View Full Version : Hot Off The Press! The Latest Television News and Info
did it download and work for you, jim?
(I suspect that CP guy has been swamped with work on his DMA updates -- what a project!)
Yes, it works, it has to be un-zipped, maybe that's where jerryez is having trouble?
RussTC3
08-08-06, 04:23 PM
Works fine for me as well.
Perhaps he's right clicking and saving (which creates a .php file on my end)?
Left click, and then saving works fine.
Referring to the above chart, wouldn't you hate to be in one of those markets like Philly or NY, where they have .3 or .8 of an HD channel..?? :p
chrisirmo
08-08-06, 04:56 PM
Referring to the above chart, wouldn't you hate to be in one of those markets like Philly or NY, where they have .3 or .8 of an HD channel..?? :p
They must be counting the HD-LITE channels on D* :D
P.S. Fred, I see you got your own subscription, good stuff isn't it? :)
Great stuff, jim.
Now you'll have to instruct me on how to use photobucket!
Last week’s complete network average prime-time results (with demographic averages) are now at the bottom of RATINGS NEWS the first post in this thread.
Great stuff, jim.
Now you'll have to instruct me on how to use photobucket!
There's probably an easier way, but in the Adobe document I just use the snapshot tool, select the area and it automatically copies it to the Clipboard. I then open Adobe Photoshop, paste the Clipboard file and then Save For Web(it's under the FILE selection) Then go to Photobucket.com, upload the file, then paste it to post. Sounds complicated but after you do it 5-6 times it becomes second nature and only takes a minute or two at most. Let me know if you need some more help, and maybe others here have a more simplified method even.
Court Denies Verizon’s Md. Injunction Request
By Linda Haugsted 8/8/2006 7:05:00 PM
A federal court judge rejected a request by Verizon Communications' Maryland division for a preliminary injunction to block implementation of franchising rules for Montgomery County, Md.
Judge Marvin Garbis also directed Verizon to work with a mediator to resolve issues arising out of the county's attempts to issue a franchise with terms comparable to incumbent video competitors.
Verizon filed a lawsuit June 29 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, alleging that the county's cable-franchising rules constitute prior restraint and delegate "untrammeled authority" to local officials to deny franchise requests at will.
County officials countered that they have service standards and other local rules that must apply to all video providers. County officials are also promoting build-out requirements for the local franchise. The county also noted that while Verizon initiated negotiations with the county in March 2005, the company has yet to actually file a county franchise application.
County chief administrative officer Bruce Romer said Tuesday’s bench ruling rejecting Verizon's injunction request is a victory for consumers, as it denies Verizon's "attempt to enter the market by striking down our consumer safeguards."
While Garbis sent the parties to mediation, he retained control of the lawsuit in the event that they are unable to agree even with the assistance of a magistrate.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6360759.html?display=Breaking+News
cdp1276
08-08-06, 08:40 PM
Wire returns to HBO 9/10
The Streets Are Talking...The Wire on HBO
The new season begins on Sunday, September 10 at 10PM ET/PT! I'm looking forward to the return of this one. I just hope it isn't it's last season...
flint350
08-08-06, 09:38 PM
As it's a Baltimore based show with Baltimore writers/producers, etc. The Wire is covered a lot locally in the media. Latest word I saw (this is local news folks, so the nets may have more accurate info) was an interview with the producers (esp David Simon) who said they basically feel this is it. However, they held out hope that if it goes out strong that they can convince HBO to pick it up yet again. It has gotten a lot of early raves and this year it focuses on the schools as its main theme. Sadly, like so many good cable shows, the audience is inherently smaller and a niche show like this doesn't attract enough "real" people. But boy oh boy is it good!
FSugino
08-08-06, 09:58 PM
Wire returns to HBO 9/10
The Streets Are Talking...The Wire on HBO
The new season begins on Sunday, September 10 at 10PM ET/PT! I'm looking forward to the return of this one. I just hope it isn't it's last season...
Anyone know if this will be in HD this year?
Last week’s updated top 20 prime-time program ratings are now toward the bottom of RATINGS NEWS -- the first post in this thread.
TV Notebook
CRT TV, RIP;
(or, Why You May Soon Be Too Poor for Television)
By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic in Time’s Tuned In blog Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2006
The era of the black monolith will soon be over. The New York Times reports that, with sales of flat-screen televisions taking over the share of all TVs sold much faster than expected, the day is coming when you cannot buy a good old-fashioned, cheap, back-breaking tube television for hernias or money. Some manufacturers have cut their tube-TV offerings to a single set, including Panasonic; many say they will stop making cathode-ray sets within a year or so.
You may be worrying that this is just an excuse for me to write yet another tedious paean to my new plasma set. It's not. (Entourage, by the way, looks amazing in HD. But it's not. Really.) It is, instead, just another milestone in the steady metastatization of the entertainment line within the American household budget.
There was a day when you bought a TV set, which was more or less like your neighbor's. You outfitted it with an antenna, or a coathanger. You bought the occasional LP to play on your hi-fi, which you would keep until the end of time. You went to a movie once in a while. If you were particularly flush, Junior Mints would be involved.
Today, however, we live amid waves of technological change--and every such wave, like real waves grinding a mighty island gradually into a slip of nothingness, erodes your wallet a little bit more, and permanently. You have cable now, or satellite, and if you want to be really cool you have premium channels and a DVR. You went from LPs to CDs to an iPod, every changing giving you not just new equipment to buy and upgrade--that new computer every two years is now part of your entertainment budget--but a chance to repurchase your record collection. Likewise VCR to DVD to, soon, HD-DVD. Likewise radio to satellite radio (another monthly line item!).
Likewise ringtones. We are now a nation of people who pay their freaking phones to ring.
TV used to be the great democratizer, sort of: there was only so much any mortal, however wealthy, could hope to spend on one. But now you're looking at prices starting at around $1000 for an entry-level flatscreen for a modest room and running up to if-you-have-to-ask range. $200 for something to plunk down in your first apartment? Bygone days. Oh, sure, as the article notes, the price of some flatscreens now roughly equals a tube television of the same size. (Presumably, if that tube TV is an HDTV, however.) But an executive with the parent company of RCA notes that a 27-inch LCD is about $800, compared with $240 or $350 for a tube. The price of being a respectable American philistine has just tripled.
Of course, this doesn't mean TV is going to become an elite medium. Far from it. More than likely, we will thoughtlessly suck up the additional expense just as we have every other increment in the entertainment budget: it's just a few more hours of overtime a week, a little more debt on the credit cards, another chunk out of the house through a home-equity line of credit. And that'll be the case all the way down the line: the staggering ratio of TV screen size to household income is a hallmark of many American poor families. But you have to wonder if TV as a medium will get more respect out of the transition--not because it looks better in widescreen but because, if we're spending so much money on it, it must be important, right?
And therefore, so are TV critics, right? I wonder if I can get a raise out of this.
http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/
TV Notebook
'Ugly Betty' sitting pretty;
Laffer looks good to ABC in Thursday slot
By Josef Adalian Variety.com August 9, 2006
"Ugly Betty" is getting a high-profile new timeslot.
ABC has opted to shift "Betty" from its previously announced Friday night berth to Thursdays at 8 p.m. Skein will bow Sept. 28.
Move comes after the comic sudser generated hugely positive buzz coming out of last month's TV Critics Assn. press tour, as well as solid advertiser response.
With "Betty" now on Thursdays, ABC has decided to delay the launch of new laffers "Big Day" and "Notes from the Underbelly" until later in the fall. Skeins will air on either Tuesday or Wednesday nights, after "Dancing with the Stars" wraps its season.
"America's Funniest Home Videos" will replace "Betty" in the 8 p.m. Friday slot. Skein will continue to air Sunday nights as well, a pattern that's been in place since March.
"Betty" sked shift means "Big Day" creators Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa won't have to battle themselves. Fox's "'Til Death," which also comes from Goldsmith/Yuspa, is slated to air Thursdays at 8 in what had been the "Big Day" timeslot.
As for "Betty," move gives the show a better chance of becoming a breakout hit. While competish is weaker on Fridays, it's hard for shows to attract big ratings on the night.
ABC also has to worry about promoting two less shows leading up to the start of the season.
Still, by running "Betty" at 8 p.m. Thursday, ABC is pitting one of its best newcomers opposite CBS' still-strong "Survivor" and NBC's duo of "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office." Fox meanwhile has high hopes for "'Til Death," which stars Brad Garrett.
Alphabet also is making things a bit tougher for "Men in Trees," which no longer has the buzzworthy "Betty" as its Friday lead-in. Still, ABC could always air stunt programming for a few Fridays in order to get "Men" sampled.
Separately, Alphabet has pulled the plug on "One Ocean View" after two weeks. Unscripted sudser failed to draw auds Mondays at 10 p.m. and will be replaced by repeats of "Supernanny."
Cable Nielsen Notebook
USA Leads Weekly Ratings
Discovery Cracks Top 10
By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek.com
USA Network reclaimed its place as the most-watched cable network last week, delivering an average 2.87 million total viewers and a 2.4 household rating in prime time for the week ending August 6.
Boasting four of the week’s top five programs—including a fifth-place win for the latest installment of its new original series, Psych, which drew 4.72 million viewers Friday night at 10:00 p.m.—USA performed particularly well among the 18-34 and 18-49 demos. Psych scared up 2.07 million viewers in the 18-49 age range, enough for fifth place on the week in the category. The two-hour WWE Raw juggernaut was tops among the 18-49 demo, averaging 2.62 million viewers in the category Monday night between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.
The WWE also averaged 1.39 million adults 18-34.
Non-ad-supported Disney Channel was the nominal second-place finisher last week, with an average viewership of 2.57 million in prime and a 2.2 household rating. Disney continued its remarkable winning streak among its core demos, notching its 70th consecutive week as the leader of the kids 6-11 pack (1.17 million/5.9 rating), and taking its 66th straight week among tweens 9-14 (0.9 million/4.6 rating).
Among ad-supported nets, TNT was second on the week, averaging 2.49 million total viewers in prime and a 2.0 HH rating. The Turner net continued to draw a huge crowd with The Closer, which was cable’s most-watched show among total viewers (6.93 million) and adults 25-54 (2.83 million), and saw marked improvement with its newest drama, Saved, which landed 3.57 million viewers, up from 2.95 million the previous week.
Rounding off the top five for the week were: TBS (1.92 million/1.6 HH), which also finished tops among 18-34 (0.6 million); Lifetime (1.68 million/1.5) and Nick-at-Nite (1.61 million/1.4).
One grower of note was Discovery Channel, which cracked the top 10 for the first time in recent memory, finishing seventh among ad-suported cable nets with 1.49 million total viewers, thanks to its 19th annual Shark Week programming stunt. Summer traditions aside, Discovery generally has been hot of late, upping its total average prime time viewership by 14 percent to 1.16 million in July, a near duplication of the total increases the network posted in the entire second quarter of 2006.
Perhaps the single most buzzworthy show on cable last week was Bravo’s Project Runway, which on Wednesday night became the highest-rated single telecast in the network’s 26-year history, as 3.44 million total viewers tuned in to watch designer Keith Michael get booted from the show for violating the rules. Runway was third on the week among 18-34 (1.38 million), and also placed third in 18-49 (2.2 million) and finished fifth among the 25-54 demo (1.98 million).
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002952253
TV Notebook
TV Pilot Testing
By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post TV Critic
Dogs and babies score through the roof with women, while violence and sex rank high with men.
That much you know about TV audience testing.
But how does audience research happen, and what do the television executives learn from the results?
If you immediately picture lab-coat- wearing scientists gluing electrodes to subjects' heads, you've watched too much science fiction. The testing room feels more like a private movie theater than a lab. No brain scans, no heart monitor, no microchip behind the ear.
Just a "no food or drink" policy as 48 voluntary subjects take seats in a small screening room outfitted with a two-way mirrors and video cameras, at a North Hollywood complex owned by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. ASI, the largest testing company, counts all the major broadcast and cable TV networks among its clients. The market-research group has been in business since 1966, advising networks and studios on what works and what doesn't in pilots submitted for testing.
The twin TV sets at the front of the room aren't fancy - ASI favors the sort of old-fashioned screens that most civilians have at home so as not to overly enhance the show.
A peppy guide instructs visitors in the use of a handset at each seat: Turn the dial from a neutral position to a "minus" or "double minus," or a "plus" or "double plus," depending. If the reaction is really, really awful, participants can hit a red button to indicate they'd turn off the show.
Recently, a roomful of TV critics submitted to the process. We were not a typical audience, but then the show being tested wasn't typical, either. One of our colleagues had graciously donated a copy of a busted pilot from 2000, an inept jiggle-cop effort called "I Spike," about the well-proportioned members of a women's volleyball team, "Team Venus," who happen to be undercover agents. "I Spike" made "Charlie's Angels" look like genius.
No amount of puppies, babies, sex, violence or bikini volleyball could save this one.
"This is an interesting example of a dud," pronounced David Castler, chief executive officer of ASI. "There's no margin for tweakability."
Normally, the testing process reveals which aspects of a pilot need adjusting. Clients hope to isolate the problems, to learn which character may need to be recast, which joke isn't working, which plot point needs emphasis or which bit of direction seems confusing. They pay $20,000 per two-hour session to find their show's weak points. ASI tests some 150 pilots each year.
Red buttons all around indicated "I Spike" was beyond tweaking.
The dial-spinning portion of the test is followed by focus groups and questionnaires, specially designed to isolate matters of concern to the client. Participants are recruited by telephone and paid $50-75 to spend an evening at ASI. Only people who enjoy TV are invited; repeat customers are not allowed.
Of course, some shows that test well don't translate to hits once they're on the air. And some shows that tested poorly have gone on to glorious broadcast histories. "All in the Family" was an infamous miscall. Castler says test audiences didn't know there was an underlying loving relationship between the Bunkers; they hated it.
"We can't predict how a show will do on the air," Castler underscores. His job is to offer information about specific aspects of the pilot.
Clients may elect to test certain age or demographic groups, recruit lovers of specific genres (comedy or drama), and can home-test pilots in the heartland, away from
California audiences, for $40,000 per show via special cable channels.
In Las Vegas, CBS has a testing site inside the MGM Grand called Television City. On any given day, 100 to 200 people offer their opinions on shows. The facility also tests shows for MTV, Nickelodeon and other Viacom networks. Participants are compensated for their time with discount coupons for stores or restaurants on the premises. The Vegas facility also uses 75 touch-screen kiosks for individual research sessions. Each terminal is linked to the Internet, so CBS executives in New York and Los Angeles can revise questionnaires and track responses in real time.
David Poltrack, CBS research guru, said "without trying" the Vegas site draws participants from 40 states, mostly the young, upscale, avid TV watchers Madison Avenue seeks.
The process isn't always easy on those whose efforts are being judged.
At ASI, Castler recalled one particularly irate actor-producer who "lost it" during the testing of his latest project. As he watched the focus group bash his program, "he paced, he swore, he drank" and finally
barged in and "took over the
session."
That was Carl Reiner, show business icon, who was appalled to have unknowns off the street disparaging his creative output. (The project wasn't "The Dick Van Dyke Show" or any of his memorable successes.)
In his 34 years in the business, Castler has seen all sorts of hits and bombs pass through the screening room. What he hasn't gotten used to is unscripted television.
"We won't do reality TV," he said. "I hate reality TV."
While virtually every scripted show en route to network TV is put through the drill at ASI, Castler said, that's not the case for unscripted fare.
"If it's 'reality,' they just throw it on television."
http://www.denverpost.com/ostrow
Tuesday’s prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.
Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Floyd Landis wins again, for Jay Leno
Rerun of NBC copper wins timeslot with a 3.0
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Aug 9, 2006
After twice canceling planned appearances on NBC’s Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Floyd Landis finally dropped by the show last night, touting another excuse for why he exhibited elevated levels of testosterone in his recent Tour de France win: Perhaps it was something he ate.
People were plenty interested in what Landis had to say, too. Tonight scored its best rating in at least four weeks, averaging a 4.8 rating in metered market households.
That was nearly double the 2.5 that a repeat of CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman averaged in the same 11:35 p.m. timeslot.
It was also well ahead of ABC’s Nightline at 2.8 and a 1.2 for a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live, which begins at 12:05 a.m.
It marked the 213th time, out of 222 nights, that Leno has finished first in metered markets in late night, though that does include ties.
Landis has floated many theories over the past two weeks as to why both his A and B urine samples, taken shortly after the ride that essentially won the Tour for him, showed a high testosterone ratio.
He�s suggested it could have been caused by dehydration, drinking beer and whiskey the night beforehand, cortisone shots taken to ease the pain in his arthritic hip, or natural overproduction by his body.
Last night he told Leno that perhaps he unknowingly ingested something that caused the tests to be that way. Leno, who has joked in his monologue about Landis absence the two previous times he was supposed to show up, seemed skeptical.
But the ratings suggest that Americans are still interested in Landis and his woes. NBC had pumped the Landis appearance during its primetime schedule and local newscasts.
Meanwhile, in overnight numbers, CBS and NBC shared the lead for the night among adults 18-49, each with a 2.7 rating and 8 share, coming in ahead of Fox at 2.2/7, ABC at 1.6/5, Univision at 1.5/5, WB at 0.8/3 and UPN at 0.5/2.
At 8 p.m., CBS's "Big Brother 7: All-Stars" led at 2.8, ahead of Fox's "House" repeat at 2.3, Univision's "La Fea Mas Bella" at 1.9, NBC's "Fear Factor" at 1.8, ABC's reruns of "According to Jim" at 1.7, WB's "Gilmore Girls" rerun at 0.8 and UPN's "Veronica Mars" repeat at 0.5.
At 9 p.m., NBC was No. 1 at 3.2 for "Last Comic Standing," followed by CBS's "Rock Star: Supernova" at 2.8, Fox's "Bones" repeat at 2.0, ABC's "Jim" repeats at 1.8, Univision's "Barrera de Amor" at 1.6, WB's "Girls" rerun at 0.9, and UPN's "Mars" rerun at 0.6.
At 10 p.m., NBC led again at 3.0 for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," followed by CBS at 2.3 for "48 Hours Mystery," ABC at 1.3 for a "Boston Legal" repeat, and Univision at 1.1 for "Que Madre Tan Padre" and "Vecinos."
Among households, Fox squeezed into No. 1 for the evening at a 4.7 rating and 8 share, while CBS and NBC each averaged a 4.6/8. ABC was fourth at a 3.2/6, ahead of Univision at 1.9/3, WB at 1.5/3 and UPN at 0.9/1.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_6553.asp
flint350
08-09-06, 01:09 PM
Well, while the appearance may have helped Leno's ratings, it did little, IMO, to help Landis. He seemed to waffle more than a pancake at IHOP. His laundry list of excuses and blame on others was just not credible to me. His awkward laugh about it was disquieting. Why he appeared at all, after the other cancellations, was another oddity. He really added nothing to the debate except to look more guilty. I believe in presumption of innocence, but this bordered on presumption of audience gullibility. Leno, as usual, meekly attempted a "real" interview, but always backed off and even began as a cheerleader for the guy. I realize Leno is no investigative journalist, but if you're going to give a person like this a large audience, you ought to have some sense of integrity about pursuing it beyond just accepting "I didn't do it, but can't really, plausibly explain why". Ratings stunt, nothing more. And Landis was dumb to do it. He certainly didn't further his cause much, if any. Just my IMO.
I couldn't agree more, Ray.
It is sad, because that incredible performanvce he put on near the end of the Tour was amazing.
CPanther95
08-09-06, 01:57 PM
It is sad, because that incredible performanvce he put on near the end of the Tour was amazing.
Sad for Floyd maybe, but fantastic exposure for the steroid industry. :)
Landis just needs to come clean. What a screw up.
And from what people have told me, it doesn't seem like the testorone is something that would have helped him much.
archiguy
08-09-06, 04:37 PM
Landis just needs to come clean. What a screw up.
Then, he would be a historic first. Nobody comes clean, not even when they're caught red-handed in the lies.
And from what people have told me, it doesn't seem like the testorone is something that would have helped him much.
Actually, it would. He bonked hard on one leg of the race and made a "miraculous" recovery the very next day. Testosterone and HGH help the body recover faster, which is why it's prescribed for legitimate injury and burn victims. Weight lifters like the way it helps the body recover from hard workouts more quickly so that they can get in another hard workout faster. In this case, he probably used a testosterone patch on his, um, scrotum, which helped him recover enough to be fresh as a daisy the next day for his amazing comeback ride. It also wouldn't be spotted there. ;)
He might as well admit it now, since he's going to lose on appeal and his rep/career is shot anyway, but like I said above, they never do.
TV Notebook
TV-show series may be hitting close to home
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist August 9, 2006
When you're a fourth-place network, the television industry must seem awful. That's the impression you get from NBC, anyway.
The network, whose prime-time woes of late were recently cited by corporate parent General Electric as a drag on the company, is not only introducing a pair of shows on its fall schedule set in motion by a jaundiced view of the biz. It's also commissioned a third series based on the wholly believable premise that today's TV sitcoms reek and amateurs couldn't do worse than the pros.
Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" set the tone with an on-air rant from a burned-out producer on a "Saturday Night Live"-like series ripping his own network's shows in which contestants are vying to be Donald Trump and "eating worms for money."
Sound like anything on NBC?
"We're all being lobotomized by this country's most influential industry," says the man played by Judd Hirsch. "It's just thrown in the towel on any endeavor on anything that doesn't include the courting of 12-year-old boys--and not even the smart 12-year-olds, the stupid ones, the idiots, of which there are plenty, thanks in no small measure to this network."
Hirsch calls the TV business a "greed-filled" brothel and tells viewers "that remote in your hand is a crack pipe." This, presumably, is something "West Wing" creator Sorkin knows.
"I do think that television is a terribly influential part of this country and that when things that are very mean-spirited and voyeuristic go on TV, I think it's bad crack in the schoolyard," Sorkin told critics at their recent confab, immediately regretting the "crack" reference and later offering to pay everyone $100 not to mention it.
"Aaron has a lot of freedom, and that was the understanding going in," NBC Entertainment boss Kevin Reilly told critics at their recent confab. "He does not have complete freedom. ... He knows the parameters. I think he knows the business he's in."
Reilly said the network acknowledges "there's validity to" Sorkin's critique, but "we don't take it personally."
"SNL" alum Tina Fey's comedy, "30 Rock," has gotten attention for also being set in a live sketch show at NBC. And it too makes the network out to be a corporate bureaucracy gone wild.
Alec Baldwin plays an exec with "NBC GE Universal Kmart"--GE doesn't own Kmart, the guy admits, but asks why an underling dresses like it does--who touts the value of market research and how "sometimes you have to change things that are perfectly good just to make them your own."
This guy's greatest triumph is the GE Trivection Oven, which can cook a turkey in 22 minutes, so naturally he's been named vice president of East Coast television and microwave programming. When it's pointed out that sounds like he's in charge of microwave programming, he doesn't smile.
Who better to oversee a TV comedy?
Fey said she doesn't intend to rip "SNL," comparing that to "taking shots at my own family, basically," but she will make fun of NBC and GE if it's amusing. "We were saying at some point maybe Alec will want my character to ... go through the NBC executive training process or something, but only if it's funny," she said.
That's a chief complaint behind "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence's "Nobody's Watching." The show is about two young men who love TV and come to Hollywood to save it by producing a genuinely funny sitcom while starring in a fictional reality show about their adventure. The WB bought the pilot but didn't greenlight the series.
The pilot wound up on YouTube.com, found an audience, and NBC is developing it for both the Web and air.
"Win, lose or draw, these are the things we've got to try," Reilly said.
If only to see how the 12-year-old boys and the gang in microwave market research feel about it.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0608090174aug09,0,3436828,print.column
TV Notebook
TV Land Journeys to The Final Frontier
Celebrates The 40th Anniversary of Star Trek on Friday, September 8
(TV Land News Release)
NEW YORK, Aug. 9 -- TV Land celebrates Star Trek -- the legendary, science-fiction series which continues to "live long and prosper" - - with a 40th Anniversary primetime salute on Friday, September 8, 2006 -- the very date on which the series first premiered in 1966. TV Land will showcase four of the most talked about and best remembered episodes from the series, including the show's premiere and the historic episode featuring TV's first interracial kiss from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET/PT before the show joins the TV Land roster beginning November 17, 2006. Also in November, TVLand.com's new broadband media player will stream full-length episodes of Star Trek which have previously not been available for free on the Web.
"Star Trek forever changed the landscape of television and science fiction, and to this day, remains a cornerstone of pop culture," states Larry W. Jones, President, TV Land and Nick at Nite. "It continues to attract passionate fans, and we are thrilled to mark this monumental anniversary on TV Land."
"I'm thrilled that TV Land is celebrating this special anniversary of a show that means so much to me," adds William Shatner. "I am so proud of its creativity and ability to see humanity in the future. It is still amazing to see how Star Trek continues to impact generations of fans around the globe."
This futuristic series, which aired from 1966 to 1969, is set in the 23rd century and follows the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Their mission is to travel across the galaxy to explore new worlds and seek new life forms and civilizations. Commanded by James T. Kirk (William Shatner), accompanied by his first officer and best friend Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), a half-breed Vulcan with a green complexion and pointed ears. The Enterprise encountered confrontations with alien races the Klingons and Romulans, as well as other strange forms of life. Other characters in the series include Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), a surgeon and diagnostician; Sulu (George Takei), the chief navigator; Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), the communications officer; Scotty (James Doohan), the chief engineer and Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett). The series aired from 1966 to 1969 on NBC and spawned a billion dollar franchise and a loyal legion of fans, otherwise known as "Trekkies."
The schedule airs as follows (all times ET/PT):
Friday, September 8
8 p.m.
#1 The Man Trap - In this very first episode ever aired of Star Trek, Captain Kirk and his crew are at deadly risk from an alien creature that feeds on the salt in a human body and can take on any form.
9 p.m.
#28 - City On The Edge Of Forever - Kirk and Spock must travel into the past in order to correct a change that will alter history in one of the series' best-remembered episodes.
10 p.m.
#44 The Trouble With Tribbles - One of the most famous episodes from this series for its humor and bizarre plot. Stanley Adams plays Cyrano Jones, a space trader who gives a tribble (a ball of fluff) to Uhura who brings it on The Enterprise. What no one knows is that tribbles are born pregnant, so the more they eat, the more they multiply, and soon the Enterprise is filled with tribbles as they produce at amazing speed, leaving Kirk and his crew to figure out how to get rid of these creatures.
11 p.m.
#65 - Plato's Stepchildren - This episode is famous because it was the first time ever on television that an interracial kiss was featured, between Captain Kirk and Uhura. Also in this episode, Kirk and his crew find themselves at the mercy of individuals who possess mind-over-matter powers...and plan to use the Enterprise crew for their twisted entertainment
TV Notebook
DBS Merger? Forget It.
No need to concern ourselves with all that Wall Street talk. Why? Our old buddy Phillip Swann tells us so:
“I predict that DIRECTV and rival EchoStar will not merge despite rumors to the contrary.”
So there you have it.
If you care to read more it is here:
http://www.tvpredictions.com/mergerprediction080806.htm
Cable TV Notebook
'Bounty' picks up viewers for A&E
By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood Reporter
"Dog the Bounty Hunter" had its day on A&E Tuesday, with a two-part special reaching record ratings for the channel.
The unscripted series averaged 4 million total viewers from 9-11 p.m., culminating with a 10 p.m. episode that nearly dented A&E's current record holder, original movie "Flight 93."
The 10 p.m. episode was second-ranked to "Flight" in the 18-49 demo (2.7 million) and 25-54 (2.6 million), while managing to nail the channel record in 18-34, with 1.2 million. "Dog" also powered A&E to the highest rated cable network of the night in primetime.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002984663
TV Notebook
DBS Merger? Forget It.
No need to concern ourselves with all that Wall Street talk. Why? Our old buddy Phillip Swann tells us so:
“I predict that DIRECTV and rival EchoStar will not merge despite rumors to the contrary.”
So there you have it.
If you care to read more it is here:
http://www.tvpredictions.com/mergerprediction080806.htm
I just read that Murdoch himself said the same thing although I don't recall where I was when I read it, maybe Sky Report.
dad1153
08-09-06, 07:00 PM
Cable TV Notebook
'Bounty' picks up viewers for A&E
By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood Reporter
"Dog the Bounty Hunter" had its day on A&E Tuesday, with a two-part special reaching record ratings for the channel.
I can honestly say that I haven't watched more than five hours of A&E programming since 1999, when repeats of 'Law & Order' moved to TNT. News stories like the one above reinforce my belief that I haven't missed anything worth watching since my departure. A&E belongs to a growing number of cable channels whose programming in no way, shape or form reflect their mission statement. What the heck do reality shows like 'Dog The Bounty Hunter,' 'Growing Up Gotti' or that show about airports/airlines have to do with either art or (loosely defined) entertainment? Why does American Movie Classics show all its movies with commercials, edited for content and in pan-and-scan (instead of their original aspect ratio)? Has anyone seen a music video airing at a time when anybody's watching on either MTV or MTV2? Even low-tier stuff like G4 (a videogame channel) is showing repeats of 'Star Trek: TNG' and 'The Man Show' in primetime. Why are repeats of 'L&O: Criminal Intent' flooding Bravo's schedule on weekends? And don't get me started on what passes as a guest worth interviewing on the once-interesting 'Inside the Actor's Studio.' I mean, come on! Martin freaking Laurence? :eek: :mad:
I could go on forever but seeing the ratings for A&E climb with trash like 'Dog' makes me realize I'm a dinosaur of a TV viewer (the quality-seeking discriminating type) at age 33! :(
CPanther95
08-09-06, 08:15 PM
Don't give up on A&E, you may have missed the tattoo shows and you won't want to miss the upcoming Gene Simmons reality show. :)
dad1153
08-09-06, 08:18 PM
Tattoo show? Gene Simmons reality show? Wow, A&E is back... NOT! :mad:
PJO1966
08-09-06, 08:21 PM
Agreed... A&E is not what it used to be. I also think you forgot to mention wrestling on th Sci-Fi Channel...
CPanther95
08-09-06, 08:28 PM
The reality is that they broke off all the popular programs to launch other networks. 8 channels pay more than 1. There's just nothing left, of any real substance, to put on.
The Business of TV
Downgrade, Murdoch Sink Dish Stock
By Mike Farrell Multichannel News 8/9/2006
EchoStar Communications stock plunged more than 10% ($3.60 per share) to $31.48 each in trading Wednesday on a downgrade from an influential analyst and comments from News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch that the two companies were not in merger discussions.
The company’s stock had been climbing in recent weeks on speculation that News Corp., which controls No. 1 direct-broadcast satellite service DirecTV Group, would attempt a merger with the No. 2 DBS provider. Comments from DirecTV CEO Chase Carey Tuesday afternoon that the regulatory environment was softening to such a merger only helped to fuel that speculation.
But Tuesday night, Murdoch, on a conference call to discuss fiscal-fourth-quarter results, told analysts he was not currently in discussions with EchoStar, quashing hopes that a deal was at least in the works.
“We’ve had no negotiations at all,” Murdoch said regarding a merger with EchoStar. “We’ve had a few friendly conversations, but there is nothing to report.”
That, coupled with Sanford C. Bernstein cable and satellite analyst Craig Moffett’s decision to downgrade both DirecTV and EchoStar from “market perform” to “underperform,” sent the stock into a tailspin.
In his report, Moffett wrote that merger speculation has “driven the stock price to new heights, leaving valuations stretched even as huge questions remain as to whether a merger is even possible from a regulatory perspective.” Moffett also noted that Murdoch’s comments did little to help the merger speculation.
Increasing the pressure on the two DBS stocks was DirecTV’s disappointing second-quarter subscriber growth -- 125,000 net new subscribers in the quarter, versus 225,000 last year -- and the robust basic growth of cable companies like Cablevision Systems, which said Tuesday that it had added 35,000 basic customers in the period, outpacing analysts’ expectations.
Moffett wrote that the contrasting subscriber numbers “paint a picture of competitive advantage swinging decisively toward cable.”
DirecTV shares were down 56 cents each (3%) Wednesday to $16.52 per share.
EchoStar is scheduled to report its second-quarter results Thursday at noon (EST).
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6361286.html?display=Breaking+News
TV Notebook
Family trouble on 'Brothers & Sisters'
In yet another blow to Calista Flockhart's new show, executive producer Marti Noxon is said to have quit
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer in the Channel Island TV Industry blog August 9, 2006
Former "Ally McBeal" star Calista Flockhart's return to TV is looking not-so-triumphant.
Flockhart, 41, stars in "Brothers & Sisters," ABC's ensemble drama about several generations of a contemporary Los Angeles family. Network executives must have had positive feelings toward the show at some point, because they selected it for the plum 10 p.m. Sunday slot, right after "Desperate Housewives." That's the same time period that helped make "Grey's Anatomy" a huge hit (this season, "Grey's" is moving to Thursdays).
But "Brothers" has already run into big trouble. Executive producer Marti Noxon, the showrunner charged with managing creative matters on a day-to-day basis, abruptly exited the series Monday after a dispute over its artistic direction, two people familiar with the situation said. Noxon did not return a call Tuesday.
Studio executives are hopeful Noxon can be persuaded to return. "It's not final," said Charissa Gilmore, a spokeswoman for Touchstone Television, which makes the show. "Until then, she's on the show."
But Noxon is said to have butted heads with creator Jon Robin Baitz, a well-known playwright who's also written for "Alias" and "The West Wing." Just last month, Noxon and Baitz appeared side-by-side with Flockhart and the rest of the principal cast at a Pasadena press junket promoting "Brothers."
Noxon's departure is just the latest blow to the series. The studio earlier recast some of the actors, replacing Betty Buckley with Sally Field. As a result, substantial portions of the pilot had to be reshot, and according to the studio, no footage for any episode has been sent to the editing room yet. The premiere is set for Sept. 24.
Meanwhile, Flockhart's PR efforts may leave something to be desired. She became a star playing a conflicted young lawyer during "Ally McBeal's" 1997-2002 run. But her glum demeanor at the Pasadena junket had journalists buzzing (EW.com said she looked "utterly miserable"). But Gilmore said the actress has a full slate of promotional activities planned for the new show.
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-channel9aug09,0,5547548,print.story?coll=cl-tvent
(Maureen Ryan is back from vacation. Hooray!)
TV Notebook
A 'Battlestar Galactica' refresher course
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” August 09, 2006
It’s less than two months until Season 3 of "Battlestar Galactica" begins Oct. 6, and the drumbeat of hype is beginning.
Sci Fi Channel has cooked up a special designed to help fans and newbies catch up on the stellar drama. “Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far” is a synergy-minded executive’s dream: It’ll air all across NBC Universal’s many cable, broadcast and online platforms.
From Sci Fi’s release: “Told through the voice of Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the Secretary of Education-turned President-turned resistance leader on now Cylon-occupied New Caprica, ‘Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far’ will chronicle humanity’s costly struggle to survive against its deadliest enemy.”
If you’re lucky enough to live on the West Coast, you can catch “The Story So Far” at 10 p.m. West Coast time Sunday, after the football game.
Here are the other airings of the special, from Sci Fi’s press release (Note that all times below are Eastern time):
• Monday, August 28: Free on demand via Sci Fi’s cable affiliates
• Friday, September 15 at 12 a.m.: USA
• Sunday, September 17 at 7 p.m.: Universal HD
• Monday, September 18 at 9 a.m.: USA
• Friday, September 22 at 8 p.m.: Universal HD
• Friday, September 22 at 6 p.m.: Sleuth
• Friday, September 29 at 7 p.m: Bravo
• Saturday, September 30 at 11 a.m.: Bravo
• Saturday, September 30 at 4 p.m.: Universal HD
• September [date to be determined]: scifi.com’s Pulse
• Friday, October 6 at 7 p.m.: Sci Fi
There will be other Sci Fi airings in September and October, and the special will also be available for download on iTunes and XBox Live.
As for those upcoming “Battlestar Galactica” Webisodes, there’s no date yet on when they’ll debut.
By the way, there has been a rumor floating around that when “Battlestar” returns in October, Sci Fi will pair it with Season 2 of the newest incarnation of “Doctor Who.” I have reason to believe that may be true, though Sci Fi says it won’t make any official announcements until Thursday.
http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/
(Maureen Ryan is back from vacation. One more Hooray!)
TV Notebook
Men, women and a pretty spot for 'Ugly Betty'
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”
Well, this is excellent news.
I’m working on my fall preview story (which will appear in print on Aug. 27), and in it, I chided ABC for dumping “Ugly Betty” on Fridays. But now the network has seen the light, and just announced that “Ugly Betty” will air 7 p.m. Thursdays.
Do I think “Ugly Betty” is the best pilot of the fall season? No, but the fall crop is an especially good one. And "Betty" is well-acted, has a lot of potential and it may just be the most intriguing pilot of the new season. At the recent critic’s convention in Pasadena, opinions on the show were all over the map, and led to many interesting discussions, which is itself a good sign.
Why all the chatter? Well, for starters, “Ugly Betty” is certainly no “CSI” clone. Thank goodness.
“Betty” is an adaptation of a popular Colombian telenovela, and it concerns a not-very-attractive young woman who gets a job a glossy fashion magazine. It’s the kind of place where the trendily dressed assistant at the next desk will stick the proverbial knife in your back even as she smiles and brings you a decaf soy mocchachino.
As played by America Ferrera, Betty is a compelling mixture of aspiration, innocence and dogged determination. Her family doesn’t understand why she wants to aim so high, and she eventually finds out she was hired to be the magazine publisher’s assistant only because the bosses knew the randy fellow wouldn’t try to bed Betty.
I think the reason a lot of critics don’t get “Betty,” or are mystified by it, is because they’re male. Not to make blanket generalizations -- some male critics do like “Betty” -- but Brian Ford Sullivan, who runs the essential TV site The Futon Critic and whose opinion I greatly respect, wrote this on his site: “You know how every year there’s one show that makes you wonder ‘How the hell did this get made?’ Well, this is that show.”
I think conflict between women may be difficult for some guys to understand. It’s not quite out in the open, for the most part. There’s a whole raft of books these days about female bullying -- bullying that’s done via rumors, text messages, Web sites and cliquish exclusion.
I’m not trying to say that men and boys are never the victims or the perpetrators of these kinds of hurtful behaviors, but for women, conflict often plays out differently than it does for men. It’s about going for the emotional weak spot, it’s not about a physical or even a verbal attack.
Watch any cable show about guys (and most cable shows are about mostly guys), and eventually the characters will start punching each other. They’ll kick someone’s ribs in, or cut off an ear. Or there will be shouting, pushing, swearing, endless taunting. For the most part, conflict on shows featuring mainly men is out in the open, or at least it usually ends up that way.
What’s refreshing about “Betty” is that it depicts those small workplace moments that resonate -- the withering glances, the snotty exchanges, the small acts of meanness. The stuff that never actually rises to the level of a full-on conflict but that drives you nuts. That’s the stuff you e-mail your friends about and tell your husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend about. That’s the stuff that stings.
“Betty” shows what happens when a whole gang of fashionable people try to hurt someone’s feelings, in a million small ways, and she’s determined that they won’t succeed. Everyone -- male and female -- has probably been there.
I’m quite intrigued to see whether more people are befuddled by “Betty” than get it. I hope there are a good number of folks willing to give it a chance, because I do think that kind of workplace struggle and personal insecurity are eminently relatable, for both men and women. But who knows, maybe people would rather sit back and watch law-enforcement types kick butt on a carbon copy of “NCIS.”
In any case, good for ABC for giving a more high-profile spot to this promising comedy-drama – and there are some funny moments, many of them courtesy of Vanessa Williams, who plays a diva editor. And thank goodness ABC is banishing the tepid comedies that were supposed to air on Thursdays; maybe they’ll air mid-season, maybe never (wouldn’t that be tragic?).
I don’t know if “Betty” is going to succeed over the long haul. But at least she has a fighting chance to get noticed now.
http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/
(Maureen Ryan is back from vacation. Hooray!)
TV Notebook
A 'Battlestar Galactica' refresher course
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” August 09, 2006
If you’re lucky enough to live on the West Coast, you can catch “The Story So Far” at 10 p.m. West Coast time Sunday, after the football game.
I take this to mean she's talking about it being on NBC? Plus, there's no date, which football game, or which Sunday?
Hey, cut Maureen some slack. She is just back from vacation. And yes, it is on NBC (I believe).
Jim: It will be on NBC for those of us lucky enough to be on the correct coast. Here is the press release.
TV Notebook
VIEWERS PREPARE: THE RETURN OF 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA'
One-Hour Recap Special Preps Viewers for the Season 3 Premiere
Sweeping Distribution to Include Online, In-Store, And On-Air Across Every NBC Universal Property
(NBC Universal Press Release) Published: August 9, 2006
NEW YORK -– August 9, 2006 –- After a long, hot summer, SCI FI Channel offers some sweet relief to 'Battlestar Galactica' devotees and new viewers alike – a one-hour recap special to whet their appetites for the series' season 3 premiere in October. Incorporating footage from the original SCI FI miniseries and the show's previous two seasons of the Peabody Award-winning series, 'Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far' will serve as a refresher for current fans and as a primer for anyone new to the world of Galactica.
Told through the voice of Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), the Secretary of Education-turned President–turned resistance leader on now Cylon-occupied New Caprica, 'Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far' will chronicle humanity's costly struggle to survive against its deadliest enemy.
In a broad synergistic move, 'Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far' will air across all NBC Universal platforms – NBC, USA Network, Bravo, Sleuth, Universal HD, and online on SCIFI.COM's own broadband channel, 'Pulse.'
The special will be broadcast as follows:
Sunday, August 13 at 10PM NBC West Coast (following Football)
Monday, August 28 Free On Demand via SCI FI's cable affiliates
Friday, September 15 at 12AM USA
Sunday, September 17 at 7PM Universal HD
Monday, September 18 at 9AM USA
Friday, September 22 at 8PM Universal HD
Friday, September 22 at 6PM Sleuth
Friday, September 29 at 7PM BRAVO
Saturday, September 30 at 11AM BRAVO
Saturday, September 30 at 4PM Universal HD
September SCIFI.COM's Pulse
Friday, October 6 at 7PM SCI FI
*Other SCI FI airings TBD in Sept/Oct*
SCI FI's comprehensive promotional outreach will extend far beyond just the broadcasts. Throughout September and leading up to the season 3 premiere, 'The Story So Far' will also be made available for download via iTunes and XBox Live – the first longform program ever to be offered via XBox – and will be distributed at Best Buy as a bonus dvd with the 'Battlestar Galactica' season 2.5 dvd set, as well as other genre titles, from Universal Home Video. The dvd will also be distributed to visitors to the Universal Studios theme parks, and snippets of the special will be available on YouTube, Google Video and other video portal sites.
'Battlestar Galactica' is the gripping saga of humanity's last remnants and their struggle to find a new home while fleeing from their deadly Cylon enemies. Redefining the space opera with its gritty realism, 'Galactica's intensity, issues-driven topicality, and command performances have garnered it numerous awards, including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award.
Hey, cut Maureen some slack. She is just back from vacation. And yes, it is on NBC (I believe).
Hey, vacation's over, back to work, work, work, no slacking allowed. :p
Thanks for the update. :)
pwrmetal
08-10-06, 08:33 AM
By the way, there has been a rumor floating around that when “Battlestar” returns in October, Sci Fi will pair it with Season 2 of the newest incarnation of “Doctor Who.” I have reason to believe that may be true, though Sci Fi says it won’t make any official announcements until Thursday.
It's definitely true. I have seen a sci-fi "highlights of September" document which lists Dr Who season 2 premiering the week before BSG. It's definitely going to be on before the new BSGs on Friday nights.
Unfortunately, the rumor is that Sci-Fi is going to delay airing the 2005 Xmas Special (which bridges season 1 and 2) until Xmas, which should confuse the hell out of many viewers. I really hope Sci-Fi rethinks this (if true).
CPanther95
08-10-06, 09:20 AM
I guess there's been no movement on the new Caprica series beyond approving the idea of the show? I was really hoping they'd crank that series out in short order to air between the BSG half-seasons.
jim tressler
08-10-06, 09:26 AM
so.. those of us on the east coast will get screwed.. how crappy is that.. torrent search here i come!!!
Jim: It will be on NBC for those of us lucky enough to be on the correct coast. Here is the press release.
TV Notebook
VIEWERS PREPARE: THE RETURN OF 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA'
One-Hour Recap Special Preps Viewers for the Season 3 Premiere
Sweeping Distribution to Include Online, In-Store, And On-Air Across Every NBC Universal Property
(NBC Universal Press Release) Published: August 9, 2006
NEW YORK -– August 9, 2006 –- After a long, hot summer, ...
The special will be broadcast as follows:
Sunday, August 13 at 10PM NBC West Coast (following Football)
TV Notebook
How the new TV season is shaping up
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Aug 10, 2006, 01:10
It’s six weeks until the new TV season officially begins and only 11 days before Fox premieres the season’s first new show, “Vanished.”
This is the time when networks scramble with last-minute pilot tweaks and schedule switches, including a slight shakeup on Thursday nights made by ABC earlier this week. But as the new season moves closer, there’s a sense among media people that, for the second straight year, there won’t be a big breakout hit.
Two years after “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” sent ABC soaring, no upcoming program has the potential to either revive ailing NBC or give ABC or CBS a significant boost.
That means that Fox, which has won two straight seasons among adults 18-49, remains the favorite this year.
Karen McCallum, media director at Esparza Advertising in Albuquerque, and Peter Koeppel, founder and president of Koeppel Direct in Dallas, talk to Media Life about this season’s most promising shows, the least promising shows, and what the most competitive night will be.
Last year there was no one big new hit. Are there any shows that you think could be a real breakout a la “Housewives” or “Lost?”
PK: I think the biggest show this year will be “Grey's Anatomy” moving to Thursday at 9 p.m. I feel this could be the biggest show on TV, even though it is going up against “CSI.” It really gained momentum at the end of last season, and the reruns of the first season are doing well right now.
KM: I didn’t think “Desperate Housewives” would do what it did in its first season but ABC had nothing to lose. Arguably, the network with the least to lose this season would be NBC. However, I’m not seeing the level of risk with any of their shows that we saw with “Housewives” or “Lost.” This season is more likely to follow last year with no real network standouts.
Which three new shows look most promising this fall?
PK: I couldn't narrow it down to three yet. Here are seven that look promising: “Six Degrees” on ABC on Thursday at 10 p.m. looks good. I think it will do well. “Shark,” which is the James Woods court show on CBS, also shows promise. “Smith,” the Ray Liotta CBS show that is “Ocean's Twelve”-ish, looks like it will do well also. NBC's “Twenty Good Years” and “Heroes” also look good. NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” looks promising for picking up the “OC” crowd. CBS’s “The Unit” finished strong in the spring and also looks promising.
KM: “Shark” on CBS Thursdays at 10. James Woods’ character is fun to watch, Spike Lee directed the pilot, it follows “CSI,” and “ER” is eroding.
“The Class” on CBS Mondays. CBS’s Monday night comedy block has performed solidly. ABC has a hard road in the absence of “Monday Night Football.” Many of the other new comedies are overly formulaic and reliant on laugh tracks. Every viewer can remember themselves as that freckled red-headed kid [and thus relate to the show].
“’Til Death” on Fox Thursday at 8. Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher’s contrast with the starry-eyed newlyweds next door is well-written and well-cast.
Which three look least promising?
PK: ABC's “Brothers and Sisters.” CBS’s “Jericho” seems too depressing. Given the state of world affairs today people want an escape when watching TV, so I don't think this show will have much appeal. The sitcom “Big Day” on ABC.
KM: “Jericho.” It’s dark and confusing. Up against “Dancing with the Stars” and NBC’s big-name new comedies, it’s a long shot.
“Big Day” on ABC at midseason. “24” works in real time because of Jack Bauer. Who wants to watch someone plan a wedding in real time?
“Kidnapped” on NBC Wednesdays at 10. “CSI NY” is still big time and ABC’s “The Nine” has good buzz and a better lead-in with “Lost.” This is not a great fit out of “The Biggest Loser.”
There's been a lot of talk about NBC having two new shows with the same concept/theme, “30 Rock” and “Studio 60.” Do you think viewers will be confused by this? Will they be willing to watch two shows with such similar setups?
PK: NBC is marketing “30 Rock” primarily as a comedy and “Studio 60” as a drama. Both shows have strong casts, but “Studio 60” has a stronger pedigree with Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme as producers. NBC is promoting both heavily but I suspect “Studio 60” will be the stronger program.
KM: True, they are both about people who work in TV shows but there are so many differences. “30 Rock” is funny. Tina Fey is a good writer and can speak to a slightly younger demographic. “Studio 60” is Aaron Sorkin drama, “West Wing” aficionados, huge internet buzz already. The audience for the two shows really isn’t that similar.
What do you think the prospects are for MyNetworkTV? Will it draw an audience?
PK: I don't think it will draw an audience, because people like to become engaged with characters on TV shows and there's not enough time to do that with MyNetworkTV's shorter show format.
KM: Prospects are mixed for MyNetworkTV. They were smart to differentiate themselves from CW. The telenovela model has proven very successful in Spanish language TV. Looking at success of game shows, which were shown on multiple nights during the week on English TV, the model has the potential to translate to a broader audience. Their costs are very low and they have some big-name stars, so they have the potential to be profitable. It will be difficult for them to draw a large audience, though.
ABC moved "Ugly Betty" from Fridays to Thursday yesterday, crowding the night even more. Do you think it can draw an audience there?
PK: I'm not familiar with this show.
KM: That’s a disappointing move. I understand how competitive Thursday night is and that “Notes From the Underbelly” and “Big Day” didn’t have great chances. I applaud ABC for adopting an extremely successful telenovela for the broader American audience. But “Betty” might have found a niche a la “Joan of Arcadia” on a less competitive night.
What will the most competitive night of the week be?
PK: Thursday with “Grey's Anatomy,” “Six Degrees,” “CSI,” “Deal or No Deal” and “ER.”
KM: That’s a really hard call between Thursday and Sunday. Let’s give the edge to Thursday for a couple of reasons. “CSI,” the perennial favorite, will go head-to-head with “Grey’s Anatomy,” the new watercooler hit and critical darling. Throw in “Deal or No Deal,” and NBC’s “Earl”/”Office,” which has gained a lot of momentum, and TiVos will be whirring across the land.
Who is the favorite to finish No. 1 in 2006-07?
PK: Fox is going to be tough to beat with "Idol," but I think ABC has a shot with “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey's Anatomy” and the new shows. On the syndication side there is a big buzz about Rachael Ray and her new show this year.
KM: CBS will win in total viewers. We’ll see what impact [the loss of]“MNF” and NBC’s “NFL Sunday Night” has on the demos.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_6558.asp
TV Notebook
Wary of FCC rules, CBS sets updated '9/11'
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter Aug. 10, 2006
NEW YORK -- CBS will air an updated version of the "9/11" documentary about the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the firefighters who responded that September day five years ago.
The Emmy- and Peabody-winning documentary, produced by brothers Gedeon and Jules Naudet and retired firefighter James Hanlon, will air Sept. 10.
Airing the documentary represents something of an act of courage by CBS, given the gritty language that "9/11" contained in its two previous airings and the chill that is going through the airwaves over federal efforts to curb broadcast indecency. CBS has made no cuts to the language for this telecast. CBS sources said the documentary, which is the true-life portrait of what happened that day, is bound to generate controversy in some quarters.
"It's important to take note of the event as it happened," CBS executive producer Susan Zirinsky said. "And (the filmmakers) have done an amazing job in staying with these guys over five years and evolving with them. You will feel at the end that we've taken a journey again."
The French filmmakers had planned to make a documentary about a year in the life of a rookie firefighter. It became a gripping record of one of the most important days in U.S. history as Jules Naudet went out on a call with the firefighters on Sept. 11, 2001, and filmed American Airlines Flight 11 slamming into the North Tower. What transpired was a transfixing portrait of the firefighters dealing with the crisis that became more dire by the minute. The updated version, which has been in the works for a year, will include interviews with 20 of the firefighters from the downtown Manhattan firehouse where the Naudets had been filming for months. Robert De Niro, who narrated the film, will tape new portions next week. More than 39 million people watched the documentary during its first airing in March 2002.
The stakes are higher for CBS this time around. With potential indecency fines increasing from $32,500 per utterance per outlet to $325,000 each, the multitude of expletives heard in "9/11" could quickly run CBS and its affiliates into serious money. CBS has been the most aggressive of the networks in this regard and has paid the price with fines ranging from the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show to a "Without a Trace" repeat last year. But the network isn't standing on such principles now: Sources said the network briefly discussed potential FCC issues before deciding that "9/11" wasn't indecent and also that it was too important to "sanitize" by toning down the language.
But CBS is taking steps to make sure that no one is caught by surprise, including informing affiliates of its plans to air the broadcast and, like the previous two telecasts, including strong warnings in the promos before the broadcast and at various points during the two-hour telecast.
"It's so important to the story to let the reality exist," Zirinsky said. "We did that for the previous times it has aired -- we put an advisory out, and we have De Niro responding to it. But it's important to take in the reality in what is the most horrific terrorist attack in our country's history. ... The men had never been tested like that. It was important to allow this to be what it was, for all its sensibilities."
There have been and are no graphic images in the film, save for firefighters carrying out the body of FDNY chaplain Mychal Judge. Jules Naudet said he censored himself on the spot, not filming the horrible images he had seen from the moment he walked into the lobby of the North Tower.
"I was just protecting myself, in a way," he said. "I remember the first time I was confronted with that -- there were three people burning alive, I got a glimpse of it, and unfortunately these images are seared into your brain. I was thinking (then) that nobody should see that."
The update keeps much of the core of the original documentary, particularly the harrowing journey with the firefighters as they battle to save lives and fight the fires high above them and then fight to save their own. Three hundred forty-three firefighters, including several the film, were among the 2,700 people who were killed in the Manhattan attacks.
"We've been in constant contact with the men (of the firehouse) after making this documentary," Hanlon said. "We were really a part of that family; we've stayed in touch with everyone. And a year ago, we realized that a lot of the guys had never spoken about it after that day and would really only talk about it in a closed circle of firefighters."
The filmmakers also have seen the firefighters at several department functions annually throughout the years, Jules Naudet said. He was married at the firehouse about a year after the attacks.
Several of the firefighters have transferred, and others have retired. At least two, though, are still on the job: Joseph Pfeiffer, the battalion chief who lost his brother, Kevin, at the World Trade Center, is now FDNY's chief of counterterrorism and preparedness. Rookie firefighter Tony Benetatos is now on the haz-mat squad.
While some of the interviews were done at the Engine 7/Ladder 1 firehouse, others were done at the Naudets parents' house on 73rd Street in Manhattan. Hanlon said that many were initially apprehensive about talking, and they always had a lunch first without cameras, then caught up with many moments of silence before the interviews begin. At the core, the filmmakers say, it's a story not just about heroes but ordinary men who went through extraordinary times.
Gedeon Naudet worked on an international version of the update, which will run in 112 countries as a separate half-hour show after the original "9/11" documentary runs. The Naudets have other projects they're working on, as does Hanlon. And "9/11" hasn't run its course either. Evoking Michael Apted's landmark documentary series that began in 1964 with "7 Up," Hanlon and the Naudets plan to keep checking in with the firefighters. Some of the ones who declined to talk to them this time around have promised to sit down in front of the camera at the 10-year anniversary.
"We've bonded with those men, and we will be forever," Hanlon said. "To revisit them every five years is something that we have discussed. I think the American people want to know what happened to these men."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002984894
TV Notebook
Wallace out of retirement for interview with Iran's president
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter Aug. 10, 2006
NEW YORK -- "60 Minutes" veteran correspondent Mike Wallace may have retired last March but that didn't stop him from scoring an exclusive interview Tuesday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
And that fact wasn't lost on the controversial Iranian president, who halfway through the interview asked Wallace: "I thought you had retired."
Wallace's interview will appear on the "CBS Evening News" on Thursday night and on Sunday's "60 Minutes."
The 88-year-old Wallace, who has interviewed almost every notable person in his nearly 40 years on "60 Minutes," said Wednesday that he wasn't going to let a little matter such as retirement stop him from doing a story about one of the biggest gets these days. After getting word two weeks ago from CBS's liason in Tehran, Sia Zand, that Ahmadinejad would be willing to talk, Wallace hopped a plane to Paris and then Tehran with producer Bob Anderson and associate producer Casey Morgan.
But when they got there they were told that the Iranian president was very busy and may not get to talk to them. The CBS crew cooled their heels, so to speak, in Tehran's 100-degree heat in a hotel without air conditioning.
"We waited, and they said, 'he's still busy, he doesn't know, he hasn't decided,'" Wallace said. "We were scheduled to return. If he hadn't talked to us by late Tuesday we were going to get on the plane. All of the sudden word came through he was going to talk."
The 3:30 p.m. interview didn't come off until 5 p.m., but Wallace said their talk stretched for an hour and a half. "We went on and on," Wallace said. "We were told we were going to get 30 minutes."
Wallace has spent a lot of time in Iran over the past four decades, interviewing the Shah, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and, most famously, the 1979 sitdown with the Ayatollah Khomeini who asked the Iranian leader what he thought of Anwar Sadat's desciption of him as a lunatic.
There wasn't any of that this time. Wallace dismissed the common perceptions of Ahmadinejad.
"He's actually, in a strange way, he's a rather attractive man, very smart, savvy, self-assured, good looking in a strange way," Wallace said. "He's very, very short but he's comfortable in his own skin."
Despite problems with translation -- there was only one translator for a time during the interview -- Wallace said Ahmadinejad was patient.
"He couldn't have been more accomodating. He had a good time doing the interview," Wallace said. And he believes that it was Ahmadinejad's idea to do the interview. He acknowledged that he had become a much-desired interview subject but told the veteran CBS journalist that he remembered a discussion the two had over a year ago when Ahmadinejad was in New York.
"I don't know if you remember this or not but you and I had a talk over breakfast at the United Nations," Ahmadinejad told Wallace. "Do you remember that you asked me at the time if I would sit down with you ... and I said by all means, let's do it." Wallace said he was surprised that Ahmadinejad had remembered.
As for retiring, Wallace said that he isn't having a happy retirement because he likes the job. He does acknowledge, particularly in this last voyage, that the airplane travel is "interminable" and the major reason why he wanted to retire in the first place. But he said there were other stories that he wanted to do.
"When you love what you do, it's not work," Wallace said.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002984735
The Business of TV
Dish Revenues Sink
Preparing to drop DNS subs
Dish Network today said it had a net income far below last year’s second quarter result and added just 195,000 net subscribers in the quarter.
Wall Street analysts attributed the grim news to increased cable competition.
And the news may not be getting better any time soon for the Englewood CO company. Andy Pasztor in the Wall Street Journal reports that:
“In a development that may portend further difficulties for EchoStar, the Englewood, Colo., company also disclosed in a federal filing that because of the anticipated resolution of a long-running legal dispute, it is likely to soon begin shutting off certain local network channels that are purchased by subscribers who live in other areas. EchoStar has about 12.5 million total subscribers in the U.S.; less than a million of them purchase local channels from out-of-town markets.
EchoStar said eliminating those channels "could have a material impact" on third-quarter results because it is bound to reduce monthly fees, while prompting some subscribers to drop EchoStar's Dish Network altogether.“
The Business of TV
Dish Statement Regarding DNS Litigation
(From the Dish Quarterly Fiancial Statement filed with the SEC August 9, 2006)
Distant Network Litigation
Until July 1998, we obtained feeds of distant broadcast network channels (ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX) for distribution to our customers through PrimeTime 24. In December 1998, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami entered a nationwide permanent injunction requiring PrimeTime 24 to shut off distant network channels to many of its customers, and henceforth to sell those channels to consumers in accordance with the injunction.
In October 1998, we filed a declaratory judgment action against ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. We asked the Court to find that our method of providing distant network programming did not violate the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (“SHVIA”) and hence did not infringe the networks’ copyrights. In November 1998, the networks and their affiliate association groups filed a complaint against us in Miami Federal Court alleging, among other things, copyright infringement. The Court combined the case that we filed in Colorado with the case in Miami and transferred it to the Miami Federal Court.
In 1999, the networks filed a Motion for Injunction and Contempt against DirecTV, Inc. related to the delivery of distant network channels to DirecTV customers by satellite. DirecTV settled that lawsuit with the networks. Under the terms of the settlement between DirecTV and the networks, some DirecTV customers were scheduled to lose access to their satellite-provided distant network channels during 1999. We do not know if they adhered to this schedule.
During 2002, we reached private settlement agreements with ABC and NBC. During 2004, we reached a private settlement with CBS, another of the plaintiffs in the litigation. Over the eight year history of the litigation we have also reached settlements with many independent stations and station groups. We were unable to reach a settlement with five of the original plaintiffs — FOX and the independent affiliate groups associated with each of the four networks.
Following an April 2003 trial, the Federal Court found that with one exception the distant network qualification procedures we utilized comply with the law. We promptly revised our procedures to comply with the District Court’s Order and have continued to use those procedures since that time. Although the broadcasters asked the District Court to enter an injunction precluding us from selling any local or distant network programming, the District Court refused.
The District Court did issue an injunction which would require us, among other things, to use a computer model to re-qualify all of our subscribers who receive ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX programming from a market other than the city in which the subscriber lives, and who are not subject to a prior settlement agreement. We do not believe compliance with that injunction would have a material impact on our business. The District Court’s decision was appealed. The Court of Appeals stayed our compliance with the injunction during the appeal process.
In May 2006, the Court of Appeals granted the broadcasters’ appeal, overruling the District Court and concluding the statute requires a much broader injunction prohibiting us from providing distant network channels to any consumers. While we plan to request that the Supreme Court review and overturn the Court of Appeals’ decision, the likelihood we will be successful is very small.
The broadcasters did not claim monetary damages and none were awarded. The broadcasters were awarded approximately $4.8 million in attorneys’ fees in 2004. The amount of attorney fees for which we may be liable may be increased to include amounts expended by the plaintiffs subsequent to the trial, but would not be material to our business. However, the broadcasters are currently demanding that we pay them hundreds of millions of dollars as a condition to settlement of the litigation. The broadcasters are also demanding settlement conditions which would require the shut off of distant network channels to hundreds of thousands of consumers legally entitled to receive those services (absent the Court of Appeals decision), and which would likely cause widespread consumer anger. It is not possible to make an assessment of the probable outcome of any settlement negotiations.
In the event the Court of Appeals’ decision is upheld, and if we are unable to settle with the remaining plaintiffs, we will attempt to assist subscribers in arranging alternative means to receive network channels, including migration to local channels by satellite where available, and free off air antenna offers in other markets. While the broadcasters have agreed to delay issuance of the injunction until September 11, 2006, we are likely to commence (but not complete) shut offs of distant network channels during the third quarter of 2006.
Those shut offs could have a material impact on our results for the quarter. However, we cannot predict with any degree of certainty how many of our distant network subscribers would cancel their primary DISH Network programming as a result of termination of their distant network channels. Our revenue from distant network channels is less than $5 per distant network subscriber per month. While less than one million of our subscribers purchase distant network channels from us, termination of distant network programming to those subscribers would result, among other things, in a reduction in average monthly revenue per subscriber and free cash flow, and a temporary increase in subscriber churn. We would also be at a competitive disadvantage in the future, since the injunction would prohibit us from offering distant network channels that will be available to certain consumers through our competitors.
• • • • • • • • • • •
The complete Dish SEC Filing can be read here:
(Note: This is posted as a news item only. For your information. So please, please, let’s keep all the political commentary out of it. We have already heard the pro and anti-Dan arguments time and again. Thanks.)
TV Notebook
Survey: Rather Yes, Rosie No
Dan Rather, still an American favorite
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Aug 10, 2006
He was forced from his anchor chair and ridiculed by critics after he famously botched a “60 Minutes II” report two years ago, and earlier this year CBS shoved him out the door for good with barely a thanks after more than three decades with the network.
Dan Rather did not go gently. Former colleagues like Mike Wallace and Walter Cronkite ripped him up during Memogate, and the sniping continued long after.
Yet Rather remains a favorite among the American public. A new poll from Gallup Panel finds that the new HDNet anchor ranks No. 2 among all news personalities in likeability, behind only ABC’s affable Diane Sawyer.
Seventy percent of respondents said they had a favorable impression of Rather, compared with 80 percent for Sawyer.
That was much higher than the current lot of nightly news anchors, all of whom received favorable ratings of 55 percent or under: ABC’s Charles Gibson, 55 percent; CBS’s Bob Schieffer, 50 percent; and NBC’s Brian Williams, 47 percent.
Rather’s favorable rating was even higher than incoming CBS news anchor Katie Couric, the popular former “Today” co-host who takes over in September. She rated 60 percent.
Why is the public still enamored with Rather after his image took such a public beating? Some may feel sorry for the 74-year-old, who endured an unusually harsh public dismissal just weeks ago when CBS refused to negotiate a new contract.
Others may still have a fondness for him dating back to the Nixon White House years, when Rather annoyed the embattled president with his often hostile questions about the growing Watergate scandal.
For sure, much of Rather’s support was divided on party lines. Eighty-six percent of Democrats surveyed gave Rather favorable marks, compared with 48 percent of Republicans.
Plus, a favorable impression doesn't mean that respondents are actual fans. Rather's miniscule ratings when he left the anchor seat prove that he was never hugely popular, and while his successor, Schieffer, has a lower favorable rating, he has higher Nielsen ratings, as do the other anchors.
Plus, while Rather's favorables were quite high, so were his unfavorables. Twenty-six percent said they had an unfavorable impression of him, compared with just 7 percent for Williams, 8 percent for Gibson and 9 percent for Schieffer. (Respondents could also say they were unfamiliar with the person.)
Rather was hardly the only personality to inspire passionate responses on both sides. While Barbara Walters was third with a 66 percent favorable rating, she also received 28 percent unfavorable, more than Rather. Couric’s unfavorable rating was 23 percent.
At least people know who Couric is. A surprising 38 percent said they’d never heard of Williams, who anchors the top-rated newscast on broadcast television. And 27 percent were unaware of Gibson, while 29 percent don’t know Schieffer.
Perhaps that’s better, though, than being passionately disliked, which is the case for one former and one soon-to-be “View” co-host. Booted yakker Star Reynolds Jones’ had one of the highest unfavorable ratings, 45 percent, and the lowest favorable rating, just 19 percent.
Her nemesis, Rosie O’Donnell, who joins “The View” next month, had the very worst unfavorable rating at 60 percent. She had a 32 percent favorable rating. But she was one of the best-known names in the survey: Only 1 percent hadn’t heard of her, compared with 24 percent for Reynolds.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_6555.asp
Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A yukless finale for NBC's 'Last Comic'
Reality series off 22 pecent from season average
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Aug 10, 2006
You usually expect a show’s last episode to produce a season high. No joke: The finale of “Last Comic Standing” last night hit a season low.
“Comic” averaged a 2.8 adults 18-49 overnight rating for a special 90-minute episode in which Josh Blue was named the series’ fourth winner. He receives an NBC talent contract and his own Bravo special.
“Comic’s” rating was down 22 percent from its season-long 3.6 average, and it dipped 36 percent from the 2004 edition’s finale, the last time the show aired in the summer, which averaged a 4.4 overnight.
Certainly “Comic” has been faltering for weeks, failing to show a week-to-week increase for nine straight weeks. But the finale was also hurt by two other things.
First, NBC scheduled it on Wednesday night; “Comic” usually airs on Tuesdays, and despite frequent reminders during the penultimate episode, viewers may have forgotten about the time switch.
Second, the show’s final half hour aired against Fox hit “So You Think You Can Dance” at 9 p.m. During that half hour, “Dance” averaged a 3.5 to “Comic’s” 3.4. Had “Comic” been airing against the usual Tuesday night fare, where the highest-rated timeslot competitor is reruns of Fox’s “House,” it may have performed better.
Meanwhile, Fox led for the night among 18-49s at a 3.1 rating and 9 share, edging NBC at 3.0/9, CBS at 2.3/7, ABC at 1.9/6, Univision at 1.7/5, and WB and UPN each at 0.7/2.
At 8 p.m., NBC was No. 1 at a 2.5 for the finale of "Comic," followed by CBS and Fox, each at 2.4 for "Rock Star: Supernova" and a "House" rerun. Univision averaged a 1.7 for "La Fea Mas Bella," ahead of ABC at 1.3 for two "George Lopez" repeats, and a 0.8 each for WB's "Blue Collar TV" reruns and UPN's "America's Next Top Model" repeat.
At 9 p.m., Fox took the lead at a 3.8 for "So You Think You Can Dance," ahead of NBC at 3.2 for the last half-hour of "Comic" and the start of "America's Got Talent," CBS at 2.0 for a "Criminal Minds" rerun, ABC at 1.9 for "Primetime: Medical Mysteries," Univision at 1.7 for "Barrera de Amor," UPN at 0.6 for reruns of "All of Us" and "Half & Half," and WB at 0.5 for a "One Tree Hill" repeat.
At 10 p.m., NBC regain No. 1 with a 3.3 for "Talent," followed by ABC at 2.4 for "Mysteries," CBS at 2.3 for "CSI: NY" and Univision at 1.6 for "Don Francisco Presenta."
Among households, NBC led for the night at a 5.4 rating and 9 share, followed by Fox at 5.3/9, CBS at 5.0/9, ABC at 4.1/7, Univision at 2.0/3, WB at 1.2/2 and UPN at 1.0/2.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_6581.asp
The Digital Revolution
No Big Demand for Small Screen
Tech-savvy young people aren't as eager to watch TV on their cellphones and iPods as networks might think
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer August 10, 2006
Before Kaitlyn Brown headed to church camp this summer, her mother outfitted the 13-year-old with a sleek new Sprint phone that boasts one of the newest features on the market: mobile television.
"Me and my mom thought it would be a cool thing," said the soon-to-be seventh-grader, who lives in Spring Branch, Texas. But after watching a couple of jerky transmissions of comedy clips on the phone's display panel, Brown quickly became disenchanted.
"It kept stopping midstream and stuff," she said. "I didn't really like it, so I took it off. It was extra money, and I didn't think it was worth it."
She's not alone.
Entertainment purveyors may be scrambling to package their content into mobisodes, video downloads and podcasts, but a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that teens and young adults — the generation most likely to be the early adopters of this new technology — have yet to fully embrace it.
About half of young adults and 4 in 10 teenagers said they were uninterested in watching television shows or movies on computers, cellphones or hand-held devices such as video iPods, the poll found.
While more than 2 out of 5 teens and young adults indicated they were open to viewing this kind of content online, only 14% of teenagers said they wanted to watch television on a cellphone, and 17% said they would view programs on an iPod.
The findings suggest that networks are rushing to package content for these new platforms before even tech-savvy young consumers are hankering for the "third screen" experience.
The survey, which asked a wide range of questions about entertainment consumption, highlighted the pervasive influence of television particularly on tween girls, a majority of whom reported that TV shows affected their dress, speech, music preferences or social activities. In addition, it found that a surprisingly high number of teenagers and young adults gleaned news from traditional media sources such as local television and network newscasts — for many through a sort of information osmosis as they absorbed news from programs their parents were watching.
Perhaps most intriguing, however, was the indication of a widespread indifference toward small-screen viewing among teenagers and young adults. While many in the industry expect the demand for such content to rise dramatically in the coming years, the poll offered clues to a consumer reluctance that first must be overcome.
In follow-up interviews with those surveyed, many young people said they were intrigued by the notion of getting their entertainment on devices such as cellphones and iPods. But two major obstacles have so far dampened their enthusiasm: the cost and the uneven quality of the experience.
"It just seems like a needless expense to me," said Mark Lopez, a 23-year-old political science major at Cal State Fullerton. "And I would think it would be grainy and not as clear of a picture. My choice would be to watch something first on TV, or TiVo it."
Steven Jagodzinski, a 21-year-old computer science student in Baltimore, is a fan of cartoons such as "South Park," which would seem a natural fit for mobile viewing. But he said the idea seemed "pointless."
"Why would I want to look at a video clip on my cellphone?" he said. "I'd rather make phone calls on it."
Young people aren't alone in their slow embrace of the small screen. Recent studies by several independent research firms indicate that only about 1% to 3% of mobile phone subscribers currently watch videos on their phones.
But media executives are confident that the appetite will increase once the technology improves and the price for hand-held devices drops. They note that while young people may be reluctant to watch full-length feature films or even 22-minute television shows on small screens, they may be more interested in viewing short clips, a kind of "snack TV."
That's why the major entertainment companies are developing a slew of original content for the third screen.
"If you look across the media companies, digital generally represents about 5% of their revenue and 50% of the questions on their quarterly earnings calls," said George Kliavkoff, who last week was appointed NBC Universal's first chief digital officer. "The reason is the future of connecting with customers is going to be figuring out the ways to give them what they want, on the devices they want, when they want it."
Interestingly, 12- to 14-year-old girls showed the greatest eagerness about small-screen viewing, with 20% of those surveyed open to watching television shows on cellphones and nearly a quarter interested in checking out programs on iPods.
"I think it's really cool and I would love to have it," said 14-year-old Katie Stears of Jamestown, Ky., who has pleaded with her parents for a video iPod. "You don't have to always be at home to watch TV."
Television clearly has a strong hold on teenagers, who spend a substantial amount of time glued to the screen. About two-thirds report that they watch two hours of television or more on an average weekday, with nearly a quarter watching for more than four hours.
Teen girls ages 12 to 14 appear to be the most affected by what they're seeing. Almost two-thirds reported that television has influenced their behavior in some way, whether it's how they talk, what they wear or what they buy. For many — especially teen girls 12 to 14 — the popular shows such as MTV's "The Hills" provide a universal lingo.
Brittany Thornton, a 14-year-old in Screven, Ga., said that she and her friends buy the kind of logo shirts they see teenagers wearing on shows such as MTV's "Laguna Beach" and sprinkle their conversation with phrases like "freakin' idiot" made popular by fictional Idaho high school student Napoleon Dynamite.
Kids who aren't familiar with the lexicon of the shows are "not on top of the pyramid" at school, she added.
So what would happen if she could no longer watch television?
Thornton sounded anguished just contemplating that prospect: "I would be devastated."
For their part, a large share of young adults appear to be turning to broadcast television for their news. According to the poll, 38% said they got their best information about current events from local newscasts and 19% said it came from broadcast network news.
Despite the widespread belief that a sizable number of young people get their news from satirical programs such as Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," just 3% of teenagers and 6% of young adults surveyed said that's how they found out about current events.
In follow-up interviews, many indicated that their news viewing habits flowed out of their entertainment choices.
Laurel Miller, a 23-year-old medical student at USC, said she usually ended up watching the 10 p.m. newscast on Fox affiliate KTTV Channel 11 because it came on after she'd watched shows such as "24."
"I like staying current about what's going on around me," said Miller, who lives in Alhambra. "My mom reads the newspaper every morning, so I learned from her."
Anchorage resident Rhen David Belz, 18, said he tuned into the local news every night, right before he caught a rerun of "Seinfeld."
"I've watched the news ever since I was a little kid," said Belz, who runs the machines at a plant that manufactures Styrofoam blocks. "I would feel a little disconnected if I didn't."
But Belz said that he thought he was "somewhat unusual."
"A lot of my friends don't follow the news at all," he said. "They have no idea what's going on, and they like it that way."
Indeed, young adults still make up a small fraction of the local television news audience in many markets. In Los Angeles, just about 4% of the 2 million people who tuned into local evening and late night news in May were 18 to 24, according to Nielsen Media Research. In Chicago, the share of young adults was just 2%. But local newscasts preceded by programs that appeal to young viewers definitely reap the benefits. Almost 10% of KTTV's audience and 8.5% of the viewership of Fox affiliate WFLD in Chicago were ages 18 to 24 in May, when young viewers flocked to the finales of popular shows such as "American Idol."
Jose Rios, KTTV's vice president of news, said the newscast works to hold on to those viewers.
"In part because we have programming that brings us that audience, sometimes the focus of our story is on their perspective," Rios said. "If fees go up at the University of California, we'll do, 'Hey, what this means to you.' "
Even many teenagers appear to pick up on news through traditional newscasts. Almost 30% of the 12- to 17-year-olds said that local television news was their best source of information about current events, with an additional 16% choosing network news.
In interviews, though, more than half a dozen teens said they didn't actively seek out the newscasts — they're simply exposed to them because their parents or other relatives have the programs on at home. Still, even if they aren't actively engaged in watching the broadcasts, many seem to absorb the news through a sort of information osmosis.
"Some of the reports can be interesting," said 12-year-old Megan Casper of Idaho Falls, Idaho, who said her mother usually turned on the news in the evening. "It's kind of cool to be able to figure out, like, some of the things going on in different countries."
That's not to say that many teens are turning into news junkies.
"I think our generation thinks watching the news is dorky and not a lot of fun," said 14-year-old Casey Hankins of Lakewood, Colo., who said he only catches news programs every few weeks when he's visiting his grandfather, a regular viewer.
But Hankins admitted he probably would grow more interested as he got older.
"I think I'll want to know more stuff then," he said.
Small screens don't rule: Younger eyes prefer larger screens.
Q: On which of the following devices would you want to watch a movie? (Multiple answers allowed.)
Ages 12-17
Computer: 47%
Cellphone: 11%
Video iPod or similar device: 18%
I would not want to watch a movie on any of the above screens: 38%
Ages 18-24
Computer: 45%
Cellphone: 6%
Video iPod or similar device: 9%
I would not want to watch a movie on any of the above screens: 48%
Q: On which of the following devices would you want to watch a TV show? (Multiple answers allowed.)
Ages 12-17
Computer: 42%
Cellphone: 14%
Video iPod or similar device: 17%
I would not want to watch a movie on any of the above screens: 43%
Ages 18-24
Computer: 40%
Cellphone: 9%
Video iPod or similar device: 7%
I would not want to watch a movie on any of the above screens: 51%
How the poll was conducted
The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll was conducted from June 23 to July 3 using the Knowledge Networks' Web-enabled panel, which provides a representative nationwide sample of U.S. households. Of the 4,466 minors and young adults invited to participate in the survey, 1,904 (43%) responded to the survey, with 1,650 qualifying. The 1,650 qualified respondents included 839 minors (ages 12 to 17) and 811 young adults (ages 18 to 24). The margin of sampling error for both groups is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In order to provide as representative a sample as possible, the survey results were weighted to U.S. census figures for 12- to 24-year-olds in the United States in terms of age, race or ethnicity, gender and region, and for urban or rural residence and Internet access.
Source: Times/Bloomberg poll
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-polltv10aug10,0,2270724,print.story?coll=cl-tvent
Marcus Carr
08-10-06, 12:16 PM
The Business of TV
Dish Revenues Sink
Preparing to drop DNS subs
Looks like "VOOM" is in trouble again.
Wednesday’s prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.
The Digital Revolution
Survey: Americans Watch TV, Not PC
By Karen Brown Multichannel News 8/10/2006
Despite hype about the rise of the Internet as a TV-viewing alternative, a majority of Americans apparently aren’t turning away from their living-room TV sets, according to a new consumer survey released by RBC Capital Markets.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. households found that almost 60% have three or more TV sets in their homes, and they appear to be using them. About 53% of respondents said they are watching the same amount of television as in the past, even thought 42% said they are increasing their time surfing the Internet.
But it appears while they are spending more time accessing entertainment on the Web, that doesn’t include watching Internet TV -- 90% of respondents said they don’t watch television programs on their PC or laptop, and 75% said they don’t see that changing.
And the bad news for cable-TV providers is that about 40% of those RBC surveyed would be interested in buying TV services from their telephone company. That percentage appears to rise among consumers buying into higher-end flat-screen TV sets -- of the 73% of respondents who said they owned or wanted to buy a flat-screen TV, 48% said they would consider a telco TV service and 52% of TiVo digital-video-recorder users said they might do so.
Other interesting results included the fact six out of 10 Americans are communicating more via e-mail than telephone and 56% e-mail or instant-message friends and family more now than one year ago.
"We are spending more time at work on a computer, and then going home to our TVs and home computers at night," said Marc Harris, director of U.S. Equity Research at RBC. "Technology is dramatically changing the way we work, our choices during personal time and the way we communicate with others."
The survey also found that three in five U.S. consumers are interested in Internet-protocol TV, saying that price and choice of programming are the top two drivers influencing their TV-service decisions.
http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6361405
The 2006-2007 Season
'Lost,' Season 3: All about the Others
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Thu, Aug. 10, 2006
If you’d planned on spending the dog days of August working on your "Lost" theory - the one that explains everything from the polar bear to those parka-clad guys in last season's finale - maybe it's time you abandoned the quest and hit the beach instead.
Because there is no one explanation for what's gone on in the first two seasons of ABC's "Lost."
At least not according to executive producer Carlton Cuse.
"We hate to debunk" anyone's theory, Cuse said - though he and fellow show-runner Damon Lindelof have dismissed a few, including the one that posits that the characters on "Lost" are in some kind of purgatory.
And no, it's not that writers are keeping their options open, hoping to skim off viewers' best ideas when the time comes for the big reveal.
"I wish it was that easy. That would be great if we could actually do it," Cuse said at an ABC party in Pasadena, Calif., last month.
"I think that the mistake that most of the people who theorize about the show make is trying to come up with a very simple, you know, unifying theory," he said.
So while the writers have explanations for everything that's gone on in "Lost" so far - and script coordinator Gregg Nations keeps track of the documentation - "it doesn't reduce down to a single, simple sentence," Cuse said.
But if there's more than one theory at work on the island, doesn't that mean coincidence - that shaky crutch too often employed in TV drama - is a factor?
Not necessarily, insisted Cuse.
"There are theories in physics... that govern small particles, and there are Newtonian theories that govern gravitational fields for larger objects. Those two co-exist. They aren't unified into a single theory, but the connection between them is not coincidental," he said.
(Useful tip: Talking about Isaac Newton is the No. 1 way to shut up a reporter who only passed high school physics by writing a paper about the relationship between science and government.)
Fortunately, Cuse had less complicated things to say about "Lost" and about Season 3, which launches Oct. 4.
"The show's going to be about our characters' interaction with the Others. It's going to be more of an action-adventure year, more romance. We'd hoped to get romance last year, but the story didn't really get us there. We didn't get as far as we wanted in that regard," he said.
"It's going to be more character-oriented, less mythologically oriented. You know, last year was sort of dark and intense and underground and in the hatch," he said.
"Obviously, the other element that we introduced at the end of the season was that after 49 hours, we went off the island for the first time. And that was not a casual or coincidental or random choice," he said. "The introduction of the outside world as an element into the world of 'Lost' is also something new for Season 3."
And because the strongest link to that world so far is Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), you can expect to see Desmond again, too, and not just in flashbacks.
"It would be very stupid of us to kill Desmond," Cuse said.
We'll also - eventually - see Michael (Harold Perrineau) and Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) again, he said.
"We were interested in exploring what price you would pay to get your son back. The price that Michael paid was so extreme, it didn't seem possible that he could remain a part of this society after what he had done," Cuse said, noting that banishment goes back to the Greeks.
"He's been banished from the island, and that to us represented sort of the necessary consequence of his action. It doesn't mean his story is over," he said.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//15239329.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
The 2006-2007 Season
New Who
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog August 10, 2006
I'm an old-school ''Doctor Who'' fan (as should have been obvious when I brought up its TV longevity recently) but I liked the recent BBC revival -- and so was pleased by the following announcement. The official return dat