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.

The Labor Day Weekend-delayed Friday and Saturday network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

Critic’s Notebook
More on Rosie and Katie later; let's look at some premieres
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Feelings, a wise woman once said, are not fights.

Wait. Is Rosie O'Donnell a wise woman? Depends on who's reading her, I guess.

O'Donnell said this last week on her blog, the electronic sleeve upon which she wears all major emotions and inner thoughts. And if you've been keeping up with events, you know she's talking about her widely publicized trepidation over joining "The View."

One minute she was wary. "It will be hard 4 me/ 2 not b /the boss," the famous entry said. The next post, she was at peace. "I am excited about the view/ like a new kid on the first day of school/ hoping they all like me ..."

Big day for feelings, friends. Rosie starts her stint on "The View" (10 a.m., KOMO/4) and Katie Couric embarks upon what cynics think will be a long reign of caring about and sharing in the anchor chair tonight at "CBS Evening News."

Give them a little time before deciding how you feel about them. We'll do the same.

Instead, we're here to talk about the feeling fest in prime time. The third-season premiere of "House," the first episode of "Standoff" (both on Fox) and the fourth-season debut of "Nip/Tuck" on FX, all deal with feelings as a central theme -- differently than Rosie and Katie would, of course.

Thank God for that.

You know that hackneyed moment in most B-grade action flicks, when the outlook is grimmest and the gun-toting skullbuster makes a crack about holding hands with the enemy and singing "Kumbaya"? That's how prime-time dramas confront feelings. They have to be raw, tough, bloody and difficult. Save the soft stuff for Dr. Phil and Jerry Springer, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) would say.

A cozier House?

"House" has spent two seasons now entertaining us with cutting, deadpan one-liners born of the doctor's attitude that feelings are for suckers. Patients aren't people, they're puzzles, in the same way sicknesses are challenges that need conquering.

House paid for his wretched bedside manner in last season's finale when a former patient shot him, and he returns tonight changed in ways we can't discuss in detail. You'll see soon enough.

Aside from that, the shooting forced House to acknowledge that his feelings hadn't atrophied along with his leg, something he realizes while working with a patient everyone else considers to be a lost cause.

House with heart?

You're right to worry about how this threatens the show's essence. Degrading his co-workers and patients with boundless sarcasm is what makes House who he is, after all. The writing devoted to that signature mean streak is among the best on television. More than that, last season let us in on the secret that his spiked malevolence is a hard shell over a broken soul.

Seeing House and his team wrestling with this intrusion of tenderness, such as it is, makes this a terrific opening episode -- and ends with dark coda. There are far less sophisticated ways to start a season.

A pointless 'Standoff'

Why, here's a terrific example now: "Standoff," another new Fox series, introduces us to Matt Flannery (Ron Livingston) and Emily Lehman (Rosemarie DeWitt), the best negotiators in the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit, aka CNU. Together they can defuse crises that seem absolutely impossible with a combination of empathy, understanding and calm.

They're also defying department rules by sleeping together, which comes to light when Matt screams it into a phone while trying to help a TV star turned psycho dad (played by Tom Wopat) keep his cool.

Even people who are the best at what they do make stupid, obvious mistakes like that.

Anyway.

This unsubtle foot-in-mouth moment sets off a department-wide tizzy. Matt and Emily's boss, Cheryl Carrera, is livid (in the cool, smooth way only an actress like Gina Torres can effectively convey), while co-workers fear such an entanglement may lead to mistakes in the field when they start thinking with unwieldy emotions.

As you'd expect, Matt and Emily don't want to call what they're doing a relationship. It's just horizontal cardio-fitness. Right. Whatever. They can't stand each other. And doesn't the seething tension make them hot, hot, "let's smash mouths and mumble about getting a room" hot!

But Livingston and DeWitt's chemistry, though budding, hasn't taken full effect yet. So their sniping, which is supposed to be cute and winsome, sounds like one of those restaurant conversations going on at a nearby table that you wish you weren't overhearing.

"Standoff" fails to connect on almost every level, in fact, except for one -- the wish that Livingston, who was so lovable in "Office Space" and "Sex and the City," had something better to work with here. His charm may carry "Standoff" until it ferments into a better show, but otherwise, we can't say you'll be feeling it.

Reconstructing 'Nip/Tuck'

Ask yourself, does the intimate knowledge of two odious characters like Dr. Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) make them more attractive as a show goes on, or less?

Four seasons into "Nip/Tuck" we have to wonder, especially after McNamara/Troy's tedious detour into Carverville last year.

"Nip/Tuck" is aiming for profundity again, as far as that goes. At one point the series catch phrase said something about being more than skin deep, but I'm not sure the scalpel even scratches the fatty layer anymore. Understand that "Nip/Tuck" was never about adventurous quality or exploring new frontiers in emotional depth. It's just the handsomest, indecently pleasurable soap opera television can crank out, and a reliable supplier of muscular butt shots.

Creator Ryan Murphy aim's for the next 15 episodes is to explore the enduring bond between Sean and Christian, "Nip/Tuck's" true central love affair. Striving to be opposites for the past three years, in the end they place the same skewed value on perfection, making them perfect for each other and no one else. Provided the lurid stunts from last season haven't made you turn your back on it, watching Sean's pregnant wife, Julia (Joely Richardson), become the third wheel proves to be an intriguing development, particularly once we get news about the couple's unborn son.

But Sean and Christian lay fierce claim to their heterosexuality, so if they are married in a platonic, spiritual sense, they're going to fight like hell to tamp down any warm fuzzies that would hint at anything more than friendship between them.

Other than that new wrinkle, and the insertion of Sanaa Lathan as Michelle Landau, McNamara/Troy's new financial backer, the same old melodrama still drives this bus, with Matt (John Hensley) horrifying all three of his parents (again) with a spiritual decision that too conveniently matches current events.

Round four is lousy with guest stars, too. Brooke Shields, Larry Hagman, Kathleen Turner, Richard Chamberlain, Jacqueline Bissett, Peter Dinklage and Mario Lopez all traipse through within three episodes. Coming soon: Melissa Gilbert and our pal, Rosie. Our guess is that she won't be holding Sean and Christian's hands. She'll need to save that for "The View."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/283573_tv05x.html

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Few folks tune in for 'Diff'rent Strokes'
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 5, 2006

“Diff’rent Strokes” is no “Three’s Company.” It’s no “Mork & Mindy,” either.

NBC’s most recent so-called “Behind the Camera” original movie about a controversy-marred old sitcom was quite a bit off the ratings for others in the series in its premiere last night.

“Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’” averaged just a 1.6 in adults 18-49 last night, according to Nielsen overnights. NBC placed fifth in the 8 to 10 p.m. timeslot, finishing behind not only ABC, CBS and Fox, which aired mostly repeats, but also Univision.

“Camera” did rise slightly from start to finish, starting with a 1.4 at 8 and peaking with a 1.9 at 9:30. But it drew just 4 million total viewers, and it was well behind two other unauthorized movies about ‘70s and ‘80s sitcoms the network has run.

The “Mork & Mindy” movie averaged a 3.7 in April 2005, while the “Three’s Company” flick pulled a 4.6 during the 2003 May sweeps.

Of course, both those ran during the regular season. You’d expect viewership to be quite a bit lower for a summer movie, and one airing on Labor Day no less, when folks are outdoors trying to squeeze in one last barbeque on summer’s last long weekend.

Fox led for the night among adults 18-49 with a 3.3 rating and 8 share, followed by CBS at 2.9/7, ABC at 2.5/6, Univision at 1.9/5, NBC at 1.5/4, WB at 0.5/1 and UPN at 0.2/1.

At 8 p.m., Fox was No. 1 at a 3.8 for an original "Prison Break," ahead of CBS at 2.7 for repeats of "Two and a Half Men" and "How I Met Your Mother," ABC at 2.3 for a "Wife Swap" rerun, Univision at 1.9 for "La Fea Mas Bella," NBC at 1.4 for "Camera," WB at 0.4 for a "7th Heaven" repeat and UPN at 0.2 for reruns of "One on One" and "All of Us."

At 9 p.m., CBS took the lead at 2.9 for repeats of "Men" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," edging out ABC's "Swap" rerun at 2.8, Fox's original "Vanished" at 2.7, Univision's "Barrera de Amor" at 1.8, NBC's "Camera" at 1.7, WB's "Heaven" rerun at 0.5 and UPN's reruns of "Girlfriends" and "Half & Half" at 0.2.

At 10 p.m., CBS led again at 3.1 for a "CSI: Miami" rerun, followed by ABC at 2.4 for a "Supernanny" repeat, Univision at 2.0 for "Cristina" and NBC at 1.4 for a "Medium" rerun.

Among households, CBS was No. 1 for the night with a 5.9 rating and 9 share, ahead of Fox at 5.3/8, ABC at 4.0/6, NBC at 2.9/5, Univision at 2.3/4, WB at 1.0/2 and UPN at 0.4/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7072.asp

Fred:

Do you have the new 2006-2007 DMA rankings yet? Can only find the press release that says they are done, but only details Top 10 minority markets.

[EDIT] Never Mind - VARTA just posted this:
http://www.vartv.com/media/2006_2007_Market_ranks_revised.xls

Here's the new list - Green moved up, Red moved down:


New York, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
Philadelphia, PA
San Francisco, CA
Dallas, TX
Boston, MA
Washington, DC
Atlanta, GA
Houston, TX
Detroit, MI
Tampa, FL
Phoenix, AZ
Seattle, WA
Minneapolis, MN
Miami, FL
Cleveland, OH
Denver, CO
Orlando, FL
Sacramento, CA
St. Louis, MO
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Baltimore, MD
Indianapolis, IN
Charlotte, NC
San Diego, CA
Hartford, CT
Raleigh, NC
Nashville, TN
Kansas City, MO
Columbus, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Milwaukee, WI
Salt Lake City, UT
Greenville, SC
San Antonio, TX
West Palm Beach, FL
Grand Rapids, MI
Birmingham, AL
Harrisburg, PA
Norfolk, VA
Las Vegas, NV
Memphis, TN
Albuquerque, NM
Oklahoma City, OK
Greensboro, NC
Louisville, KY
Buffalo, NY
Jacksonville, FL
Providence, RI
Austin, TX
Wilkes Barre, PA
New Orleans, LA
Fresno, CA
Albany, NY
Little Rock, AR
Dayton, OH
Mobile, AL
Knoxville, TN
Richmond, VA
Tulsa, OK
Lexington, KY
Ft. Myers, FL
Charleston, WV
Flint, MI
Wichita, KS
Roanoke, VA
Green Bay, WI
Tucson, AZ
Toledo, OH
Honolulu, HI
Des Moines, IA
Portland, ME
Omaha, NE
Springfield, MO
Spokane, WA
Rochester, NY
Syracuse, NY
Paducah, KY
Shreveport, LA
Champaign, IL
Columbia, SC
Huntsville, AL
Madison, WI
Chattanooga, TN
Jackson, MS
South Bend, IN
Cedar Rapids, IA
Burlington, VT
Harlingen, TX
Tri-Cities, TN-VA
Baton Rouge, LA
Colorado Springs, CO
Waco, TX
Davenport, IA
Savannah, GA
Johnstown, PA
El Paso, TX
Charleston, SC
Evansville, IN
Ft. Smith, AR
Youngstown, OH
Lincoln, NE
Florence, SC
Ft. Wayne, IN
Greenville, NC
Tallahassee, FL
Springfield, MA
Reno, NV
Tyler, TX
Lansing, MI
Traverse City, MI
Augusta, GA
Sioux Falls, SD
Peoria, IL
Montgomery, AL
Boise, ID
Fargo, ND
Eugene, OR
Macon, GA
Santa Barbara, CA
Lafayette, LA
Monterey, CA
Yakima, WA
Bakersfield, CA
La Crosse, WI
Columbus, GA
Corpus Christi, TX
Chico, CA
Amarillo, TX
Columbus, MS
Rockford, IL
Wausau, WI
Monroe, LA
Wilmington, NC
Duluth, MN
Topeka, KS
Columbia, MO
Beaumont, TX
Medford, OR
Erie, PA
Sioux City, IA
Joplin, MO
Albany, GA
Wichita Falls, TX
Lubbock, TX
Salisbury, MD
Palm Springs, CA
Bluefield, WV
Terre Haute, IN
Bangor, ME
Rochester, MN
Anchorage, AK
Wheeling, WV
Panama City, FL
Binghamton, NY
Minot, ND
Odessa, TX
Biloxi, MS
Sherman, TX
Gainesville, FL
Idaho Falls, ID
Abilene, TX
Hattiesburg, MS
Clarksburg, WV
Yuma, AZ
Missoula, MT
Utica, NY
Billings, MT
Quincy, IL
Dothan, AL
Elmira, NY
Jackson, TN
Lake Charles, LA
Watertown, NY
Rapid City, SD
Marquette, MI
Alexandria, LA
Jonesboro, AR
Harrisonburg, VA
Charlottesville, VA
Bowling Green, KY
Greenwood, MS
Meridian, MS
Grand Junction, CO
Laredo, TX
Lafayette, IN
Parkersburg, WV
Great Falls, MT
Twin Falls, ID
Butte, MT
Eureka, CA
Bend, OR
Cheyenne, WY
Lima, OH
San Angelo, TX
Casper, WY
Ottumwa, IA
Mankato, MN
St. Joseph, MO
Fairbanks, AK
Zanesville, OH
Presque Isle, ME
Victoria, TX
Helena, MT
Juneau, AK
Alpena, MI
North Platte, NE
Glendive, MT




Movement in the Top 50 DMAs

GAINERS

+ 5 Las Vegas, NV
+ 2 Louisville, KY
+ 2 Jacksonville, FL
+ 1 San Francisco, CA
+ 1 Dallas, TX
+ 1 Phoenix, AZ
+ 1 Miami, FL
+ 1 Orlando, FL
+ 1 Charlotte, NC
+ 1 Cincinnati, OH
+ 1 Salt Lake City, UT
+ 1 Albuquerque, NM



LOSERS

-11 New Orleans, LA (Dropped from the Top 50)
-2 Boston, MA
-1 Seattle, WA
-1 Cleveland, OH
-1 Sacramento, CA
-1 San Diego, CA
-1 Milwaukee, WI
-1 Greenville, SC



ALL DMAs

LARGEST GAINERS

+5 Las Vegas, NV
+4 Palm Springs, CA
+4 Charlottesville, VA
+3 Mobile, AL
+3 Baton Rouge, LA
+3 Wilmington, NC
+3 Yuma, AZ
+3 Lafayette, IN
+3 Bend, OR



LARGEST LOSERS

-11 New Orleans, LA
-11 Lima, OH
-4 La Crosse, WI
-3 Syracuse, NY
-3 Utica, NY
-3 Alexandria, LA

Fred:

Do you have the new 2006-2007 DMA rankings yet? Can only find the press release that says they are done, but only details Top 10 minority markets.

[EDIT] Never Mind - VARTA just posted this:


The list was updated in the top of the thread a couple of weeks ago, the day Nielsen released it.

But thanks for the colorful editing!

TV Notebook
Rosie adds more chaos to 'The View'
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 05, 2006

If you thought months of YouTube.com wackiness was as weird as “The View” could get, you thought wrong.

Rosie O’Donnell showed up Tuesday and took the show to a whole new level of manic pandemonium.

The departure of Star Jones Reynolds, the dustups between Elisabeth Hasselbeck and just about everyone, even a claws-out confrontation between the “View” women and Sandra Bernhard -- all incidents that were replayed thousands of times via the video-sharing site YouTube.com -- well, all of that served as a mere prelude to O’Donnell’s Tuesday arrival as one of the show’s regular hosts.

In the first quarter-hour of the program, she talked about Tom Cruise, medicating herself, letting her “crazy haircut” grow out, being a lesbian and discussing, ahem, her naked body with her daughter.

Then she gave away a cruise to every member of the audience.

Typically of “The View” of late, chaos reigned; adding O’Donnell’s voice to the cacophony only increased the madness. When Jessica Simpson, the first guest of “The View’s” 10th season, showed up, the hosts talked over each other and their guest, which is annoyingly typical on the show. The pop starlet had trouble getting a word in edgewise.

Simpson did, however, manage to say for the record that she is not dating singer John Mayer, as People magazine has reported, that she hasn’t found a way to avoid the paparazzi, and that she’s doing just fine post-divorce.

O’Donnell was her typically feisty self, bristling when Joy Behar imitated one of her new co-host’s children. O’Donnell glared at Behar and quipped, “And you all thought I was going to have problems with Elisabeth.”

“Trust me, you will,” responded “View” creator Barbara Walters.

After the segment with Simpson, who sang in perfect voice despite having audible vocal-chord problems during the chat segment, O’Donnell recapped what she’s done with her life since she quit her own daytime talk show four years ago. She talked about her Broadway activities, her family life, her blog and that infamously unattractive hair cut. She took full blame for the hairdo, which she sported just after her show ended, calling it “an error of epic proportions.”

Speaking of errors, “The View” also debuted a hideous new set on Tuesday. Picking the color of the new set was a discussion topic for weeks before the show took its summer break, but the extensive chats didn’t stop it from being horrible. The old set may have looked like “someone’s grandmother’s living room,” as O’Donnell said, but at least it wasn’t a textured, braying electric blue.

It was the only thing louder than Rosie on Tuesday.

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

TV Sports
NBC returns as an NFL player

By BARRY HORN The Dallas Morning News Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Unwilling to pony up $500 million in 1998 for NFL television rights, NBC, the network that broadcast the three Cowboys Super Bowl victories in the '90s, dropped out of the game.

The NFL, NBC declared, was a money-losing proposition.

NBC, the only home the AFC had ever known, was ready with a plan to fill its pro football void. Plan A was the XFL, a mutant cross between Wrestlemania and minor league football whose most memorable player labeled himself "He Hate Me." Stamped across the league logo might well have been: "America Hate Us." Plan B was the Arena Football League, a shrunk-down, minor league version of the real thing.

The failure of the XFL and the AFL to attract viewers led to the expensive realization that the only "FL" that matters on television starts with an "N."

And so when the time came to negotiate for a piece of the new NFL contract that kicks off this season, NBC buckled its chin strap and jumped back into the fray.

The network agreed to pay $600 million a season for six years for a new prime-time package, leaving its accountants to massage the profit and loss columns and its spin doctors to trumpet its return to sports television's most valuable major league.

NBC says its new Sunday night package has become overnight the NFL's pre-eminent prime-time package, relegating to sweep-up duty Monday Night Football, which relocates from ABC to ESPN this season.

After all, more eyeballs are glued to television sets on Sundays than any other night of the week. That pesky, unsolvable problem of West Coast viewers scrambling home from work for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Mondays doesn't rear its ratings-killing head on Sundays.

'Football Night'

To make sure NBC conveys the feeling to the masses that Sunday night is the new, upgraded Monday night, network sports boss Dick Ebersol has borrowed from his friends who broadcast NHL games across Canada. Ebersol has christened his schedule Football Night in America.

NBC has done so with the approval and cooperation of the NFL. The league has partnered with NBC to ensure the success of Sunday nights on over-the-air television, hoping to increase the package's value the next time it goes up for bid.

NBC's schedule is unique in the TV game. It is flexible. From Weeks 10 to 15, and in Week 17, NBC will be able to choose a game from CBS or Fox if it doesn't like the game it has been tentatively assigned by the league. Only the Eagles-Cowboys on Christmas afternoon, a Monday, is written into the NBC late-season schedule in stone.

ABC lobbied for years to gain late-season flexibility as its Monday night ratings plummeted. But the logistics of changing game days was unappealing to the NFL. Swapping kickoff times on Sundays to appease a network partner has proven to be another matter.

"We want to see NBC get off to a strong start," said Howard Katz, the NFL's scheduling boss. Katz joined the league after a tour of duty as the president of ABC Sports.

As for NBC's lineup, Ebersol has rounded up a Murderer's Row of talent.

"For starters, we went out and hired the very best," Ebersol said. "The greatest advantage we have is our team."

Al Michaels and John Madden in the booth simply slid over from ABC Monday Night Football. Madden came first. He was unwilling to stay on the ESPN version of Monday Night Football because the cable network was shut out from the playoffs and Super Bowls.

Mass exodus

Michaels signed on to stay with ESPN but soon realized he, too, wanted the prestige that comes with calling Super Bowls. Also gone to NBC were Fred Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff, the Monday Night Football producer and director. The thought of starting over with a new sidekick as well as breaking in a new production team was too much for Michaels.

In the end, ESPN released Michaels to NBC in exchange for acquiring the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character whose roots are at Disney, ESPN's parent company.

In the studio, NBC has signature voice Bob Costas teamed with Fox-ex Cris Collinsworth as co-hosts. The analysts are Sterling Sharpe, who has worked at ESPN and the NFL Network, and ex-Steeler Jerome Bettis, fresh off a Super Bowl championship.

"We don't have any rookies here," Ebersol said. "There won't be any rookie mistakes."

http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi

TV Sports
COMPARING NFL BROADCASTS
The Dallas Morning News Tuesday, September 5, 2006



NBC Football Night in America

The Deal: 6 years, $3.6 billion

Per Season: $600 million

In The Booth: Al Michaels, John Madden

On the Sidelines: Andrea Kremer

In the Studio: Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Sterling Sharpe, Jerome Bettis, Peter King

What's new: Everything. The network is back in the game after an eight-season hiatus. It's hoping to make Sunday night the new Monday night.

ESPN Monday Night Football

The Deal: 8 years, $8.8 billion

Per Season: $1.1 billion

In The Booth: Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, Joe Theismann

On the Sidelines: Michele Tafoya, Suzy Kolber

In the Studio: Chris Berman, Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson, Steve Young, Chris Mortensen

What's new: The Kornheiser Experiment. He's not as acerbic as Howard Cosell, not as funny as Dennis Miller, but he has the potential to be more entertaining. He had better be because he doesn't have any street cred when it comes to the whys of the X's and O's.

Fox Sunday Afternoon NFC Football

The Deal: 6 years, $4.28 billion

Per Season: $712.5 million

In The Booth: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman; Dick Stockton, Daryl Johnston

On the Sidelines: Pam Oliver, Tony Siragusa

In the Studio: Joe Buck, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson

What's new: See Buck hosting the pregame show not in a sterile studio but in a rowdy stadium parking lot. See Buck moving up to the booth to call play-by-play of the network's top game.

CBS Sunday Afternoon AFC Football

The Deal: 6 years, $3.74 billion

Per Season: $622.5 million

In The Booth: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms; Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf

On the Sidelines: The network has decided sideline reporters are passé. There will be no one to ask, "Your thoughts, Coach?"

In the Studio: Dan Marino, James Brown, Boomer Esiason, Shannon Sharpe

What's new: Brown slides over from the Fox studio, where he played ringmaster for Terry, Howie and Jimmy. Things will be much more subdued here.

NFL Network Package

The Deal: 6 years, $0. The beauty of ownership.

Per Season: See above

Talking heads: Bryant Gumbel, Cris Collinsworth

On the Sidelines: TBD.

In the Studio: Rich Eisen, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders

What's new: The NFL as its own television partner. Sort of like the White House Daily News covering the president.

http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi

ESPN paid WAY too much for MNF!

In the end, ESPN released Michaels to NBC in exchange for acquiring the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit,

Al must be proud.

ESPN paid WAY too much for MNF!


I agree. And NBC which gets four hours of Sunday night programming, along with exclusivity on major clips, got a bargain.

TV News
Katie Couric’s CBS Debut
By Allison Romano BCBeat.com Tuesday, September 5, 2006

(Posted on the blog as the CBS Evening News ran.)

Couric showed a little nervousness on her opening night. Introducing a headline on health problems related to 9/11, Couric referred to the terrorist act as the "worst attack on U.S. soul", but quickly corrected herself with "soil."

She then whipped through several news headlines, including William Ford stepping down as CEO of Ford and the death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. Couric used the news of Irwin's death to tease CBS's Web site, where she said viewers could go for more on Irwin and other stories.

While Couric mentioned the Ford leader stepping down, she did not mention the exit of CBS former sister company Viacom's CEO Tom Freston exiting.

After Couric's second commercial break, Anthony Mason has a report on oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and how hurricanes and new drilling effects the price of gas.

Couric may be new, but the advertisers are still the old-targeted core that is loyal to evening news. After the Mason report, ads for avacor and advil and Smart Balance butter follow.

Teasing the Free Speech segment, Couric said, "Coming up, something new for the evening news besides me, we call it Free Speech." It is a forum, she said, for people to express themselves unfiltered.

Couric explains that Free Speech will sometimes feature people viewers will recognize, like Rush Limbaugh tomorrow, and some they won't. She asks viewers to go on the Web site and give their reaction.

Next up is another new feature callled Snap Shots, where Evening News looks back at an old story. Tonight it was a picture of 19 week old Prince Charles in 1949. That's how Couric set up tonight's "snap shot", Vanity Fair magazine "cover girl" Suri Cruise. "This is proof that yes siree she does exist, Couric says.

More ads for medicine and house cleaning follow, this time a cholesteral drug called Caduet, sleep drug Lunesta and shower cleaner Scrubbing Bubbles Automotic Shower Cleaner. The first CBS program tease follows, a plug for a Jessica Simpson concert on the Early show.

After the commercial break, correspondent Steve Hartman has a tear-jerker story on an orphanage in Nicaragua. A young guy from Wisconsin brings gifts to the home, 62 pounds of portraits of the kids. The kids, he notes, don't have parents that took baby pictures. It is callled the memory project. He sends pictures to high school art students who paint the assignments, then the American kids often feel a connection and write notes to the orphans.

Couric notes that some artists have become pen pals with the children they painted
Now it is time to sign off and Couric says she's tried some final statements but "nothing has felt quite right." (She recently joked with some reporters she considered "peace out hommies").
For her first sign off, Couric paid hommage to some legendary anchors sign offs, including Edward R. Murrow (Good Night and Good Luck) to Walter Cronkite (That's the way it is) to Dan Rather (Thank you for joining us. Courage.) and -- in a lighter note -- the movie anchor man, where actor Will Farrell plays prototypical anchor Ron Burgundy (Stay classy San Diego).

As for her own message, Couric asked her viewers to give their suggestions via CBS News' web site. "I know we'll have fun reading them and maybe one will stick" Couric said.

She wrapped the broadcast by simply saying, "For now all I have to say is I am Katie Couric and thanks so much for watching. I hope to see you tomorrow night."

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

TV Notebook
Where You Can Find ''Everwood'' Next
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog Sept.5, 2006

ABC Family picked up the rerun rights to ''Everwood'' some time ago, but it's now formally scheduled it. And this is especially important to fans given the unlikelihood that the later seasons will make it to DVD. (The sales of the first-season set were reportedly too disappointing to justify later releases.)

Anyway, here's the ''Everwood'' announcement:

Dr. Andrew Brown has moved his family again, but this time to ABC Family. Beginning Monday, October 2nd (6:00 – 7:00 PM ET/PT) fans of the critically acclaimed series EVERWOOD can relive the drama, laughter and love ... five days a week, beginning with the first season.

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

Critic’s Notebook
"Standoff"
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”

I’m having a reverse case of Stockholm Syndrome with “Standoff”: The more time I spend with it, the less I like it.

On this show, debuting at 9 ET/PT tonight following the return of “House” on Fox, Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt portray expert hostage negotiators who throw their careers into jeopardy when the higher-ups learn they are an item.

They make for an attractive pair, and their chemistry seems plausible enough. But the show doesn’t sell me convincingly on the idea that these two professionals can’t keep their sex life and their professions separate, so long as one’s not the other’s boss.

More troubling for “Standoff” were the howlers that disrupted the tension of the hostage takings in the pilot. Most distracting was the frat boy who is seen terrifying everyone with what might be the world’s worst impersonation of an al-Qaida terrorist.

Also, the pacing seems too slow. Dr. House can keep two or three cases going at once, but because “Standoff” is designed around Livingston’s and DeWitt’s characters, they’re stuck handling one crisis at a time.

“Desire” and “Fashion House,” the first two shows of the new My Network TV, also debut tonight. These are nightly, 13-week soaps modeled on the Spanish-language telenovelas. “Desire,” at 8 PM ET/PT, is set at a tony Beverly Hills restaurant, while “Fashion House” at 9 revolves around a clothing empire.

I could scarcely stand to sit through the over-the-top dialogue and stories of either one.

In “Fashion House,” Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild are the veteran actors — say no more. These shows look a lot better than the soaps on Univision, though, and who knows, this time-tested formula from south of the border may produce just the kind of caliente television this network needs to get noticed.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/09/review_standoff.html#more

why did CBS pay less than FOX for afternoon football rights? its the same 'deal' in principle right or does fox air more games than CBS?

As I understand it, Fox paid more because the NFC teams are in bigger markets overall.

And traditionally, the NFC has been priced a little higher than the AFC.

Playing Fred

The Speed channel emerges as a big winner in NASCAR's new TV package.

By Paul J. Gough, The Hollywood Reporter

One of the big winners in the new TV rights deal is an 11-year-old cable network based in Charlotte, N.C., that has become NASCAR's network of sorts.

It's been quite a ride for Speed, which launched as Speedvision in 1995 devoted to motorsports and aviation. By 2001, it was televising several races like the Rolex 24 and the 24 Hours of LeMans.

Yet after News Corp. acquired full ownership in 2002, the network was renamed and relaunched with a programming block dedicated to NASCAR called "NASCAR TV." It's grown since then, grabbing in 2002 the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series that has helped Speed achieve ever higher ratings. And its pre- and postrace shows after Nextel Cup races are fan favorites.

" 'NASCAR RaceDay' is at the highest ratings Speed has ever had for its NASCAR prerace programming. We're experiencing the highest ratings we've had for our postrace programming, 'NASCAR Victory Lane,' " says Hunter Nickell, general manager of Speed. "We're on track to have another record year for our NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. NASCAR and Speed are growing together."

With the new rights deal that begins in 2007, Speed will get even stronger in NASCAR: It will now have the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Pit Crew Challenge, the NASCAR Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge and the two Gatorade Duels (none are Nextel points races, however). Plus, Speed will be the first option for any Fox NASCAR Nextel Cup event forced off the broadcast network by weather or scheduling conflicts. Overall, its NASCAR programming deal was extended from 2012 to 2014 as Fox sibling FX drops out of NASCAR.

Nickell says Speed will rev up its coverage, televising the Gatorade Duels during Daytona 500's Speedweeks, marking the first time viewers can see all the drivers in competition. And they're going to be in the middle of Saturday night festivities in Charlotte during the All-Star Challenge, held the weekend before Memorial Day weekend each season.

"This is the coolest All-Star event in professional sports," Nickell says. "These guys are racing all out at night, and all of them race in some part of the All-Star night."

Speed, which is now available in 67 million households (and another 5 million in Canada), has been growing its coverage of NASCAR. But not everything has been a success: Speed canceled its Monday-Thursday nightly feature show "NASCAR Nation" in November.

It just didn't work, despite the resources thrown at it, executives say, partly because Speed found it more difficult to attract the so-called perimeter racing fan on nonracing days. But two other shows, "NASCAR Beyond the Wheel" and "7 Days," grew out of "NASCAR Nation."

Nickell won't rule out further attempts to grow the audience beyond strong NASCAR enthusiasts but acknowledges it's a balancing act.

"We want to make sure that we're offering a lot for the hard-core fans, and I'll put it this way, Speed is a must-view for NASCAR fans," he says. "But one of our goals this year for a show like 'RaceDay,' for example, was to expand beyond the hard-core fan and start to rope in people who hadn't been watching the prerace programming. And the ratings are growing."

Count NASCAR as happy with Speed. Paul Brooks, senior vp of NASCAR and its president of broadcasting and digital entertainment, notes that NASCAR had talked in 2001 of perhaps starting its own network but decided the "network within a network" of NASCAR TV worked well.

"For us, it was a good match and a good kind of allocation to have a network that had a significant, majority of programming that was NASCAR but had other motorsports involved in it too," he says. "We saw it as a good thing for us and a good thing for them."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003053682

anyone know what directv is paying for the privlege of the sunday ticket?? I thought I had read that it was $700million for the next 3 years.. kinda funny though.. in that article it talks about the nfl owns the nfl network.. so the cost is free to them, they get the ad revenue.. yada yada yada.. but what is even better, they are getting paid twice to show the same game once!! cbs / fox and then sunday ticket.. lol.. love capitalism!

jim

I agree. And NBC which gets four hours of Sunday night programming, along with exclusivity on major clips, got a bargain.

As I recall, DirecTV is paying $700 million a year for 6 years, Jim.

anyone know what directv is paying for the privlege of the sunday ticket?? I thought I had read that it was $700million for the next 3 years.. kinda funny though.. in that article it talks about the nfl owns the nfl network.. so the cost is free to them, they get the ad revenue.. yada yada yada.. but what is even better, they are getting paid twice to show the same game once!! cbs / fox and then sunday ticket.. lol.. love capitalism!

jim

Jim, here is a story from back in 2004 when the Sunday Ticket extension was announced:

TV Sports
Ticket too high
Cable Punts On Pricey NFL Slate
By Steve Donohue & Mike Reynolds MultiChannel News 11/15/2004

Cable operators have complained for years about losing customers who jumped to satellite for DirecTV Inc.'s exclusive “NFL Sunday Ticket” package. But when cable recently had an opportunity to buy the National Football League's out-of-market pay-per-view offering, Comcast Corp. and other operators took a pass.

“It's no secret cable was interested in Sunday Ticket, but the price was too high,” said Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing CEO Char Beales, referring to the five-year, $3.5 billion contract extension DirecTV cut with the NFL last week, giving it rights to 14 live games each Sunday through the 2010 season.

At $700 million per annum, DirecTV's new contract represents a 75% hike over the $400 million it is paying per season under the pact signed two years ago that was slated to extend through the 2007 campaign.

It should be pointed out, though, that DirecTV only had satellite exclusivity for the 2006 and 2007 seasons under the previous pact. DirecTV's new contract supercedes the remaining years on the old deal.

NFL representatives declined to discuss the size of cable's offer for Sunday Ticket. One source, though, said MSOs walked away from the table after they were “blown away by what DirecTV was willing to pay.”

This was the first time that the NFL had even entertained a bid from cable operators for Sunday Ticket. Cable executives were miffed when DirecTV last renewed its Sunday Ticket contract in December 2002.

At that point, the league wouldn't consider selling the games to cable because of concerns that if every Sunday afternoon football game nationwide was available on digital cable, broadcast-TV carriers Fox and CBS would suffer significant ratings erosion.

BRIAN ROBERTS' ROLE

Sources said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts — who cut a deal with the NFL Network in September to offer game highlights as part of Comcast's expansive free on-demand platform — led the major MSOs in negotiations for Sunday Ticket.

But Comcast spokesman Tim Fitzpatrick said Roberts wasn't representing other operators in his talks with the NFL. “Brian was not negotiating on behalf of the cable industry for Sunday Ticket,” he said.

Some other operators said they believed the NFL used cable merely as leverage to obtain a better price from News Corp.-controlled DirecTV.

“We had ongoing conversations,” Time Warner executive vice president of programming Fred Dressler said last week. “I think they came to us to get a floor for [DirecTV bid].

“I'm not sure the economics work. I never believed they [the NFL] were really serious about” giving cable a shot at Sunday Ticket.

The NFL last week also cut Sunday-afternoon deals worth a combined $8 billion to extend CBS's rights to the American Football Conference and Fox's National Football Conference rights, both through the 2011 season.

Still up for grabs: the Sunday- and Monday-night game packages, now controlled by The Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and ABC. A deal for those games may not be struck until next year, and a bidding war could see NBC Universal attempt to secure games for NBC and USA Network.

Other observers contend Comcast is considering bidding for cable NFL rights that could be used as the cornerstone of a new all-sports network.

2M SUBS — AND BUZZ

Sunday Ticket has been a thorn in the side of cable operators since 1995, when DirecTV first launched the package, charging customers $99 in its debut year.

Analysts said the package, which now retails for $249 annually, has grown to 1.6 million to 2 million customers, many of whom are former cable subscribers.

DirecTV has made Sunday Ticket the centerpiece of its subscriber-acquisition campaigns, and it ran a media blitz this fall, offering new customers that ordered Sunday Ticket four free months of its Total Choice programming package.

“Sunday Ticket is probably the most important feature of DirecTV to really establish it as a leader in subscription television,” DirecTV Group Inc. CEO Chase Carey told analysts on a conference call last week.

While some cable executives said operators wouldn't be hurt by Sunday Ticket, as DirecTV has already picked off most hard-core football fans, some analysts said they see more room for growth. That's because DirecTV plans to offer a slew of new ITV features, including multiple camera angles and the ability for fantasy football players to get personalized highlight shows.

“They [DirecTV] could start targeting your super fanatic NFL fan, and turn it into something like a gambling addiction, where they can't stop spending money on each new offering,” The Carmel Group analyst Jimmy Schaeffler said.

DirecTV will generate about $385 million in revenue this year from Sunday Ticket, and revenue has grown 20% during the past two years, Carey said. If DirecTV grows its Sunday Ticket revenue each year by 11% to 12%, the company will be able to break even on the rights deal, Carey said.

“I think there is certainly an opportunity to make money, although … the real value for this is what it does for our overall business in terms of taking it to the next level,” he added.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA480250.html

AAF: Thanks for the post -- I do leave my computer on occasion -- it is good to see you, Marcus, keenan and others making sure no one even knows I have taken a break.

NFL Weekly Coverage Maps

As last year, the weekly NFL coverage maps are available online.

I'll post them here weekly when they are up (only CBS is at the moment).

The maps are usually posted by Wednesday or Thursday for each week's games.

If you don't bookmark the link, it is always available in the USEFUL INFORMATION post, the fourth at the top of the thread.

http://www.gribblenation.net/nflmaps/

Critic’s Notebook
Katie Couric, Douglas Edwards and Me
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

Katie Couric's debut tonight on ''The CBS Evening News'' was only half-interesting, and that half was in the second part of the show. (I'll have a full review of her and of Rosie O'Donnell in tomorrow's Beacon Journal.)

I wonder how long before she feels she has demonstrated enough serious credentials to the audience that she can be herself more; in that interview with Thomas Friedman, she looked especially formal. And as long as she has to introduce and explain ''new'' features, the telecast is not going to find its own rhythm.

But there was one odd thing, at least for me, in the newscast. I am well aware that some viewers were scrutinizing every inch of Couric footage, including her wardrobe, for signs that she has thrown the news in that old handbasket to hell. And that the hyping of a look at the Suri Cruise cover of Vanity Fair would probably be seen as handbasket-worthy.

But I was preparing to defend that choice, because I have seen old newscasts going back to the late 1940s, when they ran just 15 minutes and still tried to balance the heavy news with lighter material. In my book, ''Television's Greatest Year: 1954,'' I wrote:

''Those who believe that television news fell into feature fuzziness only in recent years should be aware that this 1949 (CBS News) telecast included a New York bank that had installed a baby-carriage ramp and still photos of nineteen-week-old Prince Charles of England. ('This is my favorite,' (anchor Douglas) Edwards said of one.)''

So I went slack-jawed when Couric led into the Suri shot with that same piece of Edwards and Prince Charles.

I am not, not, not saying that Couric read my book. After all, almost no one did. (You can find used copies for sale on amazon.com starting at -- sigh -- eight cents apiece.) It's just an easily found program. When I was researching my book at New York's Museum of Television & Radio, that was one of the standard examples of early TV newscasts at the museum.

But a smart move by Couric's newscast, even if it deprived me of a chance to show off in tomorrow's column.

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

Sharp, NBC Slate Giant Times Square TV

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 9/5/2006 9:55:00 AM

Burbank, Calif. – Sharp and NBC Universal announced an extension to their co-marketing relationship including the placement of an outdoor video billboard between 42nd Street and 7th Avenue in New York City’s Time Square the Fall.

The display will measure 3,600 square feet, (12-by-20 feet), and will showcase the AQUOS logo on the cabinet.


Two backlit fixed billboard panels will be positioned at the top and bottom of the board, with the NBC Universal logo at the crown. Sharp and AQUOS logos will be placed on the frame surrounding the AQUOS display.

NBC Universal video content will run 18 hours a day on the display, from 7 a.m. until 1 a.m.

Sharp will be the exclusive advertiser in all of the product categories in which it competes, and non-competing third-party advertisers will also be given the opportunity to purchase advertising time on the video display from NBC's digital ad sales team.

“The new video billboard will be a modernized, striking addition to New York's Times Square.It will be bigger and better than our previous displays,” said John Miller, NBC Universal Television Group chief marketing officer. “In addition to promoting NBC Universal shows, the display will also be used as an avenue to feed live programming from our networks.”

The billboard is an extension of the co-marketing relationship between Sharp Electronics Corporation and NBC Universal that made Sharp AQUOS the official high-definition television of the NBC Experience Store. More than 150 Sharp AQUOS LCD TVs have been installed throughout the store and select areas of the NBC Studio Tour, providing a high-definition (HD) upgrade to the popular visitor destination.

In addition, AQUOS units were placed in the windows outside the “TODAY” studios that face RockefellerCenter as well as throughout the famed Studio 8H, where “Saturday Night Live” is produced in HD, and select areas of the NBC Studio Tour.

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6368598.html

"The display will measure 3,600 square feet, (12-by-20 feet)"

12 ft x 20 ft = 240 sq ft. Or 3,360 sq ft short or 3,600 sq ft. Or they'd need 15 of the 12x20 screens to get to 3,600 sq ft. etc.

Maybe they meant 12x30 (or 360 SF)?

Nonetheless, it always amazes me that even simple arithmetic doesn't get checked in so many of these stories.

TV Watch
For the New Face of CBS News, a Subdued Beginning
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times September 6, 2006

Katie Couric didn’t really need Walter Cronkite to introduce her yesterday at the opening of the newscast, saying with his familiar gravelly voice, “This is the ‘CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.’ ” The network’s new face handled her first day at the anchor desk — a shinier, lighter desk — calmly and competently.

The woman who stood out most last night was CBS’s chief foreign-affairs reporter, Lara Logan, an experienced and unusually pretty war correspondent who took a daring trip into Taliban-held territory in Afghanistan wrapped in a black chador.

“Am I allowed to smile?” Ms. Logan asked her surly mujahedeen escorts. She contrasted the Taliban’s ascendancy with old film from 2004, when she visited American troops in control of the same area and wore a flak jacket and Chanel sunglasses.

That segment displayed Ms. Couric’s commitment to covering foreign news as anchor and managing editor. But Ms. Logan’s arresting screen presence also helped deflect attention from Ms. Couric’s much scrutinized appearance (fitted white jacket over a black sheath dress).

Ms. Couric was subdued throughout the broadcast, perhaps a little spooked by all the fuss over her appointment. The network’s readiness campaign — the focus groups, the listening tour of America, the wardrobe questions — have prompted ample attention and some snickering. CBS executives have complained that Ms. Couric is being held to a cattier standard.

In an interview with Harry Smith on “The Early Show” on CBS yesterday, Ms. Couric delicately allowed that she was partly a victim of “residual sexism.” CBS, however, was perhaps the worst offender. The network recently doctored a publicity picture of Ms. Couric to make her appear longer and slimmer, something it did not do for Bob Schieffer.

American womanhood does not rise or fall on Ms. Couric’s success. She is the first woman to serve as the official solo anchor of a major network evening news broadcast, though plenty of women have filled in as solo anchors. Mostly, Ms. Couric is the first true celebrity to anchor a network news program.

Tom Brokaw was well known when he went from “Today” to the “NBC Nightly News,” as is Charles Gibson, who recently left “Good Morning America” to be the evening-news anchor on ABC. Neither is nearly as high wattage.

No other news figure, not even the glamorous Diane Sawyer, appears as often in People magazine or is stalked as relentlessly by gossip columnists and entertainment shows. And Ms. Couric revels in the show-business spotlight, whether as the focus of an episode of “E! True Hollywood Story” or making cameos on “Will and Grace” and in “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”

CBS is not paying her an estimated $15 million a year for being a woman — that is the cost of hiring the biggest star. And that star factor affects the “CBS Evening News” far more than a new format, new theme music or a redesigned set.

Ms. Couric greeted viewers informally with the words “Hi, everyone.” Her armchair-to-armchair interview with the New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman was a conflation of her new role and her old one at “Today,” but Ms. Couric said little, interjecting questions like, “How do you do that?” She was also humble about her closing line, asking viewers to write in with suggestions for a sign-off other than “that’s the way it is” or “courage.”

The first program was certainly a work in progress. Hard news was followed by the softest of features, including a first look at the cover of Vanity Fair showing Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’s long-unseen baby, Suri (adorable). Perhaps worried that the segment would look too frivolous, Ms. Couric introduced it with a clip of a 1949 CBS newscast with Douglas Edwards showing a baby picture of Prince Charles, as if there were a grand tradition of baby pictures at the Tiffany network.

Infants must be in vogue, though. ABC also showed baby pictures to mark Chris Cuomo’s first day at the news desk of “Good Morning America,” alongside a new weatherman, Sam Champion.

Rosie O’Donnell made a far brasher debut on “The View” yesterday, taking the seat of Meredith Vieira at the head of a glass table on the program’s new, sleeker set (the recently deposed Star Jones Reynolds has been airbrushed from ABC history).

“My name is Meredith Vieira, and welcome to ‘The View,’ ” is how Ms. O’Donnell began, quickly seizing the alpha role. She told funny, sometimes ribald stories, interrupting at will and speaking often and openly about her lesbian relationship and four adopted children. It was a vivid contrast to Ellen DeGeneres, who never alludes to her sexuality on her talk show.

When Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the Zeppo Marx of the foursome, said she donned a bathing suit to take a bath with her baby daughter, Ms. O’Donnell went wide-eyed at her prudery and recalled that when she took a more natural bath with her daughter, the child asked, “When do I get my fur?”

Ms. O’Donnell announced a surprise gift for the audience, a two-day cruise on a Royal Caribbean liner, and then made fun of the sponsor’s lengthy promotional segment.

“You better give us something more than a two-day cruise for that hour-minute-long package,” she said. “The audience has cramps in their arms from clapping.”

Joy Behar tried to hold her own by making a joke at Ms. O’Donnell’s expense and was soundly pushed back. Ms. O’Donnell looked at the camera and said waggishly, “And you all thought I was going to have problems with Elisabeth.”

Ms. O’Donnell is the first boisterously gay host of a major daytime talk show, but that doesn’t make her a touchstone of tolerance. Ms. Couric’s ratings at CBS will not be a test of feminism; they will be a measure of viewers’ flexibility.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/arts/television/06watch.html?_r=1&oref=login&ref=media&pagewanted=print

Critic’s Notebook
No News Not the Best News For Katie Couric's Debut

By Tom Shales Washington Post SColumnist Wednesday, September 6, 2006; C01

Atitle change would seem to be in order. Maybe "The CBS Evening No-News." Or "The CBS Evening Magazine." Or "30 Minutes."

Whatever it was, Katie Couric did a brisk, engaging job of getting the strange new show off the ground last night as, at long last -- and after one of the most relentless hype hurricanes in history -- she debuted as the first woman to be solo anchor of a major network newscast. K-Day had come at last!

Couric occupied a chair that once belonged to Walter Cronkite and, later, Dan Rather, both of whom did newscasts that were much, much newsier. Yesterday, though, was apparently a no-news day in the opinion of Executive Producer Rome Hartman, the staff and Couric herself, since the half-hour began with a "60 Minutes"-style piece on the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The real purpose of this report was to show off Lara Logan, the intensely telegenic reporter who serves as foreign correspondent. She went undercover in Afghanistan, much as Rather had done many many years ago. But as a woman, Logan said, her Taliban hosts "insisted I cover everything but my eyes."

The story was in fact largely about her -- about how dangerous it was to do the story, about what a big, "unprecedented" exclusive it was (Brian Ross seemed to have much the same story on ABC's "World News Tonight" with Charles Gibson) and how she had to tippy-toe away from the camp through a minefield, led by a guide.

Couric, who began the newscast standing up and promoting what was to come, oddly wore a white blazer over a black top and skirt, the blazer buttoned in such a way as to make her look chubby, bursting at the button, which we know she isn't. It was a poor choice, but the lavish newsroom set built as Couric's display case was handsome indeed, gleaming and shiny, with Couric seated eventually at a huge semicircular desk and looking comfortably at home.

From that perch, it appeared, she could cover the world. And when she really does start covering the world, it will be easier to judge her fitness as an anchor. Anchors prove their mettle when guiding viewers through marathon coverage of a crisis, and it is grimly safe to say that time will come. Then Couric will either justify her selection as anchor or make a mockery of it.

Last night, the show simply played to her strengths, chiefly her ability as an interviewer. She had a taped sit-down with liberal columnist Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, who seemed to be trying too hard to "come across" on television, as if he'd just completed TV training.

Suddenly, with no hint at a transition, Couric was talking about executive changes at the Ford Motor Co. and then about the late Steve Irwin, the crocodile expert who died over the weekend when he was attacked underwater by a stingray. These little mini-stories were rammed together with no indication from Couric that she was changing topics. She needs work, and help, at reading off the prompting device and making it clear when the focus is about to shift.

The premiere was too jammed with "new features," as if the producers feared people would give Couric only one night's chance before they ran away to some other option. A segment called "Eye on Your Money" was simply a report by Anthony Mason that proved largely an apologia for big oil. Mason did concede that for all the tribulations the companies have suffered -- hurricane damage and such -- Shell Oil showed a $25 billion profit last year. No tears for them.

Couric was standing again to introduce "something new," which turned out to be the oldest idea in television: Have some well-known or obscure blowhard pop up and do a rant into the camera.

On the first show, it was the overexposed and tiresome bore Morgan Spurlock, who became famous by making a movie in which he ate at McDonald's every day for a month.

How's that for credentials? He carried on about how there is too much arguing and not enough civilized discourse in America, but there was nothing civilized about his piece, which included footage of pro wrestlers battling in the ring.

Spurlock really seemed to be doing a variation on Richard Nixon's unfortunate "Silent Majority" tirade of many long years ago. Couric said that another stale face, that of Rush Limbaugh, would appear in the "free speech" segment Thursday. Oh goody! Set the TiVo now!

Then the show reached its lowest point with an item that Couric had coyly promoted earlier in the day on the CBS Web site: a photograph of Suri Cruise, the previously hidden baby of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. The portrait will be on the cover of Vanity Fair, out today -- so the segment was a shameless plug as well as celebrity trash, the kind of thing better saved for "Entertainment Tonight" and its ilk.

A so-so human-interest piece by Steve Hartman, the schmaltz king, closed the show. Or almost closed it. Gettin' real folksy with viewers, Couric asked them to send in suggestions on how she should sign off the newscast. There was a montage of sign-offs from the past -- including Edward R. Murrow's immortal "Good night, and good luck," even though Murrow never anchored the evening news.

Some people will say that including the image of Murrow on such a frothy, funsy broadcast as the Couric premiere was sacrilege, and that Murrow is spinning in his grave. In fact, if Murrow were going to spin in his grave, he would have started long ago, when "infotainment" first appeared on the TV horizon and newscasters became pop personalities akin to movie stars and actors appearing in sitcoms. Murrow must be all spun out by now. It's been downhill for a long time.

Couric's broadcast did not seem to hasten the decline and fall of TV news, but it didn't offer anything really new, either -- and on its first outing, it didn't offer anything news. A stranger from another planet tuning in the show would have to assume nothing happened in America or the world yesterday except that a photo of Tom Cruise's baby materialized.

Viewers hoping to hate Couric during the long, long countdown to Katie Day had to be disappointed, but so would those expecting a revelation. Coming weeks will tell both how Couric wears in the new assignment, and whether she'll lure younger viewers to a broadcast that has mainly appealed to men who get up to use the bathroom too often at night.

One wants to wish her well on the basis of her tremendous charm, but opening night left acres and acres of room for improvement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090501473_pf.html

Critic’s Notebook
Don't Adjust Your Set: Her Brightness Is a Contrast
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times TV critic Sept. 6, 2006

She referred to the Taliban in Afghanistan as "Al Qaeda's best friends," as if the two groups schedule play dates. Oh, God, you thought, here it comes, what's been brewing for months and what the pundits have been pundit-ing about. It's the Katie-ing of the evening news; let the infantilizing begin.

Al Qaeda's best friends? Would Murrow have said that? Cronkite? Rather? That last guy?
And yet, nobody can turn a frown upside down the way Katie Couric can. Which is precisely why she gets away with "Al Qaeda's best friends" and why Tuesday's debut showed she is such a great choice to drag a moribund format not so much into the next century as toward the next iteration of what is, in a large sense, a commercial enterprise.

Couric, under the weight of it all, seemed to have taken herself down a notch; she might even have been nervous, quickly correcting herself when she flubbed the word "soil." On "Today" she could joke her way out of a gaffe; here, she was auditioning for the biggest part in her life.

With a woman, Nancy Pelosi, 15 Democratic seats away from having a good shot at becoming the first female speaker of the House, Couric is the first female solo Speaker of the Evening News.

And she's an ideal figure to ease a transition toward a more accessible, less arch media elite. She had toured the country, conducting town halls on what people want, and her first broadcast practically came with a How's My Driving? bumper sticker: She's taking suggestions on what her sign-off should be, and she introduced a soapbox segment called "Free Speech" that invites guest contributors to the nightly news.

Mostly, though, Couric brought what the evening news hasn't had in some time: buzz. (It's like Hollywood's best friend).

Couric is reportedly making $15 million a year in her new job. What, you wanted CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves to spend that beefing up overseas bureaus? He knows you don't watch the evening news, because he probably doesn't either. And frankly, why should you or he? I mean, what's on network news each night is far more in depth than the news crawl in an elevator and not as scary as Wolf Blitzer's Panic Room on CNN. But still, it isn't as good as the video and context you get on public television or the BBC or C-SPAN — except in a crisis, and even then, all of our crisis counselors have gone: the late Peter Jennings, disgraced Dan Rather, gracefully retiring Tom Brokaw.

Because of those men, Couric is inheriting a role that comes with a lot of male baggage. You have to pick a face and set it there, decide whether to tilt the head for emphasis (too Jennings?).

None of this should confound Couric, though; she's a quick-change artist of the facial mood. Tuesday night she seemed determined to keep, well, a straight face, which is to say not too many faces.

It was over 15 years on "Today" that she earned the reputation for having really nice teeth (i.e., the "perky" smile), but of all the Katies on "Today," my favorite was the one who put those reading spectacles on the bridge of her nose before sitting down with a dignitary or intellectual.

That's when I was so in the moment with her it became very nearly titillating. She went without the glasses Tuesday night, sitting down for an interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for some plain-spokenness about the Middle East, after a lead story on the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan and President Bush's latest poll-juicing exhortation about the threat of Islamic bad guys.

What was perhaps most striking about the broadcast, in its infancy was how it mirrored the identity crisis newspapers are going through, with readership at risk from all the sea changes in news gathering and disseminating. It has produced in the old-guard media a recognition that they'll have to be more transparent to survive — meet me at my blog! — more adaptable to the way we live now.

Enter Couric, who will take us by the hand, make the evening news more of a mi casa es su casa experience. It's hypocritical to criticize her for showing the Vanity Fair cover of the first public photo of Suri Cruise, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter; it's nothing that would be out of context on the front page of any newspaper in America.

But you need Couric to make the transition toward news-o-tainment seamless. She simultaneously populates the big-media hierarchy and conveys that she's not of it.

The not-of-it part was represented on Tuesday night by Morgan Spurlock, the documentary fabulist who in his film "Super Size Me" lived on McDonald's for a month to condemn the health effects of eating fast food.

He was first up in the "Free Speech" segment. It's an essay, if you will, a giving-back-of-the-airwaves to the people who, after all, own them in the first place. Spurlock used it to say: "It seems like every time I turn on the TV some 'reputable' news source is telling me how we're a nation divided…. Well, I don't buy it."

It's been a Couric talking point in the months leading up to her debut, this need for more civil discourse. Was Spurlock a front for Katie-ology?

Yet, Rush Limbaugh is up on Thursday. Yes, nothing says civil discourse like Rush Limbaugh. See how she does it?

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/la-et-couricreview6sep06,0,1761405.story?coll=la-home-headlines

TV Sports
Woods and Agassi: Stay Tuned
By Richard Sandomir The New York Times September 6, 2006

Since his five-tournament winning streak began, Tiger Woods has demonstrated what television star power means.

And in his farewell to professional tennis at the United States Open, Andre Agassi mixed grit and charisma into a strong viewership potion.

Woods’s presence as the leader or a strong contender in the final round of a tournament has thrilled the networks that televise golf. CBS and ABC have been the most recent recipients of his magic.

• In the final round of the British Open on July 23, ABC drew nearly 6.4 million viewers, up 6 percent from a year ago.

• In the fourth round of the Buick Open on Aug. 6, he pushed viewership for CBS up by 3 percent from 2005, to 5.24 million.

• His victory at the P.G.A. Championship on Aug. 20 led to a 29.5 percent leap in viewership, to 10.1 million, for the final round on CBS.

• When he won the Bridgestone Invitational on CBS on Aug. 27, the 8.4 million watching the final round represented a 23 percent increase.

• And when he won the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday, the overnight rating on ABC showed a 17 percent increase over a year ago, although viewership figures for the tournament were unavailable.

Agassi has never been as powerful an audience magnet as Woods or, before him, Michael Jordan, but his well-orchestrated goodbye and determined play despite a painful back attracted viewers.

• Agassi’s win over Andrei Pavel, after the ceremony renaming the U.S.T.A. National Tennis Center for Billie Jean King, drew nearly 2.2 million viewers for the USA network, with a peak of 2.6 million from 12:30 to 1 a.m. The full night’s viewership rose 123 percent from 2005.

• The Agassi-Marcos Baghdatis second-round match on USA attracted about 3.1 million viewers. The full night’s average viewership of 2.5 million represented a 203 percent increase over the comparable night a year ago.

• Agassi’s loss to Benjamin Becker, carried by CBS on Sunday afternoon, was seen by 4.4 million people, and as many as 5.2 million at one point, raising the day’s average viewership to 3.7 million, up 41 percent from 2005.

• Agassi’s most-viewed United States Open cable TV match was his quarterfinal loss to Pete Sampras in 2001, a major reason why that night’s prime-time block on the USA network attracted 4.6 million viewers, according to figures supplied by the network.

The ability of Agassi and Woods to drive up viewership could be seen in the Davie-Brown Entertainment Index, which surveys celebrity awareness and appeal. The index ranked Woods as the No. 1 athlete, and Agassi as the top tennis player.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/sports/tennis/06tv.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1157529655-Ms+s0gRoEnEApg0IBumSRA&pagewanted=print

Maybe they meant 12x30 (or 360 SF)?

Nonetheless, it always amazes me that even simple arithmetic doesn't get checked in so many of these stories.Not to nit-pik, but there are a couple of commas in that poorly worded sentence. :) My take is that the complete display, including screen and surrounding billboards, will be around 3,600 sq ft while the actual screen itself will be 12 ft x 20 ft. You can find a picture of the display here:
http://www.genesysbc.com/Projectsright.html

Thanks, Dave. You are probably right.

Ms. O’Donnell is the first boisterously gay host of a major daytime talk show, but that doesn’t make her a touchstone of tolerance.

Ellen DeGeneres does not count?

I guess not.

TV Notebook
WNBC Goes HD
By Allison Romano Broadcasting & Cable 9/6/2006

NBC Universal-owned WNBC New York is set to become the first station in the country's top TV market to switch its local news to high-definition.

On Sept. 13, WNBC will begin producing 28 hours per week of news and local programs in HD, including its daily newscasts, movie review show Reel Talk and sports shows Mike'd Up and Gameday New York. So far, WNBC's studio cameras and helicopter camera have been switched to high-definition and the station says it will transition field cameras in the coming months.

WNBC is among only about a dozen stations nationwide that have converted to local HD production. Recently, ABC-owned WPVI Philadelphia went HD, making it the first station in the No. 4 maket broadcasting local news in high-def. Other NBC O&Os are expected to soon follow WNBC's path to HD.

"From our daily newscasts to breaking news to our commitment to the community, WNBC is evolving its unmatched local news coverage," WNBC's Senior VP, News, and Station Manager Dan Forman said in a statement. "Our foray into HD further enables WNBC to maintain its mission of covering the tri-state area like no one else."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369114

TV Notebook
Couric's Debut Number One in Early Ratings
By Allison Romano Broadcasting & Cable 9/6/2006

Katie Couric's much-anticipated debut as anchor of The CBS Evening News vaulted the network to first-place in the network news race, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

Based on household ratings from metered markets, Couric averaged a impressive 9.1 rating/17 share, giving CBS its best Evening News rating since 1998. Couric's premiere marks more than double the program's metered market average of 4.4/9 over the past four weeks.

ABC grabbed second place Tuesday night with a 5.7/10 rating and NBC was third with a 5.3/10. Those standings could change when Nielsen releases more ratings information, including demographic data, this afternoon.

CBS News President Sean McManus said the network was encouraged by Couric's first outing, "but what’s more important is what the audience will be six months and a year from now.”

“Our primary focus remains on producing the highest quality broadcast night in and night out," he added in a statement.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369002

TV Notebook
MyNetworkTV Off to Slow Start With Desire, Fashion House
By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com Sept. 06, 2006 -

As expected, serialized dramas Desire and Fashion House limped out of the starting gate on the launch of MyNetworkTV, with double-digit percent losses from both the lead-in and year-ago time period averages (WB, UPN and other outlets).

Based on prime-time periods only, Desire at 8 p.m. debuted with a mere 1.1 rating/2 share (in 46 metered markets), according to Nielsen Media Research data. Comparatively, that was a loss of 42 percent in the overnights and one share point from the lead-in average, and a more significant 56 percent in the overnights and two share points from the year-ago time period average.

Take a look:

September 2005 time period: 2.5/ 4
Lead-in average: 1.9/ 3
Desire: 1.1/ 2

Although campy lead-out Fashion House picked up some steam at 9 p.m., a 1.3/ 2 in the overnights (also based on 46 markets in prime time) was still off by a staggering 43 percent in the overnights and one share point from the year-ago time period average.

September 2005 time period: 2.3/ 3
Lead-in average: 1.0/ 2
Fashion House: 1.3/ 2

Both Desire and Fashion House aired opposite predominantly repeat programming last night.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003117335

^^ I hope Fox was lying about not having any non-telenovela replacement programming in the can.

no ratings news from House?

NBC Universal-owned WNBC New York is set to become the first station in the country's top TV market to switch its local news to high-definition.

It's about time. I could never understand why it was taking so long for a NY station to do the local news in HD.

It's about time. I could never understand why it was taking so long for a NY station to do the local news in HD.

Too busy replacing digital transmitters lost on 9/11?

no ratings news from House?
sorry, computer was down...I'll post the overnights shortly -- if it doesn't crash again.

(From Marc Berman’s Wednesday, September 7, 2006, Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
Primetime Ratings For Tuesday, September 6th
Fox’s House Huge, Standoff Amply Sampled

The third-season premiere of drama House exploded out of the gate, lifting Fox head-and-shoulders above the competition on this late summer Tuesday. House kicked-off with a 13.3/21 in the overnights, 19.41 million viewers and a 7.1/20 among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. Comparatively, that beat the competing ABC, CBS and NBC combined in the overnights and total viewers (while tying the three among adults 18-49). Ignited by bona fide sensation House, the series-premiere of Fox drama Standoff took the 9 p.m. hour with ease, at a 9.6/14 in the overnights, 13.72 million viewers and a 4.7/12 among adults 18-49. Although retention out of House of just 72 percent in the overnights, 71 percent in total viewers and 66 percent among adults 18-49 (with a loss of audience at 9:30 p.m. of 5 percent in the overnights, 1.08 million viewers and 10 percent among adults 18-49) could be considered concerning, Standoff was still amply sampled. And a network can’t ask more than that for the debut of a new series.

As a reminder, total viewers and adults 18-49 are based on the fast nationals


Note: The complete Tuesday ratings report is, as usual, in the first post at the top of this thread.

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Full house for Fox's returning 'House'
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 6, 2006

“House” lost his limp but not his audience. The third-season premiere of the hot Fox drama was the highest-rated show on broadcast since May, and just as important to the network, it led to big ratings for new lead-out “Standoff.”

“House” averaged a 7.1 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, up 25 percent from last season’s 5.7 premiere.

It was down quite a bit from last May’s finale, which drew a 10.3, but that was to be expected. The finale aired after part one of the season finale of TV’s biggest hit, “American Idol.” Last night’s debut, in which the grumpy doctor lost the limp that had plagued him for years, showed that “House” will still be a top 10 show even without “Idol.”

“House” drew 19.4 million total viewers, made more impressive by the fact that the fall season hasn’t started yet. Some viewers may not even know that “House” had premiered.

That also boosted lead-out “Standoff,” the new show about hostage negotiators. “Standoff” became Fox’s highest-rated drama premiere this year with a 4.7 average. Though it lost about a third of its lead in, it fared much better than “Vanished” and “Justice,” which debuted over the past two weeks.

“Standoff” did dip 10 percent from start to finish but both Fox shows were first in their timeslot.

Fox was No. 1 for the night with a 5.9 rating and 16 share in 18-49s, followed by CBS at 3.1/8, ABC at 2.3/6, NBC at 2.2/6, Univision at 2.0/5 and WB at 0.6/2.

At 8 p.m., Fox was No. 1 at a 7.1 for the premiere of "House," ahead of CBS at 3.6 for "Big Brother 7: All-Stars," Univision at 2.3 for "La Fea Mas Bella," ABC at 1.8 for two "According to Jim" reruns, NBC at 1.7 for "Fear Factor" and WB at 0.6 for a "Gilmore Girls" repeat.

At 9 p.m., Fox led again at 4.7 for the premiere of "Standoff," followed by CBS at 3.7 for "Rock Star: Supernova," ABC at 2.3 for two more "Jim" reruns, NBC and Univision each at 2.1 for a repeat "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Barrera de Amor," and WB at 0.6 for another "Girls" rerun.

At 10 p.m., NBC led at 2.8 for a rerun of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," followed by ABC's "Primetime: The Outsiders" at 2.7, CBS's "NCIS" rerun at 2.1 and Univision's "Ver para Creer" at 1.6.

Among households, Fox was No. 1 again with a 9.9 rating and 16 share for the night, ahead of CBS at 5.1/8, NBC at 4.7/8, ABC at 4.2/7, Univision at 2.2/3 and WB at 1.1/2. (Note: UPN is not included as many affiliates have already switched to airing MyNetworkTV programming.)

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7102.asp

The continuing saga of yet another NFL battle…
TV Sports
Local TV affiliates miffed over NFL's new video policy
By Phillip B. Wilson Indianapolis Star September 6, 2006

Tony Dungy's first game back after the death of his son ended with a poignant New Year's Day moment as Indianapolis Colts safety Mike Doss presented the game ball to his emotional coach, who held it up in triumph.

WTHR-13 photographer Robin Lynch shot the exchange. The rest of the country didn't see it. "The national network missed it completely," Lynch said.

NFL fans may miss more of that memorable footage in the future.

A new NFL resolution, unanimously approved by owners in the offseason, reduces the number of local TV affiliate cameras on the sidelines during games this season. For Colts games, just two local TV cameras will be permitted -- and they must share all video in a pool-shooting capacity with other stations.

Fans may not initially notice a difference because all stations will have the same highlights. But local TV affiliates and national broadcasting groups are outraged.

"I'm disappointed (the NFL) wouldn't think more about the local stations and all that we have done for them over the years," said Jacques Natz, WTHR-13's news director for 10 years. "The reality is the Colts are going to get less air time. In the end, the Colts coverage is going to be more generic.

"They've taken the editorial decision-making away from us. They've neutered us in that sense."

Each local network affiliate -- WTHR-13, WISH-8, WRTV-6 and WXIN-59 -- initially was told it would have to rely upon one pool photographer. Station officials met and reluctantly agreed to alternate pool shooting.

After learning the Cincinnati Bengals have approved two TV pool photographers from their home market, Colts senior executive vice president Pete Ward consulted with the NFL. On Tuesday, he said the Colts received league permission to credential two Indianapolis affiliate photographers in a pool-shooting capacity for each home game. For road games, each NFL team must seek league approval to have more than one visitor-market camera on the field during the game.

"It's evolved to this," Ward said of the new rule, which the NFL says is aimed at protecting its game video rights from misuse and reducing the crowd of sideline photographers. "This gives (local affiliates) more options."

Lynch suggested the rule's true purpose is to help the league promote the NFL Network's new Sunday night highlight show.

"It's all about money," Lynch said. "How are they going to get the NFL Network up and going? They want to sell that."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello rebutted the allegation of an ulterior promotional motive.

"Absolutely not. The usage rules pertaining to NFL game video have not changed at all," Aiello said. "Television news operations -- local and national -- can continue to show as many NFL game highlights as they have in the past. Those longstanding rules say news programs can use up to six minutes of same-day NFL highlights. On other days, they can use two minutes of NFL game highlights within a seven-day period."

TV executives around the country see it differently.

"Nobody in town is happy with this at all," said WISH-8 assistant news director Kevin Finch. "But we're stuck with it, and what we're trying to do is just get through the season and hopefully it will change."

Natz appreciated the Colts' decision to double the local pool TV cameras to two.

"The recent attempts by the Colts to move ahead so there are more photographers is an encouraging sign," he said.

But for photographers who take pride in their craft like Lynch, who has a decade of experience, the change is difficult.

"They're taking away from my livelihood," he said.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060906&Category=SPORTS03&ArtNo=609060384&SectionCat=SPORTS&Template=printart

Washing ton Notebook
Senators Push for News Corp. Investigation
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 9/6/2006

The senators from EchoStar's home state of Colorado want the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate rival News Corp.--which controls DirecTV--over its push to have EchoStar's imported distant signals cut off.

In a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the committee, Senators Wayne Allard, a Republican, and Ken Salaszar, a Democrat, said they were concerned with Fox/News Corp.'s rejection of a $100 million deal between EchoStar and all the network affiliates, including Fox's, that EchoStar hoped would settle their long-standing dispute.

TV stations filed suit against EchoStar in 1998, arguing that it was importing network-affiliated TV stations into markets where viewers could already get a signal from the local affiliate of the same network. By law, such signals can only be imported to viewers who can't get an acceptable signal from their local affiliate.

A federal court found that EchoStar had, indeed, been breaking the law by failing to distinguish properly between eligible and ineligible homes, and directed a lower court to implement a permanent injunction, which Fox says applies irrespective of the settlement. The injunction applies to all distant signals, not just those delivered to disputed customers.

News Corp. told a Florida court that it must proceed with the injunction at the higher court's direction, despite the settlement. The Florida court has given EchoStar until September. 15 to explain why the court should not impose the injunction.

The legislators say that they want to make sure that News Corp.s refusal to accept the settlement for its owned stations and its push for implementing the injunction that would pull the signals from hundreds of thousands of EchoStar customers, "was not motivated by a desire to ensure that DirecTV wins the market share that will be abandoned should EchoStar be forced to turn off its distant signals."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369108

The 2006-2007 Season
Forecast: ABC will be No. 1 for the fall
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 6, 2006

ABC may have lost “Monday Night Football” but it hasn’t lost its fall edge. With the promising drama “The Nine” pairing with “Lost” on Wednesday, Thursday expected to get a big boost from “Grey’s Anatomy” and hit “Dancing with the Stars” making its first fall appearance, ABC will lead among adults 18-49 during a very competitive fourth quarter.

That’s the forecast in a new report issued by Carat USA, which predicts that ABC will average a 3.9 during fourth quarter, just ahead of CBS’s 3.8. NBC will be third at 3.6 and Fox fourth at 3.2, followed by the CW at 1.6. Carat also predicts that ABC will be the top network in 18-49s on lucrative Thursday night, where its schedule has gotten an aggressive makeover pitting “Grey’s” against CBS’s longtime stalwart “CSI.”

Among the report’s other predictions: NBC will rebound after two off years, CBS will win every night but one (Wednesday) among households, and Fox will dominate once again when “American Idol” returns in first quarter.

Shari Anne Brill, vice president and director of programming at Carat, talks to Media Life about ABC’s continued resurgence, the fall’s top new shows and biggest potential flops.

Your report predicts that ABC will finish No. 1 among adults 18-49 in fourth quarter, despite the loss of "Monday Night Football." What do you think will be the key to ABC achieving that performance?

Building on “Grey’s” on Thursdays, and they still have “Desperate Housewives” on Sunday night.

It will be a tight race in the fourth quarter, like it is in the first and second. Of course, once “American Idol” shows up, forget it. I also think ABC’s got a good midseason show, “The Traveler.” I wish it was on in the fall.

What are the three most promising new shows this fall, in terms of both quality and favorable timeslots?

ABC’s “The Nine,” hands down.

I think it pairs up very well as the lead-out to “Lost,” it will blend better than [former timeslot occupant] “Invasion” did. “Invasion” was probably a little too sci-fi-esque. “Lost” has the supernatural element but it’s not necessarily sci-fi with aliens, etc.

The parallel here is [the characters on “Lost”] have to survive in the face of being taken hostage, and in “The Nine” the people have gone through a similar trauma. It’s about nine who were hostages in a bank robbery and the aftermath of that. “Lost” works on so many different levels, but the main level is they’ve created multilayered complex characters that you want to care about, and that what hooks viewers.

“Shark.” James Woods is a phenomenal actor, it is procedural story telling, but there’s a backstory because he came from the defense attorney side and now he’s with the prosecution.

Plus, it’s on Thursdays at 10 right after “CSI,” you can’t get a much better timeslot than that. “ER” is getting on in years, it’s becoming a very mature show and was starting to be decimated by “Without a Trace.” Also, the new show at 10 p.m. on ABC will probably suffer the most.

The third I really like, although I think it will not have as broad of an appeal. I just like Aaron Sorkin, so I think “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” will be the top-rated new show in terms of bringing in affluent viewers.

It’s on Mondays at 10 and offers a good alternative to “CSI: Miami.” Again, ABC’s 10 p.m. entry “What About Brian,” which barely got around 6 million viewers last year, offers no competition in that slot. It’s a really interesting topic, and when Sorkin was writing for “West Wing,” it was a stellar show.

But will viewers want to watch a show about the making of a TV show? That’s the question, but the drama is compelling enough, and I think viewers will come. This, like “West Wing,” will be a thinking person’s show. It will get educated viewers and advertisers want to connect with those. Honorable mentions are “Ugly Betty”--I think it will work as a lead-in to “Grey’s Anatomy” far better than the two shows it benched for midseason. This year’s crop overall, the bar of quality has been raised so much, so many shows have a lot to offer.

What are the three least promising?

Now that we’re talking about midseason, I didn’t really get the point of ABC’s comedy “Notes From the Underbelly.” A show about fertility—it didn’t work for “Inconceivable”—why would this work as a comedy?

Now it’s been moved to midseason, so I’m not alone in my thoughts. They knew they had to come up with a better Thursday 8 p.m. show to support “Grey’s Anatomy.”

It’s really tough, there isn’t a lot that’s really god-awful, there’s really good and less good. There are a couple of shows that are having issues behind the scenes—ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters,” they switched three actors, got rid of the showrunner, and maybe it will turn out good, but when you start to hear that these kind of repairs are going on, it gives you pause.

ABC’s “Six Degrees,” they brought in another showrunner too, someone to fix the show. When shows are having creative problems, there’s a little concern there.

Were there any programming moves that really made you scratch your head? How about any you found very smart?

I thought it was very smart of NBC to move “30 Rock” to 8 p.m., I think that will help the show. It’s also up against “Dancing with the Stars” results, but I think it could work. Saturday nights the networks have pretty much abandoned original programming, and you expect that, but when I see it happening on Friday nights, I just, you know, think that’s a problem.

Repeats really hurt the WB when they went to encores. And when I see repeats of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” a show that’s always been a Band-Aid, it sort of signals that maybe there’s creative product that’s not ready yet, but it could hurt ABC on that night.

NBC seems to have the potential for either great gains or great losses, with all of its schedule switches and new programs. Which do you think it will be?

I think their development is so far superior to what I’ve seen in the last three to five years. “The Office” is a brilliant comedy, but it also appeals to special tastes. “30 Rock” is a broader comedy. This year the Peacock will be a phoenix, I really believe that this year.

“The Black Donnellys,” a midseason show, I think is terrific. “Heroes” is a really great show, and it will have some niche appeal, which leads to loyal viewers.

They really have a lot of shows that people are talking about, and not just the industry, viewers as well. And it’s a cyclical business--seven years ago CBS was a mess, but they built show by show, night by night.

You categorized NBC's "Heroes" as potentially one of the most successful new fall shows. How come?

I think there’s a lot of advanced buzz. It was promoted heavily at Comic-Con. “Smallville,” which is based on the legend of Superman, is one of WB’s, now CW’s top shows.

The characters are really interesting, you don’t know how they got their powers. Four different people from four different parts of the world, how they embrace the powers and what they mean to them in their own world. They all have very different lives. One character you can only get through subtitles, because he doesn’t speak English.

Now that there’s no longer football on Monday night, I think a lot of men will go there and “Studio 60” if they don’t want to go to CBS’s comedies, and I think it will be a tremendous cult hit.

How do you think "Sunday Night Football" and the addition of CBS's "Without a Trace" will affect Sunday nights?

I think viewers will go back and forth. You’ll probably see some switching to “Desperate Housewives” at halftime to check out the girls before they go back to the game. I think CBS will be better off than they would have been with their movie.

“Without a Trace” will probably finish second in its time period, I doubt “Brothers and Sisters” will do well, it will get sampled but it will probably finish third.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7074.asp

Weekly Cable Nielsen Notebook
ESPN Close Behind TNT in Weekly Ratings

By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek SEept. 06, 2006

It’s a sure sign that football season is upon us when ESPN begins threatening to take the top spot in prime time among all ad-supported cable nets.

Although the sports net was outgunned by TNT for the week ending Sept. 3, it did boast the week’s most-watched program on cable with its Monday night scrimmage, the last before the NFL season officially kicks off with Thursday’s Steelers/Dolphins showdown. (That game marks the official return of the NFL to NBC after an 8-year hiatus.) ESPN’s coverage of the Packers/Bengals exhibition drew an average audience of 6.69 million viewers between 8:00 p.m. and 11:15 p.m., beating out TNT’s The Closer, which delivered 6.5 million viewers in the Monday 9:00 p.m. slot.

Overall, TNT lured 3.08 million total viewers and racked up a 2.6 household rating for the week, besting ESPN (2.78 million/2.2 HH rating). On the demo front, ESPN lead all comers in its delivery of adults 18-49, averaging 1.4 million in prime, an increase of 117 percent versus the same period a year ago. It also reached the greatest number of adults 25-54 (1.41 million), a 100 percent hike over the corresponding week in 2005 and claimed the top rank for the key male categories (M 18-34: 496,000; M 18-49: 1.04 million, M 25-54: 1.04 million).

While the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards was a ratings disappointment, averaging 5.77 million viewers Thursday night––that’s a decrease of 28 percent from last year’s telecast, which drew an audience of 8 million viewers––it was a good enough showing to take the number three spot amongst all ad-supported cable programming. Moreover, it helped catapult MTV into some rarified air, as the music net delivered an average 1.83 million viewers/1.6 HH rating, good enough for third place overall. MTV also was tops among the P 18-34 demo (766,000), 12-34 (1.28 million), 12-24 (880,000) and 12-17 (509,000).

Lifetime took fourth on the week with 1.62 million viewers and a 1.4 HH rating, while Sci Fi Channel, boosted by its new hit, the WWE-produced Extreme Championship Wrestling, finished fifth with 1.6 million viewers and a 1.4 HH rating. With ECW, Sci Fi averaged 4.16 million total viewers Monday night between 9:00 p.m. and 11:12 p.m., taking fourth and fifth place among all cable programming.

Ad-free Disney Channel was the nominal third-place network, with 2.57 million total viewers and a 2.2 HH rating.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003117522

The 2006-2007 Season
Strike up the band
Broadcast networks are experimenting with many facets of digital-media distribution as they try to fit into the new world of broadband Internet and wireless devices
By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 6,2007

When Beth Comstock assumed her post as president of digital media and market development at NBC Universal, she arrived with preconceptions about new programming platforms.

"You're not going to go home at night and curl up on your sofa with your cell phone and watch a 22-minute program," Comstock admitted to having thought in a July speech she delivered as part of NBC's Television Critics Assn. press tour presentation.

Then she took a gander at NBC Uni research that had observed average Americans in their homes, navigating the growing array of options for video. It turns out that 68% of households that owned Apple's popular iPod -- perfect for viewing shows on the go -- were using the device inside their homes. "It wasn't to commute with or get on the plane with," Comstock noted.

Moral of the story: Make no assumptions about new-media consumption. That's a crucial lesson for the broadcast TV business as it approaches the 2006-07 season with drastically different concerns than those it had before the 2005-06 campaign. Don't worry as much about what's on at, say, 9:30 p.m. Tuesday; figuring out where a mass medium fits into the bewildering new world of broadband Internet and wireless devices is becoming a bigger concern.

"We're trying to understand how we can participate in that and how that could be a revenue stream for us in addition," ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson says.

No one can say that broadcasters haven't risen to the challenge: ABC, CBS, NBC and, to a lesser extent, Fox and the CW are experimenting with nearly every facet of digital-media distribution. ABC fired the first shot in October by signing a watershed deal with Apple to put hits including "Lost" on iTunes. CBS followed with deals to put its programs on Google and Comcast's video-on-demand service. NBC didn't make any type of deal when copyright-infringing clips from "Saturday Night Live" exploded on YouTube, but then the peacock turned around and struck an agreement with that viral-video site to harness its promotional power.

With broadcast's single revenue stream -- advertising -- experiencing serious erosion at the hands of online giants, those are only a few ways in which networks are extending their brands to new media. It's going to take a lot of trial and error, according to CBS Digital Media president Larry Kramer.

"We're in kind of beta-test mode in this world," he says. "The good news in the first year is that it doesn't negatively impact our business."

At its most basic level, the question regarding broadcast's place in digital media is: Are new platforms additive to the broadcast experience, or is it a zero-sum game by which viewing elsewhere detracts from Nielsen ratings? To hear broadcasters tell it, the array of video-market entrants has not cannibalized their business but rather provided more opportunities to promote or distribute themselves.

"In fact, a lot of the research we're doing shows that, clearly, more people are spending time with television," Comstock says. "They may be doing other things, but that pie is growing -- and the basis is incremental, which is exciting to us."

Kramer agrees. "Given the chance to watch anything in front of a 50-inch flat screen versus another alternative, (viewers) are going to want the flat screen," he says.

With the emergence of video alternatives to the living-room television, though, broadcasters are covering their tracks. Many top-rated series are available on iTunes or VOD after their primetime windows or even before airing, for promotional purposes, on portals like Yahoo!

ABC might have conducted the boldest post-primetime experiment to date during the latter part of last season by offering hits including "Desperate Housewives" for viewing anytime on ABC.com. The trial streaming service was free through June but carried custom commercials through which viewers could not fast-forward -- an interesting alternative during the TiVo era.

ABC has not ruled out attempting another such an arrangement, but this fall the network is placing more emphasis on extending the viewing relationship beyond the broadcast window. "Lost" was considered the template last season, spawning online content offerings that deepened the mythology of the drama series, and ABC plans to follow up with a "Lost"-branded video game and a mobisode spinoff through Verizon Wireless' V Cast service.

Ahead of the upcoming season, broadcasters began to hatch digital-media extensions during the development phase. New series including the CBS drama "Jericho" will launch with online-only story lines, and even news programs are set to go multiplatform, with CBS' "60 Minutes" spawning a Yahoo!-hosted companion Web site and the "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" reconfiguring its 6:30 p.m. broadcast with offerings throughout the day.

NBC has become more aggressive in online extensions through its TV 360 strategy. Supplemental content is being created for series including the new shows "Friday Night Lights," "Heroes" and "30 Rock," as well as returning favorites "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "The Office," the latter of which offered webisodes this summer to tide fans over until the fall.

With a target audience on the younger side of the adults 18-49 demographic, new broadcaster the CW also is getting active in this area. In keeping with the craze for user-generated Web content, the network has created the CW Lab, an online destination where viewers are given clips from the CW programs and tools to transform them -- along with homemade video or music -- into promos that could receive airtime.

"Our audience has grown up with both traditional and new media, so we want to make the CW as interactive as possible," CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff says.

Don't be surprised if digital platforms come to the rescue of the new season's biggest programming trend: serialized dramas, which have frustrated fans in the past as weak ratings have triggered cancellations and pulled series off the air before their suspenseful story lines are settled.

"I think it would be great if certain things could be extended and ended and wrapped up, if you will, outside of the broadcast window, which financially is just impossible," McPherson says.

Broadcasters also are launching their own broadband channels. In May, CBS debuted Innertube, which mixes repurposed programs with exclusive original fare. In some cases, original broadband programming is a companion to on-air series, as was an Innertube summer reality show that allowed interns on the set of the CBS soap opera

"As the World Turns" to compete for a guest spot on the show. NBC's broadband channel DotComedy.com, which is in the works, will provide a venue for the network's classic comedy programming, including "SNL" and "Last Comic Standing."

Broadband pipelines are pumping up broadcasters' new shows through online brands like NBCFirstLook.com, which is set to premiere as many as four episodes of each of the network's debuting series in their entirety. Advance peeks at the NBC freshmen "Kidnapped" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" also are available through a DVD promotion with Netflix.

NBC already has begun to blur the lines between on-air and online original programming with its pickup of the comedy "Nobody's Watching," from "Scrubs" executive producer Bill Lawrence. After being passed over in development, the series reappeared mysteriously on YouTube; the ensuing attention led NBC to reconsider its decision, and "Watching" will reemerge through original webisodes before joining the network's lineup midseason.

Community also is a component of broadcasters' online promotional strategies and was a prime motivator in NBC Uni's acquisition of the female-targeted site iVillage. "A big, core piece of NBC's television audience is women, so we're really interested in how we can take our content and infuse that community," Comstock says.

Fox is parlaying the power of community through its 2005 acquisition MySpace, which will help spread the word about its new series. For the most part, though, the network is stepping back from the digital-media craze.

"Being first is not what's important," says Peter Liguori, president of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Co. "Being the most creative is what's important for us because once you have great content, all the other distribution platforms come into play."

Another growth area beginning to be tapped is wireless phones with video capability. Among other such deals, CBS has partnered with Verizon Wireless and Amp'd Mobile and is launching subscription services across multiple cell-phone platform carriers. If the "third screen" takes off in the U.S. as it has in Europe and Asia, it could change the way television is consumed.

"The cell phone is really more than just another outlet," CBS Digital Media vp wireless Cyriac Roeding says. "You can't just say, 'This is a small TV screen.'"

For as much progress as broadcasters have made in digital media, though, obstacles remain. Early on, the networks' affiliate bodies were up in arms about receiving compensation, fearing that much of the digital-space activity would weaken their ratings. Networks including CBS and Fox have responded with broad deals that foster more cooperation with affiliated stations, but other parties still have their hands out, asking what's in it for them.

"At this point, with respect to some studios and with respect to some talent and certainly the guilds, that is somewhat of an impediment," says Nancy Tellem, president of the CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group. "But I feel very optimistic that over the next few months, we're going to come to some understanding."

Marketers also are among those only beginning to understand how they can participate in new platforms.

"Advertisers are learning how to use this medium, too," Kramer says. "They're not sure how efficient it is and how much it works and how to reach the audience right, so it's the very, very early stages."

It is so early in the digital-media game that what broadcasters learn now will not necessarily help them in the future, given how rapidly technology changes.

"We could learn everything there is to know about how the consumer is behaving today, and that will matter for just a few weeks," Kramer says. "Six weeks from now, they're going to be behaving differently because there's going to be something else out there."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003087707

The 2006-2007 Season
The ABC Strategy
A closer look at key timeslots and programming strategies for the 2006-07 season.

By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 6, 2007

No other time slot should get more attention in the fall than Thursdays at 9 p.m. That's where ABC audaciously has moved its hit Sunday drama "Grey's Anatomy," putting it squarely up against CBS' powerhouse "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," with help at 8 p.m. from the freshman sitcom "Ugly Betty," the only new series generating significant preseason buzz.

"I think it's the first time that we're really going to go full-bore against Thursday nights," ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson says.

"Anatomy" is one of many gambits McPherson plans to attempt during the 2006-07 season, along with nine new series. While ABC still has the hot hand thanks to "Lost," which will be scheduled differently this year, and "Desperate Housewives," which McPherson has vowed to rejuvenate, the primetime lineup has been retooled radically to fill weak spots.

"We know it's an aggressive schedule," McPherson says. "We're rebuilding -- we've got a lot of work to do."

ABC is ready to try unconventional comedies this season, with six new entries in the genre that all lack laugh tracks. The concepts are not cookie-cutter: "The Knights of Prosperity," for example, is a serial about a troupe of nitwits plotting to rob Mick Jagger, and "Big Day" is a midseason entry that follows events the day before a wedding in the style of Fox's "24."

"We certainly went out there and said, 'We want to break the mold,'" McPherson says. "We feel like the same old, same old is not working, so the traditional three-camera, couch-in-the-middle sitcom just didn't seem to be breaking out at all."

ABC also is leaning on serialized formats in drama, with new entries including "Day Break" and "The Nine" well-poised to capitalize on the big audience delivered by "Lost" on Wednesdays. "Nine" is inheriting the night's troubled 10 p.m. slot, in which "Invasion" sank last season, and "Break" will get a 13-week shot in the 9 p.m. slot, which "Lost" will vacate in November and pick up again in the spring.

Some nights on ABC -- like Friday, where sitcoms have been dispensed with and the new 9 p.m. drama "Men in Trees" is ready to take a shot -- are hardly recognizable from last season. Tuesday also is fresh, with a transplanted "Dancing With the Stars" set for its first fall run in an 8 p.m. slot.

"We have to look at the assets that we have and play those cards," McPherson says.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003087715

The 2006-2007 Season
The CBS Strategy
A closer look at key timeslots and programming strategies for the 2006-07 season.
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 6, 2007

Once again, CBS is the epitome of stability, with only four new shows set to join the network's lineup in the fall: a comedy titled "The Class" and the dramas "Jericho," "Shark" and "Smith."

The network also boasts the most freshman series -- six -- returning for a second season: the comedies "How I Met Your Mother" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and dramas "Close to Home," "Criminal Minds," "Ghost Whisperer" and "The Unit." Midseason entries "Christine" and "Unit" were the top-ranked new series in total viewers in their respective genres during the 2005-06 season.

"Business is good at CBS," says Nina Tassler, the network's entertainment president. "The whole state of network television is good."

That's good news for parent CBS Corp., which relies on the network to lead the way to its future as an independent company in the wake of a formal split from Viacom this past Dec. 31.

Still, while CBS' schedule is solid across the board, the network has not had a breakout water-cooler series during the past few years along the lines of Fox's "American Idol" or ABC's "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost." And while CBS celebrated its fourth consecutive season atop the total viewers tally in 2005-06, it slipped from second to third place in the adults 18-49 demographic, behind Fox and ABC.

CBS is set to face the most serious challenge to its Thursday dominance in the fall as the white-hot medical drama "Anatomy" moves to the night's 9 p.m. slot to take on CBS' flagship "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." "We expect to be dinged a little bit by 'Grey's,'" Tassler says. "But as we know from the past, two big hit shows or more can occupy the same time period."

CBS, whose hugely successful "CSI" franchise sparked all of the networks' recent fascination with procedural crime dramas, ventured in serialized drama last season with the short-lived sci-fi series "Threshold." The network is strengthening its commitment to that format during the upcoming season with two of its three new one-hour shows, "Jericho" and "Smith," following continuous story lines.

Meanwhile, it has been all quiet on CBS' executive front, with one exception: After an 18-month stint at NBC, former CBS/UPN reality guru Ghen Maynard, who has shepherded such unscripted hits as CBS' "Survivor" and UPN's "America's Next Top Model," returned to the company in April as executive vp alternative programming and entertainment content for new media at the CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003087715

The 2006-2007 Season
The CW Strategy
A closer look at key timeslots and programming strategies for the 2006-07 season.
By Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 6, 2007

Although they had been hammering out the deal for months, CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves and Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman and CEO Barry Meyer managed to keep the news top secret that they were merging UPN and the WB Network into one network, dubbed the CW ("C" for CBS and "W" for Warner Bros.). When the news broke Jan. 24, then, it came as a shock to the industry.

At the same time, Dawn Ostroff, head of UPN since 2002, was installed as president of entertainment at the new network; the WB chief operating officer John Maata took the same role at the CW, and the WB executive vp Bill Morningstar was tapped to oversee advertising sales at the CW.

During the next several months, Ostroff began to fill out her programming team. Michael Roberts, executive vp current programming at the WB Network, took the same title at the CW; UPN head of comedy Kim Fleary was named executive vp overseeing the CW's comedy department, and Thom Sherman, president of J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Prods., was tapped to head drama development at the CW.

In targeting the adults 18-34 demographic with what they call a "laser focus," CW executives are taking advantage of their ability to launch the network with a schedule comprised primarily of established shows from the WB and UPN that already boast young-adult fan bases.

"The first order of business was to bring viewers into the brand and into a new network, so it was important for us to kick off each night with established series," Ostroff says.

In fact, the CW's fall schedule features only two new series -- the comedy "The Game" and the drama "Runaway" -- with a third, the drama "Hidden Palms," scheduled for midseason. A new reality show, "The Search for the New Pussycat Doll," is scheduled as a midseason entry.

Returning series that made the schedule include UPN's reality competition hit "America's Next Top Model," which will take the honor of officially launching the network with a two-hour premiere Sept. 20, and the WB's "Reba" and "7th Heaven," which received surprise last-minute reprieves from cancellation.

Ostroff is realistic in her expectations about the CW's ratings out of the gate, but she's hopeful that having the best of the WB and UPN in one place will boost viewership for all of the shows.

"Now that these series are no longer competing against each other for the same viewers, there's no question that they will perform better together than they did apart," Ostroff says.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003087715

The 2006-2007 Season
The Fox Strategy
A closer look at key timeslots and programming strategies for the 2006-07 season.
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 6, 2007

Fox heads toward the fall in its best shape in years. For a second consecutive season, the network was No. 1 in the key adults 18-49 demographic in 2005-06. Its top series, powerhouse "American Idol," and dramas "House" and "24" enjoyed their highest-rated seasons.

What's more, Fox managed to keep the lights on during the first four months of the season, when its lineup was disrupted by Major League Baseball post-season coverage. Strong fall showings from rookie "Prison Break" and sophomore "House" better positioned the network for its dominating second half, when "Idol" steamrolled the competition for a second straight year.

"For us, the whole ball of wax is really about improving our fourth quarter," Fox entertainment president Peter Liguori says. "We made some tremendous inroads last year."

With a new seven-year deal signed with MLB in July, relief is on the horizon. Beginning next year, Fox will broadcast only the World Series and one League Championship Series, shortening its October baseball hiatus from three weeks to about two.

For all of its recent success with dramas, Fox's weakest spot has been finding a breakout comedy, especially on the live-action side. The oldest live-action sitcoms on the network's fall schedule are last season's freshmen "The Loop" and "The War at Home," which received last-minute reprieves in May after shaky debut runs.

To shake things up, in June Fox tapped drama development executive Susan Levison to head its comedy department. She replaced Jeremy Gold, who headed the network's comedy for three years.

Fox's bright comedy spot, its formidable Sunday animated block -- which has withstood ABC's killer Sunday lineup the past two seasons -- faces an even bigger challenge in the fall with the launch of NBC's football franchise, which targets the comedies' core young-male audience.

With NBC and ABC betting heavily on single-camera series for the upcoming season, Fox -- the network that spurred the single-camera boom with "Arrested Development," "The Bernie Mac Show" and "Malcolm in the Middle" -- wound up picking up two new traditional multicamera sitcoms in "Happy Hour" and "'Til Death."

"We selected the best shows, and those best shows happened to be multicamera shows," Liguori says. "The fact that we're zigging while the other guys are zagging is a very Fox-like thing to do."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003087715

The 2006-2007 Season
The NBC Strategy
A closer look at key timeslots and programming strategies for the 2006-07 season.
By Andrew Wallenstien The Hollywood Reporter Sept. 6, 2007

NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly has vowed to lift the peacock out of fourth place. He's betting on an infusion of "Sunday Night Football" and a drama-heavy mix of new series to jump-start a schedule that has been sluggish the past two seasons.

"We are going to be a challenger in many time periods, and, most importantly, I believe we have new series that will emerge as among the best on television," Reilly says.

Leading the revival has required fresh thinking: Weeks after introducing NBC's primetime schedule in May, Reilly issued a second version in response to the lineups set by competing broadcasters. The changes included a Thursday-to-Monday move to protect "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," a new Hollywood-based drama from "The West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin that has spurred much debate about the audience's appetite for insider fare.

"Studio" is not only about showbiz per se, according to Reilly. "I think (Sorkin) is looking at this backdrop as a broader context to make social commentary on the culture at large and pop culture in particular," he says.

Reilly also has high hopes for such new dramas as "Friday Night Lights," which follows small-town football in Texas, and "Heroes," about a group that develops supernatural abilities. The key will be to blend new series with returning favorites including the comedy block of "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office." NBC also could use some magic on the comedy side, and its new sitcoms "30 Rock" and "Twenty Good Years" are paired on Wednesday.

A big question mark hovers over the durability of NBC's game show "Deal or No Deal," which the network has scheduled aggressively twice a week in the fall. "The fact is that the show was unbelievably resilient through the spring," Reilly says.

NBC is reserving some of its returning shows for midseason slots in case the network's new dramas don't work out. "The Apprentice," "Medium" and "Scrubs" are sitting on the midseason bench, and "Scrubs" executive producer Bill Lawrence also has a midseason player in "Nobody's Watching," a passed-over pilot that resurrected mysteriously on YouTube.

That viral video Web site has played a key role in NBC's fall marketing, plugging components of the primetime schedule that only months earlier nearly spurred the network to take YouTube to court for copyright infringement. NBC also has reached out to Netflix and iTunes to spread its promo power.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003087715

TV Notebook
Katie's Debut: National #'s Are In
(CBS News Release) (from Brian Stelter’s TVNewser at mediabistro.com)

"Last night's debut of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric attracted 13.59 million total viewers, finishing number one for the night and easily beating NBC Nightly News (7.76 million viewers) and ABC's World News (7.58 million viewers) in the process. The 13.59 million total viewers are the most for the broadcast since Feb. 16, 1998, which occurred during CBS’s coverage of the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano."

More: "Last night marked the largest margin of victory in total viewers by CBS over both NBC and ABC since at least September 1993, the first available date of daily ratings in the CBS database. Compared to the same night a year ago, CBS was up +75% in households (9.1/17 vs. 5.2/10) and +84% in total viewers (13.59 million vs. 7.40 million viewers). The broadcast showed even greater gains in the key adults 25-54 demographic, up +95% (3.9 vs. 2.0) from the same night a year ago."

"Last night in households, the CBS EVENING NEWS rated a 9.1/18, its best household number since Jan. 4, 1999 (9.2/18). NBC did a 5.3/10 and ABC a 5.2/10.

In adults 25-54, the CBS EVENING NEWS did a 3.9, its best mark in the demographic since Jan. 18, 1999 (4.1). NBC and ABC both did a 2.3 rating."

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/couric_watch/katies_debut_national_s_are_in_43322.asp#more

TV Notebook
Enterprise Wasn't Bumped for Trek, Says Nogawski
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 9/6/2006

John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television, says it was a coincidence that the latest Star Trek series, Enterprise was moved out of weekend broadcast syndication at the same time stations were being pitched the weekend version of the remastered original, Star Trek. for similar time periods.

When a reporter suggested Wednesday that some stations had indicated CBS Paramount had pulled Enterprise and requiring them to fill the rest of the contract with the remastered original, Nogawski pointed out that Enterprise was an annual deal and said, instead, that the company thought it was better for it and viewers to move the show to cable--Sci-Fi and HD Net--where it would be stripped (airing daily during the week). The original Star Trek would have gone back into broadcast syndication with or without Enterprise exiting weekend syndication, he said.

It's hard to argue with the timing of the original's return to broadcast syndication after a 16-year absence. Star Trek marks its 40th anniversary Sept. 8, with the CGI-enhanced original debuting on stations about a week later. It was broadcast syndication, after all, that turned the show from a short-lived, relatively low-rated space opera into a mega-franchise and cultural phenomenon that spawned spin-offs, film,s and much more.

Nogawski, joined by visual effects whizzes Dave Rossi and Michael Okuda, talked with reporters Wednesday about their digital makeover of the cult classic.

Although part of the reason for the makeover is to make the series ready for HDTV airings, almost no stations can currently air it in HDTV, says Nogawski, pointing to a lack of storage space for the show, which is delivered to stations several days in advance of airing. But he said the show will be ready for HDTV when stations are.

Nogawski said he had not personally heard from any Star Trek fans who might see the move as tampering with the original, but said that he expected applause once they see that CBS Paramount is enhancing, rather than altering, the series. Nothing will change with the exception of quality, he said.

The process will preserve the original "right down to the placement of the stars," he said, while improving the graphic look, not only for younger viewers who may have never seen the show, but for older viewers who will be looking at TV in a whole new light, and with many more lines of resolution, once it transitions to digital and HDTV.

He called the move "imperative," saying otherwise the series would not hold up for the next generation of viewers.

The enhancements include a newly-scored opening and CGI enhancement of stars, screen shots from the bridge, and some matte paintings. It will take about year to remaster the 79 episodes, he said.

Okuda called Star Trek essentially a period piece, albeit one whose period was far into the future. As such, he said, they respected the production styles, cinematography, and editing of the original. For instance, they were confined to the length of edits. A two-second phaser shot had to remain two seconds, for example.

Rossi said they would not think of updating the Klingons to make them look like they did in the later series, or even later in the same series. Nor were they out to airbrush the zippers on aliens, even given the resources at their disposal, he said.

One example Rossi gave of a change they did make: In "The Naked Time," Scotty is trying to cut through a bulkhead with a phaser. There are sparks on the wall but no phaser beam. They went in and added the beam, he said.

As a fan of the show who had worked on its progeny starting with Next Generation, Okuda said he was initially skeptical of the makeover, but that when he realized what CBS Paramount was trying to do, which was enhance while honoring the original, he became enthusiastic. But they also conceded that they had always had a wish list of special effects updates they might make on the old series, pointing out they had already done some of that in episodes of later series that revisited the original.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369242

TV Commentary
The Divine Ms. Katie Winds Up Reading It All By Herself!
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline” Sept. 6, 2006

They said it couldn't be done, and yet on Tuesday night, there it was: Katie Couric proving in her "CBS Evening News" lead anchor kickoff that a woman can read a TelePrompTer without a single ounce of assistance (in terms of either word pronunciation or sharing of duties) from a man. Dang. Suddenly, the world for those who carry estrogen appears downright limitless. Maybe women can be doctors and lawyers and politicians and cops and soldiers and physicists and even annoying telemarketers. If they can read words flashed onto a screen and do it minus any squinting, all bets are off. It's the beginning of a bold new era, indeed.

Seriously now, Katie did just fine on Tuesday night. Really. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but she exceeded it just by showing up and keeping the perky largely in check. She said the word "Taliban" without giving us a dismissive "whatever that is" smirk. Though she lacked the stentorian authority of a Walter Cronkite or even a Peter Jennings on night one, Couric did show she has better legs. And in the age of style over substance, that has to count for something. She also showed herself to be smooth, well-prepared, confident, the only real fly in the ointment being one out of Katie's control: it was a slow news day (aside from her, of course).

Trumped up by the media as a landmark event in the history of our great nation, the KC debut had a little bit of everything: something old (a voiceover intro from Cronkite), something new (a "Free Speech" segment featuring Morgan Spurlock of "Super Size Me" and "30 Days" fame), something borrowed (a few flashes of that famous megawatt "Today" show smile) and something Cruise (a sneak peek at the breathlessly awaited and long-delayed first photos of mystery infant Suri Cruise, published by Vanity Fair and hitting newsstands on Wednesday).

If the launch fell somewhat short of revolutionalizing the newsgathering profession as we know it, it was reasonably promising nonetheless. As much as I've ridiculed Couric and CBS News for ludicrously insisting they were trying to sneak the $15 Million-Dollar-a-Year Woman on the air without much fanfare and hoping to reinvent a wheel that smacked of antiquity and obsolescence, there was a faint aroma of freshness in the content and presentation and -- so help me -- a certain energetic spark from Couric. There were surprisingly few first-night jitters and bugs in the mix. As disasters go, this one looked more like the first days of a rebuild than the last days of Pompeii. That's at least a slight surprise.

Even the upbeat element designed to leave us with a sigh was refreshingly uncontrived: a heartwarming Steve Hartman report on portraits being painted for dirt-poor Nicaraguan orphans.

The one thing Tuesday night that played as cloying came at the end with Katie's report on famous network anchor sign-offs (including that of the fictitious Ron Burgundy), packaged to accompany her admission that she hasn't been able to come up with a nightly farewell that sounded right -- because, you know, four months and an entire staff catering to your every whim just ain't enough to formulate a decent line or two. It was Couric's "I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies, Miss Scarlett!" moment, leaving her to reveal her temporary verbal signature: "Thank you so much for watching, and I hope to see you tomorrow night."

I'm not sure if I'll be tuning in on Wednesday, and I have my doubts that anyone below the age of 60 will, either. But for a night, anyway, Couric did well enough to justify a good solid 10% of the hype. The question of whether she has sufficient news chops isn't actually even relevant at a time when many Americans get their information -- if they get it at all -- from "The Daily Show" and YouTube. Forget Brian Williams and Charles Gibson. Couric's real competition is Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and yesterday's clip du jour. Ergo, she's fortunate to have reached the apex of the network news food chain during such substance-depleted times.

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

TV Notebook
Anderson Cooper's CIA Secret
A Radar Exclusive
By Jeff Bercovici radaronline.com 09/06/06

Anderson Cooper has long traded on his biography, carving a niche for himself as the most human of news anchors. But there's one aspect of his past that the silver-haired CNN star has never made public: the months he spent training for a career with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Following his sophomore and junior years at Yale—a well-known recruiting ground for the CIA—Cooper spent his summers interning at the agency's monolithic headquarters in Langley, Virginia, in a program for students interested in intelligence work. His involvement with the agency ended there, and he chose not to pursue a job with the agency after graduation, according to a CNN spokeswoman, who confirmed details of Cooper's CIA involvement to Radar.

"Whatever summer jobs or internships our anchors had in college couldn't be less consequential," she added. He has kept the experience a secret, sources say, out of concern that, if widely known, it might compromise his ability to travel in foreign countries and even possibly put him at greater risk from terrorists.

"He doesn't want to be any more of a target than he already is," says one Anderson confidante. On the other hand, as Bob Woodruff and others have learned, American journalists are already prime targets in the world's conflict zones, and are typically accused of having CIA ties even where none exist. And by not disclosing his training before now, Cooper has arguably made it into a potential issue.

"It creates the appearance of something smelly there," says a former CNN official who knows Cooper. (Particularly in light of the period Anderson spent studying Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi after college. Soon after, Cooper apparently gave up his Bond fantasy to pursue a career in journalism—except for a brief period when he starred as host of ABC's reality show, The Mole.)

According to the spokeswoman, Cooper told his bosses at CNN about his time with the agency. But even if he hadn't, says Walter Isaacson, who headed the network from 2001 to 2003 and is now president of the Aspen Institute, it's not the sort of thing that would automatically require disclosure, since the stint was brief and far in the past. "I think what he did was probably fine and cool, and I've got no problems with it," he added.

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2006/09/anderson-coopers-cia-secret.php

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.

Critic’s Notebook
'Battlestar' and 'The Wire':
Hard to watch, in a good way
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 06, 2006

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the phrase “difficult to watch” as it relates to television.

It’s been on my mind because two upcoming programs have scenes that are difficult to watch. But I can’t recommend these shows -- “The Wire” and “Battlestar Galactica” -- highly enough.

The Web has made it far more easy to find things that are hard to watch -- witness the gruesome fascination over whether the final moments of Steve Irwin will be made public. I wouldn’t watch that, and I wouldn’t link to it. I figure people who want to deprive another human being of dignity in death will figure out a way to do that on their own, if that footage ever surfaces.

There are also things that are hard to watch because they’re so exploitative and enraging. The worst program in several seasons has to be the procedural “Killer Instinct,” which Fox aired last year. I had to turn that off midway through the second episode because the show didn’t bother to tell us anything about the victims -- young, nubile and scantily clad, of course -- that were routinely brutalized and murdered within the course of the show.

We didn’t get to know them as people, they were just fodder for the scripted television equivalent of snuff films. Some shows just prey upon our basest voyeuristic tendencies, or think that “shocking” equals “complex.” Not true. And it’s a waste of our time when shows that engage in these kinds of cheap stunts don’t bother to try to shed a glimmer of light on the darker aspects of human nature.

Then there are programs that are hard to watch because they do shed light on the worst that humans are capable of. In the gut-wrenching season finale of “The Shield,” for example, it was clear that the show’s creators were not justifying Shane Vendrell’s murder of his best friend Curtis “Lem” Lemansky, a fellow cop.

In fact, the new season hinges on the price Shane will pay for this hideous deed. Yet everything that season led up to that act, and as viewers, we understood why Shane did it, even if the impact of Lem’s death was like a sucker punch to the stomach.

Which leads me to the two-hour Season 3 opener of “Battlestar Galactica” (it debuts Oct. 6 on Sci Fi). It left me feeling physically nauseous. But in a good way.

The makers of “Battlestar Galactica” have never shied away from taking the program into dark terrain, and the first two hours of Season 3 may be the show’s darkest moment yet. As the season begins (and I’ll have a more full review when it debuts Oct. 6 on Sci Fi), residents of New Caprica are being tortured, ripped from their makeshift homes in the middle of the night, held in dire prisons, and resorting to sabotage and other desperate acts of resistance. I won’t say what the final sequence of the first two hours was, but suffice to say, it was nausea inducing.

Why was it so hard to watch, yet so compelling? Two reasons, I think: Over the course of the previous seasons, we’ve come to know the characters that inhabit the “Battlestar” universe. And the more real and identifiable they become as human beings, even flawed human beings, the more affecting it is when they’re terrorized and put through awful situations.

The second reason we can’t look away is because “Battlestar” so honestly depicts real events. Every single thing that we see on “Battlestar’s” Season 3 opener occurs on a daily basis right now, or has occurred within the lifetime of our parents and grandparents. A child screaming as its parent is taken away in the night by the authorities is always going to be heart-wrenching, no matter the setting, no matter the decade. And when the person being taken away seems like your friend or neighbor, you can't not watch.

The images we see as the season begins, and I suspect this is deliberate on the part of the show’s creators, evoke not only a variety of current situations in the Middle East but also occupied France during World War 2. We’re seeing not just the nightly news come to life on New Caprica, but grainy, powerful images from history books. Seeing our past and present depicted so powerfully makes it hard to look away.

“The Wire,” which begins Sunday (the season premiere is available now via HBO On Demand), may be even harder to watch, given that it’s set in the present day, not on another planet. Maybe that’s one reason this fine HBO drama has struggled to find an audience – it’s too real. It’s too painful to see lives and good intentions wasted, as so often happens on “The Wire.”

And this season can be especially difficult, because it’s impossible not to begin to care for the boys at the center of one of the show’s Season 4 story lines, which concerns the street and classroom educations of four eighth graders. Thanks to the skills of the actors and the programs’ writers, these inner-city boys become intensely real. And they are only kids, after all -- tall, gangly adolescents making the transition to adulthood, but still boys.

Yet the creators of “The Wire” pull no punches about the possible futures ahead of these young men, who inhabit a gang-ridden neighborhood in a broken city and attend underfunded schools. You want them to make it out, to get to a better place, but the possibility that they won’t makes the show … yes, difficult to watch.

But that’s one of the reasons we watch television, or read books, or watch films with any depth, or look at art that challenges our world view -- we do all of that to learn something about human nature. To understand the lives of those whom we might otherwise write off or ignore. To me, the fact that television is offering us so many hard but ultimately compelling programs is a sign that the medium has grown up.

Great art, in any medium, is sometimes hard to take.

On a lighter note, here are two other “Battlestar” bits:

• The first of 10 “Battlestar Galactica” webisodes are up at Scifi.com. There’s more on the webisodes in this interview with Bradley Thompson, who wrote and produced them with David Weddle. New episodes in "Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance" go up at the Sci Fi site each Tuesday and Thursday.

• Check out Dwight Schrute’s “Schrute-Space” at “The Office’s” Web site for his musings on what would happen if the “Battlestar Galactica” crew crash-landed on the “Lost” island. An excerpt: "Adama would want to imprison the 'Lost' cast in the old cave with the creek in it, but President Roslin would want to reason with them and have both casts mate in order to create more surviving humans."

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

Maureen makes an excellent point.

If the Steve Irwin stingray footage ever becomes available, and I hope it doesn't, do not link to it here.

I will not and will immediately delete any such link.

If anyone really feels he or she has to see it, I am sure, if it leaks to the net, it will available in many, many places.

Critic’s Notebook
Conan Goes to Five Nights A Week
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”
Sharp-eared reader Don Day heard this on last night's NBC promo for its late night block of shows: "And
starting September 18th, Conan's going to be all new on Mondays too!" NBC confirmed this morning; guests for the first Monday live show are TBA.

So there you have it. The goodbye-to-Late-Night era has begun in earnest. Faced with the almost inevitable switch to a five-nights-a-week schedule when he takes over "The Tonight Show" in three years, Conan O'Brien is increasing his load by one night a week starting this season. It won't be the first time he's gone nightly -- after 9/11 he did it for a while -- but it isn't an experiment this time. David Letterman, incidentally, did four nights of TV weekly from 1982 to 1993, but he was following Johnny Carson's lead, not Jay Leno's..

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/

• • • • • • • • • • •

To hear Aaron’s take on Katie Couric’s opening night and some shows he considers do-not-miss TV, hear his four-minute chat this morning on on KNX Newsradio (Los Angeles) here:

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/files/KNXkatie.mp3

Critic’s Notebook
ABC takes wraps off 'Brothers & Sisters'
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor in his blog “Tuned In” Sept. 6, 2006

ABC's "Brothers & Sisters," which gained a reputation as a troubled show after the network refused to send critics a review copy prior to the July TV critics press tour, has finally see the light of day. The network mailed out review copies last week. The results? Not bad, not great. The pilot episode, starring Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths and Sally Field, is busy, probably too busy setting up almost a dozen characters and almost as many plot lines.

Future episodes will determine the show's true quality, but the departure of veteran showrunner Marti Noxon (in favor of creator Jon Robin Baitz, a playwright with little TV experience) is not an encouraging sign.

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

TV Notebook
O'Donnell's Debut Bolsters 'The View' Ratings
By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com September 6, 2006

ABC's "The View" saw increased ratings on its season opener Tuesday, a day that also included the debut of its newest co-host, former daytime talker Rosie O'Donnell, and an appearance by singer Jessica Simpson.

"The View" averaged a 3.8 household rating and 13 share in 55 metered markets, according to Nielsen Media Research. "The View" was up an average 52 percent over its lead in (2.5/9) and up 36 percent from its year ago time period average (2.8/9).

In New York on WABC-TV, "The View" won its 11a.m. time period with a 5.9 rating and a 19 share. It also won its 10 a.m. time period in Los Angeles on KABC-TV, where it scored a 2.7 rating and 9 share.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10680

Critic’s Notebook
Katie's big debut
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

What are people most likely to remember from Katie Couric’s first broadcast Tuesday as anchor of the CBS “Evening News”? Is it foreign correspondent Lara Logan’s in-depth report about the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan or the feature about a young Wisconsin man working with orphans around the world?

No, mostly likely the broadcast will be remembered for a celebrity scoop: Couric, the first woman to ever appointed solo anchor a network news broadcast, was the first to broadcast pictures of Suri Cruise, the much-discussed daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. The Annie Leibovitz photos were taken for the issue of Vanity Fair that hits the stands Wednesday.

The broadcast opened with swooping flair and kept up an energetic pace throughout; the camera quickly flew down to Couric, who was standing in front of a large video screen. After a few introductory remarks, a voiceover taped by Walter Cronkite was heard over the program’s opening graphics, then Couric introduced Logan’s report from inside a Taliban encampment.

Later in the broadcast, Couric, who was wearing a crisp white blazer over a dark shirt, sat behind a desk on the blue and orange new set of the “Evening News,” and did the traditional anchor thing: She read brief headlines about the news of the day, including the death of Animal Planet personality Steve Irwin, a shakeup at the Ford automobile company and a study on the health effects of Sept. 11 on rescue workers.

Still, Couric, who’s being paid $15 million per year by CBS, introduced some new elements and attempted to supply the depth that she’d talked about in interviews leading up to her debut. In a pre-taped interview with Couric that echoed her 15-year tenure with NBC’s “Today” show, New York Times Op-Ed columnist Thomas Friedman shared his thoughts on the state of the nation five years after Sept. 11, and a new segment, entitled “Free Speech,” had filmmaker Morgan Spurlock calling for an end to partisan animosity in the country.

Couric said that Thursday’s “Free Speech” guest speaker would be Rush Limbaugh. Viewers were invited to share their opinions online at cbsnews.com, and according to news reports, average folks will be invited to take part in the “Free Speech” segment in the future.

Couric’s assumption of one of journalism’s most high-profile jobs comes at a pivotal moment for the future of broadcast news.

In the past two years, the three biggest names in broadcast news - Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw - have stepped down from their anchor desks. Brian Williams is now anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News,” the most highly-rated newscast, and after two years of turmoil, including the death of Jennings, ABC recently appointed Charles Gibson as anchor of its “World News.”

The three big evening news programs still get about 24 million viewers, but overall viewership of the big three news programs has been in steady decline for 15 years. Thirty years ago, the nightly news broadcasts brought in about 75 percent of all TV viewers, now they only draw 35 percent of all viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Still, the networks are loathe to give up on the format; though the audience for the evening news broadcasts has aged, it’s worth about $400 million in advertising revenue to the big three networks.

CBS News, which saw slight audience growth under interim anchor Bob Schieffer, has made aggressive efforts to make Couric the centerpiece of an expanded online presence. Tuesday’s broadcast was streamed live on cbsnews.com, and at several points in Tuesday’s show, Couric encouraged feedback at the Web site, where she has, of course, a blog.

Couric’s long been annoyed at being called perky, but perhaps quirky would be a better word for how she ended the broadcast. She told viewers she hadn’t figured out what her signoff would be, and asked them for their ideas. That call for ideas came after she showed a montage of closing words from a variety of fictional and real talking heads, including Edward R. Murrow and Cronkite.

You have to wonder how former CBS anchor Dan Rather (“Thank you for joining us. Courage”) felt about being followed in the montage by fictional anchormen Ted Baxter from “Mary Tyler Moore” (“Good night and good news”) and Ron Burgundy from “Anchorman” ("You stay classy, San Diego”).

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

Maureen makes an excellent point.


That's an excellent article about "Battlestar Galactica" and "The Wire", she really "gets it". Maybe this season will be somewhat of a turning point for both of these shows and they get the recognition they deserve, have deserved, since their inception. If the Emmys are worth anything both of these shows should be finalists in the heavyweight categories and not for some technical merit award, etc.

TV Notebook
Enterprise Wasn't Bumped for Trek, Says Nogawski
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 9/6/2006


You know, it's ironic that Paramount is going through all this trouble to make these episodes "better" in technical quality at the same time loping off about 8 mins of each episode to fit the new standard for commercial time per hour. It's like restoring a Renoir and putting it on the wall at Taco Bell.

Broadcasters, thinking only of the immediate bottom line, just don't realize how they are slitting their own financial throats by jamming in so many commercials -- and promos.

Indeed, these re-mastered, re-made episodes are absolutely worthless to me until they are available on HD optical media.

Soon, Jim, soon!

TV Sports
ESPN Scores With College Football

By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable 9/6/2006

ESPN warmed up for next week’s debut of Monday Night Football with a Sept. 4 telecast of a Miami-Florida State game that was the most-viewed college football game in the history of the network.

The Monday-night college game averaged a network-record 6.33 million households, and its 6.9 rating was the second-highest number ever for a college football game on ESPN (a game between the same teams on Oct. 8, 1994, averaged a 7.7).

ESPN2 also covered Monday’s game live, though with a non-traditional format that presented several camera angles at once. That telecast averaged 677,000 households and a 0.7 rating.

Sister network ABC also had some success with primetime college football, as its debut of a new 12-week Saturday Night Football series averaged 6.067 million households and a 5.4 rating for a Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game.

ABC will hope for a bigger number this Saturday when it airs a matchup between #1 ranked Ohio State and #2 ranked Texas at 8 p.m. ET.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369490

You know, it's ironic that Paramount is going through all this trouble to make these episodes "better" in technical quality at the same time loping off about 8 mins of each episode to fit the new standard for commercial time per hour. It's like restoring a Renoir and putting it on the wall at Taco Bell.
The entire episodes are being restored. They will be shown cut only when it's broadcast.

I guess we will have to wait for the HD versions of the DVD then.

From ST.com (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/25055.html):

Will the episodes appear in their full length form? Or cut for syndication?
We are using the full-length episodes for our work. They will, however, be cut for syndication airing purposes. [Any future DVDs would most likely be full length. - Ed.]

TV Notebook
He Could Be a Contender, It Seems

By Bill Carter The New York Times Sept .7, 2006

LOS ANGELES — The Emmy Awards last month provided some evidence of how crowded the competition among late-night television hosts has become, with Stephen Colbert elbowing his way into the party already populated by Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and Craig Ferguson.

None of those stars are on ABC, but Jimmy Kimmel is. And ABC is only too happy to point out that while he may not have cracked the Emmy nomination lineup yet, Mr. Kimmel has had the best summer of his career with the crowd that really counts: the late-night audience.

Viewership for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is up 19 percent to 1.5 million, and among 18-to-49-year-olds (the demographic ABC cares most about, because advertisers do) it is up 20 percent.

That rise is part of a steadily improving picture for ABC’s late-night lineup, one of the more unexpected developments in television over the last six months. The story begins with the ABC News program “Nightline,” all but written off when its long-time anchor, Ted Koppel, departed last year.

Instead, “Nightline” has experienced a ratings resurgence in recent months that has pushed it well past the figures for Mr. Koppel’s last year on the air. In August it reached more than 3.5 million viewers a night, frequently edging past Mr. Letterman’s show on CBS. (Mr. Letterman’s numbers are for an hourlong show, however, and those for “Nightline” are for a half-hour.)

In August “Nightline” viewership was up about 17 percent from a year ago, proving that the appetite for a serious late-night network news program did not vanish with Mr. Koppel.

This has helped Mr. Kimmel, as he acknowledged in a recent interview here. “In its revised state, ‘Nightline’ is a much better lead-in for us than it ever was before,” he said.

Mr. Kimmel has managed to hold on to more of that lead-in than ever, even against increased competition. He averaged a little more than 1.5 million viewers this summer, still nowhere close to Mr. Leno (well over 4 million), Mr. Letterman (well over 3 million) or Mr. O’Brien (2.4 million). But with his 12:05 a.m. starting time, Mr. Kimmel has to compete every night against all three of them, as well as against Mr. Ferguson.

Does this ratings growth story mean that Mr. Kimmel’s show has some heat at long last? ABC seems to think so. The network has renewed it for another year, and recruited Mr. Kimmel to be the host of “Set for Life,” a prime-time game show it has high hopes for in the coming year. It also commissioned the first prime-time version of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” set for Wednesday night at 10.

“It’s a best-of special,” Mr. Kimmel said. “It’s an anniversary show. It’ll be four years in January. Who does a fourth anniversary show? Who does a three-and-three-quarter-year anniversary show?”

Some viewers who saw Mr. Kimmel’s initial efforts on ABC in January 2003, when women in particular seemed to react toxically to his ultramasculine brand of comedy, might have wondered if the show would survive to see the summer.

Mr. Kimmel, previously a host of “The Man Show” on Comedy Central, was among the doubters. “ABC said to me over and over that I had to appeal to women,” he said. “Saying that to me was like me being in the ocean drowning and somebody saying, ‘I’d like to see the backstroke.’ I was like: ‘I’m just trying to stay alive here. I can’t be bothered with finesse and details. I’m trying to stay on the air and keep the deathly silence from overwhelming all of us.’ ”

The show had serious trouble booking guests. “That first year, every night someone was mad at us,” he said. “I had so much agita. I was crazy. But it’s better now.”

How did things get better? Partly, Mr. Kimmel explained, it was a function of staying on the air and having the time to learn. “It’s confidence,” he said. “Not just me learning what I’m doing. Most of the people working here had no experience.”

More than a year ago Mr. Kimmel, who used to sit behind his desk and tell jokes from there, began doing a traditional monologue: standing up at the beginning of the show, doing the classic late-night lines: “President Bush today. ...”

He also started wearing suits and ties. All of this went against his original regular-guy approach, but it seemed more welcoming to a wider range of viewers.

“It was a transition for me,” he said, noting that he started out thinking, with a mentality from his early days in radio, that “I could say anything I wanted.” He came to realize “there’s a certain strategy to it,” he said. “You try to get as many people as possible to watch.”

He says his show still tries jokes that other shows would steer clear of. “You never want to walk away from your hard-core fans,” he said. “The show’s still edgy compared to most late-night shows, I think.”

Another significant change took place in April when ABC brought in Jill Leiderman as executive producer (the show’s third). Ms. Leiderman, who spent years as a producer on Mr. Letterman’s show, made some overt changes, like adding a New York booking agency, and some subtle ones, like injecting more energy and passion into the production.

“I love my new producer,” Mr. Kimmel said. “She works very, very hard. I feel competitive. I just can’t keep up with her.”

The bookings have improved under the new system. “We just weren’t planning at all,” Mr. Kimmel said. “We were truly going day to day. If we had one guest booked a month in advance, it was a shock. Now we’re booked in advance with pretty much everybody.”

He acknowledged that his show almost always takes guests after they have appeared with Mr. Leno, the late-night leader. But the lineups are better, and the show continues to make good use of its outdoor stage to book some of the hottest contemporary music acts.

ABC executives have noticed the changes, Mr. Kimmel said. “The network is much more supportive now,” he said. “It’s all about the ratings. When the ratings started going up, suddenly they felt like the show was getting really good. It’s fine, whatever.”

But, he noted, Steve McPherson, the president of entertainment for ABC, has been in his corner for a long time, promoting him in appearances before advertisers at the spring sales presentations known as upfronts and urging him to take on the game show to further expose him to viewers.

Mr. Kimmel knows a big change is coming in late night, with the promised switch at NBC’s “Tonight” to Mr. O’Brien from Mr. Leno, set for 2009.

“Late night is a bit unstable,” he said. “It’s exciting but also a little bit scary. Even though we’re not No. 1, we’re in a pretty good place. We could be doing a show like this for a long time. When things start shaking up, that’s when the landscape changes. Things could go really well or things could go really badly.”

There is far less worry about the latter than there used to be, although Mr. Kimmel is hardly immune to worry. “Do we have buzz now?” he asked. “It doesn’t feel like buzz to me. It just feels like I don’t have to feel insecure all the time.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/07/arts/television/07kimm.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

TV Reviews
Yuk, Yuk, Yuck
Two From Fox, Funny and Less Than
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 7, 2006

"More fun than a barrel of monkeys." Has anyone ever stopped to think how cranky, if not downright vicious, a barrelful of monkeys would be, especially once released from the barrel? Only if we use the cliche literally does it apply to two Fox comedies premiering tonight -- the aforementioned barrel of monkeys involving bared fangs, ghastly shrieks and a certain sickening simian smell.

Of the two, " 'Til Death," starring "Everybody Loves Raymond" alumnus Brad Garrett, at least has possibilities and a good excuse for a giggle now and then. The other, which goes by the cynically inappropriate title of "Happy Hour," is sheer, excruciating pain -- comparable to liberated monkeys who are not only angry but malicious.

"Happy Hour" is more like "Happy Hour in Hell."

Garrett, meanwhile -- whose big head and lumbering body suggest a friendly Frankenstein monster, like the one Fred Gwynne used to play on "The Munsters" -- easily dominates the better of the shows, " 'Til Death," in his semi-poignantly sad-sack, deadpan way. The show is a sitcom that contrasts the marital difficulties faced by two couples who are suburban neighbors living proverbial worlds apart.

In tonight's premiere, at 8 PM ET/PT on Fox, Eddie and Joy -- married 8,743 days, a caption tells us -- and played by Garrett and the endearingly sassy Joely Fisher, welcome to their neighborhood a pair of jogging, cooing, painfully naive newlyweds (married 12 days) named Jeff and Steph, played by Eddie Kaye Thomas (of the asinine "American Pie" pictures) and crisply cool Kat Foster.

Eddie takes it upon himself to educate Jeff on the thwarted joys of marriage and the by-now-muted joys of Joy. His philosophy, based on years of experience: "Men want to have fun, and wives want to walk that fun deep into the woods and shoot it dead." A convenient test case presents itself: Asked -- in fact begged -- to install a pool table in what is supposed to be their new home's formal dining room, Jeff is told by Steph that, why, of course he can, whatever makes him happy, no problem at all, knock yourself out -- and so on and so forth.

What she means, of course -- as Eddie the sage informs Jeff the clueless -- is that he'll get a pool table into that dining room when the hole in the ozone layer heals itself and George W. Bush quotes Kierkegaard in a speech to the VFW. Not gonna happen -- yet Jeff persists in his delusion even to the point of buying the purple-felted table and (briefly) attempting to install it.

The script, by executive producers Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, steals two jokes from "Seinfeld," which is par for the course in comedies that aim to be at least semi-intelligent. One is the concept of "make-up sex," an outbreak of coital bliss following the resolution of a big fat argument. The other involves the physical gags resulting when a pool table is installed in a room that's too small, as happened on "Seinfeld" when Mr. Costanza tried converting son George's bedroom into a billiard parlor and ended up, yes, behind the old eight-ball. Serenity now!

One of the show's seemingly original touches is to begin each half with filmed quotes from apparently real little kids in which they discuss their concepts of marriage, love, family and all those other lovely institutions that, Republicans love to claim, are in constant danger from subversive cultural forces in our society. The kids, thankfully, do not talk about politics but engagingly explain their views. This simple device helps soften the show's abrasiveness and keep it above the lowly level of Fox's tirelessly trailer-parky "Married . . . With Children."

Nevertheless, many an obvious joke is wrung from the fact that Jeff and Steph's last name is Woodcock. For example: Jeff is the new high school vice principal, and he opens a Web site for questions from kids that he calls, to snickers from Eddie and the studio audience, "mywoodcock.com."

Wait till you see, Jeff tells Eddie, "how many hits 'mywoodcock' gets." One can be grateful most of the other jokes derive from character and not from cheap setups like that.

Still, for all the stooping for laughs, Garrett and Fisher maintain an admirable dignity, so that even their bickering and feuding has a kind of classicism to it, as if in tribute to all the bickering TV and radio couples who have gone before, and who kiss and make up before the final credits roll. " 'Til Death" is all that it's cracked up to be, mainly because advance word had it cracked up to be minor and crude -- and yet it still has moments that are engagingly amusing.

Early as it is in the new fall season, meanwhile -- in fact, the season doesn't even officially begin until Sept. 17 -- Fox's "Happy Hour" stands a good chance of being named Worst New Show, or at least feeblest new sitcom.

A sordid variation on Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," the series -- premiering at 8:30 PM ET/PT on Fox -- pairs a martini-slurping slob named Henry (John Sloan) with a meek weakling named Brad (Nat Faxon) whose three-week-old engagement to a mixed-up ditz has come to an abrupt end.

What to do? For some reason, Brad begs Henry to let him move into Henry's Chicago apartment, where the two of them can complain about the opposite sex and drink gin every day at 4 while listening to an old big-band song called "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" Frankly, a kick in the head might be preferable to sitting through this desperate, depressing, reactionary ordeal.

Brad meets an amusingly ferocious giant of a woman named Amanda (Beth Lacke), applying to her for a job but noticing, as anyone would, her ravenously ravishing predatory prowess.

The ultra-formidable Lacke could run away with the show in a heartbeat but only (A) if it had a heart to beat and (B) if she weren't saddled with weak dialogue such as repeatedly informing Brad that his testicles can be seen peeking out of his Bermuda shorts. What kind of idiot wears shorts to a job interview? The kind you hope only to encounter in a sitcom as pitifully sad as "Happy Hour."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090602022_pf.html

Washington Notebook
FCC Gets To Reconsider Profanity Rulings
By John Eggerton- Broadcasting & Cable 9/7/2006

The FCC will get a chance to review and potentially re-do four profanity findings it made in March, and its fleeting profanity crackdown on those cuss words in those four cases will no longer be enforceable while it does.

That is according the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, which Thursday granted the FCC's request to delay a broadcaster challenge to those rulings for 60 days while the FCC reconsiders them. The court stayed enforcement of its Golden Globes decision finding the f-word, and by extension the s-word, indecent, as applied to the four cases at issue.

It is unclear whether it applies to all fleeting profanities, but the decision says that the enforcement of the four decisions, "which applies the .standards announced in the Golden Globes order, is hereby stayed." The FCC was preparing a response at press time.

Media Access Project President Andrew J. Schwartzman, whose group represents one of the parties in the case, had no doubt of its impact on all fleeting profanities. He says that by staying, for the forseeable future, the FCC's decision that uses of the s-word and f-word in an isolated way is presumptively profane--at least until the case is decided--"cuts the heart out of the FCC's crusade against potty-mouth speech."

What it doesn't address, he says, is the FCC's fine of CBS's Without a Trace, Janet Jackson or others for nudity or suggestive sex.

But Schwartzman does think that CBS has "all the ammunition it needs to carry the 9/11 program as scheduled." A number of affiliates, including those of Sinclair, are going to preempt or delay the documentary becuase of its unedited profanities by first responders in the maelstrom of 9/11.

After the FCC's 60-day review, and only 60 days the three-judge panel of the court makes clear, the court will expedite hearing on the merits.

The court heard oral argument last week in which the networks--except ABC--pushed for a hearing on the merits, saying if the court decided to delay the start of the case so the FCC could rethink the decisions, it should only be if while granting a stay of any findings based on "fleeting profanities."

The judges had expected to have a decision last week, but it took longer than they thought, somewhat frustrating the clerk's office, which was being peppered with phone calls looking for an outcome.

The FCC also said it could live with a stay, but only one that applied to the four cusses in question, not the general policy which extands back before March to its finding in the case of Bono's fleeting f-word on NBC's Golden Globes broadcast.

The commission has promised to give stations a chance to respond to the findings and defend themselves--a step the FCC bypassed the first time--then decide what if any modifications to make, all within 60 days.

If the court says no, the same court will proceed to hear the broadcaster challenge to the rulings on their merits.

The FCC, joined by ABC, NBC and CBS affiliate associations, asked a New York Court to delay its scheduled hearing of a challenge to four indecency findings against fleeting expletives--like "bullshit"--that were part of the FCC’s March indecency findings.

The incidents at issue occurred during a 2004 airing of CBS’ The Early Show, Fox’s 2002 and 2003 broadcasts of The Billboard Music Awards and a 2003 episode of ABC’s NYPD Blue. NBC did not have a program involved, but intervened nonetheless given the still-unresolved Bono f-word decision that signaled the beginning of the tougher profanity policy.

The four findings had no fine attached and the FCC promised it would not hold them against stations at renewal time, thus the FCC decided there was no need to give stations a chance to respond. The networks, their affiliate associations, and Hearst-Argyle TV took those decisions directly to court, since the FCC had bypassed the normal appeals process in what it said was an effort to provide guidance--which broadcasters have clamored for--without adverse consequences.

In essence the FCC was saying: These are the words we believe we can fine going forard. ABC did not oppose the FCC request for remand, while the other networks and the Fox affiliate association wanted the court to proceed directly to a trial on the merits unless a blanket stay was granted on all fleeting profanity enforcement until the case was settled.

The FCC’s initial decision in Bono was that a fleeting, adjectival f-word was not indecent, but that was later reversed by the commissioners after Congress pushed the FCC to reexamine the case.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369535

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
Case of wobbly legs for Fox's 'Bones'
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 7, 2006, 01:10

Fox has a history of success in using “American Idol” to launch hit dramas that can stand on their own. Both “24” and “House,” whose ratings were only so-so before they took over post-“Idol” timeslots, soared into standalone hits.

But it looks as though the same thing won’t be happening for “Bones,” which enjoyed both pre- and post-“Idol” Wednesday timeslots last spring.

Forced to stand on its own last week, without “Idol” or former lead-out “House” to prop it up, “Bones” looked shakier.

The second-season debut last Wednesday at 8 p.m. averaged a 2.7 in adults 18-49, finishing second in its timeslot to CBS’s middling “Rock Star: Supernova” and 19 percent below last season’s 3.2 average. “Justice,” the new 9 p.m. Fox law drama, actually built on its lead-in, averaging a 2.9.

That hardly makes the show a dud, but it's not real promising, either.

“Bones” was down 31 percent from last year’s 3.9 premiere, when it led into “House,” and next week it will face ABC’s hit “Dancing with the Stars.”

The problem may simply be in the quality of the show. Unlike “24” and “House,” which were critical hits before becoming ratings hits, “Bones” has never developed much buzz.

It’s a criminal procedural without a standout main character, and that does not fit the Fox mold. While leads Emily Deschanel and David Boreanz are likeable enough, they’re not intense and charismatic like “24’s” Kiefer Sutherland, “Break’s” Wentworth Miller or “House’s” Hugh Laurie.

That said, “Bones” may simply need more time to reconnect with former viewers. Last year the show premiered two weeks later, when households using television (HUT) levels were much higher than Labor Day week, which is traditionally slow.

“September is a notoriously volatile month for Fox and it’s not atypical to see some bumps before the ratings stabilize,” says Karen McCallum, media director at Esparza Advertising in Albuquerque, N.M. “'Bones’' real test will come [next week] when ‘Dancing with the Stars’ goes head to head with it."

Fox points out that the show did win its timeslot in total viewers and 18-34s.

“We are looking to generate as much traffic as we can before going off for baseball on Oct. 3,” a Fox spokesperson said. “We started two weeks early to give ‘Bones’ six episodes before baseball, as opposed to the three runs that it got last season.”

Meanwhile, in broadcast ratings for the week ended Sept. 3:

Among adults 18-49, Fox and ABC tied for first with a 2.2/7, followed by CBS at 2.1/7, NBC at 1.9/6, Univision at 1.5/5, the WB and UPN at 0.7, Telemundo at 0.4 and Telefutura at 0.3.

Among adults 18-34, Fox again held the top spot with a 2.1/7, followed by ABC at 1.9/7, Univision at 1.7/6, CBS at 1.5/5, NBC at 1.3/5, the WB at 0.8/3, UPN at 0.7/2, Telemundo at 0.4/1, and Telefutura at 0.3/1.

Among adults 25-54, CBS led at 2.6/7, followed by ABC at 2.5/7, Fox at 2.4/7, NBC at 2.3/6, Univision at 1.5/4, UPN and the WB at 0.7/2, Telemundo at 0.4/1, and Telefutura at 0.3/1.

Top five (18-49s): 1. Fox’s “Prison Break” 4.0; 2-tie. CBS’s “Rock Star: Supernova,” Fox’s “Celebrity Duets,” CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” 3.2; 5-tie. CBS’s “Big Brother 7,” CBS’s “CSI: Miami,” Fox’s “Vanished” 3.1

Top five (total viewers): 1. CBS’s “CSI: Miami” 10.8 million; 2. NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” 9.92 million; 3. CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” 9.8 million; 4. Fox’s “Prison Break” 9.44 million; 5. CBS’s “60 Minutes” 9.2 million

Bottom five (18-49s): 111-tie. UPN’s “Eve,” UPN’s “Love, Inc.,” UPN’s “Cuts,” WB’s “Just Legal,” WB’s “One Tree Hill” 0.5; 116. UPN’s “Veronica Mars,” UPN’s “Veronica Mars-8 p.m.” 0.4

Bottom five (total viewers): 113. UPN’s “Eve” 1.21 million; 114. UPN’s “Cuts” 1.2 million; 115. UPN’s “Love, Inc.” 1.15 million; 116. UPN’s “Veronica Mars” 1.11 million; 117. UPN’s “Veronica Mars-8 p.m.” 1.03 million

Show on the rise: CBS, “Two and a Half Men,” Monday 9 p.m. The sting of Emmy losses for lead actors Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer was dulled a bit by a ratings surge for the sitcom, whose 9 p.m. repeat jumped 14 percent week-to-week to a 3.2 rating.

Show on the decline: Fall preview shows. CBS and NBC both had fall previews, and neither averaged above a 0.9 in 18-49s.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7104.asp

TV Notebook
Letterman to stay with CBS
By Cynthia Littleton The Hollywood Reporter Sep. 07, 2006

From the home office at the Ed Sullivan Theater: David Letterman is staying at CBS for another four years.

Letterman is close to finalizing a contract extension with CBS that will keep him at the helm of "The Late Show With David Letterman" through the 2009-10 season, sources said. Negotiations on the pact have been underway on and off for months, but sources close to the network and the Letterman camp say the talks went smoothly and that there was never any doubt that the Emmy-winning late-night host would extend his tenure at "Late Show," which originates from the famed Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.

Indeed, sources say that relations between CBS, Letterman and his Worldwide Pants production company have never been better, particularly between Letterman and CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves. Moonves has become a semi-regular presence on "Late Show" through the "More With Les" segments, featuring Letterman conversing with Moonves by telephone.

The harmony between Letterman and CBS stands in stark contrast to the situation 4 1/2 years ago, when Letterman was being heavily courted by ABC and reportedly felt under-appreciated at CBS. At the time, Letterman wound up striking a two-year renewal deal that included a series of one-year options, while sources said this time around the deal is a four-year commitment.

Financial details of the new deal were unclear. Letterman already ranks high on the list of television's highest-paid personalities, with an annual salary of about $31.5 million under the 2002 contract agreement. Sources said the new deal keeps Letterman in roughly similar salary territory as the 2002 pact, but that could not be confirmed late Wednesday.

A CBS spokesman declined comment on the deal. Letterman's representatives at CAA and attorney Jim Jackoway of Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum & Morris also declined comment.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003118078

TV Review
''Til Death,' but probably much sooner
By Andrew Lyons in MediaLifeMagazine.com Sep 7, 2006

At least they got the name right. If ever the title of a show actually captured the feeling it evokes, “’Til Death” is that show.

Relentlessly cynical, with a worldview so dreary and pessimistic that Sylvia Plath might tell its creators to lighten up, Fox’s new sitcom, premiering tonight at 8 p.m., is such an unpleasant viewing experience that it may increase Prozac prescriptions all by itself. It’s like a sitcom death march, in which only the closing credits can offer sweet relief from the tedious clichés.

And, oh, by the way, it’s not very funny.

“’Til Death” focuses on two married couples. Eddie (Brad Garrett) and Joy (Joely Fisher), together for about 24 years, have settled into a mildly comfortable empty-nest détente, with the threat of a resumption of hostilities always just one offhand remark away. Jeff (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and Steph (Kat Foster) are the newlyweds who just moved in next door. Married 12 days, they’re brimming with romantic enthusiasm about their future together.

Since Jeff is not just Eddie’s neighbor but also the new vice-principal at the high school where he teaches history, Eddie decides it’s his responsibility to break in the new husband and show him how in marriage “women stop fun from happening,” as he puts it.

The sitcom highway is littered with the corpses of actors who thought their star wattage could guarantee a hit: Nathan Lane, Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg to name a few.

Now we have more proof that a big name alone is not enough to carry a show. Brad Garrett gives Eddie the same trademark sullen sarcasm he brought to “Everybody Loves Raymond.” But what was often amusing in small doses on that ensemble series quickly becomes overbearing when made the centerpiece of a show.

Garrett’s Eddie is intent on showing Jeff how wives crush the souls of their husbands. But his dark outlook is an entertainment soul-crusher itself. There’s only so much soft-core misogyny one can take. We may hit the limit right around the time that Eddie explains to Jeff that new wives get excited about their registry gifts, telling him, “There’s a reason why china rhymes with vagina.”

It would be one thing if all these attempts at dystopian humor were actually funny. Unfortunately, they’re not. Most of the jokes feel worn-out before we even get to the punchline. For example, Jeff’s last name is Woodcock, which provides the “inspiration” for about four jokes. That’s approximately three Woodcock jokes too many.

Almost all the material comes from the four central characters fitting conveniently into tired stereotypes. Eddie is sarcastic. Joy is put-upon. Jeff is naively optimistic. Steph is full of chirpy enthusiasm. All are defined by their character outlines and rarely veer outside of them. As a result, much of the dialogue feels pre-determined, recycled from other, sharper shows. And it doesn’t take long for this small universe of two contrasting couples to get claustrophobic.

There are a few nice moments, as when Fisher (who looks uncannily like “Raymond’s” Patricia Heaton) plans to go jogging but gets lazily seduced by Garrett into joining him on the couch for munchies and “Ellen.” The scene isn’t especially funny but it is sweet, a respite from the show’s near-constant gloom. And Eddie does seem to have some affection for her, in spite of his constant slams at marriage in general.

Still, “’Til Death” is a patchwork combination of “Raymond” and a previous Fox sitcom about a quarreling couple, “Married With Children.”

But “Raymond” was watchable because of its big cast of sharp performers and because it could juggle multiple different family dynamics: parent-child, husband-wife, siblings. And while there’s little good to say about “Married with Children,” it does have the distinction of having done the troubled couple thing first. It set the standard, at least for modern-day family discord-sitcom mediocrity.

“Death” is neither dynamic nor first. And that’s a pretty solid recipe for boredom. And likely for cancellation.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7117.asp

TV Notebook
Day Two: Couric's CBS Evening News Ratings Off 22%
By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com Sept. 7, 2007

As expected, night two of Katie Couric as anchor of The CBS Evening News came down considerably, with a still healthy 7.0/14 in the metered markets.

Comparably, that was off by 22 percent in rating and three share points from Tuesday’s mammoth opening (9.0/17), but still an improvement of 56 percent in rating and five share points from the year-ago time period average (4.5/ 9).

Yesterday’s lead-in average was a 5.0/10. ABC’s World News With Charles Gibson at a 5.3/10 (-22 percent), followed by NBC Nightly News Brian Williams with a 4.9/10 (-27 percent from the year-ago telecast).

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003118121

Cable Nielsen Notebook
Last kisses: As Andre sobs, USA roars
Record ratings for tennis legend's last match

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 7, 2006

Viewers don’t always know ahead of time that a legend is about to walk off the court for good. Some great athletes announce their retirement after winning a championship or days before they’re supposed to report to training camp.

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire and Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan, for example, retired months after their final game, making their farewells anticlimactic.

Andre Agassi, however, gave fans three chances to say goodbye last week, and they turned out in record numbers on USA Network and later CBS to do it.

USA earned its best opening-night rating in its 23 years of carrying the U.S. Open on Monday, Aug. 28, when Agassi played his first match. It averaged a 1.57 household rating, 118 percent better than the first Monday of the 2005 Open, which averaged a 0.72.

That continued three days later, when Agassi played his rain-delayed second-round match, a thrilling five-setter with Marco Baghdatis. That averaged a 2.08 household rating, despite running late, and was up 189 percent over a 0.72 for the same night the previous year. USA had its highest U.S. Open ratings in four years that night.

Agassi fever hit a pitch on Sunday, when he lost to the world’s 112th-ranked player on CBS. The broadcast averaged a 3.0 overnight, up 30 percent over the previous year’s 2.3 and the best first U.S. Open Sunday for the network since 1990.

Agassi’s exit certainly got a lot of hype, and likely a lot of non-tennis fans tuned in to watch his final matches. In addition to a Sports Illustrated feature in the weeks before the Open, the 36-year-old showed up on the evening news and numerous ESPN shows.

He retires as only the fifth men’s player to win a career Grand Slam, which includes the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, French Open and Australian Open.

According to the Davie-Brown Entertainment Index, which measures the popularity of celebrities, Agassi is the top-ranked tennis player.

Yet in an odd way, it may be the right time for Agassi to leave if men’s tennis is to continue to grow. With the budding rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, ratings for the French Open and Wimbledon finals were up this year, and it will be easier for those two to forge fan bases outside of traditional tennis fanatics if Agassi is not there stealing all the attention.

Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended Sept. 3:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): ESPN, TNT, MTV, TBS, Discovery

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): TNT, ESPN, MTV, Lifetime, Sci Fi

Top movie (18-49s): No movie made the top 50 for basic cable.

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN's "Monday Night Football: Packers/Bengals" (Monday, 8 p.m.) 6.69 million

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: USA's "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 9 p.m.); USA's "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 10 p.m.); ESPN's "Monday Night Football: Packers/Bengals" (Monday, 8 p.m.); Bravo's "Project Runway" (Wednesday, 10 p.m.); MTV's "2006 Video Music Awards" (Thursday, 8 p.m.); FX's "Rescue Me" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.)

Show on the rise: Bravo, “Project Runway,” Wednesday 10 p.m. Heidi Klum’s reality show keeps breaking its own records. The show set its second new one in as many weeks, drawing 2.18 million viewers 25-54 last week, its best ever.

Show on the decline: MTV, “Video Music Awards,” Thursday 8 p.m. The show had its third-smallest audience in the 13 years Nielsen has been tracking it, averaging 5.77 million total viewers. That’s down 28 percent from last year’s 8.01 million.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_7109.asp

TV Sports
Getting Back in the Game
By Richard Sandomir The New York Times September 7, 2006

When the N.F.L. season opens tonight, NBC Sports will resume its relationship with a league it parted ways with in 1998.

But NBC is not returning because it adores football. It is paying the league an average of $600 million a year to carry Sunday night games for one primary reason: It loathes being the lowest-rated major broadcast network in prime time and will use the N.F.L.’s broad appeal, mostly to male viewers, to help orchestrate its effort to return to respectability.

“I don’t think there’s a high probability that we’d be back in football if we hadn’t fallen from the top,” Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Universal Sports, said yesterday from Pittsburgh, where the network will televise the opener between the Super Bowl champion Steelers and the Miami Dolphins.

“Football is the only content that you can look at over the long haul that will retain its value,” Ebersol added. “If you have an ‘ER,’ a ‘CSI’ or a ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ there’s no guarantee the whole audience won’t disappear on you in two years. That’s not an issue with the N.F.L. over the past 30 years.”

But eight years ago, Ebersol was bidding adieu to the N.F.L., not embracing it. He did not renew his network’s American Football Conference package because he expected that doing so would guarantee huge financial losses. So CBS ended its four-year hiatus from carrying N.F.L. games, agreed to pay $500 million a year, and has yet to report a loss.

Ebersol then tried to acquire the rights to “Monday Night Football,” but ABC outbid NBC.

Yet the loss of football did not seem to plunge NBC into self-doubt. It sought to fill the void by trying to form a league with Turner Sports; when that fizzled, it joined the World Wrestling Federation in forming the XFL, which lasted only one season (2001). NBC recently ended a low-rated Arena Football League deal.

Far more important than trying to resurrect a football presence without the N.F.L., NBC contentedly sustained its lordly place in prime time with highly rated long-running series like “ER,” “Friends,” “Frasier” and “Law & Order.” It also counted on a new generation of hit programs to emerge.

“We didn’t need anything but our own wares to sell ourselves,” Ebersol said.

Yet, in the past two prime-time seasons, those wares have proved inadequate to fend off challenges from other networks, most notably the one posed by Fox with “American Idol.” NBC finished No. 1 at the end of the 2003-4 season in the crucial demographic of adults ages 18 to 49, but it has finished last ever since.

The N.F.L. beckoned in the spring of 2005. ABC Sports declined to keep paying to carry “Monday Night Football” in order to keep from losing at least $150 million a year. The league shifted the series to Sunday nights, with two annual playoff games and the Super Bowl every three years, and a new option to change the matchups late in the season. NBC bought the series for six years.

And ESPN, which had carried “Sunday Night Football” for 17 years, acquired “Monday Night,” without any postseason games, for $1.1 billion a year.

Ebersol rebuilt NBC’s football credibility by hiring Al Michaels and John Madden to call the games and Andrea Kremer to report from the sidelines. Also, it stocked its studio program, “Football Night in America,” with the hosts Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth, the analysts Jerome Bettis and Sterling Sharpe and the reporter Peter King.

John Cottingham, the vice president for broadcasting at Media General, which owns nine NBC affiliates, said, “I can say that we love John Madden, but we’re running a business, and we love what the N.F.L. can do for us.”

NBC has pleased its affiliates by letting them sell all the advertising time in the first half-hour of the pregame program — which means NBC will not report a rating during a period of time when the continued viewing of late-afternoon games on CBS and Fox may reduce its audience.

But there are more important questions for NBC than how viewers will respond to its highly paid crew of game and studio announcers: How can NBC afford to pay an average of $600 million annually? If ABC lost at least $150 million a year, how can NBC avoid similar losses?

NBC has pared its entertainment development budget to save an average of $100 million a year, coming largely from not having to produce new series for four prime-time hours (the pregame show starts at 7 p.m., followed by the game at 8:20 p.m.) on Sunday nights through December.

“We’ve invested in a huge property and made cuts accordingly,” said Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of the NBC Universal Television Group.

More revenues are expected to come through a partnership with the league that gives General Electric, the parent company of NBC Universal, a chance to provide financial services, security equipment, electrical products and health-care technology to teams.

Also, NBC must figure out if the N.F.L. can help the network’s new prime-time series become hits. It is an inexact science, at best, but it worked well when ABC heavily promoted “Lost,” its desert island series, during “Monday Night” games early in the 2004 season.

Zucker is hopeful, but he is not predicting that NBC will be as fortunate when it uses the Sunday night games to promote three new series: “Heroes” and “Studio 60,” which are on Monday nights, and “Friday Night Lights” on Tuesday nights.

“I’m not certain of anything,” he said. “There’s no guarantee of success. There were many years when football did not produce a hit for ABC. And there’s no question that ‘Lost’ probably would have been a big success without football, but was probably bigger because of the promotional platform football provided.”

NBC will also have to work against the belief that Sunday night games represent the third football time period of the day for fans, compared with “Monday Night Football,” which is the only game that day.

“The biggest issue is fatigue after a long day of football,” George Bodenheimer, ESPN’s chairman, said yesterday during a news media teleconference.

But Zucker said that the two properties were vastly different. “We’re talking about ours being the biggest game of the day, not the third,” he said.

NBC must prove whether Zucker is right. Other assumptions must also be correct. Its matchups must stay as strong as they appear on paper. It must be easier to lure viewers to a prime-time game when they are not rushing home from work. And NBC’s ability to replace possibly awful games in seven of the season’s last eight weeks with potentially better ones from the afternoon schedule must reverse the type of ratings woes that hurt ABC.

“Monday Night” had its lowest overall rating ever, 10.8, last year. Ebersol said he would be disappointed with a rating less than an 11.0.

Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports, who said he believed his Sunday afternoon package offered more promotional wallop than NBC’s Sunday night games, said: “They’ve sold it and talked about it as if it will do better than the ‘Monday Night’ package. We’re waiting to see in December how well it did.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/07/sports/football/07sandomir.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=sports&pagewanted=print

TV Reviews
Fox fears to veer from sitcom cliches
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic September 7, 2006

Still holding out hope that fall will bring about a sitcom renaissance, huh? That's sweet.

Really, though, you should let it go. You're only hurting yourself with that line of thinking. The bar is low, folks. You won't find any writers swinging for the horizon this fall because a sitcom needs only to get you through a 30-minute stretch with relative ease. Tapping into familiar, derivative concepts is the easiest way to get a new comedy up and running these days. And if that sitcom is on Fox, all it has to do is work.

And so we have " 'Til Death," a paint-by-numbers cute comedy about what a golden drag marriage can be, good for curling up next to the spouse on the couch for a post-dinner giggle.

Husband and wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa are behind it, and like their other comedy, "The King of Queens," it does what it's supposed to do. You won't be quoting lines from it over Friday morning coffee, but it is, if not good, then good enough.

" 'Til Death" follows the same "smart, no-nonsense wife and put-upon husband" routine as two married couples -- one middle-age, one young -- attempt to influence each other as they plot their respective courses through marital life.

The older of the two, Eddie Stark (Brad Garrett) and his wife Joy (Joely Fisher), believe that some 24 years together makes them better experts at the institution than newlyweds Jeff and Steph Woodcock (Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster).

So they meddle, which is easy to do because the nosy Starks and the impressionable Woodcocks are next-door neighbors -- plus, history teacher Eddie and vice principal Jeff work together at the same school! Isn't that convenient in a 1960s sitcom way?

And, um, Woodcock? Gee, here's the fish-stocked barrel, folks, and here's the shotgun.

Where the fun comes in is that Eddie's lessons on how to be a successful mate involve accepting that wives will take any ideas fun husbands come up with and, in his words, take that fun deep into the woods and shoot it dead.

God, but " 'Til Death" sounds so old. How old, you say? You can pinpoint its origins in Henny Youngman's famous one-line groaner, only forget about the wife -- this is Fox saying, "Take Brad Garrett ... please."

Some people will, and that won't even be solely based Garrett's familiarity from "Everybody Loves Raymond." But let's be honest, the producers are riding that show's reputation for all it's worth. But Garrett is a more convincing history teacher and weathered spouse than the baby brother cop he played before; something about his deep voice and weary delivery is dead-on.

"Bottom line," he tells a classroom full of students, "people have always killed each other, people are currently killing each other, and people will continue to kill each other. Forever. All right. Have a great afternoon."

Garrett and Fisher are obviously steering this thing, and they need to, because Thomas and Foster are a distant second string here. If " 'Til Death" ain't half bad, the half that reeks sits squarely on the Woodcocks' side of the fence.

Granted, you'll pay more attention to that than you will to "Happy Hour," the kind of comedy that reminds you of the days when Fox tried to innovate the genre with the likes of "Flying Blind." Only that was a genuinely adventurous premise, whereas here we have a wuss from the burbs moving in with a drunken loser after his girlfriend dumps him.

You're probably thinking that idea sounds like pure uncut high-larity, and in the hands of better writers, it would be. But no, this is merely another dead-on-arrival series to add to the mountain of failures Fox has hurled our way over the past few seasons.

"Happy Hour" has the additional benefit of ruining Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" within the first 30 minutes that you spend with Henry (John Sloan) and his new roommate Larry (Lex Medlin), a fun-loving guy with an online T-shirt business who makes it his mission to teach Henry how to be cool.

Helping him in his mission is his pal Amanda (Beth Lacke), a beautiful woman with a bank job and a sense a humor that manages to be both flat and self-deprecating at the same time.

Rounding out the crew, besides Henry's ex-girlfriend, Heather (Brooke D'Orsay), are Larry's ex-roommate, Brad (Nat Faxon), and his significant other, Tina (Jamie Denbo), the latest in a long line of emasculating sitcom chicks.

Each week Larry and Henry promise to get drunk and learn life lessons, and there's very little reason to tag along for the ride unless you're watching this at a bar and the TV is on mute. I had no such circumstances working in my favor, so when I say the pilot was unremarkable in every way, that statement cannot be blamed on a Maker's Mark-induced blackout.

Perhaps that's for the best; it means not many people will remember "Happy Hour" if it goes. Especially if Fox replaces it with something that works. It's OK to have hope.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/284044_tv07.html

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

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A weak turnout for Katie's 9/11 special
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sept. 7 2007

Katie Couric had two nights of above-average viewership on the “CBS Evening News” to hype last night’s 9/11 special airing featuring her exclusive interview with President Bush.

But significantly fewer viewers tuned in for Couric’s primetime show than her newscast, with just 5.9 million total viewers watching “Five Years Later: How Safe Are We?,” according to Nielsen fast nationals.

Finishing third in its 10 p.m. timeslot, “Later” lost 37 percent of its lead-in, “CSI: NY,” which averaged 9.35 million viewers at 9 p.m. The special averaged a 2.1 among adults 18-49, also finishing third in the timeslot.

By comparison, Couric drew 13.59 million viewers her first night as “Evening News” anchor on Tuesday.

Americans may simply be uninterested in reliving one of our greatest tragedies via television, or more interested in remembering it their own way. The same trend was apparent last week, when NBC’s Hurricane Katrina one-year anniversary special drew modest numbers.

CBS and ABC both have Sept. 11 specials airing this weekend as well.

Fox led for the night with a 2.8 rating and 8 share of adults 18-49, ahead of CBS at 2.7/8, NBC at 2.3/7, ABC at 2.0/6, Univision at 1.7/5 and WB at 0.6/2.

At 8 p.m., CBS was No. 1 at 3.1 for "Rock Star: Supernova," ahead of Fox at 2.8 for "Bones," up slightly over last week. Next came Univision and NBC both at 1.9 for "La Fea Mas Bella" and "Fear Factor," followed by ABC at 1.8 for two "George Lopez" repeats and WB at 0.7 for a pair of "Blue Collar TV" reruns.

At 9 p.m., Fox led at 2.9 for "Justice," followed by CBS's "CSI: NY" repeat at 2.8, NBC's two "Scrubs" repeats at 2.2, ABC's two "George" reruns" at 2.1, Univision's "Barrera de Amor" at 1.9 and WB's "One Tree Hill" rerun at 0.5.

At 10 p.m., NBC's "Law & Order" rerun was No. 1 at 2.8, followed by ABC's "Primetime: Medical Mysteries" at 2.2, CBS's “Later” at 2.1 and Univision's "Don Francisco Presenta" at 1.5.

Among households, Fox was No. 1 for the night at a 5.7 rating and 9 share, followed by CBS at 5.0/8, NBC at 4.2/7, ABC at 3.7/6, Univision at 2.2/4 and WB at 1.1/2. (Note: Many former UPN affiliates have switched to MyNetworkTV affiliates and thus the network is not being included in overnights.)

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7144.asp

TV Sports
DirecTV HD Sunday Ticket Schedule
Sunday, Sept. 10

Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers 719
New Orleans Saints at Cleveland Browns 720
Seattle Seahawks at Detroit Lions 721
Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Texans 722
Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs 723
Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots 724
Denver Broncos at St. Louis Rams 725

TV Notebook
Amid Controversy, ABC Plans to Air The Path to 9/11
By John Consoli MediaWeek.com Sept. 7, 2006

Despite a firestorm of criticism and the reality that it will have to absorb the entire $30 million cost of production without any recouping of cost from ad dollars, ABC will go ahead with its scheduled plans to air the five hour "docudrama" miniseries The Path to 9/11 on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 in prime time.

The most recent missive sent to Walt Disney Co. chairman Bob Iger was on behalf of Bill Clinton, written by the head of the Clinton Foundation and a lawyer from Clinton's law office, calling the miniseries "factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate."

The miniseries, based in large part on the 9/11 Commission's report, is not a documentary based entirely on fact, but a docudrama which intermingles fact with fictionalized scenes, and is a product of the ABC entertainment division, not the news division, i.e., a movie.

But critics, nonetheless, have called on the network to either make the movie historically accurate or to not air it. Most of the criticism has come from Democrats and members of the Clinton Administration for the series' portrayal of some events involving Clinton White House officials, although some Bush Administration officials have also called portions of the series inaccurate. Tom Kean, a Republican, who chaired the 9/11 Commission, was a consultant on the miniseries, which was written by Cyrus Nowrasteh, executive produced by Marc Platt, and directed by David Cunningham. One of the movie's biggest critics has been Richard Ben Veniste, a Democrat, who was also a member of the 9/11 Commission and said to often be at odds with Kean while the Commission was conducting its investigation and putting together its report.

ABC insiders are scratching their heads about the execessive noise levels over the miniseries that have surfaced during the past few days, since copies were first distributed in mid-July during the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, and screenings were held in Washington, D.C., and in New York City, for politicians and advertisers and others over the past several weeks. Because of the length of the miniseries, however, only the first half of the movie was aired during the screenings, with a DVD containing the second half given to attendees. Since the movie is in chronilogical order by years, the first half of the movie covers the Clinton Administration, while the second half covers the Bush Administration.

An ABC statement on the situation said, "Many of the people who have expressed opinions about the film have yet to see it in its entirety."

During a TCA session on Path to 9/11 in July, Cunningham said in addition to Kean, during filming of the movie, there were "an army of consultants that were there&hellipfrom CIA, FBI, Secret Service, White House, many of those funnelling up to Gov. Kean."

During that same session, Kean was asked if he was "totally happy with the miniseries" and if there was anything he would like to change. Kean responded, "Little changes here or there maybe, but, the spirit of this is absolutely correct. This is the story of how it happened, and it's the first representation I've seen that takes it from the first World Trade Center, follows the characters, both the conspirators and the people who were trying to stop the conspiracy and the government people who didn't act when they should."

Among the inaccuracies alleged by Clinton is that while the 9/11 Commission was not critical of his efforts to apprehend al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the movie insinuates that he was preoccuppied with fighting his impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky situation. The movie also has Clinton security adviser Sandy Berger denying authorization to CIA agents about to capture bin Laden, when the 9/11 Commission report said Berger actually gave the CIA the OK and was overruled by CIA chief George Tenet.

ABC has not responded to specific criticisms of the movie. But in a statement, the network said, "The Path to 9/11 is a dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources, including the 9/11 Commission Report, other published materials, and personal interviews. For dramatic and narrative purposes, the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, and time compression."

The controversial nature of the miniseries seems to have prevented the network from either getting a sponsor or deciding that it would be best to air the movie without one. Even presenting it with only one sponsor would not enable the network to recoup the entire cost of production.

ABC also said it will make the movie available for free via the Apple iTunes Music store and via streaming video on its ABC.com Web site.

While ABC had no official comment on whether it was altering anything before airing, insiders said some small changes were made over the past week to "clarify intent."

But in a statement, the network said, "We hope viewers will watch the entire broadcast before forming their own opinions."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003118271

TV Notebook
HD news heats up for Grass Valley
By Glen Dickson Broadcasting & Cable 9/7/2006

After a busy early part of 2006 supplying equipment for HDTV sports broadcasts, Grass Valley is starting to see fresh growth in selling high-def gear for news production, announcing over 8 million euros of fresh sales of its HD editing and production automation software at the IBC show in Amsterdam Thursday.

New orders for Grass Valley’s HD news production gear have come from CBS O&O’s KCBS Los Angeles and KYW Philadelphia, CBS affiliate KLAS Las Vegas, and ABC affiliate KMGH Denver….

The next big thing in high-def is news,” says Grass Valley President Marc Valentin. “It’s still early days for high-def, but we expect 2007 will be the watershed year for high-def news, as 2006 was for sports and entertainment.”

Valentin estimates that Grass Valley is involved in 80% of HD news installations globally, with half of those sales generated by its Ignite automated news production system and the rest coming from high-def news editing.

Grass Valley VP Jeff Rosica says that producing local news in HD is becoming a competitive issue, and that HD news has just as much appeals as sports or movies, as the crisp images “literally smack you in the face.” At the Grass Valley press event, he showed a short clip from KABC Los Angeles, which is using a large Ignite system to produce its newscasts in HD.

One area where Grass Valley offered little news was on its tapeless Infinity high-def camera system, which was due to begin shipping in July but has been delayed by engineering tweaks based on customer feedback. For example, Grass Valley redesigned the cooling system on the camera to make it self-enclosed, so it doesn’t suck in outside air and potentially drag dust into the system.

“We’ve got to get it right the first time,” says Rosica, who says the ship date for the $25,000 camera has been pushed back three to four months.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369729

TV Notebook
Trek Revamp Will Not Air in HD
Show gets HD facelift, But No HD distribution

(From James Hibberd’s HDTV Newsletter at TVWeek.com. Go to TVWeek.com to sign up for regular email delivery each Thursday.)

Episodes of the original "Star Trek" series won't be available in high definition anytime soon, a delay that has all parties involved pointing fingers in different directions.

CBS Paramount Domestic Television, which owns the show, is blaming stations for not being ready to handle HD. Some stations say Paramount's content relay service is slowing them down. The relay service, which electronically transfers HD files to stations, says offering "Trek" in high def is no problem—if that's what the other parties really want.

The confusion puts a spotlight on stumbling blocks for television executives tasked with delivering shows in high definition. As distributors, networks and station groups race to meet consumer demand for HD content, they're discovering unanticipated problems that are complicating the spread of the super-crisp format.

The "Trek" flap kicked off last week, when CBS Paramount sent out a press release announcing the original 1960s series will be digitally remastered in HD with new backgrounds and special effects. The release stopped short of declaring the show would be distributed in HD, saying "once stations upgrade and start broadcasting HD signals, the episodes will be all ready for viewers to enjoy in HD."

Yesterday during a conference call with reporters, the CBS Paramount team elaborated on that, saying they are creating HD version of the series, but will not make them available to stations during the show's initial weekly run.

"While they are being transferred into HD, [most] of the stations are not transmitting in HD because of limitations of the stations," said Dave Rossi, a visual effects producer on the project. "We can offer them the opportunity to do it, but our understanding is the major affiliates don't have the storage capacity to do anything but live broadcast. So the choice has been made that we're going to air them in their standard definition, 4:3."

But some station owners, who have spent millions to upgrade to high definition, said the "Trek" team's argument is not, as a certain Vulcan officer would say, logical. CBS Paramount's own "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" are going to be syndicated in HD starting next week, with about 50 upgraded stations on board.

And Bill Carroll, VP director of programming at Katz Television Group, said stations want "Star Trek" in an HD format.

"Stations are looking for as many HD opportunities as they can," Mr. Carroll said. "You don't make these kind of investments if you don't believe there's an emerging audience."

The HD versions of "Wheel" and "Jeopardy" will be distributed the old fashioned way—a satellite feed.

But for "Trek," Paramount is using a digital-content distribution service called Pathfire that some say is not-quite HD-ready.

Naturally, when called by TelevisionWeek, the Pathfire team said they can, in fact, distribute "Trek" in HD.

"If stations and studios say to us, `We want to do this,' trust me, we'll do it," said Joe Fabiano, chief technology officer for Pathfire. "We wouldn't be doing a fully functional HD field trial … if we weren't capable of doing it."

the delivery service instead. Currently, Pathfire is conducting HD tests by distributing "Wheel" and "Jeopardy" to a few stations.

Until the HD issue is sorted out, the CBS Paramount team will make 4:3 and 16:9 versions of each episode. The team will also make available full-length and shorter syndication-length cuts of the series. An eventual DVD release is also planned.

CBS Paramount President John Nogawski said upgrading the series will keep the original "Trek" relevant for future generations of viewers.

"As we move into having much better TV sets than in the 1960s, as we move into more lines of resolution and HD, this show would not have held up for the viewer," he said. "It was really imperative to make this change."
Mr. Nogawski emphasized that, unlike George Lucas' tinkering with the original "Star Wars" trilogy, the changes would only improve the quality of the original effects - not alter content.

"I'm not concerned we're going to have a backlash … I don't think people are going to say, 'Oh my gosh, you destroyed it.' … It's just prettier to look at," he said. "Right down to the placement of stars, it's being re-simulated to be exactly what was there before."

(from the HDTV Newsletter at [b]TVWeek.com[/b}

I'm not a Star Trek fan in any way, shape or form -- probably because it was well before my time, but I wouldn't mind watching the whole series in HD on a weekly basis.

That being said, the article above is very disappointing. What is with the "he said, she said" and finger pointing? The parties involved have to get together and deliver HD content to the consumer. With these attitudes, is it any surprise that joe six packs keep saying that the HD investment isn't worth it due to lack of content?

Critic’s Notebook
Hooked by 'The Wire'
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 07, 2006

If you have only one hour a week for television, give it to “The Wire.”

Even if you think you don’t have time for television, find an hour a week to watch the fourth season of “The Wire” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO). It’s a masterpiece.

Novelistic in its scope and uncannily precise in its details, this exceptional season of “The Wire” depicts many interlocking layers of Baltimore society, from the politicians and developers who control the city’s future to the boys and cops who fight daily battles on the street corners over whether some form of law and order will prevail.

Much of the focus this season is on four 8th graders in Baltimore’s decayed public schools. There’s Dukie (Jermaine Crawford), a gangly boy with the soft eyes of a shy fawn. Few kids at school will hang out with him; he smells bad because the water was turned off at his home, and he looks raggedy because his family steals his clothes to sell for drug money.

But there’s much more to Dukie. His teacher, an ex-cop played by Steppenwolf ensemble member Jim True-Frost, starts bringing in soap, clothes and food for the boy. The teacher finds that the soft-spoken boy is whip-smart and has a talent for computers. Halfway through the season, when Dukie gives his teacher a real smile, it’s a heart-piercing moment.

The deftness of the portraits in Dukie’s classroom -- of rowdy kids, of good kids, of kids just trying to get by -- would be enough to recommend the show, but the struggling school is just one location for this wide-ranging yet masterfully constructed season.

The Major Crimes unit of seasons past is still around; its members are scattered into many corners of the Baltimore Police Department, and there are attempts to kill off the unit, which was responsible for high-profile convictions in the past. The unit may have been too good at what it did: How good police work is stymied -- or assisted -- by politicians is a recurring theme of the show, which is shot on location in Baltimore but could be taking place in any major American city.

Some cops, still trying to be “good police” despite all the obstacles, even allow themselves to wonder whether Baltimore is on the brink of a change for the better. A young Italian mayoral candidate, Thomas Carcetti, goes from an also-ran to a real contender during the course of the season, and his political education is enthralling in its own right.

“The Wire” steers clear of preaching, but it’s impossible not to see the graft and wheeling and dealing that goes on in the higher echelons of Baltimore’s power structure without also seeing parallels in the petty larceny on the street corners and the theft and betrayals among the city’s drug dealers. What we see in “The Wire” is how all of these pieces of the city fit together -- and, in a way, depend on each other to survive.

“Every dying institution, like a dying animal, seeks to protect itself,” says Ed Burns, a cop and schoolteacher turned “Wire” writer/producer in an interview on HBO’s Web site. “The schools and [the] police department [are] unresponsive, because it’s about keeping the world as is, so you’re on top of it.”

Some have nearly given up the fight -- former Major Crimes officer Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) is working as a beat cop, seeing no future in thoughtful police work. But there are still some cops who won’t give in to the entropy. The jovial cynicism of Bunk Moreland (the terrific Wendell Pierce) hides a ferocious drive to do good work; the canny intelligence of the quietly charismatic Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick) is finally recognized, and Daniels may get a chance to make some real changes at the stats-obsessed police department.

Like any good, meaty novel, “The Wire” requires you to pay attention, but the attention paid to these Baltimore stories -- which are written, in part, by novelists Dennis Lehane, George Pelicanos and Richard Price -- is more than amply rewarded with gripping storytelling and unshowy acting by a crackerjack ensemble cast.

“The Wire” takes time to create its world, but the cumulative power of that portrait -- of post-millennium urban America, of four boys with slender hopes for the future -- is on a level with the best work in television history.

Whether it happens in the opening minutes or in the third or fourth episode of the season, you will be hooked by “The Wire” and find yourself impatiently waiting for the next episode to air. You’ll want to know what happens to the boxing coach who tries to make a difference, to the drug dealer’s son who struggles with life on the corner, to Dukie’s friend Randy (Chicago actor Maestro Harrell), a savvy schoolyard entrepreneur who’s desperate to better his life.

And once you’ve seen the season’s closing image, you won’t be able to stop thinking about what it all means.

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

TV Sports
Fox, CBS Lash Out at NFL
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable 9/7/2006

Fox and CBS on Thursday lashed out at the NFL’s decision to make them declare after just the fourth week of games which late-season contests they want to protect from being moved to NBC.

After CBS and Fox each pick a total of five games they want to protect over the last eight weeks, NBC then has the right to cherry pick the games it wants to fill out its Sunday night schedule as part of the new "flex-scheduling" plan that begins in the tenth week of the 17-week season.

The networks contend the league is in essence making them choose their top games later in the season after seeing each team play just three or four times.

"We’re disappointed that the league’s guidelines for the flexible schedule seem unfair to the Sunday afternoon broadcasters," says Fox Sports President Ed Goren. "We knew that the flexible schedule was part of the deal, but we were led to believe that the process wouldn’t put any network at a disadvantage. This plan almost guarantees that one or both networks will protect the wrong game on any given Sunday."

CBS Sports chief Sean McManus, who divulged the NFL’s decision on a Thursday conference call, expressed frustration that his network could not wait until later in the season to pick which games to protect.

"They are making the rules and we are living by them, obviously," says McManus of the NFL.

After McManus broke the news on the conference call, the NFL later issued a statement from Howard Katz, senior vice president of broadcasting, saying the time frame "will allow us to ensure that the flexible schedule is administered fairly for our fans, teams and network partners. We have analyzed this extensively, including running models last season and getting input from team committees. This timing allows teams to play their way onto primetime and assures that all of our network partners will have attractive match-ups throughout the season. We will continue to monitor this throughout the season."

While predicting the effect will be "fairly minimal" on CBS and Fox, McManus did acknowledge he understood why the league is catering to NBC, which begins its $600 million-per-year deal to carry Sunday night games as the NFL shifts its Monday night package to cable on ESPN.

"The NFL has a lot riding on NBC being very successful in primetime," he says. "We just want to make sure they don’t do it at the expense of CBS."

McManus added that regarding the flex-scheduling policy, the NFL will "see how it works this year and then adjust as necessary."

NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chairman Dick Ebersol said Wednesday NBC will be giving the NFL its request at least 12 days prior to each Sunday once flex-scheduling begins, with the NFL announcing which game NBC will carry 12 days out.

The two exceptions are the second-to-last week, which is set for Eagles-Cowboys on Christmas Day, and the final week, in which the flex-scheduling decision will be made only six days before the game.

Fox and CBS on Thursday lashed out at the NFL’s decision to make them declare after just the fourth week of games which late-season contests they want to protect from being moved to NBC.

After CBS and Fox each pick a total of five games they want to protect over the last eight weeks, NBC then has the right to cherry pick the games it wants to fill out its Sunday night schedule as part of the new "flex-scheduling" plan that begins in the tenth week of the 17-week season.

The networks contend the league is in essence making them choose their top games later in the season after seeing each team play just three or four times.

"We’re disappointed that the league’s guidelines for the flexible schedule seem unfair to the Sunday afternoon broadcasters," says Fox Sports President Ed Goren. "We knew that the flexible schedule was part of the deal, but we were led to believe that the process wouldn’t put any network at a disadvantage. This plan almost guarantees that one or both networks will protect the wrong game on any given Sunday."

CBS Sports chief Sean McManus, who divulged the NFL’s decision on a Thursday conference call, expressed frustration that his network could not wait until later in the season to pick which games to protect.

"They are making the rules and we are living by them, obviously," says McManus of the NFL.

After McManus broke the news on the conference call, the NFL later issued a statement from Howard Katz, senior vice president of broadcasting, saying the time frame "will allow us to ensure that the flexible schedule is administered fairly for our fans, teams and network partners. We have analyzed this extensively, including running models last season and getting input from team committees. This timing allows teams to play their way onto primetime and assures that all of our network partners will have attractive match-ups throughout the season. We will continue to monitor this throughout the season."

While predicting the effect will be "fairly minimal" on CBS and Fox, McManus did acknowledge he understood why the league is catering to NBC, which begins its $600 million-per-year deal to carry Sunday night games as the NFL shifts its Monday night package to cable on ESPN.

"The NFL has a lot riding on NBC being very successful in primetime," he says. "We just want to make sure they don’t do it at the expense of CBS."

McManus added that regarding the flex-scheduling policy, the NFL will "see how it works this year and then adjust as necessary."

NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chairman Dick Ebersol said Wednesday NBC will be giving the NFL its request at least 12 days prior to each Sunday once flex-scheduling begins, with the NFL announcing which game NBC will carry 12 days out.

The two exceptions are the second-to-last week, which is set for Eagles-Cowboys on Christmas Day, and the final week, in which the flex-scheduling decision will be made only six days before the game.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6369787

TV Notebook
'Survivor' strategy: Divide and conquer
Splitting competitors along racial and ethnic lines has caused a flap but it's a "rebirth" of the concept, its host says
By Greg Braxton Los AngelesTimes Staff Writer September 8, 2006

"Survivor" host Jeff Probst on Thursday aggressively defended this season's twist of initially dividing teams along racial and ethnic lines, denying that controversy over the concept had caused several prominent sponsors, including General Motors, to drop out of the series.

In a media conference call promoting the Sept. 14 season launch of "Survivor" on CBS, Probst said he understood the initial discomfort by politicians and others who have criticized this season's format. But he said that much of the opposition had come from those unfamiliar with the show's "outwit, outplay, outlast" competitive formula. And many of the critics were furthering their own agendas, he said.

Several New York City Council members and others have protested "Survivor: Cook Islands," saying the premise is rooted in "racial segregation" and calling on CBS to pull the plug on the show. The four teams initially are separated by race and ethnicity: white, black, Asian and Latino.

"If people give this a chance, they will be surprised at the results," said Probst, adding that he hoped those who loudly lashed out would be just as vocal at the season's conclusion if they approved of the outcome.

He called this season a "rebirth" of the "Survivor" concept, saying that many of the participants had never seen previous installments, and were not as calculating or savvy as previous contestants who had studied the series to map out possible strategies.

"I think you'll see a freshness," he said, adding that "Survivor" creator Mark Burnett felt that the twist had "re-energized" the series.

With the exception of the finale, this season's "Survivor" has already been filmed, and the network is moving forward with plans to broadcast it.

Probst also said that reports that several prominent "Survivor" sponsors — including GM, Home Depot and Campbell's Soup — had pulled out because of the racial premise were wrong. He said those sponsors had withdrawn before the format was known or fully formulated.

Unlike previous seasons, CBS is not releasing an edited version of the show's opening episode to critics. "You're just going to have to watch," Probst said.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-survivor8sep08,0,2943469,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

TV Notebook
"Survivor": The race card
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

You have to have a significant amount of cynicism both to cover the television industry and to thrive in a media marketplace. I knew the moment it was revealed that "Survivor" on CBS was going to initially split its participants into tribes based on ethnicity that editors across the country, a good portion of them who have never seen the long-running reality series, would flip for it. Blacks vs. Whites vs. Latinos vs. Asians. Oh my! How could the producers and CBS do such a thing? Get someone on the horn for outrage!

Luckily for journalists everywhere, the world is full of people willing to share outrage, even if - sometimes particularly if - they haven't seen what they're upset about. People condemn movies they haven't seen all the time. TV shows, too. Books. Various acts of others. They get phone calls from reporters who ask, Hey, what do you think about this idea? Next thing you know, blaring headlines, outrage, good ink spilled, etc.

I was on vacation when I first heard about the "Survivor" plan from creator Mark Burnett was going into action. But this isn't the first time TV critics have heard him float this idea. He's been talking about it for a while. He's already split participants based on sex and age. Race was coming. We all knew that.

Predictably enough, a lot of stories came out. Headlines blared. Burnett had to tell them that they were being knee-jerk about the whole thing since they hadn't seen it. But of course the stories had to appear. In journalism, it's often hard to say no to the obvious or the easy or the trite because overlooking it - even if the so-called controversy has no real merit - is just too difficult. So, on vacation, I read some of the pieces and laughed (see, it's the cynicism thing) about the Old Faithful of journalism. Race plus television plus scandal plus available sources to express outrage: It's a slam dunk.

I gave my take on KFOG a couple of times even when I thought the story was old and played out. As you might soon see, that's apparently not the case. Plus, the new season kicks off next week anyway - Sept. 14 - so I might as well drop my "There's nothing to see here, folks, move along" position since that's as appreciated as nuance itself in television. See: Failure of "Arrested Development," expected low numbers for "The Wire." Weep accordingly.

If I absolutely must get involved in this moldy fracas, let's remember a couple of the elements at play here. 1) The idea old. 2) Cynicism alert - "Survivor" wasn't very exciting last season. I've watched every single episode since the franchise - which essentially opened the door for the reality TV revolution - first aired. Last season was boring. I even vowed never to watch it again. To move on. So when I heard there was going to be a "race war" on "Survivor," I smiled knowingly. A timely play, Mr. Burnett. Well done. Next year: "Survivor: Everybody's Nude." 3) People who are outraged about "Survivor" have often never watched it. Without boring you with details, these disparate "Survivor" tribes - be they separated by gender, age or race - must eventually merge. When they merge - end of controversy. Before that, they'll turn on their own. Oh, no - white on white anger! Once merged, various alliances will be made and broken until only two people are left. Those two must convince a jury of people who they back-stabbed to vote for them so that they can win a million dollars.

Dividing by race on "Survivor" isn't outrageous or controversial. It's contrived. It has already generated the kind of interest a flagging franchise needs to keep going. So what is it really, other than great marketing? CBS is already touting the race thing on its website, saying everyone is talking about "Survivor." And maybe they are, thanks to a gullible media machine that can't say no to manufactured controversy. It sure beats taking out an ad.

Lastly, there's something else that needs to be shot down. Burnett likes to call "Survivor" a social experiment. I'm sure he believes that. I'm also sure he's believed every other bit of hype he's spouted in the past - and that is a very long list indeed. But "Survivor" isn't a social experiment. It's a reality television show with game show themes to it. I love it. When the casting is right, the show just clicks. It reveals small details about human behavior and a whole lot more about "learned reality TV show behavior." Which isn't so scientifically satisfying, but entertaining none the less.

Minorities are under-represented on television across the board, particularly on reality shows. So I like the idea of dividing up tribes by race on "Survivor" if for nothing else than to see four or five different Asians instead of one. Will they be accurate representations of the various races? You're kidding, right? Television calls it progress when a Chinese actress plays a Korean. Lower your expectations accordingly.

It also helps to remember that the first thing anyone on a reality show says after they're off - regardless of race - was that they were edited unfairly. In case you need reminding, reality shows are not real. They are manufactured. They are crafted. They are, for the most part, anything but spontaneous.

But there's also a wonderful sense of accomplishment for these people which, cynicism aside, we as viewers can't really relate to having not played alongside them. Contestants often say the experience on "Survivor" (or other reality shows like "The Amazing Race") changes them in positive ways. And as previews of the various ethnic participants on the upcoming "Survivor" suggest (go to the CBS.com website to hear them talk about being, uh, segregated), they all want to do well for their communities. They want to be, how to put this? - edited well. In the end, at the season finale party shown to millions of Americans, there will be hugs and kisses and platitudes galore. It may be educational for them and for some viewers. I'm just hoping it's entertaining for me.

The depressing element to this faux controversy - other than I had to join it - is that roughly 18 million people or more each week will watch "Survivor." But this Sunday, the fourth season of "The Wire" will kick off on HBO and it'll be lucky to get 2 million or so viewers. "The Wire" is television's finest dramatic examination of race and class. And you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who gives a damn about that.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

Guide to HDTV Programming
Summer 2006

Here's a very slick looking "advertising supplement" featuring some articles and spotlighting the following HD channels:

A&E HD
ESPN HD
ESPN2 HD
HD NET
INHD
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL HD
UNIVERSAL HD
VOOM

http://multichannel.com/contents/pdf/HDmulti.pdf

Thanks, Marcus. Good find.

TV Sports
N.F.L. Learns Its Worth and Makes ESPN Pay
By Richard Sandomir The New York Times September 8, 2006

You might have noticed that ESPN now carries “Monday Night Football” and will start with a Minnesota-Washington/San Diego-Oakland doubleheader next week. “Is It Monday Yet?” an ESPN campaign asks. Calm down. There are still three days till Tony Kornheiser.

Why isn’t ESPN using “Monday, Monday” to promote its shift from Sunday night games? Don’t be silly. That song by the Mamas and the Papas warns that “whenever Monday comes, you can find me cryin’ all of the time.”

ESPN is doing anything but weeping, even if it is paying $1.1 billion a year, 83 percent more than it paid for Sunday nights, and far more than any other network or DirecTV is spending. Yet for all of ESPN’s cash, it is carrying no more than what it used to televise on Sundays: no playoff games, no chance at a Super Bowl, no late-season flexible schedule. Those are NBC’s for $600 million, a relative bargain, in its Sunday night package.

“Our company is positioned to use a product like the N.F.L. in ways that stretch 24/7, around the world, 365 days across 11 businesses,” George Bodenheimer, the president of ESPN, said yesterday by telephone. “It’s odd in print to keep score with the rights fees because we’re in a different space.”

With its myriad television, radio, print, video game, fantasy and Web businesses, ESPN is different from the sports divisions at NBC, Fox and CBS. Still, rights fees provide a measure of how much a network covets the N.F.L., and how much the league knows it can extract from a media partner.

The league knew all along that it could squeeze far more out of ESPN than anyone else. The main reason is that ESPN has two revenue streams: it sells advertising, as do the broadcast networks, and it collects subscriber fees from cable operators, which broadcast networks do not. ESPN charges the steepest monthly fee of any national cable network — $2.86 a subscriber, Kagan Research said.

So a modest, double-digit jump over $600 million a year would not do.

“I don’t know if we felt they had underpaid in the past, but it became clear they were making a lot of money off the N.F.L.,” said Pat Bowlen, the owner of the Denver Broncos. As chairman of the league’s broadcasting committee, Bowlen helped shape the new TV deals.

“We felt we deserved a larger share of that money because the N.F.L. is a big part of their programming,” Bowlen added. “They wouldn’t be anything near what they are without us.”

For several years after the last N.F.L. deal began, ESPN collected annual, automatic 20 percent subscriber fee increases from cable operators. It was the N.F.L. surcharge. The executive chiefly behind that was Steve Bornstein, then ESPN’s president. Bornstein is now the N.F.L.’s top media official and doubtlessly used his insider’s knowledge as part of the team that negotiated the new TV deal.

The N.F.L. clearly recognized its leverage over ESPN, which would have to roll back its subscriber fees, losing many millions of dollars, if it lost the right to carry what is now Commissioner Roger Goodell’s league.

The league also knew well that rivals like Comcast and Rupert Murdoch were lurking, helping to maximize its strong hand. The N.F.L. gained further leverage when the Walt Disney Company, which owns 80 percent of ESPN, dawdled before making the $1.1 billion deal. Had it not dallied, Disney might have kept “Monday Night Football” on ABC and “Sunday Night Football” on ESPN for $1.4 billion a year.

In the end, ESPN took “Monday Night” to its corporate breast. “ESPN is addicted to and cannot live without the N.F.L.,” Bowlen said.

ESPN can afford $1.1 billion a year and the price of a Nascar deal that starts in 2007. But the higher costs will pinch its prodigious profits, said Lowell Singer, an analyst for Cowen & Company. ESPN’s operating income, which he estimated would be $1.9 billion for the year ending Sept. 30, will stay flat in the coming fiscal year.

“Strategically, they needed to keep the N.F.L., but their economics will be challenged,” Singer said.

Bodenheimer offered no regrets about possibly overpaying for the cable version of “Monday Night.”

“Would I always like to get more and pay less? Yes,” he said. “But I’m delighted with what we have.”

He would prefer to discuss how the deal is nourishing ESPN, like the 100,000 sign-ups for the new “Monday Night Surround” fan feature on ESPN.com; the jam-packed advertising in the new issue of ESPN the Magazine; and the advertising deal it just signed with Wal-Mart.

I asked Bodenheimer why his empire never flexed its muscles so wholeheartedly for “Sunday Night” all those years.

“I never thought of it that way,” he said, searching for an answer.

Then he segued into the new ESPN mantra: It is carrying the N.F.L.’s best TV package, and who would have thought that possible 27 years ago when ESPN came to life?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/sports/football/08sandomir.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

TV Sports
Tooting Its Own Horn, NBC Hits a Sour Note
By Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 8, 2006

If television is all about self-promotion, then NBC did well in its first NFL telecast since 1998 Thursday night. Saturday's game between Penn State and Notre Dame got a lot of attention during halftime of the Miami-Pittsburgh season opener.

There's this game of some significance between Texas and Ohio State on Saturday, but that game is on ABC. So it didn't get a mention. The Penn State-Notre Dame game is on NBC.

Highlights of Notre Dame's victory over Penn State in 1992 were shown, and included a touchdown by Jerome Bettis and commentary by Cris Collinsworth. By coincidence, both are part of NBC's studio team, which wasn't in a studio Thursday night but rather on site in Pittsburgh.

Note to Fox, which is taking its pregame show on the road this year: Background stadium noise makes it hard to hear.

Controversy Brewing

The NFL's new flex schedule allows NBC to cherry pick games it wants for its Sunday night telecasts late in the season. NBC, beginning with Week 10, gets to pick 12 days in advance, and for the final week of the season it's only six days.

On the other hand, according to Sean McManus, president of CBS News and CBS Sports, his network and Fox must decide on all the games it wants to protect — games NBC can't have — after Week 4.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense to me," McManus said on a conference call Thursday. "It would seem the NFL would want us to have as much information as possible to know what teams are playing well."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-tvcol8sep08,1,5623816.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports

TV Sports
Berman will get past his 'Primetime'
By Susan BickelhauptBoston Globe Staff September 8, 2006

The ``Swami" -- Chris Berman's alter ego and NFL prognosticator on ESPN's Friday ``SportsCenter" -- will remain. So will Berman's trademark catchphrases, his nicknames, and his Sunday morning NFL preview show.

But gone is his Sunday night spot as host of ``NFL Primetime," which Berman held on ESPN for the last 19 years. ESPN's Sunday night game will air on NBC. ESPN will take over the Monday night game, which aired on ABC for 36 years.

So Berman has a lot of adjustments to make.

Berman says he is wistful about saying goodbye to the show that won multiple Emmys and was the highest-rated cable studio show.

On the other hand, Berman is matter-of-fact, repeatedly saying, ``Oh, well," even though it sounds as if he's trying to convince himself everything will be OK.

``Hey, nobody passed away," he said by telephone. ``I was just so comfortable doing it. It was just Tom [Jackson] and I, we weren't trying to reinvent the wheel; football is good enough. So, it was an old-school show, with a couple of old-school type guys that believe in: `Here are the games, let's show it.' "

So he won't deny feeling separation anxiety.

``Will I miss it this Sunday? Sure, I will. It's kind of the most fun that I've had. But again, we must realize, nobody passed away, that we're still doing TV football, and I was fortunate to do it for 19 years."

Berman still will do the ESPN ``Sunday NFL Countdown" show from 11 AM-1 PM ET. Then he, Jackson, and other ESPN colleagues will settle in to watch eight NFL games, analyze them, and glean highlights that will be folded into ``SportsCenter," which will air after the final game. By 10 p.m., he and Jackson will board a plane to be at the site of Monday's game.

He will host ``Monday Night Preview" from 7-8:30 PM, and the halftime show.

Berman, who went to Brown University, broadcast all the games on the college's station. He worked for radio and television stations in New England until 1979, when he was offered a job at the fledging all-sports cable network, ESPN.

Berman figured he had nothing to lose. ``I was 24, I was single, why not?"

And he definitely feels as if he's made his mark there.

``I really do think [the Sunday night show] will be missed," he said. ``But, oh, well. This is TV, and I'm still doing football, so to complain about it would be ridiculous. But that being said, I'll miss the show that we did so well. When they write my [obituary], probably very high up will be, `He did ` NFL Primetime.' "

Michael moving over

The show still will be called ``The George Michael Sports Machine," but for the first time in the program's 23-year history, Michael will share the hosting duties. Lindsay Czarniak , who has been a correspondent for the show since April, will be cohost when the show starts its new season Sunday. The syndicated show airs (after the late Sunday local news in most markets).. Czarniak also is a sports anchor/reporter for WRC in Washington and works as a pit reporter for NBC's and TNT's NASCAR coverage . . . NBA TV and ESPN Classic are teaming up to simulcast the enshrinement of the Class of 2006 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame tonight at 7:30 PM ET. ESPN's Mike Breen will be master of ceremonies, while Andre Aldridge will host the show for the enshrinement of Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, and Joe Dumars of the NBA, plus Italian team coach Sandro Gamba, University of Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma, and former Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt . . . OLN will air the 2006 USA Cycling Professional National Championships Sunday as part of its ``Cyclism Sundays" programming at 5 PM ET. Held over Labor Day weekend in Greenville, S.C., the inaugural USA Cycling Professional Time Trial National Championships featured a professionals-only field of 55 competitors who pursued a national title over a 20.13-mile course. Two days later, an all-American field rode the 121-mile road race. It was the first time in 21 years the professional championships featured a field made up solely of Americans. Legendary cycling announcer and one of the voices of the Tour de France, Phil Liggett, will call the action for both the individual time trial championship and the road race championship presented by Charter Communications.

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2006/09/08/berman_will_get_past_his_primetime?mode=PF

TV Sports
DeGeneres accepts nod to host Oscars
By Gregg Kilday The Hollywood Reporter Sep. 08, 2006

When the curtain goes up on the 79th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 25, Ellen DeGeneres will be attending her first Oscar show -- but instead of swanning about as a presenter or sweating it out as a nominee, she'll inaugurate the proceedings as the evening's host.

Laura Ziskin, who is producing this year's ceremonies, said Thursday that she offered the gig to DeGeneres, who quickly accepted.

"When Laura Ziskin called, I was thrilled," DeGeneres said. "There's two things I've always wanted to do in my life: One is to host the Oscars. The second is to get a call from Laura Ziskin. You can imagine that day's diary entry."

DeGeneres isn't an awards show novice.

"I've always wanted to host the show, ever since I hosted the Emmys," DeGeneres added. "Obviously, it's a huge honor, although it's not always a great situation. If you do well, they don't talk about it, and if you don't do well, you're torn apart. But I like the challenge, and I'd like to put my stamp on it. In fact, I'm thinking of stretching it out even longer to two nights like 'Rock Star: Supernova.' "

The comedian and syndicated talk show host co-hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1994 and then served as solo Emmy emcee in 2001 and '05. Her 2001 appearance, which took place in the wake of Sept. 11 and earned DeGeneres kudos for her expert handling of the difficult time, particularly impressed Ziskin, who at the time was preparing to produce her first Oscar show. Louis Horvitz, who was directing both shows, invited Ziskin to watch the Emmys from his control booth, where she was able to observe DeGeneres up close and in action.

"That was the brilliant show Ellen did," said Ziskin, who now is producing her second Oscar show. "I always thought that if I ever produced the Oscars again, and I wasn't sure I would, she'd be at the top of the list. She is a spectacular host -- she does that now on a daily basis -- and also a crackerjack entertainer. And you're always happy to see her -- hopefully, viewers will be just as happy to see her two and three hours into the show."

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis agreed with Ziskin's choice, saying of DeGeneres, "She just sparkles. She is such a pleasure to watch. Her wit cuts to the truth of things, but in a wonderfully warm-spirited way. I think she'll be a fantastic host for this show, and we're extremely pleased that she's agreed to do it."

DeGeneres' film resume is fairly short, though she did earn her spot in movie history by providing the voice of the memory-impaired Dory in "Finding Nemo." Her other film credits include "EDTV," "The Love Letter," "Goodbye Lover," "Mr. Wrong" and "Coneheads."

She starred in the series "Ellen" for ABC and "The Ellen Show" for CBS. "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," her daily talk show syndicated by Warner Bros., this year won its third Emmy for talk show and earned DeGeneres her second Emmy for talk show host.

DeGeneres said she plans to go back and review old Oscar shows and hosts. "It's impossible to do something brand new, but at least I'll try to do something that hasn't been done in awhile." Because the broadcast comes at the end of the February sweep, she won't put her talk show on hold while she rehearses, but she said, "I'll put my attention on both equally. I think it can be done."

The 79th Oscars will be broadcast live by ABC from the Kodak Theatre (in Los Angeles)..

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003118688

Critic’s Notebook
It's time to get 'Wire'-d
- after all, it's the best show on TV
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Sept. 8, 2006

Because he writes for HBO, David Simon doesn't have to worry how many times his characters drop the F-bomb.

But he still winces when people describing Simon's series "The Wire" use the G- and C-words.

As in "gritty" and "complex."

"Whenever I read those two words in every review of the show, when it says, 'the gritty and complex crime drama,' I just think, right, were we gritless and simple, we'd be fine," Simon told TV critics this summer.

I can see that.

While gritty and complex is usually critic shorthand for smart and daring television that doesn't talk down to its audience, it too often translates to readers as "Eat your vegetables."

"The Wire," (HBO, Sunday, 10 PM ET)though, isn't vegetables or fiber or any other part of a balanced diet.

If it were, I wouldn't have gobbled down all 13 of this season's episodes in a few short days.

What "The Wire" is, is the best show on television, and perhaps surprisingly for a series whose focus is often on casual corruption and its not-so-casual consequences, one of the most entertaining.

Or it will be, when it returns Sunday, after an unusually long break, for a fourth season that moves Simon's exploration of the, OK, gritty and complex organism known as the city of Baltimore into its schools.

And if you haven't been watching up until now, perhaps because a drama about the war on drugs that sprinkles its heroes and villains on both sides - sometimes allowing both to occupy the same bodies - didn't seem appealing, then Season 4 could represent a second chance.

This fall, "The Wire" follows Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski (Jim True-Frost) into the belly of the beast, as he moves from the Police Department to the classroom, much as Simon's writing and producing partner, Ed Burns, once did.

A former homicide detective, Burns taught social studies for seven years in the Baltimore schools.

"When you step into that classroom after being 20 years in the street, you think you are pretty tough. You find out real quickly that you are not," Burns said, adding that teaching "tests things that nothing else in my life tested."

Prez's journey, and the addition of four splendid young actors whose characters' paths cross his - Tristan Wilds, Maestro Harrell, Julito McCullum and Jermaine Crawford - might have been enough for a three-handkerchief Johnson & Johnson film on TNT.

But Simon and Burns - whose earlier partnership, a book called "The Corner," focused on the day-to-day lives of drug addicts in West Baltimore - don't exactly do inspirational or uplifting or any of those adjectives that win the easy Emmys (though "The Corner" miniseries still won three).

They do real, honest-to-God human beings, with flaws and failings and plenty of plain old bad luck, traits shared by the city that remains the central character of "The Wire."

They also find the funny where it wouldn't seem to belong. If you don't believe me, just watch the first few minutes of Sunday's episode, in which the enigmatically matter-of-fact Snoop (Felicia Pearson) visits a home center to purchase a nail gun.

You'll want to keep an eye on that nail gun, too.

Because like so much that happens on "The Wire," it's the small things that turn out to matter most.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//15467592.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

TV Notebook
Katie's Third Day: Still #1
But ABC & NBC Are Within Striking Distance
(from Brian Stelter’s TVNewser at mediabistro.com)

Katie Couric's third day on the CBS Evening News was #1 in the metered-market average. "The CBS broadcast earned a 6.4 rating, topping both ABC and NBC," the network said.

In metered markets, CBS averaged a 9.1/17 on Tuesday and a 7.0/14 on Wednesday.

This may be an unfair comparison, but on the same day last year, NBC and ABC had higher ratings than CBS. Read this paragraph carefully:

"Compared to the same day last year, the CBS Evening News posted a +39% increase (6.4/13 from 4.6/9) in the 53 metered markets, while ABC's World News dropped -18% (5.3/11 from 6.5/13), also in 53 markets. NBC's Nightly News, which was broadcast in 45 markets due to the NFL opening game, also decreased -18% (5.3/10 from 6.5/13)."

http://mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

TV Sports
Picture these NFL scenarios this season
By Michael Hiestand USA Today Sept. 8, 2006

The NFL's TV picture changes every time new TV contracts kick in.

And as the league unveils what might be its biggest TV makeover ever this weekend, a few tips on who will look pert or just pouty:

• Tony Kornheiser, from that rare and always-endangered species of analysts who never played or coached, will last longer than Rush Limbaugh's month-long ESPN studio experiment in 2003 but probably — maybe voluntarily — won't match Dennis Miller's two seasons on MNF.

But relax, Tony. Disney will roll on.

• NBC's Sunday night games will get bigger audiences than ESPN's Sunday night games last year. NBC reaches more households and has a better game schedule.

ESPN's Monday night games won't draw quite as well as ABC's did last year. ESPN will argue ratings aren't all that key when you synergistically factor in related increases in ESPN sports bar burger sales multiplied by ESPN cellphone usage minutes.

Whatever. NFL games will kick-start last-place broadcast network NBC and let ESPN force cable operators to empty their pockets and even fork up cash hidden in their shoes.

• Even before Bryant Gumbel calls his first NFL games in the NFL Network's eight-game late-season package, he'll take more flashy jabs at the league — criticizing, say, some owners' facelifts.

But the league will keep him partly to offer him up as proof that league's own channel isn't just a propaganda arm. That could help if, say, the network created a series showing NFL players undercover busting real-life steroid rings — and it turns out the shows were shot, with actors, at NFL Films.

• oe Buck, on Fox's pregame show before calling games, will keep Fox from losing its buzz. With his creativity flowing Thursday — "I'm trying to get Jimmy Johnson to do the show topless" —Buck said "my 10-year-old has as good an idea of how it will go as I do."

But this much seems certain as Fox takes its pregame show to stadiums all season: "I would imagine cheerleaders will somehow end up being involved," Buck suggests.

• The NFL, for the first time, will allow cameras on-field. That sounds pretty XFL-like, but there's lot of asterisks. Camera operators must stay between the 35-yard lines and end zones and between the hash marks and nearest sideline and only when the clock is dead — and no microphones!

Given how today's cameras can zoom in from anywhere, even outer space, only savvy viewers might notice close-ups are coming from cameras right next to players. Until that is, somebody trips and we all get a TV blooper we've never seen before.

• Flexible scheduling just might create mud-wrestling between TV execs after all. It was supposed to be just a system used sparingly over the season's last seven weeks to move games from Sunday afternoons to NBC's prime time to avoid having dud matchups on TV's most-watched night.

Fox and CBS each get to protect five games. But Thursday, CBS Sports President Sean McManus said games need to be picked by the season's fourth week — a bit early to know what to protect. Said McManus, "It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me."

How networks will serve up your games

This weekend the NFL and the TV networks that serve as their de facto ad agencies pull the curtain on a marketing miracle: Selling brutal violence as family fun meant to make us all gather round the big screens to create the sports world's biggest TV ratings. The result is the league getting $3.75 billion annually from the networks carrying its games. And as college football heats up, football gluttons can finally feast.

Brown, Casserly join team

CBS: Sunday regionalized coverage (main game: Bill-Patriots, 1 p.m. ET kickoff)

• Roster shuffles:James Brown comes from Fox to be new studio show traffic cop, replacing Greg Gumbel, who will call games with Dan Dierdorf. ... Charley Casserly, an ex-NFL general manager, has been added as studio "insider."

• Trick play: CBS, for fantasy leagues on its SportsLine website, will let viewers use their TiVo remote controls to call up real-time stats — that then pop up on their TV sets — to follow their make-believe rosters.

• Personal milestone: Studio analyst Dan Marino, to hype NutriSystem rather than his own restaurant chain, lost 22 pounds in the offseason.

Mondays go grandiose

ESPN Monday Night Football (Vikings-Redskins 7 ET/Chargers-Raiders 10:15)

• Roster shuffles:Mike Tirico becomes the fourth MNF play-by-play announcer — after Keith Jackson, Frank Gifford and Al Michaels. But Tony Kornheiser will get all the attention as a novelty act. For Kornheiser, a nervous flier who got his own bus, it's time to wear sunglasses at night: "Ozzy Osbourne was the last guy (to use) the bus, so I was checking under the beds."

• Year of the locust: Settling into showing one game after an opening doubleheader, ESPN will give each game an on-site pregame show comparable to a Super Bowl — showing up with seven production trucks, 47 cameras and 20 on-air types. Lock your doors.

Buck to break new ground

Sunday regionalized coverage (main game: Cowboys-Jaguars, 4:15 p.m. ET)

• Playing both ways:Joe Buck becomes first to host an NFL pregame show, then call games. Fox's pregame crew will tag along to Buck's game site each week — except weather lady Jillian Barberie, who's no longer part of the show — so Buck can banter with them before going upstairs to call action with Troy Aikman.

• Best play: After announcers Dick Stockton, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa said during an exhibition game that Fox would give a fan a car — presenting one fan, on-air, with a toy car that he assumed was representative of the real prize. It was supposed to be a joke. Unamused, Fox Sports head David Hill gives the fan a real Ford truck today.

Back in game, with fame

NBC's Sunday Night Football: (Colts-Giants 8:15 ET)

• Strengths: Brand-name game lineup led by John Madden, Al Michaels and the old Monday Night Football production crew. The studio crew includes Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth and Jerome Bettis. ... NFL flexible scheduling is meant to replace late-season NBC games that look like dogs.

• New wrinkle: Inheriting Sunday night games from ESPN, NBC gets earlier kickoffs and plans a pregame show meant to sum up the day's NFL action.

• Secret weapons:John Robinson, who grew up with Madden and went on to coach Southern California and the Los Angeles Rams, will be Madden's spotter. ... Studio has two TV sets which, at 103 inches, are billed as world's largest.

Prime-time show's opening act will be hard to top

ABC's Saturday Night Football (Ohio State-Texas, 8 ET)

• Lucky bounce: New prime-time series, the showcase of ABC/ESPN's college footage tonnage, gets this week's Game of the Century — and the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular-season matchup in a decade.

• Roster shuffles: Retired Keith Jackson says he won't go to any college games this season. ... Kirk Herbstreit, after starring in ESPN's Saturday morning pregame show, will join Brent Musburger and Bob Davie on ABC's prime-time game. Paul Maguire, leaving ESPN's NFL games, joins Bob Griese and Brad Nessler on top Saturday afternoon games. Mike Patrick, who worked NFL games with Maguire, teams with ESPN newcomer Todd Blackledge on ESPN Saturday prime-time games. ... Doug Flutie joins ABC's studio.

• Trick plays: About 25 ESPN games, including Georgia vs. South Carolina on Saturday night, will be simulcast on ESPN cellphones — a sort of anti-venin for viewers who watch too much big-screen, high-def TV.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-09-07-nfl-opener_x.htm

TV Notebook
Lauer Supports A 4th Hour Of 'Today'
-- If NBC Has The Producing Power To Do It
(from Brian Stelter’s TVNewser at mediabistro.com)

Matt Lauer thinks a fourth hour of Today is a good idea -- if NBC has the manpower to make it happen. In response to TVNewser's question during a conference call yesterday, Lauer said he thinks the discussions are in the preliminary stages.

Lauer said: "I think if the interest is there and we can put great content in that hour, and it won't water down the prevous version of the show, I'm fine with it as long as we can get the staff to accomplish it, Steve."

(He was referring to NBC News president Steve Capus, who holds the purse strings.)

"We certainly don't want to run people into the ground," Lauer continued. "We just want to make sure that if we tackle that extra hour, we have the manpower and the producing power to do it right."

Lauer said the fourth hour probably wouldn't be on his plate. "I don't have a very large role in the third hour, nor would Meredith," he noted.

http://mediabistro.com/tvnewser/

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

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A so-so premiere for Fox's ''Til Death'
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 8, 2006

Brad Garrett’s much-hyped return to television more than a year after the finale of “Everybody Loves Raymond” was no touchdown for Fox, airing opposite the season debut of the NFL on NBC.

“’Til Death,” the new sitcom in which Garrett plays half of a dour married couple, averaged a 3.0 rating in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights. That was third in its 8 p.m. timeslot, opposite a 4.3 for the pre-game “NFL Kickoff 2006” special on NBC and a 3.1 for the first half of “Big Brother” on CBS.

“Death” was down 10 percent from the premiere of “The O.C.” in the same timeslot last year, which averaged a 3.3 for the entire hour. The show, which contrasts Garrett’s character with a pair of dewy-eyed newlyweds next door, received decidedly mixed reviews.

Some trumpeted the show as the return to classic comedy and lauded Garrett’s performance. Others said it was dreary, depressing and too reliant on sitcom clichés.

But if “Death,” which could certainly perk up a bit next week when the NFL is back on Sundays, was lukewarm, lead-out “Happy Hour” was somewhat cold. That new sitcom, which was universally panned, averaged a 2.5 at 8:30 p.m., losing 17 percent of its lead-in and becoming the lowest-rated of Fox’s five new fall show premieres.

The NFL helped NBC to a dominating night that was about on par with the same game carried on ABC last year.

NBC led every hour and was No. 1 for the night with a 6.7 rating and 19 share in 18-49s. Following were CBS at 3.2/9, Fox at 2.7/8, ABC at 2.3/6, Univision at 1.8/4, and the WB at 0.7/2.

At 8 p.m., NBC averaged a 5.5 for the "NFL Opening Kickoff 2006" pregame show and the start of "NFL on NBC." Following were CBS at 3.2 for "Big Brother 7: All-Stars," Fox at 2.7 for "Death" and “Hour,” ABC and Univision each at 2.0 for a "Grey's Anatomy" rerun and "La Fea Mas Bella," and the WB at 0.7 for a "Smallville" rerun.

At 9 p.m., NBC led again at 7.5 for the NFL, well ahead of CBS at 3.4 for a "CSI" rerun, ABC at 2.8 for another "Grey's" rerun, Fox at 2.6 for "Celebrity Duets," Univision at 1.9 for "Barrera de Amor" and WB at 0.8 for a "Supernatural" repeat.

At 10 p.m., NBC stayed at No. 1 at 7.2 for the NFL, trailed by CBS's "Without a Trace" rerun at 3.1, ABC's "Primetime" at 2.1 and Univision's "Aquí y Ahora" at 1.6.

Among households, NBC was No. 1 for the night with an 11.1 rating and 18 share, ahead of No. 2 CBS at 6.6/11, ABC at 4.9/8, Fox at 4.8/8, Univision at 2.3/4 and WB at 1.2/2.

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7176.asp

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A so-so premiere for Fox's ''Til Death'
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 8, 2006

Brad Garrett’s much-hyped return to television more than a year after the finale of “Everybody Loves Raymond” was no touchdown for Fox, airing opposite the season debut of the NFL on NBC.

Oddly, I found "Happy Hour" slightly more interesting than "...Death," but then again I found "Raymond" only slightly interesting as well. I guess I just don't "relate" to marriage-based situational "humor" very well. ... Could be a reason for that .... ;) :D

PS: It probably didn't help that the main "joke" of "...Death's" pilot ep was spoiled over and over long before it aired. I might have cracked a smile the *first* time I saw it in promos ... I don't remember at this point. ;)

TV Notebook
The ABC 9-11 Controversy

I have gotten a few queries about why I haven’t posted anything about the growing controversy over the ABC 9-11 miniseries.

My reason is simple: I can’t figure out a way to post anything about the situation that wouldn’t seem overly political to either – or both – sides of the debate.

There are plenty of websites that are posting about it, and you can easily find information there.

As I think many of you know, I steer clear of few controversies here – but this one seems like a no-win as far as this thread is concerned.

TV Notebook
The ABC 9-11 Controversy

I have gotten a few queries about why I haven’t posted anything about the growing controversy over the ABC 9-11 miniseries.

My reason is simple: I can’t figure out a way to post anything about the situation that wouldn’t seem overly political to either – or both – sides of the debate.

There are plenty of websites that are posting about it, and you can easily find information there.

As I think many of you know, I steer clear of few controversies here – but this one seems like a no-win as far as this thread is concerned.
You know, it's just that kind of inaction that...

...never mind, you're right ;) :D

TV Notebook
Couric Ratings Slide, Narrowing Show's Lead Over Rivals
By Michelle Greppi TVWeek.com September 8, 2006

Ratings for the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" fell for the second straight night in metered markets, narrowing the program's lead over other newscasts toward the end of its debut week.

Ms. Couric's Thursday-night 6.4 rating and 13 share in 53 of the markets where Nielsen Media Research collects early ratings data represented a 9 percent decline from the night before. The "Evening News" edged out ABC's "World News Tonight with Charles Gibson" and "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," which both posted an average 5.3 rating and 11 share.

Three days into its run, "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" still is luring larger audiences than the program did a year ago, with 39 percent more viewers tuning in. The network, whose newscast has languished in third place behind network competitors, is getting a boost from viewers curious to see how Ms. Couric handles the anchor desk after years co-hosting NBC's "Today" morning show.

Thursday's newscast viewership was affected by NBC's prime-time NFL kickoff broadcast, which meant that "NBC Nightly News" was broadcast in only 45 of the metered markets. Audience data from St. Louis and Milwaukee was delayed Friday morning.

Ms. Couric's debut as anchor of the "CBS Evening News" on Tuesday averaged a 9.1 rating and a 17 share in the metered-market sample.

Fast national data showing total viewership and demographic performance will be available Friday afternoon.

Ratings represent the percentage of all TV homes in the area being measured that are tuned to a program. The share represents the percentage of all sets in use that were tuned to a show.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10695

TV Review
Save the Children
Wire taps into a broken school system
By Matt Roush TV Guide Critic

David Simon's The Wire (Sundays at 10 pm/ET on HBO) teems with cops and killers, with violent twists and cat-and-mouse suspense, but it's not just a crime drama. This is TV as great modern literature, a shattering and heartbreaking urban epic about a city (Baltimore) rotting from within.

In its fourth remarkable season, The Wire expands beyond the compromised police department and self-serving politicians. They're still around, but now we enter, with trepidation and dismay, the public schools. Here, the most vulnerable of citizens — the youth, including drug-slinging "corner kids" — are in danger of being lost in another corrupt system.

At school, it's more about "teaching the test" (the standardized state exam) than real education, as cop-turned-teacher Prez learns. "I've been here before," sighs this veteran of "juking the stats" — shoptalk for manipulating numbers for political gain.

This season focuses on four boys (beautifully, naturally played) in Prez's eighth-grade class, all from the streetwise school of hard knocks. In their world, there's a fine line between prankish child's play and flirting with death as a drug war rages around them. In one scene, they tell ghost stories in a back alley, unaware of the real haunted houses in their midst: vacant buildings storing corpses from drug hits.

As we watch these kids lurch toward uncertain futures (should they live so long), The Wire reclaims its place in the top tier of American drama.

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

As you can see in Matt Roush’s column, the “9-11” controversy gets immediate and harsh reaction.
(Please just read it – don’t respond with your own views.)
TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic

Question: Season 4 of The Wire is starting (the first episode is excellent, by the way), but I get the same sense of dread that I get every time a new season of this show starts. I know that there's a good chance I'll never be able to see the end of these characters' stories. What's the chance that HBO will do the right thing and give The Wire a fifth season to end the story naturally? — Matt

Matt Roush: I'd be a lot more confident if the messy situation with Deadwood hadn't happened. But that's a different story, and let's hope HBO takes the high road and gives this most excellent series a fifth and final year. Having seen all 13 episodes —check out my review — I can tell you that while this particular season's story has a satisfying arc, the elements are in place for one more dynamite season, and fans will not be happy if it's canceled. The best we can hope for is that critical acclaim will help drive more viewers to the show this year, and maybe HBO's strategy of moving its movie night to Sundays as a lead-in will also do the trick. And if not, HBO needs to live up to its "not TV" motto and disregard ratings where a show this uncompromising, this powerful, is concerned.

While we're on the subject, I loved this letter from a different Matt (when did this column become Matts Ask?): "The Wire is back! The Wire is back! The Wire is back! The Wire is back! Not really a question, but this should be every other post on your Ask Matt column. After rewatching all the third-season eps and the two very good docu-promos running on HBO now, I am stoked for the new season.... The Wire is back!!!"

Is it ever. Possibly the best season yet. If you care even a whit about important contemporary drama, something that goes beyond the bounds of crime fiction into the realm of political literature about the slow death of a major city, you owe it to yourself to watch The Wire.

________________________________________

Question: So The Path to 9/11 is "seriously well done," huh? Does an obvious political bias and a shameful disregard for the facts matter? While I realize all docudramas are somewhat fact-flawed by nature, I find this one particularly distressing, as it capitalizes on one of the most traumatic events in this country's history. Does it matter that this is being presented with the 2006 election right around the corner? Is this responsible, or merely partisan entertainment, designed to further drive a wedge between the citizens of this country? — Kevin

Matt Roush: I found the movie to be tough on both administrations, Clinton's and Bush's. I didn't see it as a whitewash of the Bush camp, as liberals are carping, or as a screed against Clinton's, as the conservatives are crowing.

Given that my deadline for writing about this movie came before the partisan attacks in the blogosphere and criticisms by members of the 9/11 Commission became public, I can only defend my opinion by saying I was judging The Path to 9/11 as I do most docudramas: evaluating the "drama" more than the "docu," as I would never pretend to be an authority on such a complex issue.

I always expect that projects like this will compress actual events and characters, with the ensuing danger of distorting the facts (which is apparently most glaring in a scene involving Sandy Berger calling off a strike against Osama bin Laden). I still believe it was a gutsy call for a network to devote the resources to such an ambitious and epic project. Given the kind of crud the networks call "movies" nowadays (when they even bother to make them), I found this a laudable attempt, even if flawed, at doing something serious and meaningful, especially in light of the ferocity of the current political landscape, where everything's a minefield. Given the firestorm ABC is getting over this, I imagine it will be a long time before another network tries anything of this nature, and that seems to me a shame.

The criticisms by those who have yet to see the movie are not surprising, and I imagine given their own preconceived biases (I tried to put mine aside, and am as amused as I am horrified to open e-mails accusing me of being a right-wing tool), their opinions probably won't be swayed by actually watching the movie. If I somehow had been psychic enough to know the controversy the film would stir up before its release, I would have tried to reflect that in my review. But I couldn't, so I didn't.

________________________________________

Question: I just finished watching the next-to-last episode of HGTV's Design Star. As much as I wanted to give my vote to Alice (a fellow Louisiana Tech graduate), I had to vote for David (don't tell the alumni association!). His final design, much like all of his others, was simply stunning. The episode once again showed how great the judges are. They actually offer constructive criticism and genuine enthusiasm, unlike judges on some other reality programs. You said in an earlier column that as long as David was around, you'd tune in. So did you? — Jay Dee

Matt Roush: Yes, I did. And I'll be watching Sunday when they name the winner (based on America's votes, not the judges' assessments). I've enjoyed watching these designers rise to the creative challenges, but what really intrigued me as the show neared its end was how we were asked to judge the contestants not just on their design savvy but on their technique in front of the camera. Thankfully, David had sharpened his act in that regard, and he definitely deserves to win on the basis of sheer overall talent. But Alice is such an adorable TV natural that even if she doesn't win the show's grand prize, HGTV would be nuts if they didn't sign her up, as well. This show and Sci Fi's Who Wants to Be a Superhero? were among my more pleasant summer surprises, in part because the tone was so upbeat and positive. (There was a little bitchiness in Design Star, but much less than in most.)

________________________________________

Question: I just got done reading the latest discussion about the awful twist on Prison Break that has left a number of nasty criminals on the loose. Doesn't it make sense that eventually Michael will also end up joining the hunt to find these criminals and bring them back to justice? Is it me, or does that sound like Season 3? — Martin P.

Matt Roush: Several suggestions like this came in after that last exchange, and it makes sense to me. For Michael Scofield to flip from fugitive to crusading hero in the third season would again reinvent the show, which seems necessary, because I can't imagine the manhunt scenario going beyond this season; it's already taxing my patience and threshold for credibility.

________________________________________

Question: I am disappointed by the path it looks like Bones is taking. I know I've only seen the first episode, but it looks like there will be a disagreement of the week between Bones and Cam. One of the unique things about Bones was that it did not have the disagreements between the main character and her boss that so many other shows do. In Season 1 they were working at a museum and helping out the FBI when asked. It looks like this season their only job will be to work for the FBI. The meeting at the end made me think, "Why are they even in the Jeffersonian? They should just have an office at the Bureau." — Clayton

Matt Roush: You're not the only one who had a negative first impression of Cam. Erin wrote in to say: "The addition of her character feels forced and contrived, and made the premiere less enjoyable for me than last season." This doesn't surprise me. Few people react well to change on a show with which they've grown comfortable, but I don't have a problem with it, or with her. At least she has a personality, unlike last season's boss. And my initial take on her was that she wasn't going to be a constant antagonist, more like a reality check, someone whom Bones could ultimately admire (by the first episode's end, anyway), even while she bristles at the authority Cam represents. A little workplace friction isn't a bad thing, given what a loose cannon Bones can be. But it does flirt dangerously close to cliché, and it's up to Bones' writers to make the Bones-Cam relationship something more than that. It certainly isn't ruining the show for me yet.

________________________________________

Question: You made a comment recently about Showtime series' poor ratings. I became a subscriber last year after reading about their new shows (Weeds, Sleeper Cell, Masters of Horror) and instantly became a fan of Showtime. So why are the ratings so bad? TV critics seem to like these series, and I'm sure Showtime has quite a few subscribers, though not as many as HBO. Is it because Showtime has yet to find that mainstream, smash-hit series? Do you think Dexter could be that show? — Nessarose

Matt Roush: If there's any justice, Dexter will be Showtime's equivalent of FX's Nip/Tuck, a show so bold, bizarre and shocking, yet so riveting and original that it will generate buzz while polarizing the audience, many of whom will be unable to stomach the premise. (Dexter, played by Six Feet Under's Michael C. Hall, is a serial killer who targets only bad guys, though he's completely amoral and has to fake human emotion during his day job as a forensic blood-spatter analyst in Miami.) It's a wild show, for sure, but it's so extreme that it's hard to say if it will deliver bigger numbers than Showtime's other quality series. I wish I knew why Showtime's subscribers seem able to resist the programming they've paid for. Having read the Dexter novels, I think this show alone would want to make me sign up. I've enjoyed Weeds in its second season, I'm looking forward to the Sleeper Cell sequel, and I'm very intrigued by the costume drama The Tudors. Creatively, Showtime is on a roll. Maybe someday that will be reflected in its numbers.

________________________________________

Question: Suddenly, there's news that ABC is developing a show based on Footballers' Wives, but isn't the CW's The Game supposedly based on that same show? I hate to presume, but I'm pretty sure The Game will be... bad, while the ABC show seems to be an attempt at re-creating a Housewives-style buzz. But isn't it odd to do two series based on the same BBC series at the same time? Shouldn't there be some sort of issue with permission or rights to the British show, or is there no legal mumbo jumbo when it comes to American rip-offs? — Mouse

Matt Roush: Just because The Game, a spin-off of Girlfriends about women involved with pro football players, is set in the same general world as Footballers' Wives doesn't give it any bragging rights to be even remotely compared to the outrageous British soap. The Game is a standard sitcom that, if it's anything like the forgettable Girlfriends episode that spawned it (which is all I've seen so far), shares nothing tonally with the bizarre antics of the hourlong Wives. No reason to get confused, especially since it's far from a done deal that ABC will get the remake of Wives right or that it will even see the light of day.

________________________________________

Question: Is there any way to appeal to the other networks in regards to picking up Reba? If the WB/CW still has a year on her contract, couldn't one of the other networks buy it? I am a huge fan of the show and really hate to see it go. — Kim

Matt Roush: Apparently this can't be said often enough: Though it's not unheard of, networks aren't usually in the habit of stealing away or picking up shows from rivals, especially not one that has already run five seasons and doesn't exactly come cheap. The CW was stuck with a preexisting contract for the show when the new network was formed. Otherwise, Reba almost certainly would have been canceled. As it is, while the show is in production with new episodes, it's hard to imagine when or where they'll turn up on the CW's hodgepodge lineup. I've always contended that Reba and Reba McEntire herself would have been a better fit on CBS than on the WB, but that didn't happen and isn't likely to.

________________________________________

Question: Who Wants to Be a Superhero? was cheesy fun, but how real do you think it was? An online search shows most of the contestants have acting experience, and you can see that a lot of it was staged. Do you think that Feedback's actual hero is Stan Lee? I kind of believe his explanation, but what do you think? — Kevin M.

Matt Roush: Even by the genre's standards, Superhero looked an awful lot like manufactured reality, but given the fantasy wish-fulfillment nature of this particular series, I didn't mind. (And even as a fan, I thought the protracted finale was painfully amateurish in its production quality... hard to sit through.) But the one thing I never doubted was the sincerity of Feedback's adoration, even father worship, of Stan Lee. Feedback's not a good enough actor to fake that kind of emotion. Seemed genuine (almost disturbingly so) to me.

________________________________________

Question: I understand your aversion to Big Brother: All-Stars, but have you watched any recent installments? I have been completely amazed by Janelle the past two seasons. She has to be the best competitor Big Brother has seen as far as winning competitions. She has been blessed with a lot of luck, but there is no denying her physical abilities. I also find it interesting that her competitors constantly underestimate her. Both the men and women on the show rarely give her credit, and they stoop to insulting her as stupid and a whore. The funny thing is that Janelle just keeps winning, and the people who constantly put her down keep going home. I have a lot of respect for how she plays the game. She doesn't try to blend in and "float" from side to side. She puts herself out there and practically paints the bull's-eye on her back by winning the HOH competitions and Power of Veto more times than anyone else has. — Stephen

Matt Roush: As a pure game player (personality aside), what I've seen of Janelle has been beyond impressive. I bailed on this season a while back (the last straw was the episode I caught randomly in which Erika was manipulated to expel Danielle, the only player I could stomach), but I've kept up through recaps (imagine the time I saved). I marvel at Janelle's ability to survive each week, in part because she's nearly unstoppable in the challenges. If she had made it to the final two, no way would she have deserved to lose, even against Mike Boogie. But would I have watched her coronation? Sorry, not against the premiere of Dancing with the Stars, which (along with a new episode of House, which returned to huge numbers this week) is going to bury BB.

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

NFL ST Lite?
TV Notebook
Fans Outside U.S. Can Watch All NFL Games Via Yahoo Sports
By Mike Shields MediaWeek.com Sep.t 8, 2006

Fans can now stream every National Football League game on the Web this season--as long as they don't live in the United States.

The NFL has announced a deal with Yahoo to offer fans in Europe, Asia, and pretty much anywhere outside North America to subscribe to a package that will allow them to view full-length games via their desktop or laptops.

The new NFL Game Pass, powered by Yahoo Sports, is available for $24.99 per week or $249.99 for the entire 17-week NFL regular season. Games will also be archived for interested fans for up to 24 hours after they conclude.

While no similar plans have been announced for U.S. Web users, the new distribution package could be a sign of things to come for the sports league. "We are pleased to offer NFL fans around the world an innovative way to watch NFL games," said Brian Rolapp, NFL vp of media strategy. "The NFL is committed to taking advantage of new technologies to bring more value to our fans everywhere and Yahoo's proven leadership in technology makes them an ideal partner for a product like Game Pass."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003119039

TV Notebook
Television commemorates 9/11
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” September 08, 2006
(Note: All times are central.)

Of the many programs over the weekend and on Monday commemorating the events of Sept. 11, here are a few of the most notable:

• “Koppel on Discovery: The Price of Security,” 7 p.m. Sunday, Discovery Channel: This is the sort of serious, informative, thorough news special that the broadcast networks should be airing, and it’s a shame that, for the most part, they are not. Through interviews with administration officials, military officials, lawyers and various thoughtful experts and informed commentators, Ted Koppel explores post-9/11 security concerns and the civil liberties questions raised by the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and the gathering of personal information in the digital age. Highly recommended.

• “Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11,” 9 p.m. Monday, Sundance Channel: This is a topic much in the news since the Tuesday release of a study examining the ongoing health problems of thousands of emergency responders who worked in and around the debris of ground zero. It’s known now, the film notes, that the smoldering pile at ground zero that so many firefighters and other rescue workers labored on for months was a “slow-motion incinerator” that released hundreds of toxic chemicals. The powerful “Dust to Dust,” which is narrated by Steve Buscemi (a former firefighter), details the ongoing personal struggles of several police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians who are among the estimated 7,000 workers dealing with lingering, often devastating illnesses five years later. Those problems are only going to get worse, according to health officials; as funeral footage in “Dust to Dust” makes clear, first-responders who were at the scene have begun to die of their post-9/11 maladies.

• “9/11,” 7 p.m. Sunday, CBS: An updated version of the powerful documentary by filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet, which followed firefighters on Sept. 11.

• “The Path to 9/11,” 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday, ABC: ABC's miniseries, which is partly based on "The 9/11 Commission Report," goes back to 1993 to trace the roots of the Sept. 11 attacks; Harvey Keitel plays FBI counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill and Donnie Wahlberg plays a CIA field agent following the trail of Osama Bin Laden. There's been controversy over whether the miniseries depicts some events accurately (more on that here).

• “On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report,” 5 p.m. Sunday, Court TV: This documentary film explores the creation of the 9/11 commission and includes interviews with victims’ family members and their recollections of what happened that day. The film is narrated by Kevin Costner and Hilary Swank.

• “American Vesuvius,” 7 p.m. Sunday, History Channel: Scientist Charles Pellegrino discusses the similarities between the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center.

• “9/11: How We’ve Changed,” 10:35 p.m. Sunday, WLS-Ch. 7 (Chicago): A team of Channel 7 anchors and reporters explores how the last five years have affected security concerns, civil liberties and Chicago’s relationship with the Muslim community. A panel discussion among experts and governmental officials will follow the reports.

• “America Rebuilds Part II: Return to Ground Zero,” 9 p.m. Monday, PBS, check local listings: The second film in a PBS trio devoted to exploring the ongoing rebuilding efforts at the 16-acre ground zero site in lower Manhattan.

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

TV Notebook
Television commemorates 9/11

There will be many other programs commemorating ther 9/11 tragedy airing throughout the weekend, and on Monday.

I’ll search and post as many listings as I can find.

The New York City stations, which many of you receive via DNS, will be especially concerned with the anniversary and I will try to put together a complete overview of their planned coverage some time over the weekend.

Obituary
Gordon Manning, 89
Legendary CBS, NBC News Exec
By Michele Greppi TVWeek.com Sept. 8, 2006

Gordon Manning, an influential producer and executive at CBS News and NBC News through three significant decades for TV news, died Wednesday in Westport, Conn. He was 89 years old.

Perhaps Mr. Manning's most lasting legacy is his contribution to TV news coverage of "red" and "blue" states in the political context. For election night 1976, when he was executive producer of NBC's political coverage, he ordered up a large map with state electoral results indicated by red or blue. The color-coded shorthand for state leanings has been part of political lexicon ever since.

During his vice presidency at NBC News, Mr. Manning landed one of young anchor Tom Brokaw's defining "gets," the 1988 interview with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. That would earn him a George Polk Award.

In 1972, when he was at CBS News, Mr. Manning led the team covering the trip with which President Nixon would reopen relations with China after 20 years of silence. In 1997, Mr. Manning had negotiated access for NBC News to do a week's worth of programming division-wide from China. Two years later he would go back to help direct coverage of the student uprising in Tiananmen Square.

At CBS News, he was integral to the network's coverage of the U.S. space program. He also helped certify Washington Post coverage of the Watergate break-in as a story to be taken seriously outside Washington by working with Walter Cronkite on two consecutive editions of "CBS Evening News" devoted to the story.

To network news veterans, his death registered as the passing of a man who had been a real power as TV news was growing up. He understood how to foster believability and intimacy and urgency.

"He also taught me the three most important questions to ask about a story: Who cares? Why [do they] care? Why [do they] care NOW? I've been lecturing off that scrap of paper he threw at me in 1967 ever since," recalled Jeff Gralnick, a veteran of CBS News, ABC News, CNN and NBC News, for which he now is a consultant.

Mr. Manning had been a writer and editor of Colliers magazine and Newsweek before he joined CBS News in 1964. Over the next few years he would rise to become senior VP of CBS News, his influence being felt on the "CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite" and the network's coverage of the U.S. space program and war in Vietnam. He joined NBC News in 1975.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the Assumption Church, 98 Riverside Ave. in Westport.

The family also plans to hold a memorial in New York City in the near future.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10701

TV Sports
NBC Scores Best NFL Kickoff Ever
Record 19.3 Million Viewers Watch Defending Super Bowl Champion Steelers Defeat Dolphins on NBC
NBC's First-Ever Thursday Night NFL Broadcast Scores 12.6 Rating, Up 8% from 2005, Second-Highest Thursday NFL Kickoff Rating Ever

(NBC Press Release)

NEW YORK – Sept. 8, 2006 – Last night's NFL Kickoff 2006 on NBC averaged 19.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched Thursday night season opener ever, according to fast national ratings released today by Nielsen Media Research. NBC's first regular-season broadcast in eight years scored a 12.6 household rating/21 share, the highest rating in three years, since the inaugural NFL Kickoff on network television (12.9 on ABC in 2003).

NBC's first regular season NFL broadcast, featuring the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Miami Dolphins 28-17, also drew a record 45 million total, unduplicated viewers to the set. The NFL special, kicked off by a rousing welcome home to former Steeler and new NBC "Football Night in America" analyst Jerome "The Bus" Bettis, attracted seven percent more average viewers than last year's broadcast (19.3 million vs. 18 million on ABC), and the household rating rose by eight percent (12.6 vs. 11.7).

NFL Kickoff – Thursday Night season openers:
2006: NBC 19.3 million viewers; 12.6/21 (Miami 17 – Pittsburgh 28)
2005: ABC 18 million; 11.7/21 (Indianapolis 24 – New England 27)
2004: ABC 16.8 million; 11.4/20 (Oakland Raiders 20 – New England Patriots 30)
2003: ABC 19.1 million; 12.9/22 (New York Jets 13 – Washington Redskins 16)
*2002 ESPN 7.8/14 (Dallas Cowboys 10 – Houston Texans 19)

*U.S. HH Rating; total viewers not available

Critic’s Notebook
Record Medical Association
Hugh Laurie as crusty Dr. House and Robert Sean Leonard as his best friend operate well together
By Diane Wertz, Newsday Staff Writer

Disdainful doctor Gregory House lives in an old brick Princeton town house at street number 221. His apartment door bears the letter B.

Of course. The famed address of sleuth Sherlock Holmes clues us into what has become a surprisingly key appeal of Fox's top-rated series not involving a national singing contest. "House" enters its third season Tuesday (airing earlier, at 8 p.m., on WNYW/5) as much more than a medical procedural in which acclaimed star Hugh Laurie levels witty dollops of sarcasm while devising shrewd diagnoses of mystifying maladies no one else can fathom.

Last season's episodes (just out on DVD) explored the relationship between the maddeningly brilliant/bitter House, with his limp leg and his Vicodin habit, and Wilson, the young oncology specialist who is his best, and perhaps only, friend, played by Robert Sean Leonard. That relationship has deepened beyond a sounding board for House's theories and theatrics when the two lived together in the wake of Wilson's marital breakup.

Their psychological sparring ran the gamut from playful pranks to painful stripping away of pretenses exposing each other's weaknesses. What began as an investigative pairing in the vein of Sherlock Holmes and his handy Dr. Watson only intensifies emotionally this fall, enriching the character byplay that's been attracting ever-greater ratings to "House" even through this summer's reruns.

"It's the Holmes-Watson thing we were hoping for," says executive producer Katie Jacobs, in pairing veteran Broadway featured player Leonard with British TV mainstay Laurie, a quick wit known for both writing and absurdist humor ("A Bit of Fry and Laurie"). "The chemistry of the two of them is so brilliant that it's something we spend a lot of time with now." Jacobs says "House" script honcho David Shore, who just won an Emmy, has become attuned to "mining what they have to offer and who they are and how it can work."

A good team

That's to the delight of the two, as both said in separate chats one hot Los Angeles evening at a preshow reception before Laurie accepted his second straight Television Critics Association Award for outstanding achievement in drama by an individual. For his part, the much-acclaimed Laurie took the opportunity to salute Leonard's contributions. "You know, I look at the menu for the day [of shooting], and if there are Robert scenes, that's always a good day," Laurie said. "It's very, very good fun."

That delight comes across on screen, watching the two chew into their thrust-and-parry. "I've changed," House tells Wilson Tuesday, thanks to the season-ending gunshot wounds that have triggered a stunning new physicality for the once-gimpy character. "No, you haven't," Wilson shoots back. "No, I haven't," House brightly snaps. Wilson can't figure why his patient-averse colleague has taken "a case with no upside except the satisfaction of helping another human being." House says, "I don't remember you being this bitchy." Wilson's reply: "The Vicodin dulled it. In the sober light of day, I'm a buzz-kill."

He may indeed be. The ostensibly amiable Wilson "is not quite the straightforward good man and true that you imagine that he is," Laurie hinted at the awards reception, dryly speaking in his relaxed off-screen British lilt. "Obviously, it'll turn out Wilson's the more interesting character than House. House'll burn out and I'll be kicked off the show."

Last season's marital separation revealed Wilson, after he left House's apartment, to have moved in with one of his vulnerable terminal cancer patients.

A life of his own

If House couldn't exist without Wilson, then the secondary char- acter has taken on a gratifying life all his own. Leonard always "loved the part. In the [audition] script, I thought, 'Wow, the guy I'd like to play is the guy they're seeing me for.' Which never, ever happens. You're always reading the script, going 'I wish I could read for that one.'"

He saw in Wilson a distinctive authority that unleashed him against the would-be domineering House. "I'm the only one on the show who doesn't work for him or he doesn't work for. So we can be straight with each other."

Besides, Leonard says, "there's an intelligence to them that I like. I mean, Hugh has it," having been educated at Britain's prestigious Eton and Cambridge (his degree is in anthropology) and written the novel "The Gun Seller" in addition to his TV and film work. "He's one of the few guys I can throw Bob Newhart references around and he knows what I'm talking about. Or Lenny Bruce. We have similar tastes in things."

That personal connection translates to the "House" characters, whose inherent camaraderie, Laurie notes, touches a primal creative chord. "There is something pleasingly archetypal about that sort of a relationship - you know, the Sancho Panza or the Dr. Watson. Or Jeeves and Bertie," the P.G. Wodehouse pair, which Laurie played on British TV with compatriot Stephen Fry.

"House" isn't an easy show to pigeonhole. "No one knew what it was for a long time," Leonard says. "We didn't know if it was a procedural or character-driven or what. Honestly, I think, and quite brilliantly, the writers are balancing it. They're still - in my mind, a good thing - sort of finding what the show is."

Viewers can only hope they keep probing that particular mystery for years to come.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ffmus4871466sep03,0,1285724,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

Critic’s Notebook
Ellen DeGeneres Is Chosen as Host of Next Year’s Oscars
By Sharon Waxman The New York Times September 9, 2006

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 — They’ve tried it rough. Then snarky. Now it’s Ellen.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen the genial daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to be host of next year’s Academy Awards, with the latest direction of the broadcast to be “sparkly, up and fun,” said the show’s producer, Laura Ziskin.

“She’s very warm,” Ms. Ziskin said of Ms. DeGeneres on Friday. “She can be really sharp, and biting, and topical. But she’s never mean or jaded.” She added: “I want to do a big entertainment show, and Ellen is an entertainer.”

Ms. Ziskin took pains to say that “mean or jaded” wasn’t meant to describe the hosts of recent years, the often profane Chris Rock in 2005, and the political satirist Jon Stewart this year. But some in the academy did object to Mr. Rock’s pointed jabs at Jude Law when he led the show, and Mr. Stewart brought a hip, caustic tone to the gig from his cynical nightly perch on “The Daily Show.” The ratings dropped this year, but not as much as those for many other award shows in recent years.

Ms. DeGeneres, 48, said she had long dreamed of being the host of the Oscars, and promised to bring her own tone to the show. “It’s cool to be edgy,” she said in an interview on Friday. “But I think comedy should be smart, funny and able to be enjoyed by everybody, not holier than thou.”

She added: “There’s enough fear and negativity in the world without adding to it, and I think comedy should be all-inclusive. I’m working on how I start the Oscars next year, because I want to be proud of it. I’ve wanted to do this for so long, it’s important to me to walk that line.”

Ms. DeGeneres won wide praise for striking the right tone when she was host of the Emmys in 2001, shortly after the attacks of 9/11. In what was still a traumatic period for the country, she managed to provoke laughter when she came onstage wearing a dress with a large swan wrapped around her neck, poking fun at a similar frock once worn to the Oscars by the singer Bjork.

Ms. DeGeneres will be only the second woman to lead the show on her own. Whoopi Goldberg did so four times.

Ms. Ziskin said she would drop recent attempts to freshen the awards by having nominees come onstage, or having the host go into the audience. “I don’t think that works,” she said. “There are all kinds of things you can do to make the Oscars fun and exciting and different. On the other hand, they’re the Oscars. It doesn’t want to be reinvented.”

Asked what she might wear to the awards, Ms. DeGeneres observed: “I’m wondering. Maybe I’ll wear tux culottes. What do they call that? A skort?” She thought for a moment, then added: “I still have that swan dress sitting around.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/movies/09elle.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=media&pagewanted=print

TV Sports
Monday Night madness
By Tim Lemke The Washington Times Published September 9, 2006

Howard Cosell exited the television landscape years ago. Dan Fouts, Don Meredith and Dennis Miller likewise are in the past. Even Al Michaels and John Madden moved on.

"Monday Night Football" still is around, however, and next week for the first time in its 36-year history, it will air on a network other than ABC.

The longest-running sports franchise on television moves to ESPN this season, beginning with Monday's broadcast of the Washington Redskins' season opener against the Minnesota Vikings at FedEx Field. The network says it plans to transform its broadcasts of each prime-time game into an all-day event.

"It's not going to be just a three-hour telecast," said John Wildhack, an ESPN senior vice president involved in acquiring the rights to the games. "It's really going to be an immersive experience. Our objective is to take 36 years of history with 'Monday Night Football' and build upon that legacy."

Since signing a reported eight-year, $8.8 billion contract with the NFL last year, ESPN has spent thousands of man-hours planning the Monday night broadcasts -- shows network executives say are among the most ambitious in ESPN history.

"Monday Night Countdown," a studio show previously produced in ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn., now will air live from the site of each week's game. "Pardon the Interruption," a sports talk show normally produced in Washington, also will air live on-site before the game.

ESPN's Web site will offer special content as part of an initiative called "Monday Night Surround," and ESPN plans to roll out additional content on ESPN Radio and its ESPN Mobile service. In all, 11 ESPN properties will be tied to "Monday Night Football" broadcasts over the course of the season.

"'Monday Night Football' in 2006 gives ESPN an opportunity to showcase all of its best in so many different forms," said John Walsh, the network's senior vice president and executive editor, at a recent preseason game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. "Whether it's the 'SportsCenter' in the afternoon, whether it's 'PTI', whether it's 'Countdown' ... the Internet [or] talking all day on the radio."

ESPN is taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to the production: The number of network employees at the stadium each week is expected to top 400 -- about 2½ times the total for last year's Sunday night broadcasts.

Production crews will use seven new mobile transmission units, each of which can accommodate 60 employees who cut highlights, look up statistics and give orders to the broadcast team in the stadium.

"This is like taking Bristol, picking it up, and moving it into a truck," said Rich Abbott, ESPN's vice president of remote operations.

ESPN will use at least 33 high-definition cameras to record each Monday night game, including four "Slo-Mo" cameras that film 120 frames a second and another that films 1000 frames a second. The network also will use a special wireless "Steadicam" worn by a person who would be permitted on field during stoppages of play.

The biggest change, however, is in the broadcast booth. Gone is the star team of Michaels and Madden, who were lured by NBC for its new football telecasts on Sunday night. Also gone are Mike Patrick and Paul Maguire, veterans of ESPN's "Sunday Night Football" broadcasts.

In are Mike Tirico and longtime Washington Post columnist and "Pardon the Interruption" host Tony Kornheiser. Former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann serves as the lead game analyst, and Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber are the sideline reporters.

Kornheiser's arrival generated considerable buzz, in part because of his lack of booth experience and in part because of his designated role as the broadcast team's "everyman."

Critics warned of a repeat of the 2000 and 2001 seasons, when ABC added Miller, a comedian known for rants and pop culture references, as the football outsider in the booth with Michaels and Fouts. Miller was dropped after two seasons.

Reviews of Kornheiser's performance during the preseason were mixed. Some critics asked whether a third member of the booth was even necessary. Others credited Kornheiser with displaying wit and good knowledge of the game.

One of the sharpest critiques came from Washington Post Style writer Paul Farhi, who wrote that Kornheiser "wasn't especially witty, provocative or insightful." Kornheiser responded with equally tough rebukes to his colleague in print and on the radio. But in a recent interview, Kornheiser appeared mollified.

"[The criticism] is not unfair," he said. "You put a product on the air to be judged. If I said it was unfair and somebody said they liked me, I'd have to say it was unfair, too."

Kornheiser said getting comfortable in the booth with Theismann and Tirico, each of whom have more than 20 years of broadcast experience, is still a work in progress.

"The hardest thing for me is getting in there," he said. "When you're a writer or on the radio, you have time to say what it is you want to say. When you have three to five seconds, it's like, 'Well, what am I supposed to do now?'"

The switch of "Monday Night Football" to ESPN came after NBC aggressively bid for the rights to prime-time broadcasts of Sunday night games, which long were televised by ESPN.

Faced with the possibility of having no contract with the NFL, ESPN officials scrambled to make a record $1.1 billion a year bid for the show, paying about twice what ABC had been paying.

ESPN officials said they are confident they will draw viewers for the Monday night games. "Sunday Night Football" historically scored better ratings than any other regular programming broadcast on ESPN.

The broadcast of a Monday night preseason game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers scored a 6.3 rating, making it one of the highest-rated cable programs of the week.

At the very least, fans in Washington will have something to tune in to this Monday, with their team on the field and a popular Washingtonian in the broadcast booth.

"If they like the radio show if they like PTI, if they like the column, I'm sure they'll be rooting for me," Kornheiser said. "And everybody who knows me knows that even if I bomb, I can be fairly funny."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20060909-125249-9059r

>> Ellen DeGeneres Is Chosen as Host of Next Year’s Oscars <<

Another night of listening to, "I'm gay. I'm gay" Who cares!

Critic’s Notebook
'The Simpsons' returns!
Unfortunately, so do 'Dad,' 'Guy' and 'The War at Home'
By Scott D. Pierce Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News September 9, 2006

Once upon a time, the season premieres of Fox's Sunday-night lineup were something to get excited about. Shows like "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Futurama" were funny and clever.

Well, at least we've still got "The Simpsons," which returns for its 18th season on Sunday at 7 p.m. with yet another winning episode. Lisa befriends Michael, the son of mobster Fat Tony (Joe Mantagna), in an episode that parodies "The Godfather," features the voices of "Sopranos" stars Joe Pantoliano and Michael Imperioli as Mafia thugs, and — oddly enough — includes an appearance by the cartoon-ized members of Metallica.

From there, it's all downhill for Fox's Sunday-night lineup, however. The most amazing thing is that Fox's other two animated shows even exist in the same universe, let alone on the same night, on the same channel as "The Simpsons."

"American Dad" has never been much of a show. A pale carbon copy of "Family Guy" (which is itself a failed "Simpsons" copy), the third-season premiere is pretty much a big bore as Stan tries to force his son Steve into attending summer camp. Ho, hum.

"Dad" features its usual dose of tastelessness and vulgarity, but "Family Guy" is nothing short of downright disgusting. One of the main storylines involves Peter going to the doctor for a prostate exam and coming away convinced that he has been sexually assaulted.

I can't even reprint a lot of the lines from this show in a family newspaper. (Parents, are you paying attention when your kids watch this kind of stuff?)

The second-season premiere of "The War at Home" — the worst live-action sitcom on network television — wasn't previewed for critics, but we do know that the kids catch their parents having sex. (Parents? Parents? Are you there, parents?)

"The Simpsons" is funnier in its 18th season than 99 percent of the other comedies on TV are at their best. Just ignore the rest of what's on Fox on Sunday.

http://www.desnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645199934,00.html

wow, now i know what paper to NEVER read. Anyone who thinks the simpons is the best thing on fox on sunday is still living in the 90s.

also, why is he calling for parents? none of these shows are directed at children. I wouldnt be surprised if this guy works for the AFI too.

Friday’s network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

TV Notebook
Couric Opens Big, Levels Off
Allison Romano Broadcasting & Cabl 9/11/2006

Despite mixed reviews of Katie Couric's first nights as anchor of The CBS Evening News—many critics panned everything from the story selection to her white blazer—the network's massive publicity machine succeeded in attracting millions of curious viewers to the program. The major question now: How many will stick around?

Couric lost viewers over her first three nights, but Evening News bested rivals NBC Nightly News and ABC World News and was still above its recent audience levels. The former Today star debuted on CBS Sept. 5 with an impressive 13.6 million viewers, nearly double the program's August average, but by Sept. 7, Couric dipped to 9.5 million viewers. Like any new fall program, researchers say it will take several weeks of sampling before ratings stabilize.

Early reaction from some viewers was overwhelmingly in Couric's favor. In a snapshot survey of about 400 viewers released exclusively to B&C, TV consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates found 89% of respondents were aware of Couric's new position at CBS News, and 20% said they tuned into the newscast last week.

Of those viewers, 49% ranked her performance as excellent, surpassing Magid's usual threshold of 40% for top talent. “Couric is a star,” says Magid VP Bill Hague. Even more encouraging, 61% of respondents said Couric gave them a strong reason to watch CBS Evening News, giving her scores of 8-to-10 on a scale where 10 is the highest. Respondents praised Couric as “high quality” and “serious” and applauded her status as the first female to solo-anchor a network newscast.

But industry analysts doubt Couric will attract droves of new viewers in an aging, declining daypart. “News is very habit-driven, and it is not a volatile time period like primetime,” says Brad Adgate, senior VP of research for Horizon Media. “CBS is hoping people will make Katie Couric a part of their day, but a lot of viewers just aren't home at 6:30 p.m.”

Such realities have prompted CBS News to stream Evening News live on the Web, a first for network news, and feature Couric in a blog, looking to attract younger audiences. Even so, the evening newscast is CBS' marquee platform and, despite declines in audiences for network news, its biggest news stage on television.

On average, 25 million viewers watch evening news. The average viewer, however, only tunes in about two nights per week, according to CBS News research. Couric will have to fight it out with top-rated Nightly and World News for her share of that audience. News viewing is traditionally light in the summer and early fall and picks up when viewers settle into their fall schedules. As promised, CBS delivered some new features to the program, including guest commentary segment “Free Speech” and photo-of-the-day feature “Snap Shots.”

CBS News President Sean McManus says he wants to see “slow and gradual growth” in ratings over coming months.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6370297

The New Season
For ‘The Wire,’ Rap That’s Pure Baltimore
By Jon Caramanica The Washington Post September 10, 2006

At the end of the last season of “The Wire,” another battle in the drug war came to an unceremonious close. As an experiment the police in the show’s grim Baltimore neighborhood had decided to try drug legalization within a circumscribed area, which locals started calling Hamsterdam. But within weeks, political blowback forced the experiment’s cruel end. Hamsterdam’s seedy row houses were torn down, leaving an equally inhospitable pile of rubble.

Amid the destruction Juan Donovan Bell saw an opportunity. One half of Darkroom Productions, a local Baltimore hip-hop production team, he had been avidly following “The Wire” since its first season. “These communities they depict, I live there,” he recently said over the telephone from his West Baltimore studio. He said the show had done a good job of depicting the city’s drug gangs, police officers and politicos, but it had all but ignored the city’s music. So he began work on a mixtape album to showcase local rappers.

“I knew the mixtape would blow up if I called it ‘Hamsterdam,’ ” Mr. Bell said. “I was like, ‘If you look at the show for entertainment, don’t forget about us.’ ” He shot the cover photograph around the corner from where the Hamsterdam episodes were filmed, as the original location was unavailable: “When they tore the houses down, that was real.”

“Hamsterdam” became one of the more acclaimed hip-hop records to come from Baltimore last year, and one of the first to receive attention outside the city. It caught the ear of David Simon, the creator and an executive producer of the series. “I put it in my car’s CD player and drove around with it for three days straight,” he said recently in a phone interview. “I’d been so frustrated about not being able to be authentic in the past. The music they’re listening to, it should be hip-hop, and it should be the hip-hop they’re listening to in Baltimore.”

When the show’s fourth season begins tonight, Baltimore’s rap scene — by no definition a national powerhouse — will have its biggest showcase to date. Darkroom contributes several songs featuring several unsigned rappers, most notably Tyree Colion, Mullyman and Diablo. “The amount of people in Baltimore in the last five years who’ve received record contracts,” Mr. Bell said, “you can count on one hand, with fingers left.”

No national rap star has emerged from Baltimore, despite all this grass-roots activity, largely because a distinctive local black sound — Baltimore club, or house, a thrusting, occasionally lewd form of dance music — already existed. (Last season “The Wire” used a few songs from DJ Technics, a local club-music figure. The context was “quite tasteless, the way it was supposed to be,” DJ Technics said jokingly. He contributes more club tracks this season.)

“The Wire” has already invigorated the city’s musicians. “Even though it’s fictional, the show has influenced rappers in Baltimore,” said Blake Leyh, the show’s music supervisor. “And by using this music, there’s a sense in which these different worlds are feeding back on each other now.”

Mr. Simon added: “I think the show gave Baltimore a certain pride. It was coming out of their ghetto. Forget West Philly, forget East New York. When it comes to drug trafficking, we’re the first string. There’s perverse pride in that.”

In one scene this season two members of the show’s primary drug crew, trying to figure out whether the new corner boys are from a rival New York set, ask about a popular Baltimore song by Young Leek. The guy they are interrogating replies, in an unprintable fashion, that he has never heard of it, and he is thanked for his candor with a bullet in the head.

UNLIKE most television shows, on which pop music is used to provide broad emotional prompts, “The Wire” uses songs only as source music, as it would be heard by the characters themselves. “We’re adding to the credibility of the moment,” Mr. Simon said. “We’re not trying to cue people as to what to think. The perfect song that comments on the action, that’s never on the jukebox when the moment actually happens.”

And so the uses of Baltimore hip-hop this season helps firm “The Wire’s” grip on naturalist storytelling. “The attempt,” Mr. Leyh said, “is to make everything as real as possible. Our concern is verisimilitude. The cumulative effect of all of these choices adds up to something very powerful.”

Inspired by the attention now being paid to their city and their work, the Darkroom producers are at work on a second volume of “Hamsterdam,” as well as a documentary about the city’s rap scene. In a dark pun on Baltimore’s nickname of Charm City, they are calling it “Harm City Exposed.”

“The streets is a monster here,” Mr. Bell said. “It can swallow up anyone. That’s why I want to get this door kicked down soon, because a lot of people don’t have any options.” (Mr. Colion, one of this season’s most prominently featured artists, won’t be able to see how his work is used on the show: he’s currently behind bars.)

Using this music, Mr. Leyh said, “is one more way ‘The Wire’ can give back to Baltimore.” Already, the artists attached to the “Hamsterdam” project are beginning to receive major-label interest. “This is for us,” Diablo said, “and we need to make sure that it counts. Our only problem has been getting heard, and now we getting heard.”

In the final scene of the final episode of this season, one of the show’s young characters drives down a quiet street, Mullyman’s song “The Life, the Hood, the Streetz” blasting from the window of his stolen car. From Mullyman’s “Still H.I.M.” mixtape, it was one of the bigger Baltimore rap records of the past year, but in this new context portends a whole new life and meaning for the song and its author.

“In Baltimore your hood is your whole world,” Mullyman said. “ ‘The Wire’ inspired me, let me know we had a voice I didn’t know we had. It showed me I might be sitting on oil.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/arts/television/10cara.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

The New Season
Chimps, Capers and Charming Serial Killers
By Bill Carter The New York Times September 10, 2006

(Dates are subject to change. All times are Eastern.)

SEPTEMBER

CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC This is potentially the most anticipated program of the fall, as Ms. Couric shifts from her enormously successful run on NBC’s “Today” show to the ratings-challenged CBS newscast. Evenings at 6:30.

STANDOFF Can two F.B.I. crisis negotiators mix romance with their daily supremely tense occupation? Obviously they can, because this series is based on that premise. For one episode at least, they do rather well at it, with the stars, Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt, exhibiting strong chemistry. Fox, Mondays at 8 p.m.

DESIRE AND FASHION HOUSE A new network, My Network TV, rolls out two English-language telenovelas: “Desire” is about the mafia, and “Fashion House,’’ starring Bo Derek, Morgan Fairchild and Tippi Hedren, is about, well, the fashion business. . Expect plenty of affairs and betrayal on both. Weeknights at 8 p.m. (“Desire”) and 9 p.m. (“Fashion House”).

’TIL DEATH Imagine the corrosive marital squabbles of “Everybody Loves Raymond” served straight and cold, without any of the leavening sweetness of that series. That’s what is dished up in this new comedy starring Robert from that comedy, Brad Garrett, as a bitter, long-married curmudgeon who rails about the gooey young couple who move next door to him and his equally sour wife, played by Joely Fisher. Lots of jokes about their name, Woodcock, say much about the style of the humor. Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster are the gooey twosome. Fox, Thursdays at 8 p.m. .

HAPPY HOUR Young people with time on their hands hang out in a Chicago apartment drinking and whining about their lives. Henry (John Sloan) has lost Heather (Brooke D’Orsay), but at least he finds a new roommate in the dissolute Larry (Lex Medlin), who lost his last roommate Brad (Nat Faxon) because he married a harridan named Tina (Jamie Denbo.) It’s a comedy. Fox, Thursdays at 8:30 p.m.

SIGNE CHANEL A five-part documentary about Karl Lagerfeld’s designs for the Chanel collection of 2004-5. Loic Prigent is the filmmaker. Sundance Channel, Thursdays at 8 p.m. (Began Sept. 7)

THE REPLACEMENTS Orphaned siblings find an advertisement in a comic book for a set of new parents for just $1.98. What could be better? They send away and receive a British spy for a mom and a former stuntman for a dad. An animated series. Disney Channel, Fridays at 9 p.m.

HOT DOCS Subjects in this documentary series include “My Mums Used to Be Men,’’ “Male, 33, Seeks Puberty,’’ and “Coked Up Britain.’’ BBC America, Saturdays at 9 p.m.

THE PRICE OF SECURITY Another of the many five-year commemorations of 9/11, this three-hour special, with Ted Koppel as host, examines the tension between the need for security and the sacrifice of civil liberties. After the show, Mr. Koppel will moderate one of the town meetings he became famous for on “Nightline.” Discovery, tonight at 8 p.m.

LEGENDS: RODNEY DANGERFIELD One of the stars of recent comedy history, Rodney Dangerfield, gets two hours of respect from a long roster of comics he inspired, including Jay Leno, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Roseanne Barr and Adam Sandler. Comedy Central, tonight at 9 p.m.

THE WIRE One of television’s most challenging series returns with a new season of law enforcement by deeply flawed cops in Baltimore. HBO, Sundays at 9 p.m.

9/11 A reprise, with updates, of the critically praised documentary by Jules and Gedeon Naudet, who happened to be in place to record many of the searing events at the World Trade Center. Robert De Niro adds to his narration. CBS, Sept. 11 at 9 p.m.

BROTHERS LOST: STORIES OF 9/11 Portraits of loss from brothers of victims of the terror attacks. Cinemax, Sept. 11 at 9 p.m.

THE UNDERGROUND In the spirit of “In Living Color,” Damon Wayans returns to sketch comedy in a series that promises no limits — because it’s on pay TV. Showtime, Sept. 14 at 10 p.m.

CHILDHOOD OBESITY: DANGER ZONE A network all about food examines the national problem of overeating, especially among the young. Food Network, Sept. 16 at 9 p.m.

TALK SHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN You’re a comedy writer. No decent sitcom has turned up since “Seinfeld.” What do you do? Try a talk show, of course. Mr. Feresten, whose claim to fame is creating the Soup Nazi on “Seinfeld,” will try to put a little new life into the talk format and maybe finally start a late-night show for a network without one. Fox, Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. [Article, Page 95.] (Sept. 16)

THE SAHARA A documentary about the world’s most hostile environment, all 3.5 million square miles of it. History Channel, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m.

THE CLASS One of the most high-profile half-hours of the season, because it is the first new effort from David Crane, one of the creators of “Friends,” and is directed by James Burrows (“Will & Grace”). This is a traditional “gang sitcom,” based on a reunion of a group of 20-somethings who went to third grade together. Love, friendship and mishaps bloom. The large cast includes Jason Ritter (“Joan of Arcadia”), Lizzy Caplan (“Mean Girls”) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”). CBS, Mondays at 8 p.m. (Sept. 18)

MR. CONSERVATIVE: GOLDWATER ON GOLDWATER A documentary look at the life and career of Barry Goldwater, the former senator from Arizona and presidential candidate, as seen through the eyes of his granddaughter, C. C. Goldwater. HBO, Sept. 18 at 9 p.m.

STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP Perhaps the most anticipated series of the season, not because it marks the return of Matthew Perry to weekly television or the introduction of Amanda Peet to the same, but because the show was created by Aaron Sorkin, arguably the most avidly followed writer in the business. It is his first effort since “The West Wing,” but this time around the familiar articulate and voluble Sorkin characters are not saving the world but saving a troubled sketch-comedy television show. Mr. Perry plays a creative genius called in by the network, along with his partner, played by Bradley Whitford, straight from “The West Wing.” The two are surrogates for Mr. Sorkin and his collaborator, Tommy Schlamme. Ms. Peet plays a network programmer. NBC, Mondays at 10 p.m. (Sept. 18)

SMITH One of many new serialized shows this season that have the feel of an exciting feature movie, this drama follows a world-class thief who also happens to be a devoted husband and father. Ray Liotta, looking for his first hit show, plays the thief, with Virginia Madsen (“Sideways”) as his wife, who also has her share of secrets. The opener features a spectacular art theft from Liotta’s gang, which turns partly bad. Simon Baker, late of “The Guardian,” also stars. CBS, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (Sept. 19)

JERICHO Another new series dominated by its premise, this drama places the viewer in a small town in rural Kansas that may be just remote enough to escape the nuclear conflagration that engulfs the rest of the continent and perhaps the world. The implications of such a new life are many, maybe even enough for a sustained series, if this one sustains. Much of the drama is family-based but it is not exactly feel-good. The stars include Gerald McRaney (“Deadwood”) and Skeet Ulrich (“Scream”). CBS, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (Sept. 20)

ANDY WARHOL A two-part “American Masters’’ documentary from Ric Burns about the life and impact of the pioneering artist, who died in 1987. PBS, Sept. 20 and 21 at 9 p.m.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE NEW YORK COSMOS The rise and fall of the Cosmos, a soccer team that showcased global stars like the Brazilian great Pelé in the 1970’s. ESPN, Sept. 20 at 9 p.m.

KIDNAPPED The idea of this new drama is to trace a single kidnapping case over an entire season, with a new victim next year, if there is a next year. The plot is complicated. Questions abound about the rich family of the teenage boy who is snatched in a violent attack on his way to prep school. Much is not as it seems, as is now standard with serial dramas. Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany play the parents. Jeremy Sisto and Delroy Lindo play the heroes trying to catch the perps, and they will continue in those roles next season, when someone else will be kidnapped. NBC, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. (Sept. 20)

SHARK Much will be riding on the highly aggressive shoulders of James Woods, who comes to series television for the first time as a high-priced criminal defense lawyer who suddenly finds ethics and turns to prosecuting the bad guys. The hourlong series centers on Mr. Woods, both on the screen and on the schedule, because he is expected to shore up a crucial time slot for his network. CBS, Thursdays at 10 p.m. (Sept. 21)

SIX DEGREES The other half (with “Shark”) of an intriguing time-slot showdown for new series, this intricate drama about the intersecting lives of six strangers in New York is designed to hold onto the audience from the huge hit “Grey’s Anatomy,” which precedes it. The drama is less traditional, the characters more complicated and the sex less omnipresent than on “Grey’s,” however. The stars include Campbell Scott (“Roger Dodger”), Hope Davis (“Proof”) and Erika Christensen (“Traffic”). ABC, Thursdays at 10 p.m. (Sept. 21)

MEN IN TREES Alaska remains the locale of choice for television when it wants to send someone to the last outpost of civilization. In this case, a woman who works as a “relationship coach” finds herself snowbound in a tiny town after learning that her own relationship has foundered, and of course she learns much she didn’t know about real men of the Alaskan variety. Anne Heche stars in this comedy-drama. ABC, Fridays at 9 p.m. (Sept. 22)

BROTHERS AND SISTERS An old-fashioned family yarn about rich, troubled siblings with more secrets than the Pentagon. Calista Flockhart (“Ally McBeal”) heads a big-name cast as a conservative radio host with her own personal demons, mostly involving other dysfunctional family members, all of whom need to bond to save the family business. The other stars include Rachel Griffiths (“Six Feet Under”) and Ron Rifkin (“Alias”). ABC, Sundays at 10 p.m. (Sept. 24)

HEROES The myth of humans with superpowers has pervaded entertainment — mainly in comic books — for almost a century. This drama tries to update the myth, handing out superpowers to a wide range of otherwise normal folk, all of whom are being recruited to fight some unnamed worldwide menace. The series hopes to dole out excitement and spookiness in equal doses. The cast of mostly newcomers includes Adrian Pasdar, star of the before-its-time Fox drama “Profit.” NBC, Mondays at 9 p.m. (Sept. 25)

RUNAWAY More serial drama but with a family flavor and some deep debt to “The Fugitive.” An entire family is on the run after the father is falsely accused of murder. And since this is on a network devoted largely to teenagers, the family has two of them, struggling with fake identities and real jeopardy. The real killer is also after the kids, so there are lots of reasons to run and hide out. The show stars Donnie Wahlberg (“Boomtown”) as the dad and Leslie Hope (“Line of Fire”) as the mom. CW, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. (Sept. 25)

HELP ME HELP YOU Group therapy has been a sitcom premise at least twice before, but this comedy milks the same material with a twist: the therapist, played by the always-employed Ted Danson, is himself completely crazy. Not especially funny, but crazy. Others in the cast include Jere Burns, who was in a previous comedy with the almost exact same premise, “Dear John,” and Darlene Hunt (“I {sheart} Huckabees”). ABC, Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. (Sept. 26)

UGLY BETTY Maybe the sleeper hit of the season, this comedy-drama is about an unattractive but determined young Hispanic woman from Queens who works her way into the glamour world of New York fashion magazines but keeps her humble family roots and appalling taste in clothes. America Ferrera (“Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) could emerge as a new star as Betty. The cast also includes Vanessa Williams (“Boston Legal”) and Alan Dale (“The O.C.”). ABC, Thursdays at 8 p.m. [Article, Page 98.] (Sept. 28)

DALLAS COWBOY CHEERLEADERS: MAKING THE TEAM An eight-episode series about tryouts for the country’s most famous cheerleading squad. CMT, beginning Sept. 29, at 9 p.m.

THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR Mostly known for its connection to the Alamo and as the war that brought the United States great swaths of prize territory, the conflict had some murky beginnings. Those are explored in this documentary, which features, of all people, the boxer Oscar De la Hoya as host. History Channel, Sept. 29 at 9 p.m.

WORLD’S UGLIEST DOG COMPETITION The title says it all. It’s the 18th annual event, and the contenders include a mutt named Pee Wee and a one-eyed Chihuahua named Jake. But it isn’t just the competition: you get to go home with these dogs and the people who love them, in up-close-and-personal reports between the ugly judging. Animal Planet, Sept. 29 at 9 p.m.

OCTOBER

THE GAME Another sitcom labeled ethnic by its network because its cast is primarily African-American. The premise here is how a wife copes with the pressures of being married to a N.F.L. player. It stars Pooch Hall (“Pepper Dennis”) and Tia Mowry, who created the role of Melanie originally on the UPN (and now CW) show “Girlfriends.” CW, Sundays at 8.30 p.m. (Oct. 1)

DEXTER Remember the old adage that the lead character of a television series has to be likeable? How about a lead character who is a serial killer? Michael C. Hall (“Six Feet Under”) plays Dexter Morgan, a charming guy, popular with women, who works in forensics for the Miami police (does “C.S.I. Miami” know about this guy?) but who kills people on the side when he decides they deserve it, because they won’t be brought to justice any other way. Showtime, Sundays at 9 p.m. (Oct. 1)

DISCOVERY ATLAS A series that bring geography class to vivid life, with portraits of various countries every week. The opener is “China Revealed.” Later revelations include Italy, Brazil and Australia. Discovery Channel, Sundays at 9 p.m. (Oct. 1)

THE STREET An unusual new British drama about the individual houses on a street in the north of England. Each week a different set of characters on the street is explored; the only connections are their community. BBC America, Mondays at 10 p.m. (Oct. 2)

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS First a popular book, then a successful movie, now a series about the passion for high school football in a small Texas town. The coach, played by Kyle Chandler (“King Kong”), is the focal point, but the show will live and die on the appeal of the young hotties among the players and their girlfriends. Connie Britton (“Spin City”) plays the coach’s wife. NBC, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. (Oct. 3)

FREAK SHOW Comedy knows no limits these days, so a series about the last traveling freak show is no big deal. Of course, this group is also the Freak Squad, a band of agents working sub rosa for the Pentagon. From David Cross of “Mr. Show” and H. Jon Benjamin of “Dr. Katz.” Comedy Central, Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. (Oct. 4)

UMBRELLA ASSASSIN Part of a series called “Secrets of the Dead,” this account examines the mysterious 1978 incident in which a Bulgarian dissident met his end after being shot with a poison pellet from an umbrella gun while crossing London’s Waterloo bridge. PBS, Oct. 4 at 9 p.m.

THE JOURNALIST AND THE JIHADI: THE DEATH OF DANIEL PEARL A documentary that traces the twists of time and fate that brought together the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and Omar Sheikh, a man with a similar education and privileged background but who turned in a decidedly different direction. Narrated by Christiane Amanpour. HBO, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m.

30 ROCK Not content with just one show about the behind-the-scenes action at a “Saturday Night Live”-type show, NBC is offering two this season (the other is “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip’’). But this one is truly played for laughs. Tina Fey created the show and stars as the head writer for such a series — just as she was in real life for “Saturday Night Live.’’ A new network boss, played to devastating deadpan effect by Alec Baldwin, shows up with ideas to save the show. They start with the hiring of a substance-abusing comic played by Tracey Morgan, who winds up in his underpants at one point. NBC, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (Oct. 11)

TWENTY GOOD YEARS A throwback comedy, the kind you might have seen 20 years ago. The good years in question are what’s left in life for two old friends just hitting 60. John Lithgow drops his pants twice (thus making NBC two for two in male underwear jokes in its debuts of Wednesday night comedies) and chews everything but the camera lens in search of laughs. Jeffrey Tambor is the milder partner and a far cry from his “Arrested Development” role. NBC, Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. (Oct. 11)

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HINDENBERG? The easy answer is that it exploded. But this is a scientific analysis of the disaster, one that goes beyond blaming the flammable hydrogen that filled the zeppelin. Another episode in the “Secrets of the Dead” series. PBS, Oct. 11 at 9 p.m.

THE NINE It may sound like a show about a baseball team, but it is actually a drama about a bank robbery. Nine people find their lives changed, shaken up and unhinged by the events in a 52-hour hostage standoff inside a bank. The show will unveil the mysteries behind those events, presumably over the life of the series. Each episode will begin with a flashback of 10 minutes’ worth of the events in the bank, allowing for 13 years’ worth of episodes, if somehow the series lasts that long. The stars include Tim Daly (“Wings”), Chi McBride (“Boston Public”) and Scott Wolf (“Party of Five”). ABC, Wednesdays at 10 p.m. (Oct. 11)

SAXONDALE Tommy used to be a roadie for some big British bands. Now he runs a pest-control business. This affords him the opportunity not only to slay mice, moths and other vermin but also to regale his clients with his free-thinking philosophy. A sitcom with a heavy British accent, it stars Steve Coogan (“I’m Alan Partridge”) as Tommy. BBC America, Fridays at 9 p.m. (Oct. 13)

FINAL DAYS OF PLANET EARTH Fortunately this is not a reality series but a dramatic film about an entomologist and an archaeologist who begin to question the meaning of some strange events linked to a space mission that went bad. The stars include Darryl Hannah and Campbell Scott. Hallmark Channel, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m.

COMEDY LOVE CALL A live comedy concert from the Beacon Theater in New York to benefit autism education. The roster is a Murderer’s Row of comedy headliners: Jon Stewart, Adam Sandler, Jack Black, Stephen Colbert, Sacha Baron Cohen and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Comedy Central, Oct 15 at 9 p.m.

THE KNIGHTS OF PROSPERITY It made a lot more sense when they were calling it “Let’s Rob Mick Jagger,” because that’s what it’s about. A bunch of chronic losers decide to burgle the penthouse pad of the rock star and plot all season to pull it off. This comedy was created by the team of Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman, who went from the Letterman show to “Ed” and now this. Donal Logue (“Grounded for Life”) is the star. ABC, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. [Article, Page 104.] (Oct. 17)

DEATH AT JAMESTOWN The harsh challenge of trying to survive in America, circa 1607. We know now it was a “permanent settlement,” but they had reason to doubt it when 80 of the original 100 colonists died within six months. This program looks at what happened. PBS, Oct. 18 at 9 p.m.

I SHOULDN’T BE ALIVE The new season of this series explores the experiences of people who defied death while on some adventure like climbing Mount McKinley, or falling in the Zambezi River filled with hippos and crocodiles. Discovery Channel, Fridays at 9 p.m. (Oct. 20)

VIVA BLACKPOOL: RIPLEY’S RETURN David Morrissey returns as Ripley Holden in a movie sequel to “Viva Blackpool.” Ripley has fled to Las Vegas, where he discovers God. He returns home to Blackpool and sets up a chapel of love where he performs themed weddings. Unfortunately, he falls in love with a bride jilted at his altar. BBC America, Oct. 28 at 10 p.m.

CRACKER: A NEW TERROR Great characters never die, they just turn up in more sequels. The great British criminal psychologist Fitz Fitzgerald is called in again, this time to handle the case of an ex-soldier haunted by memories of his terrifying assignment in Northern Ireland who snaps when he hears an American comic delivering a politically charged routine. Robbie Coltrane returns to the role he made larger than life, in many ways. BBC America, Oct. 30 at 9 p.m.

ANGEL RODRIGUEZ An original film about a counselor of troubled teenagers who finds herself in the midst of her own life crisis. Rachel Griffiths stars as the woman who tries to help a self-destructive teen only to find her efforts undermined when he lies, steals and fights with his father. HBO, Oct. 30 at 9 p.m.

HELMUT BY JUNE A portrait of the controversial but brilliant photographic artist Helmut Newton as documented by his collaborator and wife of 55 years, June Newton. Cinemax, Oct. 31 at 9 p.m.

NOVEMBER

CHIMPANZEES: AN UNNATURAL HISTORY Thousands of chimpanzees were collected for human use in science, in show business and just for fun. They were dressed up, tested with diseases, even shot into space. Then they were forgotten. But some people now want to give them respect and freedom. Debut of a new season of “Nature” on PBS. Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.

WINTER SOLDIER A documentary about the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation, instigated by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, including a young John Kerry. More than 100 veterans testified to observing or taking part in wartime atrocities. Sundance Channel, Nov. 6 at 9 p.m.

ROME The second and final season of the increasingly compelling saga of the great and no-so-great empire at the time of Julius Caesar. The new season will pick up where the last left off, just after the murder of Caesar and the start of the conflict that followed. Much of the cast returns (though obviously not Ciaran Hinds as Caesar). But Polly Walker as Atia, Kevin McKidd as Vorenus, Ray Stevenson as Titus Pullo and Lindsay Duncan as Servilia will all be back, as venomous and violent as ever. HBO, Sundays at 9 p.m. (Nov. 7)

WARPLANE Though it may seem like territory that the History Channel has all but cornered, PBS promises to deliver the “definitive four-part series” about the evolution of air power. This is a sequel to a previous series called “Warship.” Narrated by Stacey Keach. Nov. 8 at 9 p.m.

DAYBREAK The last of the fall network series to get on the air, this is yet another serialized drama. The hook is strictly “Groundhog Day”: the dark side, that is. A policeman experiences the worst of all days, framed for a murder and his family under threat of death from the real killers. He would surely face frightening consequences if not for the fact that every time he goes to bed and wakes up, he relives the day again. And fortunately, each morning he remembers everything that has taken place earlier (or perhaps he just keeps the detail on a DVD), so he gets a chance to figure out what is happening to him as the day repeats itself. Taye Diggs (“Kevin Hill”) is the star. ABC, Wednesdays at 9 p.m., substituting for “Lost” for a chunk of the middle of the season. (Nov. 15)

DESPERATE CROSSING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE MAYFLOWER Much has surely been told in the last 385 years, but this documentary will amplify the story of the pilgrims by emphasizing their religious extremism, their alienation from European society, their estrangement from their countrymen in Britain who accused them of being traitors and, of course, the harrowing journey into the unknown across the pond. History Channel, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m.

FAMILY TRIP Yes, those vacations from hell are relived in this reality series, which reunites family members in the same car and sends them along the same route with the same destination as 15 or 20 years earlier. The camera then captures all the emotions that ensue. TLC Channel, Mondays at 9 p.m. (Nov. 20)

BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI No, not the David Lean movie but a documentary about the experiences of the Allied soldiers forced to build a 250-mile-long railway through the Burmese jungle. The structure was abandoned forever after 1945, its remains supposedly lost to history, but the program finds some answers to remaining questions about the lost railway. PBS, Nov. 29 at 9 p.m.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/arts/television/10tvlist.html?pagewanted=print

The New Season
Why is everybody hooked on 'The Wire'?
By Kevin D. Thompson Palm Beach Post Television Writer Sunday, September 10, 2006

The critically acclaimed cop show set in Baltimore begins Season 4 at 10 tonight on HBO. Five reasons you should be tuning in:

1. Superb scripts: All great TV shows start with exceptional writing. And when you have such esteemed novelists as Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), George Pelecanos (Hard Revolution) and Richard Price (Clockers) penning your scripts, chances are you're going to have a pretty compelling show. Which The Wire is.

2. It's intellectual drama: Unlike most cop shows, The Wire doesn't boast lurid, ripped-from-the-headline cases or stylized camera work. The series actually assumes the audience is smart enough to pay attention to a drama that has the guts to tackle such thorny issues as political corruption, urban decay and the failed war on drugs in the nation's inner cities with grit and intelligence.

3. It's like The Sopranos: Well, sort of. Someone gets whacked every week. Instead of the Italian mob, however, The Wire focuses on black street gangs — street gangs who are every bit as organized (and ruthless!) as Tony Soprano's crew.

4. The show takes its time: If you like fast-paced storytelling, The Wire isn't for you. The show is never in a rush to tell its urban epic. Watching The Wire is like reading a densely plotted novel — one you can't put down.

5. The young talent: The actors might be a bunch of no-names, but the performances are first-rate and, in some cases, Emmy-worthy.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/tv/content/entertainment/arts_entertainment/epaper/2006/09/10/a1j_WIREfront_0910.html

Fred, thanks for all the articles on "The Wire", much appreciated. :)

The New Season
The New Kids on the Block
By Jacques Steinberg The New York Times September 10, 2006

PASADENA, Calif---.John Lithgow was studying drama in London in the late 1960’s when a classmate began recreating a bit from a Feydeau farce, something about a bad smell, that he had seen performed at a repertory theater in Milwaukee a year earlier.

“He kept imitating this actor, this hilarious actor,’’ Mr. Lithgow recalled. “And I always remembered the name. It was Jeffrey Tambor.’’

Over the next four decades, both men would earn stellar reputations — as meticulous, comic craftsmen, among other things — but like two all-star athletes whose teams never played each other, they did not appear on the same stage, despite regular proximity.

When Mr. Lithgow was performing in “Anna Christie’’ on Broadway in the late 1970’s, Mr. Tambor was nearby in “Sly Fox.’’ Later, when Mr. Tambor was playing Hank, the sad-sack sidekick on “The Larry Sanders Show,’’ Mr. Lithgow was on a neighboring soundstage on the same lot, playing a manic alien/college professor in “3d Rock From the Sun.’’

Last year, when Mr. Lithgow was back in New York, in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,’’ and Mr. Tambor was in “Glengarry Glen Ross,’’ they were posed near each other in a big Broadway photograph assembled for Vanity Fair magazine. But each was photographed at different times.

The careers of the two actors will finally converge this fall, when they take on the lead roles in a new NBC comedy, “Twenty Good Years,’’ in which their characters make a pact to enjoy, to the hilt, the two decades of meaningful life that each estimates he has left.

“It’s incredible we haven’t worked together before,’’ said Mr. Lithgow, who ordered the same thing as Mr. Tambor (Caesar salad with salmon) during a recent joint interview over lunch here. “Because our itinerary has been the same.’’

The pairing may represent both cosmic and comic destiny, but for NBC, whose prime-time schedule has plummeted to fourth place in the Nielsen ratings the last two years, after a decade at No. 1, Mr. Lithgow and Mr. Tambor would seem unlikely saviors. After all, advertisers are most interested in those viewers between 18 and 49, and Mr. Lithgow, 60, and Mr. Tambor, 62, each graduated from that demographic category more than a decade ago.

Moreover, in an era in which many of the most successful comedies have been shot like films — “Entourage’’ on HBO, or “My Name Is Earl’’ on NBC — “Twenty Good Years’’ would seem, at least on paper, to be a relic, with its studio audience (and occasional canned laughter). And by casting them as two single New Yorkers living together, at least temporarily — Mr. Lithgow’s character has been divorced three times; Mr. Tambor’s is widowed — “Twenty Good Years’’ pays more than a little homage to both “The Odd Couple’’ (1970’s) and “Golden Girls’’ (1980’s and 90’s).

“Two 60-year-old men?” Marsh McCall, an executive producer of “Just Shoot Me’’ and now “Twenty Good Years,’’ said he recalled thinking after the pilot was taped. NBC, he assumed, was “never going to put it on the schedule.’’

And yet, Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment, did just that, assigning “Twenty Good Years’’ a prime slot in NBC’s Wednesday night line-up at 8:30, following the highly anticipated comedy “30 Rock,’’ created by Tina Fey of “Saturday Night Live.’’

Which raises a question: Why?

In part, Mr. Reilly said, he was persuaded by the freshness of the subject. No other show has sought, as its central mission, to mine comedy and pathos from the experience of aging baby boomers. “Just by virtue of that, it’s going to stand out,’’ Mr. Reilly said.

Mr. Reilly said he also felt confident that the themes in the series — not just the frustrations of aging, but the challenges even the young face in trying to enjoy life — would resonate with viewers of all ages. Mr. Reilly said he was mindful that both “Golden Girls’’ and “Frasier’’ had relatively old casts, but were Top-10 shows for NBC in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Still, Mr. Reilly said he would have been unlikely to gamble on “Twenty Good Years’’ without the pedigrees of those associated with it — which, in addition to Mr. Lithgow and Mr. Tambor, includes Tom Werner, an executive producer of “The Cosby Show,’’ “Roseanne’’ and “3d Rock From the Sun.’’ Mr. Werner, an aging boomer himself at 56, first brought the idea for the show to Mr. Lithgow and Warner Brothers Television, which is producing it with his production company.

“It’s not just an ‘Odd Couple’ show,’’ Mr. Werner said. “It’s about two men who realize there isn’t a lot of time left and they’d really better attack life.’’

The show promises plenty of “sophomoric behavior’’: in the pilot, the two actors strip to their bathing suits (bikini briefs in Mr. Lithgow’s case) for a bracing, mid-winter swim in the Atlantic. But, Mr. Werner said, “There is going to be that moment when John looks at his frail body and wishes he could perform sexually as if he were the 30-something he remembers.’’

And yet, “Twenty Good Years’’ is, first and foremost, a comedy, a classic “two-hander,’’ as Mr. Reilly puts it.

Mr. Lithgow plays John, a full-of-himself New York City surgeon who has been forced, by hospital administrators, into semi-retirement. Mr. Tambor is his friend Jeffrey, a judge incapable of a quick decision — whether on a defendant’s guilt or whom to marry.

In addition to that swim, Mr. Lithgow’s character will goad Mr. Tambor’s into any number of carpe diem schemes, including an ill-fated agreement that they could date the same woman.

In the first episode, Mr. Lithgow gets the broad laughs, while Mr. Tambor’s performance is more subtle. When his character rises from his courtroom bench and the gallery stands in response, he waves them to sit down with an oh-you-shouldn’t-have modesty, a gesture that was ad-libbed.

Later, in an exchange written by Mr. McCall, Jeffrey and John accuse each other of being the bigger snob. “You act like some sort of log-cabin man of the people,’’ John says. “You grew up a block away from me”

“That’s right,’’ Jeffrey retorts, “and yet, you have a British accent.’’ That barb, which got an extended laugh, was meant to mock Mr. Lithgow’s studied, patrician diction, both on camera and off.

In real life, Mr. Lithgow — who is being introduced to a new generation through a series of children’s books (about a boy named Farkle McBride) and an on-demand television series for preschoolers (“Paloozaville’’) — said he related to his character’s extreme passion for life.

“There are days when I rush from sailing to horseback riding to tennis, all in one afternoon,’’ said Mr. Lithgow, who has a home in Montana with his second wife, Mary Yeager, a history professor whom he married 25 years ago. “All of these things I attempted for the first time after the age of 50. I just don’t stop for a moment because I feel like I’m trying to squeeze it all in.’’

Which is not to say that his adventures have always gone smoothly.

“I’ve been thrown off a horse six times,’’ he said. “I pulled a knee learning to water-ski. I broke my collarbone the first day I ever attempted to ski. I am a familiar face in the ER in Kalispell, Montana..’’

Mr. Tambor — who earned new fans the last three years as George Bluth Sr., the incarcerated patriarch on “Arrested Development’’ on Fox — may have to be prodded to enjoy a vigorous life on “Twenty Good Years,’’ but off camera he and his third wife, Kasia Ostlun, an actress, are kept in perpetual motion by their 19-month-old son.

“I never thought my life would be like this,’’ said Mr. Tambor, whose first two marriages ended in divorce and whose daughter, a professor in her early 30’s, has a son four days younger than his. “I thought by now I would be reading the great books in a library somewhere.’’

Like Mr. Lithgow, Mr. Tambor’s youthful outlook has its occupational hazards.

“I threw my back out taking my son out of the crib because I didn’t bend my legs,’’ Mr. Tambor said. “I was at the chiropractor for weeks.’’

For their fellow actors, to say nothing of the audience, the pairing of such seasoned pros offers enormous potential for chemistry.

“I’m dying to see who gets to play the straight man,’’ said Michael Tucker, a veteran of NBC’s prime-time schedule himself (he played Stuart Markowitz on “L.A. Law’’) who has worked in the New York theater with both.

Alan Alda, a castmate of Mr. Tambor’s in “Glengarry’’ and a friend of Mr. Lithgow’s, said he was heartened by the thought that “two people who are so skilled and so advanced in this difficult business of playing comedy can have a chance, well on in their careers, to work with each other.’’

“In their bones, they know what is funny, which is a rare thing,’’ Mr. Alda said. “An equally rare thing is they can play people who do very bad things, and yet the audience senses they are good guys.’’

“I think both of them,’’ he added, “could have run Enron and gotten away with it.’’

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/arts/television/10stei.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

The New Season
Two reality shows take two ethnicity paths
By R.D. Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV Critic Sun, Sep. 10, 2006

Two reality shows on CBS will try to make points about diversity. One has done it more noisily.

Survivor: Cook Islands arrives at 8 p.m. Thursday with a deliberately provocative notion: four tribes of five people each, divided along strict ethnic lines, in competition with each other.

For any competition, that would invite controversy. Survivor's past lack of diversity makes it seem even more cynical.

The Amazing Race, meanwhile, which has embraced diversity in different forms in its runs, begins its new season on Sept. 17 at 8:30 p.m. with one of its most diverse casts, executive producer Bertram van Munster said at a news conference this summer.

One of the most visible differences is the inclusion of two Cleveland friends, Bilal Abdul-Mani and Sa'eed Rudolph, whose Islamic faith extends to their wardrobe.

They will compete against 11 other pairs, including a father-daughter team in which the daughter is gay; a couple ofIndian-American descent; a gay male couple; and a team with a clinical prosthetist and a woman who has an artificial leg -- recent ESPY award winner Sarah Reinertsen. Also, cheerleaders and models.

The casting of an Islamic team even as America is marking the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 can be seen as a healing move. Van Munster has said they ``give a phenomenal image of who they are.'' It can also feel exploitative, although van Munster said the anniversary was not a factor in their selection.

Given Race's record on race, van Munster is believable. Survivor's plan is harder to digest, especially when shows like Amazing Race and Fox's American Idol have been more openly diverse than Survivor.

Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor, said the decision to deal more directly with race came out of regular preseason discussions. Looking for a new direction, the show's staff decided it needed to address the lack of diversity -- and possible stereotyping -- on the program.

Probst said that about 85 percent of the people applying to Survivor are white. If only for that reason, Probst said, the rare people of color on the show are like beacons when they do not do well.

At the same time, he said, there are plenty of ridiculous white people on the show, but ``you can find one or two (whites) to root for.''

In order to improve its diversity, the show expanded its casting search this time, seeking out people of color. (Somehow, one third of the 20 contestants still ended up being from Los Angeles, but that's another diversity issue.)

And as would-be contestants were interviewed, Probst said, ``we kept coming up with the same idea, ethnic pride.'' That led to dividing tribes along ethnic lines, which Probst had expected to be seen as a positive move.

But when it was announced, the show came under fire from critics and politicians. A number of sponsor pull-outs were announced, although Probst said the show lost some key sponsors months ago, before the theme was known.

Still, in a telephone news conference Thursday, Probst insisted that the resulting show will be thought of as one of the five best Survivor series ever, and that the change in cast and concept invigorated him and the show.

There are three different love connections, for example, a record number of blind-sides in Tribal Council -- and, in the second episode, a discussion within one tribe about stereotyping.

``The show, in our minds, rebirthed itself,'' he said, noting that many of the players had never seen Survivor -- unlike the thoroughly schooled competitors in some recent seasons. ``It really did energize us.''

And, he said, ``At the end of the day, you will see that we handled it responsibly.''

But we'll have to wait until the show airs to know for sure. Breaking with recent tradition, CBS is not making the first installment of Survivor: Cook Islands available for preview.

Still, Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan said, ``You can't have diversity just for the sake of diversity.... (Teams) ultimately have to be interesting.''

But how people are seen makes a difference in a competition.

``Everybody's going to face extra challenges based on how they look, what color skin they have, how they behave, whether they're unshaven,'' Keoghan said. ``The real world isn't fair.''

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/entertainment/television/15478519.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

The New Season
''Gilmore Girls'':
It Will Be All Right, I Think

By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog Sept 10, 2006

''Gilmore Girls'' doesn't start its new season until Sept. 26 (on the new CW network) but I had to go ahead and check out the review copy that arrived recently. After all, there is a lot of curiosity among fans about how the show will fare since the departure of creator Amy Sherman-Palladino. And she left the show in a bit of a box with her last episode, which found Lorelai and Luke breaking up, and then Lorelai rushing into the arms (and bed) of her ex, Christopher. Then there was the whole issue of Rory and Logan, and as subtext the whole issue of Alexis Bledel's limited range as an actress.

So where am I after watching the premiere? Kind of on the fence (and avoiding any big plot revelations). Parts were reassuringly glib (although the dialogue as a whole felt slower than in its most frenetic Sherman-Palladino moments). There were moments when I thought the Lauren Graham should use this episode to finally get that Emmy nomination. The pop-culture references were there, perhaps not as obscure as the show used to get, but still laced through it -- and there's a biggie involving Rory and Logan. It continued the troubles from last season in a more or less plausible way. And there were good scenes for Babette and Sookie and Michel.

Still, the premiere is such a bummer. The gloom that hung over last season has not abated as the new one begins. Even though that's a function of the plotlines left over from last season, it's still hard to take. Nor has Bledel's acting improved during the hiatus. Although It wasn't so bad that I have vowed never to watch again, neither was it so good that I rejoiced when it was over. This jury of one is still out.

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

The New Season
A Paranoid Prime Time Looks Over Its Shoulder
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times Sept. 10, 2006

Murder is so over.

All kinds of crimes darken the fall season, but homicide is the least of them. That may be because killings on police shows have come to seem so straightforward, the obvious start to a whodunit that ends with the ritual unmasking of the culprit. The new dramas are less about discovering who did it than figuring out what the hell happened in the first place.

Plots turn elliptically around kidnappings, hostage takings, art theft, fugitives, and even genetic mutations and nuclear holocaust. The occasional dead body is just a sideshow in these sinister intrigues, a cost of doing black business in a world that gets ever more complicated and conspiratorial.

This fall the procedural has been replaced by the paranoidural.

It’s tempting to ascribe the sudden surfeit of ominous suspense to the uncertainty of the times, but mostly it is because of “Lost.” That spooky ABC series about plane-wreck survivors emboldened network executives to take on large casts, layered stories and delayed denouements. Its success spawned a generation of cinematic dramas that begin in the middle of the narrative and zigzag — often with jerky time-lapse photography — from the beginning to the middle and back to an episode-clinching cliffhanger.

“Heroes,” an NBC series about a group of strangers who all develop different but seemingly paranormal abilities, taps into a “Lost”-like taste for the supernatural. Others, like ABC’s “Nine” and “Six Degrees,” toy with the chemical reactions of strangers suddenly tossed together.

Bad things always happen to rich people on television, but now money is not the only motive for their torment. On NBC’s “Kidnapped,” the son of a Wall Street mogul is held for ransom by criminals who seem to have connections or an agenda set by someone on high. On “Vanished,” a Fox kidnapping series, the wife of a Kennedyesque senator is snatched, but as soon as she disappears, clues surface that suggest she is not who she claims to be.

Both series revolve around an ornery, maverick investigator. On “Kidnapped” Jeremy Sisto plays a brusque former F.B.I. agent who warns clients not to call in the feds. On “Vanished” the brusque current F.B.I. agent warns clients not to take matters into their own hands.

“Jericho,” on CBS, is the clearest example of prime time’s tense mood. After a nuclear confrontation with an unnamed enemy, Jericho, Kan., appears to be the one town in America left intact. Global warfare is not the only mystery. Just what was the hero, Jake (Skeet Ulrich), doing in the five years before he returned home? He tells some neighbors he was in the Army, or the Navy. Others are led to believe he was playing minor league baseball.

“Smith,” a CBS drama about a gang of art thieves, is less apocalyptic but equally enigmatic. Ray Liotta plays a suburban family man with children, a loving wife (Virginia Madsen) and a secret second life: he heads a gang of gifted, ruthless criminals — attractive but much meaner and deadlier than the cuddly con men of “Hustle” on AMC — who get their assignments from a glamorous Middle Eastern woman.

“It will all be over in five minutes,” is what one of two bank robbers tells employees and customers at gunpoint on “The Nine.” The next thing on screen are the words “52 hours later.” There are grainy, time-lapse shots of a rescue, but what happened for those two days and four hours is not revealed. Instead, hints leak out in flashbacks and snatches of conversation.

Tim Daly (“Wings”) plays a troubled cop who happens to be in the bank but fails to stop the robbers. His first act after rescue is to find the hostage negotiator and punch him in the face. A handsome young surgeon who was held along with his fiancée apparently did or said something unforgivable under pressure. “It was a moment, Lizzie, a moment,” he pleads with her after they are set free. “Does it have to mean everything?”

Even shows aimed at teenagers are cryptic. “Runaway,” on the CW is not your daughter’s “Everwood.” A lawyer is on the lam after being falsely accused of murder and takes his wife and three children with him. As the F.B.I. closes in, they rent a house and the teenagers start high school under false names. But law enforcement is not their only problem. The real killer, or killers, are also on their tail, for reasons that are only hinted at in the grainy, black-and-white flashbacks to the days before and after the murder.

Every season prime-time dramas narrow the gap between television and movies, and this time the two nearly converge. “Kidnapped” owes a noticeable debt to “Man on Fire,” a 2004 thriller that starred Denzel Washington, while both “The Nine” and “Smith” look a lot like “Inside Man,” a 2006 thriller that starred Denzel Washington.

The cinematography behind the new shows is stylish and different from conventional network drama, but the series also all sound and look sleekly alike: even the most anodyne location shots are pumped up with music and spooky sound effects: the swooshing roar of a jet or a heartbeat amplified to the level of jungle drums. Indoor and outdoor scenes are shot in washed-out film that gives every scene the look of a 40’s film noir. Even a Kansas farmstead on “Jericho” looks like something out of a Wim Wenders movie.

These thrillers are not the first time the networks have tried to create their own version of “Lost.” Last year the fall schedule was crammed with science fiction. “Surface” on NBC featured a sea monster, while “Threshold” on CBS and “Invasion” on ABC went for aliens from outer space.

Those flopped, but some networks caught the new wave early. USA got lucky with “The 4400,” about people abducted by aliens who return to earth with strange powers but no memory of what happened. Fox, which had a proven success with “24,” last year introduced “Prison Break,” and that series, which began its second season last month, also serves as a model for this year’s crop: a thriller told in soap opera installments.

It took an entire season for its hero, Michael Scofield, to escape after getting himself sent up the river with the blueprint of the prison tattooed on his chest to break out his brother, Lincoln Burrows, from death row. That complicated plan intersected with a larger conspiracy on the outside: the person who framed Lincoln for the murder of the vice president’s brother was the vice president, and by season’s end, she became the commander in chief.

The new season began with Michael, Lincoln and their merry band of convicts out of prison and on the run. Only now they are being hunted down by an ace F.B.I. investigator, who is played by William Fichtner, the villain on the canceled ABC show “Invasion.”

Many of the stars of the new shows look familiar, and a large number of them were recruited from Fox’s “24,” which is still going strong on the eve of its sixth season. At least four alumni show up in the new season: Leslie Hope, who played Jack Bauer’s wife in the first season of “24,” is the mother on “Runaway.” Kim Raver, who played Bauer’s girlfriend in Seasons 4 and 5 is now Kathryn, an assistant district attorney who is held hostage with the others in “The Nine.” John Allen Nelson, who played Walt Cummings, President Logan’s shifty chief of staff in Season 5, is Senator Jeffrey Collins in “Vanished,” while Shohreh Aghdashloo, the Iranian actress who played a snaky Muslim conspirator on the fourth season returns as the mysterious crime boss on “Smith.”

Gerald McRaney, the former star of “Major Dad,” is double-dipping: he is George Hearst on HBO’s “Deadwood” and also Mayor Green on “Jericho.”

Hollywood has no shortage of unemployed film and television actors, so the networks’ insistence on hiring actors who made their name on other hit series seems almost superstitious. Like primitive tribesman who carry totems of rival warriors, network executives must hope that those stars will bring some of their previous successes to the new genre of drama.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/arts/television/10stan.html?_r=1&oref=login&ref=television&pagewanted=print

TV Notebook
New Chapter in the Morning Wars
By Jacques Steinberg The New York Times September 11, 2006

“Good Morning America” had been on the air for 13 minutes on the East Coast on Thursday when an embarrassing technical breakdown occurred: for nearly 30 seconds, a recorded interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton went silent, and viewers could hear the increasingly agitated voices of producers in the show’s Times Square control room as they tried to solve the problem.

Amid the clatter of this impromptu, behind-the-scenes audio tour of the nation’s second-highest-rated morning show, viewers heard one male voice ask, firmly and evenly, “What is going on?”

It was Jim Murphy, who was then beginning his third official day as senior executive producer of the program and who, at that particular moment, was leaning against a control room wall sipping an iced latte from Starbucks.

Though ultimately responsible for that day’s program — which would include another patch of silence just four minutes later — Mr. Murphy, 46, mostly hung back as his charges furiously worked to diagnose what exactly was happening while ensuring that no four-letter words, however innocently uttered, had somehow seeped onto the air. (They hadn’t.)

“What can you do?” Mr. Murphy said, when asked later by a visitor who had witnessed the scene how he had remained in an almost Zen-like state, at least outwardly, while obviously concerned. “If there’s no sound going out, there’s no sound going out. You have to stay calm and let the people who can fix it fix it.”

Mr. Murphy — a veteran television executive whose varied production credits include “Siskel & Ebert” (in the 1980’s and 1990’s) and the “ CBS Evening News” (for six years, ending in January) — will need to summon all his powers of serenity, to say nothing of the skills he has acquired during a nearly three-decade career, to undertake a crucial assignment that begins in earnest on Wednesday.

On that day, “Today” on NBC — the ratings leader in morning television for more than a decade, and the most profitable program on television (about a quarter of a billion dollars a year in recent years) — will introduce a new co-host, Meredith Vieira, who is succeeding Katie Couric.

Among his main briefs from his bosses is that he use this moment of transition at “Today” to start wooing enough people to ABC in the morning to erase what, on average since last September, was a nearly 900,000-viewer (or 17.5 percent) advantage in the Nielsen ratings. Watching closely will be the General Electric Company, NBC’s parent, and the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC. None of Mr. Murphy’s predecessors managed to win even a week in the ratings over the last decade, though the program’s most recent leader, Ben Sherwood, came tantalizingly close, losing by about 40,000 viewers on average each day, during one week in the spring of 2005. (Mr. Sherwood announced his departure last spring.)

But it is not just the matter of whether the “Today” audience will embrace Ms. Vieira, who most recently served as a co-host of “The View” on ABC, that is bedeviling Mr. Murphy. He is also responsible for making sure that loyal viewers of “Good Morning America” don’t abandon the program as it goes through a major transition of its own: the transfer earlier this summer of Charles Gibson, its longtime co-host, to the evening news, and the arrival last week of Chris Cuomo (the program’s latest news reader) and Sam Champion (its new weather anchor.)

Hovering over all these changes is the open question of how much longer the program’s biggest star, Diane Sawyer, will remain as co-host. A network spokesman said in June that she had committed to stay at least through early 2007.

Whether she will extend her tenure beyond that may well hinge on how successful Mr. Murphy (and his deputy, Tom Cibrowski, the executive producer) are in helping her and her team make a serious run at “Today” this fall.

In an interview after Thursday’s program, Ms. Sawyer, 60, who joined “Good Morning America” for what was billed as a temporary assignment seven years ago, said Mr. Murphy had thus far impressed her with his “confidence and his optimism,” to say nothing of his ever-present rat-a-tat-tat laugh. (“What planet does that come from?” she asked.)

“I am ready, I am charged, I am psyched,” she said. That may be true, but at this particular moment Ms. Sawyer sounded only exhausted, sipping chicken soup on a beige couch on the show’s Times Square set, nursing a bad cold. When asked if she would be sitting on that same couch a year from now, Ms. Sawyer said she had not made any decisions about her future, and did not know when she would.

“I’m sorry if it sounds like a dodge,” she said. “I truly am looking ahead and enjoying this part. And there is plenty of time to think about what remains after — when, and whether.”

What is perhaps most immediately striking about Mr. Murphy is how different he looks from the male morning news producers of the recent past, who have tended to be clean-cut cutouts from “The Official Preppy Handbook.” Mr. Sherwood and his two counterparts at “Today” and “The Early Show” on CBS, a distant third in the morning ratings, were all Harvard graduates.

Mr. Murphy, by contrast, appears to have stepped out of a jazz album cover. He has a thick mustache and a tuft of fuzz below his lower lip. Until he misplaced it recently, he wore a diamond stud in his right ear.

The son of Irish immigrants who raised their family in Queens — his father drove a New York City bus — Mr. Murphy got his first job in TV news in the late 1970’s, before graduating from Regis High School, an academically rigorous Catholic institution. It was an internship at WPIX in New York. He stayed nearly five years, becoming a producer of the weekend news. He dropped out of Queens College, never to graduate.

His mother was hardly disappointed, though: she idolized the pioneering “Eyewitness News” team on WABC-TV in New York (including Roger Grimsby and Rose Ann Scamardella), which is where Mr. Murphy landed next, as a producer who worked closely with Mr. Grimsby. At WABC, Mr. Murphy met his wife, Adrianne Barr, also a producer then.

In the late 1980’s, Mr. Murphy moved to WCBS-TV in New York, where his tenure briefly overlapped with that of his oldest sister, Mary, a reporter. Though Mr. Murphy and his sister mostly worked different shifts, she still remembers one evening when, while reporting from the field, she heard her brother’s voice from the control room suddenly register in her earpiece. “Mommy likes me better,” he told her. (These days, Ms. Murphy is a weekend news anchor on WPIX.)

A chance encounter with the film critic Gene Siskel on a flight to Chicago persuaded Mr. Murphy to forsake WCBS for Mr. Siskel’s syndicated movie-review program with Roger Ebert. Mr. Murphy was the show’s supervising producer for nearly five years. But, missing the news, he returned to New York to work at CBS, first as a producer of “This Morning,” the predecessor to “The Early Show,” followed by “48 Hours” and the evening news.

“In local news, I learned how you churn out a lot of stuff,” Mr. Murphy said. “At ‘Siskel & Ebert’ I learned the value of good production and interesting, entertaining storytelling. My first go-round in morning television, I learned about booking and fighting.”

And on the “CBS Evening News,” he said, he learned to work “with really big folks.”

Among the criticisms about Mr. Murphy being whispered by some of his new colleagues at ABC is that, whether at “This Morning,” or “Evening News,” neither program budged from third place in the ratings. Asked whether any of the blame for that could be placed on him, Mr. Murphy suggested that the reasons more likely laid with the network, which, he said, avoided making substantial investments in the news division until going after Ms. Couric.

For now, as they break in the new on-camera team at “Good Morning America,” Mr. Murphy and Mr. Cibrowski (who also worked under Mr. Sherwood), are planning no major changes. Much of the program’s first hour will still be devoted to examinations of breaking news, whether a speech by the president or the overnight arrest of Paris Hilton, with the second hour continuing to feature heavy dollops of entertainers and “news you can use.”

And while stalking the big prize of overtaking “Today,” Mr. Murphy also intends to celebrate the small victories. Last Thursday, when a report by a correspondent in the parking lot of a supermarket was momentarily drowned out by a car alarm, Mr. Murphy immediately saw a silver lining.

“At least we can hear it,” he shouted to the control room.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/business/media/11gma.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print

Clearer View For 'View'

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/11/2006

The View has received a high-def makeover for its 10th season, coinciding with the debut of moderator Rosie O'Donnell last week. The Emmy Award-winning chatfest airs in the 720-line progressive (720p) high-definition format.

ABC already offers Good Morning America and the bulk of its primetime programming in HD. The network spent the last year upgrading the View control room and studio cameras to support high-def, to the tune of around $9 million. Since last March, the show has been produced in 16:9 widescreen HD and downconverted to 4:3 standard-def for broadcast. “If we do a demonstration segment about a new product, you really see these things, particularly something that has great detail,” says Executive Producer Bill Geddie. “The previous format was so primitive that we didn't linger on close-ups.”


While there were concerns that producing in HD would require a much different approach to makeup and lighting, those proved unfounded. “HD makes the set look great, and it makes the women look great,” Geddie says. “Contrary to popular belief, I think people look better in HD.”

Figuring out how to shoot in widescreen HD while delivering effective 4:3 pictures has been more challenging. “You have to make a decision on how people are really watching the show, since people are generally watching in the old format,” says Geddie. “Sometimes in the studio, you'll look at the monitor and say, 'What a terrible shot.' But most people won't see it that way.”

ABC used the show's hiatus to reconfigure the studio for a new look that not only maximizes high-def's impact but also places emphasis on the audience, one of O'Donnell's suggestions. That required finding new camera angles to play with. Says Geddie, “The show is being shot very differently now.”

The network made the decision to upgrade the studio in January 2005, as part of the normal equipment upgrade cycle, which is about 10 to 12 years for a daytime studio.

The transition required moving The View's production out of the control room, using a combination of a mobile unit and trailers parked outside, a setup the show relied on from August 2005 until March of this year. ABC employed similar logistics when upgrading GMA's control room to high-def last year.

A big difference between GMA and The View, however, is that, while GMA is basically an all-Sony facility, ABC has chosen a mix of vendors for The View. Gear includes a Snell & Wilcox Kahuna production switcher; Ikegami HD cameras (three studio units, three handhelds and three point-of-view cameras mounted in the rafters); Panasonic D5 and DVCPRO HD tape decks; a Clarity virtual monitor wall with Evertz video display processor; a Solid State Logic C140 digital audio console; a Calrec audio console for mixing musical performances; and Avid Adrenaline HD nonlinear video editing and Pro Tools audio editing software.

The program is still relying on standard-definition Chyron graphics, which are upconverted for the HD broadcasts. 4:3 material that is incorporated into the show is also complemented by a View graphic that runs in the side panels. “We still believe in upconverting the graphics, as we don't see any great value in high-def graphics,” says Preston Davis, president of broadcast operations and engineering for ABC. “Particularly with the bulk of audience still watching in 4:3 analog.”

ABC is using the D-5 decks to play out occasional prerecorded segments, an application it had initially considered filling with a production-focused video server. But Davis says HD tape is a better solution. That's seconded by Sony Pictures Television, which is using Sony XDCAM HD optical disk-based “decks” for playout applications during the HD production of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!.

“We keep looking, but we haven't found a [server] that meets our needs,” says Davis. “That is surprising, considering that we are fairly well into the whole HDTV thing.”

One of the unique challenges ABC had in taking The View to HD was making sure the transmission path between the studio and network headquarters four blocks east could handle the higher bit rates of HDTV. ABC replaced the existing coaxial cable with two 1.5-gigabit-per-second fiber paths to bring the live HD feed up into the building, where it is uplinked from C-band dishes on the roof.

For audio, the goal is to produce music segments in full 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound but produce the rest of the show in two-channel stereo sound. While Dolby 5.1 sound is great for sports and movies, Davis says watching people talk on the screen while their voices come from behind or next to a viewer doesn't work for news and talk shows. ABC uses the same technique with GMA.

He explains, “I think having sounds come from the sides or the rear while watching Charlie Gibson is a little distracting.”

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6370165.html?display=Technology

The New Season
‘West Wing’ to West Coast:
TV’s Auteur Portrays TV
By Bill Carter The New York Times September 11, 2006

LOS ANGELES — Aaron Sorkin’s bungalow office on the Warner Brothers studio lot is spacious, comfortable and cluttered. Most of the clutter has a certain glint to it.

Like the six big Emmy Awards spread in a neat row on his battleship-size desk, or the array of other awards positioned on the étagère shelves against one wall.

The implication is unmistakable: This is an enormously successful television writer. Mr. Sorkin, beyond writing the play and movie “A Few Good Men” and the well-regarded ABC series “Sports Night,” was the creator — auteur really — of “The West Wing,” one of the most celebrated drama series in television history.

Television writers are not usually so esteemed that their next project is awaited with fevered anticipation. This seems to be the case, however, with Mr. Sorkin. His new series, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” scheduled to have its premiere next Monday night at 10 on NBC, gives every indication — in research by NBC, in the hunger of fans to get bootleg copies of the pilot tape or script on the Internet — of being the show viewers avidly want to see in the new television season.

This promise is not the result of people’s fascination with the premise for “Studio 60”: the backstage machinations of a troubled sketch-comedy show on a fictional network. It could be because viewers want to see Matthew Perry in his first show after “Friends” or Amanda Peet in her first television role.

But nobody really thinks those are big factors. The main reason viewers seem eager to see the new drama is that Aaron Sorkin wrote it.

What many people apparently expect, based on the show’s pilot, is something of a personal manifesto from Mr. Sorkin, abetted by his long-time directing and producing partner, Thomas Schlamme, who, with Mr. Sorkin, left “The West Wing” in 2003.

What does Mr. Sorkin say about the speculation that his experiences are being reproduced in the series?

“There’s a character in the show who’s had a cocaine relapse,” Mr. Sorkin said, not even bothering to cite his own similar experience. “There are two characters who were fired from their last sketch-comedy show in the wake of 9/11 because of the feeling that they were too liberal — that has echoes of ‘The West Wing.’ And you know, people are saying the character played by Amanda is supposed to be Jamie Tarses.” (Ms. Tarses is a former NBC and ABC program executive.)

Then there is the character of Harriet, a former lover of Mr. Perry’s character, who is devoted to her Christian faith. Mr. Sorkin said people are presuming the character is based on the Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, whom Mr. Sorkin once dated.

His reaction to the speculation: “All of that is true.” He laughs quickly before adding qualifiers. “There’s no question that this is the most personally I have ever written, simply because I don’t live in the world of the White House or a sports TV show or a Navy courtroom. And there are real people who were jumping-off points for the characters. But by Page 4 everything is fiction. When I write this show, I am not writing about myself.”

Mr. Sorkin is doing all the writing of course. He has a staff of 10 writers, but what they are writing so far seems short of scripts.

“They prepare memos for me,” he said. “Ultimately I’ve got to come into the room and close the door and write a script. That’s how it works.”

With “The West Wing” Mr. Sorkin could unleash his famously dense dialogue about incidents of great moment. With this show he is writing about something a bit less grand.

Mr. Sorkin said the series would present a balanced picture of the television business. “The biggest wrong assumption about this show is that it’s about the artists and the suits, and the artists are always right, and the show is an indictment of television,” Mr. Sorkin said. “The network characters are not ninnies who don’t care about what’s on the air. They are more often caught between a rock and a hard place and trying to do the right thing.”

He called the show “a valentine to television” just as “The West Wing” was “a valentine to public service.”

Certainly much love — and cash — has been lavished on the production, the most expensive of the new season at more than $3 million an episode. Part of the reason is the talent involved: that cast (which also includes Bradley Whitford, Steven Weber and D. L. Hughley) and of course Mr. Sorkin and Mr. Schlamme, who do not work cheap.

The budget is also apparent in the lavishly appointed set, which is both huge (even bigger than the White House on “The West Wing”) and detailed. The pseudostage where the series’ sketch show takes place is large enough, and with enough audience seats, actually to put on such a show. The set also includes a massive balcony from which the fake executives can view the fake show; multiple offices, dressing rooms, make-up rooms and writers’ rooms; and even a fake toilet for the performers.

The hallways are sets themselves, the better to accommodate Mr. Schlamme’s famed tracking shots. “Tommy needs to travel,” Mr. Sorkin said.

Mr. Schlamme came up with the idea for what amounts to an old-fashioned Hollywood movie palace from the 30’s, in Art Deco style, now supposedly transformed into a theater where the sketch show is performed live every Friday night.

Given this setup the folks from “Saturday Night Live” had reason to feel invaded, especially because one of their own, the writer Tina Fey, had created another backstage take on their show, a comedy called “30 Rock.”

Mr. Sorkin acknowledged that he had borrowed from “Saturday Night Live,” but he said he had gone to a different source for the backstage material.

“I felt like maybe there’s a way to rip off ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ without making it ridiculously blatant that I’m doing that,” he said.

He said he foresaw no conflict with Ms. Fey’s show. “The two shows don’t work the same side of the street,” he said.

The format of “Studio 60” would seem to present Mr. Sorkin with a new challenge: writing satirical comedy every week. His work often has comic moments, and “Sports Night” was ostensibly a situation comedy. But mainly Mr. Sorkin aims for the searing dramatic moment.

This show will be different. Every week what he called “shards of sketches” will be seen. He pointed to sketch stages, one configured as a parody of Nancy Grace’s talk show on CNN Headline News, another billing itself as “Nicolas Cage, Marriage Counselor.”

“You’ll never see a sketch for no reason,” Mr. Sorkin said, “and you’ll never see it full-on the way a television audience would see it on ‘S.N.L.’ Rob Reiner, who did a guest thing for us, said this was a great setup because you only have to do the good parts. You don’t have to end the sketch, just do the good parts and get out.”

Getting on with things was often a problem during Mr. Sorkin’s days running “The West Wing.” This time he has tried to get as far ahead as possible. He was five episodes in advance when shooting began. He would like to stay ahead, but he has some other challenges coming.

In January Mr. Sorkin will head to Morocco for three weeks on location for a movie he has written, an adaptation of the George Crile book “Charlie Wilson’s War.” The director, Mike Nichols, has asked him to participate during the shoot.

Later, Mr. Sorkin’s new play, “The Farnsworth Invention,” based on the struggle of Philo T. Farnsworth to win recognition for his invention — television again — will begin rehearsals at the La Jolla Playhouse. Steven Spielberg is making his theatrical producing debut.

While Mr. Sorkin is in Morocco, he will try to supervise “Studio 60” over the Internet. “It will be the first time that I haven’t been on the set when a scene is being shot,” Mr. Sorkin said. “What I’m hoping is that it’s possible for me to be gone without anyone in the cast or crew noticing. Then it won’t be like Mom and Dad have left the house.”

The care and nurturing of a television series is something Mr. Sorkin missed deeply in his three years away from the medium. “I missed ‘The West Wing’ every day and the people I worked with. And I missed putting on a show every week. What I didn’t miss was the feeling of constantly having a term paper due.”

He may be protesting too much. For Mr. Sorkin, the opportunity to crank it up again and disgorge his ideas and words into a host of characters of his own creation is pretty much what he lives for. He seems energized and impassioned to be at it again.

“I truly love doing television, doing series television. I love working with the same group of people,” he said. “I love how long a television series, when it’s at the top of its game, stays in the public consciousness. It stays much longer than even the biggest hit, or even the most important, movie. We talked about ‘The Da Vinci Code’ for six months. Then it opened and we stopped talking about it.

“We talk about a television series for much longer than that. You talk about ‘Sex and the City’; you talk about ‘The West Wing’; you talk about ‘The Sopranos.’ I love that it’s part of the public consciousness.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/arts/television/11sork.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

TV Sports
No More Dress Rehearsals, No More Make Believe
By Tony Kornheiser The Washington Post Monday, September 11, 2006

Having gotten my reps down in four preseason games, I thought I was cruisin'. The regular season was just going to be an extension of what I've already done. And then one of the many helpful people who now surround me tell me that preseason doesn't really count, that this is my big night. (Maybe he's confusing me with Al Saunders and Gregg Williams, huh?) What I've been doing so far is New Haven. This time, it's Broadway! Gaaaaaccckkk!

This fills me anew with fear. I'm not worried that I'll be under a microscope, like Katie Couric. For one thing, I never wear white after Labor Day. For another, none of my photos are airbrushed. I am the same fat, bald dope in every shot that I am in real life. (Although, like Katie, I do have great legs.)

Nor do I worry that my coworkers are out to get me, unlike Rosie O'Donnell on "The View." There's nothing but endless love in our booth. And the occasional drunken, lost fan who's only one-third as scary as Star Jones used to be.

What frightens me is that some Web site will have breaking news on an obscure thing I did long ago that I might have preferred to not mention publicly, like Anderson Cooper having interned at the CIA during college. (Because I misread the recruitment flyer, I ended up at the Culinary Institute of America. The good news is I can cook like nobody's business. The bad news is my whisk is a lethal weapon.) I think I might skate on that score, though, because Junior probably long ago put that episode in a book.

I'm pretty sure I'm okay on some of the worst things I've done, like that time I drove the entire Beltway naked. (Make a note of this: Just because "What, you're kidding??? I'm not wearing pants ???? " worked with the officer who stopped me, that doesn't mean you won't end up with pixilated privates on "COPS.")

Of course, there is the little matter of my past use of human growth hormone. But I'm pretty sure the only person I told about that is Jon Jansen, so that secret should be safe.

In any case, I'm very happy that the game is in Washington, which is my home, so I don't have to go on the road -- though considering what 90,000 people in cars do to the Beltway, I might have to leave for the stadium at dawn. And I'm even happier that the game starts at 7, so I know I can stay up through the end. Heck, I might even be alert. That would be the upset of the night.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091001066_pf.html

The New Season
ABC, CBS Bet On Franchises, Fox Reenters Late Night
By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com Sept. 11, 2006

Among preseason launches on the broadcast networks, three crucial ones take place this week--crucial because these premieres could shore up perceived weaknesses in their respective nets' programming strategies.

After a nearly dormant summer, during which none of its new programs clicked with viewers, ABC is looking to reclaim some heat with the third cycle premiere of Dancing with the Stars on Tuesday, Sept. 12, from 8-10 p.m. CBS, meanwhile, hopes to stem declining ratings for its reality warhorse Survivor with the controversial raced-based installment of the series, Survivor: Cook Islands, launching Thursday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. And Fox re-enters the late night wars with former Seinfeld writer/producer Spike Feresten hosting Talkshow with Spike Feresten, premiering Saturday, Sept. 16 at midnight.

From this summer’s How to Get the Guy and Master of Champions to The One and One Ocean View, ABC struck out with new programming. So the return of Dancing with the Stars should bring smiles to the faces of execs there (that is, after they recover from all of the negative press surrounding miniseries The Path to 9/11). Airing Tuesdays rather than Thursdays, Dancing is poised to lift a night which traditionally has been lackluster for the network.

But Horizon Media’s senior vp of research Brad Adgate noted that strengthening Tuesdays may not be as important as bolstering the network’s football-less Mondays. “Football may have been a loss-leader, but it still was a leader,” Adgate noted. “And how well they recover from that loss is more a cause for anxiety at ABC than Tuesdays.”

Over at CBS, with Survivor teams split by ethnicity this go-round, the network already has drawn fire from critics for exploiting a sensitive topic. Adgate remains wary of the ploy, too.

“The show has suffered ratings erosion over the past several seasons,” he said. “And this is a way to build up buzz.”

More than just building buzz, CBS claims the show’s raced-based premise has refreshed the series itself. In a telephone conference call held last week, host Jeff Probst said the show’s casting team had to actively search for contestants to fill out the series. And some of those contestants were wholly unfamiliar with the program, which Probst likened to the hit show’s debut season. “These are not people saying, ‘I’m going to be just like [Season Two contestant] Colby Donaldson,’” Probst noted.

As Fox’s House once capitalized on American Idol’s lead-in audience, so the network hopes Talkshow can benefit from lead-in sketch comedy MADtv. Still, execs there are keeping expectations low for Talkshow. “We have to be realistic,” said Preston Beckman, executive vp of strategic program planning for Fox. “We’re looking at a show that’s going to come on at midnight, so usage levels are going to be down.”

If Talkshow can find its creative legs, Fox already is looking at the program as a re-entry into the weekly late night race. “We certainly don’t want to limit our late night presence to Saturday nights,” Beckman added. “But it’s easier than starting out with Monday to Friday.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003119186

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

TV Sports
Notre Dame Gets Ratings Win, Too
PENN STATE-NOTRE DAME ON NBC EARNS HIGHEST RATING FOR ND HOME OPENER IN 8 YEARS
Victory Over Penn State Up 12% Over Last Year's Home Opener

(NBC Press Release)

NEW YORK – Sept. 10, 2006 – NBC's broadcast of No. 4 Notre Dame's 2006 home opener vs. No. 19 Penn State earned a 4.8 overnight rating/12 share, the highest rating for a home opener in eight years (5.9/15 on 9/5/98 vs. Michigan). Notre Dame's resounding 41-17 win (3:45-7 p.m. ET) was also up 12 percent versus the

Remembrance
Steve Irwin Special Set
Animal Planet to Honor Fallen Nature Host
By James Hibberd TV Week Sept. 11, 2006

Animal Planet, rocked last week by the death of Steve Irwin, is planning tributes and a special honoring the nature-show host.

All day on Sept. 17, the cable channel will televise spots honoring Mr. Irwin, who died Sept. 4 after a stingray attacked him as he taped a show off the Great Barrier Reef. Animal Planet will produce a one-hour memorial special produced by Mr. Irwin's longtime producer John Stainton, said network Executive VP and General Manager Maureen Smith.

The channel, a Discovery Networks property, may mine the thousands of hours of unused footage from his program "The Crocodile Hunter" to create additional specials, she said.

Mr. Irwin drove the success of Animal Planet more than any other performer, stoking audience enthusiasm with his boisterous approach to wildlife appreciation. "The Crocodile Hunter" was the network's signature show when the channel launched in 1996 and helped quadruple Animal Planet's viewership over the next four years. Later, Mr. Irwin generated spinoffs such as "The Crocodile Hunter Diaries."

The news of his death provoked the most chaotic day that Discovery Networks staffers ever had experienced.

Executives awoke at 1 a.m. on Sept. 4 to phone calls with the news of Mr. Irwin's death. Because it was Labor Day, most staffers were supposed to have the day off.

"We had [staff] calling us to offer to help or just showing up to volunteer to do anything they could," Ms. Smith said. "It was inspiring to see the sense of family that we always talk about actually come to life."

During the next two days company staff handled a deluge of calls from the media and fans and friends of Mr. Irwin. Discovery formed teams to handle the media, prepare an official statement, plan tribute programming and create an online response.

The company announced a Steve Irwin memorial fund, then scrapped it and redirected donors to Mr. Irwin's own Wildlife Warriors fund. An Animal Planet Web site forum for fans was deluged with thousands of posts with titles such as "can't stop crying."

While fans remained devoted to Mr. Irwin, viewership for his series and specials had fallen off in recent years. Animal Planet ceased production of "The Crocodile Hunter" in TKTK, and Discovery Networks had been looking for new ways to package Mr. Irwin's talent.

"New Breed Vets," a six-episode series on zoo veterinarians hosted by Mr. Irwin, aired to modest ratings last year. For Travel Channel, Mr. Irwin filmed two hours of "Steve Irwin's Great Escapes," featuring the Irwin family visiting national parks.

Both were tame adventures compared with "The Crocodile Hunter" of Mr. Irwin's heyday. His last project, "Ocean's Deadliest Predators," promised a return to form.

Mr. Irwin was at the Great Barrier Reef filming the program early last week. At the time of his death, however, Discovery sources said, he was shooting a scene for a different project in development at Discovery Kids.

Most of the media coverage of Mr. Irwin's death has been sympathetic. But the Discovery team has been angered by reports drawing parallels to naturalist Timothy Treadwell, whose death from a grizzly bear attack was chronicled in the documentary "Grizzly Man." Discovery has defended Mr. Irwin, saying he wasn't being reckless at the time he was killed. One staffer noted that only 17 deaths caused by stingrays have been reported in the past 30 years.

Still, Mr. Irwin's adventures were dangerous. Shaking up the genre after decades of dry nature documentaries narrated by unseen hosts, Mr. Irwin pioneered an exciting style that projected the persona of a likable adventurer in peril. Flagged with titles containing superlatives such as "Deadliest" and "Most Deadly," Mr. Irwin put himself in harm's way and opened the door for fellow self-styled adventurers such as Austin Stevens and Jeff Corwin.

Ms. Smith denied Mr. Irwin courted danger in his series and resisted the suggestion that future programming should take a more cautious stance.

"Steve didn't want to get an audience by getting in harm's way," she said. "We always put safety as a priority. Steve's show and his style were unique, and we would never duplicate it to begin with."

Network executives say the tape of Mr. Irwin's death will not be made public.

"We have no intention of airing it," Ms. Smith said. "I have no desire to see it."

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30489

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A solid tune-in for ABC's 'Path to 9/11'
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sep 11, 2006

ABC got an unexpected burst of publicity for its miniseries “The Path to 9/11” after Democrats, most vehemently former President Bill Clinton, objected to the way the Clinton White House was depicted in its hunt for Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

They claimed there were exaggerations and outright untruths in the movie, and demanded that the network yank it, which it did not.

Whether the movie, which received a few last-minute tweaks from ABC, was historically accurate or not is a matter still open to debate, but it did manage to attract solid ratings on a very competitive night.

Part one of “Path” averaged a 4.0 rating among adults 18-49 last night, according to Nielsen overnights, finishing third in the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. timeslot behind NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” debut and four Fox sitcom premieres, including “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.”

By comparison, the previous weekend ABC averaged a 1.7 rating for reruns of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” over those three hours.

“9/Path” attracted 12.7 million total viewers, peaking with 13.5 million in the second hour. The final half hour of part one included a 15-minute “Nightline” special about 9/11, and the second part tomorrow will be followed by a news special hosted by “World News” anchor Charles Gibson entitled “Where Things Stand.”

Elsewhere, NBC’s “SNF” averaged a 14.7 household rating, down 0.1 from the premiere of “Monday Night Football” last year.

That led NBC to No. 1 for the night at a 6.6 rating and 17 share in 18-49s, ahead of Fox at 5.1/13, ABC at 3.5/9, CBS at 2.9/7, Univision at 1.4/2 and WB at 0.6/1.

At 7 p.m., Fox was No. 1 at 6.5 for NFL overrun and "The OT," followed by NBC at 2.8 for the "Football Night in America" pregame show, a 2.1 each for ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" rerun and CBS's "60 Minutes," a 1.0 for Univision "Vuelo 93" and 0.5 for WB's "Just Legal."

At 8 p.m., NBC was No. 1 at 7.4 for the end of "Football Night" and start of "SNF," ahead of Fox at 4.7 for "Simpsons” (5.3) and "American Dad" (4.1), ABC at 3.6 for "Path," CBS at 2.7 for "9/11," Univision at 0.9 for "Cantando por un Sueño" and WB at 0.7 for a "Charmed" rerun.

At 9 p.m., NBC led again at 8.2 for "SNF," followed by CBS at 4.2 for "9/11," a 4.1 each for ABC's "Path" and Fox's "Family Guy" (4.7) and "War at Home" (3.5), a 1.0 for Univision's "Cantando" and 0.5 for WB's "Charmed" rerun

At 10 p.m., NBC was No. 1 again at 8.0 for "SNF," ahead of a 4.2 for ABC's "Path," a 2.8 for CBS's "Cold Case" rerun and 1.1 for Univision's "Cantando."

Among households, NBC led for the night at a 10.8 rating and 17 share, ahead of ABC at 7.1/11, Fox at 7.0/11, CBS at 6.3/10, Univision at 1.4/2 and WB at 1.1/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7207.asp

TV Notebook
The story of a lifetime
Five years after 9/11, TV news still feeling impact
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter Sep. 11, 2006

NEW YORK -- The news came into Matt Lauer's ear as he interviewed a Howard Hughes biographer on what felt like another slow news day in the summer of shark attacks and Chandra Levy.

"Go to commercial," "Today" executive producer Jonathan Wald told him tersely. "Breaking news: A plane has hit the World Trade Center."

That's all anyone knew at 8:50 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. "Good Morning America" hurried out of an interview with Sarah Ferguson, CBS' "The Early Show" hustled out of a cooking segment. Lauer and hundreds of other TV journalists in New York, Washington and southwest Pennsylvania didn't know it then, but they are about to cover the biggest story of their lives.

The Big Three networks and the all-news cable outlets soon televised live shots of a gaping hole belching thick, dark smoke from the North Tower of the World Trade Center. There was little talk of terrorism in those first few minutes; anchors and reporters on the scene remark about how it was hard to imagine how a pilot could run into a 110-story building on a such a beautiful, clear morning.

"We didn't know anything, so we were going to figure this thing out along with the viewers," recalled then-"GMA" co-anchor Charles Gibson. "But it was obvious from the size of the fire that we weren't going to get off the air anytime soon."

Fox News Channel's Jon Scott was about to begin his 9 a.m. shift when he was told to run to the studio. He arrived to find out that a plane had hit the trade center.

"I thought it was an accident, as incredible as that may seem now," says Scott, who is a pilot and aviation enthusiast. "It should have hit me right away that, OK, they didn't bring the towers down in '93 so they were going to try it again from the air." On the air, Scott was talking to an expert at 9:03 a.m. when United Airlines Flight 175 smashed into the South Tower.

That same moment on "Today," Lauer and Couric were talking to an NBC News producer, Elliott Walker, who was walking her daughter to school nearby when the first plane struck. It is Walker who tells "Today" of the second attack.

"Another one just hit," Walker says urgently. "Something else just hit, a very large plane." Another witness confirms: "It looks like a movie, I saw a jet, a large jet. ... I watched the plane fly into the World Trade Center."

On "GMA" -- and "Today," where the shot wasn't live but replayed a few seconds later -- there was a gasp in the studio that went out over the air. It's no longer an accident but the worst case of terrorism on American soil, a seminal event in U.S. history.

"For the rest of my life, I will second-guess what happened then," Gibson says. "Diane had the human reaction, and she said, 'Oh my God.' And I had the reporter's reaction, which was, well, now we know what's going on -- we're under attack. And I wish I had her reaction."

The striking of the second plane -- and the dawning realization that there might be more -- sent shivers through the sets and control rooms of the major networks. Security increased instantly at Rockefeller Center, the landmark where "Today" is broadcast. Lauer and co-anchor Katie Couric locked eyes and knew what the other was thinking.

"That was the realization, in an instant, that this is a major act of terrorism," Lauer says. "And where there were two, there could be more, and by the way, we're sitting in Rockefeller Center, a landmark and iconic attraction in New York City."

Lauer still is amazed at not only what was playing out on the TV screens but also what was going on inside Studio 1-A.

"I'm looking at a stage manager, a person I've looked at every day since I took this job, and she's got tears streaming down her face standing next to the camera that I'm broadcasting into," Lauer says. "It was a very bizarre scene inside the studio because were all justifiably terrified of what was happening."

Former "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw, who rushed on the air from a morning workout, says it was hard to keep his composure that day.

"You're constantly reminding yourself that you have a greater obligation, which is that you are the connection between the people watching and the event," Brokaw says. "Your job is to provide them with as much reliable information as you can in a cool, calm way. That is why they invented the role of the anchorman. It's not just to read the news every night but to be there during these very difficult times."

There were more shocks in those early hours. As the fires in the World Trade Center burned out of control, the networks received word that something had happened at the Pentagon. NBC's Pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski, was on the air when he heard a rumble coming from the other side of the Pentagon.

"I don't want to alarm anybody right now, but apparently it felt just a few moments ago like there was an explosion here at the Pentagon," he said. It was only a few moments later when "Today," like the other programs, showed billowing smoke from the Pentagon where American Airlines Flight 77 had just crashed.

Meanwhile, the twin towers continued to burn, and dozens of news crews rushed to the scene even as thousands of Lower Manhattan workers and residents fled uptown to safety. MSNBC reporter Ashleigh Banfield had been getting ready to go to work in Secaucus when the first airplanes struck. Instead of going to New Jersey, she chose to go to the World Trade Center site to cover what she believed would be a story of a massive fire and rescue. Instead, she, like thousands of other people, would be plunged into a kind of hell.

Banfield tried the subway from uptown, but the subways stopped running. Taxis refused to head south into the maelstrom, and Banfield was forced to run about 40 blocks down Sixth Avenue. She was about 25 blocks away when the South Tower fell, reporting on it via cell phone to MSNBC, then got within a block of the site.

It was 10:28 a.m., and the North Tower crumbled in front of her. She and hundreds, maybe thousands of other people on the street were caught up in the rumble and the debris that rained down and blocked the sunlight. Banfield, along with one other person, ran, terrified, to a locked front door. Banfield broke a window, opened the door and shut it quickly as the awful gray descended.

They opened the door twice -- when an NYPD officer rapped on the door and when a World Trade Center security guard frantically knocked. Even today, she doesn't know how long it took and how long the four were in the vestibule, covered in dust and debris.

"I was absolutely terrified. I was shaken, and I was absolutely unsure of what had happened. It was pitch black. The last thing I saw was 110 stories coming down in all of like five or eight seconds," recalled Banfield, who is now an anchor at Court TV. "It happened so fast that processing the real facts and details were next to impossible."

At Studio 1-A at Rockefeller Center, things weren't much better. The South Tower falls live on "Today," as Brokaw, not looking at that monitor, describes the implications of a terrorist attack. Lauer, who next to him is by his own account "glued" to the set, interrupts to ask the control room to rerun the last 20 seconds.

"It knocked the wind out of me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Lauer says. "Immediately you start to think about all the people who were trying to rescue those people and probably had no warning that the building was coming down."

Veteran anchor Paula Zahn was newly hired to take over CNN's morning show but wasn't supposed to go on the air until May 2002. She called her boss in Atlanta and volunteered. She was told to go to CNN's New York offices; she didn't know where they were. When Zahn arrived, she was pressed into service co-anchoring the daytime coverage with Aaron Brown on a roof overlooking the site.

"It was very tricky territory. There was a tremendous sense of fear," she says. "No one knew what was going to happen next. What I didn't want to do was create fear unnecessarily."

Every network confronted contradictory information, some putting even more stops on the information until it could be confirmed. Some bad information, like reports of a car bomb exploding in front of the State Department and an unclear number of hijacked planes, made it on the air.

"My tendency is always to put out what we hear. We qualify it, but we always put it out," says Steve Friedman, then-executive producer of "The Early Show" on CBS. "On this particular day, the thing got so crazy, there were so many reports -- 110 planes missing, bombs everywhere -- that we didn't do it that way."

In the hours after the initial attacks, Fox News correspondent Brian Wilson reported that there was another hijacked plane believed to be in the air headed for Washington.

"It turned out to be Flight 93," Scott says. "I remember getting chills down my spine because it seemed like nobody had a handle on where these planes were coming from or how many of them there were."

The networks would remain on the air, without commercial interruption, for days, chronicling what had happened and the massive rescue and recovery efforts in Lower Manhattan, a hill overlooking Washington, and a reclaimed strip mine an hour and a half outside Pittsburgh. The story was so enormous that many journalists recall the concern they had about whether they could tell the full story.

Each network mobilized everyone in the news division. CBS, like the other networks, assigned "The Early Show," "60 Minutes" and "48 Hours" chunks of the day to program so that no one would have an overwhelming load.

"Especially on that first day, you were really just going to whomever had a piece of information," says "48 Hours" executive producer Susan Zirinsky, whose team produced the primetime coverage that first night. "You were getting cameras up, you were putting people in place, you were trying to wrap your brain around it. You wanted to step back and synthesize some of the information, which is what we were trying to do. ... At that point, we thought there were many more dead, and it was still a search-and-rescue mission. It was a very, very complicated day to try to give context to."

ABC's Gibson recalls the show's concern about "GMA" and whether they would be able to tell the story adequately in what would become a free-form five-hour broadcast.

"Really the only thing that mattered was the tone of the broadcast that day," Gibson says. "And I remember thinking when I walked into the studio that the tone really had to be that it was awful, it was terrible, but that we would get through this. That we as a country would survive."

In some ways, TV news has changed little since that day five years ago. The summer of 2001 was marked by shark attacks off the Florida coast that made national headlines. A missing Senate aide, Levy, was in the headlines, and President Bush was visiting a Florida school when the attacks occurred. There were no serious stories that hit the news in a long time. Today, there is still the tabloid element in mainstream, and stories like the false breakthrough in the JonBenet Ramsey murder trial and the pictures of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' newborn baby, Suri, can clutter the airwaves. But there also is a realization that, in a very real sense, things haven't been the same since Sept. 11.

"Television journalism has evolved into the church of what's happening now," CBS' Friedman says. "The problem with some of that is that there are very little analytics going on. With cable and the Internet and with things going like they are, there is no news cycle. You're on the treadmill 24 hours a day. It has changed the way we cover things and the way we present things."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003119764

The New Season
The new TV season, in a word: Daring
By Kevin Downey MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sept 11, 2006

When the new broadcast season officially begins next week, it will be notable for a quality the broadcast networks are perhaps least known for: risk-taking.

If past seasons have been notable for copycatting, with the networks rolling out shows seemingly identical to existing series, this one will stand out for a willingness on the part of the networks to veer from the predictable in favor of new creative themes and approaches.

“This is a positive because there aren’t a whole bunch of programs that look alike,” says Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna Global, who last week issued his annual fall preview.

"This is the best new season in years because the networks are taking risks in storytelling techniques and subject matter,” observes John Rash, senior vice president and director of media negotiations at Campbell Mithun. “They have given viewers credit for an ability to follow multiple characters and fast-moving storylines.”

Rash believes the networks have become more daring this season because they've seen what sorts of shows have been winning over viewers in recent seasons, and those shows have been notable for innovative approaches to storytelling. "The Sopranos" on HBO is one such show but hardly the only one, says Rash.

“This is happening because of the success of HBO, ABC and other networks where risk-taking and innovative storytelling have been rewarded by audiences and critics alike, as witnessed by [Fox’s] ‘24’ winning the Emmy,” says Rash.

"This year's crop of new shows, particularly the dramas, have for the most part avoided the generic 'been there, seen that' sensibility of so many seasons past," notes a preseason report from Santa Monica, Calif., agency RPA.

In the case of the new dramas, Sternberg notes that the networks are trying new approaches for very practical reasons.

“Part of this also has to do with the fact that there are so many procedural dramas on now that you need to come up with something else. Yes, ‘24’ is working for Fox, so they are following that model with a couple of shows. But the other networks aren’t doing that type of show to a large degree. They are trying to find out what else works.”

NBC, for instance, is moving beyond its largely played-out “Law & Order” franchise with dramas closer in style to its newer though smaller hit “Medium.” And CBS, perhaps the network playing it safest this year, is rolling out “Smith,” a dark drama about criminals instead of the good guys who catch them.

With the comedies, networks are more daring but for a different reason: the near total absence of comedies to copycat. This is the sad outcome of a sitcom drought that's dogged the networks in recent years. CBS’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” and NBC’s “Friends” carried the torch for much of the past decade, and now these shows are gone as well.

Network TV’s most successful newest hits like CBS’s “New Adventures of Old Christine” and NBC’s “My Name is Earl,” by comparison, would have only a few years ago been considered minor players.

“There aren’t that many sitcoms that are working right now, so the networks can’t say, ‘Okay, this is working, so let’s put a few of those on,’” says Sternberg.

This is forcing the networks to look elsewhere for inspiration, including their past successes.

“The comedies are all over the place, but I think each network has something that has worked in the past. There’s no ‘Friends’ or ‘Sex and the City’ anymore, so you’ll see a couple of those types of programs. And Fox is updating ‘Married with Children’ with ‘’Til Death.’”

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7205.asp

The New Season
Cancellation Watch:
As the votes flood in, it's 'Happy Hour'
By Heidi Dawley MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Sept 11, 2006

In past years, new TV shows aired and only then did the hawks, the critics and the viewing public swoop down to assail the stinkers. This year the opinions were flying fully through the summer on chatboards and the like, based on pilots, with the handicapping reaching a head this week, the week before the new season officially starts.

So why not make a game of it?

Call it "Fall Season Death Watch 2006," in which folks vote on which shows will be the first to face cancellation. In fact, the game is real, up and running on Bravo’s broadband channel, BrilliantButCancelled.com.

Which is good for Bravo, and good for viewers with passion and time on their hands, but not so good for Fox and especially not good for ABC.

Fox's “Happy Hour” has already premiered and been voted this season's lead loser among the new shows, and right with it is ABC's “Men in Trees.” Viewers place the two at the top of the list of shows first to be axed. Their odds look rather grim: 4:1 for each as of this morning (odds change throughout the day).

But destiny seems to bear a bigger grudge against ABC. As of this morning it had the most of any broadcast network in the top 10 most-likely-to-be-canceled-quickest shows, a total of five.

"Ugly Betty," based on a Spanish-languaged telenovela, was in third at 7:1 after "Hour" and "Trees." "Knights of Prosperity" was at No. 4, at 13:1, and at No. 5 was yet another ABC show, "Help Me Help You" at 22:1. At No. 6 was ABC's Brothers and Sisters" at 33:1.

CBS and NBC fare the best, each with just one show in the deadly 10: CBS with "Jericho" at No. 8 at 36:1 and NBC's "Friday Night Lights at No. 9 and at 37:1

Fox has three on this list: In addition to "Happy Hour," there is "Vanished" at No.6 and (30:1) and "Standoff" at No. 10 (37:1).

Interestingly, not among the top 10 is Fox's "'Til Death," the Brad Garrett sitcom that premiered last week to especially harsh criticism. It's well down the list at 66:1 odds.

The game works this way. Viewers can vote through the web site once a week on which of the 24 new broadcast series they think is most likely to be cancelled. As each player votes, the odds on each show will automatically adjust. Then these odds are displayed on the site so viewers can see where the various shows stand.

The site also has descriptions and plotlines for each of the new series, as well as recent ratings, to help those playing figure their votes.

Each week there will be a chance of a prize – an iPod – for those who have voted on the first show to be cancelled that week. When the competition ends on Oct. 30, folks that have voted have the chance of winning a flat screen TV. Voting started on Friday.

And the shows least likely to be canceled, in the minds of BrilliantButCancelled.com voters?

NBC’s “Twenty Good Years” and “Kidnapped,” ABC’s “Six Degrees,” and CBS’s “Smith.” While these shows have yet to premiere, all four of these have 214:1 odds of being cancelled, at least as of this morning.

These predictions are not necessarily consistent with what media people have forecast, though why there's such a divergence isn't completely clear. "Twenty Good Years" and "Six Degrees," for example, have been tabbed as losers by several agencies. But anything from stuffing the ballot box to high hopes for a show from a prolific producer, like "Degrees'" J.J. Abrams, could be affecting the voting as much as the quality of the shows.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_7204.asp

A Remembrance
David and Lynn Edwards Angell

Five years ago, in the crash of American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center, television lost one of its brightest comedy genuises and his wife of 30 years.

You might not remember David Angell’s name. But you probably do remember some of the shows he made better: “Cheers”, “Frasier” and “Wings”.

The Writer’s Guild of America has a remembrance of David and Lynn Angell. If you care to read it on this sad anniversary, it is here:

http://www.goasa.com/angellwrittenby.pdf

TV Notebook
ABC, NBC Newscasts Narrow Gap Vs. CBS
Marc Berman MediaWeek.com Sept. 11, 2006

Although there was no reason to believe The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric would not be amply sampled, in just four telecasts Couric dropped by a greater than anticipated 6.15 million viewers.

Based on national ratings provided by Nielsen Media Research data, The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric averaged 7.44 million viewers on Friday, Sept. 8 -- beating NBC’s Nightly News (6.60 million) by just 840,000 viewers and ABC’s World News (6.30 million) by 1.14 million. Couric debuted with 13.59 million on Tuesday, Sept. 5 (versus 7.76 million for NBC and 7.58 million for ABC). ABC and NBC also narrowed the gap among key adults 25-54, with CBS at a 2.0 rating on Friday, followed by NBC (1.6) and ABC (1.5).

For the week of Sept. 4 (based on Tuesday through Friday data only), The CBS Evening News dominated with 10.16 million viewers -- 3.74 million more than the comparable year-ago week. NBC’s Nightly News was second at 7.13 million (down 2.21 million), followed by ABC’s World News at 8.90 million (-2.01 million). CBS also, of course, finished first among adults 25-54 (2.8 rating: +65 percent), followed by ABC and NBC tied at a 1.9 (NBC: -27 percent, ABC: -30 percent).

Considering the ongoing erosion for new anchor Couric, anticipate a considerable decline for The CBS Evening News this week and beyond.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003120115

The New Season
best of the best
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger
(All times are Eastern & Pacific)

Final versions of pilots are rolling in, and with the official launch of the season a week away, the number of questions I've gotten about what shows are good this year has increased to the point where it's time to break down my top 10, plus a few extras.

The good news is that, with the exception of Fox's already-debuted line-up, this year's rookies are, across the board, much better than any development season I can remember. (Even 04/05, which gave us "Lost," "House," "Grey's," "Veronica Mars" and "Housewives," wasn't this deep, though the best pilots were better than all but a handful of what I've seen this year.) But here are my favorites...

"The Nine" (ABC, Wednesdays at 10)
Premise: Nine strangers who survived a 52-hour bank hostage crisis discover that they can't relate to anyone in their lives except each other.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: No.
Why I like it: Purely on a visceral level, I reacted more strongly to this pilot than any other. I still smile when I think of the moment when the pilot cut from the beginning of the crisis straight to the end, leaving the blanks to be filled in later. A solid ensemble in a season full of them, notably Tim Daly as a cop with a gambling problem and an unrecognizable Chi McBride as the bank manager.
Why I’m worried: Don't know if there's a series here. The writers talked at press tour about following a sort of "Lost" model, where each week we have a flashback to something that happened in the bank that's tied in to events in the present; what if their version of what happened in there is less interesting than the one my mind created? Still, after that pilot, I'm going to give it a long, long leash.

"Ugly Betty" (ABC, Thursdays at 8)
Premise: A young woman (America Ferrera) with braces and absolutely no sense of style gets a job at a fashion magazine, where her brains and work ethic don't seem to matter as much as her wardrobe. Adaptation of the world's most popular telenovela.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: No, but I have copies of it and the second episode ready to queue up in the next day or two. If there's a significant drop in quality for show two, I'll come back and note it here.
Why I like it: America Ferrera, decidedly not ugly in real life, is fearless and funny and likable as Betty. Vanessa Williams has a nice Joan Collins/Heather Locklear turn as the diva who's trying to take over the magazine, and I liked Eric Mabius as Betty's spineless boss, even though he usually annoys me. Campy and yet self-aware and smart is a hard combo to pull off, but this show does it.
Why I’m worried: Really, just waiting on episode two to be sure they don't screw it up. In theory, I'm the wrong gender to be a fan, but as with "Grey's Anatomy" and "Gilmore Girls," quality transcends the whole boy/girl thing.

"Friday Night Lights" (NBC, Tuesdays at 8)
Premise: Like the movie, an adaptation of Buzz Bissinger's book about a Texas high school football team, with Kyle Chandler as the coach, Connie Britton as his wife and a cast of unknowns as the players, cheerleaders and other hangers-on.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: No.
Why I like it: I'm a sports movie nut, and this one checks all the requisite boxes. Chandler's a nice fit as the coach (and a more plausible husband for Britton than Billy Bob was in the movie), and writer/director Peter Berg manages to find the balance between making the football scenes exciting and suggesting that the town goes way too overboard about their team.
Why I’m worried: No problems on my end, but I have blinders on for this kind of material. For all I know, no sports types will spend the entire hour picking it apart the same way I did the "Men in Trees" pilot.

"Heroes" (NBC, Mondays at 9)
Premise: Ordinary people around the world begin developing super powers -- including an indestructible cheerleader, a stripper with an evil mirror image and a Japanese cubicle drone who can bend space and time to his will -- in advance of an apocalypse.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: Yes, and a second episode is supposed to arrive sometime this week.
Why I like it: Cool, simple idea -- superheroes without costumes, codenames or most of the other tropes -- told well, with equal parts gravity (dark narration, murders) and humor (pretty much any scene with Masi Oka as the aptly-named Hiro). Creator Tim Kring says he's not much of a comic book fan, which means he can approach a lot of the basics with fresh eyes.
Why I’m worried: As the closest thing "Heroes" has to a lead, Milo Ventimiglia is pretty much a blank; at least when he as annoying me on WB shows, he made an impression. I worry that the balance will tip more and more towards the dark, self-important tone than the more whimsical moments, and Kring's superhero ignorance has a downside: he may think some idea of his is bold and original when it's been done dozens of times since "Watchmen" was published in '85. But that's only if I'm looking for something to worry about.

"Kidnapped" (NBC, Wednesdays at 10)
Premise: When the son of a wealthy Central Park West couple (Timothy Hutton, Dana Delany) is abducted, a kidnap and ransom specialist (Jeremy Sisto) is hired to bring him back, while an FBI agent on the verge of retirement (Delroy Lindo) tries to insert himself into the case.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: Yes, and a second episode, too.
Why I like it: Because it gets virtually everything right that "Vanished" got wrong: strong actors playing well-defined characters, an acute sense of place with New York locations, exciting action pieces, snappy dialogue, a kidnapping victim you actually care about, and no silly conspiracy theories to pretend the main story is more interesting than it is on its own.
Why I’m worried: Seeing the second episode calmed a lot of concerns. I still don't know if there's 20 more episodes worth of story here (if the show goes to season two, Sisto and Lindo would move on to a new case and almost everyone else would leave), but I'm here for a while.

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (NBC, Mondays at 10)
Premise: The behind-the-scenes at "SNL" show with Aaron Sorkin, Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: No.
Why I like it: Sorkin is writing, Tommy Schlamme is directing, Perry and Whitford play off each other nicely, and there's a good supporting cast (notably Amanda Peet as the most likable TV exec of all time, Tim Busfield as a loyal director, and, in a cameo, Judd Hirsch as Lorne Michaels having a meltdown).
Why I’m worried: I love the talent involved and their track record a lot more than the pilot itself, which felt too self-congratulatory and too much like fanfiction. Maybe if I had seen the pilot without having read the script months earlier, or if I didn't know the TV business well enough to recognize that Perry's playing Sorkin, Peet's Jamie Tarses, Sarah Paulson is Kristin Chenoweth, etc., I might have felt more engaged by it. But because it is Sorkin and Schlamme -- and because certain moments in the pilot work so well -- I'm not ready to dismiss it quite yet.

"Jericho" (CBS, Wednesdays at 8)
Premise: It's the end of the world as we know it (maybe), and the citizens of a Kansas town that survived the nuclear attacks feel fine.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: Yes, and a second episode.
Why I like it: Though it's been compared to "Lost" (and airs in the original "Lost" timeslot), it's much more straightforward: no monsters, no cursed numbers, no elaborate clues that seem much more significant than they will turn out to be and, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, no obvious "mythology." Instead, the show focuses on the reality of what might happen in such a nightmare scenario, and it seems well built for the long haul.
Why I’m worried: Still not sold on Skeet Ulrich as a leading man, and there's a development in episode two that suggests Gerald McRaney (who gets a lifetime pass from me after playing George Hearst on "Deadwood") may not be as central to the action as I had hoped. Not that visually exciting; where a lot of the NBC and ABC dramas are going for a theatrical film look, "Jericho" looks 100% like a TV show.

"The Knights of Prosperity" (ABC, Tuesdays at 9)
Premise: A blue-collar loser (Donal Logue) recruits a bunch of fellow losers in an attempt to rob Mick Jagger's apartment.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: No.
Why I like it: Jagger is hysterical playing himself as a completely self-absorbed celebrity man-child. I also like Logue and his wacky sidekicks (including a cab driver, a hot waitress and an intern who thinks they're planning a heist movie shoot) and the various weird coloring in the margins done by writers Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman, the team responsible for "Ed."
Why I’m worried: Well, for starters, there was this story suggesting that Jagger may have bailed on the project, and if that's the case, they're really up the creek. Do they recast at the very last minute and risk finding a celebrity who's not remotely as good as Mick? Or do they attempt to tread water until Mick changes his mind? I know Burnett and Beckerman have said that the show's not really about Mick, but when he's getting all of the biggest laughs in the pilot, his potential loss is a very big deal. Also, a horrible title, and we're getting dangerously close to it being too late to think of a better one.

"The Class" (CBS, Mondays at 8)
Premise: Former third-grade classmates re-enter each other's lives at a party, sparking new relationships.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: Yes, and episodes two and three.
Why I like it: Because I've seen episodes two and three. The pilot was too broad and not funny enough, but I liked the later episodes much better. In particular, there's good stuff involving Jesse Tyler Ferguson as a semi-suicidal loser, Jason Ritter's uptight doctor dealing with Lizzie Caplan's abrasive photographer, and Jon Bernthal as the failure to launch case who still lives with his mom. In particular, Bernthal's delivery of the line "This place is not well built!" in episode two has replaced "Is that something you might be interested in?" as the reigning non seuitur quote in my house. After the pilot, I was ready to skip it; after the next two episodes, it's Season Pass material.
Why I’m worried: There's a lame running joke about a character who doesn't realize her husband is gay, even though he's so over-the-top flaming that the top is no longer visible without an observatory-size telescope, and it puts a major drag on any scenes involving that character and her sub-group. (For now, the show seems to have split the eight regulars and their hangers-on into three separate groupings, and one of those groupings is unwatchable.) Has all the setup/joke rhythms of a three-camera sitcom, and even though co-creator David Crane ("Friends") is one of the better setup/joke men in the business, if you're sick of the form this won't change your mind.

"30 Rock" (NBC, Wednesdays at 8)
Premise: This is the behind-the-scenes at "SNL" show with Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.
Have I seen a final pilot yet?: No, and judging by the Rachel Dratch/Jane Krakowski switcheroo, sounds like there will be significant changes.
Why I like it: Alec Baldwin, who kicks into some kind of higher comedy gear whenever he's around Lorne Michaels, is great as the NBC executive whom Fey fears is trying to ruin her new sketch comedy show. Tracy Morgan does a nice impression of Martin Lawrence by way of Kit Ramsey and Tracy Morgan, and the Jay Leno/Ray Romano impression bit that's in all the commercials remains funny three months after I first saw it.
Why I’m worried: I didn't like the glimpses we got of the show-within-the-show in the pilot, which got in the way of the notion that Baldwin was wrong to want to come in and change things. It sounds like the final version of the series will feature little, if any, of "The Girlie Show," which is probably for the best.

Also worth considering:

• "Smith" (CBS, Tuesdays at 10): Arguably the deepest cast in a season full of them (Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker, Amy Smart, etc.), good production values, some fun moments with Baker as a charming sociopath, but the pilot's a bit too far on the glum side without adding the style (ala Michael Mann) to match.

• "Help Me Help You" (ABC, Tuesdays at 9:30): Ted Danson as a pompous group therapist undergoing a midlife crisis. Pilot wasn't as funny as some of the comedies listed above, but I liked it.

• "Six Degrees" (ABC, Thursdays at 10): Another show where the pedigree of the people involved (Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, Erika Christensen, Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan, plus J.J. Abrams as a hands-off producer) is a lot more interesting than the pilot itself. Seems like a gimmick in search of an interesting story and characters. But if the other choices are "ER" and "Shark," I'll give it a week or two.

• "Shark" (CBS, Thursdays at 10): James Woods chewing scenery for an hour as a slightly nicer legal version of "House." Woods is great, but the writing doesn't live up to his performance the way the "House" writers do for Hugh Laurie.

• "20 Good Years" (NBC, Wednesdays at 8:30): I appear to be in the minority with my continued affection for John Lithgow's shameless hamminess, but the pilot gets points for putting the man in a banana hammock on two separate occasions. Like "'Til Death" on Fox, it's a case of some veteran comedians (Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor) holding very weak material aloft.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/09/new-season-best-of-best.html

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

Question: NBC seems to have some of the most-talked-about shows of the new season (Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, 30 Rock, etc), but they also have a returning lineup filled with aging shows (ER, Law & Order times three) and critical faves with only average-size audiences (The Office, My Name Is Earl). Is that going to make it harder for NBC to launch their new shows without good lead-ins? Are the new shows good enough to stand on their own merit? — David

Matt Roush: Excellent questions, and pertinent, too. It's true that NBC can't rely on its past to prop up its present, as it used to do. There's no question that NBC has stepped it up its quality with its pilots this season. Of the six new NBC series, only one (Twenty Good Years) has a "What were they thinking?" vibe, and that could be saved by veteran star power. I'm not sold on Heroes yet, but I'm still reserving final judgment until I see at least the second hour. The other shows have the sheen of classic, high-quality NBC, which in a perfect world would translate to success. While I do think the shows are good enough to stand on their own merit, I'm not sure the competitive environment will make it so easy. Studio 60 and 30 Rock are very entertaining and seem quite commercial to me, while Friday Night Lights is more of a risk but has all the earmarks of a critical darling and underdog fave that could build a passionate, loyal following. Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock are being asked to kick off their respective nights, which is always a challenge. Kidnapped also looks solid but has an incompatible reality lead-in with The Biggest Loser (which is at least popular). The Monday-night shows, Heroes and Studio 60, have the mixed blessing of a Deal or No Deal lead-in. If this overexposed game show still delivers, NBC could reap some rewards and turn that night around. But if the Deal audience isn't inclined to stay put for demanding and sophisticated series, the lead-in could be squandered. Basically, I see this as a pivotal season for NBC. The network is delivering better shows this fall than it has in years, and we should all be rooting for them.

________________________________________

Question: One of the new shows I am interested in this fall is CBS' Smith. The cast looks great and the idea seems to have many storytelling avenues (kind of a mix between Heat and Ocean's Eleven). How far do you think the producers and writers will go in telling a story about criminals? Are the criminals going to kill any innocent people who get in their way? I think there is a fine line in shows like this, because you want the audience to like the characters, but the characters should be true to the situation. I remember the earlier years of Alias when Sydney couldn't shoot anyone even though she was a superspy. After a while it got ridiculous. If the writers/producers of Smith would use Jack Bauer on 24, Vic Mackey on The Shield and of course Tony Soprano on The Sopranos as guides, the show could be a breakout. — Mark L.

Matt Roush: I only wish the criminals in Smith were as fleshed-out, complex and compelling as the antiheroes of The Shield and The Sopranos, two shows to which Smith will invariably be compared. Not to give too much away about the pilot episode before it airs, but this glamorized crime team does leave innocent casualties in their wake. On the plus side, it looks as if there will be serious and dramatic repercussions for that. In the big picture, though, I don't think it's as necessary for audiences to like characters such as these as it is for them to care about the characters. And my big problem with Smith at this early stage of the game is that the characters left me cold, something I could never say about Mackey and the Strike Team, or any of the Sopranos. Not to mention Jack Bauer, whose primary cross to bear is the dastardly depths to which he must stoop to save the world. Smith is a lavishly produced pilot, but the real test will come in the weekly episodes. It's a change of pace for CBS, no question. I applaud the risk; I just wish I were more blown away by the result.

________________________________________

Question: Do you think a show like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit would improve by being on HBO, or would the extra gore, swearing and intense subject matter become overkill in an uncensored environment? — Dustin

Matt Roush: Interesting hypothetical question, but I think SVU is just fine where it is. Who would want the subject matter to be any more sordid or explicitly presented? It wouldn't add much to the experience, and if it were any rougher to watch, it would probably limit the audience without much discernible benefit. I rarely feel that SVU is creatively compromised by airing on network TV. In fact, I find it the most creatively flexible and unpredictable of all the Law & Order shows.

________________________________________

Question: Regarding Supernatural, why do you think the CW hasn't bothered promoting it? It's very well done and stars two incredibly talented actors. (Jensen Ackles was simply brilliant in the season finale.) A lot of us are confused about why the guys appear for only a nanosecond in the CW promos. As great as they are, both Gilmore Girls and Smallville are nearing the end of their runs. One Tree Hill is really just a 90210 knockoff and probably won't get a renewal. Everwood was slaughtered for the sake of the innocuous 7th Heaven. I'm really puzzled about why Supernatural is getting the redheaded-stepchild treatment. There are over 8,000 registered users on one fan site alone, and membership includes Europe and Australia! Supernatural's cast alone is very appealing to the CW's target group. Any thoughts? — Mel

Matt Roush: I'd be lying if I said I'd paid the slightest bit of attention to the CW's marketing lately, and I'd also be lying if I expressed surprise that Supernatural was taking a backseat to the more established shows on the schedule. This new network is being launched on the backs of many shows that were brought along from either the WB or UPN because of their promotability, none more so than Smallville. (Well, maybe 7th Heaven, but that's another story.) Smallville may be a season or two away from its endgame, but it's still a powerful brand name and franchise, and the CW is exploiting that to help get its Thursday lineup established. If that makes it look like the CW is taking Supernatural for granted, it's probably not far from the truth. Supernatural is a great fit with Smallville, and what worked last season is will likely work again this year, even with stiffer competition in the 9 pm/ET time period. If things go well, Supernatural will be a key show of the CW's future, but for now, Smallville is the show of its present, at least where Thursday is concerned. Just be glad that Supernatural is the right show on the right network. Look what happened to all of the other genre shows on the networks last season.

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Question: Justice is an excellent show, but I do have a question: Do you think the story lines will get stale? How many times can someone be innocent? — Jennifer

Matt Roush: Why does this question apply to Justice more than to any other courtroom drama that has come before? There's no reason to think that these lawyers will win every case, or that in the final reveal their clients will always be innocent. In fact, I'd imagine the reverse. If the show becomes too predictable that way, then I agree there would be little reason to watch outside of the enjoyment of seeing Victor Garber's flamboyant performance. Give it time, see where it goes. Then render your verdict.

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Question: I heard a rumor that Zach Braff was leaving Scrubs after the upcoming season. Do you think it could survive without him? It feels like an ensemble show, and all the characters are as strong and as important as J.D. I recently watched an episode that featured very little J.D., and it worked! Do you think the show could be good without Zach? — Lisa

Matt Roush: These are all very big ifs. (Michael Ausiello has been tracking this story, so keep watching his space.) If Scrubs does go another season beyond the current one, and if, as it appears, Zach Braff can't be convinced to stay on board, then some interesting decisions have to be made — by the network, by the producers and by the studio. I'm sure Bill Lawrence and his cast and crew would be willing to take up the challenge, but I'm not sure I'd want them to. While the ensemble is terrific, the primary point of view has always been J.D.'s, and I fear Scrubs without him would feel as hollow as the Mulder-less seasons of The X-Files. This is the same reason I didn't want to see The West Wing continue beyond the Bartlet presidency. Many series are better off operating within a finite arc, and while Scrubs could push forward like ER did after losing most of its original cast, I'm afraid it could end up as diminished as NBC's once-flagship drama has become. And who wants that?

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Question: What do you think of MyNetwork's format of airing two telenovelas, with new episodes every night (Fashion House and Desire for the first 13 weeks)? I would never watch these two particular serials because they look dreadful, but I'm wondering if the format could be successful if done well. Traditional wisdom is that people aren't devoted enough to keep up with serialized dramas, an argument I have never believed — after all, who's watching all those soap operas? But I think Americans tend to be out of the house in the evenings more perhaps than people in nations where telenovelas are wildly popular. Still, in the age of TiVo and the Internet, I wonder if it could catch on. I would welcome a show that had a new episode every night if it was really good. I hate having to wait a week between installments sometimes. What do you think are the chances that we would see a quality telenovela-like serial on any of the networks or cable channels in the future? — Rhonda

Matt Roush: You're right that the essential problem with MyNetwork TV isn't the overall telenovela concept but the shoddy execution. Still, it's hard for me to imagine a nightly serial catching fire in this new golden age of TV drama, unless the story (or, less likely, the cast) is just out of sight. There are so many compelling, lavishly produced shows in prime time right now (even if you do have to wait a week, or longer, between new episodes), that the alternative of a cheaply produced nightly soap just doesn't sound that tempting to me, and I'm not even a soap snob by nature. In other countries, I'm not sure what the competition is for these telenovelas, which seem to have saturated certain cultures. Given the rich variety of our choices on the networks and cable, I'm still skeptical that the telenovela will be anything but a niche curiosity. The real test might