Day By Day.

LOVE MONKEY (drama)
Tuesday 9 p.m.

The Premise:
Based on the best-selling book by Kyle Smith, former Ed star Tom Cavanagh plays a 30something up-and-coming single record producer who tries to juggle work and dating in New York City with the help of his friends and brother-in-law (Jason Priestley).

Who Was on the Panel:
Tom Cavanagh, Jason Priestley, Judy Greer, executive producer/creator Michael Rauch, executive producer Mark Johnson and music supervisor Nic Harcourt.

The Scoop:
When asked what it is like to play a more mature role rather than a teenager on Beverly Hills, 90210, here is what Jason Priestley had to say:

“The experience of being on a show like Beverly Hills, 90210, albeit a wonderful experience, is also a terrifying experience as a young actor. You don’t have to look very far through the Actors Guild directory to come across the first young guy who was big, and then crashed and burned and ended up dead at the door of the Wiltern Theater. I mean, it’s gone on and on for a long time.

So to be able to have the opportunity to come back on a show like this and play an older, more mature character, and continue to work in the business, in which I love, is a wonderful thing.”

The Reality:
Since Love Monkey debuted on Tuesday of this week, let’s begin with the rating results. Airing at 10 p.m. out of a repeat of CSI (instead of its regularly scheduled 9 p.m. time period), Love Monkey finished third in total viewers (8.57 million) behind NBC’s Law & Order: SVU and ABC’s Boston Legal, but second among adults 18-49 (3.4/ 9). Although retention out of the CSI encore could have been better in total viewers (70 percent), a loss in the second half-hour of 1.62 million viewers (9.38 to 7.76 million) and 14 percent among adults 18-49 (3.7/ 9 to 3.2/ 8) could be concerning.

Assuming Fox will bombard us with more expanded episodes of American Idol (why shouldn’t they, after all?), Love Monkey will certainly not benefit. But even without Idol potentially in the competitive mix, Love Monkey’s only real chance is to become a cult favorite among young adults. Although the premise is ambitious (and the New York shot scenes only adds flavor to the show), like classic ABC drama thirtysomething the premise is limited.

THE UNIT (crime drama)
The period to be determined

The Premise:
A covert team of special force operatives risk their lives on undercover missions around the globe, as their wives and families maintain life on the homefront.

Who Was on the Panel:
Dennis Haysbert, Scott Foley, Robert Patrick, Regina Taylor, Audrey Marie Anderson, executive producer Shawn Ryan, and technical advisor/writer/producer Eric L. Haney.

The Scoop:
Shawn Ryan, who created FX drama The Shield, described the differences of working on The Unit and The Shield as follows:

“I have adopted, from my own personal taste in the editing room and with certain things, a different style on this show. We have a composer on The Unit. We have no composed music on The Shield, so I’ve been working to use composed music in a way that feels authentic and genuine to me. I have certain editing rules I apply to myself on The Shield that I don’t apply to this show because this works better with a slightly more traditional editing style than The Shield does.”

The Reality:
Although I personally keep wondering just how many crime related dramas CBS can support, the success of the recently introduced Criminal Minds means there could very well be room for more.

Press Tour Tidbits: Notes of Interest

American Idol Season Premiere Tears the House Down:
Although I said I would not be reporting on ratings this week, I could not pass up the opportunity to crow about Fox’s American Idol season-opener. The 5th season premiere of the must see reality/competition series on Tuesday kicked off with a record 35.5 million viewers, a 15.3/34 among adults 18-49, and a 14.7/36 among adults 18-34 from 8-10 p.m., according to the fast national results. Comparably, that led Fox to its highest rated night ever with entertainment programming in total viewers, and second highest among adults 18-49 (behind only the Joe Millionaire finale on Feb. 17, 2003).

Despite the Competition from American Idol…
…Unsung CBS hero NCIS stood firm in the 8 p.m. hour with 17.47 million viewers.

The New Sybil:
A remake of classic TV movie Sybil will begin production for CBS on Jan. 22 in Nova Scotia. This updated version of Sybil, featuring Jessica Lange and Tammy Blanchard, is based on the best-selling book of the same name about a young woman with a multiple personality disorder.

CBS Evening News Anchor Plan:
Since the question on everybody’s minds at the CBS News executive session was who is going to become the permanent anchor, here is what Sean McManus, president, CBS News and CBS Sports had to say:

“We have a plan – we have a number of plans, actually. And I know it doesn’t make your jobs any easier, but I am not going to be able to really specifically address those plans for obvious reasons. But in the interim, Bob Scheiffer has said to me that he will be the anchor of the CBS Evening News for as long as I need him to do that job, and I think that’s encouraging. He is anything but a placeholder. He’s actually growing our audience which, I think, is really encouraging.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:24 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Is CBS closing in on Couric?

By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Jan. 19, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. - If you read between the lines, CBS appears confident of signing Today star Katie Couric as anchor of the Evening News.

Without mentioning her by name, new CBS News president Sean McManus yesterday said his plan was to go with a solo anchor from outside the network, someone with a very high profile and "a wealth of experience" reporting for one of the Big 3.

Couric, 49, whose NBC contract expires in May, happens to meet all those criteria.

Which is why, as everyone in the free world knows, CBS czar Leslie Moonves desperately wants her to take over the third-place newscast. Good soldier Bob Schieffer has kept the seat warm since Dan Rather was forced to step down in March.

In his first session as news chief with TV critics gathered here, the ever-politic McManus, also head of CBS Sports, said he's narrowed his search to "relatively few" candidates.

Asked in an interview to use a football metaphor to describe his point in the selection process, McManus said he was "in the red zone." (Translation: your team is within 20 yards of the opponent's goal line.) He could have an announcement before May.

If hired, Couric would be the first woman to solo anchor a weeknight network newscast, and the first Evening News anchor from outside CBS since its debut in its current 30-minute format on Sept. 2, 1963.

Contrary to his boss' past pronouncements of ditching the "voice of God" single anchor, McManus prefers the traditional format.

"It's less cumbersome, more efficient, and I think, more comfortable for the American public to get their news from a single anchor than from two," he said in an interview. "... I'm not sure what two anchors can do that one anchor can't do."

CBS doesn't even have one.

McManus' predecessor, Andrew Heyward, was highly criticized for not having developed a bench. McManus said he'll build one by gradually increasing the visibility of such correspondents as Lara Logan, Russ Mitchell and Mika Brzezinski.

"I'm not sure right now that we have anyone who has all the qualifications that an anchor should have," said McManus, 50, named to the post in October. (White House correspondent John Roberts, once the front-runner, is excellent at his work, McManus said, "but we're looking in a different direction.")

Defining the characteristics of his dream anchor "is a little bit like defining pornography," McManus said. "You know it when you see it.

"It must be someone with great journalistic credibility; having been seen covering a lot of major stories. Someone with the ability to talk, if necessary, over the course of many hours, sometimes days, about a complex situation like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, and put it in context."

As for the celebrity factor, "I don't think anybody would have the nerve to take the risk of putting an unknown quantity in front of the American public," he said. "Fortunately or unfortunately, [fame] is a prerequisite."

Even if the new anchor wants to bring in his/her own executive producer, newly named Rome Hartman "is there for the long run," McManus said. The anchor would, however, be welcome to contribute pieces to 60 Minutes - reportedly one of Couric's requests.

On the money side, the new hire's expected astronomical salary is separate from the news division budget and won't affect staffing or coverage, McManus promised.

That said, McManus put CBS News' current staff on notice that he's keeping a close eye on everyone.

"Every single person is being evaluated... . People are a little bit scared. That's OK. I think it's very healthy." In McManus' view, staffers should be thinking: "I better be pretty darn good at what I do, and I better be working every single minute of my waking hours."

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13657666.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:39 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
The oracle of old media

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star Thursday, January 19, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. _ For a glimpse of the future, some people consult oracles. I go to parties.

Which is how I found myself walking in an oval inside a former wind tunnel turned Pasadena hipster space, with 80-foot-high Alpine images projected on the walls. This was the winter-themed press tour party for CBS. As the vast room filled to capacity, I lapped the likes of playwright David Mamet, superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer, and of course, the talent: David Caruso, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Poppy Montgomery, Kathryn Morris, Tyler Williams, Phil Keoghan, Mary-Louise Parker ... all starring on hit shows on CBS, or its sister networks UPN and Showtime.

Still, we reporters were waiting on the man who made these people stars (or made them stars again). Finally, Leslie Moonves arrived, with gorgeous wife Julie Chen in tow. As the head of TV's most-watched network and overseer of one of the largest media empires on the planet, Moonves, imposing in black and burnt brown (the latter being the color of his tan), presided easily over this semi-annual critics' tour celebration of his number-oneness.

But that's all in the here-and-now. We newshounds wanted to know what, or rather who, was in CBS's future.

"Are you going to ask me a Katie Couric question?" said Moonves, feigning surprise (he even stepped backwards for effect).

Of course we were! Since his news division president, Sean McManus, had earlier in the day all but reduced the field of "CBS Evening News" anchor candidates to one, we naturally wanted to know what the big guy thought. Moonves reportedly offered the "Today Show" anchor $20 million a year to leave NBC (though other CBSers said that figure was way high).

"Katie's someone we like a lot," said Moonves. "But you know what? Katie's been at NBC a long, long time. We'll leave it at that."

Later someone asked the oracle of CBS about Google and iPods. Unlike a lot of CEOs who just like talking about new media, Moonves brings game. Sure, he presides over an old-media empire. But who do you think is supplying the content people actually want to download?

"The core business of Comcast, of Google, will never be about showing 'Survivor' or 'CSI,'" Moonves said. "I said on Jim Cramer's (CNBC) show, 'For all you bums that don't want to work in the middle of the day, turn on your computer. You can watch the "CSI" from the night before!' And they all cheered."

Moonves is already selling repeats of his hottest shows on select Comcast systems and through Google Video. By the time you read this, he may have done two more deals. And with his status as a hitmaker, it's only a matter of time before Moonves expands the CBS empire to include a film studio, to make motion pictures you can stream on your laptop.

(By the way, if you've been wondering who would watch a video on a 2-inch iPod screen, the answer according to CBS researchers is: almost no one. Of the five million videos Americans downloaded with iTunes last fall, nearly all were watched on iTunes itself. Probably in full-screen mode.)

One reporter wanted to know if Moonves had a certain George Clooney project in his future: a remake of Sidney Lumet's and Paddy Chayefsky's masterful TV satire "Network."

"Potentially, as a live broadcast," he said. "Everything that happened there, happened today. It's not dated at all." Then, smiling, he added, "And I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"

Someone said Moonves, a former TV actor, would seem well suited to play the role of Arthur Jensen, the network head immortalized by Ned Beatty with such lines as, "The world is a business, Mr. Beale; it has been since man crawled out of the slime."

Did he want the part? "I do," said Moonves.

He didn't miss a beat.

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

Did "Survivor" host Jeff Probst see Danni Boatwright coming?

He did not. The terror of Tonganoxie walked away with the ultimate "Survivor" crown and $1 million with surprising ease.

"I didn't realize Danni was playing until six people were left," said the Wichita native and "Survivor" host, who recently signed on for the next five series. "At tribal councils I realized, 'Who is not a part of the conversation here?' Danni!

"I didn't know until I watched the episodes how subtly Danni was playing. She would even say, 'I've got to figure out a way to get Judd mad at Steph.'"

She did, and the results spoke for themselves: Danni won by a 6-to-1 vote.

"I thought for sure it was going 4-3 either way," said Probst. "I had no idea Steph was that disliked and disrespected."

The next round of "Survivor," which starts Feb. 2, is set off the coast of Panama and features an especially heartless new twist: an "exile island" where select castaways can be banished by their teammates.

"When it's raining, there's no cover," said Probst. "You just have to curl up into a ball."

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/01/the_oracle_of_o.html#more

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:50 PM

Wednesday’s network prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest Prime Time Ratings news which is the first post in this thread.

fredfa

01-19-06, 12:59 PM

TV Ratings
Huge 'Idol' boosts Fox's celeb skaters

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 19, 2006

Another unbelievable night from “American Idol” boosted Fox’s newest reality show, “Skating with Celebrities,” to an impressive debut. But even an “Idol” lead-in couldn’t knock off ABC’s “Lost.”

“Skating” averaged a 7.2 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, very nice for a premiere, but still a good bit behind “Lost’s” 8.1 average that hour.

That came after “Idol” smashed premiere records again, averaging a 13.0 overnight rating among 18-49s, up 17 percent versus an 11.1 for last season’s Wednesday premiere. That premiere, however, aired head-to-head versus “Lost” when the island drama was in the 8 p.m. timeslot. It moved to 9 this season.

“Idol” also averaged 31.5 million total viewers, about 4 million fewer than caught Tuesday’s season debut but up almost 5 million, or 19 percent, over last year.

“Skating” proved a much stronger lead-out to “American Idol” than “Point Pleasant” was after last year’s Wednesday premiere. It certainly gives the network something to look forward to Monday nights, when “Skating” officially moves there next week.

“Skating’s” 7.2 was up 33 percent versus a 5.4 rating for “Point Pleasant” following “Idol’s” Wednesday premiere last year. Of course “Skating” also had a much stronger “Idol” lead-in, and it did fall significantly, from a 7.9 to a 6.5, from its first to its second half hour. “Lost,” meanwhile, jumped half a point to an 8.3 in its second half hour.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2306.asp

fredfa

01-19-06, 04:09 PM

Congress and TV
Industry Pledges to Publicize V-Chip, Program Blocking

By Todd Shields MediaWeek.com JANUARY 19, 2006 -

Broadcasters, pay TV providers and others on Thursday used a Senate hearing to announce a campaign to publicize program controls such as the V-chip and blocking and filtering technologies offered by cable and satellite providers.

The effort amounts to a bid to forestall legislation by promoting existing ways parents can block programs they find to be objectionable.

"I'm pleased the industry has responded," said Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chair of the Commerce Committee.

The campaign is to feature 18 months of public-service announcements coordinated by the Ad Council, at a total cost of $250 million to $300 million, said Jack Valenti, former president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Participants are to include the MPAA; the four major broadcast networks; the major trade associations for the cable, broadcast and consumer electronics industries; and both major direct-broadcast satellite companies.

"Never before has such a cooperative cross-industry venture been attempted," Valenti said. "We will conduct research and create informational and educational messages which in turn will be transported to parents throughout the country."

Stevens later told reporters the Commerce Committee is likely to wait until it concludes a series of hearings on telecommunications in March before considering legislation addressing indecency on TV and radio. He could not predict what form the legislation might take.

The Senate has yet to consider a bill the House passed last year to sharply increase fines for broadcast indecency. Senators have introduced other measures, including one that could subject cable and satellite companies to indecency regulation that now applies only to broadcasters.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001881926

cgh3rd

01-20-06, 12:14 AM

I noticed the last 3 days of ratings are listed. Thanks Fred!

Chuck

fredfa

01-20-06, 12:40 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Can UPN keep this party going?

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

We critics love to kick a network when it's down. That's one of the perks of the job.

But we hold a special spot in our hearts for TV's Rocky stories, the wee weblets, whenever they manage to turn themselves around. That occurs so rarely that when it happens, we lavish them with praise and applause, much in the way we would treat a toddler who uses the facilities for the first time. Its success means having to deal with a little less stinky you-know-what.

That is why UPN has been our darling for the past two years. No joke. We're actually trying to convince people to watch the channel now. A season ago UPN discovered "Veronica Mars," a series most viewers desperately need to discover even though it's on in one of the week's toughest timeslots: Wednesdays at 9. (Next week's episode is not to be missed. Really. It may be the best of the season.)

This season, "Everybody Hates Chris" came on the scene, becoming the highest rated comedy in the network's history and making UPN a Thursday night contender for the first time ever.

Now that we're in midseason --well, that's where the Cinderella story reverts from riches to rags. New drama "South Beach" hasn't made much of an impression, and the feel-good reality series "Get This Party Started," kicking off Feb. 7 at 9, is nice enough, but also feels a lot like minute 12 of Kristin Cavallari's post-"Laguna Beach" career.

And...that's all she wrote, "she" being UPN president Dawn Ostroff. There isn't much in the way of replacement programming, and trust us, these new entries? Highly replaceable.

In lieu of being realistic about the network's current slate, Ostroff prefers to look ahead. "We're very excited about the development for next season," Ostroff said. "We have some projects that just are across the board...Lots of different subject matter, and we're just in the process of now starting to pick up our pilots."

Could there be a nice Thursday companion to "Chris" among them? That is what seems to be missing.

Meanwhile, Ostroff must be hanging on until March 8, when the sixth "America's Next Top Model" cycle revs up for a two-hour return with Twiggy in tow. (Boo!) Cycle seven and eight have been greenlighted, ensuring that Tyra and J. Alexander will be making skinny chicks feel insecure about themselves through 2007.

In the pipeline:

• Ostroff said UPN has picked up a drama pilot from "Dawson's Creek" and "Scream" creator Kevin Williamson, which she forsees as a companion piece to "Veronica Mars." "It has a lot of interesting elements to it, a little bit of mystery to it," she said. "And the characters are very multi-dimensional and" blah blah blah. Moving on.

• UPN also is developing a pilot with Paul Rodriguez (the comedian) and Paul Rodriguez Jr. (the skateboard champion) about their father son relationship.

• And...hoo boy...we have a hybrid comedy-reality show with the working title "Out of Sync," starring Lance Bass and Joey Fatone of 'NSync, conceived as a modern day "Odd Couple." For those familiar with the "Odd Couple" dynamic, Joey is Oscar and Lance is Felix, according to Ostroff. Those of you too young to know what "The Odd Couple" is are the very viewers UPN is counting on to watch this show.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/print.asp?entryID=101157

fredfa

01-20-06, 12:42 AM

I noticed the last 3 days of ratings are listed. Thanks Fred!

Chuck

I'll try to keep them up for three days, Chuck.

(Although I hate to discourage people checking in every day!)

fredfa

01-20-06, 03:46 AM

Ratings Report
Viewers losing interest in ABC's 'Commander'

By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood Reporter Jan. 20, 2006

"Commander in Chief" is losing its grip on power.

The new ABC drama series, which earned star Geena Davis a Golden Globe Award this week for her role as the first female U.S. president, seems to be sinking into the same midterm malaise affecting the approval ratings of President Bush; "Commander's" ratings have been declining steadily since bowing to big numbers in September.

The series' downturn has industry insiders wondering whether its primary cause is the regime change that occurred behind the scenes after only six episodes were completed. Rod Lurie, creator and executive producer of the series, was replaced as showrunner by veteran TV producer Steven Bochco, reportedly to quell ABC's concerns over production delays.

Now the network and "Commander" producer Touchstone Television, ABC's fellow Walt Disney Co. subsidiary, are grappling with a dilemma that happens to be playing itself out in one of the series' own story lines: What will it take to get "Commander" re-elected for another term?

ABC, Touchstone and a spokesman for Lurie declined comment. A spokeswoman for Bochco did not return calls seeking comment.

When "Commander" premiered Sept. 27, the series displayed the makings of ABC's next hit, delivering more than 16 million total viewers -- the biggest haul for a Tuesday drama on any network in five years. Its second episode made it the only new series on TV to grow its audience from Week 1.

Over the following three weeks, "Commander" even saw its viewership trend up among viewers 18-49 and 25-54, outpacing stiff competition in the 9 p.m. hour, including NBC's "My Name Is Earl" and CBS' "The Amazing Race."

For the second consecutive season, ABC's decision to place most of its marketing efforts behind a particular show rather than its entire schedule seemed to be paying off. In fall 2004, then-incoming ABC Entertainment chief Stephen McPherson and Disney-ABC TV Group chairman Anne Sweeney had distinguished themselves by concentrating Disney's marketing muscle behind "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," turning them into instant hits.

But just when it looked like ABC had another hit on its hands, "Commander" began slipping through its fingers in November, dropping to fourth in the time slot among viewers 18-49. Original episodes took a breather last month, only to return Jan. 10 with a far smaller audience of 11.4 million viewers and its lowest marks yet in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. In each of those demos, "Commander" was down at least 30% from its premiere.

On Tuesday, "Commander" dropped even lower, which was to be expected against the two-hour series premiere of "American Idol." But even though NBC's "Earl" has been moved out of the Tuesday 9 p.m. slot to Thursday, "Commander" is sure to face an uphill climb should it remain on Tuesday because Fox's "Idol" is now the 800-pound gorilla of the night and will greatly benefit its 9 p.m. companion, "House."

What may prove more problematic for "Commander" in February is NBC's Olympics coverage because both programs skew older and female. "Commander" has the highest median age of all ABC series except the "Dancing With the Stars" results show, at 54.7 years old.

While "Commander" may not have lived up to its initial promise, it's a drawback that might ultimately prove to be a footnote to ABC for the 2005-06 season. With "Lost," "Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" humming, and the Super Bowl on its air next month, the network is still very much a contender to claim the 18-49 crown for the season.

Insiders say "Commander" could be experiencing something of an accelerated version of the fate that befell "The West Wing," which saw the success of its first seasons erode seemingly overnight once its original executive producers -- Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme -- left the show over creative differences with NBC.

Under Bochco's direction, the series hasn't made any noticeable creative shifts. But sources said Bochco hasn't quite gelled with "Commander," having never run a series he didn't create. Nor is the family-friendly, straight-laced "Commander" tonally consistent with the edgy programming he has made his hallmark over the years -- from NBC's "Hill Street Blues" to ABC's "NYPD Blue" to FX's "Over There." Sources also suggested Bochco now may exit the show at the end of the season to concentrate on other programming he is developing under a two-year deal he signed with Touchstone last year.

By all accounts, Bochco was pressed for duty because Lurie was overwhelmed by the many tasks he took on as showrunner. It was quickly evident that "Commander" was falling way behind schedule, and production was shut down for three weeks beginning in mid-November. The production slowdown created a six-week break from original episodes that began last month, which likely caused some viewers to forget it was on the air. Sources said another problem for "Commander" caused by its production delays is that the program has no time to engage in the reshooting other ABC series typically undergo.

Once "Commander" returned after its break, ABC's marketing efforts were said to be too focused on relaunching major midseason changes to Monday and Friday to devote much time to reintroducing the series. Newer spots tout Davis' Golden Globe win, which ABC hopes will remind viewers to check out "Commander."

As quickly as ABC moved to bring Bochco in after just two episodes aired, the damage may already have been done. Only the last three episodes of the 11 aired this season were entirely under Bochco's watch; a few in between were started by Lurie and completed by Bochco.

ABC could conceivably find a new time slot for "Commander" this season but may be reluctant to because the series has served its 10 p.m. lead-out "Boston Legal" well; "Commander" and "Legal" score high among upscale viewers in big urban markets, which appeals to advertisers. That said, "Commander" is almost certain to take a break in March, when ABC is expected to seed its schedule with midseason series.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001882235

fredfa

01-20-06, 11:31 AM

The Business of TV
Fox Sports Executive Places Big DirecTV Bet on Music

By Sallie Hofmeister Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

As chairman and chief executive of Fox Sports Television Group, David Hill has thrown the industry a few curveballs.

He gave the hockey puck a neon glow so viewers could see it better on the TV screen. Then, he made first-down lines yellow in pro football games. Perhaps his biggest consumer-friendly innovation is the "Fox box" — now a fixture across TV sports — an on-screen reminder of the score and the time remaining.

Now the 59-year-old maverick Australian is bringing his flair for invention to another News Corp. property — DirecTV. Today, the nation's leading satellite TV provider will unveil Hill's first big bet: a weekly, one-hour live-music program that will be available exclusively to DirecTV's 15 million subscribers.

A spinoff of a top-rated British program, "CD USA" will feature interviews, behind-the-scenes reports and performances by as many as seven bands per episode, including big-name acts such as the Goo Goo Dolls, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Linkin Park.

"MTV has moved away from music. The only time you see live performances nowadays is in the Grammys," said Hill, who last year was dispatched to shake things up at DirecTV by his boss, News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. With the new Saturday show, Hill said, he seeks to do more than fill "a glaring hole in our lineup."

"The hope is that it sparks a schoolyard conversation on Monday morning," he said, "and that little Suzy comes home and tells her mom that unless she has it, she'll be a social pariah."

"CD USA" and other new offerings in the coming months represent the first major consumer initiatives by DirecTV since Murdoch took control two years ago. They also mark the El Segundo-based satellite TV provider's entry into production at a time of intensifying competition with cable TV operators.

By March, DirecTV expects to add two more programs: a dating service that Hill describes as a "shopping mall for singles," and "The Massive Gaming League," which will feature video game tournaments.

"This is going to be the next big thing in sports," predicted Hill, pointing to the popularity of such face-offs in Japan.

The programming initiatives, which will be supported by advertising, provide a glimpse of Murdoch's plans for squeezing value out of News Corp.'s recent $1.6-billion investment in the Internet.

Hill said programs would target the Apple iPod generation that he refers to as "boomer shadows." These 80 million or so offspring of baby boomers, who are ages 10 to 29, "are going to rule the world of public opinion," Hill said. "These teenagers have more disposable income than ever before."

Although teenagers are a fickle, hard-to-reach group, Hill says promotional tie-ins on News Corp.'s Web properties will help drive them to DirecTV Channel 101, where the original programming will run.

For instance, he said, members of News Corp.'s MySpace.com, a social networking site popular among teenagers, will vote on which of the more than 200,000 bands that post music on the website should perform on "CD USA" that week.

Similarly, there will be a yet-to-be-determined tie-in between the Massive Gaming League and IGN, a video game site bought by News Corp. last year.

"As his strategy unfolds, we'll work with him," Ross Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive Media, said of Hill. Cooperation will come easily, Levinsohn said, since he previously worked with many members of Hill's DirectTV team when they all were at Fox Sports.

"David has Rupert's ear. He's one of Rupert's go-to guys," said Levinsohn, who previously ran Fox Sports' new-media ventures. "He's fearless. He's passionate. He's fun to be around. He goes a mile a second. Some people think outside the box. David thinks outside the universe."

Hill's entrepreneurial zeal, a hallmark of Fox and News Corp., came as a culture shock to many DirecTV employees. Under the company's previous owner, General Motors Corp., the environment was slower-paced, hierarchical and bureaucratic.

By contrast, the News Corp. style is to push authority down the ranks. Employees sink or swim. Decision-making can be rapid fire and strategic directions can shift overnight.

DirecTV insiders said they learned quickly that Hill would not tolerate being told "no."

Impatient for change, Hill brought in a new marketing team to emphasize the television experience rather than simply the technical wizardry that the engineers who had launched the service in 1994 had stressed.

He tinkered with the scripts read by customer service representatives, vowing to make the experience of calling DirecTV more conversational.

Then he started fiddling with DirecTV's programming. For hard-core football fans, he added to DirecTV's signature "NFL Sunday Ticket" package of games by offering several extras. For an additional fee, subscribers can get a channel of highlights from all eight games across the league, two channels that allow them to switch back and forth among the games, and a channel that gives them a shortcut through the games without commercials.

"Everything he touches is successful," said Steve Bornstein, president of the NFL Network and former head of Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN. "He has a unique perception of what fans want and then goes about creating it."

DirecTV insiders say Hill has begun to re-energize the troops after a period of high turnover and low morale. Most of DirecTV's top management has been replaced since Murdoch took charge and installed a new team led by television veteran Chase Carey as chairman.

Some early miscalculations contributed to the turmoil, according to analysts and former DirecTV executives. A plan by Murdoch to move DirecTV's headquarters to New York created distress in the ranks before it was scrapped. Murdoch's choice as DirecTV president, Mitch Stern, fueled subscriber growth. But he was ousted after about 15 months because of repeated clashes with Carey.

Hill's new slate of programming comes at a time of change throughout the industry.

In recent months, both cable and satellite TV providers have sought to differentiate themselves by unveiling exclusive features and programming. For example, customers of both services will soon be able to order network series such as CBS' "Survivor" and NBC's "The Office" on a per-episode basis. On Wednesday, as Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s cable unit launched a new exercise channel on each of their video-on-demand services, DirecTV took the wraps off a special package of family channels, following a similar move by the cable industry last month in response to political pressures.

But particularly because Murdoch owns television channels and networks, a movie studio and satellite operations worldwide, analysts had expected many more dramatic changes by now.

Not surprisingly, cable operators scoffed Thursday when told of DirecTV's original programs.

"The concepts don't sound ground-breaking," said Fred Dressler, a top executive at Time Warner Cable, noting that concert series were available online and that Comcast already had a dating service available on video on demand. "Sounds like a weak response to cable's video-on-demand offerings."

Some analysts are also skeptical that DirecTV can break through the clutter.

"DirecTV is taking baby steps to becoming a mini-HBO," said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "But with only 15 million subscribers, it will be hard to justify the kinds of investments that attract top talent or generate sufficient buzz to attract non-subscribers to DirecTV."

Hill would not discuss his programming budgets but acknowledged that he was spending heavily on the new initiatives.

"It's bloody expensive," he said of the live-music program, which has three hosts and an elaborate set with multiple staging areas in Los Angeles.

Hill doesn't seem worried. Happiest calling the shots in the production truck at a football game, he'll be in Seattle this Sunday producing the National Football Conference championship game.

Probably the only person alive who has run a network sports division in three countries, Hill ran the sports division of Australia's Nine Network before being tapped in 1988 by Murdoch to start Sky Television, Britain's first satellite TV service. By 1991, Hill had launched Britain's only dedicated sports channel, Sky Sports.

Two years later, he joined Fox Broadcasting as president of Fox Sports, which changed the power structure of network TV by snaring rights to the coveted NFL games from CBS.

In the late 1990s, Hill spent several years overseeing the Fox broadcast network but found the phoniness in Hollywood hard to take.

To create "CD USA," Hill turned to an old friend and seasoned music producer. Conor McAnally, an executive at Blaze Television, has produced "CD UK" for six years, turning it into one of Britain's top-rated programs. Hill's daughter Jane works for McAnally as a producer on the show.

Everyone agrees that scheduling as many as seven acts a week for "CD USA" will be a bear.

"Not a lot of people do live stuff because it's hard," said Tom Calderone, general manager of Viacom Inc.'s VH1 channel. "You need the right relationships, you need to be sensitive to artists' needs. The scheduling and remixing can be complicated."

McAnally acknowledged that the project was challenging. He is betting the show will benefit logistically and financially from the fact that "CD UK" has worked out many of the kinks.

"You couldn't start a show like this from scratch today," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/cotown/la-fi-hill19jan19,1,4440734,print.story?coll=la-headlines-business-enter

fredfa

01-20-06, 11:45 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Showtime-UPN

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

Amid reports that it was in the running to pick up the acclaimed comedy "Arrested Development," Showtime channel unveiled its new slate Thursday, including "Liza with a Z," a recently restored live performance by Liza Minnelli that has not aired on TV in 34 years.

Public radio's Ira Glass will make a new series based on his program, "This American Life," for Showtime. Damon Wayans will produce a new comedy sketch show, "The Underground," that Showtime said would be like his groundbreaking show "In Living Color," but "on steroids." And Jonathan Rhys-Meyers will play a young Henry VIII in a new period drama, "The Tudors."

• Showtime's head of entertainment, Robert Greenblatt, said that Showtime was in negotiations to pick up "Arrested Development," winner of the Emmy Award for best comedy, should Fox decide to cancel it. ABC has also expressed interest in picking up "Arrested Development." Though poorly rated on network TV, the show would certainly give a lift to Showtime's subscriber base and ratings, which are far behind HBO's but did rise in the past year, according to its chairman Matthew Blank.

• Greenblatt announced that the reality series starring illusionists Penn and Teller had been renewed for two more seasons. However, the futures of other Showtime series, including "Barbershop," are on hold pending a decision on "Arrested Development."

• UPN announced Thursday that Chris Rock and Will Smith will each direct episodes of the shows they helped create, the comedies "Everybody Hates Chris" and "All of Us." Both episodes will air this spring.

• QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We consider this his lost sixth film." -- Producer Neil Meron on Bob Fosse, who choreographed and directed "Liza with a Z," the 1972 television special that will air April 1 in a restored version on Showtime.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/01/i_say_it_here_i.html

fredfa

01-20-06, 11:52 AM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Showtime Unveils New Slate

By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek.com JANUARY 20, 2006 -

Showtime took the wraps off four new series and at least six new documentaries at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour Thursday, including an adaptation of Ira Glass' radio show and a sketch comedy series starring Damon Wayans.

Billed as "In Living Color on steroids," the 10-episode, half-hour sketch show Damon Wayans' The Underground will bow this fall. The show marks Wayans' return to series television after ABC canceled the sitcom My Wife and Kids in May 2005.

The premium network will also begin production in Chicago this spring on six episodes of This American Life, based on the long-running National Public Radio program.

Showtime jumps from the Midwest to the Middle Ages with the 10-part historical drama The Tudors, starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, who plays a young Henry VIII. The Tudors is expected to debut in early 2007.

Lastly, Showtime will begin shooting its previously announced one-hour crime series Dexter this spring, ahead of a late-2006 premiere. Six Feet Under's Michael C. Hall stars as an amiable forensics expert who also happens to be a serial killer.

The network also announced it will bring back Penn & Teller: Bullshit for two more seasons, and will return its macabre anthology series Masters of Horror for another run.

Lastly, Showtime has six documentaries in production, touching down on a variety of subjects, including the hostage crisis in the Russian town of Beslan that resulted in the deaths of 186 school children, and an exploration of deviant sex acts. All docs in production are expected to air sometime this year.

One show that Showtime hasn't officially signed off on is Arrested Development, which is looking for a new home after Fox announced that this would be its final season. Showtime confirmed that it is in negotiations with Arrested producer
20th Century Fox Television, but reiterated that a deal had not been ironed out as of Thursday.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001882373

DCSholtis

01-20-06, 12:16 PM

Glad to see Penn&Teller:Bullshit back for another 2 years. Great show, IMO and funny as hell. Thanks fredfa!

fredfa

01-20-06, 12:51 PM

The Winter TV Critics Tour
On the Fox Panel Front

By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com JANUARY 20, 2006

AMERICAN IDOL
Tuesday and Wednesday 8 p.m.
[SIZE=4]The Premise:
Unless you are living under a rock, you know what American Idol is all about.
[SIZE=4]Who Was On the Panel:
Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick.

Who Was Mysteriously Missing:
Paula Abdul. Apparently, Paula hurt one of her eyes and could not attend. Hmmm…

The Scoop:
Since you are all wondering how the panel responded to the obvious Paula Abdul scandal question, here goes:

Question:
"For the producers, since Paula Abdul is not here to talk about this, would you jump in and voice your opinion on the alleged scandal regarding the contestant and all the surrounding publicity and hype that went with that last year?"

Nigel Lythgoe:
"I think Peter Liguori (who danced around the same question in his earlier session) put an end to that this morning. And I am very happy to leave it there, to be quite frank with you. The series needs to move on, and we have to move on, too."

As to what the official rules between a judge and a contestant now are, and how they differ from before, according to Lythgoe:
"They don't differ at all. They're exactly the same. I just think they have been brought out again and pointed out again. But it has always been the same, and that is no fraternization."

The Reality:
Since American Idol airs in only a five month (January through May) window, there is no reason to believe this amazing juggernaut will slow down anywhere in the near future. But considering last season's aforementioned Paula Abdul scandal, it might have been time to put the cheerleading coach (who offers nothing but unnecessary gushing) to permanent rest.

For more on this subject, don't miss the Mr. Television column in the current edition of Mediaweek.

THE LOOP (comedy)
Thursday 8:30 p.m.
]The Premise:
The youngest executive at the corporate headquarters of a major airline (Bret Harrison), the first of his friends to get a job, must find a way to balance his career and the serious social demands of his three roommates.

Who Was On the Panel:
Bret Harrison, Philip Baker Hall, Amanda Loncar, Sarah Mason, Mimi Rogers, Joy Osmanski and executive producers Will Gluck and Pam Brady.

The Scoop:
For a true feel of what The Loop is really about, according to Will Gluck:

"Both Pam (Brady) and I both had our first jobs pretty young, and we both had friends that didn't have jobs yet. So we would have to go to work and try to be adults and then come home. And we didn't want to be adults at home yet. We still wanted to be kind of young after-college people. So it was tough - and the people at work did not understand the stuff at home, and the people at home did not understand the stuff at work. So there was this kind of dichotomy that was tough."

That is The Loop.

The Reality:
With both That '70s Show and Malcolm in the Middle officially ending, it makes sense for Fox to find a new comedy populated with young, lively faces tailored to an adult 18-34 audience. But given that Fox has scheduled its other new comedy, Free Ride, in the better time period (Sunday at 9:30 p.m. vs. Thursday at 8:30 p.m.), The Loop will face an uphill battle for survival. Opposite CBS' Survivor and out of the fading That '70s Show, this is a long-shot.

Did You Know?:
To-date, Mimi Rogers is 0-3 in the regularly scheduled series department. Remember short-lived The Rousters (1983), Paper Dolls (1984) and The Geena Davis Show (2000)?

FREE RIDE (comedy)
Sunday 9:30 p.m.

The Premise:
After moving back with his parents in his small Midwestern town, a recent college graduate (Josh Dean) finds that life as he once knew it is no longer necessarily the same.

Who Was On the Panel:
Josh Dean, Erin Cahill, Loretta Fox, Allan Havey, Dave Sheridan, and executive producer Rob Roy Thomas.

The Scoop:
Since what could set Free Ride apart from the typical network sitcom is being partially improvised, here is how Dave Sheridan compares Free Ride to Arrested Development:

"I think the overall difference is that Arrested Development worked with a 30-page script. We work with an eight-page outline, never more than eight pages. There is no preparation. You don't have to read the script, so I literally would wake up, take a shower, and show up. And even though we were working out of an eight-page outline, the way Rob would work is he didn't want the actors to get too far along."

Obviously, there is no reason to believe Free Ride will fully maintain its Family Guy lead-in. That won't happen opposite the second half of ABC's Desperate Housewives. But if the retention comes close to 80 percent, there could be potential.

[COLOR=deepskyblue] SKATING WITH CELEBRITIES (non-scripted)
Wednesday 9 p.m.

The Premise:
In this clone of ABC's Dancing With the Stars set on ice (what would a season be without Fox not copying another network's successful formula?), six "C" level celebrities (you'll know what I mean when you see the names in attendance) are paired with six professional figure skaters to compete for the figure skating title.

Who Was On the Panel:
Celebrity skaters Jillian Barberie, Todd Bridges, Dave Coulier, Deborah Gibson, Bruce Jenner and Kristy Swanson; skating professionals Tai Babilonia and Lloyd Eisler; judges Dorothy Hamill, Mark Lund and Sir John Nicks; host Summer Sanders; and executive producers Arthur Smith and Kent Weed.

The Scoop:
As to how the six "celebrities" were chosen, according to Arthur Smith:

"We had over 75 celebrities come out and try to make it on the show. And then you build a cast with the most interesting, diverse people that you can find. We have such a great group. Their dedication is going to amaze you."

The Reality:
If this is the most interesting, diverse cast they can come up with, I would hate to think who the other 69 "celebrities" trying out were. Out of American Idol, there should be plenty of audience left to make Skating With Celebrities a reasonable, short-term, hit.

THIEF (FX, crime drama)
Wednesday 9 p.m.
The Premise:

Led by Andre Braugher's Nick Atwater, a robbery crew of desperate individuals attempts to pull off the most unlikely and dangerous heist of their careers -- $40 million from the U.S. government.

Who Was On the Panel:
Andre Braugher, Clifton Collins, Jr., Malik Yoba, Yancey Arias, Will Yun Lee, Mae Whitman and Michael Rooker; executive producers Norman Morrill and David Manson; and FX President and General Manager John Landgraf

The Scoop:
What HBO's The Sopranos is to the concept of a mob drama is what Thief could be to the concept of a crime drama. In other words, it's more about the characters -- who they are and why they behave the way the do -- than the actual crime itself.

The Reality:
No, FX is not perfect. Recent drama Over There and sitcom Starved is proof of that. But considering FX, the HBO of basic cable (translation: quality scripted programming), is current home to The Shield, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me, keep an eye on Thief. Based on the premise, and a multi-faceted layer of characters, it looks like this serialized drama could be in a class of its own.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp