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fredfa

08-29-06, 12:28 AM

TV Notebook
Tax this! Celebrities swoop in for the swag
By William Keck USA TODAY

Neither the IRS nor an episode from last season's Sopranos could deter some stars from collecting major swag at pre-Emmy gifting suites over the weekend.

Recalling the Sopranos episode on HBO when Christopher (Michael Imperioli ) mugged guest star Lauren Bacall for her goodie bag outside a celebrity gift suite, serious swag shopper Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Meadow Soprano) said, "I wouldn't blame us! It goes way beyond that. It's kind of weird to tax people on what's being called a gift bag."

Her co-star Joseph R. Gannascoli (gay mobster Vito) agreed: "I feel like it's our duties as Americans to get away with what we can."

Participating vendors don't seem to mind celebrities loading up on freebies; they hope the stars will provide publicity when they appear with their wares.

But Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon acknowledges vendors' worst fears: that their swag often ends up in the hands of the not-so-famous. "I usually go through it with friends, and everybody gets to pick out what they want," Beauvais-Nilon says. "Usually, most of the stuff (like the trips) you don't end up using, (because) by the time you get to them, they're expired."

Here's a sampling of what freebies stars collected:

• At the HBO Luxury Lounge, Helen Mirren, Debra Messing, Lisa Kudrow and Aida Turturro walked away with selections of Korite International Ammolite jewelry valued at $2,000 to $5,000 apiece.

• At the Kari Feinstein Style Lounge, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Osbourne and Elijah Wood took Melrose Mac laptops valued at $1,500 and Ultimatebet.com poker sets worth $200. Cheryl Hines, Maggie Grace, Ellen Pompeo and Sigler picked up $3,500 diamond initial pendants by Tacori, and Jeri Ryan selected a $400 calfskin leather purse by Boulevard Bags with her pendant.

• At Showtime's Gift House, Marcia Cross ordered a gratis custom-engraved Delicate Raymond charm necklace (retail $150-$300). Blythe Danner and Lorraine Bracco accepted Oona Erlich handbags ($250-$550). And Neil Patrick Harris picked up a pair of Linda Farrow sunglasses valued at more than $300.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/televisionawards/emmys/2006-08-28-emmys-tax-this_x.htm

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:29 AM

Some day, Russ, I'll have to get you to help me post easier-to-read items in the thread.

Meanwhile, enjoy the senior year -- it can be a magical time!

DoubleDAZ

08-29-06, 12:35 AM

RussTC3

08-29-06, 12:37 AM

Fred,

I don't know what you mean by "easier to read", but I've looked at your source material and you do a great job pulling this stuff out and presenting it in a standard, concise format. I can only imagine what your typical day is like. :)
I agree.

You're editing is great Fred, everything is easy to read because of the extensive formating you do to the source. And thanks.

Marcus Carr

08-29-06, 01:01 AM

But what's really head-scratching is the criticism of Conan O'Brien and NBC for not having bagged a "Lost" plane crash spoof at the top of his Emmycast-opening bit. Some believe that heads at NBC ought to roll over this one, arguing that the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday morning that took the lives of 49 people should have signaled the bagging of the piece out of respect to the victims. I well understand that sentiment, of course, but I still find it odd.

Everyone acknowledges that the bit was taped in advance and actually had nothing to do with an actual plane crash but the event that launched the storyline in "Lost." It was likely too late to replace the skit with something else, and I buy the argument that fiddling with it would have probably required the producers to deep-six most or all of the multi-pronged opening segment entirely for reasons of flow. It's tough to start cutting and pasting on telecast day.

Should they have just unloaded it anyway, the consequences be damned? I don't think so. Plane crashes happen -- certainly more frequently than we'd like. Was this unfortunate timing? Of course. But I wasn't sitting there cringing while watching it despite the day's events. Am I unusual in that regard? This is an entertainment event, something that never should be mistaken for a news event. We didn't see the plane go down in the sketch, just chaos onboard and then Conan stumbling, dazed, onto a beach.

To me, this is a far cry from depicting a plane slamming into a building in the wake of 9/11, for instance. If you have enough advance notice of an event, of course you change the sketch. But I don't believe the decision not to bag it is something for which NBC and O'Brien should be flogged.

What it perhaps comes down to is simply this: political correctitude continues to run roughshod over America.

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

Agreed.

Inundated

08-29-06, 01:02 AM

Another part of Northeast Ohio checking in here...

I didn't have much to say because we'd already confirmed Rich Heldenfels' job status, and I've drooled enough over the lovely Ms. Wiig.

:D

But I love your stuff, Fred! This thread is a "don't miss" for me on AVS Forum.

kb7oeb

08-29-06, 01:18 AM

They could have skipped it, I didn't tune in until he washed up on shore, I caught the opening online and it really didn't add much of anything.

HDTVChallenged

08-29-06, 01:35 AM

Emmy Notebook
There's Got To Be a Morning After
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline”

To me, this is a far cry from depicting a plane slamming into a building in the wake of 9/11, for instance. If you have enough advance notice of an event, of course you change the sketch. But I don't believe the decision not to bag it is something for which NBC and O'Brien should be flogged.

Likewise, if a local affiliate were given sufficient warning of the content of a particular "entertainment" program, the affiliate just might be able to preempt any potentially troubling images. Clearly the skit was written and taped well in advance of the live 8pm EST start time ... ample time to warn affiliates, especially those that were no doubt feeding the a significant portion of the NBC news programming on Sunday.

PS, In the interest of full disclosure: At least 3 of the people on 5191 had direct ties to my rather smallish "flyoverland" home town. And I worked at KLEX (the airport) for 2.5 years in the previous century.

fredfa

08-29-06, 01:55 AM

As I emailed to Ray, does he really think that if on Sunday morning a plane landing at Santa Monica Airport carrying Jerry Bruckheimer, Jeff Zucker, Les Moonves or the cast of "Desperate Housewives" had crashed killing those on board the skit would have run?

It is not, in my mind, a question of ultra sensitivity or PC or anything else. It is simply a matter of caring about others.

Had the victims been important to the TV community the skit would undoubtedly have been heavily edited -- or pulled altogether.

An example: It could have easily been edited -- to rid itself of the plane crash imagery -- to have Conan "dreaming"..and then coming ashore....and keeping the rest of the bit.

It would have just taken a little time, common sense and thought.

fredfa

08-29-06, 10:28 AM

The 2006-2007 Season
A new CW, but with some old baggage
By Kevin Downey MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer

The upcoming CW has been positioned as the best of the WB and UPN ever since the two networks merged earlier this year. Yet that melding of the two networks is looking a bit wobbly going into its first fall season, which opens with a two-hour “America’s Next Top Model” on Sept. 20, two days after the official broadcast season begins.

Media buyers are saying that while CW has inherited the best of the WB---programs such as “Seventh Heaven”-–it has also brought over what they long saw as the worst of UPN, a lineup that flip flops all over the demographic map.

Since the networks merged, CW executives have worked to knit together a schedule, along with a rationale to go with it, led by Dawn Ostroff, president of entertainment at the CW and former UPN president. Ostroff tells Media Life the CW’s mix-and-match lineup reflects the network’s goal of appealing to everyone in the 18-34 demographic.

“We need to be broad in that 18-34-year-old demo,” she says. “What we really are is an umbrella. Under that umbrella we have a lot of different nights that will appeal to different 18-34-year-olds. We can’t have the same exact programming every night. No network can.”

From Monday through Thursday, the CW will essentially be a newer version of the young female-skewing WB, with four nights of dramas, including one new series, Monday’s “Runaway,” about a family hiding from the law, and the reality show “Model” leading into “One Tree Hill” on Wednesdays.

But as UPN’s schedule used to, the CW lineup takes an about face on Fridays with wrestling, “WWE Smackdown,” and then flips again on Sunday to an African-American focus with returning UPN comedies, the new “The Game,” a sitcom about women dating football players, and a “Model” repeat.

Media buyers think the CW may suffer from its scheduling strategy as UPN did by confusing viewers and muddying its brand identity.

“The WB had a distinct identity but now the CW has inherited the issues that came with UPN, having multiple identities,” says Chris Neel, vice president and associate director of national broadcast at Initiative. “UPN was always three different networks for three different [groups of] people.”

The CW will also suffer a bit from tough competition, notably on Sundays where former UPN sitcoms "Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us" and "Girlfriends" are slotted. This lineup will compete with established Fox comedies like the “Simpsons,” NBC’s NFL football and, early in the night, ABC’s young-skewing “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

The network will also struggle most weeknights at 9 p.m., where shows like the former UPN drama “Veronica Mars” will go head to head with hits such as Fox’s “House."

But while the CW will have a tough time establishing itself, it is ultimately expected to generate respectable ratings for the season, running through next May.

Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna Global, is projecting that the CW will average a 2.1 rating among women 18-34 through first quarter next year. That is about 0.25 points ahead of what the WB and UPN averaged last season. And Sternberg is projecting a 1.2 rating among young men, about what the WB and UPN each pulled.

Most media buyers think the CW will do relatively well on the strength of former WB hit dramas such as “Seventh” and “Gilmore Girls” and what had been UPN’s highest-rated show, “Model.”

The CW’s Ostroff thinks so too. She's predicting the network will end the season slightly ahead of its predecessors. But she also notes that it will take the CW a few months to find its footing.

“We don’t have high expectations in the beginning,” she says. “We are aware of what we need to do to bring people to the network, which is a big challenge. We think we will see growth over the season and end the season probably higher than either UPN or the WB. But we’re not making big predictions.”

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_6949.asp

fredfa

08-29-06, 10:32 AM

The TV Column
At Emmy Parties, You Win Some . . .
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 29, 2006; C01

LOS ANGELES Post-Emmy parties fall into two very distinct categories.

There are the parties thrown by production houses and networks with shows in the competition -- the HBO party, the Fox party, etc. These rise and fall according to the fortunes of the shows during the prior three hours of trophy dispensing. They can be celebrations -- or wakes.

Then there are the parties thrown by companies that don't have any dogs in the fight -- the TV Guide party and the "Entertainment Tonight"/People magazine party. These will never experience the lows of a party thrown by a network that got iced at the Emmys. But neither will they rise to the heights of, say, the 1999 HBO party after Edie Falco won for best lead actress in a drama series -- the first time a cable program had won a major series derby -- and HBO overall racked up more Emmy wins than any of the broadcast networks for the very first time.

These companies must pull out all the stops, scoring big-name talent to perform at their parties. Names like Pink -- and Prince. Then they must invite as many beautiful young people as they can dredge up and offer them a chance to see a Prince concert free. And, if all goes well, the invitees will show up in droves and the fire marshal will shut down the party, which the media will report the next day, increasing the host company's hip quotient by exactly 25 percent -- especially if the reports are accompanied by photos or video of those beautiful young people all mashed together, and at least one A-list celebrity is in the shot.

This year's TV Guide party on Sunday night, held at a too-trendy-to-live club in Hollywood, promised the pretty people Pink. She did finally show up, long after we had ceased to care. But, happily for TV Guide, the back room where Pink was to perform had much earlier become so jammed with pretty young people it was being "fire marshaled" -- nobody else could get in until a corresponding number of people walked out. Even the cast of "Scrubs" had to wait in line. Yes, even Zach Braff -- 2005's Steve Carell. It's empowering to be in a room Braff can't enter until you leave. We confess we stood there at the threshold basking in the moment, before leaving the Pink Performance Room, and we almost immediately felt pangs of regret. But there were other parties to cover and the valet parking lines were hell.

During our sojourn in the Pink Performance Room, we observed masses of female predators and the occasional greasy-haired man writhing to disco music while waiters with trays of Nicole Richie food portions navigated around them.

And we were just settling in to listen to a guy nearby telling his pals about his friend freshly out of rehab going to his first Hollywood party when everything was interrupted by someone we're sure we were supposed to recognize but didn't, screaming at the crowd that this was the only after-Emmy party that matters.

He also claimed this party had the most sanitary portable toilets in the history of TV -- or maybe he said the history of the magazine, or perhaps it was "Hollywood." Anyway, it was the clean point he was emphasizing and we decided to take his word for it and not investigate because we were already having concerns about the club itself -- one of those places your mother warned you not to touch the walls.

The guy also gave a shout-out to TV Guide Channel, which, he explained, is a channel for people who like to watch people on TV talking about other people on TV. It sounded like he was dissing the channel, but you couldn't be sure. Feeling an urgent need to clear the brain, we decided to put "wait for Pink to perform" into our Life's Too Short category and began pushing and shoving our way to the exit -- where we discovered the Waiting Line.

Leaving the club, we spotted Matthew Perry heading toward the building. That was a shame; would have liked to have asked him about playing Aaron Sorkin on Aaron Sorkin's new show for NBC.

We hadn't seen a lot of Emmy winners at the TV Guide party, but it wasn't even midnight yet, and we were leaving early. We'd seen James Denton and while we'd have liked to have said hello, he was being interviewed by TV Guide Channel's Kim Caldwell, and after more than three hours in the backstage pressroom at the Emmys ceremony, we didn't have the stomach to listen to any more stupid questions being put to TV actors.

Hugh Laurie, who wasn't nominated this year for his love-to-hate "House" role, was seen shuffling about near one of the bars. We don't know if he counts.

We did spot Jerry Bruckheimer milling about and asked if he was surprised his "Amazing Race" had won the trophy for best reality competition series for a fourth time in a row. He said he was and we like to think he was acknowledging this past season wasn't up to snuff.

Waiting in the valet parking line, we heard the "Entertainment Tonight"/People magazine party at the Mondrian Hotel, featuring Prince, had already been shut down by the fire marshal. We headed straight for the HBO party.

HBO's party, at the roomy Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, didn't need Pink -- or Prince. HBO had the most Emmy wins -- again.

Its party was much more civilized, in that you could have a conversation over the music, and there was enough elbow room for a reporter doing serious research to make a sudden turn without accidentally puncturing someone's saline implants with her pen.

It's true, some of the HBO Emmy winners didn't want to chat with a reporter doing serious research. Like Jeremy Piven, who finally got the Emmy he so richly deserved for playing to perfection a Hollywood agent in "Entourage."

Backstage at the Emmys, Piven had talked about what a stretch the character is for him, but in truth he's practically typecast. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and if we weren't a fan already, we were smitten when, during "Access Hollywood's" pre-Emmy Celebrity Suck-Up Show, he told Billy Bush that the host showed potential as a human being and had he ever considered another line of work.

Grievously, Piven, who used to live for one look from a member of the media, now talked only to the starlets clustered around him at the HBO party, and to his mother, who was his date at the Emmy ceremony. One of his entourage -- at the party, not the show -- shoved a digital camera in our hand and asked us to take their picture.

Paula Abdul was there, too, in a gorgeous dress that she unfortunately skanked up with pounds of what looks like Home Shopping Network jewelry. She looked as dazed as she had during the pre-Emmy CS-U Shows.

"Elizabeth I" star Helen Mirren had taken off the stripper shoes of which she spoke onstage and backstage at the Emmys, and put on something more comfortable. Fortunately she kept the stripper shoes with her and showed them to us on request. They looked more like hooker heels -- enormous clear plastic platform numbers that added considerably to her height, which, she said, was the point. She got them in Hollywood for under 50 bucks, she said. They looked it.

Another "Elizabeth I" Emmy winner, Jeremy Irons, stopped to explain to us that the caliber of questions was only slightly less depressing backstage at the Oscars than it had been earlier in the evening at the Emmys. Reporters seem to want to know only the most inane things, he said, though you can steer the conversation if you have time.

We, of course, knew he would not have been given more time backstage at the Emmys, having learned during the official Shrine Auditorium media walk-through earlier in the week that winners who were herded through the press tent in the back parking lot would be clocked at every stop and cut off at five minutes.

We didn't have the heart to tell him. He shook our hand politely, wished us a good night, and left.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/28/AR2006082801466_pf.html

fredfa

08-29-06, 10:37 AM

TV Notebook
Koppel, on new show, still can't score Rumsfeld interview
By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist August 29, 2007

Rummy won't play with Ted. Even in Ted's new sandbox.

Ted Koppel has struck out with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for an interview on his forthcoming Discovery Channel special, just as he did for more than five years at ABC's Nightline, Koppel says.

"He could have contributed enormously to this broadcast. I can't get to him. I don't know what I've done to him, or why he feels that being interviewed by me is something he doesn't want to do."

Koppel on Discovery: The Price of Security, Koppel's first special for the cable network, debuts Sept. 10 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. It will be followed by a live 90-minute town meeting at the National War College in Washington with 9/11 family members, civil libertarians, administration officials, and members of Congress.

As for Rummy, "I can imagine he's confronted more serious threats than an interview with me," says the ever-puckish newsman. "The only thing I can assume, for some reason or another, is that he feels he and I don't see things the same way.

"He might be surprised to discover there aren't as many differences between our points of view as he may think."

Koppel worries that "several people" in the current administration - namely President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Rumsfeld - "only want to be interviewed by people who share exactly their point of view."

Koppel, 66, joined Discovery Channel in January as managing editor after 42 years at ABC. He's still getting used to his new digs.

"Like anything else, it's like going from a car with a top speed of 100 miles per hour to a car with a top speed of 200 miles per hour. You have to relearn how to drive."

Driving is not a problem for Koppel these days.

Blessed with a supportive boss and the luxury of time - both in preparation and broadcast - Koppel is feeling reenergized. He leaves Sept. 12 for 10 days in Iran for his next special, in the fall.

All that time can be a mixed blessing, however. "In a sense, it's a bit of a frustration," Koppel says. "It's like that old cliche about how the job expands to fill the available time.

"When you know you have several months to get the first broadcast on the air, and you know you have 90 minutes for the documentary and 90 minutes for the town meeting, you tend to do much more than you can possibly use."

Koppel, who helped launch Nightline in 1980, says he watches the revamped multi-topic broadcast "every once in a while," mostly because he hits the rack earlier. (One word, Ted: TiVo.)

"I don't think it will come as a shock to anyone that I wouldn't be doing Nightline the way it's being done today. I really think there is room for a broadcast that focuses on one subject per night."

That said, "it's their [ABC] decision, frankly. It seems to have been borne out. They have more of a younger demographic watching now. Clearly, those are the viewers they were after."

Emmys a bust. The 58th annual Emmy Awards, admirably hosted by Conan O'Brien, were a box-office bust for NBC Sunday.

The Emmycast averaged 16.1 million total viewers from 8 to 11 p.m. - down 14 percent from last year's event, according to "fast nationals" provided by Nielsen Media Research.

As NBC was quick to point out, the '05 Emmys were held in September, when more folks are home and glued to the tube. (For that matter, the '04 Emmys were also in September, and Sunday's numbers were up 17 percent from then. Go figure.)

Also, the show faced unusually strong competition - the network premiere of Johnny Depp's '03 hit Pirates of the Caribbean on ABC, and a new episode of CBS's Big Brother: All Stars.

Typecasting. Mr. Britney Spears, a.k.a. "rapper" Kevin Federline, will show up on an episode of CBS's CSI as "an arrogant teenager" who harasses the CSI team as it works a crime scene. No air date yet.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//15384694.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

08-29-06, 10:48 AM

TV Notebook
Joan Rivers Marks A Milestone
By P.J. Bednarski in the Broadcasting & Cable blog “BCBeat”

The TV Guide Channel excitedly announced Monday that while doing the live pre-Emmy show the other night, Joan and Melissa Rivers completed their 1,000th red carpet interview. I think there is supposed to be an exclamation point there.

It would seem, really, that 1,000 red-carpet interviews (either giving them or conducting them) should be the legal limit. But chops to the Rivers for some of the most excruciating/illuminating/funny/time-consuming moments in television red-carpet interview history.

For the record, Joan talked to Will and Grace star Debra Messing for lucky number 1,000. . Later, upon finding out she was the 1,000th red-carpet interview, Messing said, " It is such an honor to be part of such a big milestone for Joan and Melissa. The red carpet came alive with Joan's first interview, and it's never been the same."

It's true. It seems sometimes that red carpets are alive, don't you think?

Do you think Debra Messing really said that? A publicist for TV Guide Channel says she did.

The news in all this: "Who are you wearing?" the utterly clever question Joan ( I call her Joan) asks most of the 1,000 people she has talked to on the red carpet is actually trademarked. Like, if you ever said that to anybody you probably owe Joan money.

No use tempting fate. I have gotten around this by asking starlets, "Who designed your dress?" This drives Joan crazy, I have heard. I'm trying for a trademark. I've also put in for "Taxi!" and "Hold that elevator!"

We'll see.

http://broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138.html

fredfa

08-29-06, 11:06 AM

The Digital Revolution
Fears over TiVo on pause
Digital video recorders may be able to help network TV by giving viewers choices and advertisers novel ways to reach consumers
By Frank Ahrens Washington Post August 29, 2006

Prime-time television and its mighty 30-second commercial were supposed to be in trouble when a cutting-edge technology arrived on the scene several years ago, giving viewers a tool to zip past the traditional on-screen ads.

Digital video recorders were like VCRs with super powers: able to pause live television, effortlessly record a season's worth of shows and even pick programs they think you will like. By shifting television's time schedule and watching recorded programs at their convenience, viewers could skip those annoying ads with the click of the remote.

Today, as the DVR becomes more accessible to the mainstream — notably because cable and satellite companies are starting to incorporate the technology into the set-top boxes already in millions of living rooms — the technology is having a different effect.

Most viewers have not radically rearranged their television schedules. People are watching more, not less, television. And, most interesting, DVRs may end up preserving mass-audience network television by offering viewers more choices and giving advertisers novel solutions to reach potential customers.

TiVo Inc., which pioneered the DVR, owns about one-third of the market and has entered the lexicon as a replacement for the phrase "to tape a show." But with the cable and satellite companies on board, industry researchers say 12 million to 15 million homes are likely to have a DVR by the end of the year. By 2010, that number could be as high as 65 million.

Now, TiVo and television advertisers are working hand in hand to revolutionize the decades-old model of supporting network television. The Silicon Valley company announced in July that it would start selling customer commercial-viewing data to networks and advertisers. And this fall, viewers will be introduced to prime-time commercials made expressly for DVR users: ads that include extra content seen only when viewers go frame by frame through the commercials, creating a deterrent against using the fast-forward button.

Watching more

"When the DVR came on the scene, there were all these apocalyptic predictions as to how it was going to destroy the mass market and mass-market TV," said David Poltrack, chief research officer at CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision, the company's research shop. "People became infatuated with the technology and the idea that people were going to take total control of their TV viewing."

Poltrack is one of the industry's experts on researching viewing habits and telling programmers and executives what the data mean.

At presentations, he likes to flout a photograph of a 2000 New York Times Magazine cover story that predicts "The End of the Mass Market" because of DVRs.

What the doomsayers missed, Poltrack said, "was the logical conclusion that the amount of TV that people watched was limited by the fact that these programs ran against each other."

That limit disappears with the DVR, which can record one show while you watch another.

True, a videocassette recorder can do the same thing. But programming a VCR and taping a show can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Seven of 10 owners use VCRs to play recorded tapes (such as rented movies) rather than to record television programs to watch later, according to the Consumer Electronics Assn. The joke of the "blinking 12:00" — a sign that viewers never learned how to program their VCRs — turned out to be true.

But with DVRs, viewers can, at the touch of a few buttons, record all of their favorite shows for an entire season, all of which are stored neatly on a hard drive inside the recorder.

Given the opportunity to easily record shows, people wind up watching more of the most popular television programs. Overall television viewing in households that own DVRs increases after their purchase, according to a number of surveys. That means those viewers are exposed to more advertising.

This fall, ABC is moving one of its most popular shows, "Grey's Anatomy," to Thursday nights, opposite CBS' most popular show, "CSI." Poltrack expects viewers with DVRs to watch both shows instead of having to choose between the two.

Doubt over a statistic

It also turns out that DVRs are not killing live viewing or shuffling the weekly prime-time schedule, at least not yet. From Sunday to Friday, 84% of all prime-time television viewing in DVR households is live, according to Nielsen Media Research. According to the same data, 61% of all prime-time programming recorded by DVRs is watched on the same day it airs.

And even though there are only six major broadcast networks compared with hundreds of cable channels, 77% of the shows recorded by DVRs air on a major network such as ABC or Fox rather than a cable channel such as ESPN or TNT, Nielsen reported.

The networks think they can make more advertising money if they can figure out how to get past one other statistic, and it's a troubling one: 90% of DVR owners say they fast-forward past some or all commercials, CBS data show.

But new information about how DVR users interact with commercials raises questions about that statistic. A March survey by Millward Brown marketing researchers found that 42% of non-DVR owners recalled specific brands in commercials they had seen, such as Ford or Taco Bell. For DVR owners, the number was 43%.

More DVR-inspired creativity is at work.

In May, General Electric Co. began showing commercials touting the environmental benefits of some of its heavy industrial products, such as jet engines and diesel locomotives. One 30-second spot featured an elephant dancing in a jungle to "Singin' in the Rain" as other animals looked on.

Viewers with DVRs were shown how to pause the commercial at certain moments. When they did, up popped whimsical, fictional biographical information about the animals. Gamers call such hidden content "Easter eggs." GE calls the project "One-Second Theater," and it is designed to nudge DVR owners to spend more, rather than less, time with commercials.

It worked, according to GE's research. Viewers spent a little more than two minutes watching and reading the 30-second spots, said Jonathan Klein, GE's marketing communications leader.

So instead of DVR users' never seeing the GE spot, as advertisers and networks had feared, "viewers ended up spending over two minutes with the GE brand in front of them," Klein said.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-tivo29aug29,0,2710982,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

Rakesh.S

08-29-06, 11:30 AM

fredfa

08-29-06, 11:36 AM

You mean no one has filed a lawsuit yet? :p

fredfa

08-29-06, 11:41 AM

TV Sports
Fox's Sunday NFL Telecasts Outpacing Last Year's Sales
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com AUGUST 29, 2006 -

Fox has sold about 85 percent of its Sunday afternoon National Football League telecasts, getting price hikes in the high single-digit range, according to sources familiar with the situation. That percentage of sell-out would be ahead of last year at this point.

Fox has also sold about 80 percent of the three college Bowl Championship Series games it will air in January for the first time--the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, and the FedEx Orange Bowl on Jan. 3--along with the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 8. Fox won the TV rights to the BCS games in a new multi-year deal earlier this year. The three bowl games were previously televised on ABC. The BCS Championship Game is new.

Ad categories showing growth over last season in Fox's NFL telecasts are wireless/telecommunications, retail/apparel, comptuers/technology, delivery services, and fast food.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003054442

archiguy

08-29-06, 11:52 AM

[
Ted Koppel has struck out with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for an interview on his forthcoming Discovery Channel special, just as he did for more than five years at ABC's Nightline, Koppel says.

"He could have contributed enormously to this broadcast. I can't get to him. I don't know what I've done to him, or why he feels that being interviewed by me is something he doesn't want to do."

Koppel worries that "several people" in the current administration - namely President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Rumsfeld - "only want to be interviewed by people who share exactly their point of view."

I suspect that Ted would have more success at securing Rummie's cooperation for an interview if he had made FOX News his new home instead of Discovery and NPR. The three "leaders" mentioned hardly ever appear on any other network when they do decide to make a televised appearance (typically when they have a policy or position to promote). :rolleyes:

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:03 PM

Bush is appearing at the beginning of Katie's reign on the CBS Evening News.

He also is giving Brian Williams an exclusive interview for tonight.

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:11 PM

Prime-time ratings for Monday – 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.

HDTVChallenged

08-29-06, 12:15 PM

Regarding Conan and the emmys --

Conan is a comedic genius - imo, no one on tv right now comes close to what he can do.

I wouldn't have pulled the opening skit EVEN IF it were being shot the same day it was being aired. Sensitivity and all, like fred said, **** happens.

I might not have pulled it either ... but hopefully I (as the producers/network handlers) wouldn't have been so self-centered and isolated in LaLaLand that I would have ignored the national news all day and then neglected to give some local affiliates a "heads-up." The crash happened long before the first lattes of the day were being sipped in LA. It's crap and attitudes like this that give 'Hollywierd' a bad rep in "flyoverland."

PS: It's funny how "Letterman" consistantly out performs "Leno" in our local DMAs - perhaps there's a reason for that. ;)

PPS: It's funny how some people just can't admit an error in judgement. Fortunately, NBC did issue an appology - the least the rest of you could do is just shut up when you feel the need to "defend" Conan, the Emmy's or NBC.

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:16 PM

TV Notebook
Serial Killers
By Marc Berman MediaWeek Magazine

Most of the sessions at the recently concluded television critics Association Summer Press Tour dealt with what viewers will be seeing this fall. But in the executive sessions, there was an ongoing conversation about what is happening now, with scripted and nonscripted serialized shows that are canceled midstream.

ABC recently gave the heave-ho—without any warning—to The One: Making of a Music Star, which was pulled after just two weeks. The show had about 2.8 million viewers. ABC also canceled One Ocean View, a nonscripted docu-drama that scored similarly lackluster results. CBS swung the ax this summer after just two episodes of The Tuesday Night Book Club, a reality hour that was patterned after ABC's Desperate Housewives.

You can't blame a network for canceling a series that is struggling in the ratings. But in the case of The One: Making of a Music Star, a musical competition, you have to ask: Is it fair to leave the almost 3 million viewers who tuned in hanging, wondering how their favorite contestants would fare? I don't think it is.

And it's not just reality shows. This is a common occurrence among scripted serialized series as well. Five scripted freshman dramas this season—ABC's Invasion; CBS' Threshold; Fox's Reunion and UPN's Sex, Love & Secrets and South Beach—were unceremoniously pulled, leaving viewers with a slew of questions about what happened to their favorite characters.

You might ask, what's the big deal? There was a time when networks rarely offered conclusions to any series, hit or miss. Aside from The Fugitive, which in 1967 pitted Richard Kimble (David Janssen) against the one-armed man who framed him, shows didn't really start tying up loose ends until the 1970s.

One scripted show, 1987 ABC sitcom I Married Dora, officially ended when the lead actor (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) actually told his co-star (Elizabeth Peña) the show was canceled. Then the camera pulled back to reveal the crew waving goodbye to the audience. A bit strange, maybe, but it accomplished something incredibly important: It acknowledged the viewers. Viewers are valuable no matter how big or small the audience—and that is a lesson most network executives need to learn. In today's environment of multiple tuning options, it certainly does not pay to anger a viewer.

As a fan of television who has invested time in dozens (OK, hundreds!) of series, I am still angry that I never found out what happened to the characters in 2001 Fox soap Pasadena, the couple on the run in 1984 NBC drama Hot Pursuit, or young lovers Jeff and Anita on 1974 CBS soap Sons and Daughters. This season alone I invested time in the aforementioned Threshold and Sex, Love & Secrets, and was left dangling when they hit the chopping block.

If a network is going to offer a serial drama or a reality competition, the viewer is entitled to some kind of resolution when that show ends prematurely. And I think it is time for the networks to make contingency plans if the ratings warrant cancellation. So, here are a few suggestions to the networks on how a low-rated serialized or reality/competition could end with some dignity while satisfying viewers:

1. Never pull a show—any show—without airing all the episodes. If you ordered 13, run the 13, and keep in mind that it sometimes takes an audience time to find a series. Canceling any series after only a handful of episodes makes you look desperate.

2. Have a final script ready to shoot. It may be costly, but it sends the message that you care about the viewer. That's critical.

3. If you start a competition, like ABC did with The One: Making of a Music Star, you must see it through. In this case, ABC could have found a way to decrease the number of telecasts per week from three to one, which would have cut costs and kept whoever was watching in the loop.

4. Utilize the Web. If you don't want to invest the time, or money, to film a final episode, at least put something on your Web site explaining how the series will end or who was chosen as the winner.

If the networks want viewers to make commitments to their series, they need to learn to respect the audience. And that's the most valuable lesson anyone can learn.

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:24 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Viewers take a pass on NBC's 'Katrina'
'Road Back' retrospective pulls a 1.8 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Aug 29, 2006

Broadcast and cable news organizations have descended upon New Orleans to mark today’s one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the nation’s worst ever natural disaster.

But the reality may be that marking the anniversary is something the media is more interested in than viewers, many of whom either don’t want to be reminded of how the government botched its response or have other ways to commemorate Katrina in mind.

For sure, many already are avoiding the TV news specials.

Last night’s NBC News special “Katrina: The Long Road Back” averaged just a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating against relatively light competition at 8 p.m. It finished fourth in its timeslot, behind reruns on ABC and CBS and a new “Prison Break” on Fox.

Of course younger adults are notoriously news-averse, so a big rating may not have been a realistic expectation. Yet among total viewers the special tanked as well, averaging 5.8 million total viewers, fourth in the timeslot and 1 million behind a “Wife Swap” rerun on ABC.

Part of it too may be that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region have stayed in the public eye for the 12 months after the hurricane. Far from forgetting about Katrina’s survivors, the national news has featured them consistently and updated their progress. Viewers may have thus felt the NBC special offered nothing new.

Also last night, Fox’s new show “Vanished” aired its second episode, and it did slightly better than last week, up 3 percent to a 3.1 in adults 18-49. It got a bump from lead-in “Prison Break,” which also improved over last week’s premiere, rising 8 percent from a 3.7 to a 4.0.

That helped Fox to No.1 for the night among 18-49s with a 3.5 rating and 10 share, ahead of CBS at 2.9/8, ABC at 2.8/7, NBC at 2.0/5, Univision at 1.7/4, UPN at 0.9/2 and WB at 0.6/2.

At 8 p.m., Fox was No. 1 at a 4.0 for "Prison Break," followed by CBS at 2.6 for repeats of "Two and a Half Men" and "How I Met Your Mother," ABC at 2.4 for a "Wife Swap" rerun, Univision at 2.0 for "La Fea Mas Bella," NBC at 1.8 for "Katrina," UPN at 0.9 for reruns of "One on One" and "All of Us," and the WB at 0.7 for a "7th Heaven" repeat.

At 9 p.m., Fox and ABC shared the lead at 3.1 each for "Vanished" and another "Wife Swap" rerun, ahead of CBS at 2.9 for reruns of "Men" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," NBC at 2.4 for "Dateline," Univision at 1.8 for "Barrera de Amor," UPN at 0.8 for repeats of "Girlfriends" and "Half & Half," and WB at 0.6 for a "Heaven" rerun.

At 10 p.m., CBS was No. 1 for a "CSI: Miami" repeat at 3.1, followed by ABC's "Supernanny" rerun at 2.8, NBC's "Medium" rerun at 1.8 and Univision's "Cristina" at 1.3.

Among households, CBS led for the night with a 6.2 rating and 10 share, ahead of Fox at 5.5/9, ABC at 4.8/8, NBC at 4.3/7, Univision at 2.3/4, WB at 1.3/2 and UPN at 1.2/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_6975.asp

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:33 PM

TV Notebook
K-Fed Is 'CSI's' Cousin Oliver
From Channel Island: The TV Industry Blog by Scott Collins in the Los Angeles Times

OK, this is it. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" has officially jumped the shark.

CBS announced Monday it has hired Kevin Federline — aka K-Fed, aka Mr. Britney Spears, aka the newbie rapper who stunk up the Teen Choice Awards — as a "guest star" on the crime drama.

Remember when Cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist) was dispatched to torpedo the last six episodes of "The Brady Bunch?" The noble tradition now passes to our beloved K-Fed.

K-Fed will play a would-be rap star who's killed by real rappers offended by his white-boy posturing; they dump his mutilated corpse on the Vegas strip, where ....

Ha! I'm just kidding. Here's the official (curiously repetitive) explanation from CBS' release:

Federline will portray an arrogant teenager who harasses the CSI team as they investigate a series of brutal tourist beatings that are taking place throughout the Las Vegas area. Nick and Warrick are confronted by Cole Tritt, (Federline), an arrogant teen who hassles them while they work a crime scene.

Synchronize your watches and start the "CSI" doomsday clock now.

http://hollywoodhotline.typepad.com/watcher/

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:38 PM

TV Notebook
“Jump The Shark”

Often a term gets used in this thread (and in writing about TV in general) which you might not be familiar with. “Jumping the shark”, it occurred to me after the previous post, just might be such a term.

So here, from Wikipedia, is an explanation:

Jumping the shark is a metaphor that has been used by US TV critics and fans to denote the tipping point at which a TV series is deemed to have passed its peak. Once a show has "jumped the shark," fans sense a noticeable decline in quality or feel the show has undergone too many changes to retain its original charm.

The phrase specifically arises from a scene in the hit TV comedy series Happy Days in which one of the central characters, Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli, on water skis, literally jumps over a shark. The scene was written into the show at a point when the viewing ratings were beginning to drop, and it is generally regarded as the creative low-point at which the show finally lost all credibility. A show may continue well after the point when fans feel it has "jumped the shark" but will likely decline in popularity
.
Jump-the-shark moments may be scenes like the one described above that finally convince viewers that the show has fundamentally and permanently strayed from its original premise. In those cases, they are viewed as a desperate and futile attempt to keep a series fresh in the face of a decline in ratings. In other cases, the departure or replacement of a main cast member or character or a significant change in setting changes a critical dynamic of the show.

The term has also evolved to describe other areas of pop culture, including movie series, music, or acting celebrities or authors for whom a drastic change was seen as the beginning of the end. These changes are often attempts to attract their fans' waning attention with over-the-top statements or increasingly overt appeals to sex or violence. Some have broadened its use to simply describe any decline in viewer appeal for the TV series in question, without requiring a significant "jump the shark" moment as justification.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

dr_mal

08-29-06, 12:40 PM

fredfa

08-29-06, 12:40 PM

TV Notebook
“Jump The Shark” II

If you are interested in whether some shows you like may have “jumped the shark” you can always check out the interesting and opinionated website
http://www.jumptheshark.com/

Ou8thisSN

08-29-06, 12:57 PM

Fred, I've never posted in this thread but I read it religiously everyday... sometimes more than once to check for your updates. thanks for everything.

fredfa

08-29-06, 01:00 PM

I appreciate the kind words, Ou8thisSN.

And please feel free to post a comment whenever the spirit moves you.

I really don't care if you agree with my own thoughts or not, a good civil discussion about TV is what I hope to foster here.

fredfa

08-29-06, 01:06 PM

Cable TV Notebook
History Channel Breaks August Records

Multichannel News 8/29/2006

The History Channel said it drew 1.1 million total viewers in August, its best August in the network's history.

The network, which also surpassed the 90 million household mark, said it also posted record adults 25-54 impressions (529,000, up 9% from 2005) and 18-49 impressions (446,000, up 5%).

The networks biggest draws in August were The Exodus Decoded (2.3 million viewers); Lost Worlds: Secret Cities of the A-Bomb (1.6 million); Band of Brothers: Replacements (1.6 million); Violent Earth: New England's Killer Hurricane (1.5 million); and Countdown to Ground Zero (1.4 million).

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6366556

fredfa

08-29-06, 01:22 PM

TV Notebook
Dan Rather Biographer Takes Shots at Hewitt, Moonves, Couric
By Dave Shiflett Bloomber.com Aug. 29, 2006

Dan Rather refused to be interviewed for ``Lone Star: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Dan Rather,'' telling author Alan Weisman that ``there's nothing in this for me.''

Not so. This short, pugnacious and highly entertaining biography thumps many of Rather's enemies, of which there is no shortage.

Weisman, a retired CBS News writer and producer, takes a brief look at Rather's rise from humble Texas stock. Rather grew up sickly but tough in the same Houston-area neighborhood that produced racing legend A.J. Foyt. His struggle with rheumatic fever led to one of his lifelong mottos: ``Never stay down.''

Rather had a wolverine's tenacity from the start and sometimes got more credit than due, as when Walter Cronkite hailed him for first reporting JFK's death from Parkland Hospital when in fact Robert Pierpoint was the man on the scene. Cronkite was not destined to remain a Rather fan.

Cronkite, by Weisman's acerbic telling, is an arrogant blowhard ``who still believes that the anchor chair should have been retired with him in 1981.'' According to Weisman, Cronkite piled on Rather during the ``Memogate'' scandal, which in Weisman's reading was a fairly minor error that sparked a gross overreaction.

Weisman spends lots of ink thumping journalistic deities who, in the words of Bill O'Reilly, ``slimed'' Rather.

Off to Alcatraz

Former ``60 Minutes'' boss Don Hewitt is scorned for calling Rather a ``coward'' for not resigning following his disputed report on President George W. Bush's military service.

Weisman also notes that as the ``Memogate'' storm began brewing, Andrew Heyward railed that any guilty parties would be ``phoning in from Alcatraz.'' ``This,'' writes Weisman, ``from the president of the News Division who had approved the story prior to air.''

CBS chief Les Moonves is another target. ``Memogate,'' Weisman says, provided Moonves ``with a convenient excuse to do what he wanted to do anyway: go younger.'' Rather was 73 at his departure and, according to Weisman, Moonves wanted more young, smiley faces on the air.

The author doesn't give Rather a free pass, though.

This, after all, is the fellow of ``Kenneth, what is the frequency?'' fame who was also known for antic on-air observations such as, ``This race is as hot and tight as a too- small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach.''

No wonder radio wiseguy Don Imus once said, ``I want to be watching when he cracks.''

Disappearing Act

Rather also stoked his own legend by vanishing for almost six minutes during the start of his Sept. 11, 1987, newscast. Weisman wonders if he ``left the set to make a point to his superiors'' -- that he was upset with the diminishing stature of the news division.

Even Rather's critics may sympathize with poor Dan, who was increasingly enveloped by a rising tide of fluff. That trend included the indignity of being paired as co-anchor with Connie Chung, who was better known for celebrity interviews than news gathering.

That relationship is wonderfully reflected in a Rather quip quoted by Weisman: ``I did on several occasions encourage her, not in a patronizing way, that to be really connected to the news you have to read more.''

Weisman's final chapter, titled ``Edward R. Murrow is Dead,'' is a whack at an era in which blow-dried news personalities report from their teleprompters. Former foreign correspondent Bert Quint notes that ``there's no reason to believe that the person telling you the foreign story has been within 3,000 miles of where the story happened.''

Next up as CBS News anchor is Katie Couric. Former congressional correspondent Phil Jones tells Weisman that Couric is ``a liberal Democrat who is so in love with Hillary Clinton'' that it could pose a problem if Clinton runs for president.

We're left believing that Rather's critics will soon be pining for the good old days when straight-shooting Dan ruled the CBS roost.

``Lone Star: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Dan Rather'' is published by John Wiley & Sons (288 pages, $25.95).

(Dave Shiflett is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=awjAsiWH2rhg&refer=muse#

fredfa

08-29-06, 01:27 PM

TV Notebook
New Orleans District Attorney Bristles at Criticism, Walks Out of “Nightline” Interview
Vic Walter Reports from ABC News.com:

New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan bristled at criticism and walked out of an ABC News Nightline interview when told that law enforcement officials were critical of Jordan's handling of his office.

ABC News' Brian Ross interviewed Jordan earlier today as part of a report examining the state of the New Orleans justice system one year after Katrina, to be broadcast on Nightline later tonight.

Since last year's hurricane, there has been growing criticism of Jordan's office by senior people in law enforcement who say, even with the acknowledged problems caused by Katrina, the District Attorney has not efficiently dealt with a huge backlog of cases, estimated at more than 3,000.

Jordan told Ross his questions were "stupid," when Ross asked Jordan to respond to a comment made by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in an ABC News interview earlier this week. "You need to have an effective police department, you need to have the courts operating effectively, you need to have a local prosecutor who is doing his job," he said.

Brian Ross: Do you think he's talking about you?

Eddie Jordan: No, because we're doing our job and I have the evidence to support it.

Brian Ross: You don't take this then as a criticism from Washington?

Eddie Jordan: I don't take this as a criticism from Washington because, as I've said before, we are taking care of our responsibility. This is ignorance and stupidity on the part of people who don't know how our system works.

At that point, Jordan's aide stepped in front of the cameras and announced she was ending the interview.

At that point, Jordon protested that Ross' questions were "stupid."

Brian Ross: They are honest questions, sir.

Eddie Jordan: They're stupid; they're not honest questions.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/new_orleans_dis.html

Posty-McPost

08-29-06, 03:16 PM

PPS: It's funny how some people just can't admit an error in judgement. Fortunately, NBC did issue an appology - the least the rest of you could do is just shut up when you feel the need to "defend" Conan, the Emmy's or NBC.

I'll defend Conan. I was at a taping of his show in 1998 or so and one of the bits involved an animated plane crash. That day there was a plan crash. By the time the show aired the joke had been edited to be a car accident.

JMCecil

08-29-06, 03:48 PM

I'll defend Conan. I was at a taping of his show in 1998 or so and one of the bits involved an animated plane crash. That day there was a plan crash. By the time the show aired the joke had been edited to be a car accident.
Did he check to make sure there were no car crashes that day?

Jediphish

08-29-06, 04:42 PM

Did he check to make sure there were no car crashes that day?

LOL.

trbarry

08-29-06, 05:31 PM

Did he check to make sure there were no car crashes that day?

I think over 100 people die in auto crashes in the USA every day on average. So by that logic I guess it is never acceptable to joke about auto accidents. But humor is one of our ways of dealing with things that scare us. So where would we be without it?

- Tom

harley1

08-29-06, 05:36 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Viewers take a pass on NBC's 'Katrina'

Last night’s NBC News special “Katrina: The Long Road Back” averaged just a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating against relatively light competition at 8 p.m. It finished fourth in its timeslot, behind reruns on ABC and CBS and a new “Prison Break” on Fox.

Of course younger adults are notoriously news-averse, so a big rating may not have been a realistic expectation. Yet among total viewers the special tanked as well, averaging 5.8 million total viewers, fourth in the timeslot and 1 million behind a “Wife Swap” rerun on ABC.

Maybe they watched the Spike Lee Documentary rebroadcast last night on HBO.

After I watched it last week,I had no desire to watch another show about it.

fredfa

08-29-06, 05:39 PM

Cable TV Notebook
New WWE, Monk Carry USA to Victory
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable, 8/29/2006

Reliably solid showings of WWE wrestling and Monk helped USA draw the most viewers of any ad-supported cable network during prime in August with 2.92 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. The network was followed by TNT with 2.68 million, Lifetime with 1.84 million and ESPN with 1.82 million.

With its record breaking premiere of The Cheetah Girls 2 on Aug. 25, non-ad-supported Disney Channel had the most-viewed program of the month and just about tied USA for the most total viewers of the month. The movie pulled in 7.82 million total viewers and Disney averaged 2.91 million for the month in prime.

TNT scored the top three ad-supported programs for the month. Its Aug. 13 original movie The Ron Clark Story (6.95 million viewers) was sandwiched between the July 31 and Aug. 7 episodes of The Closer (7.22 and 6.71 million viewers, respectively).

Lifetime ranked in the month's top 10 programs with its original biopic about American Idol's Fantasia Barrino, which averaged 6.65 million viewers Aug. 19, as did ESPN with it's Aug. 21 Cowboys/Saints game pulling in 6.58 million viewers.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6366787

fredfa

08-29-06, 05:41 PM

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.

fredfa

08-29-06, 05:48 PM

Last week’s updated top 10 prime-time program ratings are now toward the bottom of RATINGS NEWS -- the first post in this thread.

fredfa

08-29-06, 05:53 PM

TV Sports
ESPN, Big East Conference Sign Six-Year Deal
John Consoli MediaWeek.com AUGUST 29, 2006 -

ESPN and the Big East Conference have reached a new six-year basketball TV rights deal running from the 2007-08 season through the 2012-13 season, and a new six-year football righs deal that will run from 2007-2013. The basketball deal includes both men's and women's games from the conference, and the football deal includes both national and regional games, and both deals include pay-per-view components and rights on other ESPN platforms.

ESPN has had a telecast relationship with the Big East since 1979 when both ESPN and the Big East Conference were launched.

The basketball rights deal will enable ESPN to cover every Big East game on every ESPN entity, except for select games on CBS Sports. ESPN will televise games on Monday nights as it has, and will also add a Thursday night Big East telecast on either ESPN or ESPN2. Games will also televise on ESPN broadcast sibling ABC. Under the deal, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise about 40 Big East games each season, whle ESPN360 and ESPNU will offer about 34 games. ESPN Regional Television will syndicate about 65 games each season. The entire Big East Conference Tournament at the end of the season will also continue to be televised exclusively on ESPN and ESPN2.

The agreement also includes pay-per-view rights as part of ESPN Full Court package, as well as archived Big East games through ESPN's video-on-demand.

ESPN and ESPN2 also will televise about 11 regular season Big East women's games, plus the Conference Championship. ESPNU will carry 15 Big East teams and several rounds of the Conference Championship Tournament. There are also ESPN Mobile and ESPN.com components.

Under the football deal, ESPN or ESPN2 will televise a minimum of14 Big East games during each season, with games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, along with Saturday afternoons, a game on Labor Day and on Thanksgiving weekend. ABC will also air three Big East games annually. ESPN Regional TV will also syndicate games. The football deal also includes pay-per-view components as part of ESPN GamePlan package, and archived game telecasts via ESPN's video-on-demand services.

Similar to basketball, Big East football content will also be featured across other ESPN platforms like ESPN Mobile and ESPN.com.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003054552

fredfa

08-29-06, 05:55 PM

Weekly N ielsens
Emmycast Top-Rated Program for the Week
By Christopher Lisotta TV Week August 29, 2006

NBC's telecast of the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was easily the highest-rated program among adults 18 to 49 for the week ended Aug. 27, but that wasn't enough to prevent CBS from winning the week in the demo.

According to Nielsen Media Research, The Emmys scored a 5.2 in adults 18 to 49, a number that includes live viewing plus same-day viewing via DVRs. ABC's Sunday telecast of the feature film "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Monday's season premiere of Fox's "Prison Break" were tied for second place in the demo with a 3.7, followed by a "CSI" repeat on Thursday (3.4) and Tuesday's edition of CBS summer reality series "Big Brother: All Stars," which tied a repeat of Monday's "CSI: Miami" (3.2).

CBS won the week with a 2.3 in adults 18 to 49, followed by NBC and ABC (both 2.2), Fox (2.1), Univision (1.6), UPN and The WB (both 0.7) and Telemundo (0.4).

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10638

fredfa

08-29-06, 06:39 PM

TV Notebook
CBS Puts Couric on Photoshop Diet
By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable 8/29/2006

CBS blames the "editorial staff" of a promotional magazine for doctoring a photo to dramatically slim Katie Couric down, but those editors are in fact the network’s PR staff.

Website TVNewser caught CBS putting Couric on a diet in its Watch magazine by altering a photo of her from the network’s upfront presentation that substantially thins her waist and face. The Website showed the magazine’s version next to the version originally taken at the network’s ad presentation in Carnegie Hall last May.

Magazine photos are altered all the time. However, this alteration comes as the network is struggling to portray longtime NBC Today Show co-host Couric as a news anchor with the gravitas to convey serious news.

A CBS spokesman says only that "the editorial staff of Watch magazine retouched the photo without the knowledge of Katie Couric or CBS news management" and would not elaborate further.

However, the alteration is completely an inside job. Much of the production and ad sales of the quarterly magazine are handled by an outside custom publisher, but the editorial content is all prepared by CBS’ own communications department. The magazine’s masthead says that Executive VP, Communications, Gil Schwartz is editor in chief and Director of Communications Jeremy Murphy is editor.

Murphy— who actually puts out the magazine—would not comment Tuesday, but in an interview in PR Week when the magazine was announced last year, Murphy said, "It really is a journalistic enterprise. We're putting together a magazine that will be useful."

Tongue in cheek, Schwartz says that "nothing in Watch magazine has done anything to diminish Katie's true stature."

Through a spokesman, Couric says that she prefers the original photo "because there's more of me to love."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6366843

*Photo credit: TVNewser.com and CBS (The doctored photo is, of course, on the right)

GeorgeLV

08-29-06, 06:55 PM

^^ Just wait until they can do it dynamically. TV personalities would fall over for a camera that takes of 10 pounds.

fredfa

08-29-06, 07:35 PM

It looks like Photoshop did a little better than 10 pounds!

JMCecil

08-29-06, 07:35 PM

I think over 100 people die in auto crashes in the USA every day on average. So by that logic I guess it is never acceptable to joke about auto accidents. But humor is one of our ways of dealing with things that scare us. So where would we be without it?- Tom
heh, I agree 100%. My comment was both meant to be ironic and humorous. It kind of reminds me of the old Carlin bit about saving the Dolphins from the Tuna nets. It's all well and good unless you're a Tuna. "Where are the Tuna safe nets?" Perspective is everything.

fredfa

08-29-06, 11:26 PM

Emmy Notebook
$150,000 Doesn't Go Quite As Far As It Used To
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline” August 29, 2006

Marty Ingels was still mad as hell on Monday over the treatment he received from the TV Academy at the Emmys, and it stems mostly from the fact that a 5-foot-5 poster of Shirley Jones is a terrible thing to waste.

Perhaps a little explanation is in order. Ingels, longtime husband of Jones and a veteran actor-comedian in his own right who starred in the short-lived early 1960s primetime comedy "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster," decided that his missus deserved an Emmy nomination for her role in the Hallmark Channel flick "Hidden Places." Since he realized that her chances of achieving this were none and none -- given the fact Hallmark wasn't much promoting Jones for consideration, since it lacks the scratch to fund awards shout-outs -- the irrepressible Martmeister decided to take matters into his own hands.

Ingels took out multiple ads in the trades and sent DVD screeners of his wife's performance to voters galore. "I plunked down $150,000 of my own money," he offers, "and it was worth every penny." Indeed, the campaign worked. Jones got her nomination for supporting actress in a miniseries/movie, the same category in which Ellen Burstyn also landed a nomination (for a 14-second performance) while spending approximately $150,000 less to achieve it. Nonetheless, Ingels felt it was 150K well pissed away and he was all set to proudly attend the Emmy ceremony and watch Shirley take home her rightful statuette.

Then Jones got hired as a regular in the new Lifetime series "Bianca" that's currently filming in Brisbane, Australia. No problem. Ingels would attend alone and accept the trophy in his wife's stead, he decided. That's when the trouble began. Apparently, Ingels' famously flamboyant persona wasn't exactly what the TV Academy had in mind for its annual showcase.

"They told me that Shirley had to be dead or infirm for me to be able to accept for her," Ingels recalls. Since his wife was neither -- merely geographically-challenged -- that was pretty much that. However, you don't tell Marty Ingels that he can't do something for his wife of 29 years. "And after the campaign I'd launched, I felt it was insulting to exclude me," he added.

So Ingels hatched a plan to tote along a life-size poster of Shirley to the ceremony that he'd carry to the stage in the event of a Jones victory. Now the academy was more adamant, he notes. Not only couldn't he accept for her, his poster (word got around evidently) was also being barred from admission to the Shrine Auditorium. Oh, and one more thing: Shirley's tickets to the show weren't transferable, Ingels was told. The tix may have been "Shirley Jones plus one," but they weren't "Marty Ingels plus one life-size cutout."

"Now I was really incensed," Ingels admits. "They're telling me I can spend $150,000 on a campaign and then can't even attend? What kind of bullshit is that?" Ingels says he managed to procure two tickets in the nosebleed seats of the third balcony for $1,100, so now he was up to $151,100. He had a limo pick him up and take him to the show w/banned poster, which was indeed denied entry by Emmy security as promised. "But I had an 11 X 14 shot of Shirley tucked into my pants that I'd have taken out in case she won," he notes.

Alas, Jones didn't win. Kelly Macdonald of HBO's "The Girl in the Cafe" did. And there was one last indignity awaiting Ingels.

"They wouldn't even give me Shirley's Emmy bag!" he fumes. "It was the crowning insult as far as I'm concerned."

As for the academy response, its senior VP of awards John Leverence assures that Ingels was not being singled out for exclusion and that the rules are the rules. "It wasn't a situation of something being denied Marty so much as standard academy policy," he says. "But we were happy to have him here to root on Shirley and glad she's got a great gig in Australia."

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

fredfa

08-29-06, 11:34 PM

Cable News Notebook
August program rankings

If you are interested in seeing how all of the cable news programs did in the August ratings (which officially ended August 25th—don’t ask) download this pdf courtesy of Brian Stelter at mediabistro.com.

A hint: 12 of the top 13 shows were on Fox News Channel. Larry King, at #8, broke the FNC winning streak -- although he was clobbered by Bill O'Reilly.

fredfa

08-29-06, 11:39 PM

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
Premieres, finales falter
By Gary Levin USA Today 8/29/2006

•No breakout. Fox's Prison Break, the first premiere of the fall season, averaged 9.4 million viewers Monday, down from 10.5 million for last August's opener, though the decline was steeper among young-adult viewers. The premiere of Vanished, which followed, averaged 8.6 million, declining from its lead-in among young viewers but increasing sharply among viewers ages 55 and older.

•Emmys down. TV's awards show averaged 16.2 million viewers, down 13% from last year's 18.7 million, a result of an early airdate and ABC's rerun of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (10 million), which improved over its November premiere. Still, the Emmys topped the weekly chart.

•Cheetah climbs. Friday's premiere of Disney Channel movie sequel Cheetah Girls 2 averaged 7.8 million viewers, slightly beating High School Musical to score as the network's top-rated movie. It was the night's top show, and 60% of girls ages 6 to 14 watching TV were tuned in.

•Treasure found. The finale of NBC's Treasure Hunters, one of several disappointing summer reality series, averaged a modest 6 million viewers Monday but marked the series' biggest audience since its premiere in June.

•HBOver. Sunday's Entourage finale (2.5 million) capped the Hollywood comedy's top-rated season, while Lucky Louie closed its freshman year with a low 1.3 million, both nearly matching season-long averages. The finale of Deadwood (2 million) ended the Western's lowest-rated cycle (2.4 million); a two-part movie is due next year.

•USA sendoff. Friday's season finales of Monk (5.6 million) and Psych (4.6 million) ended on high notes. Monk was up 6% this year. The Dead Zone, signing off Sunday with 2.2 million, was off 19% with a fifth-season average of 2.8 million.

•Extras. Tuesday's premiere of Oxygen's Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty averaged 340,000 viewers. CBS special JC Penney Jam drew a low 5.5 million Tuesday. The season finale of Bravo's Workout sweated 985,000, and Comedy Central's Reno 911 hit 966,000.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-08-29-nielsen-analysis_x.htm

fredfa

08-29-06, 11:55 PM

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
The Bottom 25

You always read about the top-10 programs in the weekly Nieslen ratings, but here are the bottom 25 English-language prime-time network shows for last week, August 21-27. They are ranked on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Viewership is listed in millions.:

109 Gilmore Girls (9 p.m.) WB 1.96
110 Living With Fran WB 1.95
111 Gilmore Girls (8 p.m.) WB 1.87
112 7th Heaven (8 p.m.) WB 1.85
113 7th Heaven (9 p.m.) WB 1.80
114 What I Like About You WB 1.73
115 Girlfriends UPN 1.68
116 Twins WB 1.64
117 America's Next Top Model 6 UPN 1.63
118t Blue Collar TV (8 p.m.) WB 1.59
118t Blue Collar TV (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.59
118t Half and Half (Mon.) UPN 1.59
121 Love Inc. UPN 1.56
122 Eve UPN 1.55
123 All of Us (Mon.) UPN 1.50
124 All of Us (Wed.) UPN 1.39
125 One on One UPN 1.37
126t Cuts UPN 1.34
128 Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 1.33
129 Half and Half (Wed.) UPN 1.28
130 Charmed (9 p.m.) WB 1.20
131 One Tree Hill WB 1.15
132 Just Legal WB 1.12
133 Veronica Mars (9 p.m.) UPN 1.05
142 Veronica Mars (8 p.m.) UPN 0.89

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:01 AM

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
Worst of the Big 4 Network Shows

Here are the rankings for national least-viewed Big Four prime-time network television shows last week (Aug. 21-27) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Viewership is listed in millions.

73 "NFL Preseason Football" CBS 4.27
91 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 3.28
92 Dateline: NBC (Sat.) NBC 3.20
93 Kyle XY ABC 3.16

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

RussTC3

08-30-06, 12:04 AM

Ouch for Veronica. I hope that doesn't translate over to the 3rd season.

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:08 AM

TV Review
“Justice” Fox, 9 PM ET/PT Wednesday
Offering Truth and Illusion and Nothing but the Two
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times August 30, 2006

Celebrity trial lawyers are supposed to be flamboyant and theatrical. Yet the high-priced defense attorneys in Jerry Bruckheimer’s new courtroom drama on Fox, “Justice,” are not at all like F. Lee Bailey or Johnnie Cochran. They are as grimly focused and humorless as the crime lab detectives of “CSI.”

It’s the pretrial work that is the showy centerpiece of this series. Media spin, jury consultants and focus groups are the DNA swabs and bloodstain-pattern analysis reports of “Justice.” And that makes it kind of fun: it is as if someone at Fox had ordered up a “Trading Spaces” for television writers. Imagine what “Boston Legal” would look like if Jerry Bruckheimer were in charge instead of David E. Kelley.

This series looks sleek but solemn. The camera zips and zooms jaggedly from character to character, while time-lapse photography punches up dramatic moments. These versions of the lawyers Denny Crane and Alan Shore from “Boston Legal” do not drink and smoke cigars in the workplace, and paralegals button their blouses as well as their lips.

Most of all, the partners speak in brusque, taut sentences pregnant with barely contained righteous indignation. There are no dress-down Fridays at the law firm of Trott, Nicholson, Tuller & Graves. Chatty banter is as natural in a Bruckheimer production as a shark attack is in a Busby Berkeley musical.

Yet for all the stylish camera work and high-tech trial prep, “Justice” is a fairly traditional courtroom drama. Its main distinction is that it is set in a post-O. J. Simpson/Scott Peterson era when the media are frontline components of any high-profile case. The howling press pack serves as background noise on “Law & Order” or “Boston Legal,” but on “Justice” it is a vital part of the judicial process. And that point is not made subtly. “Right now, your guilt or innocence is determined by a 60-second sound bite on CNN,” the top lawyer, Ron Trott (Victor Garber, “Alias”), tells his client.

The premiere episode of “Justice” opens, quite elegantly, with a bloodied woman in a white gown floating face down in a swimming pool. Elegiac music is quickly drowned out by the noise of hovering TV news helicopters. On a television screen, “American Crime” — a cable show whose host is a Rita Cosby/Nancy Grace lookalike named, with Dickensian flourish, Suzanne Fulcrum (Katherine La Nasa) — transmits live images of police cars and news vans swarming Malibu to arrest the victim’s husband.

As the husband waits, head in hands, in his living room, Trott talks back to the television. “That’s right, sweetheart, keep it up, the meter’s running,” he snarls. “We are suing you for defamation.” It is not clear that he has much of a case, however, since the police are on their way to arrest his client.

In the first of many feints to outwit the media and two-faced district attorneys, Trott and his three partners sneak their client out the back to surrender quietly to a nearby police station out of camera range. “Does Malibu have a substation?” a partner asks. “Yes, a nice one,” Trott replies tersely. “ I handled one of Downey’s re-arrests there.”

The script is dotted with allusions to real-life celebrities and their infamous cases, including a nod to Vanity Fair’s high-society crime reporter, Dominick Dunne, whom Trott describes as an enemy. “He writes a lot of terrible things about me,” he reminds another partner. “And those things get us a lot of work, not to mention our own table at the Ivy.”

Trott’s manner is so abrasive that he rarely speaks up in the courtroom; he defines his role as “spinning” on talk shows and news conferences on the courthouse steps. Juries are left to his handsome young partner Tom Nicholson (Kerr Smith, “Charmed”), a sincere Nebraskan who is described by Fulcrum as “the all-American face of ‘Not Guilty.’ ” Actually, Mr. Smith’s slick, sculptured features make him look more like the Eurotrash face of “Charge it to her room,” but her description is close enough.

That good shyster/bad shyster act is bolstered by Luther Graves (Eamonn Walker of “Oz”), a politically well-connected charmer who schmoozes with the district attorney’s office while snooping around the prosecution’s case. Alden Tuller (Rebecca Mader, “The Devil Wears Prada”) is the beautiful, coolly analytic partner who finds and coaches expert witnesses.

Each episode ends with a twist: after the jury has delivered its verdict, the crime is shown as it actually took place, allowing viewers to see whether T N T & G’s defense was based on the truth or on clever courtroom tricks. On “Justice,” even the truth gets the benefit of a high-priced makeover.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/arts/television/30stan.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1156910715-IrnF6eepU2lphKAiFGahCw&pagewanted=print

DoubleDAZ

08-30-06, 12:09 AM

Hopefully getting a stable primetime slot will help VM and The CW will give it a chance to rebuild an audience and capture new viewers. A lot will depend on promotion and how many viewers The CW will consider a success in it's first year.

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:10 AM

Ouch for Veronica. I hope that doesn't translate over to the 3rd season.

I do too, Russ, but the numbers have been consistently dismal this summer for VM.

On the other hand, there has been literally no promotional effort for UPN (or The WB) shows this summer, and many affiliates have been pre-empting shows for sports and anything else they can find.

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:14 AM

TV Review
“Justice” Fox, 9 PM ET/PT Wednesday
Can 'Bones' do justice as a lead-in for new Fox legal drama?
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

Calling a show distinctly Fox was, for a long time, a backhanded compliment at best.

The description connoted a certain fly-by-night ineptitude and, more often than not, a certain level of disposability. That was before "24," "American Idol" and "House," but even those successes came with qualifications.

"American Idol" and "24" don't begin their seasons until January, and Fox learned the hard way that "24" repeats terribly. "House," on the other hand, brings viewers back for fresh episodes and reruns, demonstrating the benefit of close-ended hours over serials.

What the network needs now are more blocks to build upon in the spirit of "House."

What the suits really want is their own "CSI" to play with.

Doesn't it have that in "Bones"? (Which begins its seond season Wednesday at 8 PM ET/PT preceding "Justice".)

Not quite.

Though "Bones" grew out of its awkward beginnings last fall into a different, better drama, we know too much about Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and the object of her desires, Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), at this point to jam them into a "CSI" mold.

Besides, "Bones" has far too much personality going for it to change much beyond this season's addition of a new boss (and romantic competition for Temperance) in Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor).

Why not simply bring in "CSI" super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer?

Fox did exactly that, and now it's giving us "Justice," a legal thriller that probably belongs on CBS with the rest of Bruckheimer's family.

The one-word title does suggest a certain Fox sensibility, though. The series plays with the idea that in the American court system, justice is more a matter of client resources and a litigator's ability than a matter of right and wrong, or what is the truth and what isn't. In other words, a verdict that works in the defendant's favor can be bought if you can afford it. And in the expensive offices of the high-powered firm TNT&G -- formidable acronym, no? -- the truth can be molded to suit any perspective if you have adequate information, technology and ability to take creative license with it.

Headed by the calculating Ron Trott ("Alias's" Victor Garber, not stretching much here), TNT&G is propelled by an assassin's methodical drive. These lawyers like to win, even when the client is guilty, and will do so by any (mostly) legal means necessary.

From Trott's point of view, the media holds the greatest potential for victory or defeat. Trott hates the way television journalism drives the court of public opinion. But he knows how to feed the beast and how to lead it down the paths he wants it to go. Any publicity is good for TNT&G in Trott's eyes, and he uses cameras and talk shows like "American Crime" (hosted by a Nancy Grace clone) to his advantage.

Adept as Trott is at pulling the strings, he pays the price in front of juries. They can detect the scent of the man's ruthless gamesmanship on his expensive suits. So, while he works the TV circuit, his clean-cut partner, Tom Nicholson (Kerr Smith), takes the lead in the courtroom, tagging in the lovely Alden Tuller (Rebecca Mader) whenever they need to drop some science on the jurors. Luther Graves (Eamonn Walker) rounds out the lineup, spurring the team with his smoldering drive.

You have to appreciate how easily "CSI's" glossy production values translate to the arena of legal forensics, a topic that otherwise would be a snore. "Justice" applies the same kinetic editing and zooming graphics and one-shot story lines that propel other Bruckheimer series and, as with those shows, there's an appeal to the brainy side. Here, we're invited to dissect the contentious relationship between the legal system and the media, and the ways in which one manipulates the other. The emotional side of these stories barely exists, since the case is the main event; we're told very little about TNT&G partners' personal lives, and we're guessing it'll stay that way.

We even get to find out whether the defendant actually committed the crime -- a bloody payoff at the end of an otherwise rudimentary procedural.

With the unvarnished truth dangling like a carrot before a carthorse, there's ample reason for crime-show junkies to cling to "Justice," although some mysteries will be more worth seeing through to the end than others.

A case like Wednesday night's, in which a husband is accused of bludgeoning his wife to death with a golf club -- the murder weapon of choice for the hyper-rich -- should seem more compelling than it comes off. Many of the sins in the "Justice" premiere are matters of chunky exposition; throughout the hour, characters are forced to make explanations of legal jargon seem natural in the course of conversation.

They end up sounding stiff and earnest, even as "CSI's" stylistic tricks make the high-stakes business of insurance sales look desperately appealing. (Never has digging through court documents looked so sexy, high-tech and dangerous.)

More troublesome is how passionless and cold "Justice" feels, where a real-life celebrity trial grips viewers with heat and hype over the silliest details. If this series can't seize the opportunity to lock down a loyal audience with its early premiere, it may be crushed when "Lost" and "Criminal Minds" return to the air.

But another thing useful to remember about Fox is that if something is halfway decent, it'll probably get time to develop. The lead-in for "Justice" should be a lighthouse of hope in that regard. You have to wonder, though, if the liveliness of "Bones" will be a good partner for "Justice" or if it will make this new drama pale in comparison.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/282852_tv29.html

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:20 AM

TV Review
“Justice” Fox, 9 PM ET/PT Wednesday
Any objection to another legal drama?
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

With “Justice” you’re getting a straightforward legal drama in which you’ll hear a lawyer exclaim, “Your honor, objection! Argumentative! Move to strike!”

Despite its jittery camerawork and souped-up graphics, “Justice” is just a reasonably well-made, meat-and-potatoes lawyer show. It doesn’t stray into preaching or perversion like the more daring “Boston Legal,” and it’s not a straight-up star vehicle like “Shark,” CBS’ upcoming James Woods-as-prosecutor show.

There is a glimmer of a gimmick on “Justice,” though; at the end of each episode, viewers will get to see how the crime that the high-powered law firm of TNT & G defended played out in reality.

Did the man at the center of the show’s premiere really kill his wife? The coda lets viewers know (and, by the way, the plot of the pilot has many eerie resemblances to the real-world murder case depicted in the outstanding Sundance Channel documentary “The Staircase”).

Victor Garber is in fine form as an aggressive attorney who loves the spotlight of cable-TV legal shows and who makes his defendant, his courtroom experts and even his own partners tremble at times. The rest of the cast is quietly competent, even if some of them have to utter lines such as, “If you miss anything, it could cost our client everything.” Thud.

Still, the more obvious twists and turns are glitzed up with swoopy, staccato camerawork and an admirably energetic pace.

In any case, your appetite for “Justice” will entirely depend on your desire to see more legal wrangling and criminal capers on TV. You may be eager to see one more show largely set in law offices and courtrooms, or you may shout, “Objection!”

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

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:25 AM

Note: this is very tongue in cheek. I found it amusing and thought you might, too. But please remember that it is fabricated, not real
Here is a comment from Aaron Barnhart from the Kansas City Star: “I think the Onion style has been done to death (by the Onion, for starters) ... and for that reason I almost didn't click on this. By the sixth or seventh graf, when they're really piling it on, I laughed. Loudly.”

Emmy Notebook
NBC SORRY THAT CONAN WAS FUNNY AT EMMYS
Dateline Hollywood

Hollywood - NBC has apologized for Conan O’Brien’s behavior as host of the Emmy Awards on Sunday night, in which he shocked the sensibilities of many Americans by actually being funny. “Conan was completely out of line being actually funny, thereby highlighting how boring the rest of the show was,” said Emmys executive producer Ken Ehrlich.

Many critics, bloggers, and local stations said they found several of O’Brien’s comedy routines, especially a pre-taped bit in which he pretended to be on a crashing plane like the cast of “Lost,” offensive because they were funny.

“People tuned into the Emmys expecting to see celebrities honor programs like ‘Two and a Half Men,’ ‘Will & Grace,’ and ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine,’” said Mark Armstrong, general manager of Lexington, Kentucky affiliate WLEX. “Comedy has no place at such an event.”

Those in attendance said they weren’t sure how to respond to O’Brien’s bizarre behavior.

“This really weird thing happened when Conan was on stage,’ said nominee Bryan Cranston of “Malcolm in the Middle.” “I laughed out loud because somebody said something funny. Usually I just make a short, laugh-like sound because there’s an awkward pause after presenters’ awkward patter and before they start listing the nominees.”

Many of Sunday night’s winners said they thought O’Brien’s comedic hosting distracted from the rest of the night’s excitement.

“I went online this morning expecting see the whole Internet buzzing about my second consecutive best supporting actress in a drama win for my role as ‘Izzy’ on ‘Huff,’ but everyone was distracted by how funny Conan was,” said Blythe Danner. “I think it was quite rude of him.”

Emmy producers say they are outraged that O’Brien threw off the tone they have always set for the show and promised changes next year. In addition to replacing him with a more tasteful host who will stick to lines written by returning head writer Bruce Vilanch, whom O’Brien refused to work with, the live show will have a slight delay so censors can bleep out any jokes that make the audience laugh for more than two seconds.

“I know there’s a niche audience for Conan’s brand of so-called ‘funny comedy,” Ehrlich said. “But the Emmys are no place for laugh-out loud jokes from a television personality, especially when they’re on NBC.”

http://datelinehollywood.com/archives/2006/08/29/nbc-sorry-that-conan-was-funny-at-emmys/

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:29 AM

TV Preview
“Bones” Fox, 8 PM ET/PT Wednesday
Digging up 'Bones'
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor in his blog “Tuned In” Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006

Fox's "Bones" returns for a second season tonight and though the banter between Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz, "Angel") is wittier and sharper, the plots remain ho-hum affairs.

Supporting characters have better definition this year (usually the case when a series gets a full season under its belt), although Pittsburgh native Jonathan Adams, who played the top dog at the Jeffersonian Institute, is no longer on the show (producers had a hard time fitting his character into stories).

Brennan butts heads with her new boss, Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor), who at first seems like a typically bothersome bureaucrat, but eventually reveals herself to be different that her initial impression suggests. And she does get the best line of the hour: "I am a diuretic seagull, people. Everything goes through me."

A little gross, perhaps, but pretty amusing, too.

http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/tunedin/

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:32 AM

TV Review
“Justice” Fox, 9 PM ET/PT Wednesday
'Justice' fills the bill until 'Idol' returns
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger

POP QUIZ: There's a new procedural drama this season set in the world of criminal law featuring all the fancy visual effects, brisk storytelling and minimal characterization you associate with its producer, Jerry Bruckheimer. What network are you watching it on?

If you guessed CBS, close but wrong. CBS has its own slick (albeit free of both Bruckheimer and his computer effects) criminal law show, "Shark," but the show in question is "Justice," the latest entry in Fox's unlikely campaign to turn itself into CBS' slightly cooler little brother.

First there was "House," which was essentially "CSI" in a hospital (albeit with Hugh Laurie and better jokes). Then we got "Bones," which took the "House" formula and moved it right back into a law-enforcement setting. And now there's "Justice," which debuts tomorrow night at 9 after the "Bones" season premiere -- not to mention the already-premiered "Vanished," a sort of serialized "Without a Trace," and the upcoming "Standoff," about a pair of hostage negotiators.

Every network has its own brand, and they usually run into trouble when they try to copy someone else's house style. In the late '90s, someone at ABC made the very foolish decision that all of their sitcoms should look like NBC's (see "Two Girls, a Guy, a Pizza Place and a Turkish Bath"). In the mid-'90s, the then-head of CBS set his firing in motion by trying to acquire the Fox audience overnight with copies of "Melrose Place" ("Central Park West") and "The X-Files" ("American Gothic").

And yet, 10 years later, Fox has been slowly trying to return the favor. Why? Two words: "American Idol."

The January-May scheduling of "Idol" -- not to mention Fox's annual playoff baseball commitment -- makes a hash of anything the network tries to do in the fall. The goal in the early months is to just stay afloat, or even slightly submerged, in the knowledge that "Idol" will swoop in to save the day post-New Year's. Episodic procedurals are easier to move around the schedule (and to be pre-empted by baseball, since there are no major story arcs to disrupt).

"Idol" has also changed the kind of viewer that watches Fox. It's the most demographically broad show on television, drawing enthusiastic viewers of every age, gender, race and creed. In other words, it's the sort of broad-based show that only one network has consistently tried to program over the past 15 years: CBS. Before "Idol," Fox had to grab viewers by presenting the kind of cult-ready, outside the box shows that no other network had. Now, it's more a case of trying to please the mass audience that's already there.

If it feels like I'm taking the scenic route towards actually discussing the merits of "Justice," it's because there's not a lot to say about it. Like all the Bruckheimer procedurals (as opposed to Jerry's occasional doomed attempts to branch out, like "Skin" and "E-Ring"), you know what you're getting from the jump: solid but unspectacular acting and storytelling that will leave you satisfied without rocking your world.

Victor Garber ("Alias"), Kerr Smith ("Dawson's Creek"), Eamonn Walker ("Oz") and Rebecca Mader play the four glamorous, fast-talking partners in an LA criminal defense firm that specializes in the sorts of cases that cable news eats up. There's even a show-within-the-show called "American Crime," with Katherine LaNasa as a Nancy Grace-ish harpy who performs running commentary on the firm's cases and occasionally spars with Garber's bullying, Grecian Forumla'ed Ron Trott. Basically, imagine a slightly cuddlier version of the O.J. defense team, and you've got the fictional firm of T,N,T & G.

Written by Jonathan Shapiro, a veteran of "The Practice" and a former prosecutor himself, "Justice" distinguishes itself not with the inevitable editing tricks, but the way it shows how the lawyers try to manage every minute detail of their case, from buying the client an off-the-rack suit ("Don't want them thinking you're rich") to asking him to help them kick their table a few inches forward when they rise for the judge so they'll have a better sightline with the jury ("Hey, every little bit helps").

The actors are solid, with Garber having fun as Trott and Smith just complicated enough as the nice guy -- or, as the "American Justice" host calls him, "the all-American face of 'not guilty.'"

If you enjoy the Bruckheimer brand, you'll like this -- provided, that is, that your enjoyment of his other shows doesn't just stem from wanting to see the good guys catch the bad guys. Because Shapiro has promised that not all of the firm's clients will be innocent. (Explaining, perhaps, why this show is on Fox instead of CBS; the imitation thing only goes so far.)

"The Practice" was able to get viewers to care about lawyers who routinely helped the guilty go free by making the lawyers into colorful characters and telling soap-y ongoing stories about them. Bruckheimer generally doesn't play that way, but if "Justice" falters in its pre-baseball run, which is more likely to happen: more personal subplots, or fewer guilty clients?

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/alltv/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1156827357271420.xml&coll=1

fredfa

08-30-06, 12:41 AM

Technology
We are not unmentionable, we are TiVo
By John Eggerton in Broadcasting & Cable’s blog BCBeat

With the help of PR pros Rogers & Cowan, TiVo was looking to make some hay out of its showing at the Emmy awards this week. And with some reason.

It may have been a watershed moment for the iconic DVR.

While NBC apologized to stations and viewers for its "plane crash" Emmy opening, TiVo, in a press release that caught my attention for the mention in the headline of a transcendalist poet, apologized to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Why? Conan O'Brien's schtick on the show included a riff on TiVo in which he pretended to read from the works of the great if sometimes "abstract and difficult" writer Emerson, while on-screen, the viewer appeared to be fast-forwarding through the speech.

I could have called Emerson "abstract and difficult" myself, by the way, having had to read him in a former life. But I hate to become a member of the "dissing dead poet's society," so I grabbed a couple of adjectives online and, for my part as a former "you want fries with that" English major, let's just say he was definitely fast-forwardable at times.

TiVo, which the ad-supported TV industry has had some legitimate fear of, appeared to have been welcomed into the family on the Emmy telecast, or at least acknowledged as an undeniable force in the hands of newly empowered TV viewers.

But there was more than victory via cultural reference for TiVo. It also won a statue itself in the Creative Arts Emmys the week before for "outstanding achievement in enhanced television programming."

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