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The business of TV
Networks fall behind in 'upfront' ad sales
By David Lieberman and Laura Petrecca USA Today 7/5/2006
NEW YORK — It should be easy to identify the broadcast television networks' ad salespeople at this summer's barbecues. They'll be the ones muttering about the good old days.
Executives at ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and their new siblings, CW and My Network TV, as a group are uncharacteristically mum and apparently cheerless as the advance ad sales period for the season that begins in September is wrapping up below last year's tally.
The consensus among buyers and sellers is that the six networks will end up booking nearly $8.9 billion in the frenzied "upfront" period, which typically accounts for about 75% of total prime-time ad sales.
That's down about 3.4% from last year, based on Morgan Stanley's assessment of the 2005-06 market.
This year's drop may be even steeper than that number suggests: Last year's figures don't include ABC's sales for Monday Night Football —analysts usually tally sports separately. But numbers circulating this year factor in NBC's Sunday Night Football.
"Buyers are in control," says John Moore, group media director of MediaHub, ad agency Mullen's buying unit. "The competitive landscape is much, much different" from previous years.
There's less pressure for advertisers to spend. They don't have to worry as much as they did in previous years about free-spending pharmaceutical or technology companies gobbling up air time to introduce products.
In addition, "for some product categories, like travel and automotive, these aren't the best of times," says Brad Adgate, research director at Horizon Media. "Unfortunately, sometimes if the dollars aren't there, one of the first things they cut is marketing."
Advertisers also find it easier to resist network efforts to stampede them into rich deals as the number of alternative ad venues grows. In addition to new media led by the Internet, the average home got 96 channels in 2005, up 57% from 2000, according to Nielsen Media Research.
This year, the popularity of digital video recorders has advertisers seriously questioning the value of network ads. By year's end, nearly 16% of all homes are expected to have DVRs, which give viewers the power to easily fast-forward past the ads.
Those doubts are becoming significant: The networks would have lost nearly $57 million last season if forced to subtract DVR users from the equation for the 18 most-recorded shows, Sanford C. Bernstein's Michael Nathanson said last month.
Networks tried to sweeten things this year by offering tie-ins with their online properties or product placements in the TV shows themselves.
"The networks have more pressure than ever," says Chris Allen, associate director of national broadcast at ad agency GSD&M. "They want to show good numbers to Wall Street. They have a revenue picture they want to meet. That makes things difficult."
Advertisers dug in their heels, though, when ABC led an effort to charge prices based on the number of viewers who watch a show live plus those who watch on DVRs up to a week later. Buyers say there's no guarantee those late viewers will watch the ads.
"I'm going to pay for what I get," says Lisa Cochrane, Allstate vice president of integrated marketing communications. "Until they can prove (DVR viewers watch ads), I'm not going to do it."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2006-07-05-upfront-usat_x.htm
The business of TV
How Advance Ad Sales Have Shaped Up For Each Network
USA Today
ABC: Rolling the dice
The Disney-owned network had an upbeat story to sell after hits including Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy lifted ratings by 5%.
That drove upfront sales of $2.2 billion, up 4.8%, with the price per viewer up as much as 2%. But comparisons with last year are dicey: A press release then put 2005 sales at $2.7 billion, including $600 million for Monday Night Football (now gone) and other sports. If that's included, this year is down. ABC's not talking.
Buyers like some of the four new sitcoms and five new dramas, including Brothers and Sisters, with Calista Flockhart and Ron Rifkin, about a family grappling with a father's death.
Yet, the network remains a gamble. Only one of its 11 new shows last season, What About Brian, will be around this fall. And it is moving Grey's Anatomy to Thursday against powerful CBS crime series CSI.
CBS: A steady eye
The 4% drop in ratings last season seemed to take a toll: CBS recorded about $2.4 billion. That's down about 6% based on Morgan Stanley's calculation of the network's performance in last year's upfront market.
Still, with an increase in the price per viewer of 1% to 2%, the top-rated network is taking a steady-as-she-goes approach to the fall. It hung on to six of the 10 shows it introduced last year- the highest renewal rate for any network this year — and will introduce just three dramas and one comedy.
Advertisers are optimistic about The Class, a sitcom with Jason Ritter about a third-grade class getting together after 15 years. And they showed interest in a crime drama, Shark, starring James Woods and directed by Spike Lee.
CBS declined to comment.
NBC: Changing the game
This is the network to watch this fall, at least from a business perspective. Ratings fell about 3% last season as aging hits Law & Order, The Apprentice and ER continued to fade.
But NBC entered the upfront market looking ahead, offering advertisers more than 100 options to leverage TV ads in digital media.
That helped NBC to book about $1.9 billion in sales, with per-viewer prices off about 5%.
The total is flat with 2005, but includes an estimated $200 million to $300 million for Sunday Night Football. Sports programming traditionally has been counted separately.
"We're including all seven nights of prime-time programming, just as we always have done," says NBC Universal's Liz Fischer.
Of four new dramas and two sitcoms, tops in interest has been Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, a drama about a Saturday Night Live-like show with Matthew Perry and D.L. Hughley.
Fox: Riding the warhorses
American Idol contestants aren't the only ones singing a happy tune at Fox.
News Corp.'s network, which declined to comment, booked about $1.7 billion, up 6.3% over last year. It got per-viewer prices up about 2%.
Although the network's audience fell about 2% last season, Fox's warhorses — Idol, 24, House, The Simpsons and Family Guy — continued to run very strong.
Among the three new dramas and two new sitcoms, advertisers are most encouraged by 'Til Death, a comedy about the pitfalls of marriage featuring Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett, and Justice, a courtroom drama with Victor Garber.
CW: What's old is new again
The new network was created from the merger of the WB and UPN operations and launches in September with some programming from each of those networks. In its upfront debut, it booked about $650 million in ad sales, about what WB did last year.
But with prices per viewer up as much as 3%, folks at the network — jointly owned by CBS and Time Warner — are satisfied.
"It's been a difficult marketplace, but we met our revenue goals," spokesman Paul McGuire says. "We're in business with many more advertisers than either WB or UPN were on their own."
Although the network has one new drama and one new comedy, advertisers are eager to see how successes including Supernatural, Smallville, Gilmore Girls and Everybody Hates Chris do in a new venue.
My Network TV: Built with a passion for local ad sales
The new network from Fox's parent News Corp. only generated an estimated $50 million in national upfront bookings.
That's not a surprise, though. Fox created My Network TV from scratch after the former UPN affiliates that it owns were left out of the deal among CBS, Warner Bros. and Tribune to create CW.
My Network TV will start off with just two prime-time series: Desire and Secret Obsessions, both Monday-through-Friday dramas — with hourlong recaps on Saturday — that are patterned after the popular Spanish-language telenovela soap operas.
What's more, the network has been designed to help affiliated stations generate local ad sales, which aren't factored in to the upfront tallies of national ad sales.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2006-07-05-upfront-usat_x.htm
Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen blamed the Orioles for the dispute.
"Unlike the Orioles, Comcast has always supported the return of major league baseball to Washington and we have proposed multiple solutions to resolve this issue. We continue to seek a resolution that protects our customers and Nationals fans to get the Nationals games on TV as quickly as possible," he said in a written statement....
Such corporate BS.
But let's take it at face value. If, in fact. Comcast management has been working for more than a year to acheive a solution, Comcast management should be fired.
Come on. This isn't exactly brain surgery.
(By the way: how does protecting Comcast's customers equate to keeping Nationals games off Concast systems in the DC area?)
Hopefully the FCC will mandate aribitration for not only the MASN feeds, but Comcast Philly sports and the Cox San Diego 4 operations as well. Otherwise, don't let Comcast have its share of Adelphia.
That arbitration, by the way, is the precise thing Comcast demanded the FCC require of NewsCorp before it was allowed to gain control of DirecTV.
This corporate hypocrisy, while nothing new, continues to be staggeringly blatent.
TV Notebook
A Few Items….
movieweb.com
VIEWERS CELEBRATE 4TH WATCHING FIREWORKS ON TV
In what could be attributed to the huge rise in sales of big-screen HDTV sets over the past year, some 8.52 million Americans chose to watch fireworks from the comfort of their living rooms Tuesday night, as NBC's coverage of the annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show at 9:00 p.m. ended up as the highest-rated show of the night with a 5.2 rating and an 11 share, beating last year's numbers by 22 percent.
At 10:00 p.m., viewers switched to the annual Boston Pops Fireworks special, which drew an audience of 7.04 million and registered a 4.5/9 on Nielsen's overnight ratings, behind a 5.5/11 for NBC's Law & Order: SVU in the same hour.
Overall ratings were down for the holiday, with NBC leading with a 4.6/10, followed by CBS with a 4.2/9. Fox finished third with a 3.7/8, while ABC trailed with a lowly 2.9/6.
APPRENTICE CONTESTANT TO HEAD TRUMP TV COMPANY
Donald Trump has chosen a former contestant on The Apprentice to head a West Coast TV production company that he is setting up in Los Angeles, Daily Variety reported today (Wednesday).
According to the trade publication, the as-yet-unnamed company will be overseen by Andy Litinsky, who has spent the last 2 1/2 years since his initial appearance on Trump's reality show working in the Trump real estate business.
Trump told Variety: "There are so many things being thrown at me, a lot of them based in L.A., I just thought it would be appropriate. ... It's a business I like."
MSNBC FUMBLES COVERAGE OF N. KOREAN MISSILE LAUNCH
The Dan Abrams regime at MSNBC got off to an embarrassing start on Tuesday as the cable news channel was caught unprepared to cover Korea's test launch of a long-range missile in defiance of U.S. warnings.
The channel aired mostly canned programs while rivals Fox News Channel and CNN presented live telecasts dealing with the launch throughout the day.
TV news bloggers excoriated MSNBC for failing to devote appropriate coverage to the affair, with one writing, "Now, it's not really even a cable news channel after ignoring an international crisis."
FIRED STAR JONES POINTS FANS TOWARDS ABC COMPLAINT SITES
Star Jones apparently has no intention of going gently into the night following her dismissal from ABC's The View.
Over the weekend, her website, StarJones.com, posted a message saying that it had received requests from "several thousand visitors" about how to contact ABC about her firing.
The website then gave the business address of Disney CEO Robert Iger at the Walt Disney Co. (ABC's corporate parent); Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime; and Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie, the executive producers of The View.
It also listed an ABC-TV web address where complaints can be posted.
In addition, the website included a message from Star Jones to her fans, saying in part that "had it not been for all of your emails and letters, this past week would have been very difficult."
http://www.movieweb.com/news/90/13390.php
The Business of TV
Suddenlink, Sinclair in Retrans Clash
By Mike Farrell Multichannel.com 7/5/2006
The cash-for-retransmission-consent battle between cable operators and broadcasters reached new heights Wednesday when St. Louis-based Suddenlink Communications asked the Federal Communications Commission to block Sinclair Broadcast Group from pulling two broadcast stations in the Charleston, W. Va., market from its systems because the operator has refused to pay $40 million in upfront retrans fees.
Suddenlink -- which closed its purchase of 240,000 subscribers in West Virginia from Charter Communications July 1 -- said in the FCC filing that Sinclair, which owns WCHS (an ABC affiliate) and has a local marketing agreement with WVAH (a Fox affiliate), demanded that Suddenlink pony up a one-time upfront fee of $200 per subscriber for the 200,000 Suddenlink subscribers who reside in its service area ($40 million) and $1 per month, per subscriber ($2.4 million annually) for the right to carry the stations.
Charter’s retrans deal with Sinclair had expired and was not transferred in the asset-purchase deal.
This is the first time Sinclair -- an outspoken advocate of cash for retrans -- has asked for an upfront fee. And at $40 million, it marks more than double the $19.2 million Sinclair received in cash for retrans for all of 2005 and represents what Charter customers are currently paying per year for 75 analog channels.
Suddenlink said in the filing that Sinclair has threatened to pull the stations -- it already notified Suddenlink customers that the stations will not be available after July 1 -- if Suddenlink refuses to pay. The operator countered that FCC rules prohibit it from dropping stations during Nielsen Media Research sweeps week, which ends July 26.
But the larger issue revolves around the retrans deal, which Suddenlink called oppressive and Sinclair said is just good business.
Suddenlink, which has about 1.4 million subscribers across the country, announced the $800 million Charter purchase in late February. Because the Sinclair retrans deal with Charter had expired -- Charter was on a month-to-month extension -- Suddenlink had to negotiate a new deal with the broadcaster.
Suddenlink senior vice president of programming Patty McCaskill tried to do just that in late May, according to the FCC filing. But after weeks of back-and-forth negotiations, although Suddenlink claimed that it was negotiating in good faith, when Sinclair learned of the size of the operator’s West Virginia deal, its asking price rose exponentially.
According to Suddenlink, one week prior to the closing of the Charter deal, Sinclair asked for $4 million in upfront fees. The day the deal closed, July 1, that price rose tenfold to $40 million.
Sinclair VP and general counsel Barry Faber, who was involved in the Suddenlink negotiations, didn’t dispute that Sinclair’s price rose, but he added that it was just good business practice to do so. “We’re not trying to punish anyone,” he said.
“As satellite gets bigger, as the telcos come in, our asset becomes, to me, much more valuable,” Faber added. “We have to look at this from a business perspective. We’re a public company. I do not want to by any means imply that we’re not sensitive to the needs of our viewers … At the same time, we have to make rational business decisions for the benefit of the public company.”
Suddenlink also claimed that when it informed Sinclair that it was obligated to carry the stations at least through the Nielsen sweeps -- which Sinclair disputes -- it was told by the broadcaster that another multichannel-video provider had agreed to pay “$200 per defecting Suddenlink subscriber.”
In an interview, Faber said that claim was inaccurate, but he declined to elaborate.
Faber claimed that originally, Sinclair expected Suddenlink’s offer to be in line with deals the broadcaster has with Suddenlink in other markets. But Suddenlink came back with an offer that was essentially equal to carrying the stations free-of-charge.
Faber added that a letter he received from representatives of Charter as the Suddenlink deal was getting closer to a conclusion convinced Sinclair of the value of its stations.
According to Faber, Charter wrote him a letter warning that the lack of a retrans agreement could jeopardize the Suddenlink deal.
“As a result of all of that activity, it made us sit up to a point and say, ‘Maybe it’s worth a lot more than we thought it was worth,’” Faber said. “If they’re paying $3,200 per sub, why shouldn’t a piece of that be coming to us?”
Suddenlink is requesting that the FCC issue an order to allow it to continue carrying the stations through Dec. 31, 2008, at financial terms similar to the past Charter agreement.
http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6349903
If I were running NBC, CBS, Fox, or ABC, I would take notes on this deal.
Then as my affiliation agreements expired with local stations, I would simply offer them extensionsonly with the proviso that the network could offer its programming directly to cable or satellite companies.
Then I would take an upfront fee of $200 per subscriber ($500 million from satellite companies, another 1.28 billion from cable) and charge $1.50 a month for my network service -- offering east and west versions. For HD, $2.50 a month.
That way I would earn about $135 million a month from sub fees (more if subs chose HD) for a total of about $1.62 billion a year.
Why let Sinclair and other station groups charge MSOs and DBS companies for programming which gets the major portion of its value from its network?
Sinclair, in its continued greediness, better watch out.
The big boys have far more muscle.
The Business of TV
Paulie and Silvio Won't Be Sleeping With the Fishes -- At Least, Not Yet
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline”
Did anyone really doubt that Tony Sirico (who plays Paulie Walnuts) and Steven Van Zandt (Silvio Dante) would be given close to what they asked for to return to "The Sopranos" in January for the show's final eight episodes?
They'd held out for $200,000-per-episode apiece, nearly triple the $75,000 they'd last earned for the show. That's a lot of lettuce in anyone's world. But as we saw during the just-concluded first half of the final season (or first two-thirds, or whatever they're calling it), Sirico and Van Zandt are essential to the storyline.
They couldn't just easily get written out. ("Oh yeah, Paulie decided to move to Boca Raton. Silvio flipped and now he's in the Witness Protection Program, the rat bastard!"). Couldn't do that. Sorry.
So HBO's hand was forced. And Sirico and Van Zandt instinctively knew that. So they took a gamble -- and won.
It just goes to show that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to holdouts. It's all just about an actor's and/or character's relative importance to the show. "The Sopranos" is such a character-rich series that the performers aren't merely interchangeable parts.
It shows the vast difference between this show and, say, "CSI." When George Eads and Jorja Fox held out a few years back, they were nearly written out of the show before they could blink and quickly retreated (barely rescuing their jobs).
But when you're Paulie Walnuts and Silvio Dante, you really can make an offer they can't refuse. It's a proud day for greaseball mobsters everywhere.
http://www.pastdeadline.com/
flint350
07-05-06, 08:37 PM
fredfa,
You know, I was just reading the posts here as has become a normal routine for me lately and realized just what an outstanding job you do here. Pulling all of this info together and posting it so we don't search all over God's creation looking for it, it's quite amazing. I recall posting recently about over-coverage of the reporter being injured in Iraq (I wasn't referring to your coverage, but the media in general) and began to realize the breadth of material you have to provide and opposing views you need to reconcile.
Now, I don't want to come off here as A: OT, and B: an ass-kisser (no gain in that anyway), but Hat's Off to you. Your efforts here are much appreciated and mostly unrecognized - at least publicly. Just thought I'd take a break in the thread's 'normal programming' to offer up a much deserved - THANKS.
jim tressler
07-05-06, 09:13 PM
long live OTA!!!
If I were running NBC, CBS, Fox, or ABC, I would take notes on this deal.
Then as my affiliation agreements expired with local stations, I would simply offer them extensionsonly with the proviso that the network could offer its programming directly to cable or satellite companies.
Then I would take an upfront fee of $200 per subscriber ($500 million from satellite companies, another 1.28 billion from cable) and charge $1.50 a month for my network service -- offering east and west versions. For HD, $2.50 a month.
That way I would earn about $135 million a month from sub fees (more if subs chose HD) for a total of about $1.62 billion a year.
Why let Sinclair and other station groups charge MSOs and DBS companies for programming which gets the major portion of its value from its network?
Sinclair, in its continued greediness, better watch out.
The big boys have far more muscle.
dad1153
07-05-06, 11:24 PM
fredfa,
Now, I don't want to come off here as A: OT, and B: an ass-kisser (no gain in that anyway), but Hat's Off to you. Your efforts here are much appreciated and mostly unrecognized - at least publicly. Just thought I'd take a break in the thread's 'normal programming' to offer up a much deserved - THANKS.
Here here! Fredfa's lack of an actual life (how else to explain the frequency and depth with which this thread is constantly updated?) has expanded my enjoyment of media coverage of the industry. Cheers! :D :D :D
flint350 and dad1153 thanks so much!
I really appreciate the kind words.
The Digital Revolution
The Not-So-Small Small Screen
By Damon Darlin The New York Times July 6, 2006
Samsung Electronics thought it won the bragging rights this year as maker of the world's biggest TV, with a 102-inch plasma screen, but Panasonic beat it by one inch. Samsung does have the largest plasma screen in stores, a 63-inch screen.
As it stands now, Sharp Electronics boasts of making the biggest liquid-crystal-display TV for sale, a 65-inch Aquos. It would be the biggest TV on the market if not for Samsung's 72-inch rear-projection TV. "We have the capability to build L.C.D. TV's much larger," said Bob Scaglione, senior vice president for marketing in Sharp's consumer electronics marketing group.
The title of maker of the biggest screen will constantly change hands, but one thing is certain: TV's will keep getting larger. Market analysts at Quixel Research of Portland, Ore., say many consumers now want a screen 50 to 55 inches. It projects that by 2009 the sweet spot will have shifted to a 60-inch screen. "That suggests the consumer doesn't have a maximum size," Mr. Scaglione said. "Maybe it will happen for an 80- or 90-inch screen."
Just how big is too big for a TV screen? Such an idea is anathema among TV executives.
"Can it be too large?" asked Phil Abram, Sony's vice president for television marketing. "Only in the sense that it overwhelms the room you are in. As a TV guy, I have trouble in my heart believing that a TV can overpower a room."
You wouldn't think that size matters, especially with new homes built ever bigger. The average new home is 2,434 square feet, 62 percent larger than a home built in 1970, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
But within the walls of the big new homes, changes are occurring that affect how people will watch TV. Some trends will make it easier to fit in a screen as big as 103 inches. Others will make it trickier to find the right spot for even the sought-after 50-inch screen.
A consumer might easily have space for a big screen in a home theater or media room. About 10 percent of homes are being built with a media room, the home builders' association said — although in many cases, it is just another name for the basement, or what builders in a previous era called the rumpus room or the rec room.
Another room that is increasingly conducive for big-screen TV's is the sprawling master bedroom. The dimensions of that room in the average new home is 15 by 20 feet, said Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president for research for the home builders' group.
All that bodes well for big TV's. But at the same time, the kitchen has opened up into the family room. Whole rooms are disappearing. "We think that in 10 years there will be no more living room," Mr. Ahluwalia said. Interior walls where a TV might be hung are gone. So now, where does the TV go?
This problem becomes clearer when you look at the mathematics of screen size. TV manufacturers measure sets on the diagonal of the screen. A 60-inch diagonal screen is about 52 inches wide and 29 inches high. That means a room needs to have an expanse of blank wall that is almost four and a half feet wide, or wider if the TV has speakers along the side of the screen or a wide-screen format.
A second consideration is viewing distance. A viewer should sit no closer than one and a half times the diagonal of a 1080p high-definition TV, the highest resolution TV available, according to the makers of high-definition sets. (The rule of thumb is two and a half times for TV's with lower resolution.) In the case of a 60-inch TV, that is about eight feet from the screen; otherwise you will start seeing the pixels in the picture.
Almost all new homes and most older homes have 12 feet of viewing distance for such a TV in a master bedroom or a family room. It starts getting difficult to find that room in many apartments.
Move up to a 103-incher and look what happens. You need a wall at least 90 inches wide — seven and a half feet. The TV has to be at least 13 feet away from the viewers. Some experts claim that the optimum viewing distance is about twice that. Now where does it go?
George McKechnie of Axiom, a high-end home theater installer in Monterey, Calif., put in a $24,000 Runco 3-chip DLP front projector for one customer that splashes a 100-inch or larger image on a movie screen in the room. "It's marvelous if you are sitting 16 feet away," said Mr. McKechnie, who founded the business with his son, Loren. "At 12 feet, you can see the pixels." In short, "you need a pretty big room." About 80 percent of his business is installing 50-inch TV's, and about 5 percent is for 61-inchers, he said.
John Revie, vice president for sales and marketing for visual displays at Samsung Electronics, is not worried that size will ever matter. "There is no reason why it can't get any bigger," Mr. Revie said. "It comes down to what the consumer wants and what they are willing to pay. As long as it is in reach financially, they will get the largest set possible."
Mr. McKechnie, a former clinical psychologist, is not so sure. "It's not driven by the consumer," he said. "The technology is so complex that is it driven by the perception of what the consumer wants."
Mr. Abram of Sony said the company's designers were starting to take note of size. For instance, the company's new 46-inch-diagonal rear-projection TV is only an inch wider than its 42-inch-diagonal plasma TV because the speakers are moved from the side to below the screen.
On some of its Bravia models, Sony gives owners the option of swapping the silver bezel around the screen for one that is red, white, blue, black or brown to help minimize the appearance of the TV in the room.
For rooms with controlled lighting, the front projectors may end up being the answer for many people. Front-projection TV's were the fastest-growing category last year, with a 55 percent increase in sales, according to Quixel. The units are portable — some are the size of a thick paperback book — and a screen could be pulled down from the ceiling when needed.
Robert Stephens, head of Best Buy's Geek Squad, said he had seen the future in college dormitories and fraternities. Students project movies and video games onto a large wall with special reflective paint. "If you want to see what's going to happen, watch the kids in college," Mr. Stephens said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/technology/06screen.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Nielsen Notebook
Reality gets a dose of …
By Gary Levin USA Today July 6, 2006
• Kyle no mystery. ABC Family drama Kyle XY premiered Monday with 2.6 million viewers, the most-watched original-series telecast in the network's history. A repeat on ABC Friday doubled its cable sibling's audience with 5.2 million and won its time slot among young adults against weak competition.
• Blade slices record. Spike set an original-series premiere record Wednesday with Blade. Its first scripted series, based on the feature film, opened with 2.5 million.
• Ride 'em, cowboy. Part 2 of AMC's first miniseries, Broken Trail, averaged 9.8 million viewers Monday, matching the first installment and topping the week's cable chart.
• Sunnier skies. The second-season premiere of FX comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia drew 1.6 million viewers, up from 1.4 million for last summer's series opener and from 1.1 million for last season's average.
• Reality bites. Several summer reality shows continued to wilt. ABC's Master of Champions fell to 4.7 million Thursday from 6.1 million for its premiere a week earlier; NBC's Treasure Hunters (5.8 million Monday) was down from 6.9 million for its opener June 18. The strongest new series, NBC's America's Got Talent (11 million), also slipped from its week-ago premiere (12.4 million). And Fox's So You Think You Can Dance averaged 8.7 million for last week's two episodes, down from its season average. In contrast, last summer's hit Dancing with the Stars added viewers nearly every week.
• Game over. CBS' Game Show Marathon hit the buzzer with a low (but first-place) 6.8 million viewers for Thursday's finale, while the network's Fabien Cousteau special, Shark: Mind of a Demon, managed a third-place 4.9 million Wednesday.
• You bet. The BET Awards averaged 6.6 million viewers Tuesday, matching last year's record high.
• No fireworks. The Fourth of July weekend, usually the least-viewed of the year, wasn't kind to HBO series. Sunday's Deadwood hit a series-low 1.7 million viewers, Entourage was off with 2 million (though still an improvement over last season), and Lucky Louie was anything but with 1.1 million.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-07-05-nielsens_x.htm
TV Notebook
The Long-Awaited, Albeit Brief, Return of Dave Chappelle
By Lola Ogunnaike The New York Times July 6, 2006
Having been unable to persuade the comedian Dave Chappelle to return to his hit series, "Chappelle's Show," Comedy Central has pieced together sketches he did before his abrupt departure in May 2005 and named them "Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes."
The three "lost" episodes, which begin Sunday, don't shy away from the fact that its star is missing in action. "I don't think he's coming," says a member of the blues duo that used to play alongside Mr. Chappelle during the opening of each show.
Just weeks before the third season of his show was to begin, Mr. Chappelle suddenly left for South Africa, leaving his colleagues, friends and fans wondering why he would walk away from a hit show and the promise of a $50 million deal with Comedy Central. After nearly a year of waiting for him to return, Comedy Central decided to move on without him.
"We were hoping against hope that we would hear from Dave, and that he would come back," said Doug Herzog, the president of Comedy Central. "We really didn't want to do this without him, but we needed to bring some closure." He added, "We did pay for the episodes, so we might as well use them. I am trying to run a business."
Though he has been absent from his show, Mr. Chappelle has kept anything but a low profile. He has done interviews with Oprah Winfrey and James Lipton of the Bravo series "Inside the Actors Studio."
He has also performed stand-up comedy at clubs around the country. Donnell Rawlings, who plays the character Ashy Larry on the show, said he bumped into Mr. Chappelle at a stand-up spot in New York two months ago.
"It was like seeing a ghost and a friend," he said. "I wanted to ask him about what happened, but he had this look on his face like, please don't ask me about what happened."
In his interview with Ms. Winfrey earlier this year Mr. Chappelle said he became uncomfortable on the set of his show.
"I would go to work on the show, and I felt awful every day," he said. "That's not the way it was. I felt like some kind of prostitute or something. Like, if I feel so bad, why keep showing up to this place?"
He also addressed rumors that he might have suffered a mental breakdown. "I wasn't crazy, but it's incredibly stressful," Mr. Chappelle said.
Mr. Rawlings had his own thoughts about Mr. Chappelle's state of mind.
"I don't know how people define crazy, but in my 'hood not explaining your actions to people that are supporting you is crazy, walking away from $50 million is crazy," he said, laughing.
Money, and its effect, are recurring themes in the first episode's sketches, which deal primarily with Mr. Chappelle adjusting to his newfound wealth. While receiving a trim at his local barbershop, news that he stands to make millions in his new deal with Comedy Central breaks on BET. Suddenly his $8 haircut is hiked up to $11,000. His car wash, once $28, is now $873, plus an autographed picture.
In a darker sketch he appears to be grappling with whether he will be able to top his previous work. As the gargantuan bodyguard he has hired lies dying — after being shot by an overzealous I.R.S. agent — the guard says: "Your greed did this to me. You didn't have to do two more seasons. No matter how good the show is, they're only going to say it wasn't as good as last year."
It's not all that heavy. Mr. Chappelle has fun seeking revenge on all the little people who insulted him on his way to the top. He tricks a promiscuous ex-girlfriend into leaving her husband and then promptly dumps her; he brands a casting agent who once snubbed him as a racist in a commercial that is shown during the Super Bowl; and he torches a comedy club where he used to perform.
Neal Brennan, Mr. Chappelle's former co-writer and former best friend, agreed to piece together the "Lost Episodes" because, he said, he believes the work is funny.
"I thought it was a continuation of what we'd been doing, and I disagreed with Dave," he said. "I never had a problem with any of it."
He said that Mr. Chappelle had vetoed the filming of a number of the sketches, which he said was particularly frustrating since Mr. Chappelle had written or co-written all of them. One was about a rapper who won't stop rhyming.
"I had no idea why" he objected to it, Mr. Brennan said. "The few days before he went to Africa there wasn't a lot of filming going on. I knew that when he went, the show was over. I just had a feeling."
While he said he had an emotional five-hour conversation with Mr. Chappelle months ago, Mr. Brennan said he still doesn't quite understand why he left. He said he worries that viewers will spend too much time looking for clues as to why the comic departed and not enjoy the new material. "I was there," he said, "and the answer is not contained in the sketches. Only Dave knows the answer."
In the first of the new episodes, Charlie Murphy, a series regular who along with Mr. Rawlings now serves as a host of the show, says he is not angry about his boss's departure, adding that if it wasn't for Mr. Chappelle, he would still be known only as Eddie Murphy's brother. Mr. Murphy said it wasn't the money but rather the exposure and creative opportunities that persuaded him to do the show.
"I got paid SAG minimum, $500 an episode," he said, referring to the Screen Actors Guild. "We didn't even have contracts. But we were like the Little Rascals and N.W.A. all mixed together. We would get in a room, sit down, start talking and something funny would always come out."
He called the broadcasts of the last episodes both a happy and sad occasion. He said he is proud of the work — "It's definitely going out with a bang" — but once the three shows are seen, it means the show is officially over. "It's like the Tupac of TV shows," Mr. Murphy said. "It died way too early."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/arts/television/06dave.html?pagewanted=print
Sports On TV
ESPN juiced by baseball ratings
Cabler shows gains of close to 20%
By John Dempsey Variety.com
ESPN and ESPN2 are hitting this year's baseball coverage out of the park.
Cablers are soaring by gains of close to 20% thanks to more marquee teams on Sunday night and fewer primetime blackouts on Monday.
Critics took their share of whacks at ESPN late last year when the network agreed to shell out 51% more in rights fees to Major League Baseball for an eight-year renewal on the existing contract.
The implication was that ESPN was out of its mind to pony up $2.37 billion (an average of $296 million a year) for a sport that seemed to be on the decline.
And many thought that without as many home runs due to tough penalties for steroid users amid ongoing investigations, ratings would also decline.
Viewers are proving the naysayers wrong. The 52 games on ESPN are averaging 1.4 million total viewers through July 2, a 15% jump over the 1.13 million for the same period in 2005.
With fewer games (18), ESPN2 is up even more, averaging gains of 21% -- 923,000 viewers season-to-date compared with last year's 764,000.
"Our new contract with baseball allows ESPN to increase the number of times we can carry a high-rated team like the Yankees, Cardinals and Red Sox to a total of four," said Mike Ryan, VP of programming for ESPN.
That clause is important, Ryan said, because ESPN's Sunday-night games are exclusive; regional sports networks can't carry those games.
Ratings for Monday games have received a boost thanks to another new clause: The first two times a team is featured on Monday, the games will not be blacked out in the local market. In New York, for instance, that means ESPN will be allowed to carry two Yankees games and two Mets games directly to local fans, according to Ryan.
ESPN stresses these contractual benefits because other, more general factors are harder to pin down.
Sports-media consultant Mike Trager said he thinks one reason ESPN is doing better is that many big market teams, such as the White Sox, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox and Tigers, are having solid years.
But baseball's two other national TV footprints are languishing somewhat this year. The number of total viewers of the first six Saturday-afternoon games carried by the Fox Network is off by 4% from the same period last year.
And TBS, during its coverage of the first 37 Atlanta Braves games through Saturday, is averaging only 731,000 households, a drop of 7% from last year's number.
A Fox spokesman pointed to the weather for the heaviest viewer losses. On June 3, a Giants-Mets game, booked regionally in 39% of the country, endured a three-hour rain delay. Similarly, on June 10, the Rangers-Red Sox game, slated for 23% of the U.S., was rained out.
TBS said one of the reasons for the decline of the Braves' numbers, in addition to the team's lousy play on the field, is that the network ran only 13 games in primetime this year compared with 19 through early July 2005.
Despite these glitches for Fox and TBS, David Carter, a principal in the Sports Business Group, said he's bullish on baseball.
"Attendance is headed for another record year despite the steroid scandals," Carter said. "And with most of the teams in the big markets doing well, 2006 is likely to end up as another chapter in the renaissance of baseball that we've seen taking place in the last four or five years."
The TV Column
For the Primetime Emmys, a Series of Changes
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 6, 2006; C07
LOS ANGELES, July 5--It took the cancellation of "Everybody Loves Raymond" to break Doris Roberts's stranglehold on the Emmy for best supporting actress in a sitcom -- and, just in time for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, the TV Academy has taken steps to make sure such a thing won't happen again.
In an effort to end the redundancy of winners that has plagued the Primetime Emmys for, oh, say 58 years, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has overhauled the steps for determining who and what will be nominated. The first nominations under the new rules will be announced here early Thursday.
What with TV Academy members being only human, voting to determine who gets nominated and who eventually wins has tended to be something of a popularity contest. How else to explain Roberts's reign, or John Larroquette's monopoly on the competition for best supporting actor in a sitcom that ran from '85 through '88, after which he had the good sense to withdraw his name from contention before he turned into a running Emmy joke?
This certain sameness to the Primetime Emmy competition is not entirely the TV academy's fault. Because prime-time series tend to run until the ratings get too small or the cast's salaries too big, the field of possible contenders has a "Groundhog Day" quality each year, unlike the Academy Awards, in which the product is thankfully gone and forgotten (except on DVD) same time next year.
This year, the TV Academy has taken radical steps.
In the past, the five nominees for, say, best drama series were the five drama series that had received the most votes from academy members.
This year, however, the 10 drama series receiving the most votes from academy members were then reviewed by a super-secret panel of judges who determined which five would be nominated.
In the acting derbies, nominees this year were chosen not just by their actor peers, but by directors and casting directors as well.
"The feeling has been that networks like NBC, ABC, CBS and HBO were overrepresented with Emmys, and networks like WB and UPN were traditionally underrepresented," as were niche cable networks, explained 20th Century Fox TV Senior Vice President Steve Melnick.
"The hope is that Numbers 8, 9 and 10 could be more interesting choices than the top five. Number 10 may be from a small network and off the [TV Academy voters'] radar. But once in the top 10, the show is on equal footing . . . it's a level playing field."
That said, the shows most discussed out here as being likely beneficiaries of the change are "Gilmore Girls" and "Battlestar Galactica," gawdhelpus. I mean, after all, "Gilmore Girls" just wrapped one of its dimmer seasons, and "Battlestar Galactica" is, well, "Battlestar Galactica."
Proponents of the change will be paying particular attention this morning to whether Lauren Graham snags a nomination for best actress in a comedy series, in which case the changes immediately will be declared a resounding success in certain circles.
Lauren Graham is the Susan Lucci of Primetime Emmys. Only in Lucci's case, she was at least nominated 18 times -- although without winning, until her streak was broken in 1999 and the Daytime Emmy Awards competition ceased to be interesting, or to get ratings.
Graham, who plays Lorelai, Rory's mom/best pal/competitor-in-cuteness in the WB series "Gilmore Girls," has never even been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, despite much hooting and hollering by TV critics who think she's the latest word.
For that matter, "Gilmore Girls" has never been nominated in its six-year run on the soon-to-be-defunct network, though the show did snag the trophy for best non-prosthetic makeup in a series a couple years ago. But this year, it could happen.
In theory, a noticeably different list of Emmy nominees will attract more viewers to the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, which does a good enough number -- about 19 million viewers last year -- while running a distant second to the Oscars. But in one of those twists that make covering the TV industry so invigorating, thanks to NBC's new deal to air Sunday football games, the Primetime Emmy Awards show has been moved from its traditional air date -- the Sunday before the official start of the new TV season -- to Aug. 27, the weekend before the Labor Day holiday, when the number of people watching prime-time TV takes a dive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501599_pf.html
The 2006-2007 Season
ABC Changes Show Title
ABC has changed the title of its new Tuesday (at 9 PM ET/PT) show “Let’s Rob…” to “The Knights Of Prosperity”.
The network gave no reason for the change.
Critic’s Notebook
If Life Were Fair, This Is How the Emmys Would Fall
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline”
I've been involved in prognosticating the Primetime Emmy Awards long enough to know that the nominations never turn out the way you really want because the process is so maddeningly imperfect.
I mean, to my mind, it almost renders the entire thing obsolete that "The Simpsons" has never been nominated for outstanding comedy series. Not even once! Yes, it has been honored (and won) for top animated series. But that's not nearly enough.
It's like having a category for "best political series" and giving it to "The West Wing." Decades from now, there will be a trivia question surrounding the number of times "The Simpsons" was nominated for a comedy series Emmy, the correct answer will be a big fat zero -- and everyone will get it wrong.
But I digress.
Bright and early tomorrow (Thursday) morning arrive the 2006 Emmy noms, when we'll find out if the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences meant it when it said that its membership is dedicated to opening up the process a bit more this year in the major comedy and drama series/acting categories.
That would mean more inclusive of the new and obscure in terms of both performers and networks. We shall see.
In the meantime, here's my own personal nominations/winners dream list:
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES -- "The Office" (NBC); "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO); "Arrested Development" (Fox); "Entourage" (HBO); "Gilmore Girls" (WB)
And the winner would be..."The Office"
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES -- "Rescue Me" (FX); "24" (Fox); "The Sopranos" (HBO); "The Shield" (FX); "House" (Fox)
And the winner would be..."Rescue Me"
LEAD COMEDY ACTOR -- Steve Carell, "The Office" (NBC); Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO); Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Tony Shalhoub, "Monk" (USA Network); Zach Braff, "Scrubs" (NBC)
And the winner would be...Carell
LEAD COMEDY ACTRESS -- Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox); Lauren Graham, "Gilmore Girls" (WB); Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (CBS); Marcia Cross, "Desperate Housewives" (ABC); Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds" (Showtime)
And the winner would be...Kaczmarek
LEAD DRAMA ACTOR -- Hugh Laurie, "House" (Fox); James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos" (HBO); Michael Chiklis, "The Shield" (FX); Denis Leary, "Rescue Me" (FX); James Spader, "Boston Legal" (ABC)
And the winner would be...Laurie
LEAD DRAMA ACTRESS -- Kristen Bell, "Veronica Mars" (UPN); Edie Falco, "The Sopranos" (HBO); Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under" (HBO); Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer" (TNT); Jeanne Tripplehorn, "Big Love"
And the winner would be...Falco
SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY -- Jeremy Piven, "Entourage" (HBO); Jeffrey Tambor, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Rainn Wilson, "The Office" (NBC); Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox); John C. McGinley, "Scrubs" (NBC)
And the winner would be...Wilson
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY -- Jenna Fischer, "The Office" (NBC); Jessica Walter, "Arrested Development" (Fox); Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace" (NBC); Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds" (Showtime); Susie Essman, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO)
And the winner would be...Walter
SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA -- Alan Alda, "The West Wing" (NBC); Terry O'Quinn, "Lost" (ABC); Tony Sirico, "The Sopranos" (HBO); Forrest Whitaker, "The Shield" (FX); Harry Dean Stanton, "Big Love" (HBO)
And the winner would be...Sirico
SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA -- Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal" (ABC); CCH Pounder, "The Shield" (FX); Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC); Blythe Danner, "Huff" (Showtime); Lauren Ambrose, "Six Feet Under" (HBO)
And the winner would be...Pounder
http://www.pastdeadline.com/
Award Notebook
2005 – 2006 PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS
(NATAS News Release, July 6, 2006)
Nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, for the period of June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006, were announced today (July 6) by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences from the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre, North Hollywood, California. The Academy’s Chairman of the Board & CEO Dick Askin presided, assisted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Garrett.
The awards presentation telecast awarding Emmys in 27 categories before a black-tie audience will be televised by the NBC Television Network on Sunday, August 27, from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and will be hosted by Conan O’Brien. The Academy's Governors Ball will follow the telecast at the Shrine Exhibition Hall, adjacent to the auditorium.
This year's Emmy telecast will be executive-produced by Ken Ehrlich and Jeff Ross and directed by Louis J. Horvitz.
On Saturday, August 19, also at the Shrine Auditorium, 63 awards “categories” (a single award) and “areas” (possibility of one, more than one or no award) will be handed out at a black-tie presentation chaired by Lee Miller, executive produced by Michael A. Hoey and John Moffitt with Spike Jones, Jr. producing and Ron de Moraes directing. The awards presentation will be televised on E! (date to be announced).
Additional awards may also be given for the four "juried areas" (no nominations) of Costumes for a Variety or Music Program, Voice-Over Performance, Individual Achievement in Animation and Interactive Television. The announcement of these awards, if any, will be released in mid-July. Two additional awards may also be given for Engineering Development and the Governors Award. These awards, if any, will be announced later this month.
A total of 451 separate nominations in 90 categories and areas, compiled by the independent accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP, were distributed as follows:
A&E – 9 Lifetime – 6
ABC – 64 National Geographic – 2
BBC America – 1 NBC – 46
Bravo – 5 Nickelodeon – 2
Cartoon Network – 2 PBS – 34
CBS – 47 Sci Fi Channel – 7
Comedy Central – 8 Showtime – 19
Discovery Channel – 7 TCM – 2
Disney Channel –8 The History Channel – 7
ESPN2 – 1 TNT –17
FOX – 41 UPN – 2
FX Network – 8 USA – 2
Hallmark Channel – 1 WB – 4
HBO – 95 Commercials – 4
(No network affiliation)
Nomination rosters will be finalized during the period July 6 to July 20, 2006. The rosters may be revised in cases where names or titles are incorrect, or appeals for changes—including the addition or removal of names—are approved by the National Awards Committee.
This year producer eligibility is based on both credit and function rather than just credit, which was the sole criterion in 2006 (and has been since 1993, the last time credit and function were both used as eligibility criteria). A review of title and function will be conducted by the Producers and Non-Fiction Peer Groups, and the nominees in the program categories will be announced during the week of July 17.
The complete list of Primetime Emmy nominations and other Academy news and information is available on the Academy's website, located at http://www.emmys.tv.
Nominations were made by active Academy members who voted for programs and other peer categories of their expertise. Peer panels made up of active Academy members will screen nominations during the month of July and August and, in secret ballot, select the Emmy winners.
Award Notebook
2005 – 2006 PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS
(NATAS News Release, July 6, 2006)
Outstanding Comedy Series
Arrested Development • FOX • Imagine Television and
The Hurwitz Company in association with 20th Century
Fox Television
Producers TBA
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Producers TBA
The Office • NBC • Deedle Dee Productions, Reveille, LLC
in association with NBC Universal Television Studios
Producers TBA
Scrubs • NBC • Touchstone Television
Producers TBA
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Producers TBA
Outstanding Drama Series
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Producers TBA
House • FOX • Heel and Toe Productions, Shorez
Productions and Bad Hat Harry Productions in
association with Universal Television Studios
Producers TBA
The Sopranos • HBO • Chase Films and Brad Grey
Television in association with HBO Entertainment
Producers TBA
24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Producers TBA
The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Producers TBA
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Larry David as Himself
The King Of Queens • CBS • Sony Pictures Television
Kevin James as Doug Heffernan
Monk • USA • NBC Universal Television Studios in
association with Makeville Films and Touchstone
Television
Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk
The Office • NBC • Deedle Dee Productions, Reveille, LLC
in association with NBC Universal Television Studios
Steve Carell as Michael Scott
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • A Wolf Films
production in association with NBC Universal Television
Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
Rescue Me • FX Network • Apolstle, The Cloudland
Company and Dreamworks Television in association with
Sony Pictures Television
Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin
Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Peter Krause as Nate Fisher
24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer
The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A
Movie
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Charles Dance as Mr. Tulkinghorn
Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Muse Entertainment for
Lifetime Television
Donald Sutherland as Bill Meehan
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Ben Kingsley as Herman Tarnower
Pope John Paul II • CBS • Lux Vide Productions
Jon Voight as Pope John Paul II
Thief • FX Network • Regency Television
Andre Braugher as Nick Atwater
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
The Comeback • HBO • Working Class and Is Or Isn’t
Entertainment in association with HBO Entertainment
Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Regency Television in
association with 20th Century Fox Television
Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
The New Adventures Of Old Christine • CBS • Kari’s Logo
Here in association with Warner Bros. Television
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell
Out Of Practice • CBS • CBS Paramount Network
Television
Stockard Channing as Lydia Barnes
Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Debra Messing as Grace
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
The Closer • TNT • Shephard/Robin Company in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson
Commander In Chief • ABC • Touchstone Television
Geena Davis as Mackenzie Allen
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • A Wolf Films
production in association with NBC Universal Television
Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Frances Conroy as Ruth Fisher
The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Ambulance Girl • Lifetime • Patricia Clifford Productions
in association with von Zerneck-Sertner Films for
Lifetime Television
Kathy Bates as Jane Stern
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock
Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I
A Little Thing Called Murder • Lifetime • Grand
Productions and Stonemade Entertainment in association
with Fox Television Studios for Lifetime Television
Judy Davis as Sante Kimes
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Annette Bening as Jean Harris
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Arrested Development • FOX • Imagine Television and
The Hurwitz Company in association with 20th Century
Fox Television
Will Arnett as Gob Bluth
Entourage • HBO • Leverage and Closest to the Hole
Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Regency Television in
association with 20th Century Fox Television
Bryan Cranston as Hal
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Jon Cryer as Alan Harper
Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Sean Hayes as Jack
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
William Shatner as Denny Crane
Huff • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association with
Sony Pictures Television, A Bob Lowry Television Show
Production, A 50 Cannon Entertainment Production
Oliver Platt as Russell Tupper
The Sopranos • HBO • Chase Films and Brad Grey
Television in association with HBO Entertainment
Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan
The West Wing • NBC • John Wells Productions in
association with Warner Bros. Television
Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries
Or A Movie
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Denis Lawson as John Jarndyce
Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Hugh Dancy as Earl of Essex
Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Jeremy Irons as Earl of Leicester
Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Muse Entertainment for
Lifetime Television
Robert Carlyle as Sergei Karpovich
Thief • FX Network • Regency Television
Clifton Collins, Jr. as Jack “Bump” Hill
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy
Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Cheryl Hines as Cheryl David
Desperate Housewives • ABC • Touchstone Television
Alfre Woodard as Betty Applewhite
My Name Is Earl • NBC • An Amigos de Garcia production
in association with 20th Century Fox Television
Jaime Pressly as Joy
Weeds • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association
with Lions Gate Television and Tilted Productions
Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes
Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Megan Mullally as Karen
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama
Series
Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Chandra Wilson as Dr. Bailey
Huff • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association with
Sony Pictures Television, A Bob Lowry Television Show
Production, A 50 Cannon Entertainment Production
Blythe Danner as Izzy Huffstodt
24 • FOX • Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox
Television in association with Real Time Productions
Jean Smart as First Lady Martha Logan
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries
Or A Movie
The Girl In The Café • HBO • Tightrope Pictures and BBC
Wales in association with HBO Films
Kelly Macdonald as Gina
Hidden Places • Hallmark • RHI Entertainment Presents
an Alpine Medien production in association with Larry
Levinson Productions
Shirley Jones as Aunt Batty
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Ellen Burstyn as Former Tarnower “Steady”
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Cloris Leachman as Tarnower’s Sister
The Water Is Wide (Hallmark Hall Of Fame Presentation)
• CBS • Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, Inc.
Alfre Woodard as Mrs. Brown
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series
Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment
Patrick Stewart as Himself
Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment
Ben Stiller as Himself
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions,
Inc., The Tannenbaum Company in association with
Warner Bros. Television Productions, a Division of WB
Studio Enterprises Inc.
Martin Sheen as Harvey
Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Alec Baldwin as Malcolm
Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Leslie Jordan as Beverley Leslie
Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
Michael J. Fox as Daniel Post
Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in
association with 20th Century Fox Television Studios
Christian Clemenson as Jerry “Hands” Espenson
ER • NBC • Constant c Productions, Amblin Television in
association with Warner Bros. Television
James Woods as Dr. Nate Lennox
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Kyle Chandler as Dylan Young
Lost • ABC • Grass Skirt Productions, LLC in association
with Touchstone Television
Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy
Series
Desperate Housewives • ABC • Touchstone Television
Shirley Knight as Phyllis Van de Kamp
Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment
Kate Winslet as Herself
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Regency Television in
association with 20th Century Fox Television
Cloris Leachman as Ida
Monk • USA • NBC Universal Television Studios in
association with Makeville Films and Touchstone
Television
Laurie Metcalf as Cora
Will & Grace • NBC • KoMut Entertainment in association
with NBC Studios and Three Sisters Entertainment
Blythe Danner as Marilyn Truman
Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Kate Burton as Ellis Grey
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Touchstone Television
Christina Ricci as Hannah
Huff • Showtime • Showtime Presents in association with
Sony Pictures Television, A Bob Lowry Television Show
Production, A 50 Cannon Entertainment Production
Swoosie Kurtz as Madeline Sullivan
Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Patricia Clarkson as Aunt Sarah
Six Feet Under • HBO • Actual Size and the
Greenblatt/Janollari Studios in association with HBO
Entertainment
Joanna Cassidy as Margaret Chenowith
Outstanding Miniseries
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • A BBC
WGBH-Boston Co-production in association with Deep
Indigo
Producers TBA
Elizabeth I • HBO • Company Pictures and Channel 4 in
association with HBO Films
Producers TBA
Into The West • TNT • Dreamworks Television
Producers TBA
Sleeper Cell • Showtime • Showtime Presents in
association with Cardboard Guru Productions
Producers TBA
Outstanding Made For Television Movie
Flight 93 • A&E • A David Gerber Company Production in
association with A&E Network and Fox Television Studios
Producers TBA
The Flight That Fought Back • Discovery Channel • Brook
Lapping Productions in association with Discovery
Channel
Producers TBA
The Girl In The Café • HBO • Tightrope Pictures and BBC
Wales in association with HBO Films
Producers TBA
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Killer Films and Number 9 Films and
John Wells Productions in association with HBO Films
Producers TBA
Yesterday • HBO • Exciting Flms/Distant
Horizon/Videovision in association with HBO Films
Producers TBA
Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report • Comedy Central • Central
Productions with Busboy Productions and Spartina
Productions
Producers TBA
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central •
Central Productions LLC and Hello Doggie, Inc.
Producers TBA
Late Night With Conan O’Brien • NBC • Broadway Video,
NBC Studios, Conaco
Producers TBA
Late Show With David Letterman • CBS • Worldwide Pants
Incorporated
Producers TBA
Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO • Kid Love Productions
and Brad Grey Television in association with HBO
Entertainment
Producers TBA
Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy
Special
78th Annual Academy Awards • ABC • Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences
Producers TBA
Bill Maher: I’m Swiss • HBO • Music Link, Image
Entertainment and Kid Love in association with HBO
Entertainment
Producers TBA
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing • HBO • Cablestuff
Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
Producers TBA
McCartney In St. Petersburg • A&E • Mark Haefeli
Productions in association with A&E Network
Producers TBA
The XX Olympic Winter Games - Opening Ceremony •
NBC • NBC Olympics
Producers TBA
Outstanding Reality Program
Antiques Roadshow • PBS • WGBH Educational
Foundation
Producers TBA
The Dog Whisperer • National Geographic Channel • MPH
Entertainment, Inc. in association with Emery/Sumner
Productions for National Geographic Channel
Producers TBA
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition • ABC • Endemol USA
Producers TBA
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List • Bravo • Picture
This Television, Inappropriate Laughter, Inc., Bravo
Producers TBA
Penn & Teller: Bullshit • Showtime • Showtime Presents
in association with Penn & Teller, A Division of Buggs
and Rudy Discount Corporation, Star Price Productions,
The Wolper Organization
Producers TBA
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race • CBS • Amazing Race Productions,
Inc. and Touchstone Television Productions, LLC in
association with Jerry Bruckheimer Television and
WorldRace Productions, Inc.
Producers TBA
American Idol • FOX • FremantleMedia N.A., Inc. & 19TV
Ltd.
Producers TBA
Dancing With The Stars • ABC • BBC Worldwide
Productions
Producers TBA
Project Runway • Bravo • Magical Elves for The
Weinstein Company/Miramax, Full Picture, Bravo
Producers TBA
Survivor • CBS • Mark Burnett Productions in association
with SEG Productions
Producers TBA
Award Notebook
2005 – 2006 Emmy Nominations
(Edited Version)
(NATAS News Release, July 6, 2006)
• Outstanding Comedy Series
Arrested Development • FOX •
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO •
The Office • NBC •
Scrubs • NBC • Touchstone Television
Two And A Half Men • CBS •
• Outstanding Drama Series
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC •
House • FOX
The Sopranos • HBO •
24 • FOX •
The West Wing • NBC •
• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • Larry David as Himself
The King Of Queens • CBS • Kevin James as Doug Heffernan
Monk • USA • Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk
The Office • NBC • Steve Carell as Michael Scott
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper
• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler
Rescue Me • FX Network • Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin
Six Feet Under • HBO • Peter Krause as Nate Fisher
24 • FOX • Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer
The West Wing • NBC • Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet
• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • Charles Dance as Mr. Tulkinghorn
Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Donald Sutherland as Bill Meehan
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Ben Kingsley as Herman Tarnower
Pope John Paul II • CBS • Jon Voight as Pope John Paul II
Thief • FX Network • Andre Braugher as Nick Atwater
• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
The Comeback • HBO • Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
The New Adventures Of Old Christine • CBS • Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell
Out Of Practice • CBS • Stockard Channing as Lydia Barnes
Will & Grace • NBC • Debra Messing as Grace
• ]Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
The Closer • TNT • Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson
Commander In Chief • ABC • Geena Davis as Mackenzie Allen
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC • Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson
Six Feet Under • HBO • Frances Conroy as Ruth Fisher
The West Wing • NBC • Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg
• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Ambulance Girl • Lifetime • Kathy Bates as Jane Stern
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock
Elizabeth I • HBO • Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I
A Little Thing Called Murder • Lifetime • Judy Davis as Sante Kimes
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Annette Bening as Jean Harris
• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Arrested Development • FOX • Will Arnett as Gob Bluth
Entourage • HBO • Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Bryan Cranston as Hal
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Jon Cryer as Alan Harper
Will & Grace • NBC • Sean Hayes as Jack
• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC • William Shatner as Denny Crane
Huff • Showtime • Oliver Platt as Russell Tupper
The Sopranos • HBO • Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
24 • FOX • Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan
The West Wing • NBC • Alan Alda as Arnold Vinick
• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS • Denis Lawson as John Jarndyce
Elizabeth I • HBO • Hugh Dancy as Earl of Essex
Elizabeth I • HBO • Jeremy Irons as Earl of Leicester
Human Trafficking • Lifetime • Robert Carlyle as Sergei Karpovich
Thief • FX Network • Clifton Collins, Jr. as Jack “Bump” Hill
• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • Cheryl Hines as Cheryl David
Desperate Housewives • ABC • Alfre Woodard as Betty Applewhite
My Name Is Earl • NBC • Jaime Pressly as Joy
Weeds • Showtime • Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes
Will & Grace • NBC • Megan Mullally as Karen
• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC • Candice Bergen as Shirley Schmidt
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Chandra Wilson as Dr. Bailey
Huff • Showtime • Blythe Danner as Izzy Huffstodt
24 • FOX • Jean Smart as First Lady Martha Logan
• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie
The Girl In The Café • HBO • Kelly Macdonald as Gina
Hidden Places • Hallmark • Shirley Jones as Aunt Batty
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Ellen Burstyn as Former Tarnower “Steady”
Mrs. Harris • HBO • Cloris Leachman as Tarnower’s Sister
The Water Is Wide (Hallmark Hall Of Fame Presentation) • CBS • Alfre Woodard as Mrs. Brown
• Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series
Extras • HBO • Patrick Stewart as Himself
Extras • HBO • Ben Stiller as Himself
Two And A Half Men • CBS • Martin Sheen as Harvey
Will & Grace • NBC • Alec Baldwin as Malcolm
Will & Grace • NBC • Leslie Jordan as Beverley Leslie
• Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC • Michael J. Fox as Daniel Post
Boston Legal • ABC • Christian Clemenson as Jerry “Hands” Espenson
ER • NBC • James Woods as Dr. Nate Lennox
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Kyle Chandler as Dylan Young
Lost • ABC • Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond
• Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series
Desperate Housewives • ABC • Shirley Knight as Phyllis Van de Kamp
Extras • HBO • Kate Winslet as Herself
Malcolm In The Middle • FOX • Cloris Leachman as Ida
Monk • USA • NBC Laurie Metcalf as Cora
Will & Grace • NBC • Blythe Danner as Marilyn Truman
• Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Kate Burton as Ellis Grey
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • Christina Ricci as Hannah
Huff • Showtime • Swoosie Kurtz as Madeline Sullivan
Six Feet Under • HBO • Patricia Clarkson as Aunt Sarah
Six Feet Under • HBO • Joanna Cassidy as Margaret Chenowith
• Outstanding Miniseries
Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre) • PBS •
Elizabeth I • HBO •
Into The West • TNT •
Sleeper Cell • Showtime •
• Outstanding Made For Television Movie
Flight 93 • A&E •
The Flight That Fought Back • Discovery Channel •
The Girl In The Café • HBO •
Mrs. Harris • HBO •
Yesterday • HBO •
• Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report • Comedy Central •
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central •
Late Night With Conan O’Brien • NBC •
Late Show With David Letterman • CBS •
Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO •
• ]Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special
78th Annual Academy Awards • ABC •
Bill Maher: I’m Swiss • HBO •
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing • HBO •
McCartney In St. Petersburg • A&E •
The XX Olympic Winter Games - Opening Ceremony • NBC •
• Outstanding Reality Program
Antiques Roadshow • PBS •
The Dog Whisperer • National Geographic Channel •
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition • ABC • Endemol USA
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List • Bravo •
Penn & Teller: Bullshit • Showtime •
• Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race • CBS •
American Idol • FOX •.
Dancing With The Stars • ABC •
Project Runway • Bravo •
Survivor • CBS •
Award Notebook
Emmys on a Good Night's Sleep:
Still Weird
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog
Most years I'm in California when the Emmy nominations are announced; more than once I have actually gone to the Emmy announcement -- at 5:35 a.m. L.A. time. Even those years when I didn't go, I was up early to get the nomination bundle and try to figure it out.
This year, I'm still in the East, was able to sleep until a reasonable hour -- and am nonetheless befuddled by the nominations.
First glance suggests lots of sentimental favorites, and people are already buzzing over the omissions of ''Lost'' and ''Desperate Housewives.'' Looks like there's still no love for Lauren Graham (although ''Gilmore'' had an off year) and I haven't seen any major praise for my beloved ''Veronica Mars.''
But at least I'm not yawning while thinking about it.
More later.
http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/
archiguy
07-06-06, 09:51 AM
BAH! Still no major nominations for one of the very best shows on TV, the new 'Battlestar Galactica'. Not one. It's ridiculous. And where is 'LOST' in the best drama category that it won last year? (But that piece of inconsequential fluff that is 'Grey's Anatomy' and the way too formulaic and predictable '24' get them??) That's why I don't watch awards shows; even the nominations usually piss me off too much. :(
Emmy Award Notebook
And the nominees are...
'Grey's Anatomy,' '24' top Emmy noms. 'Lost' and 'Housewives' are shut out.
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
"Grey's Anatomy" and "24" topped the list of Emmy series nominations today when finalists for the 58th annual prime time television awards were announced at a predawn news conference.
The serialized Fox drama about a counterterrorism unit racing against the clock racked up 12 nominations, while the soapy ABC medical drama got 11. Both were nominated for best drama series, along with Fox's "House," HBO's "The Sopranos" and NBC's "The West Wing."
In a surprise upset, ABC powerhouses "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" were shut out of the top nominations, just a year after they dominated the finalist list.
The most nods went to the TNT miniseries "Into the West," which racked up 16 nominations.
Fox's now-canceled "Arrested Development," HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," NBC's "The Office" and "Scrubs," and CBS' "Two And A Half Men" were selected as best comedy series nominees.
The rules for nominating were different this year, with an emphasis on decisions by committee, and the result was a more eclectic and diverse list of nominations than in recent years - including many for shows no longer on the air.
NBC's "Will and Grace" got 10 nominations, while "The West Wing" got six, including nods for stars Martin Sheen and Allison Janney.
Kevin James made the list of lead comedy actors for his work in CBS' "King of Queens," as did Steve Carrel of NBC's "The Office."
Larry David of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Tony Shalhoub of USA's "Monk" and Charlie Sheen of "Two and Half Men" rounded out the list.
The winners will be announced at an evening ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium hosted by Conan O'Brien on Aug. 27. It will be broadcast on NBC.
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/emmys/env-emmynoms070606_wr,0,7089519.story?coll=env-home-headlines
Emmy Award Notebook
Emmy Nominees Unveiled
By Rebecca Stropoli Broadcasting & Cable 7/6/2006
Julia Louis Dreyfus got a nice surprise as she was announcing the nominations for the 58th Prime Time Emmy Awards with Brad Garret—she was nominated in the Actress in a Comedy category for her role in The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Gray’s Anatomy was among others to also got a first-year nomination, for Best Drama series, but the real story seemed to be some of the shut-outs, including last year’s top winners Lost and Desperate Housewives, which both received no nominations.
HBO’s critically acclaimed Entourage was also shut out, as was its new series Big Love. And While The Sopranos was nominated in the Best Drama category, only Michael Imperioli received a supporting nod.
Meanwhile, the cancelled West Wing made the list once again with a nomination for Best Drama Series and a Best Lead Actor in a Drama series nomination for Martin Sheen.
The cancelled Will & Grace, an Emmys regular, also received a nod for Best Actress in a Comedy for Debra Messing.
Other cancelled shows that got nods: Geena Davis was nominated as Best Actress in a Drama for Commander in Chief, which started strong last season but faded quickly, and Stockard Channing received a Best Actress in a Comedy nomination for Out of Practice.
This year the Emmy voting underwent a change in procedure in an attempt to widen the voting pool, with each voter receiving DVDs to view.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6349913
TV Notebook
How to read ratings for summer reruns
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 6, 2006
It would be tempting to look at the dismal ratings for “Lost” reruns this summer and proclaim the phenomenon that is the ABC hit show done, its viewership headed for a big plunge this fall.
That would be a mistake.
While you can read certain things into the patterns shown by summer drama repeats on the broadcast networks, it’s risky to draw too many conclusions about a show based on that performance.
A show that declines in the summer won’t necessarily decline in the fall. But at the same time, shows that rise in the summer often continue that trend in the fall.
This summer, two shows on the decline, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," and a show on the rise, Fox's "House," are good examples.
Sometimes it’s a matter of its timeslot. Last summer “Lost” averaged a 2.1 adults 18-49 rating. Last week it averaged a 1.0. But last summer, “Lost” aired out of “Dancing with the Stars,” which gave it an average lead-in of 5.1. Last week, “Lost’s” lead in was a 1.3 for a repeat of “Freddie.”
Too, serialized dramas like “Lost” and “Housewives” don’t generally repeat well. Last summer was an exception for those shows, as many viewers began watching at the end of the season and thus were still catching up over the summer.
This year, viewership levels for “Lost” and “Housewives,” whose last two episodes are off a third from last summer's 2.1 average, have leveled off, and so there probably aren’t a lot of new fans playing catchup. That doesn’t mean fewer of them will watch this fall, just that they don’t want to waste the summer watching episodes they’ve already seen.
The opposite is true for Fox’s “House,” a non-serialized episodic drama. That show grew and grew last spring, and so there are probably many newer fans who did not see last fall’s episodes. They’ve helped the show’s repeats to big increases this year.
Last summer, “House” averaged a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating. Last week’s Tuesday 9 p.m. episode averaged a 3.5, up 25 percent and the third-highest-rated show of the week on broadcast. “House” should stay hot this fall, because it was growing at the end of last season.
Finally, summer viewing patterns may simply reflect spring viewing patterns. Hit shows that struggled at the end of the season will continue to do so in the summer. NBC’s “Medium” averaged a 1.9 last week, down 17 percent from last year’s 2.3 average.
In its season finale, “Medium,” which airs on NBC Mondays at 10 p.m., averaged a 3.8, down 16 percent from 2005’s 4.5 for its finale.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_5782.asp
Emmy Award Notebook
Emmys ..... fzzzzzp
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”
Well, no love for the "Gilmore Girls." Not that it would have been vindication of the academy's revamped nominations process, but it certainly would have supplied easy proof. Right now, though, there's more evidence that things are exactly as they were.
If there is any surprise, it is the diminished profile of HBO, which saw "The Sopranos" drift off the map and "Entourage" fail to recapture the magic of last season. Instead, Larry David and "Curb" returned to the ballot.
Comedy: "Desperate" fizzled off as expected, and "Raymond," last year's winner, didn't return. And not even the academy could stomach another nomination for "Will & Grace." Main beneficiary: CBS comedies "Two and a Half Men," "Old Christine" and even "King of Queens," which saw Kevin James replace his old buddy Ray Romano on the ballot. The almost-all-new comedy actor catgegory also featured Charlie Sheen (dad Martin returned to the nominees for drama acting) and as expected, Steve Carell. Maybe Tony Shaloub won't win this year.
Drama: "Grey's Anatomy" got 11 nominations, confirming its status as the chewing gum that lasts (compare with "Desperate Housewives"). But "24" led all series with 12 noms. "House" replaced "Lost," "Sopranos" replaced "Deadwood," and Denis Leary took Ian McShane's spot as the lucky cable pick in best drama actor. Luck had nothing to do with Kyra Sedgwick's nomination for "The Closer" -- she's the favorite to win, if you ask me.
http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/07/emmys_fzzzzzp.html#more
Emmy Award Notebook
Tony & Carmela & Desperate Housewives rubbed out!
By Tom O’Neil Los Angeles Times Staff Writer In “The Envelope” Award blog
Later today, when I have time to look over the episode submissions made by some surprise nominees, I'll have a better idea of how James Gandolfini and Edie Falco somehow managed not to get nommed for lead actor and actress in a drama series. Surely, the episodes submitted against them must've been whoppers to beat Tony Soprano's heart-to-heart chat with his son outside a police station and Carmela's teary hospital-room confession that she really loves a mobster (that is, she's not just in it for that great house).
But I can tell you why those Desperate Housewives were probably bitchslapped. It's their own fault! Why, oh, why did they submit the season opener to the judging panel instead of the season finale, which was 30 minutes longer and one of the most brilliant episodes of the whole past TV year? I can tell you why Felicity Huffman's not nommed. She submitted the episode where she goes out boozing after hours with the boss, probably thinking that it was a wise choice in the comedy categories. Wrong! Dear, dear, Felicity! You're still not listening to me! You made that same goof last year and only ended up winning because Marcia Cross screwed up and submitted your best episode for you! I've told you that in the past. Obviously, you didn't take it seriously! This must all be Marc Cherry's fault. Last year he bullied you into submitting the pilot. I sure hope you ended up sending Marcia a muffin basket later when you realized your mistake. Or, wait, that's right, you never quite realized it.
Graham left at Emmy altar again!
Ouch! Poor Lauren Graham got slapped again! After six previous snubs, the Emmys tinkered with voting system specifically to give that Gilmore Girl a shot at best comedy actress at last, but, weirdly, she got shut out again.
There are lots of other shockeroos among these nominations, which were supposed to boost the luck of all low-rated rivals. Somehow it ended up getting "Three and a Half Men" and Charlie Sheen the noms they couldn't reap under the old system -- a popular vote that should've, theoretically, favored TV's most popular comedy.
Specifically, those alternative networks like FX, UPN, WB, Showtime, TNT and USA were supposed to benefit most and that didn't happen. None of the nominees for best comedy or drama series are from those second-tier channels and only three contenders for lead actor and actress: Denis Leary ("Rescue Me"), Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer") and two-time past winner Tony Shalhoub ("Monk").
Last year America's TV critics were outraged that "Will & Grace" had the most Emmy noms even though it had one of its worst seasons ever. This year it leads again, after an even worse year, but at least it didn't make the cut for best comedy series!
http://goldderby.latimes.com/
BAH! Still no major nominations for one of the very best shows on TV, the new 'Battlestar Galactica'. Not one. It's ridiculous. And where is 'LOST' in the best drama category that it won last year? (But that piece of inconsequential fluff that is 'Grey's Anatomy' and the way too formulaic and predictable '24' get them??) That's why I don't watch awards shows; even the nominations usually piss me off too much. :(
Yeah, I can't believe "24" got a nom for Drama, that's just plain ridiculous, and snubbing BG, well I expected that.
I'm glad to see Andre Braugher and Clifton Collins Jr get noms though, well deserved and it's nice to see that at least a few other people other than me thought "Thief" was some darn good TV. Naturally, it's already been canceled.
Oliver Platt should win his category hands down, his being one of the most dynamic performances all year along with Blythe Danner although she has some heavy competition, but alas, another canceled show.
Glad to see Jaime Pressly and especially Kyra Sedgwick, but I don't understand Geena Davis, CiC was flat out a terrible show and I don't see how they could have pulled out a nomination for her.
Emmy Award Notebook
2006 Emmy nominations
'Into the West' lands more noms than any other show
By Michael Schneider, Josef Adalian Variety.com
HOLLYWOOD -- The TV Academy has decided that old is gold this year, with voters deciding to honor a bevy of departing shows and actors -- and snubbing hot young 'uns such as "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."
And in another shocker, Fox's critically-praised hit "24" landed more noms than any other series, with 12 nods. Overall, TNT's mini-series "Into the West" was the highest scoring show with 16 noms.
Noms are the first to be produced under a new nomination process designed to give more obscure skeins a better shot at a statuette. The process didn't seem to work, however, as many of the noms went to folks who've been around forever.
Best evidence of that comes in the comedy actress category, where four of the five nominees are from shows that have been canceled.
Ditto the best drama actress category, which features mostly noms from now-dead shows.
Competing for best drama this year: "Grey's Anatomy," "House," "The Sopranos," "24" and "The West Wing."
In the comedy race, it'll be "Arrested Development" vs. "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Office," "Scrubs" and "Two and a Half Men."
Entire Emmy process -- including announcement of the noms -- has been moved up this year because of scheduling conflicts at NBC, home of this year's kudocast. Net's commitment to Sunday Night Football made it impossible for the show to air on a Sunday during September, causing the TV Academy to shift the date of the kudos to Sunday, Aug. 27.
Conan O'Brien will host this year's Emmys.
Emmy Award Notebook
The Emmys:
Finding New Ways to Reward Mediocrity
By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic in Time’s Tuned In blog Thursday, Jul. 6, 2006
This was the year the Emmy nominations were going to be different. Thanks to a new voting process--in which panels of specialist judges picked the nominees from shortlists of ten--the process was supposed to be more open to new talent and less likely to rubber-stamp whichever shows and actors had been nominated the previous year.
And they're... umm... different. But "different," much like when you use the adjective to describe the habanero-pepper cranberry sauce your Aunt Bess makes to liven up Thanksgiving dinner, does not always mean better. There are some new names and faces in the major categories--but many of them are simply old faces in newer, mediocre shows. (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Charlie Sheen, I'm looking at you. And sorry, but Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni? Did Law & Order: SVU suddenly become freaking Shakespeare after seven years?)
Worst of all, Emmy has made room for the "new" faces not so much by booting old, past-their prime shows (like gold-watch recipients The West Wing and Will & Grace) but much more deserving newer series and actors. Fine, I'll forgive Battlestar Galactica, which was about as likely to get a Best Drama nomination from the sci-fi-averse Emmys as the Earth was to be invaded by Cylons. I'll even let slip Deadwood, which had a better season than either The Sopranos or Six Feet Under (which did pick up big nominations), because Emmy can only get away with honoring so many HBO shows. But Lost? Wildly creative television phenomenon Lost? Winner of last year's drama Emmy Lost? I'm sorry--there is no planet on which Lost is inferior to Grey's Anatomy or The West Wing, and I defy anyone with sight and a functioning brain to argue otherwise.
Let's be charitable, though, and look at what went right. Lisa Kudrow probably got nominated for the wrong reasons--big-name actress in a showy vehicle--but deserved it for her unsparing, discomfiting portrayal of Valerie Cherish in the underrated The Comeback. Jaime Pressly, who pops not just out of her outfits but off the screen as the venal, gum-snapping Joy in My Name Is Earl, should win supporting comedy actress.And 24 may partly be coasting on goodwill, but Gregory Itzin earned his spot as sniveling President Logan in this increasingly actor-driven show, as did Denis Leary for Rescue Me. The Office was a welcome comedy nominee, as to a lesser extent was Scrubs. (But Entourage should have gotten the flagging Curb Your Enthusiasm's spot.) And Desperate Housewives, overrated in its superior first season, deserved the snubbing for its inferior second one.
But as for the oversights: good God, where do I start? Big Love, the best series vehicle for actresses in years, was pretty much shut out. (Ironically, it got a casting nod--apparently not for casting any actual actors, however.) How I Met Your Mother lost out to the inferior Two and a Half Men, probably for a lack of boldface names. (Neal Patrick Harris, get Denise Richards' phone number, pronto!) And not to overpraise the perfectly fine House, but how can it be nominated for best series but Hugh Laurie--whose performance is essentially the entire show--get stiffed as best actor? As for Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Deadwood--hey, same old song, different verse.
And apparently no new process can shake Emmy out of one old habit: nominating excellent actors and actresses in less-than-excellent roles. Stockard Channing, who would get an Emmy nomination if she were gagged, covered in papier-mache and forced to play a boulder, was rewarded for overacting in CBS' not-forgettable-enough Out of Practice. (Likewise Geena Davis on the embarrassing Commander-in-Chief and Blythe Danner for her caricatured role in Huff.) And the star-laden but stiflingly dull miniseries Into the West somehow became the most nominated show of the night.
In the end, though, these are just Emmy nominations, and if they weren't disappointing every year, they wouldn't be as fun, I'd like to thank the academy, at least, for giving me a few different things to grouse about this year. And for the producers of Lost, a bit of advice: sign up Stockard Channing.
http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/
HDTVChallenged
07-06-06, 10:54 AM
Good grief Emmy ... It seems like there should be some kind of rule against being nominated for "playing oneself." Where's the "challenge" in that. :D
Emmy Award Notebook
New Emmy rules, the same old gripes
Acting noms for Charlie Sheen, Kevin James
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jul 6, 2006
As promised, this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards nominations featured lots of new faces. But once again, there will probably be more focus on who didn’t get nominated than who did, including two ABC shows that last year took home two of the biggest awards.
The Emmy nominees were announced this morning for the Aug. 27 ceremony. Among the first-time honorees: Denis Leary, up for best actor in a drama for FX’s “Rescue Me;” NBC’s Christopher Meloni, in the same category for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit;” Geena Davis, recognized for lead actress in the late ABC drama “Commander in Chief;” and Kevin James, long passed over for lead comedy actor for CBS’s “King of Queens.” Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer also received acting nominations for CBS’s “Two and a Half Men.”
Yet just as surprising as some of the nominees were some of the names left off. “Gilmore Girls’” Lauren Graham failed to get a nod for lead actress in a comedy, and Hugh Laurie, nominated last year for lead actor in Fox’s “House,” was shut out.
Perhaps most surprising were the snubs for Emmy favorites such as “Lost,” last year’s best drama winner that wasn’t even nominated in the category this year, and “Desperate Housewives.” Last year that show took three of the five comedy lead actress nominations, and Felicity Huffman won. This year it received a shocking zero.
Also passed over for the first time were “The Sopranos” lead actors James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.
The new process for nominating shows, which brought in a larger group of initial voters and sent on more possibilities to the nominating committee, received a lot of buzz in the run-up to the nominations.
The Television Academy of Arts and Sciences said it wanted to get a broader base for its nominations after years of critics and viewers griping that deserving performers like Graham, whose series ran on the little-watched WB, were ignored.
The lead actress in a comedy may have had the most surprise nominees, three of them on first-year shows, two of which have already been canceled. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, for CBS’s “New Adventures of Old Christine,” Stockard Channing, for the canceled “Out of Practice” on CBS, and Lisa Kudrow, whose “The Comeback” ran one season on HBO, were all nominated.
Alfre Woodard was the only “Housewives” actress nominated, for best supporting actress in a comedy. She’s leaving the show.
Fox’s “24,” which received three acting nominations, including one for lead Kiefer Sutherland, led all broadcast series with 12 nominations. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” which received supporting nods for Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson, received 11.
TNT’s miniseries “Into the West” led all nominees with 16 total.
“Sopranos” did get a best drama nomination, as did “The West Wing,” in its final year.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5785.asp
Emmy Award Notebook
Canceled Series, Newcomers Among Emmy Nominees
'The Sopranos,' 'House,' '24' in Awards Contention
By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com July 6, 2006
Series that have left the air and perennial cable performer HBO placed among top recipients of nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
In the outstanding drama series category, HBO's "The Sopranos," ABC’s medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” Fox's "House" and "24" and NBC's cancelled "The West Wing" garnered nominations. Last year’s winner, ABC's “Lost” didn't get a nod.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominations at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, Calif.
Canceled shows garnered a number of nominations, with Fox scoring recognition for outstanding comedy with “Arrested Development.” Geena Davis received an outstanding actress in a drama nomination for the ABC's “Commander in Chief.” CBS also received a nomination for “Out of Practice,” with an outstanding actress in a comedy nod for multiple Emmy winner Stockard Channing. HBO got a spot in the same category with Lisa Kudrow for her canceled series “The Comeback.”
While “The Sopranos” got a nomination for drama series, previous winners James Gandolfini and Edie Falco were shut out of the acting categories. HBO saw “Six Feet Under” actors Peter Krause and Francis Conroy get nominations for their work on the funeral home drama.
Newcomer Kyra Sedgwick received a nomination in the best actress in a drama series category for TNT’s “The Closer,” while last year’s winner, Patricia Arquette of NBC’s “Medium,” was also shut out.
This year the TV Academy for the first time incorporated a panel into its nominating process to help add some variety to its nominations, which in the past have been criticized as recognizing the same shows over and over. The new nominating procedure produced some unexpected results, said Diane Gordon, author of the subscriber-based TV e-mail The Surf Report.
“It’s really schizophrenic--they have a foot planted in the old and they are trying to drag into the new,” Ms. Gordon said. “I’m shocked that ‘Lost’ is virtually absent given that it won last season. I’m surprised none of the actors from ‘Grey’s’ got nominated, when the show got nominated. And the same thing for Hugh Laurie -- ‘House’ got nominated, but he didn’t.”
Despite a glut of awards shows and a challenge from the Golden Globes, the Prime Time Emmys remain the most coveted TV awards in terms of industry prestige. Last year’s Emmy telecast on CBS scored a 6.1 rating in adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen Media Research, growing 33 percent from its series low performance in the demographic in 2004.
This year’s nominations follow a tumultuous season for television. The industry was surprised by the January announcement that The WB and UPN were dissolving to form The CW. Both cable networks and broadcasters also have been grappling with how to provide more TV content on the Internet and mobile devices as consumers show growing interest in video games and Web browsing.
An Emmy nomination or win can raise an actor’s profile in Hollywood or help a program struggling in the ratings. Audiences don't always get on board, however, as illustrated by Fox’s comedy “Arrested Development,” which was an Emmys darling but eventually was canceled.
With the retirement of CBS’s “Everybody Loves Raymond,” there is no returning winner in the outstanding comedy category. Past winners also didn't get nods in the supporting actor and supporting actress in a comedy categories.
Emmy voters will receive DVDs for at-home judging during the week of July 24. Voters have until August 15 to submit their completed ballots.
The nominations announcement comes about a week earlier than usual, reflecting the Emmys’ move by a few weeks to the last weekend in August. Traditionally the Emmys have been held on a Sunday in mid-September. This year’s broadcaster, NBC, begins its Sunday night NFL football coverage in the fall, which set up a potential schedule conflict.
The primetime Emmy Awards will be presented on Sunday, August 27 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. NBC will broadcast the show live at 8 p.m. (ET) on the east coast with a tape delay for the west coast. Late night talk show personality Conan O’Brien is scheduled to host the telecast.
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