An Appreciation of Johnny Carson
On the good nights, he was the second best thing you could do in bed -- but on his best nights, he was the best

By Jack Boulware Salon.com (February 20, 2001)

Readers opening the pages of the New Yorker last Oct. 30 found an unexpected tidbit in the midst of the usual Talk of the Town items -- a small humor piece entitled "Proverbs According to Dennis Miller ." Among the short parodies of Miller's reference-heavy style: "A bird in the hand ... is dead or alive, depending on one's will," and "What goes up ... will stay up if it has an escape velocity of 11.3 kilometres per second." The byline was Johnny Carson.

Journalists and television execs pricked up their ears. This was peculiar. Carson had waved goodbye to America in 1992 after hosting "The Tonight Show" for 30 years, and then abruptly vanished from the public eye. For eight years, no jokes, no interviews, no follow-up projects. Television's most recognizable figure, gone.

But here was Johnny, right there on the page, spoofing the pseudo-intellectual Miller's new gig as NFL announcer. According to the New York Times, Carson submitted the piece to the editors on the suggestion of humorist Steve Martin, and they printed it. And then, as if to dispel the sophomore slump, he published another two months later, a recently discovered collection of children's letters to Santa, as if written by Bill Buckley, Chuck Heston and Don Rickles.

Seeing him again was sort of like peeking through the curtains and seeing the divorced dad pull up in the driveway after an extended absence. Carson was a fixture to two generations of boob-tube Americans. Vietnam-era adults saw him as the nightly tonic to a pain-in-the-ass workday. Children sitting up past their bedtime marveled at a cocktailed Golden Age of celebrities, comedians and racy jokes. Each evening I used to hear the show's opening theme "Daaa dat dat da daa!" emanate from my parents' bedroom, accompanied by Ed McMahon's stentorian announcements, and it was like a signal. They were going to watch Johnny until they fell asleep, and I could do whatever I wanted. Until I could drive a car, I watched the show too.

Carson built up his on-screen family of regulars, and viewers learned to quickly identify the established comic premises. Johnny was the sideburned rascal, forever taken to the cleaners by ex-wives. Ed was the tippling Tonto sidekick who pitched for dog food. Doc Severinsen owned impossibly loud clothing and failed racehorses. Tommy Newsom: beige and boring. The shtick never varied; characters like Carnac the Magnificent and the oily Art Fern's Tea Time Theater continued year after year. This was old-school, steeped in vaudeville and radio, with the ribbon mike firmly planted atop the desk. Funny props, cute animals, a few caca jokes, ogle the cleavage, keep things moving. If it ain't broke, it stays in the show.

The most impressive feature was always Carson's opening monologue, sharp and topical, evolving with the nation's moods, delivered with a casual Midwestern air, textbook TV cool, each punchline set up with a completely plausible statement, as if Johnny were standing in line in front of you at the feed store, and turned to say, "Did you see this in the news?" When the material clicked, it killed. (Many maintain that Carson's constant hammering of President Nixon contributed to his eventual resignation.) And when a line bombed, Carson made an art form out of the recovery. ("You didn't boo me when I smothered a grenade at Guadalcanal.") In a narrow-casted, three-network world where comedy meant sitcoms and variety shows, his monologue provided an ideal cultural barometer for the nation, mixing in politics, scientific discoveries, fads and trends, strange news items, his divorces and even bawdy mentions about Dolly Parton or Linda Lovelace. If you craved a peek at the big bad adult world, there was really nowhere else to turn besides the first 10 minutes of "The Tonight Show."

Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, in 1925, and spent his formative years in Norfolk, Neb., performing magic and comedy under the name "The Great Carsoni." He served in the Navy during World War II, entertained college fraternity parties and worked as a radio announcer and disk jockey. While performing for audiences of farmers each day, he spent nights listening to tapes of radio heroes like Jack Benny and Bob Hope, studying their inflections and timing.

When television began to invade America's living rooms, Carson chased the new medium to Los Angeles, where he hosted a handful of low-budget comedy series, conducting phony interviews and performing skits and characters. The material was quirky and occasionally naughty, yet homespun enough to hit home with the heartland. Although he was popular, the shows weren't, and he ended up writing jokes for Red Skelton. His first big break came in 1957 as replacement host of the ABC daytime quiz show "Who Do You Trust?" When Carson inherited the show, he needed to hire an announcer. A big man from Philadelphia showed up for what would be a very bizarre job interview.

In his 1998 autobiography "For Laughing Out Loud," Ed McMahon recalls walking into Carson's office, to find Johnny standing at the window, looking out in silence. Finally he turned and asked McMahon where he went to school.

"Catholic University," McMahon answered. "In Washington, D.C. I studied speech and drama."

Carson replied that was very interesting, and thanked him for coming by. McMahon left confused, thinking perhaps he'd blown it, and didn't hear anything for three weeks, until the show's producer called and told him he will be wearing suits on the show to emphasize his size. He realized he got the job. He also saw a glimpse into the private shyness of a man who would be his employer and friend for the next 35 years.

How can "Rebel Billionaire" be on the fence for cancellation if all its episodes have aired?

-Mike

Actually, Mike, it is in the "Waiting For The Axe To Swing" category of Marc Berman update of the TV season dated back on Dec. 14.
I guess I should remove it since it seems to be causing confusion.

Quotes From Carson's Final Show
By The Associated Press
Some quotes from Johnny Carson on his final show, May 22, 1992:
"I am taking the applause sign home, putting it in the bedroom."
(On his sons in the audience and the death of another son, Rick, in a car crash): "It would have been a perfect evening if their brother Rick had been here with us. But I guess life does what it's supposed to do and you accept it and go on."
(On then-Vice President Dan Quayle, whose remarks on single mothers and the TV show "Murphy Brown" were making headlines): "I really want to thank him for making my final week so fruitful."
"And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it."
"You people watching, I can only tell you that it's been an honor and a privilege coming into your homes all these years to entertain you. And I hope when I find something I want to do and think you would like, I can come back and (you will be) as gracious in inviting me into your homes as you have been."
"I bid you a very heartfelt good night."

Johnny Carson Dies at 79
"Tonight Show" TV host served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years.
By Brian Lowry Special to The Los Angeles Times 1:06 PM PST, January 23, 2005

Johnny Carson, who in three decades as host of "The Tonight Show" became one of America's most influential political satirists and the entertainment industry's most powerful figures, died today. He was 79.

His nephew, Jeff Sotzing, a former producer of "The Tonight Show," said Carson died peacefully, but declined to give a location or other details.

NBC said Carson died at his Malibu home of emphysema. He had suffered a heart attack and undergone quadruple bypass surgery in 1999.

Former NBC chairman Grant Tinker called Carson's run on "The Tonight Show" "the biggest and best television has ever been." When he announced his retirement in 1991, another comedy legend, Bob Hope, said it was "sort of a like a head falling off Mt. Rushmore."

The late-night host had become an extraordinarily private figure in recent years given the national stage he commanded for three decades. He seldom appeared in public-and, other than a few cameos on David Letterman's late-night show and a tribute to Bob Hope-completely eschewed television after leaving "The Tonight Show" on May 22, 1992, with a retrospective that drew an audience rivaling the Super Bowl.

"I bid you a very heartfelt good night," were his parting words.

Ed McMahon, the sidekick who always introduced Carson with "Heeeeere's Johnny!" today said the former talk show host was "like a brother to me."

"Our 34 years of working together, plus the 12 years since then, created a friendship which was professional, family-like and one of respect and great admiration," McMahon said in a statement. "When we ended our run on 'The Tonight Show" and my professional life continued, whenever a big career decision needed to be made, I always got the OK from 'the boss.'"

After years of silence, Carson spoke to Esquire magazine for a 2002 profile, reconfirming his belief that he had done the right thing in essentially disappearing from public view.

"I left at the right time," he said. "You've got to know when to get the hell off the stage, and the timing was right for me. The reason I really don't go back or do interviews is because I just let the work speak for itself."

From a cultural standpoint, Carson's nightly monologue developed a reputation as a bellwether in terms of the national mood. When Carson began making Watergate jokes, The New York Times wrote in 1975, "we knew it was permissible to ridicule the president, that Mr. Nixon was done for."

"The influence he had on the country was unique. He was the conscience of America," said Peter Lassally, Carson's producer for more than two decades, who noted that Carson was also extraordinarily even-handed, so much so that no one ever knew his personal political leanings.

Carson also had a major effect on television standards, lacing his monologue with sexual innuendo that once would have been unthinkable on television.

"Next to Milton Berle and Lucille Ball, he's had the single greatest influence on the content of television," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy. "He really created the monologue and turned it into a cultural barometer of political and social events. Many people got their take on what was acceptable from the monologue."

Carson himself said in a 1986 interview, "I knew from the monologue the very night that Spiro Agnew was suddenly in deep trouble. From a one-line observation I can get a response, a reaction . . . that may be the best indicator of how [someone] is perceived in this country."

If Carson's jokes reverberated in Washington, who appeared on "The Tonight Show" was seen for many years in Hollywood as a career-making platform, especially for stand-up comedians. Jerry Seinfeld called receiving the "OK" sign from Carson after his first appearance "the Holy Grail of comedy."

Being asked to sit down after a performance was a sign of validation and prestige. As comic Garry Shandling said a few years ago, "I didn't get to sit down on the couch the first time. It is sort of a benchmark to sit on the couch. When you go to Johnny's house, you stand the first few times you are there."

Introduced by Groucho Marx on his first show, Oct. 1, 1962, Carson went on to host more than 7,500 hours of television and weathered numerous late-night challenges, including competing shows featuring Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett, Alan Thicke, Joan Rivers and Pat Sajak that all came and went during his tenure.

At the end, feeling NBC was maneuvering behind him to line up a replacement, Carson stunned the television world when he announced his plans to retire at an advertising presentation in 1991, setting off a flurry of debate and backstage jockeying to determine whether Letterman or Jay Leno should become his successor. Leno won the job, prompting Letterman to leave NBC for a competing show on CBS.

After leaving the network, Carson studiously avoided the spotlight, representing one of the industry's few stars who have been able to walk away. Friends said Carson remembered seeing one-time idols like Hope and Jack Benny near the end of their careers and wanted to avoid that scenario.

In 1979, at the age of 53, Carson said he couldn't see himself sitting at the desk in his 60s. Seven years later, he was still grappling with when to leave.

"I remember when [CBS President] Jim Aubrey canned Jack Benny, and that won't happen to me," Carson said. "I'll know when the time has come. The people tell you. . . .

"You don't just walk in and do what I do. You have to put it on the griddle, and it's from night to night. It's about momentum. That's why when I quit I won't come back to the same format. It's not like [golfer] Jack Nicklaus coming back to win the Masters."

Lassally called Carson's ability to shun celebrity at 66, when he could have easily continued to perform, and stay away despite entreaties to return "an elegant end to his career."

Friends frequently tried to coax him out of retirement. Steve Martin, a poker buddy, proposed that Carson make an appearance on the Academy Awards-which he hosted several times-and NBC Chairman Bob Wright pleaded with him to appear on the network's 75th anniversary special in May, 2002. Carson declined.

Nevertheless, he admitted in the Esquire interview that a decade after leaving "The Tonight Show" the program stayed with him, telling Esquire that he still had dreams where he was late for work and suddenly realized he was unprepared to go on.

"I wake up in a sweat," he said. "It's now been 10 years since I've been done with the job, but I will still be back there — it was two-thirds of my adult life, remember — and people will be as real and fresh and current as ever in the dream."

Later in his life, Carson did exhibit some signs of wanting to safeguard his legacy. In 2003, for example, he wrote the Wall St. Journal to correct a reference to the use of canned laughter on the program, stressing that he never did during his 30-year tenure.

"I don't mean to sound peevish," Carson said, "but I wouldn't want peoples' memories of 'The Tonight Show' to be dimmed because they believed the laughter they heard wasn't genuine."

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Carson, the host, was how effortless he made "The Tonight Show" look. His monologue, never rehearsed, seemed to perfectly capture the tone necessary to let people unwind. He also seemed to possess an innate understanding of the rhythms and pacing of television.

"It should be low-key," Carson once told reporter Rick Du Brow, then at the Herald-Examiner. "It's the end of the day. People watching don't want someone who looks like they're going to have a nervous breakdown."

Carson's demonstrated his ability to craft his own material during the Writers Guild of America strike in 1988. After two months of inactivity in which he respected picket lines, Carson returned to work while his staff of eight writers remained on strike, putting together his own monologues. At one point, he referred to the writers carrying "weird picket signs," with nothing written on them.

Some attribute part of Carson's vast appeal to his Midwestern roots and sensibility. Born in Corning, Iowa, Carson was raised in Norfolk, Neb., where he began his career as a teenager, performing a magic act he called "The Great Carsoni."

Unlike the comics he admired, many of whom were brought up in poverty, Carson enjoyed relative prosperity even during the Depression as the son of a district manager for the power company. He was a middle child, with an older sister, Catherine, and younger brother, Dick, who later worked as a director on "The Tonight Show" and other TV programs.

Carson served in the Navy (a ship he was on, the Pennsylvania, was torpedoed in August 1945, slaying nearly 20 of his crew mates) and subsequently attended the University of Nebraska. Honing his act by performing during college, after graduating he landed a job at a local radio station-WOW in Omaha-where he wrote comedy and announced commercials. Not long after the first TV station in the area signed on in 1949, Carson began hosting a 15-minute TV show, "Squirrel's Nest."

The comic moved to Los Angeles, in 1950 becoming a staff announcer at the local CBS station, KNXT, which led to his own program, "Carson's Cellar." He subsequently wrote for Red Skelton's TV show.

Carson ascended to network television at the age of 29, headlining a daytime show and substituting on CBS' "The Morning Show." In 1957, he became host of what become a popular ABC daytime show, "Who Do You Trust?," which first paired him with his long-time "Tonight Show" announcer, Ed McMahon.

When Jack Paar decided to leave "The Tonight Show," NBC saw Carson as the obvious replacement. Desperate to have him, the network used guest hosts for six months until Carson-who initially turned down the job-was free of his ABC contract.

His starting salary, $100,000 a year, eventually blossomed into millions (his earnings reportedly exceeded $20 million a year by 1990). Carson owned the sketches on his show as well, which were packaged and sold separately to TV stations under the name "Carson's Comedy Classics." His company also produced David Letterman's late-night NBC show and such prime-time programs as "Amen" and the movie "The Big Chill."

Still, Carson always remained detached from business matters, leaving them primarily in the hands of his attorney, Henry Bushkin, who he called "the Bombastic Bushkin" on the show. Bushkin was also Carson's closest friend, until a falling out later in his career severed both their professional and personal ties.

Carson moved "The Tonight Show" from New York to Burbank-which became another regular target for jokes-in 1972. He also pressed to cut the show from 90 minutes (it originally ran 1 hour and 45 minutes) to an hour in 1980 and threatened to quit to get the network to do so.

NBC resisted, resulting in a public and protracted contract negotiation. The network eventually caved in, however, giving Carson ownership of the show itself in the process. This was not surprising, since "The Tonight Show" accounted for nearly a fifth of the network's total profit.

Carson was equally successful as a headliner in Las Vegas, and he negotiated extended vacation time (as well as Mondays off) that allowed him to perform there frequently.

If Carson was a king in the entertainment world, his personal life was thornier. Carson remained an inordinately private person for such a public figure, but the facts that came out often seemed at odds with his genial on-screen image. A chain smoker, he married four times, wrestled with alcoholism and endured the death of one of his three sons, Rick, in a 1991 car accident at the age of 39.

Carson usually allowed his personal life to invade the show only in jest, but after that incident he fought back tears while eulogizing his son. After a much-publicized arrest for drunk driving in 1982, Carson had a policeman escort him onstage.

One of Carson's wives, Joanne, said the comic had focused on his career "because instinctively he knew the career would never let him down. He felt it would never betray him, and it never has betrayed him."

Although his first divorce became final in 1963, that relationship flared up in 1990 when his wife, Jody "Joan" Wolcott, the mother of all three children and his college sweetheart, demanded a nine-fold increase in her alimony payments, to $120,000 per year. Carson's attorneys called the request "a baldfaced holdup."

Carson was married to his fourth wife, Alexis, in 1987. The two met on the beach a few years prior and wed in a private ceremony at his Malibu home. His passions included astronomy and tennis, both as a player and fan, evidenced by his regular trips to the Wimbledon tournament in England.

"If I had given as much to marriage as I gave to 'The Tonight Show,' I'd probably have a hell of a marriage," Carson told the Times in '86. "But the fact is, I haven't given that, and there you have the simple reason for the failure of my marriages: I put the energy into the show."

For all the plaudits heaped on him, Carson's influence within Hollywood was equally legendary. Laurence Leamer claimed no other talk show would book him when he wrote "King of the Night," an unflattering 1989 biography of Carson, who he called "the most powerful person in Los Angeles." In the book, Leamer characterized him as a cold and ruthless individual, a womanizer who was both abusive with his wives and petty in his business dealings.

Carson freely admitted that he "never was a social animal." He didn't like being surrounded by people, drove himself to work and was extremely selective about his friends, spending lots of time in his sprawling hilltop Malibu estate, so large as to prompt comic Bob Newhart to quip, "Where's the gift shop?"

The build-up to Carson's final episode in 1992 became a national event. The Comedy Central network went dark during that hour, and Arsenio Hall aired reruns of his late-night series the last week out of deference to Carson.

Ratings swelled, with millions tuning in the penultimate night to see final guests Robin Williams and Bette Midler, the latter singing a memorable duet with Carson. His family attended the final "Tonight" taping, and Carson addressed his sons, Chris and Cory, in signing off.

"I realize that being an offspring of someone who is constantly in the public eye is not easy," Carson said. "So guys, I want you to know that I love you. I hope that your old man has not caused you too much discomfort."

Despite eschewing the public eye after leaving, Carson continued to maintain offices in Santa Monica, going in a few days a week. Company affairs-including the sale of "Tonight Show" videos that continued to sell briskly, marketed via TV "infomercials"-have been run by his nephew, Jeff Sotzing, who had been a producer on "The Tonight Show."

Carson also indulged his passion for the sea in his later years, sailing extensively on a specially equipped 130-foot yacht, the Serengeti-named, he said, for the region in Africa that captivated him on a trip there in the 1990s.

In fact, the night of NBC's anniversary, Carson was on his boat, on a trip that took him through the Panama Canal and to the Caribbean.

NBC's Wright told Esquire that he offered to send a helicopter to pick Carson up, but the host refused, saying his decision to stay away had "served me well."

Although Carson appeared in the 1964 movie "Looking for Love," which starred Connie Francis, he ultimately decided to focus his career almost exclusively on "The Tonight Show." Carson admitted he had "thought about movies for years" but felt movies didn't offer a terribly viable option because he was so well-known as himself. "[Robert] Redford can play a baseball player, but I'm playing me. Every night," he said.

Among the film offers Carson turned down was the chance to play a character modeled after him, opposite Robert De Niro, in the film "The King of Comedy," a role that ended up going to Jerry Lewis.

While he eschewed acting himself, Carson did host the Academy Awards on five occasions between 1979 and '84 (the exception being in '83). His own list of honors included six Emmys and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award.

In a sense, Carson was the perfect personality for television-reflecting the generation following the great radio stars like Benny and Hope, one that grew up with the medium.

"I use the camera," Carson said. "I remember seeing a silent film from the '20s with Oliver Hardy sighing directly into the camera. I can't explain how perfect that sigh was. It's like trying to explain comedy."

Carson's nephew said there will be no memorial service.

NOTE

There will be no updates to this first page of the thread from 6 AM PT Monday, January 24th until approximately 8 AM PT Friday February 4th.

(Hopefully daily ratings will be posted by kindly thread readers in the last page.)

Enjoy the beginning of the February sweeps, and I’ll see you February 4th.

Fredfa.

A Sample of Carson's Guests
From Associated Press

More than 22,000 guests appeared on "The Tonight Show" during Johnny Carson's 30-year tenure as host. That's enough to fill a couch 8 miles long. Here’s a sample:

Movies: Woody Allen, Fred Astaire, Lauren Bacall, Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando, Chevy Chase, Cher, Glenn Close, Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Joan Crawford, Tom Cruise, Billy Crystal, Tony Curtis, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda, Judy Garland, Lillian Gish, Gene Hackman, Tom Hanks, Rex Harrison, Charlton Heston, Dustin Hoffman, William Holden, Anthony Hopkins, Rock Hudson, Gene Kelly, Burt Lancaster, Jack Lemmon, Steve Martin, Walter Matthau, Robert Mitchum, Eddie Murphy, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Orson Welles, Robin Williams, Natalie Wood.

Television: Steve Allen, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Bill Cosby, Walter Cronkite, Ted Danson, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Gleason, Arsenio Hall, Pee-wee Herman, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Michael Landon, Angela Lansbury, Dean Martin, Groucho Marx, Mary Tyler Moore, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Jack Parr, Burt Reynolds, Don Rickles, Roy Rogers, Roseanne, Tom Selleck, Phil Silvers, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, Danny Thomas.

Music: Paul Anka, Louis Armstrong, the Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Clint Black, David Bowie, James Brown, the Carpenters, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, Placido Domingo, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Jimi Hendrix, Lena Horne, Jefferson Airplane, John Lennon, Liberace, Little Richard, Madonna, Johnny Mathis, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, the Supremes, Lawrence Welk, Stevie Wonder, ZZ Top.

Sports: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Muhammed Ali, Arthur Ashe, Wilt Chamberlain, Wayne Gretzky, Magic Johnson, Billie Jean King, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mickey Mantle, Joe Namath, Pete Rose.

Politics: Bill Clinton, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, George Wallace.

"Variety" Remembers Johnny Carson
By BRIAN LOWRY, RICHARD NATALE variety.com

HOLLYWOOD -- Johnny Carson, "The Tonight Show" host who reigned for 30 years as the undisputed king of latenight television, has died. He was 79.

Carson's nephew, Jeff Sotzing, told the Associated Press, "Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning ... surrounded by his family." He offered no further details, though in recent years Carson had suffered from emphysema.

From 1962-92, the genial but wry Carson turned "Tonight" into a national institution that attracted millions of viewers nightly. The variety/talkshow became the standard against which all others were measured, both for its consistency and its revenues, and Carson became one of the most powerful and influential figures in show business.

Although he was faced with challengers at various stages of the show's run, Carson fended off any and all pretenders to the throne. By the end of his third decade as host, Carson was reportedly earning $10 million a year in addition to owning the program itself and operating his own production company.

Almost as notable as his tenure was the manner in which he left, abruptly announcing his departure, then opting not to perform after signing off for the final time. Friends said he realized any subsequent efforts would be measured against "The Tonight Show," with longtime producer Peter Lassally calling Carson's ability to shun the spotlight both a reflection of his sense of security regarding his legacy and "an elegant ending to his career."

Jay Leno, Carson's successor, issued a statement saying, "No single individual has had as great an impact on television as Johnny. He was the gold standard."

Paying tribute
The network was mulling how best to memorialize the TV giant -- who declined to participate in recent latenight and NBC anniversary festivities -- on air.

Paying tribute to the host was David Letterman, who had maintained close ties with Carson; according to book "The Late Shift," Carson counseled him to leave NBC when Leno got the job. "All of us who came after are pretenders," Letterman said in a statement. "He gave me a shot on his show, and in doing so, he gave me a career. A night doesn't go by that I don't ask myself, 'What would Johnny have done?' ... Thank God for videotapes and DVDs. In this regard, he will always be around."

Inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame in 1987, Carson hosted numerous TV specials and was one of the most popular hosts of the Academy Awards, serving that function from 1979-82. He also hosted the Emmys. His popularity was such that his apparel line by Hart, Schaffner & Marx became an immediate and consistent success.

Ed McMahon's cry "Heeere's Johnny," followed by the familiar "Tonight Show" theme, was as familiar as any introduction in TV history. "The Tonight Show," with its regular retinue of second banana McMahon, band leader Doc Severinsen (who joined in 1967) and producer Fred De Cordova (since 1970) attracted the top talents in entertainment and was a launching pad for numerous comics including Woody Allen, David Brenner, Freddie Prinze, Roseanne, Richard Lewis and Drew Carey.

In a statement issued Sunday, McMahon said that Carson was "like a brother to me," and that he had continued to seek Carson's advice and approval on career decisions in the dozen years since the program concluded.

Catalog of characters
In addition to his signature monologue, Carson introduced a catalog of comic characters over the years, including the bigoted Floyd Turbo, the lecherous Art Fern, the wisecracking Aunt Blabby, the consumer advocate David Howitzer and, of course, the diviner Carnac the Magnificent.

Carson was born in Iowa and raised in Nebraska. In his early teens, he developed a fascination with magic tricks and created his first theatrical persona, "the Great Carsoni." Through his teen years, he entertained at private parties, clubs and lodges. At Norfolk High School, he wrote a humor column for the school newspaper.

Inducted into the Navy right after graduation, he attended midshipman's school at Columbia U. and served on the USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific. After the war, he attended the U. of Nebraska, earning a B.A. in 1949 and penning his senior thesis on comedy writing.

His first job, before graduation, was writing a comedy/Western for KFAB radio in Lincoln. Afterwards, he joined WOW radio station in Omaha, where he ad-libbed inappropriate and hilarious rejoinders to pre-recorded celebrity interviews.

He worked at WOW-TV until 1951, when he moved to California and landed a position as an announcer on L.A.'s KNXT-TV. He soon had his own half-hour comedy show, "Carson's Cellar," on Sunday afternoons, and comics like Red Skelton and Groucho Marx began dropping by unannounced.

The show folded after 30 weeks, but Skelton hired Carson as a comedy writer. In 1954, after Skelton was injured, Carson substituted for him, impressing CBS officials, who gave him his own primetime show. But "The Johnny Carson Show" lasted only 39 weeks.

Carson left California and moved to New York, where he made guest TV appearances on Jack Paar's "The Morning Show" as substitute host and "Earn Your Vacation" (both on CBS), slowly rebuilding his reputation. In 1957, ABC hired him to host "Who Do You Trust?"; over the next five years, it became a top-rated daytime TV program.
Although he'd substituted for Paar as host of "The Tonight Show" in 1958, Carson rejected NBC's entreaties that he replace Paar (who was constantly threatening to quit). But when Paar finally walked away in March 1962, Carson accepted NBC's offer for a reported $100,000 a year.

He did not host his first show until Oct. 1, 1962, because ABC refused to release him from his contract (guest hosts substituted for Paar in the intervening months). The first show, aired from New York, boasted a guest roster of Groucho Marx, Mel Brooks, Joan Crawford, Rudy Vallee and Tony Bennett and ran 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Longtime relationship
McMahon was already at Carson's side. He had moved over with Carson from "Who Do You Trust?" in a relationship that would last 34 years. Skitch Henderson was the bandleader; he was replaced by Milton DeLugg in 1966 and by Severinsen a year later.

In his first year, Carson's average audience was 7.5 million viewers. Six months into his 30-year run, NBC saw the show's annual revenues climb to $15 million. By 1980, Carson was pulling in 15.5 million viewers on average and the net's revs were growing past $20 million (accounting for as much as 17% of the network's profits before taxes). By the mid-1980s, they hit $30 million, capturing 66% of all latenight ad bucks.

Even at the end of his tenure, with growing competition from video and cable, Carson was still attracting 12 million viewers on average (16% of the available audience).

Household fixture
Carson's natural interviewing style, his encouragement of young talent and his ability to balance mischievous bad-boy qualities with a self-deprecating wide-eyed innocence made him a mainstream household fixture in latenight TV homes.

For young talent, "The Tonight Show" was the entryway to national acceptance. As Woody Allen told Time magazine in a 1967 profile of Carson, "He appears to be most pleased when a guest scores. He feels no compulsion to top me."

Carson was dryly parodied by Jerry Lewis in "King of Comedy," Martin Scorsese's drama about the obsessed fan (Robert De Niro) of a talkshow host who kidnaps his idol. (Carson himself was the victim of an unsuccessful extortion attempt.)

Carson's relationship with NBC was not always a happy one. In 1967, he quit the show, accusing the network of illegally showing reruns during an AFTRA strike. NBC assuaged him by raising his salary from $7,500 to $20,000 a week and reducing the show to 90 minutes.

Two years later, Carson scored his biggest ratings coup by staging the marriage of gimmick personality Tiny Tim to Miss Vicki on his show, which was viewed by 21.4 million homes.

Competitors were numerous and almost all short-lived. Joey Bishop went up against him on ABC in 1967 but averaged only a 3.7 Nielsen rating -- half Carson's score. Merv Griffin did only slightly better in 1969 on CBS. Dick Cavett tried in 1973 on ABC, doing about as well as Bishop.

Alan Thicke gave it a go in syndication in 1983 to a disastrous 1.0 share vs. Carson's 6.6. Joan Rivers, an exclusive guest host on Carson from 1983, unwisely did dubious battle with her former patron and friend in 1986 on Fox TV. She didn't do much better than Thicke.

Carson moved "Tonight" from New York to Burbank in 1972. By the mid-'70s, he was down to hosting four nights a week. In 1977, he was earning $3 million a year, with 15 weeks paid vacation, 25 three-day weeks and just 12 four-day weeks. Guest hosts -- something the current generation of hosts have fastidiously avoided -- regularly sat in for him, including such future competitors as Rivers and Bishop.

Then in 1979, Carson announced he was quitting. He was said to be quietly feuding with then-network president Fred Silverman.

Renegotiations once again were successful, upping Carson's salary to $5 million and reducing the running time of the show to 60 minutes.

Following his rupture with regular substitute host Rivers, Carson named Jay Leno his regular substitute host in 1987. Garry Shandling and Billy Crystal also were frequent subs for Carson.

In 1991 he officially announced his retirement. The move set off a frenzy of jockeying to replace him, and rival production companies saw the end of Carson's domination as a chance to hit it big with their own latenight talkers. Though Letterman lobbied for "Tonight" hosting duties, Leno succeeded Carson on May 25, 1992.

Carson's 4,351st and final golf swing signoff took place May 22 and attracted 55 million viewers. Carson, with his fourth wife, Alex, and sons Chris and Cory in the audience, signed off with a simple but choked-up farewell: "I bid you a very heart-felt good night."

Reclusive
Despite signing a contract with NBC for a series of specials, Carson became more reclusive in his later years and regularly declined opportunities to work. "You have to know when to walk away," he told Daily Variety in 2003.

Carson authored two books of cartoons, "Happiness Is ... a Dry Martini" and "Misery Is ... a Blind Date."

In 1948, Carson married his college sweetheart, Jody Wolcott, with whom he had three sons, Chris, Cory and Richard. In 1991, then 39-year-old Richard was killed in a car accident.

Carson divorced Wolcott in 1963 and married Joanne Copeland. Their well-publicized divorce came nine years later, the same year he married Joanna Holland. In 1987, he married Alexis Maas, who survives him.

There will be no memorial service.

fredfa, before you go, a couple of premiere dates listed in Entertainment Weekly:

America's Next Top Model 4 (UPN)- March 2
Jake in Progress- March
Grey's Anatomy- March
The Inside- March
Eyes- March
The Bad Girl's Guide- April
In the Game (ABC, new sitcom)- Spring
The Bachelor (ABC)- Spring
American Dad- regular run begins May 1.
I think you listed Family Guy as "in hiatus" by accident.

Also, you might want to remove NUM3RS from the list before you go.

Enjoy your trip.

The Washington Post Johnny Carson Obituary
Former 'Tonight Show' Host Dies at 79
By Adam Bernstein [b}Washington Post [/B]Staff Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30475-2005Jan23?language=printer
Johnny Carson, 79, whose topical monologues and outlandish comedy made him the foremost figure of late-night entertainment for three decades, died today. NBC, which produced "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," said Carson died of emphysema at his home in Malibu, Calif.

Carson was often called the "king" of late-night television, a nickname far from hyperbole. By the 1980s, he reportedly was seen by 15 million viewers. "The Tonight Show" helped launch the careers of hundreds of comics, including Joan Rivers, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Roseanne Barr, David Letterman and Jay Leno (his successor on the program). To see Carson laugh at a joke meant the teller had a future.

Tanned, dapper and relaxed, Carson was above all a comfortable presence, which the ultraprivate and aloof host took great pains to achieve. In a celebrated profile of Carson, critic Kenneth Tynan wrote that attempting a man-to-man chat with him was like "addressing an elaborately wired security system."

To audiences, he was a trusted companion, boyish even with graying, receding hair. His resonant baritone had a puckish charm. In a profession where all is timing, the Iowa-born Carson mastered sexual innuendo delivered with self-deprecating pauses and Midwestern modesty. In many ways, he was the heir to radio and television comedian Jack Benny, his idol.

In October 1962, the cerebral Jack Paar handed off "Tonight" to Carson, who immediately custom-fit the program to his own tastes. When Carson jokingly parroted a congressman's warnings of national toilet paper shortage, one actually occurred. His guests ranged from astronauts to authors, from Pele to the Gabor sisters.

He liked to call the mix an unpredictable chess game.

No one offered by the competition -- including Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, David Frost and Dick Cavett -- came close to dethroning him in the ratings or diminishing his popularity.

A decade into his run, Carson moved his New York-produced show to Burbank, Calif., to trump the other hosts on celebrity guests. It was a shrewd move, enabling him to avoid the spate of similar visitors who appeared on other programs usually within the same week.

Carson's introduction, by sidekick Ed McMahon, became a national catchphrase: "Heeeeere's Johnny!" The jaunty, brassy and recognizable theme music, written by Paul Anka, was rendered by bandleader Doc Severinsen. It marked the queue for Carson to appear from behind a curtain and warm up the audience with jokes.

Carson and company established absurd comic roles familar to generations of Americans. As the clairvoyant "Carnac the Magnificent," Carson sat behind his desk wearing a turban and holding a sealed envelope to his forehead. He predicted answers to the questions inside.

"A full moon," Carson would say before revealing the contents of the envelope: "What you would see if Orson Welles dropped his pants."

To "Sis boom bah," Carson responded: "What is the sound of a sheep exploding?"

In a memorable skit, from 1965, Ed Ames, who played Mingo on the "Daniel Boone" television series, threw a tomahawk at a board with a human outline. When it smacked into the crotch, Carson ad-libbed a circumcision joke: "I didn't even know you were Jewish."

Carson, always cool and elegant, was a reliable presence during the 1960s and 1970s. Despite a series of turbulent divorces, stories of his heavy drinking and the death of a son in a car accident, none of the personal tragedies intruded into his entertainment, though fans flooded him with condolence cards because of his son.

Sometimes comic material bombed, and the ever-alert Carson might groan or cast a knowing glance, almost to beat the audience to the punch. He and his polished cast found inspired ways to counteract a slow moment.

"He had some material, about five sheets of paper, and it wasn't really going anywhere," McMahon said in an interview with CNN host Larry King last year. "And about the eighth joke, we both knew this whole thing was going in the dumper, right? So I very bravely picked up his cigarette lighter, put it under the material and set fire to his material."

"He's looking at the fire," McMahon said. "He looks up at the audience, and he looks at me, and he looks back at the thing and then he looks over. He says, 'You're absolutely right.' Now, he reaches down and gets a wastepaper basket, lifts it up on the desk, takes the material, still burning, in his hands, takes the material. Just before he drops it in the basket, Doc starts playing 'Taps.' "

John William Carson, the son of a utility company manager, was born Oct. 23, 1925, in Corning, Iowa, and raised in Norfolk, Neb. Stumbling across "Hoffman's Book of Magic" at age 12 led to his lifelong devotion to magic tricks. He sent away for a magic kit and soon was calling himself "The Great Carsoni." By trailing people and saying, "Pick a card, any card," he considered himself a traveling magician.

His mother, who had sewn his magician's cape, invited her son to perform for her bridge club. Soon he was making the rounds of local Rotary groups. His ability to entertain ceaselessly, somehow overcoming what he described as his innate shyness, made him a hit.

After Navy service during World War II, he enrolled at the University of Nebraska. His thesis was "How to Write Comedy Jokes," in which he explained the comic technique of major radio comics of his era.

He put theory into use, as a deejay at an Omaha radio station. Working with minimal resources, he took snippets of prerecorded interviews with such celebrities as singer Patti Page and reworked the questions.

The result was this:

"I understand you're hitting the bottle pretty good, Patti -- when did you start?"

"When I was six, I used to get up at church socials and do it."

Increasingly confident, he moved to Los Angeles and found work as a general announcer, part of his greater effort to break into television. Gradually, station management was worn down by his persistence and gave him a program that aired for 15 minutes on Sunday afternoons. His entry line was "KNXT cautiously presents 'Carson's Cellar.' " During one program, he told viewers about a special appearance by comedian Red Skelton, then a huge film and television star, which consisted of a shadowy figure racing across the stage.

Despite Carson's terrible time slot, the right person was watching -- Skelton.

On the side, Carson contributed jokes for Skelton and eventually substituted as a host on Skelton's eponymous show after the established comedian broke his leg falling through a prop door. Carson's appearances, deemed successful, led the CBS network to gamble on him by giving him a self-titled prime-time variety show. Lousy ratings and constant reworkings led to its cancellation after 39 weeks.

To revive his career, he returned to New York. He made appearances on Broadway and television, including a role in a "Playhouse 90" production, to spur his chances of getting a full-time television job. He scored big in 1957 as the host of the ABC quiz show "Who Do You Trust?" The format suited Carson, keen on ad-libbing his lines with guests. He later would bring McMahon to "Tonight" from the quiz show.

Meanwhile, Paar was fighting with NBC superiors about his show, whose ratings had fallen, and the network urged Carson to take over. Carson did, as soon as his ABC contract allowed.

By the mid-1960s, Carson's "Tonight Show" became one of the network's highest-rated, meaning huge income from advertisers. In 1967, Time featured Carson in a cover story, dubbing him the first "midnight idol" and describing his style as "cozy," never as abrasive and cutting as Paar.

Woody Allen, who appeared on the show, paid Carson the compliment that "he appears to be most pleased when the guest scores. He feels no compulsion to top me."

Carson created stump-the-band routines and did impersonations. His running characters included the mean old biddy "Aunt Blabby" and the Silent Majority prototype "Floyd Turbo."

The show became, at times, strange. In December 1969, it aired the wedding between the falsetto-singing ukulele fanatic Tiny Tim and his teenaged bride, Miss Vicki. The program's ratings skyrocketed because of the nuptials.

Carson won four Emmy Awards and NBC gave him all but carte blanche, including creative control of the show. The network also provided the $12 million to underwrite Carson Productions, which eventually produced "Late Night With David Letterman." Carson was reportedly the highest-paid performer in television history in the 1980s, making $5 million annually from "Tonight" alone.

Intermittently, Carson fought NBC for higher wages, staging a walkout in 1967. He also forced the network to reduce its 90-minute format to an hour in 1980 and relied increasingly on guest hosts.

His acrimony toward his employers crept into his humor.

In the mid-1980s, he let NBC's new owner, General Electric, know where they stood in his estimation. One Christmas, he joked that a holiday card had arrived from the company: "In lieu of a gift, a GE employee has been laid off in your name."

When an audience member asked why the NBC logo is a peacock, Carson said: "I don't know. I guess they couldn't find a multicolored weasel."

He needed the increased income to pay for expensive divorces. His first wife, Jody Wolcott, was a childhood sweetheart and the mother of his three sons. Besides Wolcott, Carson divorced Joanne Copeland Carson and Joanna Holland Carson (a former model who reportedly received in the settlement more than $20 million in cash and property). He married a woman 30 years his junior, Alexis Maas in 1987. They had met on a beach in Malibu.

Carson deflected questions about his personal life and politics. He was a mystery man to interviewers, who found him alternately abrasive and jocular, but seldom revealing.

He might have been most public about his feelings once on his show, telling an audience in 1982: "You know what this is like? It's like the challenge of death every night. It's like I'm standing on the ledge of a 20-story building and the crowd is yelling, 'Jump!' "

Over the years, Carson also hosted Academy Awards ceremonies and performed comedy at nightclubs. He launched into other business ventures, including a successful clothing line -- his turtlenecks became a fashion trend -- and a failed restaurant franchise.

In 1991, his son Ricky, 39, was killed in a car accident. The next May, Carson made his final broadcast, after 4,531 shows. His sign-off was casual and sincere, thanking viewers for their time: "I bid you a very heartfelt good night."

In short order, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, and the Kennedy Center Honor for career achievement.

He stayed away from interviewers, preferring the seclusion he seldom had for three decades. Instead, he focused on philanthropic work and entertained close friends and fellow poker players aboard his giant yacht. His guests included Steve Martin, Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Chevy Chase and media executive Barry Diller.

After he retired, offers came his way for anniversary specials, but he refused, preferring to "just let the work speak for itself."

He continued comedy writing, however, and some of his work appeared in the New Yorker, with the help of contributer Martin. At the end of 2000, the magazine published his "Recently Discovered Childhood Letters to Santa," a fictional wish list of notable figures, from Robert Frost to Charlton Heston.

Also, the ABC show is called Eyes and not The Eyes.

Family Divide
At Cablevision, Father-Son Split Looms Over Future
By PETER GRANT Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 24, 2005; Page A1

For years, James Dolan, the chief executive of Cablevision Systems Corp., worked in the shadow of his father, Charles Dolan, who built the cable and entertainment empire after wiring New York City with cable lines in 1964.

But in a dramatic boardroom showdown last week, James Dolan turned on his father, joining with other directors to pull the plug on his father's cherished dream -- a satellite-television business named Voom. On Thursday, two days after the vote, the company announced it was selling Voom's satellite and other assets to EchoStar Communications Corp.

The board's actions were a humiliating blow for Charles Dolan, 78 years old, an entrepreneur looking to add a last hurrah to a long string of successes. Making it especially painful was the vote against him by his son, James, 49.

Over the years, the two have had their share of differences about the company but always managed to keep those issues private. The board vote last week was the first time the tension had bubbled to the surface in such a public way. As a result the relationship -- and perhaps even the company -- may never be the same again.

While James Dolan was never enthusiastic about Voom, he was willing to give his father the benefit of the doubt, according to people familiar with the situation. One year ago, he joined the board in giving Voom the green light, partly on the basis of a Morgan Stanley analysis that concluded that the business was viable, according to people familiar with the situation. Then last month, Morgan Stanley reversed its analysis, partly because of Voom's poor performance in its first year of operation, these people said. At that point, James Dolan decided that he had to oppose his father on continuing the venture.

"It was a very difficult decision for Jim," says one person close to the board. "He showed a lot of fortitude."

What Charles Dolan does now could have major repercussions for the future of Cablevision, as well as the rest of the cable industry. Cablevision's jewel of a cable system, which has about three million subscribers in the New York City area, has long been considered a takeover target, particularly by Time Warner Inc., which owns adjoining systems. Charles Dolan, the company's single largest shareholder, has in the past made it clear that he's not a seller. But Mr. Dolan is so angry now that people close to him think he might consider selling the company.

"The dynamics at the board and senior management level and Charles Dolan's seeming divorce from the cable business in favor of [satellite] moves him that much closer to selling the cable assets," said Bear Stearns analyst Ray Katz, in a report issued after the board voted to sell Voom.

Charles and James Dolan declined to comment through a company spokesman.

Cablevision is the nation's sixth-largest cable company, with more than $4 billion in annual sales. The company's high-profile assets include Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and Rangers professional basketball and hockey franchises, and Radio City Music Hall.

Charles Dolan is known in the entertainment industry as one of the early and highly successful pioneers of the cable business. James Dolan is better known in other circles, especially the sports world, for his controversial running of the Knicks. The team has one of the biggest payrolls in basketball but hasn't made it to the NBA finals since 1999. (Lenny Wilkens resigned as coach on Saturday.) An avid yachtsman, James Dolan also plays guitar in a rock and roll band named "JD and the Straight Shot."

Family dramas aren't unusual in the cable industry, which was built in large part by family-owned businesses. Last summer, John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications Corp., and his son Timothy, were convicted of participating in a massive accounting and corporate looting conspiracy. At Comcast Corp., in contrast, Brian Roberts built the company into the country's largest cable operator after being handed the reins by his father, founder Ralph Roberts.

Until now, the family story at Cablevision has been one of James Dolan's struggle to step into his father's shoes since becoming chief executive in 1995 -- a task made more difficult by his father's reluctance to fully step out of them. While Charles Dolan, who is chairman, focused primarily on Voom in recent years, he regularly got involved in other company matters when he saw fit, sometimes to the frustration of his son, according to industry executives and people close to the company.

"Chuck is very involved in the direction of Cablevision, even if he isn't the public face," says Kurt Funderburg, an analyst with Harris Associates LP, an investment-management firm that advises mutual funds that own shares in Cablevision.

Some veteran entertainment executives, such as Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, still maintain contact with the elder Dolan rather than the son. Mr. Redstone notes, though, that whenever he arranges a meeting with Charles Dolan, "I would say you're always welcome to bring Jimmy." (A Viacom spokesman said that other company officials have an ongoing relationship with James Dolan.)

Charles and James Dolan have long had a complicated relationship, stemming in part from their different personalities and management styles, people familiar with the company say. Charles Dolan is known for being diplomatic and soft-spoken. His son, combative and volatile, is more of a street fighter. Former employees say that they have seen James Dolan dressing down even senior Cablevision executives in front of others.

Despite their differences, father and son have remained close. The two live next to each other on the same piece of property overlooking Oyster Bay on Long Island, N.Y., and James calls his father "Dad" at the office. Charles Dolan was very supportive of his son when he went through a program to treat his alcoholism in the early 1990s. (James Dolan regularly describes himself as a recovering alcoholic.)

The two have been known to play practical jokes on each other. Several years ago, Charles Dolan tormented his son by secretly putting on his car bumper stickers created by a neighborhood group protesting the noise from Cablevision's helicopter. When James Dolan learned his father was doing it, he went into the office one weekend and with the help of a construction crew erected a wall blocking his father's office.

James Dolan is the youngest of three sons, all of whom work at Cablevision. His brother, Tom, also sits on the company's board, and has been running the unit that includes Voom. Patrick, the oldest son, runs News 12, a local news station owned by Cablevision.

Even after he was tapped to head the company, James Dolan remained in the shadow of his father, a storied entrepreneur who founded, among other things, Home Box Office. James Dolan had some difficult times. In one particularly weak presentation in August 2002, he listed a wide range of steps the company was taking to deal with liquidity problems. His delivery was so poor that instead of reassuring investors, he scared them and Cablevision's stock tumbled, according to analysts and investors.

Despite investor concerns, Charles Dolan gave his son considerable latitude to run the company and make major decisions -- some of them mistakes. James Dolan played a key role in buying the electronics retailer The Wiz out of bankruptcy for $60 million and sinking more than $200 million into the chain before liquidating it in 2003. James Dolan also tried to accelerate Cablevision's move into digital cable in the early 1990s by buying an advanced set-top box from Sony Corp., a costly decision the company had to reverse partly because the Sony boxes were too expensive. The mess was cleaned up by a newly hired chief operating officer.

Still, under James Dolan's leadership, Cablevision's core business has grown revenue and cash flow at double digits in recent years because of the company's success in selling high-speed Internet, digital cable and phone service. The company's stock, which fell below $5 following the August 2002 investor meeting, closed at $28.84 in 4 p.m. trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, up $3.36 on the news that Voom was being shut down.

Most recently, James Dolan has gone to war against New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to build a new stadium on Manhattan's west side. Believing that Madison Square Garden's concern about competition from the stadium was unjustified, Mayor Bloomberg arranged a meeting with Charles Dolan to try to convince him to end the attack. At the meeting, Mr. Dolan refused to overrule his son, says someone who was briefed on the matter.

But Charles Dolan also isn't hesitant to get involved in certain matters, like a protracted fight between Cablevision and the Yankees' YES network that kept the baseball team off Cablevision for the entire 2002 season. At one point, as the 2003 season was looming, father and son got into a disagreement about strategy which ended after James Dolan said he was going to assert his rights as chief executive, according to a person who was there.

Charles Dolan's fascination with using satellites, rather than cable systems, as a more efficient way to deliver television signals goes back to 1990 when Cablevision teamed up with NBC, News Corp. and Hughes Communications to launch a service called Sky Cable. That partnership fell apart, but Hughes went on to start DirecTV, which has grown into the country's largest satellite-TV operator, with more than 12 million subscribers.

Missing that opportunity, Charles Dolan led Cablevision to invest in other satellite ventures. His determination intensified as cable subscriptions flattened. The entrepreneur in him concluded that satellite -- not cable -- was the growth business.

Cablevision's satellite plan, however, ran into huge opposition from analysts and investors who believed that with DirecTV and EchoStar leading the market, there was little room for a third competitor. Members of Cablevision's board raised similar concerns, but were unwilling to oppose Charles Dolan, an entrepreneur with a record for proving the skeptics wrong.

James Dolan also was unsure about the satellite project as its costs mounted. The company signed a contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. to build an advanced satellite, with an estimated cost of more than $250 million to get it into orbit. But in board discussions James Dolan backed his father, trying to work as a mediator between Charles Dolan and board members with reservations.

Lockheed Martin officials say Charles Dolan would spend hours at Lockheed's offices asking questions about such details as the rocket's trajectory and technical fixes. One Lockheed official says he was surprised that the chairman of such a large company was "eager to get down in the weeds" of the space business.

Charles Dolan also chose a programming strategy on the cutting edge of television technology so Voom would provide more high-definition programming than other satellite or cable operators.

Investor worries increased. To ease them, Cablevision announced in 2003 that it would spin off Voom together with three of its top cable networks -- AMC, the Independent Film Channel and WE:Women's Entertainment -- worth an estimated $2.5 billion. The plan, largely crafted by James Dolan, was that the networks would throw off enough cash to finance Voom's operating deficits until it became profitable.

Investors applauded the plan because the spinoff would limit Cablevision's exposure to the risky venture. But the spinoff was delayed for months by a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into alleged accounting irregularities in Cablevision's programming unit. While the improprieties turned out to be minor, James Dolan was very frustrated by the delay, which kept the cloud of Voom hanging over his company.

Cablevision had told investors the spinoff would be done by the end of the third quarter of 2004. But the company had to postpone it as company officials and board members began to mull Voom's disappointing results. Not only had the company signed up a mere 26,000 customers at the end of the third quarter, but more than 2 out of 10 customers purchasing the service were deciding to disconnect. Making matters worse, cable and satellite-TV operators were racing to add high-definition content, eroding Voom's advantage.

By December, it became clear to many directors that the spinoff wasn't going to work, especially after Morgan Stanley weighed in with its negative report. Lawyers also warned board members of personal liability if they didn't vote in the best interest of shareholders. In a Dec. 20 meeting, the board voted 9 to 4 to bag the spinoff plan and "pursue strategic alternatives," which was widely interpreted on Wall Street to mean Voom was going to be sold or shut down. James Dolan voted against his father.

But Charles Dolan wasn't ready to give up. If the board wasn't going to approve it, he considered changing the makeup of the board. Charles Dolan controls the majority of a special class of stock that the Dolan family owns that elects 75% of the directors. He began talking to people about possibly replacing three members of the board who voted against him, Sheila Mahony, a former Cablevision executive; William Bell, a former vice chairman of the company, and investment banker Steven Rattner, according to people familiar with the matter.

But Mr. Dolan was talked out of that plan by his advisers, including lawyers at Debevoise & Plimpton, who warned that in this post-Enron age such a maneuver could cause an uproar, and even lead to delisting. Such a scenario could lead to default on bank covenants and even a possible bankruptcy filing, they warned.

By last week's meeting, all Charles Dolan could do was try to persuade the board to keep funding Voom, which had money only until the end of January. He argued that the board was being oversensitive to the post-Enron regulatory climate. But this time, the vote was close to unanimous against him.

Charles Dolan made one last attempt to save Voom by looking into buying it himself. But that didn't last long and the board quickly agreed to sell to EchoStar, which had been having on-and-off conversations with Cablevision for months.

Some believe the Dolan family will be able to patch up their differences and bruised egos and move on.

"This is not going to be a replay of the Pritzkers," says Mario Gabelli, chief executive of Gabelli Asset Management, referring to the Chicago family that has been fighting over its hotel empire. His funds hold about a 10.3% stake in Cablevision. "They're a very loving family and very supportive. At Christmas they all want to get together to exchange presents."

Family Divide

At Cablevision, Father-Son Split Looms Over Future
By PETER GRANT Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 24, 2005; Page A1
For years, James Dolan, the chief executive of Cablevision Systems Corp., worked in the shadow of his father, Charles Dolan, who built the cable and entertainment empire after wiring New York City with cable lines in 1964. But in a dramatic boardroom showdown last week, James Dolan turned on his father, joining with other directors to pull the plug on his father's cherished dream -- a satellite-television business named Voom. On Thursday, two days after the vote, the company announced it was selling Voom's satellite and other assets to EchoStar Communications Corp.

…..While James Dolan was never enthusiastic about Voom, he was willing to give his father the benefit of the doubt, according to people familiar with the situation. One year ago, he joined the board in giving Voom the green light, partly on the basis of a Morgan Stanley analysis that concluded that the business was viable, according to people familiar with the situation. Then last month, Morgan Stanley reversed its analysis, partly because of Voom's poor performance in its first year of operation, these people said. At that point, James Dolan decided that he had to oppose his father on continuing the venture.

"It was a very difficult decision for Jim," says one person close to the board. "He showed a lot of fortitude."

What Charles Dolan does now could have major repercussions for the future of Cablevision, as well as the rest of the cable industry. Cablevision's jewel of a cable system, which has about three million subscribers in the New York City area, has long been considered a takeover target, particularly by Time Warner Inc., which owns adjoining systems. Charles Dolan, the company's single largest shareholder, has in the past made it clear that he's not a seller. But Mr. Dolan is so angry now that people close to him think he might consider selling the company….

Until now, the family story at Cablevision has been one of James Dolan's struggle to step into his father's shoes since becoming chief executive in 1995 -- a task made more difficult by his father's reluctance to fully step out of them. While Charles Dolan, who is chairman, focused primarily on Voom in recent years, he regularly got involved in other company matters when he saw fit, sometimes to the frustration of his son, according to industry executives and people close to the company.

"Chuck is very involved in the direction of Cablevision, even if he isn't the public face," says Kurt Funderburg, an analyst with Harris Associates LP, an investment-management firm that advises mutual funds that own shares in Cablevision.

Some veteran entertainment executives, such as Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, still maintain contact with the elder Dolan rather than the son. Mr. Redstone notes, though, that whenever he arranges a meeting with Charles Dolan, "I would say you're always welcome to bring Jimmy." (A Viacom spokesman said that other company officials have an ongoing relationship with James Dolan.)

Charles and James Dolan have long had a complicated relationship, stemming in part from their different personalities and management styles, people familiar with the company say. Charles Dolan is known for being diplomatic and soft-spoken. His son, combative and volatile, is more of a street fighter. Former employees say that they have seen James Dolan dressing down even senior Cablevision executives in front of others….

Despite investor concerns, Charles Dolan gave his son considerable latitude to run the company and make major decisions -- some of them mistakes. James Dolan played a key role in buying the electronics retailer The Wiz out of bankruptcy for $60 million and sinking more than $200 million into the chain before liquidating it in 2003. James Dolan also tried to accelerate Cablevision's move into digital cable in the early 1990s by buying an advanced set-top box from Sony Corp., a costly decision the company had to reverse partly because the Sony boxes were too expensive. The mess was cleaned up by a newly hired chief operating officer.

Still, under James Dolan's leadership, Cablevision's core business has grown revenue and cash flow at double digits in recent years because of the company's success in selling high-speed Internet, digital cable and phone service. The company's stock, which fell below $5 following the August 2002 investor meeting, closed at $28.84 in 4 p.m. trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, up $3.36 on the news that Voom was being shut down….

But Charles Dolan also isn't hesitant to get involved in certain matters, like a protracted fight between Cablevision and the Yankees' YES network that kept the baseball team off Cablevision for the entire 2002 season. At one point, as the 2003 season was looming, father and son got into a disagreement about strategy which ended after James Dolan said he was going to assert his rights as chief executive, according to a person who was there.

Charles Dolan's fascination with using satellites, rather than cable systems, as a more efficient way to deliver television signals goes back to 1990 when Cablevision teamed up with NBC, News Corp. and Hughes Communications to launch a service called Sky Cable. That partnership fell apart, but Hughes went on to start DirecTV, which has grown into the country's largest satellite-TV operator, with more than 12 million subscribers.

Missing that opportunity, Charles Dolan led Cablevision to invest in other satellite ventures. His determination intensified as cable subscriptions flattened. The entrepreneur in him concluded that satellite -- not cable -- was the growth business.

Cablevision's satellite plan, however, ran into huge opposition from analysts and investors who believed that with DirecTV and EchoStar leading the market, there was little room for a third competitor. Members of Cablevision's board raised similar concerns, but were unwilling to oppose Charles Dolan, an entrepreneur with a record for proving the skeptics wrong.

James Dolan also was unsure about the satellite project as its costs mounted. The company signed a contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. to build an advanced satellite, with an estimated cost of more than $250 million to get it into orbit. But in board discussions James Dolan backed his father, trying to work as a mediator between Charles Dolan and board members with reservations….

Charles Dolan also chose a programming strategy on the cutting edge of television technology so Voom would provide more high-definition programming than other satellite or cable operators.

Investor worries increased. To ease them, Cablevision announced in 2003 that it would spin off Voom together with three of its top cable networks -- AMC, the Independent Film Channel and WE:Women's Entertainment -- worth an estimated $2.5 billion. The plan, largely crafted by James Dolan, was that the networks would throw off enough cash to finance Voom's operating deficits until it became profitable.

Investors applauded the plan because the spinoff would limit Cablevision's exposure to the risky venture. But the spinoff was delayed for months by a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into alleged accounting irregularities in Cablevision's programming unit. While the improprieties turned out to be minor, James Dolan was very frustrated by the delay, which kept the cloud of Voom hanging over his company.

Cablevision had told investors the spinoff would be done by the end of the third quarter of 2004. But the company had to postpone it as company officials and board members began to mull Voom's disappointing results. Not only had the company signed up a mere 26,000 customers at the end of the third quarter, but more than 2 out of 10 customers purchasing the service were deciding to disconnect. Making matters worse, cable and satellite-TV operators were racing to add high-definition content, eroding Voom's advantage.

By December, it became clear to many directors that the spinoff wasn't going to work, especially after Morgan Stanley weighed in with its negative report. Lawyers also warned board members of personal liability if they didn't vote in the best interest of shareholders. In a Dec. 20 meeting, the board voted 9 to 4 to bag the spinoff plan and "pursue strategic alternatives," which was widely interpreted on Wall Street to mean Voom was going to be sold or shut down. James Dolan voted against his father.

But Charles Dolan wasn't ready to give up. If the board wasn't going to approve it, he considered changing the makeup of the board. Charles Dolan controls the majority of a special class of stock that the Dolan family owns that elects 75% of the directors. He began talking to people about possibly replacing three members of the board who voted against him, Sheila Mahony, a former Cablevision executive; William Bell, a former vice chairman of the company, and investment banker Steven Rattner, according to people familiar with the matter.

But Mr. Dolan was talked out of that plan by his advisers, including lawyers at Debevoise & Plimpton, who warned that in this post-Enron age such a maneuver could cause an uproar, and even lead to delisting. Such a scenario could lead to default on bank covenants and even a possible bankruptcy filing, they warned.

By last week's meeting, all Charles Dolan could do was try to persuade the board to keep funding Voom, which had money only until the end of January. He argued that the board was being oversensitive to the post-Enron regulatory climate. But this time, the vote was close to unanimous against him.

Charles Dolan made one last attempt to save Voom by looking into buying it himself. But that didn't last long and the board quickly agreed to sell to EchoStar, which had been having on-and-off conversations with Cablevision for months.

Some believe the Dolan family will be able to patch up their differences and bruised egos and move on.

"This is not going to be a replay of the Pritzkers," says Mario Gabelli, chief executive of Gabelli Asset Management, referring to the Chicago family that has been fighting over its hotel empire. His funds hold about a 10.3% stake in Cablevision. "They're a very loving family and very supportive. At Christmas they all want to get together to exchange presents."

Carson's Characters Made for Classic Moments
By Susan King Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

5:18 PM PST, January 23, 2005

Johnny Carson's legacy is not one of catch phrases or famous one-line jokes. It was his physical shtick -- his trademark golf swing at the end of every monologue or the trip on stage when he made his entrance as the bumbling Carnac the Magnificent. It was his perfectly timed deadpans and slow-burn reactions -- who could ever forget the look on his face when a little marmoset relieved himself on Carson's head? It was his gallery of zany characters whom audiences never tired of during his three-decade tenure on NBC.

Here's a look at some key moments in the history of Carson's reign on "The Tonight Show":

1964: Carson introduces two of his most popular characters: the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-silly mind reader Carnac the Magnificent and the crabby, wisecracking Aunt Blabby. But the biggest laugh of the year -- perhaps the biggest one in the history of "The Tonight Show" -- came when singer/actor Ed Ames demonstrated how to throw a tomahawk, only to hit a cardboard dummy in the crotch.

1966: Carson begins "The Mighty Carson Art Players," a sketch format that, over the years, saw him parody personalities such as President Reagan and actor Karl Malden (hawking the American Express Card).

1969: More than 45 million viewers tune in to see the on-stage wedding of falsetto singer Tiny Tim and his teenage bride Miss Vicki. Just as with the premiere episode of Carson's "Tonight Show," copies of this episode have been lost.

1971: Caron debuts as the lascivious Art Fern, host of the "Tea Time Movie." With his pencil-thin mustache, slicked-back hair and tacky suits, Fern would peddle products, seduce his buxom co-hostess and give nonsensical, forever-changing directions to the Slauson freeway cutoff.

1977: Carson introduces the last of his great characters, the super-patriotic but dim-witted Floyd R. Turbo, who would deliver bombastic editorials dressed in a checked buffalo jacket and a hat with earflaps.

1992: On the next-to-last show on May 21-- the final installment that featured guest stars -- Bette Midler brings Carson to tears when she serenades him with the standard "I'll Be Seeing You."

And on the last broadcast, after sharing memories with sidekick Ed McMahon and band leader Doc Severinsen, Carson took the stage alone and delivered one of television's classiest farewells: "You people watching, I can only tell you that it's been an honor and a privilege coming into your homes all these years to entertain you. And I hope when I find something I want to do and think you would like, I can come back and (you will be) as gracious in inviting me into your homes as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt goodnight."

AN APPRECIATION: So ends an era
Johnny Carson, an intensely private man, was also an institution. He exits having left a lasting imprint on television
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 24, 2005

Johnny CARSON, who died Sunday at his home in Malibu, didn't invent the late-night talk show — he inherited "The Tonight Show" from Jack Paar, who inherited it from Steve Allen — but he made it an institution, and with three decades at its helm, became one himself in the bargain. So bound up was the host with his show that it was (informally) "The Johnny Carson Show," even when Carson wasn't hosting it, and — apart from an occasional cameo or nightclub appearance or hosting of the Oscars — he did little else after taking it over in 1962, at the age of 36, and virtually nothing else after leaving it, 30 years later.

It's the rare person who merits the word "institution." It isn't enough to have been good at something. One must stand for a web of cultural effects, and have stood for them over a long period of time, and represented a moment in history in such a way that one's individual passing spells the end of an era. (Jay Leno, who occupies Carson's old seat, is not an institution — he merely inhabits one.) Performers like Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire, each the ne plus ultra of not only an art but of a historical moment, took worlds with them when they left.

Carson's end was sneakier. The most private of public figures — "Johnny packs a tight suitcase," sidekick Ed McMahon told Nora Ephron for a 1968 biography — his absence from view seemed paradoxically to mean that he would go on forever, presiding like a watchful god over the form he more than anyone created and codified. (It was something of a shock to learn that he would have turned 80 this year.)

Unlike with Sinatra or Astaire, there weren't a multitude of old movies, reruns or CDs to keep him alive in the public mind, yet his influence is everywhere, multiplied through a legion of talk show hosts (and sidekicks, bandleaders, couches), each of whom owes him a debt. He is the Platonic ideal of late-night talk-show host, of whom all other late-night talk-show hosts are but imperfect reflections. His influence extends even beyond the borders of the actual, as he is the model as well for Garry Shandling's talk show and Jerry Langford, the character played by Jerry Lewis in Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy."

My own memories of "The Tonight Show" are tied to the late '60s and early '70s, when it was a treat to stay up late and see what the adults were doing. The show then was, among other things, a forum for a passing generation of great comics — the likes of Jack Benny and Bob Hope and Groucho Marx, who, like Carson, were usually funnier ad-libbing than reading scripted material. Given the volume of material on the nightly show, and the speed with which it had to be produced, it was a given that much would fail, and making fun of the failures became a routine in itself.

I do not remember a single joke Carson ever told, but I can say with some certainty that he was funny — and more than funny, he was fun. (Though one detected a sort of sternness lurking deeper within.) He was the definition of the perfect host — one who puts his guests at ease, who becomes part of his own party, who makes the mechanics of fun invisible. Like David Letterman, he was a hip Midwesterner, obviously smart but not off-puttingly intellectual, a one-of-a-kind regular guy, who dressed well but not too well.

Carson was serious about his work — his senior thesis was about how to write comedy — but above all he had the capacity to be delighted, which created an atmosphere of delight. Mostly, I remember him laughing. It was this quality of total enjoyment that made Carson's departure from the air, as now from the world, seem outrageously premature.

Carson Helped Young Comics Like No Other
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Backstage before her first appearance on "The Tonight Show" in 1985, Roseanne Barr read a letter she'd written to herself years before, dreaming of this moment. "This is the beginning of your life for She who is and is not yet," the letter said in part, as recounted in a profile of the comic by The New Yorker's John Lahr.

Much has been and will be said about how Johnny Carson "discovered" Roseanne, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, David Letterman, Robin Williams and Ellen Degeneres. But they all had managers and club careers by the time their "The Tonight Show" debut happened. Carson didn't discover them, what he did was take them by the hand and say, "Here, America."

I can't think of the last time a comedian went on a talk show and, in essence, was introduced to the nation -- or even just to the entertainment industry. The platform, if not the performances, no longer exists, not since Carson created it during the three decades he ruled late night as host of the only game in town.

Carson was good for comedians in this way, but he was even better for comedy. He created space in his show for up-and-coming young talent to do their acts before a nationwide audience, but, just as important, he made it an event, a showcase, for which competition was fierce (you first had to gain the hard-won approval of "Tonight Show" talent coordinator Jim McCawley, who scouted Los Angeles clubs like a kind of prophet of either your future or your doom). Once on the show, there were still barometers to gauge whether you had arrived. Did Johnny give you the OK sign or even, perhaps, wave you over to the couch?

Shandling, noting in a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times that he didn't get to the couch after his first "Tonight Show" appearance, joked that "when you go to Johnny's house, you stand the first few times you are there."

It sounds somewhat officious, the lordly position he created over the stand-up world, and there were odd undertones of betrayal to the attempts by Joan Rivers and Arsenio Hall to have competing late-night shows, to say nothing of the Shakespearean drama that unfolded before "The Tonight Show" went to Jay Leno instead of Carson's favored son, Letterman.

Whatever was happening backstage, the rewards for the viewer were tangible. If Carson functioned as a paterfamilias for new comics, he got cheerfully and shrewdly out of the way of the established ones, who did their sets and then came over to sit down on the couch -- usually because Carson thought they were a riot and wanted to continue to interact with them. In this way he taught us how to appreciate a comic, to intuit his appreciation, whether the act was Steven Wright or Don Rickles or Rodney Dangerfield or Rivers -- among the comedians, as I recall it, who had the ability to reduce Carson to tears.

If Leno has struggled in the role of Carson's successor -- not in the ratings, where "The Tonight Show" has long remained No. 1, although with increased competition from Letterman's "Late Show" recently -- it is partly in the perception that he has failed to honor this kingmaker part of Carson's legacy. It should be said that many of the people who have criticized Leno are comics who don't get on his show, but the argument is moot, anyway. There is no one show anymore, there are many, all confronting ratings pressures that pull their producers and bookers away from introducing new talent.

Today, a comic on a talk show is, if not an anomaly, then just a comic on a talk show. A talk show that is more than likely hosted by someone who used to be a comic and who now spends the first 15 or 20 minutes of his or her show establishing who in the room is funniest, behaving like, well, a comic, so that by the time the other comic comes on -- deep into the show, by which time you're asleep -- it feels strictly like filler.

Carson was not this kind of host, in part because he hadn't come from any brutally competitive club scene (further proof that he wasn't really a comic was how skilled he was at interpersonal communication). On "The Tonight Show" he came out with a monologue and a desk bit, but when he introduced a comedian he made it clear that he was bringing out a kind of -- dare we say it -- artist. Someone apart from whatever talents Carson brought to the occasion of a late-night talk show.

We could feel his interest in them -- a young Albert Brooks, an older Henny Youngman. Leno himself debuted on Carson in 1977, appeared a few more times in the ensuing months, then endured a seven-year drought.

But the point then was to build a new set of material that would get past "The Tonight Show" gatekeepers. Since then, the ground has shifted. Indeed, while Leno, Letterman and Conan O'Brien have used their success to form production companies that develop sitcoms on which they serve as executive producers, none have created the kind of training ground that Carson -- who never branded his name beyond "The Tonight Show" -- did.

A few weeks ago a comedian friend left a message on my voice mail saying he was going to be on "The Late Show with David Letterman." I set my Tivo to record the spot and watched the following morning, as I was putting on my shoes to go out. My comic friend did well enough -- the laughs he got didn't seem juiced, and after his brief set, Letterman, who always looks stricken these days, came over and shook his hand. My friend wore a suit. The only thing missing was the sense that his career would now change.

FCC Announces Denial of 36 Indecency Complaints
(Written and posted by dline)

(Jan. 24, 2005) -- The FCC announced on its website that it has issued two orders denying a total of 36 indecency complaints against various broadcast stations and programs.

According to the site, the Parents Television Council filed the 36 complaints between July 2003 and February 2004. The programs, which aired between October 2001 and December 2003, include episodes of Everwood, girls club, Fastlane, Dawson's Creek, NYPD Blue, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Steve Harvey's Big Time, Will & Grace, Charmed, Angel, Friends, Boston Public and The Next Joe Millionaire.

"The Commission concluded that, in context, none of the segments were patently offensive under contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, and thus not indecent," the FCC said in a press release.

More information, links and a discussion thread at: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=500357

From Zap2It.com:

NBC Gives Some 'Order' to Saturday


Fast National ratings for Saturday, Jan. 22, 2005.

There was nothing new about NBC's Saturday, but it was full of enough strong repeats for the network to win household viewers with a 6.7 rating/11 share for the night. CBS was the closest competition with a 4.7/8, followed by FOX, 4.6/8, and ABC, 3.9/7.

Among 18 to 49-year-olds, FOX was king with a 3.1 to NBC's 2.9. ABC pulled third with a 2.2 and CBS came in last with a 2.0.

The classic "Law & Order" started things off for NBC at 8 p.m. with a 6.4/11. CBS went with "48 Hours Mystery," 4.7/8, and FOX gave up the usual double dose of "Cops" to the tune of 4.4/7. ABC gave over the first two hours of its night to the animated movie "Aladdin," averaging a 3.9/7 from 8 to 10 p.m.

At 9 p.m., "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" took a small dip for a 6.3/11. CBS stayed in second with "Without a Trace," 5.5/9, and FOX got a boost from "America's Most Wanted," 4.9/8.

NBC saw the strongest numbers of any network at 10 p.m., courtesy of "Law & Order: SVU," 7.5/13. An encore "Desperate Housewives" lifted ABC to second place with a 4.1/7, while CBS finished in third with a second episode of "48 Hours Mystery," 3.9/7.

From Zap2it.com:

Football Gives CBS Winning Sunday 'Numb3rs'


Fast National ratings for Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005.

The New England Patriots trounced the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday evening, earning the chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions. The AFC playoff battle helped boost the premiere of CBS' drama "Numb3rs" and carried the network to an easy Sunday win, despite another record performance by ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

Overall, CBS averaged a 21 rating/31 share in primetime, though as always in the case of live events, those numbers are subject to change. ABC was a strong, but distant second with a 10.5/15, far better than third place NBC's 5.4/8 or the 3.6/5 for FOX. The WB trailed with a 1.5/2.

Among adults 18-49, CBS had a 14.0 rating, doubling up the competition in the key demographic. ABC had a 6.9 rating in the important demo, as FOX moved up to third with a 2.6 rating. NBC was fourth with a 2.3 rating, still beating the 1.0 for The WB.

CBS swept the night, beginning at 7 p.m. with the 25.5/38 for the Patriots-Steelers game. NBC got a 7.5/11 from "Dateline" for second. ABC began in third with a 5.0/7 for "America's Funniest Home Videos." FOX was fourth with "King of the Hill" and "Malcolm in the Middle," at least beating the 0.8/1 for a repeat of "Summerland" on The WB.

Football gave CBS a 23.7/33 in its second hour, as ABC moved up with a 10.7/15 for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." NBC was third with "American Dreams." FOX was fourth again with "The Simpsons" (4.8/7) and "Arrested Development" (3.4/5). The WB was fifth with the 2.2/3 for "Charmed."

With a 21.6/30, the football kept CBS on top for the 9 p.m. hour, but ABC was lurking. "Desperate Housewives" did a stunning 16.1/22 against the powerful competition, still doing an 11.1 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's screening of "Bridget Jones' Diary" was good for third, better than the 3.5/5 for a "Family Guy" repeat and an episode of "The Simpsons" on FOX. The WB was last again with "Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge."

The special premiere of CBS' "Numb3rs" lost much of its football audience, but still won the 10 p.m. hour with a 13.4/21. "Boston Legal" was lurking on ABC with a 10.1/16. NBC's movie was in last.

SCI FI OWNS FRIDAY NIGHT
( January 24, 2005 )

New York, NY (January 24, 2005) – The debut of 'SCI FI Friday' – the biggest night of sci-fi on television – led SCI FI Channel to its second consecutive week as the #1 network on cable among P18-49, P25-54, M25-54 and M18-49 in Prime (8-11pm). It also marked the highest-rated and most-watched Friday SCI FI has ever delivered in first quarter.

The Winter Premieres of SCI FI's perennial viewer favorites 'Stargate SG-1' (8pm) and 'Stargate Atlantis' (9pm), combined with the critically-acclaimed 'Battlestar Galactica' (10pm), have made the Channel a viewer hotspot on Friday nights. For Friday Prime (8-11pm), SCI FI:

--Ranked in the Top 5 cable nets among P2+ (#3), P18-34s (#2), M18-34 (#2), F25-54 (#5) and F18-49 (#5), in addition to the #1 finishes reported above in P18-49s, P25-54s, M18-49s and M25-54s.
--Ranked in the Top 10 among F18-34 (#9)
--Claimed two of the Top 3 telecasts in cable among P25-54s and placed all three 8-11pm telecasts in the Top 5
--Claimed two of the Top 3 telecasts in cable among P18-49s, and placed all three 8-11pm telecasts in the Top 10
--Claimed three of the Top 4 telecasts in cable among M25-54 – including the #1 telecast of the day ('Battlestar Galactica,' 1,378,000 M25-54)
--Claimed the Top 2 telecasts in cable among M18-49 ('Battlestar Galactica', 1,254,000 M18-49; 'Stargate Atlantis' 983,000 M18-49)
--'Battlestar Galactica' at 10pm was the #2 program in cable among P18-34

SCI FI, along with sister network USA, led NBC Universal cable networks in dominating the night. With the combined strength of 'Monk' (USA), 'Battlestar Galactica' (SCI FI), 'Stargate Atlantis' (SCI FI) and 'Stargate SG-1' (SCI FI), the networks claimed four of the Top 5 shows among P25-54 for the night.

'Battlestar Galactica'
With a 2.3 HH rating/2.9 million P2+, 2 million P25-54 and 1.8 million P18-49, 'Battlestar' faced and defeated its competition. Among M25-54, the series delivered 1.4 million viewers – more than 13 of the 20 programs that aired on the broadcast networks that night, including 'Star Trek Enterprise' on UPN and 'Jonny Zero' on Fox.

When compared against SCI FI's 1Q04 time period average (10-11pm), 'Battlestar' was up:

+109% in HH ratings
+137% in P2+
+222% in P25-54
+256% in P18-49


'Stargate SG-1'
With a 2.0 HH rating/2.5 million viewers P2+, Stargate SG-1's Winter Premiere showed exceptional growth vs. the 1Q04 time period average (8-9pm):

+82% in HH ratings
+87% in total viewers P2+
+125% in P25-54
+127% in P18-49


'Stargate Atlantis'
With its 2.1 HH rating/2.6 million viewers P2+, also blew away all SCI FI's 1Q04 ratings for the time period average (9-10pm):

+24% in HH ratings
+18% in total viewers P2+
+44% in P25-54
+38% in P18-49

SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 84 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.

*8-11pm Prime among P18-49, P25-54, M25-54 and M18-49.

Originally posted by George Thompson
SCI FI OWNS FRIDAY NIGHT
( January 24, 2005 )



Any plans to go HD with SciFi channel? As it is now, I'm waiting until shows like Battlestar Galactica show up on Uni-HD before I watch them. Plus, the pilot episode was shown in HD, what's the story with all that?

OTOH, if the channel is doing well as indicated by that post, I guess there is no incentive to go HD...

I can't say when exactly, but all cable channels are being evaluated for HD upgrades and a new NOC is being built at the CNBC campus with HD capability for all NBCU Cable. Check back end of this year.
GT

Great, at least it's being looked at. :)

George, while I have your attention, was there an issue with the volume on Medium last night? Many viewers along with myself have indicated they had to turn the volume waaaaay up to be able to hear it. Then the commercial breaks blew them out of the room.

Medium thread here,

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5055370#post5055370
NBC's "Medium": CSI Competition? - AVS Forum

I noticed the same thing on both feeds at home. I will pass on our displeasure to the folks in the PVT/Transmission area and see if there is anything they can do. (LOL)

FCC Seeks Comment On Sat, Cable Rules For SHVERA Report
(Written and posted by dline)

(Jan. 25, 2005) The FCC Media Bureau announced today it is seeking comment on "rules affecting competition" in the cable and satellite marketplace.

It's for a review that's required by the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) of 2004. The law requires the FCC to submit a report to Congress this September.

Several of the areas this review will cover are no doubt of interest to AVS members:

- Retransmission consent
- Network program nonduplication rules
- Syndicated program exclusivity rules
- Sports blackout rules

"The Bureau seeks comments, information and analysis on how these rules, individually or collectively, affect competition in the MVPD [multichannel video programming distributor] market," according to today's public notice. "The Bureau also seeks studies that measure the impact of these rules ... on competition generally ... In addition, the Bureau requests recommendations for statutory changes regarding these four rules affecting competition in the MVPD market."

The deadline is March 1 for comments and March 16 for reply comments.

For more information on how to reply and what is involved, check out the full text of the public notice:
- Word: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-169A1.doc
- Acrobat: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-169A1.pdf
- Text: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-169A1.txt

In case some of you are not aware, the above post about the FCC "seeking comments" means YOU as well as industry groups. Make your voice heard.

Originally posted by keenan
In case some of you are not aware, the above post about the FCC "seeking comments" means YOU as well as industry groups. Make your voice heard.

Would anyone like to make up a form letter (to snail mail, NOT e-mail) we could all send in supporting the CONSUMER'S rights? Not that I'm implying that we're all too much of a coach potato to do it ourselves or anything:rolleyes:

From Zap2It.com:


CBS Cuts 'Perfect' Losses


CBS isn't waiting until the premiere of the next "Survivor" to get "Wickedly Perfect" off its Thursday-night schedule.

The Joan Lunden-hosted show, a contest among aspiring lifestyle gurus, is being booted to the netherworld of Saturday nights beginning this week (Jan. 29), the network says. A "Without a Trace" rerun will fill the 8 p.m. ET Thursday spot this week, with "CSI" set for the two weeks after that, leading up to the "Survivor: Palau" premiere Feb. 17.

The move of "Wickedly Perfect" is coming a little earlier than CBS had originally planned. After "The Will" crashed and burned in its only airing on Saturday, Jan. 8, the network announced that it would move "Perfect" to the 8 p.m. Saturday spot in mid-February, after "Survivor: Palau" debuted.

Three weeks of declining ratings -- which weren't all that great to begin with -- forced the change. "Wickedly Perfect" has drawn 8.7 million viewers per week in its Thursday airings, less than half of what "Survivor: Vanuatu" averaged earlier in the season. It hit a low of 7.8 million viewers last week.

With CBS down so much in the time period, ratings for NBC's "Joey" and FOX's "The O.C." have risen in the past three weeks.

The 8 p.m. Saturday spot has been a dead zone for original programming on CBS this season. Neither "Clubhouse," which lasted only one week after being moved from Tuesday nights, nor "The Will" cracked 5 million viewers in the timeslot.

From Zap2it.com:

CBS, NBC Split Monday Title


Fast National ratings for Monday, Jan. 24, 2005

A night of reruns Monday was strong enough to give CBS a household ratings win, but NBC actually had more people watching.

For the night, CBS averaged an 8.6 rating/13 share to beat NBC's 8.3/13. NBC, however, had the lead in total viewers, 13 million to 12.8 million. FOX and ABC tied for third in households at 6.1/9, although FOX brought in a larger total audience. The WB was fifth at 4.3/6, and UPN trailed at 2.2/3.

NBC was a clear winner among adults 18-49, scoring a 5.2 rating in advertisers' favorite demographic. FOX took second at 4.3, edging CBS's 4.2. ABC averaged 3.6, The WB 2.3 and UPN 1.3.

"Fear Factor," 6.7/10, won the 8 p.m. hour for NBC over repeats of "Still Standing" and "Listen Up" on CBS. ABC finished third with "EM: Home Edition: How'd They Do That?," 5.9/9. The WB came in fourth with an unusually strong number for "7th Heaven," 5.4/8, which beat FOX's "Trading Spouses," 5.0/8. UPN went with reruns of "One on One" and "Half and Half."

CBS moved in front at 9 p.m. with reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond," 9.9/14, and "Two and a Half Men," 9.2/13. NBC's "Las Vegas," 8.0/12, took second over FOX's "24," 7.2/10. "The Bachelorette" was fourth for ABC. "Everwood," 3.2/5, was fifth for The WB, ahead of "Girlfriends" and "Second Time Around" on UPN.

At 10 p.m., NBC's "Medium" and a repeat of "CSI: Miami" on CBS tied for the top spot at 10.2/16 ("Medium" had more total viewers). "Supernanny" posted a 6.5/10 for ABC.

'Idol' Again Crushes Tuesday Competition

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fast National ratings for Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005.

Although it didn't come close to reaching the ratings heights of last Tuesday's (Jan. 18) premiere, "American Idol" had another robust showing last night and also gave a big boost to the critically admired medical drama "House."

Overall, FOX averaged an 11.8 rating/18 share. Second place CBS was well back with a 7.6/12, followed by the 6.4/10 for NBC and ABC's 5.8/9. The WB rode new dramas to a 3.2/5 and fifth place. UPN lagged in sixth with a 1.6/2.
Among adults 18-49, FOX did an 8.5 rating, trouncing the competition in the key demographic. CBS and NBC put up matching 3.6 ratings for a second place tie, keeping ABC in fourth with a 3.2 rating. The WB had a 2.0 rating for the night, nearly tripling the 0.7 rating for UPN.

At 8 p.m., FOX started things off right with the 15.7/24 for the "American Idol" New Orleans audition episode. CBS was in second with a 7.7/12 repeat of "NCIS." NBC's "Most Outrageous Moments on Live TV" special was third, edging the 4.5/7 averaged by "My Wife and Kids" and "George Lopez." On The WB, "Gilmore Girls" returned with a 3.5/5, much better than UPN's "All of Us" and "Eve" reruns.

Although it dumped nearly half of its "Idol" lead-in, "House" reached series highs for FOX with a 7.9/12, holding up far better than "Point Pleasant" last week in the same slot. CBS stayed second with the 7.5/11 for "Amazing Race," up from last week. ABC's "According to Jim" and "Rodney" were a close third. On NBC, "Scrubs" had a 4.8/7 and "Committed" dipped to a 4.4/7. The WB's "One Tree Hill" had a 2.8/4, leaving UPN and a "Veronica Mars" repeat in sixth.

NBC snagged first at 10 p.m. with the 9.7/16 for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." CBS' "Judging Amy" lingered in second, beating the 6.2/10 for ABC's "NYPD Blue."

Fox Again the Network Idol

By Christopher Lisotta, TvWeek.com


The return of "American Idol" may mean Fox's lackluster rating performance is over.

After a fall and early winter in which most of Fox's debuts and season premieres could charitably be defined as disappointing, the network enjoyed a huge surprise with the better-than-expected audience for the return of the music performance reality series.

"Idol" opened its fourth season on a very high note. Its two-hour debut last Tuesday beat its 2004 premiere numbers, growing 9 percent in the adults 18 to 49 demographic to a 14.0 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was the highest-rated program of the season in every key adult demo.

In nearly every major demo, from male teens to women 25 to 54, "Idol" beat its five major network competitors combined in the ratings.

Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman, who had taken the stage to lead the Fox Network's executive session at the Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour only the day before the "Idol" premiere, was managing expectations for the show's imminent fourth-season debut.

"One can anticipate seeing some audience dispersion, "Ms. Berman said last Monday of "Idol," before touting real-time action drama "24's" premiere the previous week. "We do expect January to be a good time for us, even anticipating some declines for `Idol."'

Fortunately for Fox, reporters asked relatively few questions about the network's rapidly yanked reality misstep, "Who's Your Daddy?"-a restraint Ms. Berman may have taken as an early sign things are looking up for the network.

"We never anticipated growth, let alone this kind of growth," she said in an interview with TelevisionWeek after "Idol's" premiere numbers came out.

On Thursday, Ms. Berman was greeted with further good news-the Wednesday "Idol" pulled an 11.2 in the demo, down 12 percent from last season's Wednesday premiere but still Fox's best performance in the time slot in nearly a year. At 9 p.m. the premiere of drama "Point Pleasant" scored a 5.3, coming in second in the time period in the demo and doubling last week's performance in the time period. It was Fox's first win in adults 18 to 49 on Wednesday in 12 weeks.

Ms. Berman said the network understands the risk it takes by only doing one cycle of "Idol" per season.

"We pay a dear price when it's not on our schedule, but we do that to have an event when it returns," she said.

Röhm Lays Down the Law

That was quite a surprise ending on NBC's "Law & Order" for Assistant D.A. Serena Southerlyn, played by actress Elizabeth Röhm. We knew she was leaving, but not that she would go out with such a bang. At the end of the Jan. 12 episode, written by Richard Sweren and Lois Johnson, she departed in a final scene that was personally written by executive producer Dick Wolf. Ms. Southerlyn was called to her boss's office, where D.A. Arthur Branch (former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson) told her that prosecutors need to be cold and dispassionate, and that she was too warmblooded-and fired her. She then dropped her own bombshell by asking, "Is it because I'm a lesbian?"

With surprise on his face, he replied, "No." She said, "Good," and it was over. Blink asked Ms. Röhm how it came about. She said Mr. Wolf asked her whether she wanted her exit to be "something splashy" or "something simple." "Something splashy, of course," replied Ms. Röhm. When Mr. Wolf mentioned the L-word, Ms. Röhm confessed she had "toyed with the idea" as part of her secret back story for her character. "So we just said, 'Well, let's do it.'" Ms. Röhm said there are no plans to bring her back. "It was just a really great sendoff amongst friends." She now plans to be bicoastal, moving between her New York base and L.A., while she seeks "character-driven TV shows or maybe movies." The former soap star will be seen this spring in "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous." --MICHELE GREPPI

Courtesy of TvWeek.com

Prime time Nielsen ratings for Jan. 17-23


An "X" in the "season-to-date" column denotes a series premiere, season premiere in a different time slot or one-time only presentation (i.e. that program is not the one usually assigned to a given time slot).


This
Week Season so far Title

1 X AFC Championship: New England at Pittsburgh, CBS
44.3 million viewers

2 1 American Idol-Tuesday, Fox
33.6 million viewers

3 3 American Idol-Wednesday, Fox
26.7 million viewers

4 4 Desperate Housewives, ABC
26 million viewers

5 X AFC Championship Postgame Show, CBS
25.8 million viewers

6 X Numb3rs (Sunday preview), CBS
25 million viewers

7 5 CSI: Miami, CBS
22 million viewers

8 12 Lost, ABC
19.7 million viewers

9 8 Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS
19.2 million viewers

10 2 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS
19 million viewers

11 10 ER, NBC
18.8 million viewers

12 22 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC
18.3 million viewers

13 11 Two and a Half Men, CBS
18.1 million viewers

14 17 Apprentice 3, NBC
15.6 million viewers

15 20 Law & Order: SVU, NBC
15.3 million viewers

16 25 Boston Legal, ABC
15.3 million viewers

17 22 Law & Order, NBC
15.1 million viewers

18 18 NCIS, CBS
14.5 million viewers

19 14 Medium, NBC
14.4 million viewers

20 6 Without a Trace, CBS
13.6 million viewers

In-depth Nielsen ratings

Top cable shows

Viewers in millions

1. Monk (USA) 5.5
2. WWE Raw (Spike) 4.8
2. WWE Raw (Spike) 4.8
4. Law & Order (TNT) 4.5
5. Miss Congeniality (TBS) 4.2
6. Fairly Oddparents (Nick) 3.9
7. CSI (Spike) 3.8
8. Law & Order SVU (USA) 3.7
8. Real World XV (MTV) 3.7
10. Fairly Oddparents (Nick) 3.4
10. Law & Order SVU (USA) 3.4
12. Law & Order SVU (USA) 3.2
12. The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News) 3.2
12. Zoey 101 (Nick) 3.2
15. Fairly Oddparents (Nick) 3.1
15. Spongebob (Nick) 3.1
15. Law & Order (TNT) 3.1
15. Divine Secrets, Sisterhood (TBS) 3.1
15. Spongebob (Nick) 3.1

Note: Only first airings of movies are included.

Network top 20 among ages 18-49

Viewers in millions

1. AFC Championship, CBS 22.9
2. American Idol (Tues.), Fox 18.2
3. American Idol (Wed.), Fox 14.6
4. Desperate Housewives, ABC 14.5
5. AFC Post-game, CBS (special) 12.9
6. Numb3rs, CBS 11.9
7. ER, NBC 11.3
8. CSI: Miami, CBS 10.1
9. Extreme Makeover: Home, ABC 9.7
10. Apprentice 3, NBC 9.6
10. Lost, ABC 9.6
12. Raymond, CBS 8.2
13. Two and a Half Men, CBS 7.9
14. CSI, CBS (rerun) 7.8
15. Law & Order: SVU, NBC 7.6
16. Boston Legal, ABC 7.5
16. Medium, NBC 7.5
18. Alias, ABC 7.3
19. Joey, NBC 6.9
20. Point Pleasant, Fox (special) 6.8


Spotlight: TiVo's most recorded shows of the week

Percentage of households

1. Desperate Housewives, ABC 30.1
2. American Idol (Tues.), Fox 28.6
3. The Apprentice, NBC 24.1
4. American Idol (Wed.), Fox 23.9
5. Lost, ABC 22.4
6. ER, NBC 17.2
7. 24, Fox 16.3
8. CSI: Miami, CBS 15.5
9. Golden Globe Awards, NBC 14.6
10. Alias, ABC 13.7

Source: TiVo, week of Jan. 16-22; based on an analysis of viewing preferences of an anonymous aggregate sample of 20,000 households; reflects recorded and live viewing of prime-time programs on the six major networks

What is preventing D*TV contracting for inHD and inHD2?

Originally posted by rlmfswingle
What is preventing D*TV contracting for inHD and inHD2?

I think the primary reason is they are owned by a cable company(CableVision or Time-Warner?).

That is very disturbing to hear. Are these the two networks started by Mark Cuban? Will D*TV develope a similar set of programing?

Originally posted by rlmfswingle
Are these the two networks started by Mark Cuban?

No those are HDNet and HDNet Movies.

Originally posted by keenan
I think the primary reason is they are owned by a cable company(CableVision or Time-Warner?). Nope.

It's the usual suspects: Money & bandwidth.

Originally posted by Ken H
Nope.

It's the usual suspects: Money & bandwidth.

Makes sense, INHD is owned or part-owned by a cable company though, no?

Originally posted by keenan
Makes sense, INHD is owned or part-owned by a cable company though, no? Right, INHD is owned by iN DEMAND, who's shareholders are Comcast iN DEMAND Holdings, Inc., Cox Communications, Inc. Time Warner Entertainment – Advance/Newhouse Partnership.

Thank you for the info. :)

Commissioner Slams Consolidation in NATPE Remarks

The FCC has posted on its website a scathing speech by Commissioner Michael Copps, slamming media consolidation and its effect on creativity and independence.

Copps delivered his remarks, which can be read at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256292A1.pdf (Acrobat format) or http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256292A1.doc (Word format), to the National Association of Television Programming Executives meeting in Las Vegas.

"Creative artists have so often been in the vanguard of progressive change and democracy in times of social and political challenge. Now their voice is needed again, perhaps as never before," Copps said in his remarks. "You understand that this is about your industry, yes, but it's about your country, too."

Among his complaints:

- The networks and their affiliated studios own three-fourths of prime-time programming, vs. "a decade or so" ago when independent producers owned two-thirds of it. "Most observers tell me that the days of opportunity are closing fast and that we won't have a new generation of Norman Lears and Marcy Carseys and Ted Turners because the opportunities they had are gone."

- Diversity is disappearing. Viewers who don't fit the 18-34 demographic, including children and older Americans, are being left out, and "when minorities do appear in programming, it is still all too often in caricature."

- Cable TV is not helping. "Instead, 90 percent of the top cable channels are owned by the same companies that own the TV networks and the cable distribution systems," Copps wrote. "More channels are great, but when they are all owned by the same people, we're not doing justice to diversity, localism or competition. Diversity is more than a bigger hand belting out the same tune."

- This trend is hurting the entire creative class, from producers and creators to journalists and local recording artists.

Latest in News Technology from Broadcast Engineering....
http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/news_tech/20050127/#
Highlights include...
ABC News Now turns to Sprint PCS video phones for inauguration
coverage
New computer virus uses CNN headlines to trick recipients into opening
file
ABC News covers inauguration in 720p HD
The Weather Channel adds new Canon lenses as part of HD preparations

ABC News Now To Take A Breather

ABC News Now... And Later
Multi-platform news service will relaunch TV channel
By Ken Kerschbaumer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/24/2005

In this story:
“Anytime, anywhere”
Expanding reach

ABC News Now, the digital 24-hour news channel birthed for the presidential election, will become a permanent channel in the spring. But starting Jan. 30, the service will “take a breather” from TV, says ABC News President David Westin. The division will spend the next few months hiring staff, hammering out distribution deals and strengthening programming. While ABC News Now will vanish from TV, it is still available via the Internet and wireless devices.

The network will invest $7 million to $10 million to beef up Now’s technical infrastructure, on-air look and personnel. Mike Clemente will head up the effort as executive producer, moving from his senior broadcast producer role at 20/20.

“We proved the success of the editorial product,” says Westin. “I’m convinced this service is the future. It’s just a question of what is the best distribution model.”
“Anytime, anywhere”

The TV service was a simulcast of the ABC News Now broadband and wireless product, fulfilling Westin’s edict of “ABC News anytime, anywhere.” Launched as an over-the-air digital service last summer, ABC News Now gave the network an outlet for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Republican and Democratic political conventions. It was available on 70 affiliates as a digital broadcast service and to 6.5 million digital cable subscribers on Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, Adelphia and other systems.

The experiment was expected to end on Election Day, but the network extended it through the inauguration. Distribution announcements are expected in the next few months as the company begins negotiations with cable and satellite distributors.
Expanding reach

The goal isn’t simply a cable channel, says Westin. He wants to reach viewers throughout the day “by cellphone, from your PC, your Blackberry or devices that haven’t even been invented yet,” he explains. “It’s about being platform-agnostic. The viewers know they can get us however they want.”

Tom Wolzein, a senior media analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co, agrees that the future is in decoupling content from a specific medium. He’s just not sure it spells success today.

Clearly, “anytime, anywhere” is the next trend, Wolzein says of the multiple-platform model. “If ABC has a budget that allows some staying power, their concept just might work.”

A big consideration is staff. Westin says Clemente was one of several ABC News employees borrowed from within the organization to help the fledgling effort.

Future staffers will be a mix of internal ABC employees who will shift over to ABC News Now permanently, and outside freelancers. Any staffer who comes from another ABC show will be replaced, adds Westin.

ABC News Now will be a different kind of service from what’s traditionally found on cable news, he says. The network relies on live coverage, like Senate hearings and Washington press conferences. Its focus is on the story, not “on sets and lighting.”

CBS Losing Ground?

Suddenly, CBS
looks to be gasping

Strong season start bollixed by two bum shows

By Diego Vasquez (Diego Vasquez is a staff writer for Media Life.)

They say bad things come in threes. That now appears to be the case for CBS.
After the week ended Jan. 9, CBS led the 18-49 demo with a 4.0 average, ahead of ABC�s 3.9, NBC�s 3.7 and Fox�s 3.4. Even though it led by just 0.1, its consistent lineup made CBS easily the strongest network through midseason, and it looked like it had a chance to run away with the 18-49 race.
That now looks a lot less likely. The new probability is that Fox will rise to No. 1 based on the unexpectedly strong return of "American Idol" while ABC will inch past CBS for No. 2 thanks to "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and the unexpectedly strong "Alias." CBS could drop to as low as third, for three reasons.

Full article here,

http://69.20.6.242/News2005/jan05/jan24/3_wed/news2wednesday.html
Wednesday

Another resignation at the FCC

The FCC announced that Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree will resign effective March 2005.

Ferree has been chief of the MB since March 2002, when the FCC created the MB by merging what had been separate bureaus for mass media and cable services.

Press release in Acrobat: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256319A1.pdf

Press release in Word: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256319A1.doc

FCC Apparently Won't Defend Loosened Ownership Rules

It appears that the Bush administration won't appeal a Third Circuit court ruling which overturned recent FCC changes in media ownership rules.

Official Justice Department web sites didn't mention the apparent decision, and The Washington Post couldn't get the three Republican FCC members to comment.

But the two Democratic commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, issued a triumphant statement on the FCC website.

"The Third Circuit correctly recognized that the Commission's decision was legally and procedurally flawed," the commissioners said. "The ball is now back in the FCC's court. The Commission should seize this second chance to do the right thing."

Copps warned, however, that large media companies may ask the FCC to break up the rules and "accomplish piecemeal what they couldn't get whole."

The rules would have loosened restrictions on broadcast station ownership, allowing a single company to own stations reaching 45 percent of the U.S. population. (Congress later passed a law setting the national cap at 39 percent; the old limit was 35 percent, already exceeded by Fox and Viacom.) Also under these rules, a single company could own a newspaper and a TV station in the same market, and up to two TV stations in the same market as long as both stations weren't among the four highest ranked.

LINKS

Washington Post article (requires registration):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42134-2005Jan27.html

Statement by commissioners Copps and Adelstein:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256380A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-256380A1.doc

From Mac Berman:

Primetime Ratings:
Weekend Highlights

Friday 1/28/05

Note: The following results are based on the fast affiliate ratings.

Household Rating/Share
CBS: 7.9/13, NBC: 6.5/11, ABC: 5.5/ 9, Fox: 2.6/ 4, WB: 2.0/ 3, UPN: 1.3/ 4

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 12.29 million, NBC: 9.44, ABC: 8.30, Fox: 3.81, WB: 2.99, UPN: 1.79

-Adults 18-49:
CBS: 3.6/11, ABC and NBC: 2.8/ 8 each, Fox: 1.7/ 5, WB: 1.3/ 4, UPN: 0.7/ 2

-Friday's Winners:
Numb3rs (CBS)

-Friday's Losers:
Star Trek: Enterprise (UPN), What I Like About You (WB), Grounded For Life (WB), Jonny Zero (Fox), Medical Investigation (NBC)

-Ratings Breakdown:
In positive news for CBS, the Friday 10 p.m. time period premiere of Numb3rs (following huge sampling out of football last Sunday) was the highest-rated and most-watched show of the evening with a 9.8/17 in households, 15.22 million viewers and a 4.9/14 among adults 18-49. Comparably, that was an increase over a repeat of CSI at 9 p.m. (HH: #1, 8.1/14; Viewers: #1, 12.71 million; A18-49: #1, 3.5/10) of 21 percent in households, 2.51 million viewers and 40 percent among adults 18-49 Although the true test will come once the regularly scheduled JAG kicks in at 9 p.m., this kind of tune-in for Numb3rs on Friday is extraordinary.

Far less successful in new drama news was Fox's Jonny Zero, which is living up to its title with a paltry 2.3/ 4 in households (#5), 3.37 million viewers (#5) and a 1.5/ 4 among adults 18-49 (#4t) at 9 p.m. Retention out of a repeat of Bernie Mac (HH: #4, 2.8/ 5; Viewers: #4, 4.16 million; A18-49: #4, 1.8/ 5) was 82 percent in households, 81 percent in total viewers and 83 percent among adults 18-49. Before Fox tries to spin you, don't forget that Bernie Mac was a repeat at 8:30 p.m. Earlier in the evening, an original installment of Bernie opened the evening fourth in households (3.0/ 5), total viewers (4.33 million) and adults 18-49 (2.0/ 6) at 8 p.m. Considering how many times Fox has moved this sitcom, it's no wonder no one knows where to find it.

No. 1 in the 8 p.m. hour was the first half of a two-hour edition of NBC's Dateline (HH: 6.9/12; Viewers: 10.13 million; A18-49: 2.7/ 8), while CBS' Joan of Arcadia (HH: #2, 5.8/10; Viewers: #2, 8.94 million; A18-49: #3, 2.4/ 7) and two episodes of ABC's 8 Simple Rules (original and repeat - HH: #3, avg. 5.2/ 9; Viewers: #3, avg. 8.03 million; A18-49: #2, avg. 2.5/ 8) shared the two and three spots. Rounding off the hour were UPN's fading Star Trek: Enterprise (HH: #5, 1.7/ 3; A18-49: #6, 1.0/ 3) and uneventful WB comedies What I Like About You (HH: #6, 1.5/ 3; A18-49: #5t, 1.0/ 3) and Grounded For Life (HH: #5t, 1.7/ 3; A18-49: #5, 1.1/ 3). If I were the WB, I would open the evening with Fran Drescher's promising new comedy, Life With Fran.

No. 2 behind the CSI repeat at 9 p.m. was the second hour of the expanded Dateline (HH: 7.6/13; A18-49: 3.4/10), followed by ABC comedies Hope & Faith (HH: #3, 5.0/ 8; A18-49: #3, 2.5/ 7) and Less Than Perfect (HH: 3, 4.4/ 7; A18-49: #3, 2.4/ 7). Overall, the two-hour edition of Dateline averaged a 7.3/12 in households; 10.78 million viewers and a 3.0/ 9 among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m.

Also in the 9 p.m. hour were the WB's Reba (HH: #4, 2.6/ 4; A18-49: #4, 1.6/ 5) and Blue Collar TV (HH: #5, 2.1/ 3; A18-49: #5, 1.4/ 4), and a repeat of UPN's The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott (HH: #6, 0.9/ 2; A18-49: #6, 0.5/ 1). After a month with Missy Elliott, we're ready for the return of Tyra Banks!

Second at 10 p.m. behind CBS' Numb3rs was ABC's 20/20 at a 6.7/12 in households, 9.74 million viewers and a 3.4/10 among adults 18-49. A distant third was NBC's Medical Investigation at a below-average 4.7/ 8 in households, 6.76 million viewers and a 2.5/ 7 among adults 18-49. It looks like the novelty has worn off for Medical Investigation.

Saturday 1/29/05

Note: The following results are based on the fast affiliate ratings.

Household Rating/Share
NBC: 6.0/10, ABC: 4.8/ 8, Fox: 4.6/ 8, CBS: 3.9/ 7

-Total Viewers:
NBC: 8.96 million, ABC: 7.85, Fox: 7.19, CBS: 5.77

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 3.0/ 9, NBC: 2.5/ 7, ABC: 2.3/ 7, CBS: 1.8/ 5

-Saturday's Winners:
Nothing

-Saturday's Losers:
Wickedly Perfect (CBS)

-Ratings Breakdown:
On this typical Saturday of mixed leadership, NBC was first in households and total viewers with its combination of repeats of Law & Order (HH: #1, 5.4/10; Viewers: #1, 8.31 million; A18-49: #3, 2.1/ 6), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (HH: #1, 5.5/ 9; Viewers: #2, 8.08 million; A18-49: #3, 2.3/ 7) and Law & Order: SVU (HH: #1, 7.1/13; Viewers: #1, 10.49 million; A18-49: #1, 3.1/10), while Fox was No. 1 among adults 18-49. Two episodes of Fox's Cops (original and repeat - HH: #3, avg. 4.5/ 8; A18-49: #1, avg. 3.1/ 9) and America's Most Wanted (HH: #2, 4.7/ 8; A18-49: #1, 2.9/ 8) were close to recent levels from 8-10 p.m.

On CBS, Wickedly Perfect moved to Saturday with minimal interest, finishing fourth in households (3.0/ 5), total viewers (4.55 million) and adults 18-49 (1.5/ 5) from 8-9 p.m. So much for trying to imitate Martha Stewart. At 9 p.m., a repeat of CBS' Cold Case was also fourth in households (4.2/ 8), total viewers (6.30 million) and adults 18-49 (1.7/ 5), while lead-out 48 Hours Mystery (HH: 4.5/ 8; Viewers: 6.46 million; A18-49: 2.2/ 6) was second in all three categories at 10 p.m.

Over at ABC, 2002 theatrical Snow Dogs was second in households (5.1/ 9) and adults 18-49 (2.4/ 8) from 8-10 p.m., followed by a repeat of Desperate Households No. 3 at 10 p.m. in households (4.0/ 7), total viewers (6.01 million) and adults 18-49 (2.0/ 6).

Sunday 1/30/05
Metered Market Ratings

Note: The following overnights exclude the Atlanta market.

Household Rating/Share
CBS: 12.1/18, ABC: 8.5/12, NBC: 7.7/11, Fox: 4.7/ 7, WB: 2.4/ 3

Note: The fast affiliate ratings for Sunday were not available at press time.

-----

-Yesterday's Winners:
60 Minutes (CBS), Cold Case (CBS), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition R (ABC), Made-for: The Magic of Ordinary Days (CBS)

-Yesterday's Losers:
Dateline (NBC), American Dreams (NBC), Arrested Development (Fox), Steve Harvey's Big Time (WB)

-Ratings Breakdown:
Without an original episode of Desperate Housewives in the competitive mix, CBS moved into the top Sunday spot based on the overnights, with a hefty average 42 percent advantage over second-place ABC. CBS ranked first in every half-hour (again based on the overnights) with its combination of 60 Minutes (10.4/16), Cold Case (12.4/18) and made-for The Magic of Ordinary Days (12.9/18), featuring former Felicity star Keri Russell.

Although it wasn't that long ago when NBC's Law & Order: Criminal Intent dominated, even minus Desperate Housewives (which aired at 10 p.m. in a repeat format) the declining drama could only manage a second-place 10.6/14 opposite a 12.5/18 for the first-hour of the CBS movie. Lead-out Crossing Jordan was tied for No. 2 in the overnights with a 9.3/13 from 10-11 p.m., while the network's Dateline (#3: 5.6/ 9) and American Dreams (#3: 5.4/ 8) remained at lackluster 7-9 p.m. levels.

Over at ABC, veteran America's Funniest Home Videos opened with an above-average (and second-place) 6.3/10 at 7 p.m., followed by two repeat episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m. #2: 9.2/13 -- 9 p.m. #3: 9.3/13) and a repeat of Desperate Housewives at 10 p.m. (#2t: 9.3/14). Considering three-quarters of ABC's schedule was in repeats, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is expected to win the 8-10 p.m. block among adults 18-49 once the nationals are released, this was still a night to be proud of for the improved alphabet network.

Fox was out of the competitive Sunday loop again this week, with its combination of King of the Hill (#4: 3.7/ 6), Malcolm in the Middle (#4: 4.2/ 6), The Simpsons (#3: 6.6/ 9), Arrested Development (#4: 4.7/ 7), a repeat of Family Guy (#4: 4.5/ 6) and a repeat of The Simpsons (#4: 4.8/ 7). With just 71 percent retention for Arrested Development out of The Simpsons, it's off to the loser's circle for the quality sophomore sitcom. As for Malcolm in the Middle, yes, this comedy is still on the air!

Over at the WB, a repeat of Summerland (which returns in original episodes on Monday, Feb. 28 at 9 p.m.) kicked off with a 1.5/ 2 in the overnights, followed by the fading Charmed (3.5/ 5) and Steve Harvey's Big Time (2.0/ 3). The WB, of course, ranked last in every half hour last night.

Will 2005 be the year of HDTV worldwide?
http://enews.primediabusiness.com/enews/broadcastengineering/v/489

Remember this one from the World Series.

Super Bowl to feature tiny 'Turf Cam'



NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) -- Some of the most interesting shots of next Sunday's big Super Bowl game could come from a small camera.

A very small camera.

Fox Sports has planted so-called Turf Cams around Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida -- including four on the field where the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles will play Super Bowl XXXIX. Eight more of the Turf Cams aren't in the turf at all -- they'll be mounted at the end zones.

"They're so tiny, they're effectively the size of an eraser on a pencil," says David Hill, chairman of Fox Sports and a driving force behind his network's use of technology during sporting events.

Turf Cam is the direct descendant of the mini cameras that Fox Sports uses for NASCAR races, says Bill Brown, senior producer of Fox Sports. Those cameras are mounted, for instance, on the hoods of the race cars looking back through the windshield at the driver. Around this time last year, Fox Sports began working with the camera provider, Broadcast Sports Technology, to develop similar cameras to provide a bug's-eye view during the All-Star Game.

The teeny Diamond Cams, mounted in front of home plate and the pitcher's mound, worked so well that the angles became an occasional but memorable part of postseason baseball.

For the Super Bowl, Fox got the NFL's approval. When the new turf was being placed onto the field after the Florida Panthers' last game, technicians laid devices about half the size of a cigar box and cable underneath the field. They'll place the eraser-sized cameras this week.

Two of the Turf Cams will be placed around each 20-yard line facing the end zone, and the other two at the three-yard lines where snaps are done for extra points. The cameras will be placed at 45-degree angles prior to the game. Video will be fed to Fox's production truck and, if it's good, they'll put it on the air.

"We're hoping we get four, five, maybe six plays that we can take a shot, prior to snap, as to what it looks like looking up at these huge players," Brown says.

One baseball shot showed a ball coming toward the camera following a bunt, with the catcher jumping out from behind the plate, throwing his face mask and pouncing on the ball.

"It was a fun little shot, a shot the viewers don't normally see in a typical baseball game," Brown says.

Fox says there's no chance that players could be hurt by landing on the cameras. But the same can't be said about the Turf Cams.

"There's definitely that concern," Brown says about the possibility of damage, although if a player steps on a Turf Cam there's a chance it will bounce back and remain usable. Plus, a football field is pretty big.

"We're hoping that the odds are with us that nobody will step on these four little-size cameras," Brown says.

Fox says there's no expectation about the Turf Cams, which might pick up action and it might not. Brown says it's about giving the viewers something different.

Hill says the whole thing's a gamble and figures there's a 100 to 1 chance of getting something useful.

"If you see something, it's great. If not, it's no big whup," he says.

From Marc Berman:


Primetime Monday Ratings:
CBS and NBC Share the No. 1 Spot

Monday 1/31/05
Metered Market Rating

Household Rating/Share
CBS: 9.8/14, NBC: 8.8/13, Fox: 7.0/10, ABC: 6.8/10, WB: 5.0/ 7, UPN: 2.5/ 4

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Monday, Feb. 2, 2004):
ABC: +19, WB: +14, NBC: +10, UPN: - 4, CBS: -15, Fox: -47

-----

Fast Affiliate Ratings:

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 14.13 million, NBC: 12.61, Fox: 9.93, ABC: 9.23, WB: 5.49, UPN: 3.03

-Adults 18-49:
NBC: 4.9/12, CBS: 4.6/11, Fox: 4.2/10, ABC: 3.7/ 9, WB: 2.0/ 5, UPN: 1.3/ 5

-----

-Yesterday's Winners:
Fear Factor (NBC), 7th Heaven (WB), Everybody Loves Raymond R (CBS), Two and a Half Men (CBS), 24 (Fox), Medium (NBC)

-Yesterday's Losers:
One On One (UPN), Half and Half (UPN), The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott (UPN)

-Ratings Breakdown:
Despite airing repeats of Everybody Loves Raymond and CSI: Miami last night, CBS still managed to win Monday in the overnights and total viewers. NBC ranked first among adults 18-49. Comparably, CBS' advantage over second-place NBC was 11 percent in the overnights and 1.52 million viewers, while NBC beat CBS by an average of 7 percent among adults 18-49.

Beginning with 8 p.m., although CBS' Still Standing (#1, 7.1/10; Viewers: #2, 10.41 million; A18-49: #3, 3.1/ 8) and Listen Up (#2: 6.6/ 9; Viewers: #2, 9.91 million; A18-49: #3, 3.1/ 8) and NBC's Fear Factor (#1t: 6.8/10; Viewers: #1, 11.38 million; A18-49: #1, 4.8/13) were close in the overnights, Fear Factor took the hour in total viewers and adults 18-49 while the CBS comedies (if you can refer to them as that) remained non-competitive in the demo. Fox's Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy, meanwhile, outdelivered ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition - How'd They Do That? by 5 percent in the overnights, 420,000 viewers and 33 percent among adults 18-49. Take a look:

Monday 8-9 p.m.
Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy (Fox)
Overnights: 5.8/ 9 (#4), Viewers: 8.42 million (#3), A18-49: 3.6/10 (#2)

Extreme Makeover Home Edition - How'd They Do That? (ABC)
Overnights: 5.5/ 8 (#5), Viewers: 8.00 million (#4), A18-49: 2.7/ 7 (#4)

Over at the WB, warhorse 7th Heaven remains the network's highest-rated and most-watched show at a 6.0/ 9 in the overnights (#3), 6.67 million viewers (#5) and a 2.4/ 7 among adults 18-49 (#5) last night. On UPN, comedies One On One (#6: 2.4/ 4; A18-49: #6, 1.3/ 3) and Half and Half (#6: 2.6/ 4; A18-49: #6, 1.4/ 3) continue to suffer from noticeable audience losses this season.

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

At 9 p.m., CBS was on the winning forefront courtesy of a repeat of Everybody Loves Raymond (11.7/16; Viewers: 17.69 million; A18-49: 5.7/13) and Two and a Half Men (11.2/15; Viewers: 17.15 million; A18-49: 5.8/13). As good as Two and a Half Men was last night - and it was very funny - give us more of Conchata Ferrell, please. She steals the show!

A comfortable second in the 9 p.m. hour was Fox's 24 (8.3/11; Viewers: 11.44 million; A18-49: 4.9/11), which built from lead-in Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy by a hefty 43 percent in the overnights, 3.02 million viewers and 36 percent among adults 18-49. Sharing the No. 3 spot was a repeat of NBC's Las Vegas (#3, 7.8/11; A18-49: #4, 3.9/ 9), followed by ABC's goofy The Bachelorette (#4: 6.7/ 9; A18-49: #3, 4.1/ 9). Elsewhere, the WB's soon-to-temporarily-depart Everwood (#5: 4.1/ 5; A18-49: #5, 1.7/ 4) outdelived a Monday edition of The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott (#6: 2.5/ 3; A18-49: #6, 1.3/ 3) by 64 percent in the overnights and 31 percent among adults 18-49. Coming up on the WB effective Feb. 28: the return of Summerland. Can't wait!

In more positive news for NBC at 10 p.m., bona fide keeper Medium (#1: 11.7/17; Viewers: #1, 15.80 million; A18-49: #1, 6.1/15) bested a repeat of CBS' once unstoppable CSI: Miami (#2: 11.0/16; Viewers: #2, 14.81 million; A18-49: #2, 5.1/12) by 6 percent in the overnights, 990,000 viewers and 20 percent among adults 18-49. Although ABC's Supernanny (8.1/13; Viewers: 10.69 million; A18-49: 4.5/12) was third in the hour, it still managed to built from lead-in The Bachelorette by 21 percent in the overnights, 1.69 million viewers and 10 percent among adults 18-49.

From the San Jose Mercury News, some local specific content contained within,

Posted on Mon, Jan. 31, 2005

Network, actress at odds over direction of `Joan of Arcadia'

By Charlie McCollum

Mercury News

UNIVERSAL CITY - After two weeks in another town, here are some odd notions, stray thoughts and weird observations from the Television Critics Association's semi-annual press tour:

• There seems to be a serious disconnect going on over at CBS's ``Joan of Arcadia,'' which looked like a hit-in-the-making last season but has slumped in viewership in its sophomore year. CBS executives told any reporters who would listen during the tour that ``Joan,'' which has gone rather dark in tone this year, would lighten up in the coming weeks. But star Amber Tamblyn was busily telling anyone who would listen to her that she wants the series to be even darker. And executive producer Barbara Hall sounded downright perturbed when asked during a network party about a ``Joan'' shift in tone. ``Have you been talking to CBS?'' she asked. ``Look, I'm a little baffled by all this talk. I've always just done the show I wanted to do.''

• Even before the formal announcement last week, rumors were swirling around the tour that long-time host Paige Davis would be leaving TLC's ``Trading Spaces,'' the cable channel's signature show. There also were a lot of rumors (a couple of them quite juicy) about why she was leaving, and TLC's rather terse statement on her departure hasn't clarified the circumstances. In any case, her last episodes will air in March.

• The networks aren't the only ones taking a viewership hit from ABC's ``Desperate Housewives'' on Sunday nights. While HBO executives won't acknowledge it publicly, the premium cable channel has seen its audience shrink noticeably since ``Housewives'' made its debut last fall. ``Carnivale'' is really suffering right now directly opposite the ABC series, and ``Unscripted,'' the new HBO series that comes on at 10 p.m., is getting little love from viewers. With ``Sex and the City'' gone and ``The Sopranos'' on hiatus at least until early next year, the picture for HBO isn't pretty.

• Big winner out of the tour: Craig Ferguson, the new host of CBS's ``Late, Late Show,'' who was so charming (and funny) during his press conference here that reporters flocked to catch tapings of his show. General consensus: CBS has stumbled across a viable replacement for when David Letterman retires.

• On the horizon and looking good for ABC: ``Eyes,'' a slick and very different drama about corporate crime, and ``Jake In Progress,'' a sophisticated new comedy starring John Stamos and Julie Bowen from ``Ed.'' The former will debut April 13 (10 p.m., Ch. 7) behind ``Lost'' and ``Alias.'' The latter, an uneasy fit with ABC's other, more traditional sitcoms, may get the 10 p.m. spot behind ``Housewives'' on Sundays, airing back-to-back episodes while ``Boston Legal'' takes a rest.

• And, lastly, we have art imitating life imitating art: Farrah Fawcett is letting cameras from TV Land follow her around for ``Chasing Farrah'' (March 23). Lisa Kudrow, meanwhile, is starring in and producing HBO's ``The Comeback'' (airing sometime this summer), a scripted comedy about a has-been who lets cameras follow her around for a reality show. And, lest we forget, Kirstie Alley is doing ``Fat Actress'' for Showtime (March 7), an improv comedy about a comeback by a has-been that stars Alley as herself.

Station breaks

• Even though PBS has decided not to distribute an upcoming episode of the kids' show ``Postcards from Buster'' because it includes a visit with two lesbian couples in Vermont, KQED (Ch. 9) says it will air the episode as scheduled on March 23. Boston's WGBH, which produces ``Buster,'' and WNET in New York also will broadcast the episode.

• Just in time for the Super Bowl on Sunday, KTVU (Ch. 2), the local Fox affiliate, finally has reached an agreement with Comcast to carry its HDTV signal. The HD feed, which will include Fox and KTVU regular programming as well as the game, will be on Comcast Channel 702 with the over-air HD signal on KTVU-DT 56.

• And finally, it wasn't a great week last week for Mel Gibson. First, his ``The Passion of the Christ'' was all but ignored when Oscar nominations were handed out. Then ABC whacked the Gibson-produced comedy ``Complete Savages'' from its struggling Friday night sitcom lineup. A few remaining episodes will air in March but, for now, ``Savages'' will be replaced by repeats of ``8 Simple Rules.''

from Scifi.com:

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30302

UPN Cancels Enterprise

UPN and Paramount Network Television jointly announced Feb. 2 that its low-rated Star Trek: Enterprise has been canceled after five seasons. "This will be the final season of Star Trek: Enterprise on UPN," the companies said. The series finale will air on May 13. When Star Trek: Enterprise ends its run, it will mark the first time since 1987 that no new Trek series will appear on the air.

Enterprise becomes the first Trek series to end prematurely since the original Star Trek aired on NBC in the 1960s. All previous Trek spinoff series, including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, have completed seven-season runs.

This year, new executive producer Manny Coto re-energized Enterprise's storylines with episodes that hearkened back to the original series. Last year, the series attempted an ambitious season-long story arc centering on the hunt for the Xindi.

UPN said that the prequel series will have produced a total of 98 episodes. The early cancellation announcement presumably allows producers to write and produce a series finale.

From Marc Berman at Mediaweek.com

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDER
Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005

Primetime Tuesday Ratings:
American Idol Ignited Fox Remains No. 1

National Ratings in Primetime - Week of Jan. 24, 2005:
CBS and Fox Share Leadership

Ratings Box:
What's Hot/What's Not

On the Air Tonight:
Primetime Programming Options

TV Tidbits:
Notes Of Interest

TV Trivia Time:
It's All in the Family

Classified Ads


Primetime Tuesday Ratings:
American Idol Ignited Fox Remains No. 1

Tuesday 2/01/05
Metered Market Ratings

Household Rating/Share
Fox: 13.9/20, CBS: 8.7/13, NBC: 6.5/10, ABC: 6.3/ 9, WB: 4.0/ 6, UPN: 1.5/ 2

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004):
ABC: +34, CBS: +10, Fox: + 2, WB: - 9, NBC: -22, UPN: -62

-----

Fast Affiliate Ratings:

-Total Viewers:
Fox: 20.59 million, CBS: 11.63, ABC: 9.06, NBC: 8.37, WB: 4.48, UPN: 2.51

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 8.5/21, CBS: 3.4/ 9, NBC: 3.3/ 8, ABC: 3.2/ 8, WB: 2.1/ 5, UPN: 1.0/ 2

-----

-Yesterday's Winners:
American Idol (Fox), House (Fox), The Amazing Race 6 (CBS), Judging Amy (CBS), Law & Order: SVU R (NBC)

-Yesterday's Losers:
My Wife and Kids (ABC), George Lopez (ABC), Committed (NBC)

-Ratings Breakdown:
Led by the juggernaut called American Idol, Fox remained perched at the No. 1 spot on Tuesday, and will continue to do so through the musical reality show's season-finale in May. American Idol opened the evening with a whopping 18.7/27 in the overnights, 28.30 million viewers and an 11.8/30 among adults 18-49 from 8-9 p.m. Comparably, that beat the No. 2 program in the time period (CBS' NCIS - Overnights: 8.5/12, Viewers: 11.84 million; A18-49: 2.7/ 7) by 120 percent in the overnights, 16.46 million viewers and 337 percent among adults 18-49. As a reminder, total viewers and adults 18-49 are based on the fast affiliate ratings.

As for Paula Abdul threatening to quit the show last night, yeah right! Considering where her career was prior to American Idol, she is one lucky former pop sensation.

Also in the 8 p.m. hour were NBC special, Most Outrageous Moments Caught on Live TV (#3: 5.6/ 8; A18-49: #3t, 2.4/ 6), ABC sitcoms My Wife and Kids (#4: 4.7/ 7; A18-49: #3, 2.3/ 6) and George Lopez (#5: 4.4/ 6; A18-49: #4, 2.4/ 6), the WB's Gilmore Girls (#4t: 4.5/ 6; A18-49: #5, 2.2/ 6), and repeats of UPN comedies All of Us (#6: 1.4/ 2; A18-49: #6, 1.0/ 3) and Eve (#6: 1.5/ 2; A18-49: #6, 0.9/ 2). Although there was every reason to believe the competition would take a hit opposite American Idol, ratings this low for the ABC sitcoms are alarming. For more news on George Lopez, see Ratings Box.

At 9 p.m., and leading out of American Idol, Fox drama House took the hour with a 9.2/13 in the overnights, 12.89 million viewers and a 5.2/13 among adults 18-49. Although that was a loss of 54 percent in the overnights, 17.99 million viewers and 60 percent among adults 18-49 from American Idol in the 8:30 p.m. half-hour (20.1/28; Viewers: 30.88 million; A18-49: 13.0/31), a time period win is still...well...a time period win. A solid second was CBS' The Amazing Race 6 (8.5/12; Viewers: 11.85 million; A18-49: 4.6/11), followed by ABC sitcoms According To Jim R (#3: 6.7/10; Viewers: #3, 10.10 million; A18-49: #3, 3.9/ 9) and Rodney (#3: 6.2/ 9; Viewers: #3, 9.54 million; A18-49: #3, 3.6/ 9). Fourth were NBC comedies Scrubs (6.2/ 9; Viewers: 8.16 million; A18-49: 3.6/ 9), which is not capable of anchoring an hour, and Committed (5.1/ 7; Viewers: 6.96 million; A18-49: 3.0/ 7). Rounding off the 9 p.m. hour was the WB's One Tree Hill (#5: 3.5/ 5; A18-49: #5, 1.9/ 5), which is a vast improvement from recent occupant High School Reunion 3, and a repeat of UPN's Veronica Mars (#6: 1.6/ 2; A18-49: #6, 1.0/ 3).

Of note for CBS' The Amazing Race 6 was growth from lead-in NCIS of a considerable 70 percent among adults 18-49 (2.7/ 7 to 4.6/11).

At 10 p.m., and opposite a repeat of Law & Order: SVU on NBC, CBS' veteran Judging Amy moved into the top spot in the overnights (9.1/15) and total viewers (11.20 million). Although Law & Order: SVU finished second in both categories (Overnights: 8.3/13; Viewers: 10.36 million), it still managed to win the hour among adults 18-49 (4.2/12). Third in the demo was Judging Amy with a 3.1/ 9. On ABC, soon-to-conclude NYPD Blue (#3: 7.8/13; Viewers: #3, 10.57 million; A18-49: #2, 3.4/ 9) was above average.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data


National Ratings in Primetime - Week of Jan. 24, 2005:
CBS and Fox Share Leadership

Although American Idol led Fox to a considerable victory in adults 18-49 and adults 18-34, and is likely to do so through the season-finale in May, it wasn't enough for the network to top either CBS or NBC in households and total viewers. Based on ratings for the week of Jan. 24, 2005, CBS was No. 1 in households and viewers, CBS and NBC were tied for first among adults 25-54, and three of the six networks -- ABC, NBC and Fox -- were on the rise year-to-year. Keep in mind that the comparable week in 2004 included The Super Bowl on CBS. While CBS, as expected, experienced steep declines, UPN also suffered from noticeable erosion, while the WB was on par with the week of Jan. 26, 2004.

With American Idol dominating (see rankings below), lead-out hours House and the season-premiere of The Simple Life 3 successfully rode on its coattails. Fox's House on Tuesday perked up to a series-high 7.8/12 in households, 12.37 million viewers and a 5.0/12 among adults 18-49 (winning the 9 p.m. time period in all three categories), while the new adventures of Paris and Nicole kicked off with a stellar (and also time period-winning) 8.2/12 in households, 13.32 million viewers and a 6.2/14 among adults 18-49 Wednesday at 9 p.m.

Without the benefit of the American Idol juggernaut, however, week two of Fox's Point Pleasant wasn't so pleasant, finishing a distant fourth in the Thursday 9 p.m. hour (opposite a repeat of CSI on CBS) in households (3.0/ 4), total viewers (4.54 million) and adults 18-49 (1.9/ 5). Also flopping on Fox: Friday drama Johnny Zero at an even weaker (and also fourth-place) 2.2/ 4 in households, 4.54 million viewers and a 1.9/ 5 among adults 18-49 at 9 p.m. Word of advice to the networks: never include the word zero in a show's title!

Also of note in the new midseason series department was another rock-solid performance for NBC's Medium (see rankings), and week two of ABC's competing Supernanny building from lead-in The Bachelorette by 12 percent in households (5.8/ 8 to 6.5/10), 1.23 million viewers (8.02 to 9.25 million) and 8 percent among adults 18-49 (3.6/ 8 to 3.9/10). Better yet was the Friday 10 p.m. time-period debut of CBS drama Numb3rs, which in addition to winning the hour was the most-watched show of the evening (15.46 million), and highest-rated among adults 18-49 (5.0/14) and adults 25-54 (6.6/17). Comparably, Numb3rs gave CBS its best delivery in the Friday 10 p.m. time period with a regularly scheduled program since Picket Fences on Sept. 30, 1994, and highest rated in the two demos since Nash Bridges on Oct. 6, 2000. Opposite Numb3rs, NBC's Medical Investigation sunk to a series-low 6.84 million viewers (No. 73) with a 2.5/ 7 among adults 18-49 (#66t).

What follows are the final national ratings for the week of Jan. 24, 2005 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago period in parentheses) followed by the top-rated programs of the week:

-Households:
CBS: 8.4/15 (-38), NBC: 7.1/11 (+15), Fox: 6.2/10 (+ 3), ABC: 6.1/10 (+17), WB: 2.4/ 4 (no change), UPN: 2.0/ 3 (-26)

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 12.67 million (-50), NBC: 10.69 (+14), Fox: 10.36 (+ 5), ABC: 9.42 (+20), WB: 3.62 (- 1), UPN: 2.92 (-28)

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 4.5/12 (+10), NBC: 3.9/10 (+ 8), CBS: 3.7/ 9 (-59), ABC: 3.5/ 9 (+25), WB: 1.5/ 4 (no change), UPN: 1.1/ 3 (-35)

-Adults 18-34:
Fox: 4.4/13 (+ 7), NBC: 3.3/10 (+ 3), ABC: 2.8/ 8 (+33), CBS: 2.4/ 7 (-68), WB: 1.6/ 5 (no change), UPN: 1.1/ 3 (-35)

-Adults 25-54:
NBC: 4.7/11 (+12), CBS: 4.7/11 (-54), Fox: 4.6/11 (+10), ABC: 4.0/ 9 (+25), WB: 1.4/ 3 (no change), UPN: 1.1/ 3 (-35)

----------

Top Rated Programs of the Week

-Total Viewers:
American Idol Tuesday (Fox: 28.06 million), American Idol Wednesday (Fox: 26.57), CSI R (CBS: 21.82), ER (NBC: 19.75), CBS Sunday Movie: Magic of Ordinary Days (18.67), CSI: NY (CBS: 17.56), Cold Case (CBS: 16.69), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition R (ABC: 16.16), Medium (NBC: 15.78), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition R - 9 p.m. (ABC: 15.52), Numb3rs (CBS - time period debut: 15.46), The Apprentice 3 (NBC: 15.41), CSI: Miami R (CBS: 14.96), Everybody Loves Raymond R (CBS: 14.79), Without A Trace R (CBS: 14.55), 60 Minutes (CBS: 14.44), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC: 14.26), Law & Order: SVU (NBC: 14.19), Two and a Half Men R (CBS: 13.58), The Simple Life 3 (Fox - season premiere: 13.32)

-Adults 18-49:
American Idol Tuesday (Fox: 12.1/31), American Idol Wednesday (Fox: 11.2/29), ER (NBC: 9.1/23), CSI R (CBS: 7.3/18), The Apprentice 3 (NBC: 7.1/18), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition R - 9 p.m. (ABC: 7.0/15), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition R (ABC: 6.9/16), Medium (NBC: 6.2/15), The Simple Life 3 (Fox - season premiere: 6.2/14), CSI: NY (CBS: 5.9/15), Desperate Housewives R (ABC - Sun. 10 p.m. 5.6/13), Law & Order: SVU (NBC: 5.4/14), CSI: Miami R (CBS: 5.3/13), 24 (Fox: 5.1/12), Numb3rs (CBS - time period debut: 5.0/14), House (Fox: 5.0/12), Fear Factor (NBC: 4.8/12), Alias (ABC), Las Vegas (NBC) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC: 4.8/11 each), Syndication scorecard;

R = repeat


Ratings Box:
What's Hot/What's Not

-Season Highs In Syndication:
Based on the week of Jan. 17, two Paramount strips - Judge Joe Brown (4.0) and Montel (2.8) - hit season high household ratings, with growth year-to-year of 11 percent for Judge Joe Brown and 8 percent for Montel. Twentieth's Malcolm in the Middle reached a new zenith, meanwhile, with a 3.7 AA (average audience) and a 4.5 GAA (gross average audience) rating, while King World's CSI soared to a 6.5. CSI also hit season high ratings in women 18-49, women 25-54, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

-Cartoon Network Soars in January:
Growing for the fourth consecutive month, Cartoon Network reached a new high in January, with ratings among kids 6-11 (3.1), kids 2-11 (2.8) and tweens 9-14 (2.1) up by margins of 17 to 35 percent year-to-year in primetime. Based on total day, gains were equally impressive at 38 percent in kids 6-11 (2.2), 24 percent in kids 6-11 (2.1) and 27 percent in tweens 9-14 (1.4).

-Speaking of Cartoon Network:
Robot Chicken, a new animated series from Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, will premiere within the network's Adult Swim block on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 11:30 p.m. ET. Celebrities whose voices you will hear include Macauley Culkin, Mark Hamill, Scarlett Johannson, Burt Reynolds and Ryan Seacrest.

-Court TV Also Scores in January:
Court TV ended January with a 0.9 rating and 941,000 viewers on average in primetime -- its highest-rated and most-watched quarter ever. Comparably, that was an increase of 11 percent in viewing levels. Among adults 18-49 (394,000), Court TV was up 15 percent year-to-year.

-George Lopez is a Hit on Comedy Central:
Although his ABC comedy is nothing to boast about in the ratings, comedian George Lopez's stand-up special on Comedy Central, George Lopez: Why U Crying? on Sunday, Jan. 30, was the highest-rated and most-watched telecast of the year on the cable network among adults 18-49 (1.5). Comparably, that was an increase of 86 percent year-to-year in the demo.


On the Air Tonight:
Primetime Programming Options

Wednesday 2/02/05

ABC:
Lost, State of the Union Address

CBS:
60 Minutes, State of the Union Address

NBC:
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search, State of the Union Address

Fox:
American Idol, State of the Union Address

UPN:
The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott, State of the Union Address

WB:
Smallville, Jack & Bobby


TV Tidbits:
Note of Interest

-Jennie Garth and Luke Perry Reunite:
Former Beverly Hills, 90210 lovebirds Jennie Garth and Luke Perry will appear together in the Feb. 25 episode of Garth's WB sitcom, What I Like About You as ex-high school sweethearts.

-Paige Davis Exits Trading Spaces:
Trading Spaces host Paige Davis will exit the TLC reality series this spring, which will now focus more on the designers and teams.

HD Technology Update

Public Television, NCTA announce digital multicast agreement.
http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/hd_tech/20050202/#

Thanks to all for keeping this thread up to date in my absence.
George Thompson, Antonio (AFH), adash66, keenan, dline, f44, PDPnNJ,zabras23, f44 and all, I appreciate the time and effort you spent to keep items posted.
It'll take me a day or two to get up to speed again (and read all the posts of the past ten days).

Welcome back fredfa!!!!!!

Paul

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
Primetime Ratings:
Fox Leads on this Atypical Wednesday

Wednesday 2/02/05 Metered Market Ratings

Household Rating
Fox: 12.4/18, ABC: 6.4/ 9, CBS: 4.4/ 6, NBC: 4.4/ 6, WB: 3.6/ 5, UPN: 2.1/ 3

Note: Due to The State of the Union Address last night, metered market rating comparisons to the year-ago evening and the fast nationals are not included.

Yesterday’s Winners:
American Idol (Fox)

Yesterday’s Losers:
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search (NBC), The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott (UPN)

Ratings Breakdown:
On this atypical Wednesday, Fox’s American Idol roared to the winning 8-9 p.m. finish line with a 17.9/26 in the overnights. Second in the hour was a repeat of ABC’s Lost (7.5/11), followed by CBS’ 60 Minutes (5.2/ 8), the WB’s Smallville (4.4/ 6), Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search on NBC (3.5/ 5), and The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott on UPN (1.8/ 3). As a reminder, fast affiliate rating results were not included last night.

Coverage of The State of the Union Address from 9-10 p.m. rated as follows in the overnights:

ABC: 6.4/ 9
Fox: 5.9/ 9
NBC: 5.8/ 8
CBS: 4.4/ 6

Also in the hour, an original episode of the WB’s Jack & Bobby (2.8/ 4) outdelivered a repeat of UPN’s Kevin Hill (2.5/ 4) by 12 percent.

At 10 p.m., the democratic response/analysis of The State of the Union Address rated on the Big 3 as follows:

NBC: 4.8/ 8
ABC: 4.6/ 7
CBS: 3.4/ 6

Source: Nielsen Media Research data


On the Air Tonight: Primetime Programming Options

Thursday 2/03/05 Night 1 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion, Primetime Live

CBS:
CSI (repeat and original), Without A Trace

NBC:
Joey, Will & Grace, The Apprentice 3, ER

Fox:
The O.C., Point Pleasant

UPN:
WWE Smackdown!

WB:
Movie: Dr. Dolittle (R)

Guest Star Alert:
-Jay Leno on Joey
-Patti LuPone on Will & Grace

Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion:
Although Happy Days actually premiered 31 years ago (on Jan. 15, 1974 to be exact), it’s never too late to revisit with Fonzie and the Cunningham clan in this breezy and surprisingly enjoyable two-hour retrospective. In addition to Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley, Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Don Most, Erin Moran, Scott Baio, Pat Morita, Cathy Silvers, Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams and creator/producer Garry Marshall, look for a cameo appearance by the two Chucks – Gavan O’Herlihy and Randolph Roberts. Unfortunately, the mystery of Richie and Joanie’s older brother is not resolved. Just where was he all those years, Garry?


TV Tidbits: Notes of Interest

Star Trek: Enterprise to End in May:
As expected, UPN has announced this will be the final season of Star Trek: Enterprise after dipping to series low ratings on Friday. The series finale will air on May 13, 2005. As the fifth regularly scheduled series in the Star Trek franchise, next season will be the first time in 18 years that there will not be a first-run Star Trek on the air. The original Star Trek debuted on Sept. 8. 1966 and ran through Sept. 2, 1969. Next was the syndicated Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994, then Star Trek: Deep Space 9 from 1992-99, Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 to 2001 on UPN, and finally Star Trek: Enterprise beginning on Sept. 26, 2001.

Martha Stewart Meets The Apprentice:
In addition to hosting a new syndicated talk/reality series, busy Martha Stewart will head to primetime in a spin-off of NBC’s The Apprentice. Similar to the parent show, contestants are expected to compete for a job at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Bob Schieffer Heads to CBS Evening News:
Bob Schieffer, CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent and anchor of Face the Nation, will serve as the temporary anchor of the CBS Evening News effective on Thursday, March 10 following the departure of Dan Rather one day earlier.

Updated Cold Turkey News on PAX:
In addition to unveiling a second season of reality series Cold Turkey on Tuesday, March 15 at 10 p.m. ET, Pax TV is planning a reunion telecast from season one. Hosted by A.J. Benza, Cold Turkey II will feature 10 unsuspecting heavy smokers who gather in a San Diego mansion thinking they are joining the cast of a fake adventure reality series. After competing in inane challenges for three days, Benza will arrive in time for the contestants to decide if they want to kick the habit.

Murdoch: Fox Cable Not Taking On ESPN
By Mike Farrell Multichannel.com

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch appears to have put the final kibosh on any speculation that the media giant would attempt to launch a national sports network to compete with ESPN, but he offered some more detail on plans to launch a business channel and Fox Reality Channel later this year.

Last year, Murdoch sent some tongues wagging when he said at an industry conference that he would love to launch an ESPN competitor, but he couched that desire with the need to acquire more sports programming -- particularly National Football League games -- to make any such launch viable.

In a conference call with analysts Wednesday morning regarding News Corp.’s fiscal-second-quarter results, Murdoch all but said launching an ESPN competitor is not going to happen.

“Will we be taking on ESPN? We would not do that without a pretty full NFL franchise,” he said.

News Corp. president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin chimed in immediately afterward, adding that ESPN has exclusive negotiating rights with the NFL until October.

“We don’t even have the right to bid against them until they end the formal negotiating period,” Chernin said. “So there’s really nothing to say about a sports channel.”

Chernin said plans to launch Fox Reality and a business channel are moving ahead, adding that it is unlikely that either will require a substantial investment.

News Corp. has said in the past that Fox Reality would be launched toward the end of the company’s fiscal year (which closes June 30), followed by the business channel later in the calendar year.

Chernin said he expects the launches of those two channels to have the widest distribution of any newly launched channel News Corp. has ever done, mainly due to its relationship with direct-broadcast satellite provider DirecTV Group Inc. (in which News Corp. owns a 34% controlling interest) and the strength of its existing cable channels.

“We will have many millions of subscribers additionally to DirecTV,” he added. “I would expect to see new launches certainly on reality and business to be bigger launches than we’ve seen in the cable business in the past five or 10 years, the biggest ever from us.”

Murdoch said that especially for the business channel, securing carriage in the major big-city television markets would be essential. “That is going to take a little time to negotiate,” he added.

Murdoch said News Corp. would not sacrifice the potential upside in affiliate fees received from cable and satellite operators for its existing networks to secure carriage for the new channels. He added that any operator that threatens to drop an existing Fox network in retaliation for those higher affiliate rates would suffer the consequences.

“Take the Fox News Channel,” Murdoch said. “It would be a very, very brave cable operator who would drop it today, almost at whatever price. It’s got a devoted following of at least 10% of the population, and most of them would march on these people.”

Results for the fiscal second quarter were strong, with revenue up 18% to $6.6 billion and earnings up 79.5% to $386 million, or 13 cents per share, from $215 million (8 cents) in the prior year. Growth at News Corp.’s cable operations helped to fuel that growth -- revenue rose 10.4% to $624 million, and operating income at the cable channels was up 46% to $227 million.

Comcast's Profit Rises 10% On Steady Subscriber Growth
A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP February 3, 2005 8:00 a.m. PT

Comcast Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings rose 10% as the company signed up new customers for its digital cable and high-speed Internet services, despite competition from satellite broadcasters and regional phone companies.

The nation's biggest cable TV operator reported net income of $423 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with $383 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 10% to $5.24 billion from $4.74 billion.

Cable operators are facing stiff competition from satellite firms, DirecTV Group Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp., for video customers. After reporting a surprising decline in the second quarter of 2004, Comcast was able to add new cable customers in the second half of the year.

The Philadelphia-based company has made a joint bid1 with Time Warner Inc. for assets of bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp., the fifth largest cable company. Comcast Chairman and Chief Executive Brian L. Roberts said Thursday the bid demonstrates the company's bullishness in the future of the cable business.

Mr. Roberts declined to give much detail about the Adelphia bid on a teleconference, but said he hoped the deal would be accretive. He also emphasized that Comcast, given its current size, doesn't feel compelled to make the acquisition.

Comcast reported revenue of $4.99 billion in its cable business, an increase of 11% after adjusting for significant acquisitions and dispositions. The company added more than 250,000 digital-cable subscribers during the quarter, ending the period with more than 8.6 million subscribers. Comcast added 60,000 subscribers to its basic service, for a total of 21.5 million at year's end.

In Comcast's content business, which includes the Golf Channel and Outdoor Life Network, revenue rose 23% to $205 million. However, operating cash flow fell 2.8% to $57 million because of higher operating expenses at E! Networks and the G4techTV channel. Operating cash flow excludes net interest, cash paid for income taxes and capital expenditures from free cash flow.

For the full year, Comcast's profit plunged 70% from 2003, when a huge gain from the September 2003 sale of Comcast's 57% stake in the QVC Inc. shopping network inflated results. Comcast reported 2004 net income of $970 million, or 43 cents a share, down from $3.24 billion, or $1.44 a share, for 2003. Revenue rose 11% to $20.31 billion from $18.35 billion, surpassing $20 billion for the first time in company history.

The company reported results before U.S. markets opened. Shares of Comcast were down 32 cents, or 1%, to $31.64 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Welcome back.

"Grounded For Life (continues until its finale January 28)"-needs to be updated, finale updated.

life as we know it is gone. 2 unaired episodes may or may not air. The ABC prez spoke of it in past tense.

Eyes starts April 13th, Wednesdays @ 10pm ET.

Grey's Anatomy is now named Complications.

Jake in Progress premiere details: http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|93338|1|,00.html

The Amazing Race 7 starts March 1 with a two-hour premiere. Regular time is same as the sixth edition: Tuesdays @ 9pm ET.

Complete Savages is on hiatus.

FYI: One Tree Hill is no longer on hiatus, it's been back for two weeks.

Did Apprentice and Amazing Race return sooner than in previous years?

Are the networks shortening the time before seasons?

Thursday's ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

from google news:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/020405_davis_obit.php
Actor Ossie Davis dies at 87 in Miami Beach hotel room

NEW YORK - Ossie Davis, the actor distinguished for roles dealing with racial injustice on stage, screen and in real life, is dead at age 87.

In Miami Beach, police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said Davis' grandson called the police shortly before 7 a.m. when his grandfather would not open the door to his room at the Shore Club Hotel. Police do not suspect foul play.

Davis had key roles in the television series "Roots: The Next Generation" (1978), "Martin Luther King: The Dream and the Drum" (1986) and "The Stand" (1994). Davis appeared in three Spike Lee films, including "School Daze," "Do the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever."

thanks, adash66. Here is more:

Actor Ossie Davis Dies
By Fred Barbash and Wil Haygood Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, February 4, 2005; 1:37 PM ET

Ossie Davis, actor, playwright, giant of civil rights, and, with Ruby Dee, partner in one of America's most celebrated marriages, died today in Miami.

Davis, still handsome and elegant, was 87.

Wire services reported that he was found dead in his hotel room in Miami, where he was making a movie called "Retirement." No cause was announced.

Dee and Davis were joint Kennedy Center honorees in December. They were cited not only for their "theatrical and film achievement," but because they opened "many a door previously shut tight to African American artists and planted the seed for the flowering of America's multicultural humanity."

In his theatrical life, Davis wrote the play "Purlie Victorious" and starred in it with Dee.

Davis' first movie role was in "No Way Out" in 1950, followed by a Broadway role in "No Time for Sergeants" and "Raisin in the Sun," a ground breaking 1950s play about the personal and painful consequences of housing discrimination for a black family.

The couple appeared together in numerous productions, including the television series "Roots: The Next Generation" and a radio show in the 1970s called "The Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Story Hour," which ran on 65 stations.

They appeared together in 20th century history as well, from the McCarthy era, during which they were blacklisted, through the civil rights era, when they were eloquent voices and fund-raisers, and well into the '80s and '90s, when Davis continued as a spokesman for numerous causes of equality.

They counted among their friends all the famous African American figures of the 1950s and '60s, including baseball great Jackie Robinson, trade union leader A. Philip Randolph, Harlem congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

Davis delivered the eulogy for Malcolm X after the African American leader was assassinated in 1965.

"Malcolm knew that for a black leader to be effective, you had to frighten the white man," Davis said later.

Davis was born in Cogdell, Ga., on Dec. 18, 1917. He headed for Howard University, where he studied under Alan Leroy Locke, the first black Rhodes Scholar. Locke, Davis recalled in a 1992 interview, "was always on the lookout for talent. I was in his class. He encouraged me to go out to the theater."
While in Washington, he recalled then, he went to hear the singer Marian Anderson performing at the Lincoln Memorial after being barred from performing at Constitution Hall.

"I understood fully for the first time, the importance of black song, black music, black arts," he said. "I was handed my spiritual assignment that night."

His first stage appearance, in 1939, was with the Rose McClendon Players in New York. During World War II he served in the Army with an African-American medical unit. In the war, he served as an Army surgical technician in Libya, stabilizing some of the 700,000 soldiers wounded in that war for transport back to stateside hospitals. That experience left its mark as well.

"When World War II was over, there was a strong feeling in the country that racism had to be attacked," he told The Washington Post. "The artistic community seemed to be leading the way. It wasn't just stories for dramatic purpose, and it wasn't just white folks doing good. It was a series of serious statements made by Americans of what kind of world we have from here on in."

Davis often said he preferred writing to acting and he did, in fact, set out to become a playwright rather than an actor. His father, he said, was responsible for his love of writing.

"Daddy was in my life, a mythical hero. As was my mother. I decided to become a writer so that I could tell their stories," he once said in a speech. "We didn't have the disadvantages of television in those days. My imagination caught fire and I have never been able to put the fires out. And that is essentially who I am: the dreamer who is still caught in the dream."

"They have a political resonance not all artists have," civil rights historian Taylor Branch said of Dee and Davis in a recent interview.

"Ossie delivered the eulogy at Malcolm X's funeral at a time when not many Americans -- even blacks -- knew what to make of Malcolm. And there was Ossie, calling him 'my sweet black prince.' "

slocko:
I recently read an article that will answer your questions far better than I can.
I am trying to locate it for you, and I'll post it when I do find it.

Originally posted by slocko
Did Apprentice and Amazing Race return sooner than in previous years? IIRC, neither show has had two runs in the same television season (Sep - May). So, in that regard, this is the closest a subsequent installment of either series has run behind its previous installment's finale. In fact, AR was supposed to start even earlier, but CBS decided it needed more off time between the two to "rest" the show and promote the new installment.

It seems closer than when a series debuts in summer or midseason, then gets picked up for the regular season. A summer debut (such as AR) usually can't retool fast enough for the fall, so it won't reappear until Jan or Feb, then it's off for the following summer. A successful midseason debut (like Apprentice) won't turn around a second season in the summer (it'd be a waste of $$), so you won't see it until fall. Make sense?

Doc

Originally posted by fredfa
thanks, adash66. Here is more:

Actor Ossie Davis Dies
By Fred Barbash and Wil Haygood Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, February 4, 2005; 1:37 PM ET

Ossie Davis, actor, playwright, giant of civil rights, and, with Ruby Dee, partner in one of America's most celebrated marriages, died today in Miami...
I went to school with their son, Guy, so I got to know Ossie and Ruby somewhat when I was younger. They were/are genuine, wonderful people. We will miss him.

Mickey

FCC Releases MVPD Competition, Cable Rate Reports
Commission Dems Say Report Not Deep Enough; Powell Brings Up Controversial Broadcast Plan

Written and posted by dline


(Feb. 4) The FCC reports today that there's more competition in the multichannel pay-TV marketplace and that the growth of cable TV rates has slowed somewhat. But the two Democrats on the commission say the reports, released today and available through www.fcc.gov, don't delve far enough.

In a press release, the FCC said its findings show that, overall, monthly cable rates grew an average of 5.4 percent in the 12-month period ending January 1, 2004. That compares to a 7.8 percent jump in the 12-month period before that. These figures include basic and expanded basic service and equipment. In places with "effective competition," the increase was even less -- about 3.6 percent.

The competiton report, also released today, shows explosive growth for direct satellite services, whose subscriber base grew by nearly 14 percent from June 2003 to June 2004. Cable grew at an anemic 0.08 percent during the same period, though it still controls about 72 percent of the multichannel marketplace. The report credits increased "local-into-local" service for satellite's big leap.

Broadcast TV's share of the prime time audience declined by one percentage point between the 2002-2003 season (49 percent) and the 2003-2004 season (48 percent), according to the report. On a more positive note, the report says 85 percent of all U.S. TV stations were broadcasting digital signals as of last September.

Commissioners hail, assail reports

In a separate statement, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said the video marketplace "is the most competitive and diverse in our nation's history" thanks to what he calls "the digital migration."

Besides cable and satellite, Powell noted new potential competitors such as local exchange carriers and broadband services.

And he specifically mentioned a controversial multichannel service from broadcasters: "Broadcasters such as Emmis and USDTV are leveraging their digital assets to offer low-cost pay-television services to several communities across the country." That statement probably won't win Powell any friends on the AVS Forum; many of its members fear that such services will steal bandwidth from broadcasters' HDTV signals or even banish HD from free TV altogether.

Meanwhile, Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein say the report didn't search the industry deeply enough.

"... This report fails to examine adequately the circumstances that distinguish those places where competition is occurring and those where it is not, and to evaluate barriers to greater competition," the two Democrats said in a joint statement. "And it fails to consider sufficiently many of the important issues raised in the Notice, such as the impact of increasing vertical and horizontal consolidation of our media."

But even Copps and Adelstein said that "none of our comments should take away from the large investments that have been made by those that deliver video programming."
____________

dline posts this for information only and does not necessarily endorse any of the views stated in this post. All of the statements and reports are online at www.fcc.gov, on the home page under "Headlines" for Feb. 4, 2005.

Okay thanks. Just wanted to make sure that I am not mentailly ill :)

Originally posted by DrDon
IIRC, neither show has had two runs in the same television season (Sep - May). So, in that regard, this is the closest a subsequent installment of either series has run behind its previous installment's finale. In fact, AR was supposed to start even earlier, but CBS decided it needed more off time between the two to "rest" the show and promote the new installment.

It seems closer than when a series debuts in summer or midseason, then gets picked up for the regular season. A summer debut (such as AR) usually can't retool fast enough for the fall, so it won't reappear until Jan or Feb, then it's off for the following summer. A successful midseason debut (like Apprentice) won't turn around a second season in the summer (it'd be a waste of $$), so you won't see it until fall. Make sense?

Doc

Thanks, dline, great post.

A slightly different look at the numbers dline posted above.
I think it is useful to note that cable seems to be desperately attempting to hold on to its market share by adding non-TV elements, while D* and E* are simply adding more (and hopefully better) programming sources.
The cable plan may work at some time in the future, but it hasn't seemed to yet.

DBS Market Share Grows
By Bill McConnell Broadcasting & Cable 2/4/2005

Cable modem and Internet telephone service are helping cable keep its existing subscribers but aren’t stemming the pay-TV market-share growth of DBS.
According to data released by the FCC Friday, DBS' share of the pay-TV market has climbed from 20% as of June 2002 to 25% two years later.
In the 12 months ended June 2004, satellite operators’ subscribership climbed 14% to 23.16 million.
Cable subscribership stood at 66.1 million, up just 0.08% from June 2003.

Sinclair is allowing it's Fox affiliates to be carried on Comcast....
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050204/phf025_1.html

Note: Could this be a David Caruso (NYPD Blue?) career move for Elliott?
Elliott Discharges from 'JAG,' Heads to ABC

(zap2it.com)--David James Elliott, who's had a 10-season run on the CBS military drama "JAG," is leaving the show at the end of the season.

Elliott, whose "JAG" contract is up at the end of the season, has signed a new deal with ABC and sister studio Touchstone TV, the showbiz trade papers report. The one-year agreement calls for the studio and network to either cast him in an existing project or develop a new series for him.

The actor will also receive a co-producer credit on any show in which he stars.

What Elliott's departure means for the future of "JAG" is unclear. CBS isn't commenting on the fate of the series, which has been a stalwart on its schedule for nine seasons after moving over from NBC following its first year.

Airing on Friday nights, the show draws a little under 10 million viewers per week, off somewhat from the 10.8 million it averaged in the same time period last season. Some of that decline may be due to the fact that its lead-in, "Joan of Arcadia," is down about 1.6 million viewers compared to last year. Still, "JAG" leads its time period in total viewers.

As Elliott's run on "JAG" winds down, the show will introduce a new character, played by Chris Beetem ("As the World Turns"), later this month. Beetem will play a new member of the Judge Advocate General team.

Elliott is the second star of a long-running CBS series to sign with ABC in the past week. On Tuesday, the network announced it had signed a development deal with "Everybody Loves Raymond" star Patricia Heaton.

Originally posted by fredfa
A slightly different look at the numbers dline posted above.
I think it is useful to note that cable seems to be desperately attempting to hold on to its market share by adding non-TV elements, while D* and E* are simply adding more (and hopefully better) programming sources.
The cable plan may work at some time in the future, but it hasn't seemed to yet.


That's true. That competition report notes that Dish no longer has its own satellite Internet service and that DirecTV, though it still offers DIRECWAY, has "scaled back" its plans to deliver broadband via its satellites. Instead, they're doing more partnering with local exchange carriers -- the LECs handle the internet while the sat companies can concentrate on the programming, yet the service is bundled together with one bill.

Originally posted by dline
Instead, they're doing more partnering with local exchange carriers -- the LECs handle the internet while the sat companies can concentrate on the programming, yet the service is bundled together with one bill.

IMO, that's the way it should be, each entity does what is does best, while cable OTOH...

Eyes premiere date: http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/218662-6588-107.html

Also, ABC's site is now listing Complications as Grey's Anatomy again, so not sure which is the correct title.

Pax TV Lays Off 50 Staffers
By Marc Berman Mediaweek.com February 04, 2005

At least 50 executives and staffers were laid off from Pax TV late this week, signaling the potential end of the struggling seventh broadcast network.

In addition to Bill Scott, president of the Pax Television Network, other high profile layoffs include Ron Fenster, East Coast vp; Barry Schulman, senior vp of programming; Nancy Udell, senior vp of promotion and advertising; Donna Leonard, vp of national promotions; and Tim Crosby, vp of station operations.

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com)

Saturday 2/05/05 Programming Options: Night 3 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
America's Funniest Home Videos (R)
Desperate Housewives (two repeats)

CBS:
Wickedly Perfect
CSI: Miami (R)
48 Hours Mystery

NBC:
Law & Order (R)
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (R)
Law & Order: SVU (R)

Fox:
Cops
America's Most Wanted

Sinclair Announces Super Bowl to be Carried in High Definition on Comcast Cable Systems
Friday February 4, 6:03 pm ET


BALTIMORE, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI - News) is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement in principle with Comcast to offer its high-definition signals, including coverage of this weekend's Super Bowl XXXIX in six markets where Sinclair owns and/or programs a FOX affiliate.
ADVERTISEMENT




Carriage of the FOX digital signals should begin immediately in the following Comcast markets: Baltimore (WBFF-TV), Pittsburgh (WPGH-TV), Nashville (WZTV-TV), Richmond (WRLH-TV), Charleston, SC (WTAT-TV), and Paducah, KY (KBSI-TV).

Under the agreement in principle, the FOX digital signals will be available in time for viewers with Comcast's HD service to enjoy the ultimate television viewing experience for what is traditionally the highest rated television program of the year. Comcast customers can check local listings for channel numbers.

The companies will continue discussions with the hope of reaching a final definitive agreement for Sinclair's digital signals in the next couple of weeks.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies, currently owns and operates, programs or provides sales services to 62 television stations in 39 markets. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 24% of U.S. television households and includes ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, WB, and UPN affiliates.

Friday's ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

thefutoncritic.com:

life as we know it - ABC isn't expected to order any additional episodes of the series beyond the 13 completed. And with pre-emptions in store for the next four weeks - January 27 ("In Style: Celebrity Weddings"), February 3 ("Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion"), February 10 (a two-hour "Extreme Makeover") and February 17 (a second episode of "Extreme Makeover") - it seems unlikely the two remaining installments will air. "It's been one of my frustrations," ABC topper Steve McPherson told reporters. "Sometimes you do your best and you come up short."

Pushing the Prime-Time Clock Back
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Sunday, February 6, 2005; Page N02

Ever wonder why prime time starts at 8 p.m. for the major broadcast networks on Monday through Saturday, but starts at 7 p.m. on Sunday?

This paradox began 35 years ago. In the '70s, the Federal Communications Commission gave the broadcast networks the extra hour on Sunday (which formerly had been restricted to locally produced or non-network programs) in exchange for a promise that they would, on Sunday nights, provide one hour of public affairs or children's programming.

Programming such as CBS's "60 Minutes." NBC's "Dateline." ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney" -- only that doesn't air on Sunday anymore. Maybe "America's Funniest Home Videos"? How about "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"?

Fox, you'll notice, does not have an hour of public affairs or children's programming on Sunday, though it too starts its prime-time lineup at 7.

When Fox started up in the '80s it did not have to play by several of the rules that regulated the other broadcast networks; the feds did not consider it a network for the purposes of those regs, because Fox stops broadcasting network programming at 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m., as do ABC, CBS and NBC.

And you thought the people who regulate this industry didn't have a sense of humor.

Originally posted by f44
thefutoncritic.com:

life as we know it - ABC isn't expected to order any additional episodes of the series beyond the 13 completed. And with pre-emptions in store for the next four weeks - January 27 ("In Style: Celebrity Weddings"), February 3 ("Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion"), February 10 (a two-hour "Extreme Makeover") and February 17 (a second episode of "Extreme Makeover") - it seems unlikely the two remaining installments will air. "It's been one of my frustrations," ABC topper Steve McPherson told reporters. "Sometimes you do your best and you come up short."

it would help if the male leads all looked different

just from watching the commercials, there's three guys that look exactly the same with mops on their heads

Fred, that link in the Sinclair thread doesn't appear to be working..

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/edit...&postid=5129189

keenan:
try
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=505874

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com)
Sunday 2/06/05 Programming Options: Night 4 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
America's Funniest Home Videos (two repeats)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Desperate Housewives HD (R)

CBS:
Child Prodigies
NCIS HD (R)
Cold Case HD (R)
Without A Trace HD (R)

NBC:
Dateline
Law & Order: Criminal Intent HD (R)
Law & Order HD (R)
Law & Order: Criminal Intent HD (R)

Fox:
Super Bowl XXXIX: New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles HD
The Simpsons
American Dad (premiere)

WB:
Summerland HD (three repeats)

The Scoop on American Dad:
Previewing after The Simpsons on this plum Super-Bowl Sunday, Fox's latest animated comedy revolves around a CIA agent Dad, his wife and teenage children, and two rather bizarre house members -- a sarcastic space alien and a lively German-speaking goldfish. Considering how much audience veterans The Simpsons and King of the Hill have lost in recent years (Homer, Bart and company no longer win the Sunday 8 p.m. half-hour among adults 18-49), Fox is obviously looking to keep its tradition of primetime animation alive. Based on the pilot of American Dad, this is a step in the right direction.

Saturday's ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

ABC Execs Plan to End "Nightline"

Three years after narrowly surviving the ax,
ABC's long-running "Nightline" is in jeopardy again

By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Network parent Walt Disney Co. is serious enough about replacing the late-night news show — hosted by Ted Koppel since 1980 — to have ordered executives to start devising alternatives, according to sources familiar with the plans.

ABC News last week shot a pilot for one possible "Nightline" replacement, a freewheeling show hosted by Washington reporter Jake Tapper and Bill Weir, the co-anchor of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America," according to two people inside the network. One of the pilot's top stories was about the Michael Jackson child molestation trial — exactly the kind of tabloid-friendly fodder that the generally sober-minded "Nightline" has tended to avoid.

Disney's ESPN, meanwhile, is said to be developing an all-sports program for ABC's 11:35 p.m. slot, presumably in hopes of luring the relatively abundant supply of young men watching TV at that hour. An ESPN spokeswoman reached late Friday said she was unaware of such plans.

"This is all being done very quietly," said one ABC News staffer, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Koppel, 64, has over recent years pared back his anchoring duties to three nights per week (substitutes fill in the rest of the time) and his contract expires in December.

ABC News spokeswoman Emily Lenzner said Koppel was unavailable for comment. "Nightline" senior executive producer Tom Bettag declined to comment, and a Disney spokeswoman did not return a call.

Whatever the outcome, people inside and outside the network say "Nightline" is unlikely to last much longer, at least in its present form.

More here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=506386

Screen Actors Guild Television Awards
Actor in a movie or miniseries: Geoffrey Rush, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Actress in a movie or miniseries: Glenn Close, The Lion in Winter
Actor in a drama series: Jerry Orbach, Law & Order
Actress in a drama series: Jennifer Garner, Alias
Actor in a comedy series: Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Actress in a comedy series: Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives
Drama series cast: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Comedy series cast: Desperate Housewives
Life Achievement Award: James Garner

Sunday's ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

NCTA Labels NAB Effort 'Misinformation'6th
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 2/7/2005 12:55 PM ET
The DTV must-carry battle continues to head up as the days grow short.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Robert Sachs Monday charged the National Association of Broadcasters with launching a misinformation campaign of "gross misstatements" meant to scare the public about the FCC Feb. 19 vote on cable and satellite carriage of TV stations' digital signal.

Rather than a rush to judgment, said NCTA President Robert Sachs Monday in a letter to members of Congress, the vote has, in fact, been pending for four years, and is a reconsideration of the FCC's 2001 decision denying full digital multicast must-carry. The Feb. 10 vote is widely expected to uphold that denial.

NCTA says that cable systems are already carrying digital signals from more than 500 stations, and points out that it has just made a deal to carry the digital signals of public broadcast stations.

"In short," says NCTA, "compelling digital broadcast content is being carried voluntarily today on cable, and more such programming is being offered every day."

What NAB wants, says Sachs, is "preferential treatment": mandatory carriage of half a dozen channels, regardless of whether they are infomercials or home shopping channels or other of what NCTA calls "low value" content.

At the same time, says Sachs, "every other non-broadcast cable and satellite program network must vigorously compete for carriage of new and existing programming on the basis of the quality of that programming and its perceived value to consumers."

Subtracting Shock Value, Some Super Bowl Ads Don't Add Up
Chris Dufresne The Los Angeles Times

One does not invest in the glorious gizmo known as TiVo to fast forward through games in order to get to the commercials; it's supposed to work the other way around.

Yet, the chance to dissect a slew of 30-second, $2.4-million advertising spots during the Super Bowl comes around, well, only once a year, and so for one day having to make game-time bathroom break adjustments seemed a small price to pay.

The theme of this year's crop of Super Bowl ads was clear: tone it down and don't make Grandma cringe or Uncle Ernie lunge for the remote control button, unless you can provide a detailed medical explanation for making millions of Americans uncomfortable to the musical backdrop of "Be My Baby."

There were no wardrobe "malfunctions" this year, but there was a painful, when's-it-going-to-end third-quarter segment on "dysfunction."

Clearly, with the memory of Janet Jackson's halftime act etched in minds and the FCC log, this year's Super Bowl commercials took a conciliatory back-step to a more innocent time when television commercials promoted things like Lucky Strike cigarettes and 10-ton automobiles with sling-blades for tail fins and no seat belts.

The upside: There were no commercials this year featuring flatulent horses or crotch-grabbing frogs. And, thankfully, for the benefit of mankind, Fox pulled an ad that would have featured 80-something Mickey Rooney's naked rear end in a cold-remedy commercial.

We can only wonder whether Rooney's rear was the cold remedy.

The bad news: The Super Bowl ads seemed a bit flat, as if addled under an Orwellian influence.

Naturally, there were a truckload of automobile commercials, so many we thought Paul McCartney's opening number in the halftime show, "Drive My Car," was the night's most brilliant and subtle cross promotion.

We kept waiting for Paul to sing, "Baby you can drive my Ford," but he didn't do it.

It seemed, though, that ad-makers were afraid to offend anyone or take chances, and that left somewhat of an artistic void.

Nothing in Sunday's lineup, in our mind, left an indelible stamp like the ad featuring Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, or Budweiser's "Wassup" gem in 2000, or that creepy-but-effective Apple ad that ran, once, in 1984.

Really, though, what did you expect this year for $80,000 a second?

Here are some of the Super Bowl commercials we thought hit the mark:

1. FedEx. Burt Reynolds goes from "Smokey and the Bandit" to Smokey Bear? Hey, it worked. FedEx cleverly pokes fun at the prospect of making the best possible Super Bowl commercial and it somewhat succeeds with its 10 items required, which include Reynolds hamming it up with a bear.

2. Zoo animals (Anheuser-Busch). "Now look what you started!" Last year, a donkey talked his way into becoming one of the Clydesdales and now other animals want in on the action.

3. Lays potato chips. Any commercial in which MC Hammer gets tossed over a fence can't be bad, right? Especially if Hammer is willing to be part of his own joke.

4. Anheuser Busch's "thank you" to troops. In this spot, travelers applaud American men and women as they walk through an airport. Powerful and understated, two things commercials most often are not.

5. Saucy Tabasco sauce girl. She's wearing a bathing suit with Tabasco brand stamped all over it, yet she's sun-burned only where her suit is touching her skin.

Now that's spicy.

6. NFL Network. "The sun will come out tomorrow." Joe Montana consoles Ben Roethlisberger and Jon Gruden screams at his kids in this hilarious bit about NFL players and coaches who didn't make it to the Super Bowl this year.

7. Pepsi and iTunes. The music plays only when you twist off the cap on the Pepsi bottle. This would have been a better spot had Ashlee Simpson agreed to spoof her nightmarish, lip-syncing experiences.

8. Ameriquest. A man is preparing dinner for his date when his cat tips over the spaghetti sauce. The woman walks in with the guy holding up what looks to be a bloody cat. The kicker line: "Don't judge too quickly."

Ameriquest II: A man in a liquor store says "you're getting robbed" to the person he's talking to on his cellphone and the store manager thinks it's a real stickup.

9. MasterCard. What's not to like about a bit that features Mr. Peanut, Mr. Clean, Chef Boyardee and the Jolly Green Giant?

10. Budweiser Cedric the Entertainer invents a new dance with this responsible and entertaining "designated driver" spot. This seemed like the perfect year for a public service announcement.

Five that left me flat:

1. Careerbuilder.com. Chimps, chimps and more chimps. I believe I have laughed all I can laugh at chimps who dress up as humans.

2. Ford Mustang. Frozen guy in Mustang. The guy's stiff, dead as a doornail because the car company released its new convertible in the dead of winter. Who cannot see the humor in that?

3. Cialis. Sorry, FCC, but I'm 10 times more comfortable explaining Janet Jackson to my kids than what is going on in this 30-second spot.

4. "I am Diana Pearl." What the you-know-what was this? Three former Chicago Bears and Dennis Rodman pitching for a tile company?

Was I dreaming?

5. Honda Ridgeline: "It's not just another truck."

Um, based on what I can tell, it may be just another truck.

TiVo’s Super Bowl commercial (and halftime) ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

FCC Gets 33 Super Bowl Content Comments
February 07, 2005
By Todd Shields

Federal regulators say they’ve received at least 33 comments prompted by Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast on Fox--including several that praised the halftime show as clean, and even a few that complained about last year’s breast-baring Super Bowl broadcast.

By midday Monday, eight people had complained to the Federal Communications Commission about an ad for the Web hosting site GoDaddy.com that featured a buxom young woman who appeared in danger of baring a breast until she grasped a slipping shoulder strap.

Five people complained about ads for erectile dysfunction medication, and one complained about an ad showing a character from the “Queer Eye” TV show ogling a young man walking down the street.

The totals were provided by an FCC official who said more comments could arrive in coming days.

Three people complained about last year’s Super Bowl halftime show, in which singer Janet Jackson’s right breast was displayed, sparking national debate about TV and indecency. That broadcast on CBS generated more than half a million complaints to the FCC and a backlash that had Fox executives and the National Football League vowing to stage a safe, non-controversial broadcast and halftime show.

This year, two people thanked the FCC for a clean half-time show, although two complained about a reference to “California grass” in lyrics sung by halftime entertainer Paul McCartney. Two others said they were bored or not impressed by the halftime show. One person asked the FCC to remove announcer Joe Buck from the broadcast booth.

Mediaweek (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000790279)

The updated (and presumably final) Super Bowl XXXIX ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

fredfa, two premiere changes:

Finally, the hit comedy series, BLUE COLLAR TV, starring Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy, will return to Thursday nights on March 24, (8:00-8:30 p.m. ET).

-thefutoncritic.com

and The Starlet, whose new premiere details are here: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/gofuton.cgi?action=pr&id=20050207wb01

thanks, f44.
Got 'em changed.

Sorry this is so late today:
(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Monday, Feb. 7, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight:
Primetime Programming Options

Monday 2/07/05: Night 5 of the Feb. 2005 sweep:

ABC
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The Bachelorette
Supernanny

CBS
Still Standing HD
Listen Up HD
Everybody Loves Raymond HD
Two and a Half Men HD
CSI: Miami HD

NBC
Fear Factor
Las Vegas HD
Medium HD

Fox
Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy
24 HD

UPN
One On One (original and repeat) HD
Girlfriends HD
Half and Half HD

WB
7th Heaven HD
Everwood HD

Originally posted by AFH One person asked the FCC to remove announcer Joe Buck from the broadcast booth.


IMO, that's a completely reasonable request, all those guys in that booth were yakking so much, they must've had oxygen being pumped in to avoid asphyxiation. :rolleyes:

I am sorry, I just need to vent.... when will people stop bitching about anything and everything.. probably never!! there was nothing wrong with that godaddy commercial.. nor was there anything wrong with the bud spoof on janet jackson!
as always, your milage may vary

jim

Perhaps Joe Buck spends too much time around Tim McCarver during baseball season.
( I thought Buck did a fine job yesterday; but a little more of the measured and spare styles of Jack Buck, Pat Summerall [or even Ray Scott] would have been nice.)

Yes, agreed..:)

jim tressler:
I posted an MSNBC story in the "rate the super bowl commercials" thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=506718
It claims the GoDaddy spot was supposed to run (again) at the two-minute warning, but Fox killed it.

SHVERA Update

The following appeared in the FCC's "Daily Digest" for Monday:

FCC IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SATELLITE HOME VIEWER EXTENSION AND REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2004. Seeks comment on proposed rules to implement new Section 340 of the Communications Act authorizing satellite carriers to offer Commission-determined "significantly-viewed" signals of out-of-market broadcast stations to subscribers. (Dkt No. 05-49). Action by: the Commission. Comments Due: 04/08/2005. Reply Comments Due: 04/29/2005. Adopted: 02/04/2005 by NPRM. (FCC No. 05-24). MB FCC-05-24A1.doc FCC-05-24A1.pdf FCC-05-24A1.txt

Links to the notice:

- http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-24A1.doc
- http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-24A1.pdf
- http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-24A1.txt

EDIT: waltinvt has started an AVS discussion thread at:
- http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=506600

Thanks dline

Monday's NBC schedule change announcements for “Law & Order: Trial By Jury” , “The Office” , “The Contender” and “American Dreams” have been posted in Latest News, the first item in this thread.

The latest news on the transition to digital from Broadcast Engineering..
http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/t2d/20050207/

Monday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

fredfa,

Under HD Shows in Ratings Trouble you put:

"Scrubs NBC HD"

2 problems:

1) Scrubs isn't an HD show.
2) NBC has already said recently that it has been renewed for next year (tvguide.com).

fredfa,

Zap2It.com says In the Game on ABC will not go into production.

"The Office: An American Workplace Previews Thursday 9:30 PM ET March 24. Then 9:30 PM ET Tuesdays starting March 29."

The show has dropped the subtitle "An American Workplace." See NBC.com and NBCMV.com to see that the title is now just The Office.

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight: Primetime Programming Options
Tuesday 2/08/05 Night 6 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
My Wife and Kids HD
George Lopez HD
According To Jim HD
Rodney HD
NYPD Blue HD

CBS:
NCIS HD
The Amazing Race 6 (season finale two hours)

NBC:
Most Outrageous TV Moments (two episodes)
Scrubs
Committed HD
Law & Order: SVU HD

Fox:
American Idol HD
House HD

UPN:
All of Us
Eve
Veronica Mars HD

WB:
Gilmore Girls HD
One Tree Hill HD

CABLE NEWS RACE MON., FEB 7, 2005
(From the drudgereport.com)
FNC BILL O'REILLY 2,652,000 [VIEWERS]
FNC HANNITY&COLMES 1,904,000
FNC GRETA VAN SUSTEREN 1,568,000
FNC BRIT HUME 1,446,000
FNC SHEP SMITH 1,327,000
CNN LARRY KING 891,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 755,000
CNN PAULA ZAHN 550,000
CNN AARON BROWN 528,000
CNN ANDERSON COOPER 445,000
MSNBC KEITH OLBERMANN 416,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 411,000
MSNBC JOE SCARBOROUGH 360,000

fredfa, Scrubs' ratings aren't great, but it isn't in rating trouble as TVGuide has this to say:

"A little birdie (by the name of Very High-Ranking Peacock Exec) told me that our favorite comedy has already been renewed for a fifth season!"

f44, I read the TV Guide report, and assume it probably is correct. Also in favor of Scrubs returning is that NBC has such little bench strength.
But, nonetheless, it is in ratings trouble -- even if it does get picked up. (I don't use that category simply for shows that seem to face imminent cancellation, but also -- on occasion -- for shows whose numbers are not performing up to expectations.)
I can't see any official annnouncement about Scrubs coming from NBC before May, but then again, who knows?

Last week’s Top 20 ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

For NBC, it wasn't a super week
From Los Angeles Times/Associated Press

A week dominated by Fox's airing of the Super Bowl also resulted in a historic low for NBC.

NBC dropped to fourth place this season among viewers ages 18 to 49, the first time it has ever been so low this late in a TV season. That's the demographic NBC most cares about because it's the audience that the bulk of TV advertisers pay to reach.

NBC has won among this group for four years in a row, and eight of the last nine years, and as a result earns more than its rivals every spring when advertisers lock in commercial space for the upcoming season.

It's very close, but so far this season CBS leads among these young viewers and has a commanding lead among viewers of all ages. ABC is second, and Fox moved past NBC this week on the strength of the Super Bowl.

Among all viewers, NBC is a close third to ABC.

"It's parity among the networks now, and that's what you're seeing playing out," said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks. She noted that NBC has a strong new hit in "Medium" and is optimistic about such future series as "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" and "The Office."

Without an unexpected hit, NBC could have trouble climbing out of fourth. CBS has the most dominant day-to-day schedule, ABC has the Academy Awards and buzzed-about hits like "Desperate Housewives," and Fox has four months worth of "American Idol" episodes to run.

Besides the football game, last week was a good week for the Fonz and friends: ABC's 30th anniversary special for "Happy Days" was seen by nearly 20 million people. Fox is also seeing some promising numbers for the medical drama "House," seen by more people last week than the more-heralded "24."

Prime-time TV rankings

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 31-Feb. 6) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older.
Viewership is listed in millions.
Rank Program Network Viewers
1 Super Bowl XXXIX FOX 86.07
2 Super Bowl Postgame FOX 50.10
3 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 28.50
4 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 26.17
5 CSI CBS 24.95
6 The Simpsons FOX 23.07
7 "Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion" ABC 19.92
8 Without a Trace CBS 19.33
9 ER NBC 18.09
10 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 17.57
11 Two and a Half Men CBS 17.01
12 Medium NBC 15.85
13 "American Dad" FOX 15.15
14 CSI: Miami CBS 15.13
15 Apprentice 3 NBC 14.80
16 House FOX 12.75
17 Amazing Race: 6 CBS 12.01
18 Numb3rs CBS 11.55
19 24 FOX 11.52
20 NCIS CBS 11.48
21 Fear Factor NBC 11.29
22 CSI (8 p.m.) CBS 11.25
23 Judging Amy CBS 11.20
24 Las Vegas NBC 10.87
25 Supernanny ABC 10.75
26 NYPD Blue ABC 10.62
27 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 10.45
28 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.34
29 Still Standing CBS 10.22
30 JAG CBS 10.10
30 According to Jim ABC 10.10
32 Lost ABC 10.05
33 Will & Grace NBC 9.99
34 Joey NBC 9.96
35 Third Watch NBC 9.87
36 Listen Up CBS 9.74
37 Rodney ABC 9.54
38 Desperate Housewives ABC 9.34
39 "Great Commercials ..." CBS 9.22
40 The Bachelorette ABC 8.98
41 Primetime Live ABC 8.83
42 Medical Investigation NBC 8.75
43 20/20 ABC 8.61
44 Trading Spouses FOX 8.40
44 "Presidential Address Analysis" NBC 8.40
46 Hope & Faith ABC 8.37
47 8 Simple Rules ABC 8.30
48 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 8.15
49 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 8.11
50 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.06
51 Scrubs NBC 8.04
52 8 Simple Rules (8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.95
53 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 7.89
54 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How'd They Do That? ABC 7.86
55 Less Than Perfect ABC 7.76
56 Without a Trace (Sun.) CBS 7.59
57 Desperate Housewives (Sat., 10 p.m.) ABC 7.49
58 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 7.47
Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.47
60 The O.C. FOX 7.25
61 "State of the Union Analysis 2" ABC 7.23
62 Cold Case CBS 7.21
63 Most Outrageous Moments on Live TV NBC 6.99
64 America's Most Wanted FOX 6.90
65 60 Minutes Wednesday CBS 6.84
65 Committed NBC 6.84
67 My Wife and Kids ABC 6.82
68 America's Funniest Home Videos (Sat.) ABC 6.70
69 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.68
70 America's Funniest Home Videos (Sun., 8 p.m.) ABC 6.67
71 George Lopez ABC 6.66
72 7th Heaven WB 6.64
73 "State of the Union Analysis" FOX 6.36
74 Cops FOX 6.27
75 Desperate Housewives (Sat., 9 p.m.) ABC 6.19
76 Law & Order (Sun.) NBC 5.95
77 NCIS (Sun.) CBS 5.91
78 "Presidential Address Analysis" NBC 5.86
79 "State of the Union Analysis" CBS 5.70
80 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.66
81 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun.) NBC 5.31
82 Reba WB 5.13
83 Smallville WB 4.78
84 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.73
85 "State of the Union Analysis" ABC 4.70
86 Gilmore Girls WB 4.68
87 "Child Prodigies" CBS 4.67
88 "Democratic Response" CBS 4.42
89 Everwood WB 4.25
90 Sports Illustrated: Model Search NBC 4.17
91 Bernie Mac FOX 4.13
91 One Tree Hill WB 4.13
93 Bernie Mac (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.05
94 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 4.04
95 America's Funniest Home Videos (Sun., 7 p.m.) ABC 3.81
95 Wickedly Perfect CBS 3.81
97 Blue Collar TV WB 3.59
98 Jonny Zero FOX 3.43
99 Point Pleasant FOX 3.32
100 Reba (8:30 p.m.) WB 3.27
101 Half and Half UPN 3.15
102 Jack & Bobby WB 3.12
103 "Road to Stardom" (Mon.) UPN 3.05
104 One on One UPN 2.95
105 Enterprise UPN 2.81
106 What I Like About You WB 2.78
107 "Dr. Doolittle" WB 2.53
108 All of Us UPN 2.43
109 Veronica Mars UPN 2.31
110 Eve UPN 2.25
111 Road to Stardom (Wed.) UPN 2.13
112 Kevin Hill UPN 2.07
113 Road to Stardom (Fri.) UPN 1.40
113 Summerland WB 1.40
115 Summerland (9 p.m.) WB 1.26
116 Summerland (7 p.m.) WB 1.11

Network averages
Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.
Network Last week Season to date
FOX 28.83 9.83
CBS 10.47 12.92
ABC 9.19 10.38
NBC 9.19 10.05
WB 3.37 3.47
UPN 2.86 3.39

CBS Correspondent George Herman:1920-2005

George Herman, 85, a CBS correspondent from 1944 to 1987 and the longest-serving moderator of its Sunday morning show "Face the Nation," died of congestive heart failure Tuesday at his Washington home.
He was a remarkable news correspondent and man.

The Washington Post and NY Times obits are here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=507309

The meltdown that is NBC couldn't happen to a nicer network. LOL.

These are the guys who used to know how to nurture a show. And now they are on life support, with the "strength" of the fasting shrinking reality show (Apprentice), the least interesting reality show (Fear Factor), and shows like Medium that might be promising, or might be gone by season's end.

And this is where the network is "strong" -- save for the legendary ER (3rd among scripted shows lacking a Superbowl lead-in).

And even "ER" finished behind "Without A Trace" last week.

The Week’s Winners and Losers
Squeaky-Clean Super Bowl Is a Winner for Fox
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post
Wednesday, February 9, 2005; Page C07
Fox scored its most watched week ever with super-sanitized Super Bowl XXXIX and two episodes of mostly lousy "American Idol" auditions.
Here's a look at the week's Patriots and Eagles:
WINNERS
Super Bowl XXXIX. Buzzless commercials and a squeaky-clean halftime show starring sexagenarian Paul McCartney (no, Chairman Powell, that does not mean he had sex on the air; it means he's in his sixties) would have kept America's youth safe, if only they'd watched. But the prospect of a G-rated Super Bowl broadcast sent them packing, resulting in some of the game's smallest-ever kid and teen crowds and its lowest prime-time numbers ever among 18-to-49-year-olds. Overall, the game was down 4 percent compared to last year, but with more than 86 million viewers it still handed Fox its most watched night and most watched week ever.
"Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion." When ABC needs a giant Thursday in a February ratings sweeps, it can a) fondly look at goofy '70s teen sitcom, or b) look at '70s star now accused of fondling teen. Yes, the "Happy Days" reunion special served up ABC's best non-sports Thursday since it aired Martin Bashir's interview with Michael Jackson (in which, ironically, viewers first got to see the boy whom Jackson is now charged with allegedly molesting). "Happy Days" clocked nearly 20 million viewers -- ABC's most watched opening night for any sweeps in five years.
"The Simpsons." Following the Sanitized Super Bowl, Fox's 16-season-old animated sitcom delivered its biggest audience in 11 years.
LOSERS
"Joey." Opposite ABC's "Happy Days" reunion on the first night of the February sweeps, NBC's "Friends" spinoff suffered a series low, less than 10 million viewers.
"CSI." Opposite ABC's "Happy Days" reunion on the first night of the February sweeps, CBS's procedural crime series packed its smallest crowd of the season, less than 25 million viewers.
"Point Pleasant." Opposite ABC's "Happy Days" reunion on the first night of the February sweeps, Fox's devil drama retained less than half its "O.C." lead-in, fumbled 40 percent of its premiere audience and suffered a series low, down to 3.3 million viewers.
"The Apprentice." Opposite ABC's "Happy Days" reunion on the first night of the February sweeps, Donald Trump's starring vehicle scored its smallest audience of this season for NBC, 14.8 million viewers.
State of the Union address. Opposite WB's faux future president, President Bush copped his worst SOTU audience ever, 38 million viewers.
NBC. Sunday's Super Bowl pulled Fox up to No. 3 in a very tight race for 18-to-49 viewers this TV season, sending NBC tumbling to fourth place in the demographic race it has won the past four seasons and eight of the past nine seasons. This is big because NBC suits have said they sell all their ad time based on this age bracket (which advertisers pay a premium to reach) and the network has enjoyed the biggest haul each spring, when advertisers commit to commercial time for the following TV season.

I have to agree. With respect to Beatle fans, I found the halftime show boring. I prefer the multiple singer format with dancers.

I actually fast forwarded through it.

Nightmare for “American Dreams”
Despite critics' acclaim, competition may kill 'Dreams'
By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist
It's nightmare time for American Dreams. NBC last week cut back its season order of the Philly-set family drama from 19 episodes to 17. Moreover, the network shelved Dreams for the February sweeps. It won't return until March.

"It's very clear we're on the bubble," says Philadelphia homeboy Tom Verica, who plays patriarch Jack Pryor on Dreams, set in the turbulent '60s against the backdrop of Dick Clark's American Bandstand. "It's really demoralizing. The gypsy life we lead as actors, things happen quickly. Unfortunately, they're usually out of our control. I'm very proud of this show. There's got to be room for a quality family drama."

The critics - and NBC czar Jeff Zucker - love Dreams, but it's getting clobbered at 8 p.m. Sundays by CBS's Cold Case and ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. In its third season, Dreams averages 7.5 million viewers, down from almost 10 million in 2002-03 and 8.8 million last season. It ranks 81st on Nielsen's Hit Parade.

To offset Dreams' hefty price tag (estimated at more than $1.7 million per episode), executive producer Jonathan Prince has peppered the show with product placements from big-time sponsors. In one case (Campbell's Soup), he even created a storyline around it. Still, odds are slim that Dreams will make NBC's fall cut.

Last week was brutal on the cast, Verica says, because the end of production was suddenly moved up more than two weeks, to Friday. NBC won't decide until May whether the 17th episode was the season finale or series swan song. That episode "was originally designed to be a cliffhanger," says Verica, 40. "It would be a tremendous disappointment if this is how the show ends."

A 20-year veteran of TV, Verica is no stranger to disappointment. With a quality show, however, the prospect of cancellation still stings. "I've gotten better at this," he says. "My business head says, 'Business is business.' My skin has gotten a little thicker. On a personal level, this is a quality show and we have some pretty high-profile supporters."

They include NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, whose teenage daughter, Allison, did a cameo as an East Catholic High student; and Gary Sinise of CBS's CSI: Miami, whose two daughters appeared as dancers on Bandstand. Even Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David, who hates everything, told Verica that Dreams is the only show he watches every week. "I was stunned," Verica said. "He's the biggest curmudgeon in Hollywood."

Tuesday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

FCC Denies Early Shutoff for California Station

Apparently there is such a thing as shutting off analog too early.

The FCC today denied a request by a local station in Ventura, CA to shut off their analog channel.

In making its ruling, the commission cited the lack of any proposal to use KJLA-TV's Channel 57 frequencies for new wireless services. It also rejected KJLA's argument that only 0.25 percent of its analog viewers watch the station over-the-air.

"While you did not supply the exact number of station viewers, we find that in a market the size of Los Angeles, the loss of analog over- the- air service to even 0.25% of a station’s audience could result in the disenfranchisement of a significant number of persons," the commission wrote. "Permitting the early termination of KJLA( TV) ’s analog service would result in the type of disenfranchisement the Commission was seeking to prevent when it adopted this policy."

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-343A1.doc
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-343A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-343A1.txt

dline posts this for information only and does not necessarily endorse its views.

Fredfa,

I strongly disagree with you putting those three ABC sitcoms from Friday night on the ratings trouble list. All three finished either # 1or #2 in the all important 18-49 category. In fact ABC led the night in the 18-49 ratings.

You have to measure the strength of the ratings relative to the competition. Yes, their ratings are low compared to other nights ratings, but relative to Friday and Saturday being the most lowly rated nights their ratings are not bad. If you say all of these shows have bad ratings than every other show on that night is in ratings trouble, too. Friday is a bad night for TV, and their ratings were not bad considering they are on Friday night.

Originally posted by dline
FCC Denies Early Shutoff for California Station

"While you did not supply the exact number of station viewers, we find that in a market the size of Los Angeles, the loss of analog over- the- air service to even 0.25% of a station’s audience could result in the disenfranchisement of a significant number of persons," the commission wrote.

Is this a PBS station? I'm fairly certain we have a public supported station up here in SF that has already shut off it's analog transmitter, in fact it was asking for donations of early ATSC STBs to provide to some of their viewers a way to receive their signal through the RF output.

Originally posted by keenan
Is this a PBS station?No. It does look like it's a station with a very local focus, though, and not much in the way of recognizable programming. You can skim through their listings at http://kjla.titantv.com/

Scott G: Very good points.
But the three shows are very weak, and I don't expect all of them back.
The ratings trouble category does not necessarily mean I think the show is going to be canceled: just that it should be doing better (and might face problems for renewal).
By the way, put any of those three ABC shows on any other night (except, of course, Saturday!) and they would (in my opinion) sink like a stone.
I am going to try to find the season-to-date 18-49 numbers on them, but I suspect you are right: they do reasonably well in the demo against horrible competition.

Originally posted by fredfa
Scott G: Very good points.
But the three shows are very weak, and I don't expect all of them back.
The ratings trouble category does not necessarily mean I think the show is going to be canceled: just that it should be doing better (and might face problems for renewal).
By the way, put any of those three ABC shows on any other night (except, of course, Saturday!) and they would (in my opinion) sink like a stone.
I am going to try to find the season-to-date 18-49 numbers on them, but I suspect you are right: they do reasonably well in the demo against horrible competition.

Agreed. I just think that since these shows do well in the 18-49 category (and this is the most important for the network) the shows are a little better than you think.

By the way, you probably need to put "My Wife and Kids" and "George Lopez" on the ratings trouble list. They are sinking fast.

Originally posted by Adam Tyner
No. It does look like it's a station with a very local focus, though, and not much in the way of recognizable programming. You can skim through their listings at http://kjla.titantv.com/

The other ridiculous thing about the FCC's denial is their lumping of Ventura as being in the LA market. Ventura is 60+ miles from LA through some very hilly terrain, if the transmitter is in Ventura I can't imagine people in LA are even getting the signal.

I'll take a longer look at the ratings and update the list in the next couple of days.

Does anyone have any perspective on Arrested Development? It doesn't seem to win very often, but it would be a travesty if it wasn't renewed.

Originally posted by Scott G
By the way, you probably need to put "My Wife and Kids" and "George Lopez" on the ratings trouble list. They are sinking fast.

Year over year George Lopez and My Wife and Kids may not be doing as well, but you have to remember that ABC moved these shows from Friday to Tuesday. Also, ABC needs those two shows b/c those shows are the ones that got them going in the right direction 2 years ago.

Originally posted by j_buckingham80
Does anyone have any perspective on Arrested Development? It doesn't seem to win very often, but it would be a travesty if it wasn't renewed.

AD is my one of my favs and it gets great praise from the critics and the like, but the numbers don't bear that out. Fox is the type of network that is quick to cancel shows and they were thinking about canceling AD after year but they decided to give it another chance. Now Freda will be able to tell you better than I can, but I believe that year over year AD is doing better than it did last year. That being said, it may not be enough for Fox to keep the show. Fox's problem is bigger than AD but is one of their better rated shows so they may think twice before getting rid of it.

AD could be saved by Emmy wins. It worked for The Amazing Race on CBS. They were on the verge of being cancelled when they won an Emmy for best reality show. CBS woke up and renewed it.

Originally posted by PJO1966
AD could be saved by Emmy wins. It worked for The Amazing Race on CBS. They were on the verge of being cancelled when they won an Emmy for best reality show. CBS woke up and renewed it.

AR was also apart of CBS's original reality strategy and it has steadily increased it ratings which have been pretty decent. Remember that AR appeared on CBS at the same time that Big Brother appeared. Those two shows along with Survior are a key element in CBS's reality plan. They're one of the few nets who have a strong reality showcase b/c those shows do well in the ratings and CBS wouldn't dare get rid of AR at this point.

This unlike the situation with Arrested Development b/c Fox seems to go through shows like money goes through some people's wallets.

Arrested Development loses 30-40% of its lead-in from The Simpsons and has never really built on any of its awards or critical acclaim.
Also (in the two pre-Super Bowl Sundays) it got whacked by even American Dreams -- and loses almost 3-1 to Cold Case and Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Originally posted by PJO1966
AD could be saved by Emmy wins. It worked for The Amazing Race on CBS. They were on the verge of being cancelled when they won an Emmy for best reality show. CBS woke up and renewed it.

Arrested Development won last season's Emmy, and still couldn't attract viewers. I don't get it. It is the smartest sitcom on and IMO only Two and a Half Men is funnier.

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight:
Primetime Programming Options
Wednesday 2/09/05 Night 7 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
Lost HD
Alias HD
Wife Swap

CBS:
60 Minutes
The King of Queens (original and repeat) HD
CSI: NY HD

NBC:
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search (season or series finale)
The West Wing HD
Law & Order HD

Fox:
That ‘70s Show
The Simple Life 3: Interns
American Idol HD

UPN:
The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott
Kevin Hill HD

WB:
Smallville HD
Jack & Bobby HD

House Commerce Committee Passes Anti-Smut Bill 46-2
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 2/9/2005
The House Commerce Committee Wednesday voted 46-2 to pass a bill to toughen indecency enforcement. That compares to the 49-1 by which a similar bill passed last session. The two no votes were Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the lone "no" vote last time, and one switch, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).
The bill ups maximum fines from $32,500 to $500,000 for stations and from $11,000 to $500,000 for performers, increases the speed and oversight of the FCC indecency enforcement process, brings stations' licenses into play for violations, and encourages broadcasters to reinstate a family hour and voluntary code of conduct.

Two amendments were introduced by Schakowsky to strip out the provision that would up the fines on performers from $11,000 to $500,000 and maintain the current rule that performers must receive a first warning. Schakowsky , who said she was concerned about the chilling effect on artistic freedom, was the only committee member to vote against the indecency bill in the last session for the same reason. Those amendments were voted down on voice vote, the only ones offered.

Although the bill did not address consolidation's effect on content or deal with violence or cable and satellite, several members said it should have, and that the committee should use the current bill as a springboard to those issues, including one member suggesting a la carte as a possible solution to cable indecency. Amendments to a Senate version of the indecency bill on violence, cable, and consolidation in the last session helped submarine that effort.

While there were members looking for a tougher bill, there were also some expressing reservations and the one switcher.

• Waxman (D-Calif.) changed his vote, saying he was concerned that broadcasters had been chilled into self-censorship by fear of running afoul of the rules. He cited the ABC stations who did not air Saving Private Ryan due to its graphic language.
• Although Waxman opposed the bill, he said the indecency issue should be looked at in the context of consolidation.
• Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.), who asked both Joe Barton, Commerce chairman, and Fred upton, the Telecommunications Subcommittee chairman, if they would be agreeable to considering the need for updating the FCC's indecency definitions. Both said they would.
• John Shimkus (R-Ill.), lamented that cable and satellite TV and radio indecency were not addressed in the bill, but said he would continue to push those issues.
• Joe Pitts (R-Pa.). Another voice for targeting pay media, Pitts talked of cable "filth," characterizing some operators as exercising poor judment in pursuit of a buck, and others with trying to refine filtering technologies, the latter which he encouraged. He said he hoped the committee would take some action on cable and satellite indecency "in the future."
• Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.). Praised the NFL's family-friendly half-time and pre-game show in the Super Bowl and pushed for his "sense of the Congress" resolution in the bill calling on the broadcasters to reinstitute a family hour and voluntary code.
• Ted Strickland (D-Ohio). Warned that not including violence in an indecency definition might be missing the point of protecting children from harmful content, suggesting violence was a bigger threat that a glimpse of the female anatomy.

Originally posted by AFH
Year over year George Lopez and My Wife and Kids may not be doing as well, but you have to remember that ABC moved these shows from Friday to Tuesday. Also, ABC needs those two shows b/c those shows are the ones that got them going in the right direction 2 years ago.

MW&K aired on Wednesdays, not Fridays, before this year. But from what I understand, the ratings have been disappointing this year. Both used to be stronger.

Odd that people here start talking about AD today, as this news came out (consider it in "Ratings Trouble"):


FOX Shifts 'American Dad,' May Trim 'Arrested Development'

Even though its reviews were almost universally middling-to-negative, the preview of "American Dad" drew more than 15 million viewers to FOX on Sunday (Feb. 6) night. That successful performance has prompted FOX to juggle its future Sunday line-up, which may mean bad things for Emmy-winning comedy "Arrested Development."

"American Dad," the new animated comedy from "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, will still have its real premiere on Sunday, May 1. FOX has, however, moved the show up an hour from 9:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET. "American Dad" will now officially launch between the 350th episode of "The Simpsons" and the fourth season premiere of "Family Guy."

The series, which will air encores as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, focuses on mid-level CIA agent Stan Smith, his wife, his two kids, his alien and his fish with the brain of a German guy.

FOX also announced that the schedule will allow the first three episodes of "American Dad" to air after new episodes of "The Simpsons."

As a result of the shift, "Arrested Development" will now have to end its second season by late April. According to The Hollywood Reporter, FOX is expected to reduce its order for "Arrested Development," though specifics haven't been announced. Despite endless critical acclaim and awards attention, "Development" is averaging only 6.06 million viewers per week this season in the Sunday 8:30 p.m. time slot.

-Zap2It.com

But American Dad still lost about 8 million of the 23 million Simpsons viewers. That is a whale of a dropoff (32% or so) in just 30 minutes.
I continue to think that Fox made a grave error in scheduling The Simpsons and American Dad after SB XXXIX.
I suspect they would have done themselves a lot more good by scheduling "The OC" or "Point Pleasant" or "even "Jonny Zero" after the game and giving it a much wider audience -- perhaps helping any of those to find an audience.
Why Fox would waste the lead in on The Simpsons (or a totally unknown show it won't air again for three months!) totally escapes me .

I'd agree, but Alias wasn't helped by its post-Super Bowl show in the ratings for future episodes. (It did stupidly air after a pointless postgame Bon Jovi concert though, hurting its ratings for its post-Super Bowl episode though).

Originally posted by fredfa
But American Dad still lost about 8 million of the 23 million Simpsons viewers. That is a whale of a dropoff (32% or so) in just 30 minutes.
I continue to think that Fox made a grave error in scheduling The Simpsons and American Dad after SB XXXIX.
I suspect they would have done themselves a lot more good by scheduling "The OC" or "Point Pleasant" or "even "Jonny Zero" after the game and giving it a much wider audience -- perhaps helping any of those to find an audience.
Why Fox would waste the lead in on The Simpsons (or a totally unknown show it won't air again for three months!) totally escapes me .

Fox is clueless right now when it comes to programming. They seem to be grasping at straws. You are correct in that they wasted an opportunity to promote and expand the audience for some of their other shows. Everyone knows about the Simpsons and it is in its own decline. Why not try to introduce more people to House, Arrested or The O.C. You have new show in Point Pleasure and you don't even see one commercial for the show during the SB. It's almost as if Fox isn't trying to develop the programs that it has now, excluding American Idol.

"Fox is clueless right now ......"

I'm sure they are, BUT look what NBC did to kill off American Dreams, putting it up vs. ABC's LOST, hell just put a gun to it's head and be done with it, they shoot horses don't they?

Sorry NBC get my vote for dumb move of the week / year / whatever. But only opinion, YMMV.

On the other hand, American Dreams was killing NBC on Sunday (losing chunks of the Dateline lead-in and getting crushed by Cold Case, Extreme Makeover and The Simpsons) and something has to be on the NBC schedule Wednesdays at 8 pm.
(Were it me, I would have put Dateline on Wednesday at 8 and American Dreams on Fridays. But, sadly, I suspect the decision to kill American Dreams has already been made.)

A note about tomorrow's daily ratings report.
I'll be on a plane until late afternoon ET, so if someone will please post the Wednesday ratings, I will be grateful.
Thanks.

I think Fox has given up on Point Pleasant due to its way-too-low ratings. Also, American Dreams has a better chance on Wednesday than being up against Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

From thefutoncritic.com:

"Through 10 airings this season, 'Arrested' has averaged 6.06 million viewers. Said number is surprisingly down 7.20% from its average after 10 episodes last season (6.53 million) despite the move to the post-'Simpsons' slot."

(It is against unexpected top-10 show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition now though.)

Originally posted by f44
I think Fox has given up on Point Pleasant due to its way-too-low ratings.

Smart move putting it head to head against CSI!

The Donald's Plan to Trump ABC: Threaten a Lawsuit
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Thursday, February 10, 2005; Page C07
The day the trade papers reported that ABC had greenlighted a biopic on Donald Trump, his dad and his grandpa, NBC used its syndicated show "Access Hollywood" as a vehicle for Trump, NBC's business partner on and star of "The Apprentice," to threaten ABC.

"On the next 'Access Hollywood,' Donald Trump says he "will definitely sue ABC if he finds the network's two-hour biopic on him inaccurate," the show stated in a news release e-mailed yesterday. ABC says its movie will be based on Gwenda Blair's book "The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire," to which the network optioned the rights.
"In an interview with 'Access Hollywood's' Billy Bush, Donald Trump says he 'will definitely' sue ABC if he feels there are inaccuracies in the two-hour biopic the network plans on airing about him," the news release stated. The interview was to air last night on the show, which is produced by NBC and syndicated by NBC Universal.

"Trump says he will take legal action if he feels the ABC biopic about his life casts him in a false light," the announcement continued. " 'I will definitely,' he says. 'But as long as it's accurate, I won't be suing them.' "
Wow, what a bunch of thugs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to Chris Rock: Sorry, pookie, but odds are you're going to get bleeped on Oscar night.
ABC and the Motion Picture Academy have been coy as to whether there would be a several-second delay on this year's Oscarcast on March 27. Maybe that's because the academy chose Rock to host this year's show in an effort to lure younger viewers and it doesn't want to drive them away with word that Rock and everyone else on the show will be subject to a delay so that ABC can zap anything it thinks might result in its stations getting slapped with an indecency fine by the Parents Television Council . . . oops, I meant Federal Communications Commission.

But, in response to direct questions, ABC is acknowledging it plans to use a delay, as it did in 2004, aka the Year of Janet Jackson's Right Breast. ABC is being coy as to how many seconds that delay will be. Sigh.
Rock said in an Associated Press interview last month that nobody was nervous he'd been hired to host the Oscarcast because "I just came off tour in America, a million people came to see me. They weren't nervous," adding modestly: "How do I say this without sounding like an egomaniac? I don't know a comedian that sells more seats than me in the red states and blue states, so I don't see where I have to change that much." Later, the stand-up comic, former "Saturday Night Live" star and, more recently, HBO concert headliner mentioned that "when I'm in West Palm Beach, Florida," there are old Jewish people at the show. When I'm in Mexico it's Mexicans. Wherever I'm at, the people show up."

Poor Chris, so sweet, so naive, so late-night, so cable, so not prime-time broadcast television.

I'm sure American Dreams will be canceled. While I've never seen the show, it apparently is high-quality programming -- the stuff NBC used to have all over its schedule.

I have some ideas for the Peacock:

* The Sorcerer's Apprentice -- Contestants from all walks of life audition for a shot to be the next Miss Cleo. Shannen Doherty hosts.

* Law and Order: Downtown Lockup -- A show centered on the time suspects spend in the holding cells downtown. Paul Sorvino returns as the head guard. Fred Grandy is cast as the district attorney who prosecutes the pimps and two-bit drug dealers.

* Dog Fear Factor -- No, not a cross between the insipid Dog Eat Dog and the sophomoric Fear Factor. It's just a Fear Factor where dogs replace the humans as "contestants". Jon Lovitz hosts.

Primetime Wednesday Ratings:
Another Fox Victory; ABC Solid No. 2

Wednesday 2/09/05
Metered Market Ratings

Household Rating/Share
Fox: 11.9/17, ABC: 9.4/14, CBS: 8.0/12, NBC: 8.0/12, WB: 3.0/ 4, UPN: 2.1/ 3

-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004):
ABC: +38, Fox: +23, CBS: + 5, NBC: -22, WB: -35, UPN: -36

-----

Fast Affiliate Ratings:

-Total Viewers:
Fox: 17.40 million, ABC: 13.35, CBS: 11.41, NBC: 9.46, WB: 3.45, UPN: 2.45

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 7.7/19, ABC: 5.5/14, CBS: 3.6/ 9, NBC: 3.0/ 7, WB: 1.7/ 4, UPN: 1.1/ 3

-----

-Yesterday's Winners:
Lost (ABC), American Idol (Fox), CSI: NY (CBS)

-Yesterday's Losers:
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search (NBC), The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott (UPN), Kevin Hill (UPN), Jack & Bobby (WB)

-Ratings Breakdown:
As expected, Fox took top-rated Wednesday honors courtesy of American Idol, which averaged a 17.5/25 in the overnights, 26.09 million viewers and a 11.4/26 among adults 18-49 from 9-10 p.m. American Idol, of course, was the highest-rated and most-watched show of the evening. As a reminder, total viewers and adults 18-49 are based on the fast affiliate ratings.

At 8 p.m., ABC's Lost remains a bona fide hit, with a first-place 12.9/19 in the overnights, 19.49 million viewers and a 7.5/20 among adults 18-49. In time period-premiere news, Fox's The Simple Life 3: Interns got off to a modest start at 8:30 p.m., finishing third in the overnights (6.1/ 9) and total viewers (8.63 million), and second among adults 18-49 (3.9/10). Compared to veteran lead-in That '70s Show (Overnights: #3: 6.6/10; Viewers: 8.80 million; A18-49: 4.1/11), that was a decrease of 8 percent in the overnights, 170,000 viewers and 5 percent among adults 18-49. Given that pre-tune in for American Idol should have kicked in, maybe viewers are finally getting bored with the forced escapades of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Personally, I know I am.

Also in the 8 p.m. hour were CBS' 60 Minutes (Overnights: #3, 7.3/11; Viewers: #2, 10.40 million; A18-49: #4t, 2.2/ 6), the season, or series, finale of NBC's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search (Overnights: #4: 4.6/ 7; Viewers: #4, 5.55 million; A18-49: #4t, 2.2/ 6), the WB's fading Smallville (Overnights: #5: 4.3/ 6; Viewers: #5, 4.73 million; A18-49: #3, 2.4/ 6), and UPN's The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott (Overnights: #6, 2.3/ 3; Viewers: #6, 2.73 million; A18-49: #6, 1.3/ 3).

At 9 p.m., and opposite American Idol, ABC's Alias scored a respectable 8.0/12 in the overnights (#3), with 11.32 million viewers (#2) and a 4.7/11 among adults 18-49 (#2). Negatively impacted was NBC's veteran The West Wing, which sunk to a season-low 8.3/12 in the overnights (#2), 9.63 million viewers (#4) and a 2.7/ 6 among adults 18-49 (#4). Two episodes of CBS' King of Queens (original and repeat) also dipped to a season low, with an average 6.4/ 9 in the overnights (#4), 9.90 million viewers (#4), and a 3.6/ 8 among adults 18-49 (#3). Next Wednesday, look for the fifth season-premiere of CBS sitcom Yes, Dear at 9:30 p.m., which is obviously in for a challenge facing American Idol.

Also in the 9 p.m. hour, and again opposite competition killer American Idol, were UPN's fading Kevin Hill (Overnights: #5t: 1.8/ 3; Viewers: #5t, 2.17 million; A18-49: #6, 0.9/ 2 -- all series lows) and the WB's struggling Jack & Bobby (Overnights: #5t, 1.8/ 3; Viewers: #5t, 2.17 million; A18-49: #5, 1.0/ 2).

In another week of mixed leadership at 10 p.m., NBC's Law & Order (Overnights: 11.3/17; Viewers: 13.19 million; A18-49: 4.1/11) was first in the overnights, second in total viewers and third among adults 18-49, while CBS' CSI: NY (Overnights: 10.0/16; Viewers: 13.92 million; A18-49: 5.1/13) finished No. 1 in viewers and adults 18-49, and No. 2 in the overnights. On ABC, Wife Swap (Overnights: 7.2/11; Viewers: 9.25 million; A18-49: 4.3/11) was third in the overnights and total viewers, and No. 2 among adults 18-49. What remains interesting about the Wednesday 10 p.m. hour is the ongoing success of all three series.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

"On the other hand, American Dreams was killing NBC on Sunday (losing chunks of the Dateline lead-in and getting crushed by Cold Case, Extreme Makeover......."

I'm sure your correct, you post the ratings every day. I was just saying if they did not think it had the "right stuff" just kill it fast and get it over! BTW; I have been and am a fan of the show, if that matters.

I am a big fan of the show, too, mikey p.
NBC let Ed hang around for four years with lackluster ratings on Wednesdays. Perhaps, with all of NBC's problems, they'll decide to leave American Dreams (which top execs really like) around while they fix their more pressing problems.
(PDPnNJ: thanks for posting the ratings.)

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight:
Primetime Programming Options
Thursday 2/10/05 Night 8 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
Extreme Makeover (two hours)
Primetime Live

CBS:
CSI (repeat and original) HD
Without A Trace HD

NBC:
Joey HD
Will & Grace HD
The Apprentice 3
ER HD

Fox:
The O.C. HD
Point Pleasant HD

UPN:
WWE Smackdown!

WB:
Movie: Sugar & Spice

heres a question.. with it being sweeps... why is cbs waiting until after sweeps to start survivor?

It starts feb 17 (next thursday) so they will get two episodes in the feb sweep.

A story on efforts to revive "Dead Like Me" ratings has been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

and also here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=508157

NASCAR Coming on strong
Bud Shootout gets racing fans back up to speed
By Rudy Martzke USA Today
Five years ago the NFL's Pro Bowl dominated this weekend.
Its 8.6 rating (percentage of TV homes) on ABC more than doubled the 3.8 rating on CBS for the weekend's NASCAR race.
But with Sunday's Pro Bowl now on cable (ESPN), Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout on Fox figures to be this weekend's ratings king.
NASCAR has seen a surge in popularity on television since it moved most races to broadcast networks, and Saturday's race is expected to continue that trend.
ESPN received a 3.9 broadcast network rating for last year's Pro Bowl. The Bud Shootout got a 5.5 in 2003 when Fox moved the race to Saturday night. Fox alternates showing the race with TNT, which got a 3.6 last year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=508226

Friday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Marc Berman’s analysis of the first week of the February sweep has been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

John Patterson, Director on 'Sopranos,' Dies at 64
By THE NEW YORK TIMES February 11, 2005

John Patterson, a television director whose frequent work on crime shows included every season finale of "The Sopranos" on HBO, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 64. The cause was prostate cancer, HBO announced.

Mr. Patterson was long drawn to cop programs, murder mysteries and courtroom dramas. He directed episodes of "CHiPs" and "Knots Landing" in the 1970's, "Hill Street Blues" and "Magnum, P.I." in the 1980's, "The Practice" and "Providence" in the 1990's and "CSI" and "Six Feet Under" in the current decade.
He also directed the pilot episode of "Law & Order" in 1988.

His work on "The Sopranos," where he was one of a core group of directors, earned him two Emmy Award nominations, in 2000 for the episode with Pussy's death and in 2003 for the show where Tony and Carmela split. Mr. Patterson directed 13 of the show's 65 episodes.

John Tiffin Patterson was born on April 4, 1940, and raised in Buffalo, where he graduated from the University of Buffalo. After serving in the Air Force, he received a master's degree from Stanford.

He directed more than a dozen television movies, including "Seduced by Madness" (1996) and "A Deadly Silence" (1989). He is survived by his companion, Andrea Makshanof; a daughter, Mary, of Brooklyn; a son, Charlie, of Topanga, Calif.; two brothers, Charles, of Jamestown, N.Y., and James, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and two sisters, Mary Jo, of West Orange, N.J., and Temple Weste of Kula, Hawaii. His marriage to Casey Kelley ended in divorce.

Art Is HDNet’s Main Mann
multichannel.com 2/11/2005
HDNet will debut new half-hour weekly series Art Mann Presents Feb. 14 at midnight (EST), the network said Friday. The exclusive variety show -- hosted and produced by the former host of E! Entertainment Television's Wild On -- will air Mondays at 10:30 p.m.
In the premiere episode, Mann travels to San Francisco to attend the annual “Exotic Erotic Ball.” Future installments will feature “many different places and people, from the Indy 500 to Carmen Electra, from Mardi Gras to Pamela Anderson,” HDNet said.
“Basically, for 10 years, I had the best job in television doing Wild On, and HDNet decided to give me one that's even better," Mann said in a prepared statement.

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight: Primetime Programming Options
Friday 2/11/05 Night 9 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
8 Simple Rules (original and repeat) HD
Hope & Faith HD
Less Than Perfect HD
20/20

CBS:
Joan of Arcadia HD
JAG HD
Numb3rs HD

NBC:
Dateline
Third Watch HD
Medical Investigation HD

Fox:
Bernie Mac (original and repeat) HD
Jonny Zero HD

UPN:
Star Trek: Enterprise HD
The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott (R)

WB:
What I Like About You
A Scooby Doo Valentine
Reba HD
Blue Collar TV

ABC Gets (more)"Lost"
ABC has ordered two more episodes of its freshman Wednesday night hit drama �Lost� bringing the total order for the season to 24 episodes.
The series is the second highest rated first-year program (the leader, �Desperate Housewives� ranks fourth overall) with an average of 16.118 million viewers a week.

Ever heard the old sports saw about how a player can't lose his position to an injury?
Well that must only be true in sports, according to the Washington Post. It certainly doesn't seem to apply to "Today Show" talent.

’Today' Says Our Cojotime Is Up
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Saturday, February 12, 2005; Page C07

It's over between "Today" and Steven Cojocaru.

"He's not going to be on the program again," a "Today" representative said. "We wish Steven all the best."

Funny she should mention that, because Cojocaru is recovering from a recent kidney transplant. He had polycystic kidney disease, which can eventually cause kidney failure. In fact, there's much talk in Hollywood that his agreement to go on daytime rival "Oprah" when he's able, to discuss his surgery, is what prompted "Today" to dump him. The celebrity style expert had a regular gig on the NBC show, called "Cojotime."

The "Today" rep would not discuss that interview, nor would a rep for "Oprah" production house Harpo, other than to confirm that an interview was in the "planning" phase. Folks inside NBC would have you believe they had been phasing out Cojo -- as "Today" co-host Matt Lauer lovingly nicknamed him.

The expression "phasing out" was not on anyone's lips on the Jan. 18 broadcast, in which America's Sweetheart Katie Couric told fans how thrilled they all were on the show that Cojo's surgery had gone well.

"We're so happy to hear this," she said, adding, "We just hope he's wearing a stylish hospital gown, because if he's not, there will be hell to pay."

"Cojo, our best wishes go out to you," Lauer chimed in. "We're looking forward to another 'Cojotime' in the near future."

"Love you," weatherman-and-so-much-more Al Roker added.

"Yeah," Lauer seconded.

Cojocaru is recuperating at home. He will appear by satellite from there during the "Entertainment Tonight" Academy Awards coverage late this month.

Friday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Web's bubble trouble
Modestly rated vets may be in danger of cancellation
By JOSEF ADALIAN

(Variety.com)-The bubble may be about to burst on a number of long-running network shows -- and, believe it or not, the women of Desperate Housewives may be partly to blame.

ABC's runaway hit -- along with the Alphabet's Lost, NBC's Medium, Fox's House and CBS' Numbers -- has some network execs suddenly bullish about the state of scripted TV.

In particular, webheads are starting to believe that being bold can pay off -- leaving less room for modestly performing vets with relatively big production pricetags.

As a result, shows that a year ago would have been shoo-ins for renewal -- think 8 Simple Rules HD, Bernie Mac HD, Third Watch HD or 60 Minutes Wednesday -- find themselves on the bubble, teetering between renewal and cancellation.

"People right now think conditions are ripe for getting a hit," one insider says. "When you're coming off a season like this, in which there are a few smash hits, that boosts everyone's collective optimism."

Most encouraging is the fact that ABC -- a network with one foot in the grave a year ago -- has had the most luck finding hits this year. Competing nets with far stronger underlying skeds are now pondering whether it might be time to clear out the cobwebs and roll the dice on some newcomers.

"What's been proven this year is that it's not a fait accompli that ratings for the networks have to go down every year," says one network suit.

The nets have already cleared some shelf space for next season.

Everybody Loves Raymond HD and NYPD Blue HD started the year knowing the end was in sight. More recently, UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise HD and the WB's Grounded for Life have had their exits cast in stone.

Other veterans that will have to fight their way back for another year (in addition to the ones mentioned above) include Judging Amy HD, Third Watch HD, JAG HD, the CBS Sunday Movie HD and American Dreams. HD

ABC's The Bachelor will likely be back, but probably won't air as often. King of the Hill episodes will air next season, but the show might also end up with a much shorter season than usual.

As with most things in network TV, however, money plays a key role in deciding the fate of a veteran skeinskein.

"Unless you can pull a Boston Legal, shows usually don't get cheaper as they go deeper," one web wag observes, noting that cast and writer salary bumps can add millions to a show's budget. At the same time costs soar, ratings almost always dip.

"You look at the time period and say, 'Am I losing money or making money?' " the exec adds.

While it's true that most new shows actually end up scoring lower numbers than the skeins they replaced, the frosh series often cost a hell of a lot less.

"If you sacrifice two-tenths of a ratings point but the new show is $2 million cheaper, then you've done well," the web suit says.

In a perfect world, nets would make decisions on bubble shows right now. That way, producers could pen appropriate finales, while network marketing machines could crank up the hype and start signaling the long goodbye (remember NBC's never-ending swan song for Friends?).

But shows that look old and haggard in February -- when nets are giddy with anticipation over their "best development season ever"-- can seem a lot shinier come May after several promising pilots have crashed and burned.

"Quite often, there's a show that everyone thought was dead, and come May, you're standing at the scheduling board and you're literally a half-hour or hour short," says one scheduling guru. "We shrug and say, 'We thought we wouldn't need it,' and then you reach for the old show and put it on the board."

Originally posted by f44
ABC's runaway hit -- along with the Alphabet's Lost, NBC's Medium, Fox's House and CBS' Numbers -- has some network execs suddenly bullish about the state of scripted TV.


It's about time, maybe the reality crap will finally start to go away, far away...I'd hate to lose Third Watch...

Saturday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

I guess the "reality" of the situation is starting to sink in....

;)

Paul

'NYPD' fades to black .
By Michael Daly The New York Daily News
Sunday, February 13th, 2005
LOS ANGELES - The script supervisor announced the number and name of the last shot of the last scene of the last episode of the last season of "NYPD Blue.""31, 'Goodbye,'" she said. The director and executive producer, Mark Tinker, called out from behind the twin 12-inch black-and-white monitors set up in the world's best-known precinct bathroom adjacent to the world's best-known squad room.

"All right, here we go," Tinker said. "We'll give Dennis action first."

He meant Dennis Franz, the one actor who had been there from the beginning and had remained the emotional focus over the whole 12-year run. Now, as the clock clicked past 8 p.m. on Friday, he was the lone actor in the final scene.

"Action, Den," Tinker now said. "And camera - action."

The set on Stage 9 at the Twentieth Century Fox lot in Los Angeles' Century City was packed with actors and production people whose work was already done and who had remained for this true-life drama played out on the same stage where "M*A*S*H" had shot its final episode. They were absolutely silent as the cameras rolled and Tinker stared intently at the tiny screens.

"Did I just see a flash?" Tinker said.

Everyone, some of the bigger stars included, had brought still cameras to take snapshots on this last day.
"Folks, somebody took a flash photograph," Tinker said. "Let's go again."

Tinker thought the camera movement was a little slow anyway. "We've got to try one a little faster," Tinker said.

A bell rang through the set to command quiet for another shot. "And action, Dennis," Tinker said. "Camera - action."

Tinker's eyes were back on the monitor and once more everyone awaited his verdict in absolute silence. "Little too fast," Tinker said. "We're going to go again. This ought to do it with any luck."

The bell rang as before, but perhaps as it never would again on this set. After a dozen years of story meetings and script writing and rewriting and casting and set-building and rehearsing and shooting and editing, it was all coming down to a slight difference in how fast or slow the crew moved the camera. "And action, Den - and camera," Tinker said.

The set once more went silent and it seemed Stage 9 itself was holding its breath. "And cut," Tinker then said. "That'll do it."

At 8:42 p.m., Tinker had just spoken the words signaling the moment they all knew was coming when they drove through the rain to the lot that morning. "Welcome to the last day of all time, folks," Tinker had said at the start. "This is it."

Franz arrived on set, and before the rehearsal for the next-to-last big scene in the squad room he reached across the desks to shake hands with fellow "cop" Mark-Paul Gosselaar. "One last time," Franz said.

During the rehearsal for the final squad room scene, actors Jacqueline Obradors and Bonnie Somerville fought back real tears. They then embraced another executive producer on the set, retired NYPD Detective Bill Clark, who had ensured the authenticity that kept the show going year after year. His eyes welled with the most authentic of tears as those around him hugged and took pictures of each other. Then it was time for the actors to push aside the real drama and step back into the characters for whom this was only another shift.

"Remember, folks, despite the reality, tomorrow is another day here in the squad," Tinker said.

As the scene was lit, Franz stood with Tinker and wondered aloud what tomorrow actually held for people who had worked so long together in a business ruled by the moment. "What's everybody going to do?" Franz said. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Tinker said.

There were still two scenes to shoot and those in attendance included most prominently Steven Bochco, the top producer, who created the show along with David Milch. The next-to-last scene was done two hours later and everyone applauded as Tinker called out the names of the actors whose work on the show was now forever done.

"Okay, let's get the last piece, folks," Tinker then said.

The script supervisor called out "31, 'Goodbye'" and at 8:42 p.m. the shot known in Hollywood as "the martini shot" - the final shot of the final scene of the final episode of the final season that ends March 1 - was done. Franz was now the one who got the applause and he blew out the candles on a cake that was set out as if for a 12-year-old's birthday.

He was nobody but himself as he spoke words of love and respect. He then spoke for everyone involved in this show that now follows "M*A*S*H" into history, words that are just what a real NYPD detective would most dearly want to feel are true as he leaves the squad for good.

"We can hold our heads up so high and be proud of what we've done," Franz said.

Sunday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Good news for fans of “8 Simple Rules” and Numb3rs” has been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Monday, Feb. 14, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight: Primetime Programming Options
Monday 2/14/05 Night 12 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Family Reunion
The Bachelorette
Supernanny

CBS:
Still Standing HD
Listen Up HD
Everybody Loves Raymond HD
Two and a Half Men HD
CSI: Miami HD

NBC:
Fear Factor
Las Vegas HD
Medium HD

Fox:
Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy
24 HD

UPN:
One On One HD
Cuts (premiere) HD
Girlfriends HD
Half and Half HD

WB:
7th Heaven HD
Everwood HD

Sweeps: 4-Way Horse Race
Super Bowl Propels Fox to a Strong Start in February Book
By Christopher Lisotta tvweek.com February 14, 2005
At first glance, Fox's ratings dominance in the February ratings sweeps makes the network look like the far-and-away winner in the adults 18 to 49 demographic. But compensate for some Super Bowl inflation and the race for No. 1 in the demo becomes a much closer four-way scrimmage.

For the first seven days of the February sweeps, which began Thursday, Feb. 3, Fox maintained a commanding lead in adults 18 to 49 with an 11.2 average rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. That was more than double second-place ABC's seven-day average of 3.5 in the demo. CBS and NBC, both with 3.4, tied for third place.

If you remove Sunday, Jan. 6, from the sweeps ratings average, the parity is more clear. Fox is ahead with a 4.6 in the demo, followed by CBS and NBC (both 3.9) and ABC (3.8), making the quartet of networks competitive for the top spot.

"It's going to be a real horse race," said Brad Adgate, senior VP and director of research for Horizon Media. "It's always been tight among two networks, but never four."

What exactly the top spot in the demo would mean in such a close race remains to be seen.

"If you're No. 1 by a wide margin that would make a difference, because that would be a significant difference between you and your competitors," said Jeff Bader, executive VP of ABC Entertainment. "If you're No. 1 by one-tenth of a rating point, two-tenths of a point, three-tenths of a point, I don't see it."

Mr. Bader said sweeps are "still important to our affiliates" and as far as "disrupting regular viewing patterns, we try not to do that."

Preston Beckman, Fox's executive VP of strategic program planning and research, said where networks end up can be a guide to overall performance once an upward ratings tick or a downward trend is factored in.
"They are at different moments in their history," he said of the networks, "especially the one that was No. 1 last year," referring to NBC.

For a seven-day sweeps average in the demo, Fox is obviously the big winner, followed by ABC. All the other networks saw losses compared with their first seven-day averages from last February. Taking out Super Bowl Sunday 2005 gives a different picture in terms of gains or losses from last year. ABC is up 23 percent for its six-day February 2005 sweeps average in adults 18 to 49 from 2004, Fox is up 15 percent and The WB is up 6 percent. NBC is down 17 percent, CBS is down 24 percent and UPN dropped 25 percent.

Mr. Beckman said he doesn't expect the tight four-way race to last long. "It's three- to four-tenths difference this year, but I don't think it's a guarantee next year will be this close," he said.

Losing Its Meaning

The fact that so many networks are gunning for the top spot in the demo is not the only reason this February sweeps is unique. Mr. Beckman said that having the Super Bowl and Academy Awards in February distorts the usual sweeps picture. Add in the continuing rollout of Nielsen's Local People Meters, and the impact of sweeps on the networks-which have traditionally programmed those periods to help their affiliates more than anything else-is unclear.

"I don't know what the sweeps mean anymore," he said.

Tom Bierbaum, VP of ratings and program information for NBC Universal Television Group, said unique programming like the Super Bowl and the Oscars gives little indication of a network's overall ratings strength.
"The way you program a network over 52 weeks doesn't make somehow putting a marquis event in February a logical part of the business," Mr. Bierbaum said.

Bruce Goerlich, executive VP and director of strategic resources for Zenith Media, agreed, saying unique events give a short-term boost but may have limited impact going forward. "It's about the depth of the programs you have, and when you start looking at depth, CBS and NBC start popping up," he said. "You can leverage individual programs to do well on particular nights, and that can be a long-term start to grow your brand, but the other strategy is to have breadth across the week."

That means Mr. Goerlich is less interested in network horse races and more about targeting specific needs.
"[We] can use any and all the networks to benefit our clients," he said.

Mr. Beckman said Fox's success during the first seven days of sweeps is not just due to the Super Bowl or stunts. The fourth season of "American Idol," which airs twice a week since its premiere in January and will go to three nights a week starting Feb. 21, has given the network a much-needed boost after a lackluster fall. He also touted the performance of the medical drama "House" and returning serial thriller "24."

"We're cautiously optimistic about `House,"' he said. The show, which follows "Idol" on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. (ET), has improved since it premiered Nov. 16. "It has grown now for two consecutive weeks. Now we're starting to see signs that the show is taking hold with viewers. It is a function beyond its lead-in."

"House" is also apparently taking hold with the network. Last Thursday Fox announced it is picking up the show for a full order of 22 episodes, some of which will likely air this summer.

CBS also renewed its 9 p.m. Tuesday series, reality program "Amazing Race." The most recent installment wrapped last week. A seventh installment begins March 1, the second-to-last day of sweeps. Eighth and ninth editions also have been ordered for the 2005-06 TV season. CBS declined to comment for this story.

Mr. Beckman also attributed the network's sweeps performance to "24's" new Monday 9 p.m. time slot.
"We're unbelievably ecstatic about the move for `24,"' he said, noting that it had a more protected time period last season. "It's about 30 percent above its 18 to 49 [ratings] from last year, and that was even with `Idol' as a lead-in." Mr. Goerlich said that in a world where networks sell ad time not based on sweeps performance but yearly numbers, which network takes the top spot in February isn't crucial. But he pointed out that "there is a psychic effect you can have if you posture you are No. 1." He said he was not a buyer of network advertising, but a sales pitch that includes rhetoric about being the top network is "one thing people have to get over."

"It's nice to have that favorable smoke, because it's another thing we have to hack our way through," he said of network pitches. "Not being No. 1 means you have one less handful of confetti to throw in the air. It does create a less presumption of strength, but that doesn't mean there is not strength there."

fred

Just a comment about your amazing thread, specifically up near the top. Forgive me if it's been mentioned before but no way can I read through this novel hehe.

Is it correct to call shows like Sopranos and Deadwood "on hiatus"? I thought that was primarily to represent shows that were pulled off the air temporarily for retooling or to air something with higher ratings during sweeps periods.

Contestant on NBC Reality Show Commits Suicide
By BILL CARTER The New York Times Feb. 15, 2005
A contestant in "The Contender" a new NBC reality series about boxing scheduled to start next month, committed suicide yesterday in Philadelphia, network executives said last night. NBC executives said that the show would go on as planned, starting March 7.

The contestant, Najai Turpin, 23, a middleweight boxer from Philadelphia who was known as Nitro, took his life, NBC executives said. They offered no other details about the suicide, though they said they thought it had nothing to do with events on the television show.

"The Contender" chronicles not only the boxers' efforts to win the television tournament, which carries a prize of $1 million, but follows their personal lives, including their relationships with spouses and children. Mr. Turpin's girlfriend also appears in the series, NBC said. Mr. Turpin, who entered the series as a well-regarded young fighter with a 13-1 record, had a 2-year-old daughter with his girlfriend.

Except for a planned live championship, set to take place in May, all the bouts in the "The Contender" have been completed and are on tape. Because the show, like all other reality shows, depends on the suspense of not knowing the outcome of each week's episode, no results of the bouts have been released.

NBC executives said they were saddened by the news and were setting up a fund to help Mr. Turpin's family. But they said they were convinced the network would be able to broadcast the show as planned.

Mark Burnett, the show's executive producer, said: "Nothing changes. I'm not even going to make any edits because it's real." Mr. Burnett said that at some point, the series will make a mention of Mr. Turpin's death, probably in an onscreen message at the end of an episode.

Still, the suicide presents NBC and the show's producers with the quandary of how to deal with Mr. Turpin's death without disrupting the show. Each week two boxers are selected to fight and become the central characters in that week's episode. Mr. Turpin would thus be a principal character in at least one show and if he won his first fight and continued on the series, he would be an even more significant factor. NBC has more invested in "The Contender" than any previous reality series, having made a commitment to spend more than $2 million an episode for the 13-episode series. "The Contender" is produced by Mr. Burnett, the most accomplished producer in the reality genre. A principal in the DreamWorks studio, Jeffrey Katzenberg, is also a producer on the series.

The two men conceived the series as a way to help resurrect the sport of boxing. They have made deals with all 16 boxers involved to promote their careers. The fighters agreed not to pursue any other matches until the series was completed this spring, and the show is paying them $1,500 a week to stay in training in the interim, Mr. Burnett said.

Mr. Turpin's suicide recalled an incident that almost derailed "Survivor," Mr. Burnett's first hit reality show and the one that ignited the reality trend in American television. A contestant in the first version of the show, which was made for Swedish television and was not produced by Mr. Burnett, committed suicide after he was the first person voted off the island. The incident stirred concerns about the risks of reality television, and led Mr. Burnett to conduct extensive psychological tests on his contestants.

Mr. Burnett said that the boxers on the show had undergone psychological testing.

A biography of Mr. Turpin on the show's Web site said he had been a restaurant employee who worked cleaning seafood when he was not training for his matches. The biography described him as determined to use his boxing career to create a better life for himself and his family.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From nbc.com and its bio of boxer Najai Turpin:
http://nbc.com/nbc/The_Contender/boxers/naja.shtml

Born and raised in the ghetto, Najai is extremely soft spoken, polite and a very motivated and focused fighter. His mother died when he was 18-years old and Najai was left to raise his younger brother, sister, niece & nephew. He still cares for them even though his grandmother and brothers have stepped up to help.

Najai is a hard worker. He does road work in the early morning, works from 10am - 5pm at a restaurant cleaning seafood, then trains for two hours only to return to the restaurant to work until midnight. Any free time he has he runs to see his baby daughter Anje to whom he dedicates everything.

Just a few months ago, Najai was robbed at gunpoint and lost nine hundred dollars. The next morning he was informed he earned a chance to compete on The Contender. He believes that the news was a sign from God.

First off, GregF, thanks for the kind words.
And you are correct about programs being temporarily pulled from the schedule for retooling.
That is how the term has been used historically about TV shows.
Recently, with the advent of episodic shows on pay channels and the 12-month programming season, there have been shows that take breaks at previously unconventional times.
So it also is correct to say "The Sopranos" is on hiatus.
I guess I could split them up and have a "hiatus" category and a "between seasons" category.
But frankly I'd rather just lump them all together -- it is just easier for me, to be honest.

Monday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Critical Study Looks at Local TV Political News
By JACQUES STEINBERG The New York Times February 14, 2005
In the month leading up to last year's presidential election, local television stations in big cities devoted eight times as much air time to car crashes and other accidents than to campaigns for the House of Representatives, state senate, city hall and other local offices, according to a new study.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., unveiled legislation Tuesday to cut the license terms of broadcasters from eight years to three, a measure the lawmaker said is intended to let the public and Federal Communications Commission keep closer tabs on the industry's public interest programming.
Under the measure, broadcasters would also be required to cite on station Web sites the programming they have aired to meet their public interest obligations.
The legislation was announced in response to a study released Tuesday by the Lear Center Local News Archive suggesting that local TV newscasts gave short shrift to local political races in 2004.
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More here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=509921

CBS, 'CSI' Top Weekly Ratings
(zap2it.com)--After being pushed out of the ratings spotlight by the Super Bowl last week, CBS and powerhouse drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" were back on top of the ratings charts for the week ending Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005. Although CBS dominated most overall measures, though, the network couldn't shake upstart FOX in the young adult demographic.

Total Viewers:
CBS 8.7 rating/14/13.48 million viewers
NBC 7.0/11/10.42 million viewers
ABC 6.5/10/10.14 million
Fox 6.3/10/10.43 million
WB 2.4/4/3.61 million viewers
UPN 2.2/3/3.21 million viewers.

Adults 18-49:
Fox 4.5
CBS 4.5
ABC 3.9
NBC 3.6
WB 1.5
UPN 1.2

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was the week's top rated program with a 17.2/26, though the venerable drama was second in total viewers with 27.85 million. Other Thursday dramas from the Jerry Bruckheimer pipeline were "Without a Trace" at No. 5 with a 12.8/21 and a repeat of "CSI" at No. 11 with a 10.8/17. Another Bruckheimer entry, "CSI: Miami" (12.3/20, 6th) led CBS’ Monday, which also saw strong returns for "Everybody Loves Raymond" (11.3/16, 10th) and "Two and a Half Men" (10.8/16, 11th).
Although its audience was down, the Grammys delivered an 11.6/18 to anchor CBS’ Sunday, which also saw "60 Minutes" come in at No. 20 with an 8.6/14, tied with "NCIS" (8.6/13).
NBC’s Thursday, while struggling to compete with CBS on the night, provided the network's top two shows in "ER" (11.5/19, 9th) and "Apprentice 3" (9.9/15, 13th). "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" was No. 15 with a 9.6/16, leading a trio of Dick Wolf procedurals which also featured the mothership "Law & Order" (9.0/15, 18th) and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (8.8/13, 19th).
Also making the Top 20 for NBC was the new Monday hit "Medium," which had a 9.2/15 for No. 17.
In addition to crushing the Grammy behemoth on Sunday night, "Desperate Housewives" was ABC’s top show for the week with a 14.0/20, coming in at No. 4. Sunday's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" also held its own against the CBS music-fest with a 9.7/14 for No. 14.
Holding up well against increased competition was ABC’s other new hit drama "Lost," which tied for No. 7 with an 11.6/18.
Fox’s Tuesday "American Idol" held the title of the week's most watched show with 28.77 million viewers, ranking No. 2 overall with a 16.4/25. The Wednesday show was close behind at No. 3 with a 15.4/23. Meanwhile, "Idol" continued to boost the status of the freshman medical drama "House," which was up to No. 16 with a 9.5/14.
The WB’s best for the week was "7th Heaven" with a 4.6/7 to hold down No. 71. UPN was topped by "WWE Smackdown!" at No. 82 with a 3.5/5.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(The Top 25 ratings chart will be posted later today.)

Last week’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Asked to Resign by CBS, BUT---
3 at CBS Hire Lawyers Instead
By JACQUES STEINBERG The New York Times
More than a month after Leslie Moonves, the chairman of CBS, requested the resignations of three top journalists at the network who helped oversee a flawed report on the National Guard service of President Bush, they have yet to step down, two CBS officials said yesterday.

The journalists - Betsy West, a senior vice president for CBS News; Josh Howard, executive producer of the Wednesday edition of "60 Minutes"; and Mary Murphy, Mr. Howard's deputy - were asked by Mr. Moonves to resign on Jan. 10, the day he released the findings of an independent panel engaged by CBS to investigate the flawed report. The panel found that CBS News had rushed the report on to the air on Sept. 8 in a frantic bid to beat its competitors and had not worked aggressively enough to verify the documents on which the report was based.

Although the three journalists were relieved of their duties on the day the panel reported its findings, none had agreed to Mr. Moonves's request as of yesterday, according to two network officials who have been informally briefed on the situation.

A spokesman for Mr. Moonves, Gil Schwartz, declined to comment yesterday, as did John Siffert, a lawyer for Ms. West. Ms. Murphy did not return a message left at her home. Mr. Howard did not respond to an e-mail message. Asked in recent weeks about the status of the three journalists, representatives for Mr. Moonves have consistently refused to comment. Only recently, as the matter has grown more protracted, have others at CBS been willing to discuss what they have been told, and only then without being identified.

All three journalists have hired lawyers, each of whom has had at least preliminary conversations with those representing CBS. And at least two of the journalists, Mr. Howard and Ms. Murphy, both of whom joined the network more than 15 years ago, have been offered cash settlements that are equivalent to less than a year's salary, said one of the CBS officials. Each has thus far refused those offers.

Why Mr. Moonves, who is also co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom, the parent company of CBS, has not fired any of the three journalists - as he did Mary Mapes, the producer of the flawed segment - has not been made clear. Theodore Rogers, manager of the labor employment group at Sullivan & Cromwell, who is not involved in the dispute, said that "it is unusual, in my experience, to ask for someone's immediate resignation and then to have the matter drag out for weeks."

That said, Mr. Rogers added, "I can see how it could happen." Mr. Rogers said that, without knowing the specific language in their contracts, it was impossible to know why Mr. Moonves had asked for the resignations as opposed to dismissing the journalists outright.

That the three journalists are thus far resisting is easier to understand, Mr. Rogers said. "I've got to assume from their point of view it's a little bit of leverage," he said

Winners and Losers
By Lisa de Moraes washingtonpost.com Wednesday, February 16, 2005; Page C07
Dramas, Grammys and "American Idol" ruled the airwaves last week, while only one lame-duck sitcom made the top 10 list. And a ratings sweeps staple may have met its end.
Here's a look at the week's large and small :
WINNERS
"Desperate Housewives." ABC's ladies of Wisteria Lane have claimed another victim: They outstripped CBS's Grammy telecast by 3 million viewers in the Sunday 9 p.m. hour, and dragged the trophy show to some record lows. It's the first show in a decade to beat a Grammy telecast.
"Gilmore Girls." The 100th episode of the WB soap snagged its biggest audience since November '02 -- 6.3 million viewers.
"House." Before "Idol," Fox's freshman drama was pulling in fewer than 7 million viewers on average. Following the singing competition last week, "House" logged its biggest crowd yet, 15 million viewers, retaining 52 percent of its "Idol" lead-in. That may not sound like much but last year "24" retained 38 percent of its "Idol" lead-in. Fox last week ordered four more episodes of "House," for a total of 22.
"7th Heaven." WB ordered a 10th season of its Monday series, making it the longest running "family" drama in TV history, the network says. The show bested "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie," each of which ran nine consecutive seasons.
"Blue Collar Tour Rides Again." Sunday night, 6.1 million people just said no to the Grammys, the NFL Pro Bowl game on ESPN and ABC's powerhouse lineup to watch the sequel to "Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie" on Comedy Central. That's the cable network's second biggest audience ever, behind only an episode of "South Park" called "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" that clocked 6.2 million viewers in the show's heyday (1998). To put this in perspective, 6.1 million is about twice of the "Chappelle's Show" second-season average (3.1 million viewers) on the network and about 5 million more than watch the media darling "Daily Show" on any given night.
LOSERS
"The O.C." A chill swept through the television industry on Friday when Nielsen stats showed that the much ballyhooed lesbian kiss -- usually a can't-miss sweeps ratings grabber -- between Marissa (Mischa Barton) and Alex (Olivia Wilde) on Fox's teen angst drama the night before had barely moved the ratings needle.
"Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Model Search." The final episode of NBC's plug for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue copped just 5.4 million viewers. Compare that with the 6.5 million who watched the finale of UPN's most recent "America's Next Top Model" in December.
"The West Wing." For the first time in its history, an original episode of "The West Wing" did not break 10 million viewers, as it faced "American Idol," which moved to 9 p.m. last Wednesday.
"The Simpsons." Against the Grammys, Fox's animated series suffered its second smallest audience for an original episode -- 8 million viewers. It was particularly embarrassing since a week earlier, the 16-season-old show had scored its largest audience in 11 years with a post-Super Bowl broadcast.

Tuesday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

GE'S NBC UNIVERSAL FORECASTS $350 MLN IN COST CUTS
By Rachel Layne and Jonathan Berr, Bloomberg News, 2/16/2005

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. will save about$350 million this year from NBC's combination with Vivendi Universal SA's media assets, $50 million more than projected when the transaction closed in May, NBC executives said. That's in addition to the $125 million saved in 2004, about $25 million more than planned, Lynn Calpeter, NBC Universal's chief financial officer, said today on a Webcast of a meeting with analysts and investors at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. General Electric combined its NBC broadcast and cable assets with Universal's film studio, cable networks and theme parks, giving GE 80 percent of the merged business. NBC Universal expects profit to rise to about $3.3 billion this year from $2.6 billion, while sales rise to $14.8 billion from $12.9 billion. Employee morale is better than anticipated, she said.
``We have worked just as hard on cultural integration as we have on financial integration,'' Calpeter told the meeting. Shares of Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE rose 7 cents to $36.39 at 4:16 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They've risen 11 percent in the past year. The combination with Universal has helped to reduce NBC's reliance on prime-time network advertising, which now generates 13 percent of the division's profit, down from 35 percent a decade ago, NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker said.

Lower Audience Ratings

The NBC broadcast-TV network, after losing hit comedies ``Friends'' and ``Frasier,'' is trailing in the prime-time audience ratings after being No. 1 for eight of the last nine years, he said. ``The fact is, this is the tightest race in 15 years. We are 2/10ths out of the top spot,'' Zucker said, referring to ratings points from Nielsen Media Research. ``We can handle that financially. Emotionally, that's a different story. We want to be No. 1, and we will get back to being No. 1, but financially it's much less of an issue.''

NBC started this season slowly, attracting its smallest audience in at least five years after its strategy to debut shows earlier than other networks failed to attract viewers. Zucker cited prime-time ratings among viewers aged 18 to 49, for the TV season from Sept. 20 through Feb. 9, with Viacom Inc.'s CBS at 3.9, NBC at 3.7 and Walt Disney Co.'s ABC at 3.6. Those ratings exclude sports and live news, he said. Including sports and live news, NBC ranks fourth in 18-49 ratings for the season through Feb. 13, according to data from the Nielsen Web site. CBS and News Corp.'s Fox are tied for first with 4.0 ratings, ABC is third at 3.9 and NBC is fourth at 3.7. NBC programs such as ``Medium'' and the ``reality'' show ``The Biggest Loser'' will help improve ratings in the second half of the season, Zucker said.

Cable Networks

Revenue at NBC Universal's television business, including cable networks such as Bravo, Telemundo, USA Network and the Sci Fi Channel, is forecast to rise 13 percent to $7 billion. Operating profit, or earnings before interest and taxes, for the television segment will rise 20 percent to $1.9 billion this year, Zucker said. Zucker said revenue from cable networks will increase to $1.8 billion this year from $1.6 billion in 2004, yielding a 45 percent operating profit margin. That's 10 percentage points higher than NBC's cable network operating margin in 2003, before the merger, Zucker said. He called 2004 the ``best ratings year ever'' for NBC .

What Network TV Shows Should be Canceled?
As 'Raymond,' 'NYPD' pass on, save your tears
Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday, February 16, 2005
There were tears on the set as "NYPD Blue" finished filming its final episode ever. There were tears on the set when "Everybody Loves Raymond" filmed its final episode ever, as well. To which we say -- stop the sobbing, already. When "NYPD Blue" ends, there will have been 262 episodes. "Everybody Loves Raymond" has been on for nine seasons. There is a time to let go, people, and that time was long ago.

Look, you got years and years of satisfaction, allegedly, from both series. Meanwhile there are people feverishly watching all the unaired episodes of "Wonderfalls" on DVD. There are fans aching for more "Cupid" and "EZ Streets" and "Andy Richter Controls the Universe." They are scarred and delusional.

Those people have no tears for "Raymond," a show the producers and stars didn't even want to run this season because, in their own words, there was nothing left to say. They only came back because you made them, you sick, venally voracious brats. Well, that and the money. They did get a lot of money to come back. Yes, sir.
That's not exactly cutting your ear off for art, now is it? And "NYPD Blue" was at its best, let's see, about two kids, a wife and a tempting bourbon ago.

Popularity isn't always good for creativity. Audiences loved these series to death. But most people don't watch TV critically. They watch to be entertained, to be transported out of their awful work environments and their numb interpersonal odysseys. A mere 262 episodes of "Blue"? Not enough!

Honestly now, how much more pain could Andy Sipowicz take? If "Blue" went one more season, there'd be an episode that took place on a space ship, no question about it. And Sipowicz would have to light himself on fire at least once. Dream sequences. Road trips to Tijuana. Long lost cousins. It was all out there, waiting.

So there are no tears here for either show. There is a clock on creativity and even television's finest writers can't sustain prolonged levels of brilliance. The hard fact is both of these shows were long past their sell- by dates before the on-set tears started flowing.

A certain professional jadedness allows no time for hearts-and-flowers goodbyes, only a steely-eyed scanning of the horizon for current shows that need to end. Now. Which -- couldn't call it unexpected -- really wasn't all that hard to do.

Goodbye "Law & Order." Enough, already. "Judging Amy" -- gone. "That '70s Show" -- out. "7th Heaven" -- your 10th season re-up has been reneged. But that really wasn't hard to do. That's easy stuff. Getting rid of "ER" causes no pain, either. Same with "Crossing Jordan," and "Third Watch" and "The West Wing." Sorry, NBC.

Newsmagazines? Not needed. Let's clean house.

But where's the joy in filtering the deadwood? Critics loathe so much of what's on television now that it's too easy to wipe away three-quarters of the broadcast television schedule. In an instant.

To say that "My Wife and Kids" or "According to Jim" or "8 Simple Rules" or others on ABC need to go, based on a creative jihad, is only stating the obvious. But those shows are, indeed, long past caring. In the broadest interpretation.

Pulling a "Silkwood" on the Fox schedule of reality sleaze? A child could do that. A wee lass.

There has to be some kind of standard, a Mendoza line, a demarcation of patheticness that triggers immediate cancellation. How about this: A series has to be on the air for at least three seasons. If, at the end of that tenure, you don't know a single person -- family member, co-worker, person chattering too loudly in the supermarket line -- who utters word one about said series, then it's dead.

You know, like "Charmed."

That's a start, at least. But there's a bit of seriousness here, too. "NYPD Blue" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" really did overstay their welcome. "Blue" departs March 1. "Raymond" goes out May 16. Instead of tears, maybe the people behind series completely cluttering up the schedule -- like "ER," and "Law & Order" and "Judging Amy" will see the light.

It's not enough to be liked. It's not enough to be a successful place- holder. There should be an attempt to uphold standards. Be as good as your best episode -- regularly. You shouldn't get a free pass just to tell ongoing stories to a nation afraid of change.

OK, so rolling out new shows is often an exercise in failure. A network wants to hold onto a proven commodity and the viewer, presumably, has tired through the years of watching 44 shows in September in hopes of keeping five. It's easier not to break up than to break out.

But without change, you don't get growth. You don't get "Desperate Housewives" or "Lost" or ... or ... even something that's merely good, not quantifiably great. Isn't good better than stale? Isn't stale greatness bad?

Yes, as a matter of fact it is, Mr. Don't Touch My Calcified Favorites.

Television needs to be more fluid. It shouldn't be about gold watches and sad farewells. You want a never-ending story? Watch the daytime soaps. Now, don't just stand there. Grab a shovel and let's bury some shows.

fredfa, The Office is in HD.

Thanks, f44.

" Critics loathe so much of what's on television now..."

Which is why they should get new jobs.

If movie critics loathed movies the way TV critics loathed television, no one would read them either... The way they ignore folks like you, sir.

Get a job doing something you like... I gotta go right now and watch The West Wing on Tivo...

Rogo.... out.

Torino Olympic host broadcaster selects Panasonic SD, HD recording equipment

The Torino Olympic Broadcasting Organization has selected Panasonic as its supplier of standard and high-definition recording equipment for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

According to the agreement between the Organizing Committee of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, Panasonic’s DVCPRO P2 solid-state memory, DVCPRO HD and DVCPRO50 recording equipment will be used for the games.

The video equipment will be used during the 2006 Games at the International Broadcasting Center and throughout the various athletic venues.

For more HD Highlights from Broadcast Engineering
http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/hd_tech/20050216/#host

Fred, might want to update that ABC'S MEDICAL DRAMA SERIES "GREY'S ANATOMY" PREMIERES SUNDAY, MARCH 27 AT 10:00 P.M., ET

"Boston Legal" to Resume on April 24

Source: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/gofuton.cgi?action=pr&id=20050216abc01

Wednesday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Originally posted by fredfa
Contestant on NBC Reality Show Commits Suicide


The first thing that came to my mind was the fact that another Mark Burnett show, the original British "Survivor", was marred by the suicide of one of it's contestants. I can't draw any conclusions other than coincidence, however.

Originally posted by GregF
The first thing that came to my mind was the fact that another Mark Burnett show, the original British "Survivor", was marred by the suicide of one of it's contestants. I can't draw any conclusions other than coincidence, however.

I think it was Sweden, and its the show Survivor was based on but I don't think Mark Burnett had any involvment in it. Unlike contestants of the Swedish show, the contestants on The Contender went under psychiatric testing.

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight: Primetime Programming Options
Thursday 2/17/05 Night 15 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
Extreme Makeover
Primetime Live: Michael Jackson's Secret World With Martin Bashir

CBS:
Survivor Palau (season premiere)
CSI HD
Without A Trace HD

NBC:
Joey HD
Will & Grace HD
The Apprentice 3
ER HD

Fox:
The O.C. HD
Point Pleasant HD

UPN:
WWE Smackdown!

WB:
Movie: She’s All That

As we get closer to the end of the 2004-2005 network TV season, a new list: Shows Renewed for 2005-2006 has been added near the bottom of Latest News, the first item in this thread. The list will be updated as warranted.

I think a list should be added with Season Finale dates.

I though ABC hadn't agreed on "Monday Night Football" yet with the NFL ("Shows Renewed" list).

The MNF contract runs through this season.
The talk is about 2006 and beyond.

"American Dreams" should be put under "HD Shows With Ratings Questionmarks ." "Non HD Shows in Ratings Trouble" should be retitled "Non HD Shows With Ratings Questionmarks."

I'll think about the finale list, f44 -- though it is yet another item I would have to
a) first put together and then
b) keep updating.
I think you and I are interested in such a list -- but I suspect we both have a good idea of when our favorite shows are bowing out.

I have combined HD and non-HD shows with question marks into one list.
I think that the new list will be easier to navigate.
The shows are arranged by network.

Friday’s ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Marc Berman’s analysis of the first half of the February sweep has been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

The futoncritic.com reports that the season finale (and perhaps the series finale) of NBC's "Committed" will be broadcast on Thursday March 10 from 8:30-9 PM ET.
It is never a good thing for the future when a series ends it run in early March.

Friday’s ratings been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Originally posted by fredfa
The futoncritic.com reports that the season finale (and perhaps the series finale) of NBC's "Committed" will be broadcast on Thursday March 10 from 8:30-9 PM ET.
It is never a good thing for the future when a series ends it run in early March.

They only ordered 13 episodes and wanted to also have room for their other midseason comedy The Office. Committed's ratings haven't been good though. The fact that the finale is after Joey could mean a timeslot switch next year if it does well that night.

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com)
Tonight’s Viewing Options
Saturday 2/19/05 Night 17 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
Movie: The Green Mile (R) HD

CBS:
Wickedly Perfect
Without A Trace (R) HD
48 Hours Mystery

NBC:
Law & Order (R) HD
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (R) HD
Law & Order: SVU (R) HD

Fox:
Cops
America's Most Wanted

TV Tidbits: Note of Interest

Dan Rather Remembers:
CBS will air one-hour special, Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers, on Wednesday, March 9 at 8 p.m. ET which coincides with the day he steps down as anchor of the network's Evening News.

More Dr. 90210 on E!:
Reality series Dr. 90210, which focuses on the world of cosmetic surgery in Beverly Hills, California, will open season two on E! in a new one-hour format beginning on Monday, Feb. 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

Without A Trace (R) HD has been replaced by Survivor: Palau (R).

Saturday’s ratings (thanks GregF!) been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

do you mean saturday or did I drink too much last night? hehe.

oops, I meant Saturday's

(From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com)
Tonight’s Viewing Options
Sunday 2/20/05 Night 18 of the Feb. 2005 Sweep

ABC:
America's Funniest Home Videos
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Desperate Housewives HD
Boston Legal HD

CBS:
60 Minutes
Cold Case HD
TV Movie: Stone Cold HD

NBC:
Dateline
Law & Order: Criminal Intent HD
Live from New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live HD

Fox:
King of the Hill (R)
Malcolm in the Middle
The Simpsons (original and repeat)
Family Guy (R)
King of the Hill (R)

WB:
Summerland (R) HD
Charmed
Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge

fredfa, for tonight's viewing options:

Fox:
King of the Hill (R)
Malcolm in the Middle
The Simpsons (original and repeat)
Family Guy (R)
King of the Hill (R)

The second King of the Hill is brand new and Malcolm is in HD.

'Medium,', is NBC's No. 1 new show
Just an everyday, paranormal life:
about a down-to-earth woman with unusual talents
By Robert Abele Special to The Los Angeles Times February 21, 2005

Grisly crimes and villain hunts are juxtaposed with spousal spats and child-rearing issues. What begins with a creepy foreshadowing dream and Hitchcock-like music typically ends with an intimate observation about family life. There's the woman who inspired it — who claims to see the dead and foresee the future — and the executive producer, who's a self-proclaimed cynic.

In little more than a month, NBC's "Medium" has become a different kind of television hit: a drama that merges the grotesquerie of a crime procedural with the quotidian reality of a family, bridged by Patricia Arquette's portrayal of real-life Phoenix-based medium Allison DuBois, a wife and mother who assists the district attorney.

Whatever executives at NBC may feel about the power of psychic ability, "Medium" has certainly made them believe in time slots returning from the dead. Since its Jan. 3 debut, the show — along with solid ratings-getters "Fear Factor" and "Las Vegas" — has helped the peacock network gain a long-sought foothold on Monday nights.

With 15.4 million viewers, it ranks in the top 20 among those in the 18-to-49 demographic — and for NBC, doubles the audience that the canceled airport series "LAX" brought to the same 10 p.m. slot last fall.

And though an original "Medium" episode has yet to best an original "CSI: Miami," the show's rival, it has come in first three times against repeats of the popular CBS spinoff. It's not only NBC's highest-rated new show, it's the third highest rated of the network's programs, behind "ER" and "The Apprentice."

For NBC, which has been struggling all year with the loss of such hits as "Friends" and "Frazier," "Medium" is a much-needed bright spot.

"Monday was really one of our toughest time periods in the whole week. We were virtually lights out," said NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. "So we're back in business in a big way on Monday nights."

Reilly says the female-skewing viewership, which is oddly similar to the demographic of "CSI: Miami," has been passionate about the show's central focus on a working mother. "I think if it was 'Psychic Cop,' it wouldn't be working as well."

NBC is hoping for a few more wins against "CSI: Miami" by filming three extra "Medium" installments for a total first-season order of 16 episodes. A second season already has been ordered, rare for such a new show.

One quirk in the competition is that "Medium" and "CSI: Miami" shoot next to each other on a Manhattan Beach studio lot. Arquette says there's good-natured taunting between the crews. "Our camera crew is very military, so I think they would like to paintball them," she said, laughing.

The road to "Medium" began in 2000 with a pilot called "The Oracles" that Kelsey Grammer's company Grammnet produced for Paramount Television. Intended to capitalize on high-profile medium John Edward's success, the format called for five spiritualists — specializing in things such as numerology and fortunetelling — and an audience of willing participants.

DuBois, who was pursuing a career in law as an intern in the local district attorney's office while also getting tested as a medium at the University of Arizona, became one of 18 finalists for "The Oracles." She was flown to Los Angeles for the taping and nabbed a spot as one of the final five. DuBois says she wasn't interested in a TV career: "I went there to see what other mediums were like."

That show never made it to air, but DuBois stuck in the producers' minds as a drama series subject, especially since she didn't fit the profile of crystal-ball-gazing fairground oddball or multimillion-dollar superstar like Edward. She had kids, drove a Volvo and — in an odd-couple pairing that sounded too high-concept even for Hollywood — had an aerospace engineer for a husband.

Emmy-winning "Moonlighting" creator Glenn Gordon Caron, asked by then-Paramount Television head Gary Hart to write a script, met DuBois for lunch and started quizzing her about her history. "She said, 'When I was 14, I discovered that if I drank, I could keep the voices down.'

"It had tremendous veracity to me," Caron said. "It was such an odd, naked thing to say."

Sufficiently intrigued, he fashioned a show that was less crime-fighting procedural than a character study of uncertainty.

"An audience would never connect with a character who sees everything and is always right," Caron said. "There's no ghost in the corner going, 'Arrest Wilson.' Because as we all move through life, there are things we don't immediately understand."

Hence, episodes have explored how Allison can misinterpret what she sees, sending her down the wrong investigative path. In one episode, she thinks the wrong man is being put to death for serial murder and rape — because he doesn't look like the man in her dreams. At the end, she realizes the face came from a restaurant menu.

Some of what "Medium" portrays is true. DuBois, 33, has three children, all girls, and she volunteers her time for the district attorney's office. Her husband's name is Joe. But Caron, who talks frequently with DuBois (a paid consultant for the show) about her experiences, says he can't solely rely on her for script material.

"The judicial system is a very slow-moving beast, so she doesn't actually generate enough stories for a weekly television show, and for that she should be ashamed," he quipped, in show-runner mode. "So a lot of what we do is really inspired by who she is, not by specific events."

Arquette, 35, starring in her first TV series, was fascinated by the concept of someone whose professed powers and unexplainable results make her "a dirty secret, like a hidden woman." The actress didn't want to do an imitation of DuBois, who has a palpable air of confidence about herself and a slim, glamorous look ironically more suited to the women on a "CSI."

Arquette likes her own Everywoman curviness and the message it sends to female viewers.

"I want to look like a normal person in a marriage where they're turned on by each other and never have apologies like 'I'm sorry I'm a little plump,' " said Arquette, herself the mother of a 16-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.

"We don't have a lot of good marriages on television, where people are in love, they fight, they have problems, they're good partners and they work together. That turned me on, having that out in the world."

As for the factual basis for the homicide stories, DuBois balks when asked to be specific about real incidents adapted for television. She cites sensitivity toward families who have lost loved ones and the trust she says she has developed with various law enforcement agencies.

"Some reporters are shocked that the Texas Rangers won't go on record," she said, referring to the case that inspired the pilot episode (with significant details changed). "Do you expect them to? They didn't do what they did to back up a medium and her claims. I could bring five agencies forward who'd say, 'Yeah, we use her. She was great.' It's never enough."

DuBois has her own website and a book due for re-release this spring through Simon & Schuster. As a result of the publicity, she says she has a backlog of 150 murder cases to examine, and the waiting list for her private consultations is 2,000 strong.

But don't suggest that she should be whipping through as many clients and unsolved murders as possible. DuBois likens what she does to giving blood — something nobody can do 24/7. "It will take a toll on you that you can't recover from," she said.

Caron still regards himself as a "generous cynic" about parapsychological phenomena, despite the accuracy of some of DuBois' predictions. An initial pitch meeting at ABC went well, Caron recalled, and he was positive "Medium" would land there. DuBois said no, NBC would pick it up and it would succeed. That night, ABC took a pass.

He has since shifted a bit in his outlook on people like DuBois.

"I've come to believe that it's arrogant to assume we know everything there is to know about the human condition," Caron said.

DuBois and her husband admit that they've learned some things, too, even gleaning a few marriage tips as viewers. "I look at [Patricia] with the children, and she's so soft with them that I've actually been making a conscious effort to be softer with my kids," DuBois said.

And her husband, Joe? "They write great lines for [Jake Weber], so I'm trying to pick up some," he said. "I never called Allison 'Baby,' but I do now."

I'm disgusted that a show based on a real-life con artist is such a hit. So much validity will be given to these predators who give false hope in exchange for fun and profit.

Outdoor Life Network to get NFL Rights?
Comcast Works Through Its Gridiron Envy
TVWeek.com February 21, 2005
Football is played mostly outdoors, right? Then it must make sense to put it on the Outdoor Life Network, right? That is what Comcast is contemplating, according to an industry source.
Comcast, which owns OLN, wants to get into the game by securing either the new NFL package of eight games on Thursday and Saturday or one of two Sunday night packages, both currently held by Disney/ABC's ESPN. One Comcast plan is to put the games on OLN, now best known as the home of bike racing, bull riding and fishing. Sources said Comcast has crunched ESPN's advertising numbers, but with just 62 million subscribers, OLN will have to get more subscribers and up its license fee.
To do that, they said, Comcast is considering offering equity stakes in the network to other multiple system operators that otherwise might complain about another high-priced sports network. Comcast and OLN officials declined to comment.
A Time Warner Cable spokesperson said, "We are aware of Comcast's desire to get the NFL games."
--JON LAFAYETTE

I gotta say I still loathe NBC -- search for why -- but at least with Medium (a show I don't watch), they are doing something interesting for a change.

Good for them.

I am not sure how long NBC can maintain the story lines in "Medium" (despite your antipathy to NBC, you ought to try it a couple of times, rogo) but so far at least it seems to me --and even more so to my wife-- to be pretty interesting stuff for network TV drama.

I agree, it's different and it's more introspective of the characters themselves than the "crime of the episode", and frankly, I starting to get blown out on straight cop stuff, it's probably why I like Numb3rs, the mathematics adds something different.

I'll make a prediction here as well, the new L&O is going to tank...

Medium has been one of my favorite shows this season.

See this thread. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4919231#post4919231)

- Tom

Some Network News Magazines Are On Endangered List
Webs may cancel them due to slipping ratings
By MICHAEL LEARMONTH, JOSEF ADALIAN variety.com
Another Jackson trial, a visit from "Desperate" housewife Teri Hatcher and a truly gory report on faith healer John of God were among the offerings on ABC's "Primetime Live" this season -- under normal circumstances, a lineup that could be expected to bring big ratings. But "Primetime," once a top 10 hit, is down a whopping 22% from its so-so performance last year, despite a much-hyped revamp and the rising fortunes of the Alphabet web. Friday-night staple "20/20," in its first season sans Barbara Walters, is also down double digits.

Newsmag ratings rise and fall all the time, but this time might be different. Nobody at ABC wants to admit it, but industry insiders say it's no longer inconceivable that the net could start its season this fall without "Primetime" or "20/20."

Meanwhile, over at CBS, supremo Leslie Moonves has declined to guarantee "60 Minutes Wednesday" will be renewed for another year. And "Dateline NBC" is down to just two broadcasts a week, a far cry from a few years ago when it ran almost every night of the week. After years of occupying sacred ground on network schedules, primetime newsmags have suddenly morphed into mere mortals.

The genre -- a longtime staple of the networks' primetime -- is withering under the onslaught of reality shows, the return of strong dramas to primetime and a news environment increasingly dominated by 24-hour cable.
The shows have survived multiple up-and-down cycles due to their ability to morph to suit the times and serve as hole fillers. They typically cost half what a scripted drama requires, and in timeslots where competitors were simply too strong, they could generate decent ratings.

Increasingly, however, nets are looking to reality shows -- often just as cheap as newsmags -- to serve in the role of utility player.

"Years ago people felt they were getting the raw, emotional stories (on newsmags), but now the audience that watches a lot of reality TV feels they are getting those stories," one network insider says. "We know it's scripted reality, or the manipulation of reality, but the audience feels sated."

Over at ABC, the departure of Walters, as well as Diane Sawyer's increasing focus on "Good Morning America," have made the net's flagship franchises even more vulnerable.
No matter how many times in past years ABC Entertainment execs have wanted to move or cancel one of the newsmags, their efforts have been trumped by strong lobbying by ABC News. Walters in particular carried superstar status, not to mention a huge paycheck that made messing with "20/20" tough. But now, Walters is off "20/20" and Sawyer has cut back her "Primetime" workload. And with more hits than at any time in the past five years, Alphabet execs may be looking for real estate to try out new skeins come May, when the fall sked is set.

"If they get a couple good dramas or comedies in development, (ABC's entertainment execs) might feel like they can go after the newsmags," predicts one rival network exec. ABC News says its two shows are at no risk of cancellation.

"I'm not expecting to have to scale back," says Phyllis McGrady, ABC News senior veep in charge of both shows and "Good Morning America." "I feel 'Primetime' and '20/20' are both going to be on the schedule."
But executives at CBS aren't so sanguine. "I have never known that we have a spot on the fall schedule," says Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of "48 Hours Mystery." "I know it's my job to fight and make the case for them to put us on the air."

Another Eye newsmag, "60 Minutes Wednesday," may be in even graver danger. Skein, which aired the flawed report on President Bush's military service that led to the departure of executive producer Josh Howard and his deputy Mary Murphy, was put on notice by Moonves last month when the exec said the show would have to "earn its place in the lineup."

Despite their woes, newsmags have proven to be a durable genre.

Three newsmags -- "60 Minutes," "20/20," and "48 Hours"-- are among the longest-running shows in primetime. The "Dateline" franchise is second in longevity only to the "Law & Order" franchise on NBC. And producers know how to reinvent themselves. Zirinsky repositioned "48" to take on the crime procedurals by changing the title from "Investigates" to "Mystery" to reflect its focus on true crime and then campaigned with Moonves for the 10 p.m. slot Saturday opposite three hours of "Law & Order" reruns.

There, she says, "48" is often the Eye's highest-rated offering Saturday night, but she cautions, "It's going to take a year to find an audience."

The biggest challenge for ABC's newsmags is brutal competition.

"Primetime" competes on Thursday night with CBS' hit crime procedural "Without a Trace" and NBC's juggernaut "ER." It didn't help that, until recently, the newsmag's lead-in was the ultra low-rated "Life as We Know It." (Ratings have perked up since ABC put "Extreme Makeover" back in the 9 p.m. timeslot). "20/20" fares a bit better on Friday -- it builds off its lead-in "Less Than Perfect" and sometimes wins its timeslot. But ABC execs have to be disappointed about the mag's so-so perf opposite what until recently has been little real competition.

Some news insiders says it's just a matter of time before nets overdo it on procedural crime dramas and out-there reality shows. When the happens, these execs predict newsmagazines will step in as the cheap, reliable ratings-generators they've been in the past. That doesn't mean producers will go quietly.

"Nobody gave us an unlimited access pass to primetime," newsmag producer Zirinsky says. "We have to fight for our place and reinvent ourselves."

"Arrested Development Fox HD Order cut from 22 to 17 episodes. Final original episode airs April 17."

It was cut to 18 episodes, fredfa.

Also, for CBS mid-season replacements, The Amazing Race 7 starts on March 1, Tuesdays @ 9pm ET, season premiere is two hours, not HD.

Sunday’s ratings been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Originally posted by GregF
I'm disgusted that a show based on a real-life con artist is such a hit. So much validity will be given to these predators who give false hope in exchange for fun and profit.

At least it's not a reality show!

Thanks for the notes, f44. Changes made.

Writer Hunter S. Thompson kills himself

By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press Writer

ASPEN, Colo. - Hunter S. Thompson, the hard-living writer who inserted himself into his accounts of America's underbelly and popularized a first-person form of journalism in books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," has committed suicide.

Thompson was found dead Sunday in his Aspen-area home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, sheriff's officials said. He was 67. Thompson's wife, Anita, had gone out before the shooting and was not home at the time.

Besides the 1972 classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." The central character in those wild, sprawling satires was "Dr. Thompson," a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.

A number of his books made it into movies.

How sad. I read & loved just about everything he wrote.

He was a bizarre man, but a genius nonetheless.
His '72 campaign book was a hoot.
It is so sad that his torment seems to have eventually won.
Gonzo RIP thoughts in his memory.

"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over"

-- Hunter S. Thompson

He also was involved with the TV series Nash Bridges.

CBS, ABC heavyweights swing at 'Contender'
NBC new reality series to go up against 'CSI: Miami', ‘Extreme Makeover”
By JOSEF ADALIAN variety.com Posted: Mon., Feb. 21, 2005, 10:00pm PT
NBC's much-touted Mark Burnett/Jeffrey Katzenberg reality skein "The Contender" -- beset by the suicide of a contestant and oft-delayed --will face some unexpectedly tough competition when it premieres Monday, March 7, at 9:30 p.m. That's because CBS has decided to shake up its sweeps sked so it can air new episodes of hit skeins such as "Two and a Half Men" and "CSI: Miami" opposite "Contender." In order to go firstrun on March 7, Eye programmers are doing something highly unusual: airing an all-repeat lineup on Feb. 28 -- the final Monday of the February sweeps. Traditionally, nets try to pack every square inch of sweeps month skeds with fresh fare in order to boost ratings for affiliates.

Schedulers over at ABC also plan to put the hurt on "The Contender." Alphabet will air a two-hour edition of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on March 13, the same night "Contender" is scheduled to settle into its regular 8 p.m. Sunday slot. "Home Edition" always airs at 8 p.m. on Sundays, but the skein tends to spike in the ratings when it's expanded to two hours.

Hurting NBC probably isn't ABC's main mission for the night, however. The extended "Home Edition" leads into a special one-hour preview of buzzworthy laffer "Jake in Progress," airing in the "Desperate Housewives" timeslot.

The New Way To Overcome Poor Ratings
New Hope on TV's 'Bubble'
Shows Facing Cancellation Can Overcome Wobbly Ratings With the Lure of DVD Sales
By BROOKS BARNES Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL February 22, 2005; Page B1
The moment of truth is fast approaching for TV shows "on the bubble" -- industry parlance for series facing cancellation because of wobbly ratings. Among the shows that might not see another season are "Arrested Development," a quirky comedy on News Corp.'s Fox, and "Jack & Bobby," the sentimental drama on Time Warner Inc.'s WB.

Die-hard fans have already mobilized, with letter-writing campaigns and online petitions. "Arrested Development" supporters have collected more than $1,400, through SaveOurBluths.com1, and plan to send Fox hundreds of plastic bananas in protest. (The show's Bluth family owns a frozen-banana stand.)

In the past, such efforts typically failed if the show's ratings didn't generate enough ad revenue to cover costs. But the cancellation calculus is starting to change. Fox's "Family Guy," axed in 2002, is getting another chance on the air because sales of DVD collections of the show have been so hot. Indeed, fundamental shifts in how TV companies make money are starting to complicate cancellation decisions -- and small but dedicated groups of viewers are gaining newfound clout.

Of course, audience size still matters a lot in prime-time network television. But now other factors are influencing the cancellation decision. DVDs have become such a gold mine -- profit margins reach 50% -- that broadcasters are increasingly open to the idea of keeping a ratings-challenged show on the air, especially one with a fanatical core of fans, in order to generate more episodes to sell later on DVD. Other nascent income streams -- on-demand services, and downloadable episodes sold on the Internet like songs -- also are giving consumers more direct power in programming decisions.

So forget writing letters, says James Webster, senior associate dean at Northwestern University's School of Communication. "Show networks how wide your wallet opens," he advises.

It worked for "Family Guy." Fans so far have snapped up about three million "Family Guy" box sets, which retail for $49.99. The irreverent cartoon ran on Fox for three seasons before getting the boot in 2002 due to poor ratings. It is set to return May 1 to a marquee slot on Sunday night.

"The explosion of this show on DVD proved to me that it had an enormous fan base that wanted more," says Gail Berman, Fox's president of entertainment. Was she wrong to cancel it in the first place? "Changing her mind is, indeed, a woman's prerogative," she says.

The DVD option wouldn't have been possible without a 1993 Federal Communications Commission ruling relaxing ownership rules for TV shows. For the first time in decades, big broadcasters were allowed to have a financial stake in prime-time shows on their schedules. The ruling led to a flurry of mergers, with each of the Big Four networks now linked with a studio.

Before the ruling, back when networks could air only shows produced by outsiders, they cared only about selling ads. The show's value in the aftermarket, such as profits from syndicated reruns, didn't matter to them.
But now that networks own a portion or all of the shows they air, outside producers frequently grumble that network-owned shows have a different barometer of success. Network chiefs insist they don't get paid to program with the financial interests of their sister studios in mind. But a network executive who can figure out how to keep a struggling show on the air to help the company's studio make more money can win gold stars with the corporate bosses.

Networks don't like talking about it for fear of appearing too cozy with their studio siblings, which is what led to the FCC's now-abandoned ownership rules in the first place. But executives do concede privately that potential DVD sales are starting to play a bigger role in keeping shows on the air.

Of course, advertisers still care more about how many people see a program (and the advertising in it) than about how much they like the show. The equation eroded slightly in the 1980s, when advertisers began seeking out more young, urban viewers, a group considered more likely to try new products. So in some cases, a show with a smaller audience could command higher prices than a broad-based hit. But cable TV and other leisure-time options kept pulling viewers away from network TV. Today, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" is considered a blockbuster because it attracts an average of 20 million viewers -- ratings that would have led to cancellation in decades past. In the late 1960s, "The Beverly Hillbillies" attracted 60 million viewers a week.

In addition to "Arrested Development" and "Jack & Bobby," there are several other series facing oblivion. They include "Joan of Arcadia," a drama on Viacom Inc.'s CBS about a teenager who talks to God, and "Third Watch," a drama on General Electric Co.'s NBC about New York City firefighters and police officers, industry executives say. Meanwhile, despite wide speculation that "The West Wing" is in peril, NBC is in negotiations to bring the political series back in the fall. Although ratings have been dismal, the show still attracts one of broadcast TV's most upscale audiences.

Despite the plastic bananas en route to Fox, the loudest rescue effort this spring is expected to be for "Star Trek: Enterprise," on Viacom's UPN. The network announced Feb. 2 that it is ending the show's voyage in May after four seasons.

"It's far from over," vows Tim Brazeal, founder of SaveEnterprise.com2. "Phase One of the attack," according to Mr. Brazeal, will include letter and e-mail campaigns. Phase Two is a 5,000-Trekkie march on UPN's Los Angeles offices, set for Friday.

Letters and pickets don't always fall on deaf ears. Rival networks sometimes take note and step in. UPN picked up "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" after Time Warner Inc.'s WB decided the show was too expensive. And DVD releases can still ensue: DVDs can hit the stores with only a handful of episodes, unlike reruns, which require about 100 episodes to form a programming package stations would buy. Citing fan petitions, Fox last month released a DVD set for "Wonderfalls," a short-lived drama about a shop clerk who hears voices.

Even if the zealous fans of "Star Trek: Enterprise" don't get satisfaction by bringing the show back from the dead, they won't need to despair completely: Viacom will release its first "Enterprise" DVD set in early May.

Picture Is Fuzzy for N.H.L. on Networks
By RICHARD SANDOMIR The New York Times February 22, 2005

The National Hockey League has more things to fret about than television contracts - like its very future after canceling the season - but league officials could not have enjoyed hearing what their cable partner, ESPN, said last week. Mark Shapiro, an executive vice president of ESPN, threw off his gloves and criticized the N.H.L.'s rules, lack of scoring, resistance to letting players wear microphones and resistance to allowing arenas to be equipped with the overhead SkyCam. "Everybody, like us, should be less focused on when they're coming back, but more on why nobody seems to care," Shapiro said.

This might be a case of piling on a sports corpse, but the bungling league and the misguided players union deserved it. It's rare that a sports television executive excoriates a property once esteemed by his network, let alone questions if the network agreed to pay too much. ESPN will pay nothing this year because of the cancellation, but Shapiro said that some people thought the deal to pay $60 million this season to put games on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC was too rich.

Even more ominous for the N.H.L. is that ESPN may not exercise its option to renew its deal for 2005-6, even if there is a season. With all its leverage, ESPN could let the option lapse and negotiate a discount deal like NBC's, which offers no guaranteed cash and only promises of sharing revenues, once there are some. The collapse in the value of the N.H.L.'s TV rights has been a fascinating yarn that has no real companion in major league sports.

In 1994, the league had to feel blessed. Two networks wanted to carry its games for five seasons. Fox, having swiped N.F.L. rights from CBS, outbid CBS by $5 million for a five-year, $155 million deal. Combined with ESPN's money, the league was pocketing an average $45 million annually through 1999.

Fox promoted the N.H.L. as no other broadcaster had, for good reason: the league was on the upswing. The Rangers had just won the Stanley Cup, and a strong New York franchise had always been good for a league and its TV partners. As Reggie Jackson had, Mark Messier symbolized performance under pressure.

Fox introduced the costly glowing puck, which, if nothing else, brought attention to the publicity-needy league. But Fox's first season was delayed by the 1994-5 lockout, which caused the cancellation of the All-Star Game, and not once did the network carry the maximum number of games in the Stanley Cup finals.

By Year 4, Fox's ratings had fallen by a third, and although it might have wanted to keep hockey, the need was receding. By then, it had N.F.L. and baseball rights, and could easily determine that carrying hockey on its regional cable outlets was smarter than a national deal. Disney craved uniting all rights under ABC and ESPN, and made an audacious five-year offer of $600 million in 1998. Fox howled that the ABC portion was grossly overvalued at $250 million (the cost of ESPN's buying $50 million of ABC's airtime a year to show games), making it impossible to match the joint Disney bid.

Fox agitated about trying to escape the fifth year and challenging the ABC-ESPN offer in court - reactions that, in part, reflected a corporate feud between two media giants - but ABC and ESPN snared the deal. It was Commissioner Gary Bettman's finest hour, and he famously said at the time that he "didn't attend the negotiations wearing a mask and a gun."

Steve Bornstein, then ESPN's president, brushed aside doubts about overpaying, and predicted that the muscle of ESPN the Empire would produce a hockey profit. "We'll make money," he said. "This is a marketing machine." For ESPN, the deal provided the volume programming it needed to fill time; more than 100 regular-season games were to be shown each year by ESPN and ESPN2.

But in 2002-3, when ESPN added N.B.A. games, the N.H.L.'s marquee showcase was kicked to Thursday from Wednesday, and the hockey telecasts on both networks slipped to 71. For this season, except for the playoffs, hockey was to have left ESPN, and ESPN2 was to show 40 games. College basketball is doubling the N.H.L. rating that ESPN2 scratched out last season.

"Right now," Shapiro said last week, "we're not really sure how to value the league. We have to assess the damage, as do they, and only until you do that and consider your options can you put a true value on what it's worth."

Shapiro's candor underscores what the N.H.L. has become: a damaged niche organization without a real national following or megastars in the United States. The league has to take the same deal from NBC that NBC gave the Arena Football League or get nothing at all. It should count itself grateful if ESPN doesn't ask it to buy time so that its cable games can be seen nationally.

If Jack and Bobby, Joan of Arcadia and American Dreams all die off, it's a sad day for family drama on television. I only watch the first two and I'm not suggesting either is a truly great show, but the relative family friendliness of all the shows and the fact they are not about hospitals, police or lawyers makes them the relatively rarer TV drama.

I've followed Joan of Arcadia from the beginning. Its quality varies week to week but at least sometimes I think it is very cleverly written. It's probably the only "family" drama I watch regularly and I'd miss it if it went.

- Tom

Relating to the NHL ESPN deal maybe they should use that $60 million for not having to pay the NHL to buy more HD trucks and cameras for more HD content.

Just my 2 cents:)

Monday’s ratings been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

Off topic, but in the spirit of Ken H's post yesterday:

Hunter S. Thompson:
'The 20th Century's Greatest Comic Writer in English'
By TOM WOLFE (in the Wall Street Journal) February 22, 2005; Page D10
Hunter S. Thompson was one of those rare writers who come as advertised. The Addams-family eyebrows in Stephen King's book jacket photos combined with the heeby-jeeby horrors of his stories always made me think of Dracula. When I finally met Mr. King, he was in Miami playing, along with Amy Tan, in a jook-house band called the Remainders. He was Sunshine itself, a laugh and a half, the very picture of innocent fun, a Count Dracula who in real life was Peter Pan. Carl Hiaasen, the genius who has written such zany antic novels as "Striptease," "Sick Puppy," and "Skinny Dip" is in person as intelligent, thoughtful, sober, courteous, even courtly, a Southern gentleman as you could ask for (and I ask for them all the time and never find them). But the gonzo -- Hunter's coinage -- madness of Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1971) and his Rolling Stone classics such as "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" (1970) was what you got in the flesh too. You didn't have lunch or dinner with Hunter Thompson. You attended an event at mealtime.

I had never met Hunter when the book that established him as a literary figure, "The Hell's Angels, a Strange and Terrible Saga," was published in 1967. It was brilliant investigative journalism of the hazardous sort, written in a style and a voice no one had ever seen or heard before. The book revealed that he had been present at a party for the Hell's Angels given by Ken Kesey and his hippie -- at the time the term was not "hippie' but "acid-head" -- commune, the Merry Pranksters. The party would be a key scene in a book I was writing, (The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test). I cold-called Hunter in California, and he generously gave me not only his recollections but also the audiotapes he had recorded at that first famous alliance of the hippies and "outlaw" motorcycle gangs, a strange and terrible saga in itself, culminating in the Rolling Stones band hiring the Angels as security guards for a concert in Altamont, Calif., and the "security guards" beating a spectator to death with pool cues.

By way of a thank you for his help, I invited Hunter to lunch the next time he was in New York. It was one bright spring day in 1969. He proved to be one of those tall, rawboned, rangy young men with alarmingly bright eyes, who more than any other sort of human, in my experience, are prone to manic explosions. Hunter didn't so much have a conversation with you as speak in explosive salvos of words on a related subject.

We were walking along West 46th Street toward a restaurant, The Brazilian Coffee House, when we passed Goldberg Marine Supply. Hunter stopped, ducked into the store and emerged holding a tiny brown paper bag. A sixth sense, probably activated by the alarming eyes and the six-inch rise and fall of his Adam's apple, told me not to ask what was inside. In the restaurant he kept it on top of the table as we ate. Finally, the fool in me became so curious, he had to go and ask, "What's in the bag, Hunter?"

"I've got something in there that would clear out this restaurant in 20 seconds," said Hunter. He began opening the bag. His eyes had rheostated up to 300 watts. "No, never mind," I said. "I believe you! Show me later!" From the bag he produced what looked like a small travel-size can of shaving foam, uncapped the top and pressed down on it. There ensued the most violently brain-piercing sound I had ever heard. It didn't clear out The Brazilian Coffee House. It froze it. The place became so quiet, you could hear an old-fashioned timer clock ticking in the kitchen. Chunks of churasco gaucho remained impaled on forks in mid-air. A bartender mixing a sidecar became a statue holding a shaker with both hands just below his chin. Hunter was slipping the little can back into the paper bag. It was a marine distress signaling device, audible for 20 miles over water.

The next time I saw Hunter was in June of 1976 at the Aspen Design Conference in Aspen, Colo. By now Hunter had bought a large farm near Aspen where he seemed to raise mainly vicious dogs and deadly weapons, such as the .357 magnum. He publicized them constantly as a warning to those, Hell's Angels presumably, who had been sending him death threats. I invited him to dinner at a swell restaurant in Aspen and a performance at the Big Tent, where the conference was held. My soon-to-be wife, Sheila, and I gave the waitress our dinner orders. Hunter ordered two banana daiquiris and two banana splits. Once he had finished them off, he summoned the waitress, looped his forefinger in the air and said, "Do it again." Without a moment's hesitation he downed his third and fourth banana daiquiris and his third and fourth banana splits, and departed with a glass of Wild Turkey bourbon in his hand.

When we reached the tent, the flap-keepers refused to let him enter with the whiskey. A loud argument broke out. I whispered to Hunter. "Just give me the glass and I'll hold under my jacket and give it back to you inside." That didn't interest him in the slightest. What I failed to realize was that it was not about getting into the tent or drinking whiskey. It was the grand finale of an event, a happening aimed at turning the conventional order of things upside down. By and by we were all ejected from the premises, and Hunter couldn't have been happier. The curtain came down for the evening.

In Hunter's scheme of things, there were curtains...and there were curtains. In the summer of 1988 I happened to be at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland one afternoon when an agitated but otherwise dignified, silver-haired old Scotsman came up to me and said, "I understand you're a friend of the American writer Hunter Thompson."

I said yes.

"By God -- your Mr. Thompson is supposed to deliver a lecture at the Festival this evening -- and I've just received a telephone call from him saying he's in Kennedy Airport and has run into an old friend. What's wrong with this man? He's run into an old friend? There's no possible way he can get here by this evening!"
"Sir," I said, "when you book Hunter Thompson for a lecture, you have to realize it's not actually going too be a lecture. It's an event -- and I'm afraid you've just had yours."

Hunter's life, like his work, was one long barbaric yawp, to use Whitman's term, of the drug-fueled freedom from and mockery of all conventional proprieties that began in the 1960s. In that enterprise Hunter was something entirely new, something unique in our literary history. When I included an excerpt from "The Hell's Angels" in a 1973 anthology called "The New Journalism," he said he wasn't part of anybody's group. He wrote "gonzo." He was suigeneris. And that he was.

Yet he was also part of a century-old tradition in American letters, the tradition of Mark Twain, Artemus Ward and Petroleum V. Nasby, comic writers who mined the human comedy of a new chapter in the history of the West, namely, the American story, and wrote in a form that was part journalism and part personal memoir admixed with powers of wild invention, and wilder rhetoric inspired by the bizarre exuberance of a young civilization. No one categorization covers this new form unless it is Hunter Thompson's own word, gonzo. If so, in the 19th century Mark Twain was king of all the gonzo-writers. In the 20th century it was Hunter Thompson, whom I would nominate as the century's greatest comic writer in the English language.

Bye Max
Maxed: Kellerman's flameout on FSN
Lots of big talk but nada ratings for ex-ESPNer
By Toni Fitzgerald medialife.com
When you are trying to build a competitor to a major cable presence, it’s smart to go after the dominant network’s talent. You just have to make sure you go after the right talent. Fox News wooing Greta Van Susteren from CNN? A big coup. In the four years since, FNC has surpassed CNN in average viewership.

The NFL Network luring Rich Eisen from ESPN? Wise move. NFL Network secured more carriage heading into its second year than any network in history. But FSN, the former Fox Sports Network, stealing “Around the Horn” host Max Kellerman away from ESPN? That looks like a big bust.

His much-touted talk show “I, Max,” basically a forum for Kellerman to riff on the day’s events and interview a few mid-major sports stars, was canceled as of Friday. At the same time, ESPN announced big ratings gains in the year since Kellerman left “Horn.” “Max” will be replaced by “The Sports List.”

Now Kellerman’s agent reportedly has approached ESPN about a return to the network but ESPN says it is not interested. And no wonder. While FSN seems adrift and troubled, with rumors that “Best Damn Sports Show Period” is also on the way out, ESPN’s evening lineup is thriving.

A year ago the future of “Horn” without Kellerman seemed in doubt. But the show has developed into a solid lead-in for the higher-rated “Pardon the Interruption” at 5 p.m. weekdays on ESPN. Since last February, “Horn’s” average rating has increased from a 0.5 household rating to a 0.6, a 20 percent jump. Among men 18-25, ESPN says viewership is up 25 percent.

Meanwhile, “I, Max,” Kellerman’s weekday 6 p.m. talk show on FSN, debuted last May to horrid ratings. Though FSN doesn’t have nearly the distribution that ESPN does, “I, Max’s” 0.0 household rating was still a big embarrassment.

FSN paid big bucks for Kellerman, under whom “Horn” had increased its time slot rating by 43 percent from 2002 to 2003. But apparently it was the show and not the host that viewers liked. Just one year ago, Kellerman walked away from ESPN when the network refused to give him a big pay bump. He instead signed for $850,000 per year with FSN to host a similar show to the sports talk free-for-all that is “Horn.”

At the time, Kellerman said that FSN was “poised to make a real run at you know who, the same way Fox News Channel did it to CNN.” Not quite. And his show didn’t help things. “I, Max” debuted to a viewership of fewer than 100,000 households in its first week. Reviews of the show were just as troubling.

“If there is a more self-indulgent show in history of television (at least one that doesn't star Donald Trump), we haven't seen it,” Sports Illustrated said recently. Unfortunately for FSN, the Kellerman hiring is a mistake it will be paying for for a long time. Kellerman and sideckick Michael Holley are guaranteed their salaries through summer of next year. And FSN does not seem interested in using Kellerman, who began at ESPN as a boxing studio show host, elsewhere.

ESPN, meanwhile, is grinning. The network toyed with bringing in a bigger name to host “Horn” after Kellerman left. But Tony Reali, the last-minute substitute who filled Kellerman’s chair and who doubles as Stat Boy on “Pardon the Interruption,” is cheaper than Kellerman and has gotten better reviews for his more low-key personality.

In other sports ratings last week, the Pro Bowl on ESPN averaged a 5.2 household rating, up 6.2 percent compared with the previous year. The game was the highest-rated show on cable for the week.

Jerry Orbach’s Legacy
Impact of a 'Law & Order' Star Lingers as Spinoff Begins
By JACQUES STEINBERG The New York Times February 22, 2005

In the weeks just before his death on Dec. 28, Jerry Orbach spent a great deal of time at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, working on the third spinoff of the "Law & Order" franchise, which is known as "Trial by Jury" and makes its debut on NBC on March 3.

And like snapshots kept affectionately in a wallet, everyone whose life he touched during those last days - when he had begun to show the effects of both prostate cancer and the treatments he was receiving - seems to have a story about him. Among the most arresting is told by Bebe Neuwirth, who plays Tracey Kibre, an assistant district attorney. Ms. Neuwirth says she first saw Mr. Orbach in the mid-1970's, on a day when he was singing and dancing across a Broadway stage as the original Billy Flynn in "Chicago," and she was a teenager in the audience, dreaming of a career in musical theater.

Now working together for the first time on "Trial by Jury," Ms. Neuwirth said, she watched in amazement one day between takes as an obviously weakened Mr. Orbach, reprising the role of now-retired police detective Lennie Briscoe, seized hold of a cane he had found on the set.

"As soon as Jerry saw it," she recalled in an interview last week, "he did a little simple trick where he tapped it with his foot, shot it over his wrist and then landed it in this incredibly dapper position so that he was leaning on it. It was the most elegant and beautiful and charming little vaudeville move I ever saw," added Ms. Neuwirth, herself an alumna of the more recent revival of "Chicago." "I threw my arms out and said, 'Teach me that.' And so he did."

As Dick Wolf, the creator and executive producer of the "Law & Order" series had envisioned it, Mr. Orbach's Briscoe, a sharp-tongued fixture on the original show for more than a decade, would serve an educational purpose on "Trial by Jury," as well. As a recognizable character, Briscoe was to be a familiar guidepost on a show that is actually quite different - one seen not merely from the point of view of prosecutors and the police, as the first three "Law & Order" programs often are, but also through the eyes of judges, jurors, grand jurors, suspects and defense lawyers, often within the same hour.

Mr. Wolf readily concedes that even with Mr. Orbach on board, building a show on such an unconventional foundation carried enormous risks, not least that viewers might already feel sated by the three hours of "Law & Order" they can already watch each week. (And that's not counting the three additional hours of repeats on Saturday evenings, including a repeat of the original program - known backstage as the "mother ship," and now in its 15th season.) Thus far this season, for example, the 13.2 million viewers who, on average, watch the original "Law & Order" on Wednesday nights represent a 17.6 percent drop when compared with the same period last season, according to Nielsen Media Research. By contrast, the original "CSI" on CBS captures an average of 26 million, down 1.22 percent. Of the three "Law & Orders," only "Special Victims Unit" is drawing more viewers on average than it did last year.

In part, the presence of Mr. Orbach - who, at 69, was well beyond the usual retirement age of an urban police detective - had been intended to encourage viewers to watch a program that consciously seeks to avoid many of the plot devices that are templates for the other "Law & Order" spinoffs. In "Trial by Jury," for example, the classic whodunit paradigm has been supplanted by scenes of elaborately gritty legal strategizing. Suspects are shown effortlessly confessing heinous crimes to their lawyers, who then conspire with their clients to cover their tracks. Prosecutors fumble, as if in the dark, to win convictions, often with far less knowledge of the crime and how it was committed than the viewer.

"It's a game in which you know the moves of the other side in many cases before the other side does," said Walon Green, a veteran of "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue" who is an executive producer on the show with Mr. Wolf. "The suspense is in wondering how they're going to deal with it."

Mr. Wolf, speaking by phone last week from California, said that "one of the things both Walon and I hope to accomplish with this is to demolish the shibboleths that have grown up around criminal law, namely that a defense attorney will never ask their client if they did the crime. All defense attorneys, if you give them three drinks and a good steak, will say that of course they've had clients who confessed to them and who they know to be guilty."

Given his role, Mr. Orbach's loss - however excruciating on a personal level to those who worked with him - has also necessitated some creative accommodation. Briscoe, his face drawn but his attitude still arch, is featured prominently in the first two episodes of "Trial by Jury," which will be broadcast consecutively on March 3 at 10 p.m. as well as the following night, a Friday, in what will be its regular 10 p.m. time slot. While filming what would become the second episode - it was originally scheduled to air much later - many on the set realized that Mr. Orbach was having difficulty speaking above a whisper. And so the scene, set in a hallway outside a courtroom, was filmed with all of the characters whispering.

"You know something?" said Mr. Green, speaking from an undecorated office above the set in Astoria. "I don't think he knew we did that because of him. He said he'd come back and loop it. But I thought he might not be back to loop it."

In the fifth episode, Briscoe's death will be revealed as several of the principal characters emerge from a memorial service. "There's a little discussion about it," Mr. Green said. "Our discussion about it on the show parallels our own experience." Separately, on the "mother ship," Briscoe's last partner - known as Detective Ed Green, and played by Jesse L. Martin - will refer to a visit with him in which he "didn't look well," Mr. Wolf said.

After Mr. Orbach's death, Mr. Wolf and his colleagues decided that his character would not be replaced on the show, which relies on a broad ensemble featuring not only Ms. Neuwirth, who is essentially its star, but also Fred Thompson, reprising his role as District Attorney Arthur Branch, which he will continue to play on the original "Law & Order." They are joined by Amy Carlson ("Third Watch"), who plays a deputy to Ms. Neuwirth's character, and Kirk Acevedo ("Band of Brothers"), Briscoe's partner.

Much of Briscoe's workload in the district attorney's office, where he was working as an investigator, has since been given to a character played by an actor who had already been signed on the show. He is Scott Cohen, recognizable from his roles as a detective on "NYPD Blue" and as a parole officer on Showtime's short-lived "Street Time." Only a few previously filmed scenes featuring Mr. Orbach had to be reshot, Mr. Green said. In other instances, dialogue in forthcoming scripts had to be edited slightly to delete references to Briscoe.

But for all that is new - including early guest appearances by Annabella Sciorra, Lorraine Bracco and Peter Coyote, each playing ethically challenged defense lawyers - there will be much that viewers will recognize after Briscoe has passed. A replica of the wood-paneled office of Mr. Thompson's character, for example - which in real life sits on a soundstage at Chelsea Piers on the West Side of Manhattan, home of the "mother ship" - has been created on the "Trial by Jury" set, for the sake of efficiency.

And other characters from the original and its spinoffs - including Jack McCoy, the prosecutor played by Sam Waterston - are expected to drop in throughout the show's initial, 13-show run, as Mr. Waterston does in the first episode.

"Every time you think about doing this, the natural question is, 'How many 'Law & Orders' is too many 'Law & Orders'? " Mr. Wolf said. "My response is always the same: The audience will tell us."