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dad1153

11-02-06, 12:19 PM

TV Sports
Can NBC outfox Fox for Bears?
Networks set to fight for the right to televise upcoming games
By Ed Sherman Tribune Sports/Chicago Tribune November 2, 2006

In good times and bad, the Bears are a popular television attraction.

In great times such as these, when they're playing like one of the NFL's elite teams, it's no wonder two networks are fighting over them.

Coming soon: Fox vs. NBC. The prize: The rights to telecast what might be the Bears' game of the season.

The Bears' 7-0 start, their status as the NFC's only unbeaten team and their track record as a ratings magnet have made them the most coveted television property in pro football. A tug-of-war between Fox and NBC is looming.

NBC, in its first year back as an NFL outlet after a seven-year absence, has the Sunday night package, and it's expected to ask the league to move either the Nov. 26 Bears-New England game or the Dec. 3 Bears-Minnesota game to prime time.

New England is 6-1 and has won three of the last five Super Bowls, so its game with the Bears is one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the season. Minnesota, at 4-3, is the only team within three games of the Bears in the NFC North.

Fox, the network of the NFC, has the rights to both games, and it's not going to relinquish either of them without a fight.

The battle will be fought over the "flexible schedule" format the NFL granted NBC as part of the Sunday night package. Here's how it works, at least in theory:

In Weeks 10 through 15 and in Week 17, the NFL will designate a Sunday afternoon game that can be switched to prime time for NBC, giving the teams and their fans a minimum of 12 days advance notice. Fox and CBS, the AFC outlet, have the right to protect five games during this period.

But the setup isn't as flexible as advertised.

Without announcing it, the NFL already has earmarked certain Sunday night games for NBC. Fox, for instance, didn't have a chance to protect the Bears-New York Giants game on Nov. 12--a huge ratings draw--because the league planned to move it to prime time.

NBC could have opted for another game if the matchup did not look promising, but there's no way that's going to happen; the Bears and Giants, currently 7-0 and 5-2, respectively, will deliver huge numbers.

Another potential complication--and no one saw this coming in fairly recent Bears seasons--is a league-imposed limit on prime-time appearances. Teams are allowed five.

The Giants game will be the Bears' third, and they're guaranteed a fourth with their Dec. 11 game at St. Louis, a Monday nighter on ESPN.

Because Sunday is the only day that has flexible scheduling, NBC is left with only one more chance to grab a Bears game. The Bears-New York Jets game on Nov. 19 is off limits because Fox protected it.

But Fox didn't protect the Bears' games with New England or Minnesota. Why not? Because the league already had earmarked the Philadelphia-Indianapolis game on Nov. 26 and the Seattle-Denver game on Dec. 3 for NBC.

A few weeks ago, a matchup between Peyton Manning's Colts and Donovan McNabb's Eagles looked very enticing, and Fox didn't feel the need to waste one of its protected games on Bears-New England.

But the Eagles have lost three in a row and have fallen to 4-4. The 7-0 Colts play New England on Sunday and could suffer their first loss of the season.

Could NBC, citing the flexible-scheduling provision, go to the league and claim the Eagles-Colts game has lost its appeal and try to switch to Bears-New England? The network is certain to ask, but the shriek from Fox would make Jimmy Johnson's perfect hair stand on end.

Fox is planning to do its pregame show from New England that day and air Bears-Patriots in the 3 p.m. doubleheader slot. It's not about to let NBC have that game. Both networks declined to comment on the matter, and the NFL is being cautious with its remarks, given the possible friction involved.

Howard Katz, the league's senior vice president for media operations, demurred when asked if NBC could come in and grab an unprotected game.

"It's more complicated than that," Katz said. "We must balance the number of games we take from CBS and Fox. We also must work within the parameters of the appearance rules."

The purpose of the flexible schedule is to prevent NBC from getting stuck with unanticipated dog games late in the season. But it doesn't allow the network automatic access to the best game on a given day.

It's highly unlikely that NBC will get Bears-New England. It's too valuable a game to Fox, and Fox's 3 p.m. doubleheader slot is the highest-rated NFL telecast, including prime-time games.

It's equally unlikely that the Bears, given their appeal, will not get the maximum five games in prime time. That means the Bears-Minnesota game is the best candidate to be moved, so if you have tickets, you might start preparing to spend the evening of Dec. 3 at Soldier Field, and dress appropriately.

The league has the final say on these matters, but the lobbying from NBC and Fox will be intense. The behind-the-scenes infighting might be more suspenseful than some recent Bears games.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-0611020268nov02,1,1474016.story?coll=chi-ent_tv-hed

dad1153

11-02-06, 12:23 PM

Can Rob Lowe pull a John Stamos and resurrect his career by hitching his wagon on to a "hit" network TV show as a guest star?

The New Season
ABC gets Lowe down
Thesp joins Alphabet's 'Brothers'
Variety November 1, 2006

Rob Lowe is returning to television, joining the cast of ABC's fall hit "Brothers & Sisters" for at least six episodes.

Role -- a Republican U.S. senator from California running for re-election in the midst of a nasty divorce -- was written specifically for Lowe by exec producer Jon Robin Baitz, who penned an episode of "The West Wing" while Lowe was still a part of that skein. Scribe said that as production on "Brothers & Sisters" has progressed, the producers began looking for ways to broaden Calista Flockhart's character on the show.

Lowe's senator will be a John McCain-type Republican. He'll meet Flockhart's Kitty character via the latter's TV gabfest. A romantic relationship will ensue.

"He brings a maturity to the role on a show that's about people who are no longer kids," Baitz said. Lowe is signed on for only six episodes, but Baitz is hoping he'll end up staying full-time.

Thesp's recent credits include "Thank You for Smoking" and the upcoming "Stir of Echoes: The Dead Speak."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953128.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

dad1153

11-02-06, 12:28 PM

TV Notebook
Americans adore BBC news, certainly
So much better than the U.S. networks
By Heidi Dawley Media Life November 2, 2006

Mention BBC news to Americans, and it is almost universally praised. They see it as everything that the U.S. telvision news should be and is not: trusted, unbiased, serious-minded.

If only it were, well, a little jazzier. Or at least that was one of the findings of a recent study done by BBC World in the U.S.

The study showed that news viewers see U.S. news sources as superficial, obsessed with celebrities and too glitzy. Viewers said they wanted something more serious minded and full of substance. Sort of.

"Despite the fact that they found U.S. news superficial, they did want the BBC news to increase its style. They said to keep the substance, but increase the style," says Rufus Weston, research manager for BBC World in London. "There is definitely a tension in news viewers between what they say they want and what they actively do want."

This presents the BBC with a bit of a conundrum. "The debate here is, can you do one without the other," says Weston, who believes they can.

BBC World, which launched a channel in the U.S. back in June, decided to undertake the study in order to find out what audiences want from the BBC World so as to maximize viewership in the U.S.

The BBC believes that the increased interest in international news in the U.S. since 9/11 makes this a crucial time to build the BBC’s news presence in the U.S.

While the news channel currently is only available to 2 million New York-area homes through Cablevision, BBC World news broadcasts also run on PBS and BBC America. The BBC says that the BBC World broadcasts that run on PBS now have larger audiences than any CNN show, barring Larry King.

The recent study was done at end of September by Virginia-based pollster Frank Luntz. The researchers selected 60 folks from New York, all of whom watched either national or international news. Rather than being representative of the U.S audience overall, they represented the likely target audience of the BBC World.

The participants were split into two groups according to age and shown clips from news programs including CNN, PBS and BBC World.

When asked for the first word or phrase that came to mind to describe BBC World, the participants used four words more than any others: "credible," "serious," "trusted" and "international." The viewers, says Weston, found BBC World offered an independent, unbiased, alternative perspective.

Those surveyed also expressed dissatisfaction with the American news shows, which were most commonly described as "sensationalist," "superficial," and said to have a "narrow news agenda."

The researchers also put instant response dials on the participants to gauge their moment by moment reactions to the news programs.

From this, BBC World found that Americans weren’t keen on long introductions to the news pieces by the journalists or general reportage. Instead they preferred to get quickly to the action, particularly interviews with news-makers, quickly.

They also liked the slick graphic introductions for Katie Couric and Wolf Blitzer’s "Situation Room" and the way these shows got to the news stories quickly. The BBC World graphics, be contrast, were seen as typically British in that they undersold the product.

"If we could summarize it, we would say they want the BBC substance with more American style," says Weston. However, in general, he says, "we found that there was a genuine demand for BBC news in America."

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8293.asp

dad1153

11-02-06, 12:31 PM

The Business of TV
Teamsters join team
Union moves to bolster 'Model' scribes
Variety November 1, 2006

The Teamsters will strike the CW's "America's Next Top Model," seeking union recognition for the drivers, location managers, casting directors and others working on the reality series.
Move comes nearly four months after a dozen "Model" writers struck the show in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain coverage under the Writers Guild of America.

Teamsters Local 399 organizer Steve Dayan told Daily Variety on Wednesday that the CW and the show's producers have refused to respond to recent requests to discuss unionization. He said the strike against the show would start soon, but he would not disclose specific strategies.

"We may start tomorrow or we may start in two weeks, but they'll definitely know we're on strike against them," Dayan added. "We have to be aggressive toward this segment of the business."

The CW said it would have no comment about the Teamsters.

The Teamsters were able to obtain the first union contract last year for about 500 Hollywood and New York casting directors following an organizing campaign that lasted three years. The casting directors had been one of the few significant groups of Hollywood workers that were not unionized.

Local 399 also represents 4,000 studio drivers, location managers, location scouts and animal wranglers.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953128.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

dad1153

11-02-06, 12:36 PM

The New Season
'O.C.' Creator Promises a Liberating Season
Schwartz hopes viewers will return, final season or not
By Daniel Fienberg Zap2it November 2, 2006

Things got pretty rough in Newport Beach last year.

There were shootings and beatings and college rejections. Relationships ended, businesses collapsed, offices burnt down. Characters sought solace in alcohol, cocaine and scuzzy surfers. Characters got hit by cars, thrown from cliffs and even had to visit Albuquerque. Things got so rough that Adam Brody's Seth started smoking pot as an escape; a chemical avenue wasn't necessarily open to all viewers.

The fourth season of "The O.C." will be different, promises the show's creator, Josh Schwartz.

"I think last year decisions were made that were more inspired by ratings and so sometimes, all of a sudden, people are falling off cliffs or crashing cars or what-have-you as a way to try to, like, not get cancelled," Schwartz acknowledges. "And this year, given where we are in the schedule, worrying about ratings would be ... there's no point. That was really liberating and I think with that liberation came a sense of creative freedom."

Before that creative freedom can take hold, though, Schwartz and his writing staff have to deal with a major roadblock: When we last saw outcast hero Ryan (Ben McKenzie), he was cradling the dead body of on-again-off-again-on-again-off-again love Marissa (Mischa Barton). That's the sort of thing that puts a wet blanket on any attempted levity.

"I wanted to get the show back to an earlier place, try to get back to some of the humor and heart of the show that maybe wasn't as evident last year," Schwartz says. "Obviously that was a challenge because we were coming off this major tragedy at the end of the season and how do you do those two things simultaneously? Our guiding principle was that people grieve in very strange ways. That allowed us to start the show from an active place: How do we honor this character without it being depressing or just mopey?"

But how long can fictional characters be expected to sit shiva before it's time to get back to frolicking in the surf and casual sex?

"How do you decide?" Schwartz muses, only half-kidding. "How many episodes is the right time to grieve? I consulted my rabbi."

In truth, the magic number seems to be three. For younger viewers who were furious over Marissa's death, that may not be enough time. For older viewers, sick of Marissa's endless downward spiral, it may be too much.

"We've always had an interesting bifurcated audience in that sense," Schwartz notes. "There's the younger teenage audience and then there's the older audience that we have. People watch the show for different reasons, and I think the non-teenage audience probably felt a little alienated last year with the stories we were telling and the way we were telling them."

Schwartz approaches the new season aware that many people have already written the show's obit, particularly as it airs on Thursday nights opposite "CSI" and "Grey's Anatomy."

"Obviously, it's out there." he says. "Definitely, when you're in this time slot and you've only been ordered for 16 episodes, you're aware that that's a possibility."

Just as the possibility of a bigger episode order exists if viewers return to "The O.C.," the network has promised to warn the showrunners if cancellation is, indeed, inevitable, giving Schwartz and crew the chance to resolve things in a satisfying way. But he isn't prepared to think along those lines yet.

"I've gone Zen," he laughs. "I've surrendered to that. You can't do anything about it and every show has its own challenge ahead of it. I can't control that stuff and trying to chase that number. You start off wanting to do a good show and you end up just wanting to do a 10-share. And I think the place we've all gotten to this year is like 'Screw it. Let's just have fun and do a show that audiences will enjoy.'"

So what can Schwartz reveal about the season to come? Well, Willa Holland's Caitlin will be a new regular, as will Autumn Reeser's Taylor, who plays a major role in helping Ryan overcome his grief. Tate Donovan's Jimmy Cooper will return at some point, but the abruptly departed characters played by Chris Carmack, Amanda Righetti and Shannon Luccio will not (nor, thankfully, will Taylor Handley's Oliver). Another appearance by The Nana (Linda Lavin) seems possible. The Bait Shop is closed for good, but there will be at least one naked musical performance by guest star Chris Pratt ("Everwood"), whose initial six-episode role has already been extended. And Chrismukkah will return in a "very special" episode titled "The Chrismukk-huh?"

Schwartz just wants people to tune in.

"We're going to try to employ any-means-necessary. I'm ready to go door-to-door."

"The O.C." returns to FOX on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 9 p.m. ET.

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-schwartzocseasonfour,0,4942024.story?coll=zap-tv-mainheadline

dad1153

11-02-06, 12:40 PM

TV Notebook
The cool geek is an embraceable hero
Like his character, actor is transported by role
By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times November 2, 2006

Call it Hiro worship.

Hiro Nakamura, the gleeful comic-book geek who uttered the coolest lines in TV this fall – "Save the cheerleader, save the world" – is captivating audiences in true superhero fashion. With his childlike awe, indefatigable joy and amusing vocabulary slip-ups, Hiro – played by the equally jolly Masi Oka on NBC's Heroes –is the first male character to break out this TV season.

Is it because Hiro can teleport and travel through time? Is it his reaction to his newfound special abilities? One Internet fan summarized it simply: "Hiro's the hottest geek ever!"

NBC surely isn't asking why. The No. 1 new show among 18- to 49-year-olds, Heroes also ranks in the top 10 among all shows in that advertiser-coveted demographic.

A serial saga about people all over the world discovering they have superpowers and how this change affects them, the strength of the drama lies largely in its relatable characters. Hiro is the time- and space-bending 24-year-old office drone.

"Everything that is great about kids is inhabited in Hiro," said Mr. Oka, who finds the attention he is getting as overwhelming as Hiro finds his powers.

The character was an afterthought for creator Tim Kring, who added the Japanese-speaking Hiro after he showed his first draft of the pilot script to his wife, and she pointed out that he needed a character that embraced his powers with zeal.

"So I felt that we needed to come up with a character who rather than approaching this as an affliction, approaches it as the best thing that ever happened to him," said Mr. Kring, who also created Crossing Jordan. "The character is a real archetype of anybody who feels trapped in a life that's too small and too insignificant for what they believe they are capable of."

But Mr. Kring was quick to add that much of what is lovable about Hiro is due to Mr. Oka's own charisma and enthusiasm.

Mr. Oka, 31, has spent most of his career in comedy and loves to ad-lib. "I love collaborating and the writers have been so generous and open to let me improvise," Mr. Oka said. (He also writes the weekly Hiro's Blog for NBC.com.)

Viewers also were exposed to a different Hiro who jumped in from the future speaking perfect English, wearing a long ponytail, carrying a sword and being oh-so-serious. "Future Hiro is harder for me because my personality lends more to present-day Hiro rather than the ... sexy Hiro that is Future Hiro," Mr. Oka said during a break. "But once I got into costume and everything, I was so into the character."

Heroes

8 p.m. Mondays, NBC (Channel 5). 1 hr.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953128.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

dad1153

11-02-06, 12:49 PM

Another two-story/review post. Hey, why not? :)

TV Notebook
Hey, Kids, a Hip-Hop Star Has Savvy Advice for You
By Virginia Heffernan The New York Times November 2, 2006

Not content with merely being one of the most successful hip-hop acts of all time, OutKast turns its attention to children with “Class of 3000,” which has its premiere tomorrow night on Cartoon Network. André 3000 Benjamin, one of the OutKast duo, provides the voice for Sunny Bridges, a groovy music teacher who enlivens a performing arts school in Atlanta, which is also Mr. Benjamin’s hometown. He imparts many lessons.

“Class of 3000” is an eclectic, speedy and fun-enough cartoon that combines styles from anime, shimmying iPod ads and the merrily slapdash work of Filmation in the 1970s. (Filmation produced “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” as well as many of the cartoons based on Mattel toys.)

Of course these days Flash animation technology makes even the most commercial animation look sophisticated and gorgeous, and “Class of 3000” would have been considered an art film if it had appeared in the heyday of “Fat Albert.” Today, though, especially on the Cartoon Network, it seems like another hyperactive montage of voices and shapes.

But Mr. Benjamin, whose energizing music combines funk and crunk and every other style, knows from cacophony, and the show — for those who can follow it — is kept under control with witty, pointed dialogue and kid-friendly punch lines about, say, Clay Aiken or Big Pharma. The kids bop around getting into scrapes that require musical skills to get out of; Sunny gives them sage advice — against dramatically changing clothing styles or signing dubious record contracts, for example — that helps them along the way.

Viewers who grew up on Filmation, or haven’t looked at new television animation in even just a year, may find the tempo here hard to take. Flash has dialed up the speed of children’s television to Dexedrine pace, and what was once the most simple-minded stuff on the air is now among the most intellectually demanding as it pounds out plots, jokes and references as if with a drum machine on overdrive. This is how commercial children’s television rolls right now, and it’s worth a look for anyone who used to like “Fat Albert,” just to see how things have changed. Have a 7-year-old explain it to you.

CLASS OF 3000

Cartoon Network, tomorrow night; preshow at 7, premiere at 8, Eastern and Pacific times.

Created by André 3000 Benjamin and Thomas W. Lynch; written by Richard N. C. Portofino; supervising director, Allan Jacobsen; directed by Joe Horne; executive producers, Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Lynch; co-executive producer, Patric Verrone; supervising producer, Mr. Horne; producer, Kelly Crews; story editor, Mr. Verrone. For Cartoon Network Studios: executive producer, Brian A. Miller; supervising producer, Jennifer Pelphrey; executives in charge of production, Khaki Jones and Curtis Lelash.

VOICES BY: André 3000 Benjamin (Sunny Bridges), Small Fire (Li’l D), Phil LaMarr (Philly Phil), Jennifer Hale (Madison), Tom Kenny (Eddie), Janice Kawaye (Kim and Kam Chan), Crystal Scales (Tamika) and Jeff Glen Bennett (Principal Luna).

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/arts/television/02clas.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin
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TV Notebook
In the Land of ‘Every Vote Counts,’ Uncertainty on Whether It’s Counted Correctly
By Virginia Heffernan The New York Times November 2, 2006

Sturdy, middle-aged women who in other eras might have agitated for cloth diapers or temperance appear tonight on HBO demanding accountability by the manufacturers of insecure voting machines. One of the machines in question — the Diebold AccuVote 2000 — even has a name straight out of Marvel Comics.

“Hacking Democracy,” the documentary that has its premiere tonight, is disturbing stuff — enough that the Diebold Election Systems president, David Byrd, in a letter to the HBO chairman and chief executive Chris Albrecht, said the film was so filled with errors that HBO should not show it. An HBO spokesman has said the company stands by the work.

The film tells its cautionary tale largely through Bev Harris, a publicist and grandmother from Seattle and founder of Black Box Voting, a nonprofit consumer-protection group. Ms. Harris is not an angular avenger who could be played by Joan Allen or Sigourney Weaver; rather she brings to mind Rosie O’Donnell, or Debra Mooney from “Everwood.”

But for singleness of purpose and sheer effectiveness, Ms. Harris, who is a controversial figure among those concerned about electronic voting, has more visible citizen-crusaders — Michael Moore comes to mind — beat by a mile.

Unfortunately her cause doesn’t lend itself to beautiful filmmaking. Sure, the sight of Al Gore, frozen faced shaking the hand of George W. Bush while conceding the 2000 election recalls the nerve-racking uncertainty of that time. And the portentous voice-over labors to drum up suspense about arcane subjects, like whether the memory cards of voting machines have executable — meaning hackable — programs.

But we also see a lot of fluorescent-lighted voting booths. And the camera periodically pans across lines of computer code that say things like: “UCASE> LIKE ‘%NADIYAH% ET TotalVotes _ 5000 where = m_iPage);I pMaster, int iPage, U O); I for (int I = tes [I]; == VOTETYPE_WRITEIN :GetPickAffiliationO.”

This is minimally tantalizing. What if this stuff means “Give the election to Billy Bulger”? But to all but a chosen few, it’s incomprehensible.

Fortunately none of this undercuts the inherent drama of the documentary, which suggests, in short, that all electronic voting machines may be riggable.

“Hacking Democracy” follows Ms. Harris and her band of unmerry women (and male hackers and hangers-on) as they trudge to polling places, corporate headquarters and court hearings looking for answers. An “irregularity” — that’s computerese for blank existential terror — that shows up in Volusia County, Fla., in November 2000 energizes their cause: in that county, Mr. Gore seems to have received “-16,022” votes. A deficit. Negative votes. It doesn’t take a scientist from Stanford to explain that is just, um, bad.

A second memory card, which vanished into thin air (naturally), may have been loaded into the computer that counted the votes. That’s fraud of the highest order. Susan Bernecker, a Republican candidate for City Council in Jefferson Parish, La., in the mid-1990s, went to test the voting machines years ago. Twice, in a demo, she pressed her own name to see how it would register; twice the name of her opponent was registered in the memory of the machine. They test 15 more machines and find the same results.

Rigged voting in Louisiana? Say it ain’t so. But it’s not shocked-shocked you feel watching this; it’s genuine shock. As the drama proceeds, adducing more evidence for the unreliability of the voting machines than can possibly be explored here, you might also feel flattened. Computers count around 80 percent of votes in America. The marketing director for Diebold, Mark Radke, who defends both the company and its chief executive (a major Republican fund-raiser who once promised in a letter to “deliver the electoral votes of Ohio” to President Bush), talks in maddening doublespeak and wears the arched-eyebrow expression of a silent-movie fiend. His Nixon-era nondenial denials turn the stomach.

Watching Mr. Radke, with his old-fashioned stonewalling, finally made me realize that what upset the women in this film has very little to do with technology or corporate accountability. The reason they are worked up is that the potential failure of the machines revives, for them, associations with a great cause from a century ago: that of universal suffrage.

HACKING DEMOCRACY

HBO, tonight at 9 Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time.

Directed by Simon Ardizzone and Russell Michaels; produced by Mr. Ardizzone, Robert Carrillo Cohen and Mr. Michaels; Earl Katz, Sarah Teale and Sian Edwards, executive producers; edited by Sasha Zik. For HBO: John Hoffman, supervising producer; Sheila Nevins, executive producer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/arts/television/02hack.html?ref=television

dad1153

11-02-06, 12:54 PM

TV Notebook
Happy Diwali From 'The Office'
Mindy Kaling takes center stage in episode about Hindu festival
By Rick Porter Zap2it November 2, 2006

It's probably safe to say that Thursday's episode of "The Office" will feature a television first: No other American comedy series has ever had the Hindu festival of Diwali.

The episode is the brainchild of Mindy Kaling, an Indian-American writer and producer on the series who also plays bubbly Dunder Mifflin employee Kelly. She admits, though, that when it came time to put the celebration down on paper, she had to turn to Google.

"I was a little embarrassed with how little I knew about it," says Kaling, who grew up in Boston. "I'm Hindu, but I'm not really a practicing Hindu, so I had to do a lot of research.

"But it was good too, because I could tell [executive producer Greg Daniels] and people I work with were a little antsy about assigning the Hindu writer the Indian episode. I didn't want to feel like they pigeonholed me, but I felt like I'd done enough episodes" -- she's written four others -- "that it was okay. I was actually a little excited -- I got to learn a little bit more about my culture."

She also got to involve her family. Her parents -- mom Swati a doctor and dad Avu is an architect -- appear in the episode as Kelly's folks, who pepper her boyfriend Ryan (B.J. Novak) with questions about the couple's future. Kaling is proud of the work they did on the episode, but she says the initial experience having them on set was "mortifying."

"Of course I sort of lapsed back into that pre-teen attitude of every single thing my parents do embarrasses me," she says, laughing. "But they were great about it. They were such pros -- they had all these scenes with Steve Carell and they were completely unafraid. They got along effortlessly."

In addition to the Diwali celebration, Thursday's "Office" presses forward with a number of ongoing stories in the show. Michael (Carell) makes a decision about his relationship with sometime girlfriend Carol (Nancy Walls, Carell's real-life wife), Pam (Jenna Fischer) continues her tentative exploration of singlehood and, in the Stamford branch of Dunder Mifflin, Jim (John Krasinski) takes a stumbling step forward in his relationship with new co-worker Karen (Rashida Jones).

"This episode kind of has every single thing I love the most, in anything at all," she says. "It has romance, people getting dressed up in costumes, lots of food, smooching and making out ... and little girls making fun of B.J. Novak."

Kaling devotes a significant chunk of the "Diwali" episode to the Stamford office, which she calls the "Darren Star-type office." She says she and the other writers are enjoying playing the contrasts between the two branches this season.

"For me it's sort of like 'Upstairs, Downstairs,'" Kaling says. "Stamford is like the high-class office. It's only 30 minutes from New York, with good-looking Ed Helms and good-looking Rashida Jones and good-looking Chip [Esten, who plays Jim's new boss]."

That duality may not last too much longer -- the show has an episode called "The Merger" coming up in a couple of weeks, and the episode description NBC provides makes no secret of the fact that the two branches are combining in some way. That could, however, open up a whole new set of possible stories, and for Kelly, fresh avenues of office gossip.

"I love Kelly because she's one of the few people in the office who really loves it," Kaling says. "I think especially in the first season, it was a trial coming to work for everyone. The only reason Jim and Pam came was for each other. Kelly, I think, really loves the office and thinks of it as like this fun, sexy place where she can flirt with her boyfriend and have drama."

Kaling isn't sure, though, whether Kelly and Ryan's already tenuous coupling will last much longer. "I love the way it is now, where she's so unaware" that Ryan is only half-heartedly committed (if that) to their relationship. "You know what it'll be? It'll be her becoming obsessed with someone new. I think that will be it. Right now she's in sort of a blissful other place."

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-mindykalingtheofficediwali,0,699575.story?coll=zap-tv-headlines

dad1153

11-02-06, 01:05 PM

The Business of TV
Verizon Files to Offer TV in Garden State
By Todd Spangler Multichannel News November 2, 2006

Verizon Communications said Thursday that it expects to file the first application for a video franchise in New Jersey under the state's newly enacted video-franchise law.

The company said if New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities approves its application, it expects to begin offering television service to some communities in the state as soon as the second half of December.

In its initial filing, Verizon is seeking authorization to offer its Verizon FiOS TV service in 316 communities in New Jersey, covering 2.1 million households. The company said that represents 70% of the homes in the state.

"We will soon serve more communities in New Jersey than any of the current cable-TV operators have served in the past three-and-a-half decades," Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey, said in a prepared statement.

Earlier this week, Verizon reported having 118,000 FiOS TV customers as of Sept. 30, more than doubling its subscribers (www.multichannel.com/article/CA6386511.html).

Verizon currently offers the service in seven states: California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Virginia. The company said it has secured rights in nine states covering 3 million households in 200 markets; New Jersey would be the 10th. The two states where Verizon has franchises but hasn't launched yet are Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Separately Thursday, Verizon said it began offering FiOS TV service to consumers in parts of the Lee Hill district of Spotsylvania County, Va.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6387733.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

11-02-06, 01:10 PM

TV Notebook
America's our most wanted
'Ugly Betty' Star Draws In Lots of Young Viewers
By Doug Elfman Chicago Suntimes November 2, 2006

America's big new TV star, America Ferrera, relates to her role in "Ugly Betty" -- the awkward, sweet, chubby nerd in braces.

"In high school, you stand up and you've got gum stuck to your pants. You're in third grade, and you peed in your seat. A couple of times I did that," Ferrera, 22, says and laughs. "I was a late bloomer. I didn't have so much control over my bladder."

Even before "Ugly Betty" debuted, some in the media were speculating the comedy-drama could prosper because it is network TV's only title with a Hispanic woman in the central role. It also had the fortune of being based on a popular Colombian telenovela, which was said to be an enticement for this nation's growing Hispanic population.

But "Betty" is not a niche hit. The Thursday favorite is the fall's top-rated new series. Along with NBC's "Heroes," "Betty" has cracked the Top 20 list of programs recognized for snaring young viewers.

The success of "Betty" comes in covering the basics. It's the story of a budding woman working at a fashion magazine and getting along with her dad and family. It's well-written (partially by first-generation Americans), it's deeply acted and it's directed cinematically.
Then there's the star named America. ("In Latin America, it's not as uncommon a name," she says.) By Hollywood standards, she's not the sex symbol her boss, producer Salma Hayek, is.

Off camera, Ferrera looks drastically better. But while looking for work over the years, she's gone through the same visual rejections Betty has.

"It's very heartbreaking when you're not given the shot to show who you are on the inside," Ferrera says. "As an actress, you don't even get the chance to be rejected. They look at your 8-by-10, and you're not what they want on the outside."

This makes Ferrera's ascension even more remarkable. The tall glam she lacks has kept her from winning roles. But her memorable face and skills helped her land the lead in the 2002 film "Real Women Have Curves" and the role of Betty.

Hayek, 40, says she was insistent on hiring her. Ferrera didn't want to take the part if Betty was going to be treated as truly ugly.

"But when they explained the character to me, they had already fallen in love with her, and I fell in love with her," Ferrera says. "All of her beauty is in the inside, and you have to sit and watch to see her beauty. It's not what we want: instant gratification."

Ferrera grew up in Southern California. She has never visited the home of her heritage, though she would like to: "I'm a Honduran, and I've never stepped on Honduran [soil]."

Guys she liked never paid attention to her as a kid, she says with a smile. At home, she watched repeats of "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley" and "I Love Lucy."

"There weren't that many Latino faces" on TV, she says. "But I also grew up as an American. I grew up in the Valley. So I didn't feel any different from the children I went to school with, other than the fact that at home, I had a different culture."

At its base, "Ugly Betty" is just a TV show. But Ferrera says it can give viewers the feeling they are not alone.

"I can't go out there and save the world, but if I can look at the child next to me and make them feel alive and like they are not invisible for a second, that feels like a real reward."

Producer Hayek stresses inner beauty

The underlying message of "Ugly Betty" is that beauty goes beyond skin deep. This is an interesting notion propelled by producer Salma Hayek, a sex symbol. But she claims she herself rarely gussies up or thinks about her looks.

"Because I have so many interests in life, I don't spend as much time evaluating whether I feel pretty," she says.

(Easy for her to say.)

"My mind is so focused on so many other things, I don't think, 'How do I look?' so much."

And then she says this: "Not that I couldn't use making myself look prettier."

Uh-huh. Right.

Hayek makes guest appearances tonight on "Betty" and through the rest of November. This is her first splash there since the series made its debut, when she played an actress in a telenovela that Betty's family watched on television.

Hayek sometimes gets emotional talking about America Ferrera. She worked hard to get Ferrera cast as the lead, both actresses say.

"She is 22, and she is so smart, and so talented, and so professional," Hayek says, almost to the point of tears. "America needs America."

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/elfman/120961,CST-FTR-ELF02.article

dad1153

11-02-06, 01:20 PM

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read this post before watching last night's Lost, or you'll learn that... that... sniff... excuse me...
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TV Notebook
Lostwatch: Subterranean Ben's Sick Blues
From James Poniewozik's TIME Tuned In Blog Nov. 2, 2006

Almost since Lost began, fans have whined and complained that the deaths on the series have been convenient and wussified--targeting less-popular, peripheral characters (Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby) or threatening, then stepping away from, first-tier castaways (the teasing almost-death of Charlie). If the producers had guts, fans said, Sopranos-style, they'd whack somebody really cool.

Well, are you happy, people? I said, ARE YOU HAPPY? Last night, your wish cost Mr. Eko--the badass, soulful, conflicted, stick-wielding druglord-cum-priest--his life. You got your pound of flesh, or, by the looks of him, about 250 lbs., actually. It was probably the best, most moving episode yet of season 3, although Eko's termination will be clouded by the fact that--like earlier casualties Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros--Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was recently arrested for a traffic violation. I doubt the producers care about that, though; more likely, Mr. Eko had run out of backstory and outlived his usefulness as Locke 2.0, and thus the smoke monster swept him up like the mailed fists of Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.

Speaking of which, grief aside, how cool was that death scene? Not because Eko died, but because of how the episode teased us about the nature of the smoke monster. As in Eko's first sighting of it, he was alone every time it appeared; then we learned that, when Locke had seen the monster, he saw not a column of smoke but a bright light. All this seemed to indicate that the smoke monster was not a physical presence at all, but some kind of figment--until said figment picked Eko 50 feet in the air and smashed him on the ground. Who's the external manifestation of the character's inner struggle now, sucka?

The tradeoff? It looks like in exchange for one rough-hewn, fascinating Eko, we get a pair of new, blandly pretty castaways, Nikki and Paulo, who tagged along on this week's island adventure. Their appearance has been a subject of controversy in the Tuned In household. Mrs. Tuned In, representing what seems to be a growing consensus among Lost fans, thinks their introduction has been distractingly hamhanded and phony. I--probably desperate to make excuses for the show--think their introduction has been so hamhanded and phony that it's funny; the producers seem to be having fun with acknowledging the TV-ness of having 40-some survivors on the island, 30 or so of whom we know nothing about, even though the main characters must. It reminds me of the season Buffy the Vampire Slayer suddenly introduced Buffy's sister Dawn and had the characters act as though she'd been there all along. Of course, Buffy had a supernatural explanation for the twist: the new Lost characters are not, like Dawn, the magically created Key for anything, except for the need for new blood in the cast. (As if anyone has ever said, "You know what the problem with Lost is? Too few characters!")

OK, fine: Mrs. Tuned In is right, I'm wrong. Spare me the e-mails.

After all this, though, I suspect the most important thing about the episode was what we learned about the Others. I had to love the scene in which Juliet snuck Jack the video in which, with the mute button on and, using title cards a la Bob Dylan in the Subterranean Homesick Blues video, begged him to off Benry on behalf of a rebellious group of Others. More intriguing in the larger scheme, though, is another issue that, at first, looks like a plot misstep but probably holds a key to the Others and their beliefs.

Haven't you wondered why, if Benry is so desperate to have Jack operate on his deadly tumor, he doesn't just coerce his prisoner? It'd be easy enough, after all, to point a gun at Jack's head, or better yet, to Kate's, to get him to co-operate. Instead, however, Benry tells Jack that there was an elaborate plan to brainwash him into sympathy. "I want you to want to save my life," Benry says--if we can believe him, and in this case I think we have to, since if the Others had wanted to threaten Jack, they'd have done so long ago.

Why is volition so important to the Others? It seems Benry doesn't just want Jack to want to help: he needs him to want to. Whatever The Others' core beliefs are, free will must be a cornerstone of them: Juliet referred to free will in the season opener, and again in her cover speech to Jack last night. Of course, there are good TV reasons for the Others to believe they need Jack and company to convert of their own free will--that provides the excuse for their baroque and entertaining psych games. But it also, after five episodes, may provide the essential chink in the Others' armor that the castaways can exploit: something in their self-conceptualization as "the good guys" means that they must achieve their goals by persuasion, not force, even, it appears, at risk to Benry's life.

"I want you to want me / I need you to need me." Could this be the key to the Cheap Trick (sorry) that will buy Jack and company their freedom?

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/

shuttermaker

11-02-06, 01:24 PM

If Rutgers beats both #5 Louisville next Thursday and #3 West Virginia on 12/2 to finish 12-0 then they would move right up their from their #15 ranking. Still, this whole BCS thing is a joke.

True, "IF", and that a big if IMO, they beat both teams they will move up. But, so will every other winning team that is ranked ahead of them. In your scenario, i can only see them cracking the top 10 in the BCS.

And yes, the BCS is a joke. Only a true playoff system will satisfy me.

dad1153

11-02-06, 01:25 PM

TV Notebook
'Simpsons' spooktacular ends on a political note
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette November 2, 2006

Fox persists in airing annual "Simpsons" Halloween episodes after the holiday, but regardless of poor timing, these spooktaculars have become an annual event for fans, always eager to see what trilogy the writers will concoct.

This year's "Treehouse of Horror XVII" begins well, but diminishes as it goes along until the final installment turns into a didactic downer commentary on the U.S. presence in Iraq.

In the best, first story, "Married to the Blob," Homer eats an alien slimeball that crashes to Earth and finds himself consuming everything else in his path, including teenagers who engage in a barbecue sauce fight (maybe they were asking for it), the cast of a "Facts of Life" reunion tour and Dr. Phil McGraw.

The story doesn't so much have an ending as it just stops, but it still offers this best line of the half-hour: "If I can keep down Arby's, I can keep down you!" Homer says to someone he's about to consume.

The second, Krusty the Clown-themed installment, is occasionally amusing (Bart gains control of Krusty's Golem, a creature from Jewish folklore voiced by Richard Lewis), as is the third, Great Depression-set story, "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid," until its conclusion.

At the end of this final short, aliens Kang and Kodos lay siege to the Earth. After three years Springfield lies in ruins and the two aliens have this exchange:

"You said we'd be greeted as liberators!" Kang says. "I'm starting to think an enduring occupation was a bad idea."

It continues with one of the aliens finally concluding, "This sure is a lot like Iraq."

I take no issue with "The Simpsons" getting political, but this bit is too on the nose and is more sad than funny.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06306/734701-237.stm

dad1153

11-02-06, 01:27 PM

Ratings
Fox News ratings take a steep tumble
Its audience is down 24 percent from a year ago
By Kevin Downe Media Life Magazine November 2, 2006

October was the 10th anniversary of Fox News, and in that 10 years it has risen to the No. 1 cable news network, riding on the tagline "Fair and Balanced." Yet Fox News is showing serious signs of aging, led by steep audience declines.

Fox News’s total audience fell 24 percent in the past year, to 1.3 million viewers from 1.7 million, and its key primetime audience, viewers ages 25-54, was down 7 percent in October on a year-to-year basis, to an average 363,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

In third quarter, Fox News suffered a 38 percent decline in 25-54s, to 409,000. In second quarter, that audience was down 22 percent and in first quarter it slid 28 percent. It is still No. 1 by a long shot.

Fox attributes the 2006 declines to a soft news year compared to 2005, which saw audiences shoot up during events like Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami and the death of Pope John Paul II.

Bill Shine, senior vice president of programming at Fox News, tells Media Life: "The numbers that everybody goes by are year-to-year numbers, and 2005 was an incredible year for news compared to 2006."

But Fox's problems go deeper than that. If it was just the dearth of big stories this year, all the other cable networks would be down as well. Two were actually up in October.

CNN has also been down steeply this year in total viewers and 25-54s but not as much as Fox, and in October its 25-54 primetime audience was essentially flat at down 1 percent.

And both Headline News and MSNBC were actually up in that demo last month, by 18 percent and 19 percent.

Fox appears to be suffering from other ills, and one is a reluctance to tinker with what's worked over the past decade. It has done little to change its look and feel, and at a time when its competitors have been busy trying out new ideas and talents and freshening up their formats. That would certainly explain the notable growth of both MSNBC and Headline News.

But Fox News's bigger problem may well stem directly from the political turmoil facing the nation as it enters the voting booth for next week's midterm elections, say analysts.

As the network most identified with conservative America and in particular the Bush White House, Fox News is suffering the most from the disenchantment among conservatives over the war and the political scandals.

The news formula that worked for so long is now working against it, they say, as fewer of those disenchanted viewers bother to tune in to watch the news.

“What Fox did so brilliantly was assess both the political and cultural realities of the times when it came on, and then designed a service that perfectly fit a certain niche,” says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.

“The problem with coming up with a perfect niche that is perfect for the time is that time and culture change. Potentially, you end up positioned with an identity that no longer reflects the reality of the times.”

Judy Daubenmier of News Hounds, a web site often critical of Fox News, agrees.

“Fox News has tied itself so closely to George Bush that when his approval ratings go down people don’t want to hear about him, so they don’t want to watch Fox News,” she says.

Jill Olmsted, associate professor of journalism at American University in Washington D.C., thinks viewers have grown tired of Fox’s adamantly pro-Bush rhetoric.

“This could be a backlash,” she says. “We don’t know what’s going to happen on Election Day, but indications are that people are tired of the partisanship and went to get on a more neutral, let's-get-along agenda.”

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8294.asp

dad1153

11-02-06, 01:36 PM

Fox News ratings take a steep tumble
Its audience is down 24 percent from a year ago

And on that bit of good news (wink, wink) I have to say goodbye to this thread for a few days myself. Fredfa should be back any moment now though, so things will be back to normal soon... I hope. Last night (11/1) I had to go to a hospital Emergency Room here in NYC because of an acute case of gastrointestinal acid and dehydration. Had to spend the night at the ER (my first time ever) and had to pay almost $1,000 out of pocket for the stay (don't have any medical insurance). Got back home around 11AM ET (which is why there were no postings from me on this thread last night or this morning) and I'm currently taking medication to calm down a freaking sky-high fever and my still-upset stomach. Hopefully I can also sleep, something the stomach pain kept me from doing all night long. So I won't have the time, stamina or will to post anything for the next couple of days. At least now I have a newfound appreciation for TV shows like 'ER' and 'Scrubs' that I lacked before! :rolleyes:

Please click on the previous page (#585) for a dozen or so postings I just added a couple of hours ago that you may have missed. Thanks for keeping the thread active and please forgive my lame attempts to step in and fill Fredfa's shoes! :(

HDTVChallenged

11-02-06, 02:01 PM

Had to spend the night at the ER (my first time ever) and had to pay almost $1,000 out of pocket for the stay (don't have any medical insurance).

Bummer man ... OTOH, you're probably coming out ahead (for now) vs. the $273/mo I pay to my swindlers ... Deus forbid I should ever actually get sick ... :eek:

dad1153

11-02-06, 02:13 PM

That's how bad the freaking stomach aches and acid attacks (combined with the dehydration that came as a total shock to me) were. I knew I'd be out a grand but the thought of the nurses sedating me so the pain wouldn't be so intense (which they did) versus staying awake another minute experiencing so much pain made the $1,000 seem like a bargain. Oh well, there goes my PS3 money until 2007! :(

Jediphish

11-02-06, 02:19 PM

Bummer man ... OTOH, you're probably coming out ahead (for now) vs. the $273/mo I pay to my swindlers ... Deus forbid I should ever actually get sick ... :eek:

Insurance premiums are low compared to what you might spend if you really get sick. Like taxes, insurance is something everyone should pay for first, before they can even touch the rest of their income. Most will never get a ROI on their insurance premiums, but for those who do, it's a very real and necessary benefit.

posg

11-02-06, 02:47 PM

I missed something.

Who is "dad1153" and where is "fredfa"???

posg

11-02-06, 02:50 PM

I missed something.

Who is "dad1153" and where is "fredfa"???

Never mind. I found my answer.

HDTVChallenged

11-02-06, 03:02 PM

Most will never get a ROI on their insurance premiums, ...

LOL ... hence my use of the term "swindlers." :D

shuttermaker

11-02-06, 03:04 PM

Overnights

CBS's 'Criminal
Minds' slips by 'Lost'

Brings in 16.7 million viewers to 16.1 million

By Toni Fitzgerald
Nov 2, 2006

Last night ABC’s hit show “Lost” killed off a series regular in a heavily publicized pre-sweeps twist. But even that shocker couldn’t stop CBS’s rapidly gaining “Criminal Minds” from finally pulling ahead in total viewers after weeks of nipping at “Lost’s” heels.

“Minds” averaged 16.7 million total viewers last night to “Lost’s” 16.1 million in their shared 9 p.m. timeslot, according to Nielsen overnights. Though “Lost” was still the easy winner among adults 18-49, with a 6.6 average last night, “Minds” is also closing the gap there. It averaged a 4.9 last night, up 11 percent over last week’s 4.4. “Lost” was down slightly from last week’s 6.9.

“Minds” has been growing ever since its September debut, when it had two weeks to hook viewers before “Lost” returned in October. The latter, though still a top-five show among 18-49s, is also down from last year while “Minds” is up.

The past few weeks fewer than 1 million total viewers have separated the two shows.

What will be interesting is what happens in November and December, as “Lost” goes on a preplanned hiatus until winter and new Taye Diggs show “Day Break” pops into the 9 p.m. slot.

“Lost” will end its mini-season next week, with “Break” premiering the week after. ABC planned the break so that when “Lost” returns it will run original episodes through May without the repeats that viewers have complained loudly about over the past two seasons.

“Minds” will surely benefit from that decision. But come next year, both shows will likely be facing Fox’s mighty “American Idol” in the timeslot.

For now, the other networks are an afterthought in the timeslot. Last night Fox premiered a new game show opposite “Minds” and “Lost,” and it was a big disappointment. “The Rich List” averaged a dismal 1.5 in 18-49s, the worst premiere for any new show on the Big Four this season.

It wasn’t the only show dipping below the deadly 2.0 mark. Both of NBC’s new Wednesday comedies slipped under 2.0 for the first time, weeks before “30 Rock” relocates to a new timeslot and “Twenty Good Years” leaves the schedule, perhaps for good.

ABC still managed to win the night thanks to “Dancing with the Stars” and “Lost,” averaging a 4.7 rating and 13 share. CBS was second at 4.4/12, followed by NBC at 2.6/7, Fox at 2.1/5, and Univision and the CW both at 1.6/4.

At 8 p.m., ABC led with a 4.9 for “Stars,” followed by a 3.1 for CBS’s “Jericho,” a 2.7 for Fox’s “Bones,” a 2.1 for CW’s “America’s Next Top Model,” a 1.9 for Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella,” and a 1.6 for NBC’s “Rock” (1.8) and “Years” (1.5).

At 9 p.m., “Lost” led with a 6.6, followed by “Minds” at 4.9, NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” at 3.3, Univision’s “Mundo de Fieras” at 1.9, Fox’s “List” at 1.5, and CW’s “One Tree Hill” at 1.2.

At 10 p.m., CBS’s “CSI: NY” led with a 5.3, followed by NBC’s “Dateline” at 2.7, ABC’s “The Nine” at a series-low 2.6, and Univision’s “Don Francisco Presenta” at 1.2.

Among households, CBS led with a 9.1/14, followed by ABC at 9.0/14, NBC at 4.4/7, Fox at 3.7/6, the CW at 2.3/4, and Univision at 2.1/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8319.asp

Marcus Carr

11-02-06, 03:11 PM

TNT NBA Ratings Soar

By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/2/2006 1:15:00 PM

The National Basketball Association continues its gradual resurgence as a television property on the heels of a strong opening night double-header Tuesday night on TNT.

The two games averaged a 1.7 rating and 1.925 million households, up 38% and 41% respectively over last season’s opening doubleheader on the network. The solid numbers came despite the fact the first game was a 108-66 blowout by the Chicago Bulls over the Miami Heat and the second game featured the Los Angeles Lakers playing without major attraction Kobe Bryant.

Tuesday was TNT’s best opening-night numbers since 2003-2004.

The night also marked the long-awaited return to the studio of Ernie Johnson, Jr., the long-time face of Turner Sports, who is battling cancer. Johnson sported a new bald look as a result of treatments, and was the subject of a reel of good-natured messages from top NBA stars like Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant, many of whom commented on Johnson’s new look as they welcomed him back to the studio.

http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6387808.html?display=Breaking+News

mbarloewen

11-02-06, 04:05 PM

Thanks for keeping the thread active and please forgive my lame attempts to step in and fill Fredfa's shoes! :(

Thank you very much for your hard work over the last few days.

Well done

dad1153

11-02-06, 04:08 PM

Thanks for keeping the thread active and please forgive my lame attempts to step in and fill Fredfa's shoes!

Thank you very much for your hard work over the last few days.

Well done

Thanks! :)

DrDon

11-02-06, 04:11 PM

I second that! (from someone who was hit by the salmonella mess, this week, too)

Good job. And appreciated.

Doc

dad1153

11-02-06, 07:57 PM

The Business of TV
Mediacom-Sinclair Spat Heats Up
By Linda Moss Multichannel News November 2, 2006

The retransmission-consent dispute between Mediacom Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group is ratcheting up (www.multichannel.com/article/CA6387051.html), with the TV-station owner expanding its offer to hand out rebates to cable subscribers who switch over to DirecTV.

Sinclair has already been telling Mediacom customers in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that they can get $150 rebates for moving over to direct-broadcast satellite by Dec. 1. That’s when the cable operator will lose carriage of the broadcaster’s stations in those cities -- namely Fox affiliate KDSM in Des Moines and CBS affiliate KGAN in Cedar Rapids.

And Friday, Sinclair plans to extend a similar offer -- this one for a $100 rebate -- to Mediacom subscribers in a number of the just over one-dozen other markets where the broadcaster’s stations are going to be pulled off cable, Sinclair general counsel Barry Faber said Thursday.

Exactly which of those other markets -- which range from Mobile, Ala., to Nashville, Tenn., and St. Louis -- Sinclair will extend the $100 rebate to was being finalized.

For the $150 rebates in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Mediacom subscribers will get $10 off their DirecTV bills for 15 months. In the other markets impacted by the retransmission-consent squabble, Mediacom subscribers can get their $100 rebates in the form of $10 credits on their DirecTV bills for 10 months, according to Faber.

Mediacom claimed that Sinclair is seeking “millions of dollars” in payments in order to continue carrying the broadcaster’s stations.

During their third-quarter conference calls this week, officials at Mediacom and Sinclair both talked with analysts about their retransmission-consent battle. Roughly 800,000 of Mediacom’s 1.4 million subscribers could lose stations owned by Sinclair, with the cable operator already notifying these customers that they may not be getting those stations come Dec. 1.

During its call Wednesday, Sinclair executives used fiery language when discussing their dispute with Mediacom and the cable operator’s attempts to get the courts and Federal Communications Commission to intervene.

“I think it’s unfortunate that a big company like Mediacom, as big as they are, has chosen to essentially walk away from the negotiating table to attempt to use the federal court as an arbitrator to solve their problems for them,” Sinclair CEO David Smith said.

Sinclair also announced Thursday that the Federal Appeals Court for the Eighth Circuit will not rule on Mediacom’s request for an injunction against Sinclair until well after the Dec. 1 deadline for the removal of Sinclair’s stations from Mediacom’s systems.

According to a scheduling order released by the court, it contemplates briefs being filed as late as Jan. 24.

During Mediacom’s call Thursday, chairman Rocco Commisso said Sinclair broke off negotiations Sept. 28.

Smith, noting that Mediacom subscribers will be losing popular programming like House, also told analysts during his call, “People are just not going to sit still for that.” He claimed that Mediacom officials are “setting themselves up for all kinds of horrendous public-relations issues.”

On Tuesday, Mediacom filed an emergency retransmission-consent complaint with the FCC asking the agency to intercede and force Sinclair to negotiate in good faith.

And last week, a U.S. District Court judge refused to issue an injunction to stop Sinclair from pulling its stations from Mediacom. The cable operator is still proceeding with the antitrust suit it filed against Sinclair.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6387901.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:04 PM

The New Season
More 'Studio 60' scripts are ordered
Los Angeles Times November 2, 2006

NBC continues to stand behind Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" in the wake of continuing speculation that disappointing ratings threaten to knock one of its flagship new fall shows off the air.

The latest round of rumors followed a weekend report from a Fox News Web site that said the highly promoted and expensive series faced "imminent" cancellation.

Not true, said NBC officials, who ordered three more scripts for the series last week and are expected to decide soon whether to produce more episodes for the spring.

"I'm sitting here right now with some very good television shows that I think have a lot of promise that need to be nurtured a little bit," said NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly in reference to "Studio 60," "30 Rock" and "Friday Night Lights." "I'm pulling for these shows and I'm trying to figure out what's the midseason schedule that can give them a chance, because I really believe some of these can really grow into bigger commercial assets."

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/1102studio601102.html

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:18 PM

The New Season
ABC Hits the Demographic Sweet Spot
Lisa de Moraes' Washington PostTV Column Nov. 1, 2006

CBS won the ratings race for the sixth consecutive week of the new TV season. But ABC clocked its sixth consecutive week ranked No. 1 among the 18-to-49-year-olds advertisers target, even though "Grey's Anatomy" was a repeat and "Monday Night Football" is now on ABC's cable cousin ESPN. It's been nearly 30 years since ABC got off to such a strong start, then with top-ranked, young-skewing shows such as "Laverne & Shirley," "Happy Days," "Three's Company" and, of course, "Charlie's Angels" -- the Golden Age of television.

Here's a look at the week's home runs and strikeouts:

WINNERS

"Criminal Minds." Mandy Patinkin's CBS crime drama keeps creeping up on ABC's "Lost" Wednesdays at 9. Though "Lost" (17.1 million viewers) scored its biggest audience since its season debut, "Criminal Minds" logged its biggest audience ever (16.8 million viewers) for a regularly scheduled (a.k.a. not Thursday night) episode. And, by the second half-hour, "CM" was ahead of "Lost" for the third time in three weeks.

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." NBC has ordered three more scripts on its struggling Monday night drama, contradicting multiple news reports saying the show had been canceled -- all of which cited the same source: Fox News Channel's Web site. The FNC report is hooey, Warner Bros. TV President Peter Roth told The TV Column at Monday's Museum of TV & Radio bash in Beverly Hills. Still, ordering three more scripts is not the same as ordering, say, three more actual episodes.

"The Nine," "Help Me Help You," "Men in Trees." The three ABC freshman series each received an order for four more scripts, which in some circles is called "damning with faint praise." Ordering four more episodes -- that's more like it.

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Nearly 2 million kids found the 40th-anniversary broadcast of this holiday special, which ABC had buried on Friday night, making it the week's most watched broadcast TV program with the younger set.

"Ugly Betty." CBS gallantly handed "Ugly Betty" her first-ever time slot win by running a "Survivor" clip show on Thursday.

LOSERS

"World Series." Armed with three games of the World Series -- albeit a St. Louis Cardinals three-game sweep that resulted in the Series's smallest average audience on record (fewer than 16 million viewers) for a second straight season -- Fox finished the week in fourth place among the younger viewers it chases and third among viewers of all ages. Fox, accordingly, signed up to carry the World Series for seven more years. Go figure.

"CBS Evening News." Anchor Katie Couric scored a hot interview Thursday with Michael J. Fox after radio bloviator Rush Limbaugh accused the actor of exaggerating symptoms of Parkinson's disease or not taking his meds when he taped a campaign ad for a Democratic candidate. But Katie's "get" didn't move the needle. Thursday's broadcast averaged 7.4 million viewers, compared with the show's weekly average audience of 7.3 million -- which, by the way, is the same size crowd former anchor Bob Schieffer clocked same week last year. It was well behind both ABC (8.4 million) and NBC (8.9 million) evening news averages. That said, both ABC and NBC are down compared with the same week last year.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: ABC's "Desperate Housewives," "Dancing With the Stars" and "Dancing" results show; CBS's "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: NY"; NBC's Sunday night football; ABC's "Lost"; and CBS's "CSI," "Criminal Minds" and "60 Minutes."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/31/AR2006103101199.html

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:23 PM

The Business of TV
CBS Corp. Earnings Up 26 Percent for Q3
By Michelle Greppi TV Week November 2, 2006

"CBS Corporation is right on track," CBS Corp. Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone said Thursday as CBS Corp. announced a third-quarter performance that included a 26 percent earnings increase from its continuing businesses.

Net earnings fell dramatically to $316.9 million, or 41 cents per share, compared with $708.5 million the year before, when CBS Corp. was still reporting as part of Viacom Inc.

Radio continued to be a weak spot, with revenues dropping to $508.1 million for the quarter from $542 million the year before.

TV division revenues remained relatively stable at $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared with $2.16 billion the year before. That was in spite of a 3 percent drop in ad revenues (which the company attributed largely to the shutdown of UPN at the end of summer) and a 35 percent drop in home entertainment revenues (attributed to having gone from self-distribution to third-party distribution).

The launch of The CW with Warner Bros. Entertainment, to replace The WB and UPN, was considered an equity investment in the third quarter.

"CSI: Miami" syndication sales helped push licensing fees up 7 percent year to year. Increases in Showtime subscribers and affiliate rates helped nudge the television division's affiliate fees up 6 percent year to year.

"This was another strong quarter, posting solid profit increases in television and outdoor, generating significant free cash flow and delivering the third of three dividend increases since the start of the year," Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp. president and CEO, said.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11003

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:32 PM

TV Notebook
Showtime Gives Dexter Another Season
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable November 2, 2006

Showtime ordered a second season of new drama Dexter. Production on 12 new episodes is set to begin next spring for a 2007 premiere on the pay cable network.

Dexter, which stars Michael C. Hall, follows a Miami forensics expert who leads a secret life as a serial killer. The show premiered to a solid 603,000 viewers on Sun., Oct. 1 at 10 p.m. and brought in 443,000 to the repeat at 11 p.m., bringing the show's total to 1.04 million viewers. Those were Showtime's best numbers since its Fat Actress debut in March 2005.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6388062.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:35 PM

The New Season
Fall '06 Becomes the Season of the Non-Continuing Drama
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post November 2, 2006

Serialized dramas -- maybe you're just not that into them.

Most recently, NBC has sent its new serialized drama "Kidnapped" to join CBS's "Smith" and CW's "Runaway" at the Freshman Serialized Drama Rainbow Bridge.

NBC is replacing "Kidnapped" on Saturdays with reruns of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" -- a good old-fashioned legal drama in which the bad guy is apprehended and at least given a good tongue lashing by the end of each episode.

NBC originally scheduled "Kidnapped," with an all-star cast that included Jeremy Sisto, Timothy Hutton, Dana Delany and Delroy Lindo, on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. It averaged just 6.4 million viewers there.

"Love the show, but that's not a Wednesday-size audience -- that's a Saturday-size audience," NBC suits said.

So "Kidnapped" was moved to Saturday night at 9 and, because all the networks feel about original scripted programming on Saturday the way NBC feels about scripted programming at 8 p.m. any night of the week -- not good -- the network cut the series's prospects from a 22-episode order to the reality of a lucky 13.

"Kidnapped" aired twice on Saturday. This past weekend, it averaged 3.7 million viewers.

O"Love the show, but that's not a Saturday-size audience -- that's a dot-com-size audience," NBC suits said.

That's where remaining "Kidnapped" episodes are headed. Dot com is also where CBS plans to run unaired episodes of "Smith." The network aired only three episodes of Ray Liotta's a-thief-who-kills-people-and-there's-no-one-to-root-for drama.

The outlook for the many of this fall's new serialized dramas is not good. ABC's "Six Degrees" isn't working; ditto its "The Nine." And Fox's "Vanished" appears to be on its way soon to join "Smith," "Runaway" and "Kidnapped" in the Great Freshman Serialized Drama Hereafter.

So, this was going to be the Year of the Serialized Drama. What gives with you people? Why aren't you watching?

You've caused considerable hand-wringing among the Reporters Who Cover Television, because they hate to see a good trend story go south and, besides, they generally liked the new crop of serialized shows on the fall lineup. There was some mention among the reporters of viewers not having enough time to commit to another series requiring such a commitment. But if you mention how many people are making time to watch "1 vs. 100" this fall, that shuts them up.

And, of course, some of the new serialized dramas are doing well, most notably ABC's "Ugly Betty" and NBC's "Heroes," the two most-watched new shows of the season. "Heroes" also is the No. 3-ranked show, new or returning, among 18-to-34-year-olds, behind only ABC hits "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives." "

"Jericho" also is improving CBS's fortunes at 8 on Wednesdays, helping to catapult "Criminal Minds," the show that follows at 9, to within spitting distance of ABC's "Lost."

ABC's "Brothers and Sisters" is doing well on Sundays, though some argue that the ensemble series is actually a character drama and doesn't belong in the discussion -- nor does "Ugly Betty," which is actually a prime-time soap.

"It's about originality more than anything else -- clarity and originality," one TV exec who did not want to be named because he is close to the situation told The TV Column.

"What's 'The Nine' about? I still don't know what 'The Nine' is about. And 'Six Degrees' is ambiguous, while 'Kidnapped' is 'Without a Trace.' 'Smith' has been done -- there have been two shows like that in the last two years," he noted. "There's nothing new under the sun" with the new serialized dramas that have failed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110103406.html

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:40 PM

The New Season
VH1 tunes shows on music
Six new prime-time series in works
By Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter November 2, 2006

Irv Gotti's attempt at a comeback and five former boy-band members looking for a second shot at success are among the subjects of six new series greenlighted by VH1 that are set to premiere next year as part of a new music-branded block of programming dubbed "VH1's Wild Life."

Other series in the prime-time block, set to launch in the first quarter, will revolve around finding the "next great white rapper" and Cisco Adler's band White-starr, which is looking to sell its first record.

The new series are:

•Untitled Irv Gotti project: After being under federal investigation for three years, Mr. Gotti attempts a comeback with his label, the Inc, while also struggling as a husband and father.

•Man Band: Former boy-band members including Bryan Abrams (Color Me Badd), Rich Cronin (LFO), Chris Kirkpatrick ('N Sync) and Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees) will live together while creating new music and a new stage show.

•ego trip's White Rapper Show: Hosted by Michael "MC Serch" Berrin of the group 3rd Bass and producer Prince Paul, this series will feature 10 contestants competing to become the "next great white rapper."

•Untitled Whitestarr project: Described as a "comedic romp," this series follows rock group Whitestarr as it seeks success.

•Bridging the Gap: Two established artists collaborate to create a new track. The first episode will feature Eve and Queen Latifah.

•Rags to Riches: A musician or actor takes viewers on a journey from his or her humble beginnings through stardom.

http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/television/stories/DN-vh1_1102gl.ART.State.Edition1.3f12207.html

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:44 PM

TV News
On Election Night, Networks Plan to Proceed With Caution
By Howard Kurtz Washington Post November 2, 2006

The television networks could be in for a long night on Tuesday.

"Mathematically," CBS Senior Vice President Linda Mason says of the election coverage, "you could know by 10 for the House and 11 for the Senate." But, she says, "it could go on until all hours of the early morning."

"We have learned from past mistakes," says NBC anchor Brian Williams. "I start from the assumption I will wake up with a sore back on my couch" after an all-nighter.

"There's likely to be a lot of hedging," says ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "You may know it, but you can't say it."

If the Democrats capture the House, television anchors won't be able to project that until they are sure the party has locked in a 15-seat gain. Fortunately for them, 35 of the 53 closest races, as handicapped by analyst Charlie Cook, are in states where polls close by 8 p.m. Eastern time.

In the Senate, with fewer seats in play, the math is simpler. If one or two of the most vulnerable Republicans -- in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Missouri -- win decisively, the networks will know fairly early that the Democrats won't be able to reach their magic number of six needed to take control. But even if the Democrats sweep those races -- and hold New Jersey, which is in doubt -- the networks still won't be able to forecast a Democratic takeover until enough votes are counted in Montana, where polls close at 10 p.m. Eastern. The Democrats would have to unseat Montana's embattled GOP senator, Conrad Burns, to gain control.

The biggest behind-the-scenes change in network coverage involves what has been dubbed the Quarantine Room. Determined to avoid a rerun of recent years, when its exit polls leaked out by early afternoon to the Drudge Report, Slate and other Web sites, a media consortium is allowing two people from each of the networks and the Associated Press entree to a windowless room in New York. All cellphones, laptops and BlackBerrys will be confiscated. The designated staffers will pore over the exit polls but will not be allowed to communicate with their offices until 5 p.m.

The consortium, called the National Election Pool, is conducting no surveys for House races. The exit polling will take place for Senate and gubernatorial contests in 32 states with competitive races.

The recent track record with such polling has been pockmarked with failure. There was, of course, the debacle of election night 2000, when the networks used polling data from Florida to prematurely award the presidency, twice, within hours. In 2002, the network consortium's predecessor, Voter News Service, suffered a computer meltdown and pulled the plug on its exit polls. Two years ago, its sample was so skewed that the group's surveys showed Sen. John Kerry beating President Bush well into the night.

Williams is acutely aware of that history. "I called Florida for Al Gore, too," he says, recalling his anchoring role on MSNBC. "It was a horrible moment." Now, he says, "we have all kinds of fail-safes built into the system."

All the networks are using what are called "precinct models" -- taking into account such factors as a district's voting history and level of absentee ballots -- in gauging whether it is safe to make projections based on partial vote counts.

Much of the action will be on cable news. The broadcast networks are limiting themselves to hour-long specials at 10 p.m. (plus ABC's "Nightline" at 11:30 p.m.), along with news cut-ins and updated specials (mainly for West Coast audiences) at 1 a.m. "It's going to be a long night," says Marty Ryan, executive producer at Fox News, which is doing some exit polling to supplement the network pool surveys. "House races are notoriously difficult to call. How do you call 50 House races? The fact of the matter is, you don't. You have to wait until a lot of returns are in."

"Frankly," says Sam Feist, CNN's political director, "we're not in any rush to call individual House races. Our mantra is simple: It's better to be right than to be first. We're going to be extremely cautious."

As always, the networks will be looking for early bellwethers. Three Republican House members are considered in jeopardy in Indiana, where polls close at 7 p.m. If one or more go down, that will affect the tone of the coverage.

If the dominoes aren't falling the Republicans' way, there may be broad hints about how it's "shaping up to be a big Democratic night" well before any network makes an official projection.

But if the races are tight, network analysts say, the outcome in the House might not be known until Thursday -- or days after that if recounts are involved. Another complicating factor would be delayed counting in Oregon and Washington state, which rely almost entirely on mail ballots.

A big political wave can wash away much of the drama. During the Republican sweep of 1994, the networks began talking of a GOP takeover of the House as early as 8:45 but made no official predictions until hours later.

With the level of public interest -- and the volume of television coverage -- much greater than in a typical midterm election, the networks are turning to some of their veterans. At CBS, former anchor Bob Schieffer will join Katie Couric, who will be headlining election night for the first time. At NBC, longtime anchor Tom Brokaw will join Williams on the set.

"This won't have the moment of a presidential night," says Williams. "But it's a little more than Olympic trials."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110103434.html

VisionOn

11-02-06, 08:50 PM

TV Notebook
Showtime Gives Dexter Another Season
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable November 2, 2006

Showtime ordered a second season of new drama Dexter. Production on 12 new episodes is set to begin next spring for a 2007 premiere on the pay cable network.

I'm not sure what to make of that, since so far Dexter hasn't really knocked me out. The acting and production values are fine and it's interesting when Dexter is on screen but the whole show feels far too laid back and relaxed. There's no gore, very little tension or moments of excitement or high drama and the characters outside of Dexter are just sketches and not very interesting. For such edgy subject matter I never get the feeling that the show is on the edge.

but ... Showtime has little else going for it at the moment.

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:53 PM

TV Notebook
Sweeps ahoy! Highlights of November's TV schedule
From Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune 'The Watcher' Blog Nov. 2, 2006

Here are just a few of the juiciest events of November sweeps, when the networks roll out their biggest stunts and flashiest episodes in a bid to snare maximum viewership (all times listed are Central).

By the way, be forewarned, spoilerphobes: Several of these entries contain pretty hefty revelations about upcoming episodes.

Sunday

"Desperate Housewives," 8 p.m., ABC: Chicago theater veteran Laurie Metcalf gets a star turn in an unusually brisk episode of “Desperate Housewives”; this outing, at least, is better than what viewers saw during last year’s disastrous slide. This soap is still not really my cup of tea, but Metcalf shines as an angry wife who takes hostages at her cheating husband’s grocery store. To answer your question, yes, blood is shed.

Tuesday

"House," 8 p.m., Fox: As the “House” team struggles to diagnose an obese man in a coma, trouble brews elsewhere: Thanks to dogged cop Michael Tritter (David Morse), the good Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) deals with the fact that his best friend, Dr. House, may have not only destroyed their friendship but also Wilson’s medical practice.

"Midwest Midterm Midtacular," 10 p.m., Comedy Central: Comedy Central covers the elections in its own twisted fashion with an “Indecision 2006: Midwest Midterm Midtacular” special - a live, one-hour broadcast featuring Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. And that’s the word.

Wednesday

"Lost," 8 p.m., ABC: Brace yourselves; after this episode, “Lost” will be gone until Feb. 7. Arrrgh. Could it be that an angry Other will go through on his threat to kill Sawyer?

"CSI: NY," 9 p.m., CBS: Attention, “Veronica Mars” fans: Kyle Gallner (a.k.a. the late Beaver Casablancas) guests on this episode of CBS’ “CSI: NY,” which concerns the death of a professional paintball player.
Thursday

"The Office," 7:30 p.m., NBC: The gang at “The Office” learn learns that their branch is going to be shut down, and next week the Scrantonites merge with the Stamford branch (who else can’t wait to see the Jim-Pam reunion?).

"Grey's Anatomy," 8 p.m., ABC: Now this ought to be good: According to an ABC press release , “the men of Seattle Grace go on a camping trip together” in this episode.

"Supernatural," 8 p.m., CW: For those with multiple DVRs, I thought I’d mention this episode of the CW’s spooky “Supernatural,” in which Linda Blair guest stars as a police detective investigating Sam and Dean’s many misadventures.
Saturday

"Home Front," 6:30 p.m., Showtime: “Home Front,” a Showtime documentary that Variety called “expertly made [and] tenderhearted,” tells the story of Jeremy Feldbusch, who enlisted two weeks before Sept. 11 and came home from Iraq blind and dealing with other significant injuries. The film follows the difficult adjustments that he and his family must make when he returns to small-town life in western Pennsylvania.

Sunday, Nov. 12

"Prime Suspect: The Final Act," 8 p.m., PBS: Helen Mirren gives complicated London cop Jane Tennison one more gripping outing, which airs on two successive Sundays.

"Without a Trace," 9 p.m., CBS: Jack Malone is taken hostage on this episode, and a week later (big spoiler here) he tells Samantha, his former lover and fellow investigator, that he and his significant other, Anne, are expecting a child together.

"Dexter," 9 p.m., Showtime: Dexter Morgan discovers the identity of the Ice Truck Killer, but something about the killer’s identity doesn’t feel right to the Miami blood-spatter expert (and a serial killer in his own right).

"Football Night in America," 7:15 p.m., NBC: Yes, the networks are trying to make our heads explode - how else can you explain NBC’s scheduling of the Bears-New York Giants matchup on this night, when there’s so much other good stuff to watch as well?

Monday, Nov. 13

"How I Met Your Mother," 7 p.m., CBS: Marshall and Lily impulsively run off to Atlantic City - but will those crazy kids actually tie the knot?

Tuesday, Nov. 14

"Gilmore Girls," 7 p.m., CW: Say it ain’t so. Now, if you can buy Christopher and Lorelai as a couple (I just can’t, sorry), you may be cheered by the fact that the couple get hitched in Paris in this episode. For some, it’s a reason to celebrate. For others, it’s perhaps a reason to take the show off our must-see list and demote it to “check in occasionally, with wistful disappointment in our hearts.”

"Show Me the Money," 7 p.m., ABC: Some hear “William Shatner hosts a game show” and instantly reach for their thesauri to find synonyms for “disaster.” Others simply must tune in ABC’s new time-filler to see just how silly this Shatnerian trivia contest will be.

Do you hear an Eko? And a positive 'SNL' mention

Having delivered a smackdown to “Saturday Night Live” earlier this week, I actually have something positive to say about the show. “The Best of Darrrell Hammond,” which airs Saturday, is actually well worth your time. Then again, given that Hammond is the longest serving “SNL” cast member – he’s been on the show for 11 years, a record among all “SNL” players – you’d expect him to have come up with an hour or so of good material.

Hammond is, of course, an uncannily good political impressionist – his hangdog Bill Clinton is a true “SNL” classic, and the special demonstrates that his Al Gore and even Jimmy Carter impressions are good. And of course his Chris Matthews – and there’s a great Matthews skit at the start of Saturday’s show – is more enjoyable than the real thing. Even his Dan Rather and Donald Trump impressions are funny, though his Tim Russert didn’t really work all that well, and that “Jeopardy!” skit with Hammond as Sean Connery goes on too long.

Still, watching the Saturday Hammond special is great because it cuts out the seemingly endless subpar sketches that have occupied many “SNL” outings in recent years. It’s a concentrated dose of the good stuff, and, as it turns out, the skit that had me rolling on the floor had nothing to do with politics.

In a memorable skit with Maya Rudolph and Jason Bateman, Hammond played the golden-voiced Bill Kurtis. The premise of the sketch was that Kurtis was recording some voiceovers for an A+E show about serial killers – and all the while bantering with the engineers, Rudolph and Bateman, about trips with the kids to the Build a Bear Workshop, losing pounds via Weight Watchers and other lighthearted stuff.

The contrast between the increasingly grotesque voiceover lines and the lighthearted gossip, not to mention Hammond’s perfect impression of Kurtis’ deep-timbered voice, made the skit hysterical. For some reason, the serial-killer voiceover line “three of the anuses were never identified” sent me over the edge.

With very few exceptions, it’s good stuff -- worth recording to speed through some time next week.

Well, so much for that: It appeared NBC was going to do right by fans of “Kidnapped,” when the network announced a few weeks ago that the failing drama was going to move to Saturday nights, where it would finish out a 13-episode run that would allow viewers to see the story to its conclusion. Now the network has yanked the show from Saturday nights as well; other drama repeats will air in its place. According to TV Guide’s Matt Roush, the remaining episodes will be available at NBC’s Web site. And there’s always DVD.

Gateword.net reports that Jewel Staite, a veteran of Joss Whedon's "Firefly," will be appear in several episodes of “Stargate: Atlantis” next season. In other Joss Whedon-related news, former “Angel”/“Wonderfalls” writer/producer Tim Minear’s new series, “Drive,” has been picked up by Fox for spring.

Variety reports that Rob Lowe joins the cast of “Brothers and Sisters” on Nov. 19; he’ll play a Republican senator who falls for political pundit Kitty Walker (Calista Flockhart).

Starting Nov. 21, BBC America will begin airing the season of “Doctor Who” starring Christopher Eccleston. The long-running BBC series returned to TV in England with Eccleston as the Doctor in 2005. Sci Fi is currently airing the season after Eccleston’s, which stars David Tennant as the Doctor (and truth be told, both latter-day Doctors are good, but I prefer Tennant). Speaking of Who-related news, SyFyPortal has posted a review of “Torchwood,” the new “Doctor Who” spinoff starring Captain Jack Harkness, which recently began airing in England.

TiVo’s listings report that Rainn Wilson, Dwight of “The Office,” will be on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Nov. 10.

Regarding Wednesday’s “Lost,” yes, it was kind of sad that Mr. Eko died, but I wasn’t as broken up about it as some other folks have been. I thought he was an interesting guy, but as happened with Ana Lucia and Libby, I never felt as though his character was developed as well as it could have been.

My main gripe with Wednesday’s episode was that it barely moved the plot forward at all, and that the flashback was pretty repetitive – we knew that Eko felt bad for his brother’s death, and not much of what we learned was all that new or compelling. As for how Eko died, doesn’t it seem plausible that he simply died of his internal injuries and that the black cloud’s assault on him was just one more hallucination?

Still, I liked the Jack-Juliet interaction, and I’m always into hatch-tastic action. I wish I could take credit for this observation, but it belongs to a commenter on Alan Sepinwall’s blog: Was Colonel Tigh the spectral, one-eyed man spotted in that other hatch?

Now, on to the biggest problem of this short season so far – the new Losties that popped up a couple of episodes ago. It’s bad enough that we’re just supposed to accept these random folks as having been on the island the whole time. But the writers are giving them inane dialogue and so far, they feel like refugees from a C-grade horror movie, or a couple that got lost on their way to an all-inclusive vacation. “Honey, this is the worst Sandals resort ever!”

I don’t know, so far they just don’t click and, like the “Star Trek” red shirts, I get this feeling that they’ll die before we get much of a chance to get invested in them. Your thoughts?

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/

dad1153

11-02-06, 08:58 PM

TV Notebook
Love Him, Or Leave Him?
Flavor Flav's Popular Show Sets Off Passionate Debate On Comedy and Race
By Teresa Wiltz The Washington Post November 2, 2006

It's hard to match the conniption fits flying in the wake of VH1's outrageously popular "Flavor of Love," in which our unlikely hero, Flavor Flav -- tacky, lumpen, gargoylesque -- searches mightily for a lady love on whose teeth to bestow a golden grille. In the midst of said search, all manner of made-for-reality-TV atrocities are committed -- we'll elaborate later -- resulting in much outrage and denouncing of Flavor Flav in the blogosphere as a "minstrel in action" and a "recovering crackhead and ex-con" who has taken his race-baiting antics to "all-new depths."

Then there's the chatter on Flavor Flav's clothing-challenged suitors: "Twenty current/former/future strippers compete for the attention and affection of a cracked out deadbeat dad." They're decried as weave-wearing, booty-shaking "hos"; critics argue their desperate-to-please antics signal the ultimate degradation of women of all colors, particularly African American women.

Or is it just camp? Should we be outraged? Or is it just outrageous?

"Flavor of Love" -- think "The Bachelor" without network censors -- has just wrapped its second season, with Flav exiting hand-in-hand with his lady of choice, Deelishis, the proudly round-rumped Detroit native. (How things will work out between Deelishis and Flav now that the news is out that he's having a baby -- No. 7 -- by another woman remains to be seen.)

What is clear: Nearly 7.5 million viewers tuned in for the October finale, according to Nielsen, stellar numbers for basic cable and a record for VH1. On Sunday, 6 million people tuned in for the reunion show.

That success has led Public Enemy hype-man Flavor Flav, nee William Jonathan Drayton Jr., 47, to become a franchise in his own right: Flav's first-ever solo album, "Hollywood," drops this week, and at least one satellite show is spinning off his orbit: the hair-weave-and-insult-slinging New York, twice rejected by the Flav, will now be looking for love with her own upcoming show, "Flavorette," in which lucky viewers will witness her penchant for proud assertions ("Call me a crazy-[expletive] psychotic [expletive]!" and "I'm fab-u-lous !").

In a society like ours, laden with heavy racial baggage, is there room for farce featuring black folks? Or is, as Dave Chappelle says he found out before famously walking off his show, the difference between racial satire and perpetuating racial stereotypes too fine a line to tread? And what's to be made of the fact that in its second season, more than half of the women in "Flavor of Love's" key 18-to-49 demographic are African American? Or the fact that Flav, a classically trained pianist, is one of the founding members of a rap group known for its political militancy and black nationalist pride?

"On the surface, it's very easy to see this as the second coming of Sambo," says Mark Anthony Neal, associate professor of African American studies at Duke University and author of "Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic."

"The problem isn't Flavor Flav," says Neal. "The problem is Flavor Flav becomes the stand-in for the one or two black people you see on TV. And a figure like Flavor Flav takes on more importance than he should."

Consider also that Flav has long played the fool, even in the midst of his fist-raising days with Public Enemy, as the comic foil to Chuck D's intensity, with top hat, goofy sunglasses, platinum grille blinging from his teeth, giant clock banging across his scrawny chest, chanting "Yeeeeaaaahhhh booooyyyy!"

"Flavor of Love" is not a show that exactly screams Cultural Significance.

Contestants line up, Flav caresses faces, palms behinds and paws at breasts before christening the ladies with new names: Choclate. Bootz. Somethin'. They all purport to be in love with Flav, a man who refers to himself in the third person and whose idea of fine dining is a dash to Red Lobster. (Neither Flavor Flav nor the contestants were made available for comment.) To win Flav over, contestants pole-dance, stick their gyrating rumps in the faces of his rapper friends to "entertain" them, spit at each other, push, shove, scream, insult and administer well-timed beat-downs, like the second-season premiere face-off between two women fighting over a bed.

"It's like watching the Hottentot Venus on display," says author Debra Dickerson, who penned an essay for Essence criticizing the show. "It's without redeeming value. . . . It's just about exploitation. It's like having slaves fight for your amusement."

Much of the appeal of "Flavor of Love" may come from its adhering to reality TV's ultimate rule: Nothing is too much. Witness the first episode of Season 2 when Somethin' apparently lost control of her bodily functions, relieving herself on the floor to the amusement and derision of her cast-mates.

"They have a woman taking a [expletive] on the floor; they're in a position where they have to push the envelope and be as ridiculous and disgusting as they can be, and it seems to be working for them," notes Todd Boyd, professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California and author of "Young, Black, Rich and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture."

Is this just a harmless entry in the gross-out canon of "Jackass" or "South Park"? Or does the fact that a flesh-and-blood woman, a black woman, is doing this on national television take on a certain racial resonance?

"On an audience that grew up with Dave Chappelle, we're not talking the normal rules of engagement," argues Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, "where we argued about whether or not J.J. Walker on 'Good Times' was a bad thing for African Americans. Back then the argument was so simple."

And then again, sometimes a comedy is just comedy.

For a down-on-his-luck rapper -- who just a few years ago spent time in Rikers -- reality television provided a second life: Flavor Flav first appeared in VH1's "Surreal Life," where he hooked up with Danish giantess Brigitte Nielsen. Their pairing so enthralled viewers that it spawned the couple's own reality show, "Strange Love," on which Nielsen kicked him to the curb. Flav's onetime band mate Chuck D publicly denounced the "Flavploitation" of "Strange Love," which has seen "his character and private issues . . . being trashed in front of millions for the mere sake of profit and ratings."

Flav wasn't doing TV, Chuck D declared, TV was doing Flav.

Or is it that simple?

Historically, minstrels -- white or black performers in blackface -- performed demeaning racial stereotypes for the pleasure of a segregated white audience. Cable is open to anyone. If African Americans are tuning in, in droves, does the charge of modern-day minstrelsy still ring true? The argument becomes more complex.

Viewers like Yvette Brullard say they tune in for both the yuck factor and the yuk-yuks.

"I like the show," says Brullard, a 39-year-old administrative assistant from New Jersey who watches the show with her three teenage daughters. But sometimes the depiction of the women gives her pause. "I always said Bubba from the sticks was watching the show and he's still back in 1960; he'll think this is how black women are."

She says it's like watching an accident: "You don't want to look but you can't help it. I even got my mom into it. It's like her regular soap opera."

And perhaps therein lies the key to "Flavor of Love's" popularity. It's a comic soap opera starring an oddly compelling character, who for all his flaws has a certain weirdly repulsive charm, refereeing catfights with sweet concern. Not to mention that, next to the shenanigans of New York and her "I Have a Condition" mama, Flav actually seems sane. You might not want to watch him French-kiss Krazy or Bootz, but it's hard not to root for him as he tries to find, among the gold-diggers, if not true love then someone to kick it with after the credits roll.

"I get a little upset when people criticize Flav," says "Flavor of Love" co-creator Mark Cronin. "He's so honest about who he is. . . . He just behaves the way he wants to behave. . . . I'm sorry some people think he's behaving in a way that people see as demeaning.

"Going on television is a very dangerous thing," Cronin adds. "I feel if we do a show that wasn't controversial or outrageous, then why bother? It's entertainment. It's meant to be fun."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110103414.html

davidmin

11-02-06, 09:01 PM

Whoopee! I got quoted in the NY Times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/technology/circuits/01sett.html?ex=1163134800&en=2e01ec747f12c219&ei=5070

"Cable or Satellite? That Depends"

dad1153

11-02-06, 09:21 PM

Whoopee! I got quoted in the NY Times!

Technology
Cable or Satellite? That Depends
By Eric A. Taub The New York Times November 1, 2006

TIRED of watching the picture on her television freeze and pixilate, Mary Beth Trama finally gave up. After five visits from a Comcast repairman who failed to solve the problem, Ms. Trama, an information technology specialist in Claremont, Calif., dropped her cable service and signed up for satellite television from DirecTV.

David Minuk, a resident of Concord, Calif., who bought a high-definition television set, said he thought the picture quality he was getting from DirecTV looked “dull,” compared with what he saw on Astound, the local cable TV service. So he dropped satellite for cable.

When consumers wonder which TV service to buy, they naturally ask, Which is better?

Until recently, there was a simple answer: satellite. With DirecTV and Dish Network offering all-digital channel lineups and central customer service, satellite was the service to beat.

For years, cable has been saddled with an outdated analog system that could produce ghosts, snow and rainbow patterns on many channels. With hundreds of local affiliates all providing their own technicians and support teams, customer service has also been inconsistent and often poor, always ranking below satellite on J. D. Power customer satisfaction surveys.

Cable TV is today’s version of the phone company. It is “the service that people love to hate,” said Paul Reynolds, electronics editor at Consumer Reports.

But cable is changing. Its digital tiers offer as many pristine channels as satellite. In the newest J. D. Power customer service surveys, cable systems outperform satellite in some areas of the country. And cable now offers technologies like video-on-demand and TiVo-style digital video recorders.

Cable has improved because the competition has increased. In addition to satellite, customers will soon be able to choose from new video services offered by Verizon and AT&T that provide hundreds of channels, Internet access and other features.

The AT&T service, U-verse, is currently available only to customers in San Antonio, but it will be available to 19 million households within two years.

FiOS, the Verizon service, will reach close to two million homes in the company’s service areas by the end of the year. Verizon hopes to succeed by offering digital quality with advanced services that, for example, let customers start watching a program in one room, move to another room and pick up where they left off.

To encourage customers to stay with them, Verizon and its competitors are trying to become one-stop shops where customers buy TV, Internet, cellphone and local phone service.

Those features intrigue Ian Silverstein, an Internet marketing consultant in Neptune, N.J. Mr. Silverstein, a DirecTV subscriber, said he was “sticking with DirecTV until I see what FiOS has.” But he likes the idea of bundling all his services, as long as the picture quality and price are right.

So which service is better? It depends on where you live.

“All TV is local,” said Phillip Swann, a television consultant and owner of the tvpredictions.com Web site, which provides TV technology news and analysis. When it comes to deciding which technology to use, he said, “you have to do your homework.”

If the view of the southern sky at your house is obscured by tall trees, satellite service may not be available. If your town has an aging cable TV plant, the picture quality may make it impossible to see some cable channels clearly. Where there are frequent heavy rainstorms, satellite TV service may disappear just as much. And of course with a poorly run cable company, customer service may be abysmal.

Which service you choose may depend on how important any combination of service features are to your viewing experience.

Picture Quality

This may be the most important factor. And historically, cable’s analog channels have been far inferior to the digital quality available from satellite.

But now cable systems are beginning to switch all their channels to digital, simulcasting them in analog for those who have cable service without a digital set-top box.

The vast majority of Comcast subscribers will be able to receive all channels digitally by the end of 2007, said a company spokeswoman; 80 percent of customers can do so now.

At Time Warner Cable, 20 of its 33 operating divisions are now transmitting all channels digitally, said Landel C. Hobbs, the company’s chief operating officer. By early 2008, every division will be all-digital, Mr. Hobbs said.

But being digital is not the only issue. To fit more channels, especially high-definition ones, into a given bandwidth, both cable and satellite companies digitally compress their signals. Some people have noticed a degraded, softer picture, especially for high-definition signals.

Because FiOS uses fiber-optic technology, it has a much greater channel capacity and does not have to compress its program feed. “We do not compress the signal beyond what the program provider gives us,” said Marilyn H. O’Connell, Verizon’s senior vice president for video solutions, in charge of FiOS service. “Our picture quality is as good as any from broadcast digital TV.”

Channels

When cable TV was strictly analog, satellite TV offered many more channels than its rivals. That is no longer true. “By and large, we all offer the same channels,” Mr. Hobbs said.

Only cable offers local events, however, including high school football games and city council meetings. Comcast offers on-screen dating and local pet adoption services through its video-on-demand service. DirecTV has N.F.L. Sunday Ticket, offering up to 200 games; an extra-cost option adds 110 of those games in high-definition.

The Dish Network offers international channels, for an additional cost, in Arabic, Farsi, French, Hebrew, Italian, Russian and other languages.

High-Definition

About 97 million of the 111 million homes in the United States can buy cable service with high-definition channels, according to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, an industry group. That includes the top 100 markets and 203 of the total 210 markets.

The number of high-definition channels available depends on the channel capacity of the local system. They may include high-definition versions of local broadcast channels as well as high-definition versions of Discovery, ESPN, HBO, HGTV, National Geographic and others.

Dish Network offers 30 national high-definition channels, including specialty channels bought from Voom, a now-defunct all-high-definition TV satellite service. Local high-definition channels are also available in some places.

The other satellite provider, DirecTV, has fallen behind in the high-definition numbers race, as its channel capacity is limited. The company offers local high-definition channels in many markets and 11 national high-definition channels.

Those numbers will not increase until late next year, when two new satellites and a new compression technology will allow DirecTV to offer 150 channels of national high-definition TV, said Eric Shanks, DirecTV Entertainment executive vice president. At that point, “DirecTV will be the HDTV leader,” Mr. Shanks said.

FiOS disputes that claim. Its fiber-optic technology gives it enough capacity to “add as many HD channels as we can get our hands on,” Ms. O’Connell said. The company offers 24 channels, including local broadcast networks.

Video-on-Demand

A number of cable systems from companies like Comcast and Time Warner now offer video-on-demand: a customer can choose a show from a library of free and fee-based programming and watch it immediately, with full VCR-like abilities to stop and start at will. Most of Comcast’s on-demand offerings are free; the company also offers 100 hours of high-definition videos on demand.

Dish Network’s Dish on Demand feature allows subscribers to rent movies from a library that has been automatically downloaded into the customer’s digital video recorder. The films can be stopped and started for a 24-hour period.

DirecTV subscribers using the company’s newest digital recorder can choose from 20 hours of programming that has been recorded on the unit’s hard drive during the night. Next year, a broadband connection will give DirecTV customers something close to video-on-demand, the ability to pick programs from a library and watch them in minutes.

Other Services

Many companies are promoting their own advanced features, which they say give customers a compelling reason to subscribe. Time Warner Cable offers Startover, which enables any customer to start a program up to 20 minutes after it has actually begun. (But the program’s commercials cannot be skipped.) The company is close to offering a multiroom digital recorder, in which customers will be able to watch a show, pause it and restart it in another room. Comcast’s Gallery Player allows customers to choose from a collection of high-definition artwork, which can be displayed like a gallery on a high-definition TV set.

FiOS installs a home network in every customer’s house, allowing access and TV display of photos and music from a PC.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/technology/circuits/01sett.html?ex=1163134800&en=2e01ec747f12c219&ei=5070

fredfa

11-02-06, 10:16 PM

Many, many thanks to dad1153 and his prolific postings the past six days. I only got a chance to get a few glances at the thread, but he did an amazing job of keeoping you all updated on what is going on in TV. It will take me a while to catch up with everything he posted. I am sure he needs a vacation -- and a well deserved one at that.

And heartfelt thanks, too, to shuttermaker for getting the daily ratings online quickly.

I really appreciate the help.

fredfa

11-02-06, 10:21 PM

I have finally updated last weeks network averages, demographic numbers and the week's top-10 programs in the first post in the thread.
I'll update the HD football schedules in a bit.

Davinleeds

11-02-06, 10:51 PM

You were gone? PSYCH!

Davinleeds

11-02-06, 10:52 PM

Everyone was/is professional. Thanks

123HDTV

11-02-06, 11:04 PM

I only got a chance to get a few glances at the thread

That's good... when you're on vacation you're supposed to forget things like threads.

:)

VisionOn

11-02-06, 11:58 PM

fredfa

11-03-06, 10:08 AM

TV Notebook
HBO's Bold Broadband Plans
The premium channel may offer its wares online—a move that could rankle cable and satellite operators
by Ron Grover Business Week

Just about every TV network worth its satellite transponders has rushed to the Internet in recent months. Thanks to the out-of-nowhere popularity of YouTube and the proliferation of broadband, all kinds of shows are popping up on the Web, from Lost on ABC.com (DIS) to Fox's The OC on MySpace, owned by Fox parent News Corp. (NWS).

Conspicuously absent from that list: Home Box Office, Time Warner's (TWX) multi-Emmy-winning premium cable service. But that won't be true for long, say sources in media and technology. And if HBO takes on the Internet presence expected in the coming months, it could cause no small dustup with some of HBO's biggest customers—namely the cable and satellite companies that charge fees for beaming HBO movies and shows such as The Sopranos and Entourage into America's homes.

HBO executives have been hashing out the details of what they will offer online, and a spokesman says no formal decision has been made. But programming will almost certainly be offered via a subscription service, much like the mixture of HBO movies and original fare such as The Wire, Deadwood, and Big Love now offered by cable and satellite operators for a monthly fee of $10 to $12 or more.

Cable Competition

There may also be features that let users download HBO programming to other devices. HBO now provides full-length episodes of programs such as Entourage and Sex and the City to customers of AT&T's (T) Cingular Wireless for $4.99 a month, but this would be the channel's first move onto the Web.

Where a new HBO service gets sticky—and why it has taken so long to put together—is that a new broadband offering would put HBO into competition with the cable and satellite operators that now pay the bulk of the estimated $3.5 billion a year in revenues HBO generates. Those "affiliates" generally pay HBO around $6 a month for each of its nearly 30 million subscribers, according to cable industry analyst Kagan Research. The arrangement generated $863 million in cash flow last year.

So HBO would rather do any Web package with the help of the Comcasts of its world. "We're examining various distribution [possibilities], including broadband platforms, but have yet to determine which is the best model for our business," says the HBO spokesman. "We're having conversations with cable affiliates as well as all of our distribution partners, and together we will explore all of our opportunities in that space."

Everybody Online

If HBO decides to launch its own broadband channel, it would no doubt learn from the experience of one of its competitors, the Starz service. Starz, a unit of John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. (LCAPA), launched its $9.99 a month Vongo service in January with more than 1,000 movies and TV shows, but no cable partners. It has now bumped up the service's offerings to more than 2,000 movies and TV shows, says a spokesman.

Consumers can stream Vongo programming or download it to as many as three electronic devices. But Starz, which has 15.1 million subscribers and an estimated $1 billion in annual revenues, doesn't disclose how many Internet subscribers it has signed. Industry insiders say Starz has been talking to its cable affiliates in a bid to improve the take rate. A Starz spokesman acknowledges only that the service "continually talks to its partners."

An HBO broadband offering would join a field that's getting more crowded by the moment—and apparently enjoying some success among early adopters. The Disney Channel (DIS) says it has streamed more than 48 million episodes of shows since launching its broadband service in January. To capture a decidedly edgier audience, Sony (SNE), MGM, and Comcast (CMCSA) launched their own broadband horror movie site, FearNET, on Oct. 30. But the world of broadband TV viewing would get a big boost when HBO, which annually wins a slew of Emmys and enjoys the industry's heftiest profit margins, makes its long-awaited entry online.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061101_392704.htm

fredfa

11-03-06, 10:25 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Time for Saturday night to rise from the dead
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Friday, November 3, 2006

When NBC gave up on the struggling serial drama "Kidnapped" recently, instead of killing it immediately -- the way CBS did with its serialized failure, "Smith" -- the network cut its order to 13 episodes and dumped it on Saturday night.

Saturday night. Television's graveyard. And one of the most oddly programmed nights on broadcast television. No network wants to launch a series there. It's home to ugly-cousin newsmagazines like "48 Hours Mystery" and "Dateline," or misfits like "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted," which have thrived, like zombies, on the Night Nobody Wants.

CBS, which was the last network to valiantly make a go of Saturday night, no longer makes the effort. Historically one of the great nights of television, Saturdays slid downhill as more viewers either began going out or rebelling against whatever network fare was there (what came first -- a lack of audience or lame shows?).

Saturday nights were also the last bastion of the "Saturday Movie," where big feature films were cut up and filled with commercials and digested by people who never went out. Now? Netflix. And cable channels like Starz and Encore completely devoted to major feature films. (When networks do put feature films on Saturdays, it's almost like an afterthought, and the movies, whether they are "The Bourne Identity" or "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" -- action for men, mystical thrills for the entire family! -- almost always tank in the ratings.)

What became of Saturday nights -- before "Kidnapped" was sent to be burned off there -- was the network equivalent of throwing in the towel:

Reruns.

Which, as it turns out, is not a bad idea at all. But the networks are executing it poorly. Before suggesting some alternatives on how to save Saturday nights, first this sad little update:

NBC pulled "Kidnapped" off Saturday. Now the series will apparently wind up (and die) online. It's the ultimate in disrespect: "You're too lousy for the worst night of television of the entire week. Now go into the ether."

But there's a lesson to be learned from "Kidnapped." Unless it's the oddball success story of "Cops" and "AMW" -- and that is a very limited kind of success, indeed -- people don't want to watch new programming on Saturdays. And they especially don't want to watch scripted programming. There hasn't been a Saturday night scripted comedy or drama on any major broadcast network since 2003. And every season it becomes more of a dumping ground.

Now, you can make an argument that this is a learned behavior for the viewing audience -- that it has been told to expect the dregs on that night and therefore won't turn up when networks toss some chum there. It's a dead fishing hole. Just ask CBS, which put "Hack" and "The District" there in 2003. ABC had similar results -- bad -- when it dropped "L.A. Dragnet" on Saturday night that season. Were those good shows? No. But the networks were at least making an effort.

This season, ABC has offered up college football; CBS and NBC are airing repeats. But repeats need not be a word spoken in disgust, or a programming decision made mostly to fill space. Cable television has successfully adopted the idea of multiple airings -- windows of opportunity for harried viewers who may not be where a programmer wants them (on their backsides, on the couch) on the night and at the time the programmer chooses.

But the networks are going about reruns all wrong. CBS once tried to get thematic, making Saturday a block of crime series reruns. But because crime and punishment are pretty much the only thing CBS programs of late, that's kind of redundant. Besides, shows like "Cold Case" or "Close to Home" do well enough on their own. Most of what CBS does, in fact, seems to have the Midas touch.

Except for "Smith." And last season's darling "Love Monkey," a critically praised series that had no dead bodies or ties to the government and couldn't find an audience on CBS, so it was killed. Why no Saturday reruns for it?

For its part, NBC often repeats one of the "Law & Order" franchises/spin-offs on Saturdays. These are series that are doing relatively fine. They are established. They don't need to be rerun on Saturdays. And yet NBC entertainment President Kevin Reilly, a smart, experienced programmer, recently said he was going to stick with some of the network's acclaimed, ratings-starved freshman series like "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Friday Night Lights" and "30 Rock." He's brainstorming a way to save them.

Uh, hey, Kevin: How about repeating them on Saturday nights? There have been dumber ideas.

Now, undoubtedly, Reilly and his team have thought of this and dismissed it. And here's why: Series that are underperforming on nights when people actually watch television, namely Sunday to Friday, will severely underperform on Saturday night.

Well, sure. That's the conventional wisdom. A repeat of "Law & Order" on Saturday night would probably double what a repeat of "Studio 60" would do on a Saturday night. More viewers, more money for advertising. It's how the world works.

But there's no vision in that model. Viewers love cable channels that air a show multiple times throughout the week because it fits their busy schedule. It creates opportunities. Broadcast networks can't do this because they don't have the space during the week and running a Tuesday night show on a Thursday night only confuses viewers. The networks have a history of shifting series around with little or no notice, and it freaks out the normal folk at home. Uh-oh, has my favorite series moved? This is not an issue on cable because viewers understand the wisdom, they get the pattern.

If, however, Saturday was dubbed Struggling Show Repeat Night and all or most of the networks participated, you'd have a new paradigm in broadcast television. Hell, even if only half participated, just the notion that you could create a learned response in viewers -- Saturday night is your chance to catch an episode of "Acclaimed Series X," or "Water Cooler Show Y" that you might have missed -- a new pattern would emerge.

Just this week, NBC pulled "Studio 60" from its Monday 10 p.m. slot for a special airing of "Friday Night Lights." Now, the old-school programming logic behind the move is pretty clear. The high school football drama, based on the book and the movie, wasn't doing well on Tuesday nights. Let's hope for a better sampling on a different night and time. Sure enough -- more people tuned in Monday night than they had the previous Tuesday night. Great news.

Except that it panicked fans of "Studio 60," already worried that their show is doomed. Worse, NBC reran the "Friday Night Lights" episode in its normal slot the next day and ratings were awful -- less than those a week earlier in the same time slot.

So, who benefited? What was the moral of the switch? This is not the way to run a network -- or save a series -- in the modern era.

And Saturday night might not be the answer, either. But no concerted effort has been made to try something new and different on a night deemed so lousy that our nation's fifth broadcast network -- the CW -- doesn't even program a single show on Saturdays.

Advertising allegedly influences people, correct? How about some promos for Saturday night as Second Chance Night? How about See It for the First Time Saturday? Wouldn't "30 Rock" or "Studio 60" or "Help Me Help You" or "The Class" perhaps benefit from additional exposure?

Nobody needs to see another "Law & Order" repeat. They need a chance to catch up on the 30 series that broadcast networks dumped on them to start the fall. They need a chance to exhale -- and sample.

Saaaaaturdaay ... night!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/03/DDGRCM45V11.DTL&type=printable

fredfa

11-03-06, 10:53 AM

dad1153

11-03-06, 11:34 AM

Friday’s prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

Wow, Nielsen already knows what ratings the shows airing tonight will fetch? And Berman has a glowing ball that can predict TV winners/losers 12 hrs. ahead of time? Wow, they should both appear on 'Heroes' as guest stars! Seeing and knowing ahead of time that CBS will win the night and NBC will come close to tie or win (because of the Chevy Chase-Mel Gibson thing on 'Law & Order') is sooooooo passe! How about the ratings for Thursday night? Those are the one's we really want to see!

I'm rusty because I was just hospitalized. What's your excuse, vacation boy? ;) :D :cool:

fredfa

11-03-06, 11:48 AM

Oops.

fredfa

11-03-06, 11:55 AM

Last night's (that is THURSDAY night's) fast national numbers have been inserted into Marc Berman's ratings roundup near the top of the first post in the thread.)

fredfa

11-03-06, 12:00 PM

The Business of TV
Nielsen Delays Commercial Ratings Data Indefinitely
John Consoli Media Week Nov. 3, 2006

Nielsen Media Research said today that is is again postponing the release of Average Commercial Minute ratings data, initially moved from mid-November to Dec. 11, and now delayed indefinitely, as the company attempts to determine what the best third data stream will be.

The decision brought criticism from media agency executives who now fear that by the time the evaluative data starts to be released, they will have no time to determine whether or not it can be used as buying currency in the May upfront.

Nielsen, on Oct. 30, released a new anlaysis that examined DVR playback viewing by day, which showed that most delayed TV viewing takes place within three days following live airing. Nielsen now wants to hold another client meeting to determine whether, before it begins issuing evaluative data for the current three steams--live, live plus same day and live plus seven days--it should add another stream measuring live plus one other number of days. Between 50-60 percent of dayed TV viewing takes place within 24 hours [same day], with 80 percent taking place within three days, and 90 percent taking place within four days.

Nielsen said another benefit of postponing the release of Commercial Minute data will be to continue working with the cable industry to address their concerns with the data. Many cable networks have opted out of having Nielsen release their Commercial Minute rating data, even on an evaluative basis.

But Lyle Schwartz, executive vp and director of research and marketplace analysis for Mediaedge:cia/Group M, expressed concern about the further delay, particularly annoyed that he among others, at the start of the process several months ago, had asked Nielsen to also include another data stream in the evaluative process, but he said Nielsen told him it could only do that if it replaced one of the three existing data streams.

"Now they are saying they can do it, and we are going to spend time debating how many days plus live should be included. We could have discussed and decided this months ago. Now I am concerned that once the data is released, we will not have enough time to evaluate it to see if it can be used in conjunction with our buying in the [May] upfront."

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003350437

fredfa

11-03-06, 12:59 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
New Fox bummer: Stinker 'O.C.'debut
Teen melodrama pulls a dismal 1.5 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Nov. 3, 2006

Fox’s one-time hit teen drama “The O.C.” returned with a thud last night, posting the show’s worst-ever rating and raising serious questions about the network’s Thursday ailing night schedule.

“The O.C.” averaged a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating in its fourth-season premiere, according to Nielsen overnights, placing fifth in its timeslot. The show was down by more than half from a 3.3 for last year’s third-season premiere and struggled just as mightily among viewers 18-34, where the show averaged a 1.7 rating to last year’s 4.4.

Without question, “O.C.” faced much tougher competition this year in its premiere than last year, when Fox debuted the show in early September, before the baseball break.

Last night “O.C.” returned for the first time in nearly six months facing not only CBS’s “CSI” but also ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” the top-rated show among 18-49s, which moved to Thursdays in September.

That no doubt led to part of the major ratings falloff for the show, which has been fading for quite some time. It’s also possible the death of Mischa Barton’s character last spring sparked some angry fans to stay away.

But “O.C.’s” lead-ins gave it no help whatsoever. The return of “’Til Death” and “Happy Hour” combined to average just a 1.6 at 8 p.m., pushing Fox all the way down to sixth place for the night.

For two years, “The O.C.” has been the only Fox show to draw a decent audience on Thursdays. Now the network may have to consider some major schedule switcheroos to patch up the ailing night.

Meanwhile, ABC continued its Thursday winning streak, averaging a 5.6 rating and 14 share last night among adults 18-49, a tad higher than CBS’s 5.3/13. NBC was third with a 4.8/12, followed by Univision at 2.6/6, the CW at 1.8, and Fox at 1.5.

At 8 p.m., CBS’s “Survivor” led with a 5.5, followed by ABC’s “Ugly Betty” at 4.4. Among households “Betty” edged “Survivor” with a 9.3 to a 9.0.

As for the rest in 18-49s, NBC’s “My Name is Earl” (4.1) and “The Office” (4.2) combined for a 4.2, followed by Univision’s powerful “Latin Grammys” at 2.6, the CW at 2.1 for “Smallville” and Fox at 1.6 for “’Til Death” (1.7) and “Happy Hour” (1.4).

At 9 p.m., ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” led with a 9.0, followed by CBS’s “CSI” at 6.9, NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” at 4.6, Univision’s “Grammys” at 2.7, “The O.C.” at 1.5, and the CW’s “Supernatural” at 1.4.

At 10 p.m., NBC slipped into the lead with a 5.6 for “ER,” followed by CBS’s “Shark” at 3.7, ABC’s struggling “Six Degrees” at 3.2, and Univision’s “Grammys” at 2.5.

CBS led the night among households with a 10.2/16. ABC was second at 9.5/15, followed by NBC at 7.4/12, Univision at 3.1/5, the CW at 2.5/4 and Fox at 2.4/4.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8352.asp

fredfa

11-03-06, 01:17 PM

TV Notebook
'Lost's' Mr. Eko says goodbye
The character's death prompts anger and sadness, but actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje says the time was right.
By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 3, 2006

The "Lost" monster is back.

The billowy black smoke that ambiguously frightened the castaways in past seasons returned with a vengeance on Wednesday, pummeling the island's favorite "tailie," Mr. Eko, the priest. In the most affecting death scene on the ABC drama thus far, Mr. Eko, who once had confronted the monster and forced it to retreat, this time surrendered, reciting the 23rd Psalm.

Mr. Eko, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, is the fifth central survivor to die since the jetliner crashed on the island. But the death of the criminal-turned-priest — or was he a man of faith who committed crimes for a greater good? — was the first to evoke such sadness and rage.

On ABC message boards and fan website lost-tv.com, Lost fans wasted no time expressing their feelings about the loss of the Nigerian priest who sat in the tail section of the plane and took a 40-day vow of silence when he survived the crash:

"How ... HOW?!?!?! Can you kill off arguably the most interesting, thought-provoking character in the series?" wrote one.

"He was my favorite character, and I am bawling like a dummy," wrote another fan.

"It's as if Eko was our good friend and more than a TV character," wrote a third. "We ... mourn the loss of Eko from the show."

The posters are not the only ones grieving. From the beginning, the show's producers knew Mr. Eko's time on the island would be brief. So they hastened the pace of the character's development, which, in turn, made the audience feel more attached.

A priest with a troubled past, Mr. Eko was the perfect counterpart to Locke (Terry O'Quinn), the only other castaway who seems aware of his destiny on the island. Fans on the Internet lamented the things they will miss the most: not seeing the church Mr. Eko was building on the island completed; and the personal touches he carved on the stick he carried. Others were downright furious, calling it "the worst episode ever."

With the other characters who died — Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia and Libby — "there was a quotient of shock value but there was the idea that it made sense, that it was the characters' time," co-creator Damon Lindelof said. "I think the audience may feel that Mr. Eko was taken before his time. The way that he dies is very significant. It is more spectacular, as it were."

When planning Mr. Eko's untimely demise, the writers looked at the episode in the second season in which Mr. Eko came face-to-face with the monster inhabiting the island and refused to relent, Lindelof said. What if the monster did not give up, as it seemed at the time? What if the monster was "just intelligence-gathering for a later date?"

"We wanted to make clear that the monster remains a dangerous force," executive producer Carlton Cuse said.

For his part, Akinnuoye-Agbaje said during an interview at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills last week that his character's story arc was designed to "provoke thought and evaluation of your choices, your judgments, and what you believe."

"It was such a great way to go," Akinnuoye-Agbaje said of his character. "He was really comfortable with being on the island and had started to build a church and looked at his plight as an opportunity to strengthen and deepen his faith."

But did the man whose faith remained steady, despite all of the challenges the mystery island posed, deserve to die so violently? Fans were split: Some thought it was Mr. Eko's turn to pay for lives he has taken; others were more moved by the character's compassion. Akinnuoye-Agbaje understands the reaction. As he got to know Mr. Eko, he often asked himself: Is Mr. Eko a priest masquerading as a criminal, or a criminal masquerading as a priest?

"No matter how many heads he chops up, you know his heart is pure," Akinnuoye-Agbaje said. "Even in the law, when you're convicting a criminal, it says intent. So it always goes back to the heart. From the very beginning, Eko kills a man to save his brother's life, which sends him on a spiral of murder, plunder and what have you to survive. But that was the deepest act of compassion: to give up his soul to save another's."

Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who also stirred emotions with his fierce portrayal of gang leader Simon Adebisi on HBO's "Oz," said he accepted the role because he had never been asked to play a character whose essence was compassion and inner peace.

At the time, Akinnuoye-Agbaje was focused on completing a biographical script for a film he will direct about the African, Asian and West Indian immigrants brought to Britain after World War II to work and were forced to leave their children in the care of strangers, sometimes for good. Akinnuoye-Agbaje hopes to begin production in a few months, which is why he had to say goodbye to "Lost."

"There's a whole generation of African kids born in Britain who had this cross-cultural identity crisis," said Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who was born in Britain and was raised there and in Nigeria. "And they didn't fit in Nigeria either because they were these white people inside Nigerian bodies. This story gives this a voice but it's also a story of victory because it shows my struggle through that process to come where I am."

Although Losties on the Web argued that there was more ground to cover with Mr. Eko, Akinnuoye-Agbaje said he felt that once Mr. Eko helped Locke find his faith again, his mission on the island was realized.

"The way he died is brutal, but it's a beautiful ending " Akinnuoye-Agbaje said. "Eko lived this life of torture, living double lives and that's a lot of energy to be running for your life, pretending to be this guy, that guy, never really showing who you are.... There was no point but to surrender [to death] so he just gave himself to it. Not out of fear, but acceptance."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-lost3nov03,0,7980304,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

11-03-06, 02:18 PM

Critic’s Notebook
''The Office,'' ''Earl,'' ''Veronica Mars'
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal blog

Last night's episode of ''The Office'' was one of those where the show makes us squirm uncomfortably even more than it tries to make us laugh. Of course, that's one of the virtues of the show. It is so confident in its characters and storytelling, it can make us uneasy here and there -- because, as we know, these characters would do that to us in real life. And how neat was it that, without breaking a sweat, the show ended up with two men in the back seats of cars being driven by women, under very different circumstances.

''My Name Is Earl'' last night also dealt with human discomfort -- as Earl and Randy tried to say ''I love you'' to each other -- but it was more conventionally funny, and it confined the uneasiness to the characters onscreen instead of making the viewers queasy, too. I like ''Earl,'' and last night had its joys (including the whole grilled-cheese sandwich/Stephen Douglas dialogue with Crabman and Randy). But ''The Office'' plays on an entirely different field.

Yesterday, I finally caught up with ''Veronica Mars,'' albeit with an idea stuck in my head. Before acknowledging I was in the cone of silence, my TV-critic friend Alan Sepinwall noted that Veronica seems to be getting unnecessarily mean with people, and I could see what he meant. She's bullying when she doesn't have to be, contemptuous when a little kindness would be in order. (Think of her conversation with the pizza kid, for one.)

The show is smart enough that I'm hoping this will lead somewhere -- maybe to the whole trust-and-Logan issue played up in the promo for next week -- but it didn't always feel right.

Am also wondering where they're going with the Wallace storyline; my hope was that he had a change of heart and wrote a confession about getting the exam in advance -- hence the quick completion. Only I don't think that would lead to a formal request to appear at a meeting with his teacher. The Ed Begley subplot felt way too aimless, and Richard Grieco has not been treated kindly by time (even if he looks as if he has sought solace from cosmetic surgery).

On the other hand, there was the Mr. Microphone allusion...

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

steverobertson

11-03-06, 02:21 PM

Fred,

Welcome back you fillin's did a great job but there is only 1 FredFa. Hope you had a great vacation

fredfa

11-03-06, 03:11 PM

Thanks so much steve.

And I can't thank dad1153 and shuttermaker enough for their help. I think dad posted more than I would have.

I have a few committments which will keep me away from the thread on occasion in the next couple of months, so hopefully everyone can help out a bit.

The thread works better, I believe, as a cooperative endeavor, with everyone contributing when they find something of interest.

harley1

11-03-06, 04:01 PM

dad and shutter thank you for an great job.

fred welcome back

fredfa

11-03-06, 04:38 PM

Critic’s Notebook
America's our most wanted
'UGLY BETTY' STAR DRAWS IN LOTS OF YOUNG VIEWERS
By Doug Elfman Chicago Sun-Times Television Critic

America's big new TV star, America Ferrera, relates to her role in "Ugly Betty" -- the awkward, sweet, chubby nerd in braces.

"In high school, you stand up and you've got gum stuck to your pants. You're in third grade, and you peed in your seat. A couple of times I did that," Ferrera, 22, says and laughs. "I was a late bloomer. I didn't have so much control over my bladder."

Even before "Ugly Betty" debuted, some in the media were speculating the comedy-drama could prosper because it is network TV's only title with a Hispanic woman in the central role. It also had the fortune of being based on a popular Colombian telenovela, which was said to be an enticement for this nation's growing Hispanic population.

But "Betty" is not a niche hit. The Thursday favorite is the fall's top-rated new series. Along with NBC's "Heroes," "Betty" has cracked the Top 20 list of programs recognized for snaring young viewers.

The success of "Betty" comes in covering the basics. It's the story of a budding woman working at a fashion magazine and getting along with her dad and family. It's well-written (partially by first-generation Americans), it's deeply acted and it's directed cinematically.

Then there's the star named America. ("In Latin America, it's not as uncommon a name," she says.) By Hollywood standards, she's not the sex symbol her boss, producer Salma Hayek, is.

Off camera, Ferrera looks drastically better. But while looking for work over the years, she's gone through the same visual rejections Betty has.

"It's very heartbreaking when you're not given the shot to show who you are on the inside," Ferrera says. "As an actress, you don't even get the chance to be rejected. They look at your 8-by-10, and you're not what they want on the outside."

This makes Ferrera's ascension even more remarkable. The tall glam she lacks has kept her from winning roles. But her memorable face and skills helped her land the lead in the 2002 film "Real Women Have Curves" and the role of Betty.

Hayek, 40, says she was insistent on hiring her. Ferrera didn't want to take the part if Betty was going to be treated as truly ugly.

"But when they explained the character to me, they had already fallen in love with her, and I fell in love with her," Ferrera says. "All of her beauty is in the inside, and you have to sit and watch to see her beauty. It's not what we want: instant gratification."

Ferrera grew up in Southern California. She has never visited the home of her heritage, though she would like to: "I'm a Honduran, and I've never stepped on Honduran [soil]."

Guys she liked never paid attention to her as a kid, she says with a smile. At home, she watched repeats of "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley" and "I Love Lucy."

"There weren't that many Latino faces" on TV, she says. "But I also grew up as an American. I grew up in the Valley. So I didn't feel any different from the children I went to school with, other than the fact that at home, I had a different culture."

At its base, "Ugly Betty" is just a TV show. But Ferrera says it can give viewers the feeling they are not alone.

"I can't go out there and save the world, but if I can look at the child next to me and make them feel alive and like they are not invisible for a second, that feels like a real reward."

Producer Hayek stresses inner beauty

The underlying message of "Ugly Betty" is that beauty goes beyond skin deep. This is an interesting notion propelled by producer Salma Hayek, a sex symbol. But she claims she herself rarely gussies up or thinks about her looks.

"Because I have so many interests in life, I don't spend as much time evaluating whether I feel pretty," she says.

(Easy for her to say.)

"My mind is so focused on so many other things, I don't think, 'How do I look?' so much."

And then she says this: "Not that I couldn't use making myself look prettier."

Uh-huh. Right.

Hayek makes guest appearances tonight on "Betty" and through the rest of November. This is her first splash there since the series made its debut, when she played an actress in a telenovela that Betty's family watched on television.

Hayek sometimes gets emotional talking about America Ferrera. She worked hard to get Ferrera cast as the lead, both actresses say.

"She is 22, and she is so smart, and so talented, and so professional," Hayek says, almost to the point of tears. "America needs America."

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/elfman/120961,CST-FTR-ELF02.article

fredfa

11-03-06, 04:47 PM

TV Notebook
INHD, INHD2 to Become One
(MultiChannel News) Nov. 3, 2006

In Demand may try to put a magic spell on its HD networks.

The supplier of pay-per-view and on-demand programming decided to merge its two HD channels, INHD and INHD2, into one Jan. 1, president Rob Jacobson said. That would, he added, create a best-of HD service.

Some cable operators already dropped INHD2, which shows some exclusive IMAX movies and concert events that will shift over to INHD.

What will the new channel be called? That will be announced “sometime next year,” Jacobson said. But there’s a “pretty good likelihood” that INHD will be renamed Mojo. That’s the name given to blocks of original HD programming that currently run from 9 p.m.-midnight Wednesdays and Sundays, featuring such shows as Wall Street Warriors, Dr. Danger, After Hours with Daniel and London Live.

In Demand is looking at adding a third night of original shows and possibly a fourth of Mojo before it changes the name of the service itself, Jacobson said.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6388356

SJKurtzke

11-03-06, 05:07 PM

the CW at 2.5/4 and Fox at 2.4/4.

THE CW BEATS FOX!!!!!!
w00t!

fredfa

11-03-06, 05:18 PM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic Nov. 3, 2006

Question: Do you think people will boycott Grey's Anatomy because Isaiah Washington is still on the show? How do you think ABC and Shonda Rhimes handled the situation? It's a shame that this whole incident created such bad buzz for GA and damaged its reputation.— SB

Matt Roush: How exactly does "this whole incident" reflect badly on Grey's Anatomy? On the actor in question, yes, absolutely. But to hold his most regrettable and, yes, unforgivable outburst against the show itself would be absurd. It doesn't seem to me that ABC or Shonda Rhimes tried to deny the incident, so they handled it as well as can be expected. They expressed regret, kept their heads down and got back to work as best and as quickly as they could. No one's happy that it happened, least of all Isaiah Washington. Are you really asking if he should have been fired for making what by all accounts was a bigoted remark in the heat of an ill-advised temper tantrum? If actors were fired for being jerks on set or elsewhere, the pickings would be pretty slim. The real question boils down to a hypothetical: If another actor had thrown out the N-word the way Washington appears to have tossed the F-bomb (homophobic comments still being deemed more acceptable in this hypocritical society than racist slurs), would the uproar have been greater? No doubt. But Washington has apologized publicly, and he has been undeniably scarred and humiliated by the fallout. I can't imagine he doesn't regret it, and I suppose the next time he gives an actual interview he'll have to confront it. That should be interesting. Otherwise, the show goes on, as such things almost always do in this business. And while I might not personally want to break bread with the guy, it's not going to keep me from tuning in with enthusiasm on Thursdays. Most weeks, Grey's is still my favorite show.

Question: I don't have Showtime, but my parents do, and while visiting them, we watched the premiere episode of Dexter. I found it shocking, disturbing, gory, funny and altogether fantastic. It takes a lot to shock a jaded television viewer like myself, but there were so many twists and turns even in that first episode that I can't wait to see what happens next. The acting and writing are superb, and the basic premise is fascinating. What are the ratings like for Dexter, and what is your take on it? — Margaret

Matt Roush: From what I can tell, Dexter is doing just fine. I'm told it currently ranks as Showtime's most-watched original series, edging out Weeds (which went out with a bang this week, as I noted in my Dispatch). Ratings aside, Dexter is a success, especially in the arena that matters most for a network like this: the buzz department. The reviews (including mine) were strong, and people are still writing and talking about it, which for Showtime has to be seen as a win-win. I'm dying to watch the next batch of episodes, though it's hard to find time just now, when sweeps are upon me. I can't tell you the last time a Showtime series knocked me out like this one does.

Question: Why do you think 30 Rock works and Studio 60 doesn't? They're both set in the same world, yet I just can't get into Studio 60. And 30 Rock grabbed me from the first five minutes. I think the problem is that Studio 60 tries to be so serious, yet it's just about a television show. If it were about the nightly news, I could understand its earnestness and self-importance. But it's not. 30 Rock, on the other hand, mocks everything and makes it clear that it is just a comedy show. In so doing, I think it's a much smarter show than Studio 60.— Andrea

Matt Roush: I don't want to ignite another Studio 60-bashing session here. There's plenty I like about that show, but it's definitely a work in progress, and if it gets to produce the back half of its season, some serious fine-tuning needs to be done to limit the ponderous preachiness and focus on some seriously fun entertainment (and I don't mean the show-within-a-show). But I think Andrea is on to something here. While neither show is a ratings success (and moving to Thursdays will still be a challenge for 30 Rock, given the competition), I agree that 30 Rock is, for now, the more consistent show. It is absurd, deeply silly and grandly snarky, and Alec Baldwin is beyond hilarious. It isn't trying to bite off more than it should be expected to chew. It's a daffy workplace comedy heightened by its setting in the world of TV. It has no pretense of cultural importance, unlike the way Studio 60 has been overreaching lately. I still wonder if either show will make it to a full season, or (long shot) make it to a second year. But if 30 Rock keeps making me laugh, I'll be rooting for it without any mixed feelings.

Question: I wanted to write in after reading the comments in your 10/30 Ask Matt in which a viewer commented that the amazing Friday Night Lights isn't really a "family show" because of the adult-toned themes. FNL is exactly the kind of show I grew up watching with my family: a show that's well written and presents complex characters and situations that reflect real life. I used to sit with my parents and watch Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere. On my own, I fell in love with shows like China Beach and thirtysomething because, I think, I'd already been taught to love good, thought-provoking drama. I can understand that some of the action might be intense and some of the subject matter isn't easy, but maybe that's a chance for a great TV show to prompt a family discussion of what it means to win or to be a strong man or a good friend. This week's episode, for instance, is something I intend to watch with my 11-year-old nephew, because I think the difference between Tatum's and Saracen's attitudes is exactly the kind of thing young boys should see as they get involved in sports.— Niceole L.

Matt Roush: Bravo. Letter of the week. And not just because it addresses my pet cause of the fall, which is to keep Friday Night Lights alive as long as possible. Couldn't agree more about using the most generous definition possible of "family" values in television. The characters on Friday Night Lights are far from perfect, but when these young people drink or sleep around, there tend to be consequences, though not always the moral reckoning some more uptight viewers might wish. In the most recent episode, the contrast between Voodoo's and Matt's notions of teamwork and self-interest (or lack thereof) was fascinating, dramatic and led to a thrilling finish. I wish the show had popped more on Monday night — this may have been its last chance to prove its potential — but at least it edged out What About Brian, so there may be some hope for humanity yet.

Question: What happened to the NBC promise to not air any ER repeats this season? I know the network has changed course and picked up the show for a full season and possibly longer, but it actually ran ads promising no repeats, and yet reaired the season premiere last Thursday night. Does NBC plan to explain this turnaround?— Chrichelle

Matt Roush: There really is no pleasing some people. When NBC trumpeted that this would be a "no repeats" season of ER at the start of the fall, that's when NBC was still planning to take the show off the freaking air for several months, the way ABC is still (and probably mistakenly) doing with Lost after next week. When NBC saw how well ER was doing, without benefit of a good lead-in and despite the season's two hottest shows airing on other networks in the preceding hour, NBC changed its mind. ER is staying put, which means there will be repeats scattered along the way. (But not during sweeps, so we're safe until at least December.) Still, this beats the show being removed altogether for another series to take over its time period. Think of that when we're several weeks into the run of ABC's Day Break. I have a feeling people will be screaming for the return of Lost.

Question: In Monday's Ask Matt, someone was asking about Battlestar Galactica's ratings and what the chances for a fourth season will be. How do you think DVD sales factor into the equation? BSG airs and we watch it, then it comes out on DVD, and we run out and buy it. Heck, they even got us to pay two times for Season 2, because they didn't release the entire season in a single set. Does that money factor into the decision to keep producing the show? — Rick

Matt Roush: Are you kidding? Damn straight, it does. A revenue stream is a revenue stream, and as I noted in the last panicked Battlestar exchange, you can't underestimate the importance of corporate synergy in cases like this. NBC Universal produces and owns the show, and airs it on one of its key cable assets. The fact that shows like these are big DVD sellers only contributes to the bottom-line wisdom of keeping it alive as long as it's viable.

But keep in mind this point, brought up by Patrick of Columbia, South Carolina: "I'm wondering if Battlestar Galactica's storytelling might best be served by going the Babylon 5 route: a beginning and an end in five crisp seasons. It seems like a stretch, no matter how critically acclaimed it might be, to think BSG will last beyond five years, anyway. That said, the third season has been spectacular, thus far. You think?"

Yes, I think. This has been a thrilling and daring season, so politically provocative and emotionally riveting. Amazing, amazing stuff. I don't know exactly how many seasons ahead they've plotted out for this, and I'm reluctant right now even to consider there being an end point. But Patrick is probably right: A show like this shouldn't be expected to last indefinitely, and as I've said before, if the producers and the network can agree to wrap this story in a way that meets both of their needs while satisfying the audience, there's no reason for us to be greedy about it. I still wouldn't worry about cancellation at this point.

Question: In response to some talk in the 10/27 column regarding the post-Grey's Anatomy slot: It seems likely that ABC will want to make a change, since Six Degrees is underperforming. The writer was praising ABC for sticking with Six Degrees and at least giving it a chance. I would like to echo that statement for another ABC show: What About Brian. I really enjoyed it last season, and it's only gotten better. I'm not sure how well it does on Monday nights, but I think it could really find an audience post-Grey's on Thursdays. It would be great counterprogramming against two rough and tough dramas on the other networks. Do you think ABC would consider moving Brian to Thursdays at 10? — David

Matt Roush: I wish I could figure out what ABC is planning for that prime piece of Thursday real estate. While we can agree to disagree about Brian, which I find just as insipid this season as I did last spring, I would be amazed if it got a shot there. (Swapping one show from J.J. Abrams' company for another would be the only imaginable explanation.) I agree with most of those who've written in that Men in Trees should at least get a tryout in that Thursday slot. But both Trees and Brian are awfully soft, and I'm not sure either would be able to shoulder the burden of trying to hold on to a decent percentage of Grey's vast audience. But why not go a little lighter at 10? It worked for Grey's on Sundays. I am still puzzled by ABC's devotion to Six Degrees. I would have expected more shows on more networks to be outright canceled by now.

Question: Here I go playing backseat programmer: Why doesn't ABC move Men in Trees to the post-Lost time slot? It is a very different show from CSI: NY and whatever NBC has on in that hour. It has a lighthearted feel to it, much different from Lost. Then they could move The Nine to after Grey's Anatomy on Thursday, and move Six Degrees to the Friday time slot of death. On another note, what is NBC thinking by moving Scrubs against the Grey's/CSI juggernaut? I love Scrubs, and I think it is going to get creamed in the ratings. I understand NBC's desire to get another comedy block on such an advertiser-friendly night, but I just can't see it succeeding there.— Ryan S.

Matt Roush: Whew. You don't by any chance have a magnetic board on your wall with network schedules and movable show titles on it? Anyway, I'm enjoying all the letters from Men in Trees fans wondering where, when and if ABC is going to move it to another night. One thing to consider: On Fridays, where it's doing so-so (but better than I would have thought), expectations are low. If it were to move after Grey's or even after Lost, the expectations go way up, and if it fails to hold on to the lead-in, it could be toast faster than if it's left where it is. I'm more intrigued by the Grey's-Nine pairing, but that's a tough sell as well. It's going to be nearly impossible to get people aboard The Nine after this many episodes, and again, expectations may even be higher for the show on Thursdays than on Wednesdays. (ER will cream it in first-run, regardless.) Farming Six Degrees to Friday? Why even bother? As for Scrubs facing ABC's and CBS' megahits: This isn't because the network hates the show and is trying to kill it (as many have written in). Here NBC's giving us what we asked for: bringing Scrubs back and placing it within the context of a first-class night of comedy. The competition is brutal, but this is a clear sign that NBC is taking this crucial night as seriously as the other guys. Programmers aren't in the business of making it easy for you to watch your favorite shows, which is why so many great series are vying for your time on Thursdays, when there's so much money to be made. NBC is almost certainly going to be a distant third with that comedy block, but I'm betting they can still sell advertisers a premium for the quality of the audience that's tuning in.

Question: Now that Invasion, The Evidence and The Nine have all failed in the post-Lost time slot, when is ABC going to realize that putting any kind of drama there simply won't work? The viewers obviously don't want two hours of intense, serialized, character-driven drama. I always enjoy following Lost with South Park or some kind of sports programming. Why doesn't ABC try putting an hourlong comedy block at 10? I know comedies have never worked at that hour, but when's the last time someone has tried it? The Knights of Prosperity is one of the funniest and most original pilots since Arrested Development, by far the best thing ABC has had comedy-wise in a long time. Why not headline the hour with that show and follow it with Help Me Help You, which is sure to fizzle once it loses the Dancing with the Stars lead-in?— Harris

Matt Roush: And this is why the likes of you and me don't hold jobs as network programmers. Look, when comedy was king a while back, and NBC ruled the roost with great sitcoms, there were experiments (albeit feeble) to air "Night of 1,000 Laughs"-style stunts, which included airing popular sitcoms in prime time's last hour. It just doesn't work. I don't know the research stats, but even if I did, look at how hard it is to get a sitcom launched these days. Putting them on late, especially shows as offbeat as The Knights of Prosperity (which ABC has delayed because they couldn't figure out how to promote it properly), is fraught with peril. I do like the idea, though, of following Lost, and Grey's for that matter, with lighter, more entertaining sorts of hourlong comedy-drama hybrids. If ABC could develop more shows as magical as Grey's and Ugly Betty, that would be the ticket.

Question: Just curious about your thoughts on Hugh Laurie's stint on Saturday Night Live, if you got a chance to see it. Though it was still uneven, I thought it was hands down the funniest episode of the season. Laurie is hilarious on House, but I forgot how completely wonderful he is at traditional comedy as well. His opening monologue was brilliant, as well as his "protest song." Judging from how unfunny SNL has been lately, I would almost bet that Laurie wrote a lot of his own material. I would be interested to hear your take. Also, on an unrelated note, thanks for sticking up for Friday Night Lights. I've been plugging it like crazy to everyone I talk to. It really bugs me that the people who complain that there are no realistic characters on TV are the same ones who shrug their shoulders when I tell them to watch Lights. I try not to get my hopes up when shows I love are struggling, but Lights caught me completely off guard. Here's hoping that NBC will give it a chance to find an audience.— Josh S.

Matt Roush: On Friday Night Lights, you're welcome. And thank you for spreading the word. It's the most any of us can do. I won't try to give you false hope that things are looking up for the show, but enjoy it while you can. It's a treasure. As for Hugh Laurie on SNL: Most of the show has (thankfully) faded from memory, save for his hilarious "protest song," which alone made this episode the best of the season. (I also like the timid politician Will Forte played in Weekend Update. And of course the Smigel cartoon. Otherwise, nada.) This was the first week of SNL's season where I didn't consider the musical guest the only highlight. (And I used to keep the TV on mute during most of the musical segments.) I have high hopes for the Alec Baldwin episode on Nov. 11. He's always funny, but, like Laurie, he's almost certainly going to have to rise above the material.

http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Ask-Matt/default.aspx

CPanther95

11-03-06, 07:49 PM

The thread works better, I believe, as a cooperative endeavor, with everyone contributing when they find something of interest.

I disagree. I think it works best when we ask for info and you track it down and post it for us. ;)

dad1153

11-03-06, 08:12 PM

Critic’s Notebook
America's our most wanted
'UGLY BETTY' STAR DRAWS IN LOTS OF YOUNG VIEWERS
By Doug Elfman Chicago Sun-Times Television Critic

Mmphh, this looks familiar: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=440744&page=586&pp=30 (post #17566). :rolleyes:

fredfa

11-03-06, 08:22 PM

Another oops, dad.

(Hope you are feeling better!)

fredfa

11-03-06, 10:32 PM

TV Notebook
Fox Cuts “Rich List”, “Happy Hour”
By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable 11/3/2006

Fox late Friday quickly pulled quiz show The Rich List after one airing from its 9-10 p.m. Wednesday slot and yanked sitcom Happy Hour to improve its troubled Thursday-night lineup.

Rich List debuted with a 1.5 rating/4 share in adults 18-49, dropping dramatically from its 2.7/7 Bones lead-in. It had replaced producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s drama Justice, its best performing rookie this season.

That show moved to 9 p.m. Monday last month behind Prison Break, where its ratings decreased from a 2.6/7 for its first five episodes to a 2.1/5 for two originals since Oct. 23.

Happy Hour had aired three times in September, slipping over three airings from a 2.4/7 to 1.7/4. It returned at 8:30 p.m. Thursday with a 1.4/4, fifth in the time period behind The CW’s Smallville.

In place of Rich List, Fox will add a second original run of The O.C. in the hour this coming Wednesday. It is also slated to run in its regular time period at 9 p.m. Thursday.

During its return this past Thursday, Fox’s once-stellar The O.C. garnered a meager 1.5/3, more than 50% below the 3.3/10 of its debut average last year in early September with no competition.

It equaled the numbers that got Rich List quickly yanked and finished only a tenth of a point ahead of The CW’s Supernatural, which itself is struggling.

Fox’s announcement encouraged viewers to watch web episodes of The O.C. on Myspace.com and the Fox O&O group’s MyFoxLocal Websites.

The network has made no decision regarding The O.C. beyond the coming week. “We’ll see how it does on Wednesday,” a Fox spokesman said.

On Thursday, Fox will air a rerun of ‘Til Death at 8:30 in place of Happy Hour.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6388461

fredfa

11-04-06, 11:08 AM

Cable TV Notebook
ESPN's Power Sweep
Fueled by Football, Sports Net Drives to October Ratings Win
By Mike Reynolds MultiChannel News 11/6/2006

While seven of cable's top 10 networks suffered erosion, ESPN scored a major ratings gain during October behind the power of its Monday Night Football franchise.

MNF accounted for the top five shows during the month — notably the medium's best-ever numbers of a 12.8 rating, 16 million viewers and 11.8 million households for its Oct. 23 presentation of the National Football League contest between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. As a result, ESPN registered a 21% gain to a 2.9 cable primetime household rating average from Sept. 25-Oct. 29.

That gave the total sports network a half-point edge over sister service Disney Channel's 2.4 mark. That was even with Disney's October average last year, according to a Disney ABC Cable Networks analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

Elsewhere, there was mostly downward motion among the medium's primetime top-10 performers.

Third-ranked USA Network was off 5% from a 2.1 in October 2005 to a 2.0. Sister services TNT and Cartoon Network placed fourth and fifth, respectively, with a 1.7 (down 11% from a 1.9) and a 1.3 (a 13% decrease to a 1.5).

A trio of networks averaged a 1.2, with TBS off 8% from a 1.3, while both Nick at Nite and Fox News Channel declined 20% from a 1.5 in the corresponding month last year.

Hallmark Channel, ahead 10% from a 1.0, and Lifetime Television, which absorbed a 31% hit, completed the top 10, each with a 1.1 average.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6388431.html?display=Programming

fredfa

11-04-06, 12:16 PM

Cable TV Notebook
ESPN Scores With Big East
Louisville-West Virginia Gets Big Ratings
By Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times Nov. 4, 2006

Louisville's 44-34 victory over West Virginia was being watched at any given time in an average of 4,916,000 U.S. households, an ESPN record for a Thursday night game, and the second most for any college football game on ESPN, the network announced Friday.

The previous Thursday high was an average of 4,097,000 homes for a Florida State-Virginia game on Nov. 2, 1995. The all-time ESPN record of 6,318,000 million homes was set Sept. 4 when Florida State and Miami played in a Monday night game.

The number of average households for Thursday night's game was based on a national cable rating of 5.3.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-fbcrep4nov04,1,5510769.story

fredfa

11-04-06, 12:41 PM

TV Notebook
The operation is a success from 'Grey's Anatomy' to 'ER'
Infusions of talent, and new blood drawn from "Grey’s Anatomy" viewers, have resuscitated the formerly flagging "ER"
By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer November 5 2006

This is a story that may finally prove - per screenwriter William Goldman's indelible line - that nobody knows anything in Hollywood.

Or it may, in fact, prove that everybody knows something - they're just not always sure they know what they know until they know it.

What this definitely establishes is that television - often a fool's paradise of predictions, guesswork, spin, hype and outright balderdash - very much remains a place of surprise and even mystery.

This is a story, in other words, about "Grey's Anatomy" and "ER," which both air on Thursday nights, the former at 9 on ABC, the latter at 10 on NBC.

One is the great ascendant hit of the year, the TV monster of the moment. The other is an old warhorse. Presumed to be tired and listless, this old nag was supposed to be much closer to the grave than the cradle.

"Grey's" has been seen by an average of 24 million viewers this season, and is far and away TV's dominant scripted show. Before this, ABC hadn't had a No. 1 hit on Thursday night in nearly 30 years, when "Laverne & Shirley" briefly nested there during the 1979 season.

And the old warhorse? "ER" was TV's big kahuna in the 1995, '96 and '98 seasons and has been a top-10 stalwart for almost each of the past 13 seasons. In terms of pure commercial potency, this has been one of the stellar hits in network history - and remained so until senescence struck. With all original cast members gone, ratings way down in 2005 and a prevailing sense (even at NBC) that the show's creative arteries were irreversibly sclerotic, this was expected to be the last or next to last season.

Surprise, surprise

Now, take another look: So far this season, "ER" is NBC's most-viewed scripted series (averaging around 15 million viewers) and virtually tied with the network's hot Monday newcomer "Heroes" among younger viewers (both get around 6.5 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 49 in their respective time periods).

"ER," once again, is winning the 10 p.m. time period, and is even acting like a young whippersnapper in the process. Sclerosis be damned.

Besides the fact that, until now, aging hits almost never - make that never - reversed steep downward spirals, why is this so unusual? There are a couple of reasons. First, counterintuitive though this may seem, "ER" is actually the better of the two Thursday hospital shows. Gone are last season's histrionics (and violent nuttiness). With volume turned down, the show has gotten back to doing what it always did best - telling the stories of average people in extreme peril. The recent "Ames v. Kovac" episode with guest star Forest Whitaker was superb, and went someplace (the courtroom) where "ER" has rarely ventured.

Double stubble

And while the drama seems richer and sturdier than in recent seasons, the show also has shrewdly added its own stubble-faced counterpart to "Grey's" Dr. McDreamy, played by Patrick Dempsey - John Stamos as Dr. Tony Gates. Stamos is nearly the same vintage (43) as Dempsey (40), and both were late-'80s teen icons.

The other likely reason for ER's recovery is equally counterintuitive (until you actually stop to think about it). "Grey's Anatomy" is probably the key reason that "ER" is back on top. Of the resurgence, "ER's" current show-runner and executive producer, David Zabel, says bluntly: "No, I didn't anticipate this. I was afraid that what the audience would feel is that if they saw one [hospital] show at 9, then they might not want to see another one at 10. I'm happy to say I was wrong."

He was wrong, but wrong for an understandable reason. What's happening is one of the older (and odder) phenoms in television. It's called "drafting" an audience from one show to another. In plain English, this means that if a program ("Grey's Anatomy") on one network is a huge hit, then another that follows on a competing network literally gets viewers in its "draft."

The irony is that "ER" appears to be as much a beneficiary as the ABC show that should be getting the direct assist, "Six Degrees," which follows "Grey's" at 10.

Networks don't particularly like the draft effect for that reason, but because the TV audience is a rather fickle and uncontrollable beast, they can't entirely eliminate it. "Bonanza," for example, was NBC's massive Sunday 9 p.m. hit of the late 1960s, but the Cartwright clan did next to nothing for any NBC show following at 10. The Cartwrights did, however, boost the fortunes of CBS' Sunday 10 p.m. hit, "Mission: Impossible."

Over the years, the networks got smart. Most of the heavy-hitter hour dramas were slotted at 10. Sitcoms became less prone to draft because they were designed as lead-outs or lead-ins to their companion shows. The advent of the 500-channel universe made drafting even more infrequent - or at least irrelevant - because audiences had so many other choices when their favorite show ended.

A bit of a draft

Jeff Bader, executive vice president of ABC Entertainment and the network's boss in charge of prime-time planning and scheduling, says "I do think it's drafting a little bit of 'Grey's Anatomy,' but you see that in a lot of time periods. If you have a huge show on one network and a popular one on another, you will see people draft over to it."

Bader also insists that the genre - two hospital shows coincidentally on the same night - has nothing to do with this draft effect. In fact, he notes that while 18 percent of "Grey's" young audience heads over to "ER," 15 percent of "CSI's" CBS audience jumps to NBC, too.

Conclusion: "'ER,'" Bader says, "is benefiting from both."

Not that Bader has anything to worry about. He was the architect of the decade's most successful scheduling change so far. ABC's move of "Grey's" to Thursday was so completely unexpected that NBC originally slotted its most promising newcomer, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," on Thursdays at 9 (then hastily threw it to Mondays, where its decline has been steady and painful).

So why put "Grey's" on Thursday in the first place? To follow the money. Commercials can be sold at a premium because of the looming weekend shopping days and because there are so many more available viewers. While "Grey's" could have turned into roadkill opposite "CSI," no one expected that to happen because this show had slow-burned its way into the psyche of some 24 million (mostly young, mostly female) viewers. Meredith Grey's (Ellen Pompeo) journey to fulfillment, enlightenment and - of course - love had become their journey, too. There was simply no chance anyone was going to jump off the train just because of a move to Thursday.

Nevertheless, there is studied pretentiousness to "Grey's" these nights. This feels like a show that is Important, or - more to the point - knows that it's Important. There was a casual serendipity to "Grey's" last season, and even a looseness to TV's most iridescent love triangle, between Grey, Dempsey's Dr. Derek Shepherd and Chris O'Donnell's Dr. Finn Dandridge. By contrast, "ER" - with its dark primary colors to "Grey's" whites and washed-out blues - now feels more grounded and, surprisingly, often more intelligent.

For the young, old is new

Credit for the recharged "ER" goes to Zabel, 39, a New York City native, who has been with "ER" for five seasons. He secured Stamos for a couple episodes last season, then signed him full time for this one. Says Zabel of Stamos' character, new intern Tony Gates, "he has a great sense of humor and spark and energy that I felt this show needed."

Along with "ER" stalwarts Goran Visnjic (Luka Kovac), Maura Tierney (Abby Lockhart) and Mekhi Phifer (Gregory Pratt), the show has added new faces - notably veteran actor J.P. Manoux as obnoxious motormouth Dr. Dustin Crenshaw, who may be the ideal choice for longtime fans who actually pine for Paul McCrane's Dr. Robert Romano.

"What's happening this season," Zabel says, "is that we're getting new viewers who are young enough that they're discovering 'ER' as if it's a new show. They don't have any preconceptions."

They do now. They're mostly good ones, too.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv4956142nov05,0,1894870.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

fredfa

11-04-06, 01:28 PM

TV Notebook
That '70s Show
'Saturday Night Live' in the post-Tina Fey, YouTube unknown
By Rachel Sklar The Village Voice

Around two on the Sunday morning after the Saturday Night Live season premiere on September 30�after the studio audience has filed out down the long photo-lined hallway outside Studio 8H and the cast has paused outside the NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to greet fans and pose for pictures�the 11 members of this season's slimmed-down cast and their guest host, Dane Cook, head to the after-party at McCormick & Schmick's, a high-end seafood restaurant on Sixth Avenue a few blocks away. NBC News anchor Brian Williams is there with his family, celebrating his hilariously awkward "Weekend Update" cameo, while Kenan Thompson sits nearby in an oversize jersey with matching hat and shoes. At a table in the back sits Lorne Michaels, the show's 61-year-old executive producer and creator, joined by Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg, and a select few. People come and go from the table; Michaels stays there, holding court.

It's a fairly laid-back evening, wholly unlike the wild post-show parties that became the stuff of legend when Saturday Night Live exploded on the culture in the fall of 1975. Back in those days cast members Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi brought the party to their Blues Brothers Bar downtown and consumed impressive quantities of drugs and alcohol, as befitted the times and their role in shaping them. For years, SNL was synonymous with wild and crazy, not just in its comedy but also in its animating spirit; the dark side of that was discord and drug abuse�to the point where, by the late 1990s, two cast members, Belushi and Chris Farley, had died of drug overdoses.

Tonight, those days seem especially distant. No one is getting smashed. No one is in the bathroom snorting cocaine. A few cast members come outside for a cigarette -- Amy Poehler with her husband, Arrested Development's Will Arnett, Bill Hader, Will Forte -- but that's about it. Inside, there's conversation and camaraderie on display, not overindulgent egos or out-of-control consumption. The guest lists for these events vary, but tend toward the chill it's more about catching up than throwing down. At a party a few weeks later, Parker Posey, Sarah Chalke, Paul Rudd, and Nia Vardalos join the group, along with former cast member Rachel Dratch and a group from 30 Rock, the NBC sitcom created by former head writer Tina Fey in spoofing homage to her former employer.

Sometime after 3 a.m., the crowd starts to break up, and a group heads down to the after-after-party at the Plumm on West 14th Street, called for 3:30 a.m. And why not? It's still SNL, after all, and at least until the sun comes up, it's still Saturday night.

________________________________________

After 31 years of making television history, where does SNL stand now? This summer, the show had a well-publicized budget crunch, and Michaels was told by NBC brass to cut episodes or cast members. He chose the latter, firing eight-year veterans Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, plus recent arrival Finesse Mitchell. With the loss of Fey and Dratch, this reduced the cast by almost 30 percent, from 16 to 11. The two SNL-inspired shows launched this fall on NBC -- Aaron Sorkin's earnest Monday-night drama, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and 30 Rock -- have both gotten off to a weak start, despite considerable hoopla and critical praise. Sure, network TV is in crisis everywhere (NBC itself just carved a deep swath out of the budget), but this doesn't change the fact that SNL's ratings have slipped over the last five years.

Meanwhile, the increasing popularity of programs like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central has introduced another variable into the equation: competition. And with the proliferation of digital online content over the past couple of years in the form of viral video, blogs, and websites, plus stalwarts like The Onion (growing wildly online), there's another variable: choice.

This clanging death knell is nothing new, of course; the media have been declaring SNL dead since its second season. "Week to week, you're fighting it," says Michaels. "When people refer to it as an institution or part of the landscape -- that's not the way I view it. I think every week you go up there to reinvent it."

Right now, says Michaels, the cast is in what he calls a "rebuilding" period, with few old familiar favorites to entice viewers and no big star like a Will Ferrell or a Mike Myers. True, stalwarts like Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph are familiar veterans by now, and in his 12th season, Darrell Hammond is officially the longest-running player still on the show but there are no Billy Madisons or Tommy Boys, at least not yet. And while last December's "Lazy Sunday" short may have brought SNL a level of attention it has not been paid in years, Andy Samberg -- one of its stars -- is still frequently referred to as "Adam." (And look where it got Parnell.) Would you recognize Kristen Wiig on the street? If so, you're one better than all the Gawker Stalkers out there. She moves among them, invisible. Concedes Michaels: "They're not household names yet."

And yet these are Michaels's chosen few to drive SNL forward into the post-Fey, pan-YouTube unknown. This season, as the cast mills around onstage at the end of the show, the downsizing is obvious but it's obvious, too, in the preceding hour and a half, because the same faces keep showing up in sketch after sketch. Without the Debbie Downers and Carols there's suddenly room for a Peter O'Toole and a Kuato and a couple of A-Holes. "With the amount of people on the show, and with Seth just doing 'Update,' suddenly it's allowing for these really interesting moments," says second-year cast member Jason Sudeikis. "Everybody is scoring, everybody is getting time." It's also obvious offstage in their clowning and kidding around. A third of their number is gone, and whatever alliances may have existed previously, whatever complacent ruts of familiarity or easy fallback partnerships they may have enjoyed have likely been shaken up. As they run scenes during rehearsal, hang after at the cast party, or high-five each other seconds before a cold open, there's a distinct sense of we're-all-in-this-together fellowship.

They're also, unusually, rather settled: Unlike most cast ensembles of the past three decades, most of them are married or in long-term partnerships. Maya Rudolph lives with movie director Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom she recently had her first child; Sudeikis is married to 30 Rock writer Kay Cannon; Bill Hader was married last summer to filmmaker Maggie Carey. The SNL cast joined to celebrate in Boise, Idaho.

It's quite a change from the SNL chronicled in Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller's Live From New York: An Uncensored Oral History of Saturday Night Live, where the binge-doping, partner-swapping, backstabbing proclivities of players past were meticulously documented. "We were young, and the guys were single and the women were single and we were together twenty-four hours a day you do the biology," recalled former writer Marilyn Suzanne Miller in its pages. This group seems to love the job and each other in a wholesome, decidedly non-angsty manner. "There's way less, you know, crazy everyone's-boning-each-other kind of awesome gossip, but at the same time everyone's much more relaxed and friendly," says Samberg. "Everyone in the cast and all the writers too are just super-laid-back, humble, mellow people it's really nice." Agrees Poehler, "We all really love each other a lot around here."

Is this feel-good chemistry enough to keep the creative sparks flying? Aren't artists supposed to be, you know, tortured and drama-driven? Only four episodes in, it's hard to say; depending on which MySpace page you're reading, SNL is either hilarious or it sucks. Michaels, who no doubt has had enough of drama, thinks the alchemy of a new group finding its way is enough. "I think that the vitality of the show is about turnover, and about discovering new people and seeing new people develop," he says. "When you see somebody come into their own and do something remarkable, you realize why you're there."

________________________________________

The current cast, like most of its previous incarnations, has described SNL as "a family," with Michaels as the unofficial father figure. Which raises the question: What happens to the family when, all of the sudden, Dad fires three siblings?

"We had been pretty well warned that no matter how close you get with people and no matter how much it feels like family, it's still a TV show on a TV station, and ultimately that means that it's going to be cutthroat at some point or another," says Samberg. "We were definitely bummed that Parnell's gone. He's a good friend of ours and we think he's amazing and hilarious, but I don't think that change happening is something that caught anyone off guard, just because they tell you so much ahead of time that that's how it is."

Hammond, the show's elder statesman, came to success in comedy later in life after a tough slog. "I've always felt that show business was just brutal," he says. "There are times in show business . . . it just seems so difficult. I just try to take everything as it comes."

The group speaks with real fondness for Sanz and Mitchell, but a special category of reverence seems reserved for Parnell. "Somebody resubmitted a sketch that was done last year and I had to do a part that Chris Parnell had done last year, and I couldn't do it nearly as well as he was able to do it," says Forte. "I just remembered him doing it in my head as I was doing it, and I was like, 'Awww, he's so awesome.' " Says performer Bill Hader: "He's one of my heroes. Just to be able to do a scene with him was amazing."

But there's no arguing with more playing time, and the flip side of a sad departure is a leaner, more active cast. Fred Armisen is both diplomatic and optimistic. "It's not black-and-white," he says. "I'll say that I love the cast the way it is right now, and I love the cast the way it was then. And that's the nature of the show."

Michaels had a year to mull the decision, knowing of Fey and Dratch's departures and deliberately bringing on players from which to carve his new cast. "It's always hard," he says. "But I think for me, all the people who left were sort of in a good place in their career. And I really felt that I couldn't build the current cast unless they could get a lot of playing time." Michaels admits he had a sense of who would be leaving, and part of it had to do with bringing in new blood. "I think with Horatio and certainly with Parnell, I'd be happy if they were all here forever," he says. "They're great at it." But on SNL, even talent has its limits. "Half the fun of it is watching people who are just starting, and discovering it for yourself, and the other half is watching people who are incredibly accomplished," Michaels says. "I mean, the tragedy for me is that when people have mastered it, it's usually time for them to move on."

Though it was kind of a tragedy of his own making, there were those budget cuts, rumored at $10 million. (Michaels says "it wasn't that much" but declines to confirm a number.) As for cutting episodes instead, it was never a possibility: "Last season we did 19 episodes because of the Olympics, and it's an easy way to solve budget problems. But part of it is, all of television is going through this."

That doesn't change the fact that SNL's ratings have dropped. The September 30 premiere with Dane Cook and the Killers pulled in 6.7 million viewers and a 3.2 rating; five years ago, the show was getting a 3.7 rating for the full-season average, which includes lower-rated reruns. As a raw statistic, 6.7 million viewers represents a lot-Jon Stewart gets 1.4 million, and the nightly-news numbers are not that far off (8.65 million for NBC, 7.56 million for CBS, both at 6:30 p.m.).

But there have been other measures of the slide�for example, in the 12-17 category. They may not be buying cars and big-ticket items, but this demo represents an incubator for lifelong fans of the show. A common denominator between older viewers and even those who no longer watch is an affinity for the show born in early adolescence, when kids are old enough to stay up and watch SNL but young enough not to have any other alternative on a Saturday night. (Hader, Samberg, Forte, and Sudeikis all back this up; Hader even went late to his prom so he could catch a super-special episode with Monty Python, and recalls being sent to the principal's office for refusing to stop talking like the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer in biology: "What is this photosynthesis? Your world frightens me!") Over the past five years, the numbers for this demographic have dropped 1.3 points, from 2.4 in 2001-02 to 1.1 last season.

Still, NBC vice president Tom Bierbaum, who oversees ratings, cautions against interpreting the data too strictly. "[SNL] has kind of kept pace with the general trends in television," he says. "Unfortunately, it's kind of a downward trend." Bierbaum is quick to note that SNL has more than held steady against the Saturday lineup, in prime time and running opposite the show, on all networks, and also notes that there are "now about a hundred" channels from which to choose, not to mention "the explosion of Internet options" for viewers. "Very few shows would be able to claim growth over a five-year period," he says.

Michaels acknowledges this as well. "I think that network television is also in the process of reinventing itself�right now it's the Web, 10 years ago it was cable that was going to destroy it," he says. "And somehow, they all find Grey's Anatomy or they all find the Super Bowl�there's an audience there, but there's more competition for it."

But Grey's Anatomy and the Super Bowl aren't making Bush jokes. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are. "If we were working on something and someone said they just did it on The Daily Show we'd not go near it, obviously," says Michaels. "But they're daily�and we have more time on one level�it's magazine versus newspaper." Veteran SNL writer-performer Al Franken agrees. "SNL has writers, sets, cameramen, lighting, makeup, wigs�and really good actors," he says. "There's definitely a place to do the kinds of things that you can't do anywhere else. It's up to the writers to adjust to the realities of the other things, and do the kinds of things that only SNL can do." Seth Meyers thinks they're already doing that: "Those shows are incredibly cohesive, but it doesn't really change what we do. They're going to talk about politics and we're going to do scenes about politics. And to me, they don't bump that much."

Where they do have a noticeable edge, however, is on the Web. Although their audience may have a fraction of the numbers, when it's time to pass around YouTube clips the kids from Comedy Central are way out front. "GE/NBC's gotta be willing to put up with a little more copyright violation to get a better Web presence," says Alex Pareene, editor of the popular political website Wonkette. "I get sent at least one Daily Show and Colbert clip every day that some random guy uploaded to YouTube, but I never hear about it if SNL had something I could use in a post."

________________________________________

It's Friday, October 20 at 6 p.m., the night before the John C. Reilly episode. On the stage of Studio 8H , the cast is rehearsing a six-person sketch about a support group for attention-seeking celebrities, with Amy Poehler as Madonna, Rudolph as Paris Hilton, Hammond as Rumsfeld, Hader as a wild-eyed John Mark Karr, and Samberg as the suddenly famous stingray. By airtime the sketch will be gone, replaced with a Fox News parody featuring Hammond as Brit Hume grilling Forte's George Bush over a long list of Republican blunders, which turns out to be a zing at Fox News itself (as Hammond's Hume cheerfully supports him anyway). Michaels later said the piece, which dragged a bit, "misfired" but pointed to it as a result of high-concept writing, in this case by longtime SNL writer Jim Downey, which used a longer setup to deepen the payoff of the punch.

About five other sketches will die at dress rehearsal, maybe to get resurrected in a later show, maybe never to be heard from again. One that barely squeaked by was a sketch called "BearShark," a goofy piece that combined sight gags, a musical number, and SNL's newly signature tactic of going meta at the end. In dress, the piece was epic: Reilly welcomed his scientists by each of their funny names ("Dr. Franklin Mint!") and toasted the "BearShark Project," their secret mission to combine bear and shark into one cuddly species. Sudeikis's arrival to break the news of the project's demise triggers disbelief in the group (Rudolph: "I trust the BearSharks like my own family!"), Rudolph and Reilly break into song, and Sudeikis returns to address the camera, wondering if the BearShark is really a metaphor for the war in Iraq or the debate over cloning.

Watching this sketch from the floor, it was clear that the cast found it hilarious. Yet by air, it had been slashed so that the scientists were mute and nameless. " 'BearShark' is more of an attitude piece than a joke piece," says Meyers. "Everything is sort of half for time and half for choice. That was a case where the audience voted, so to speak." Despite a gag with Sudeikis's arm as a bloody stump spurting blood, the sketch failed to connect at air.

The choice of sketches doesn't reflect any one person's opinion, even that of Michaels. Dress is a brutal, ruthless democracy with only one metric: laughter. "It's one of the things I really relate to about the show," says Poehler. "It's totally democratic." This democracy pervades the process, since nothing gets past the writers' room without cracking everybody up. "I think you trust the Room with a capital R," says Meyers. "Live comedy is about making a collection of people laugh at the same thing, and we have that at the read-through table on Wednesday. It's rare that something in the room that tanks will work on air, or vice versa."

This, by the way, seems obvious to Michaels, who bristles when asked about diversity in the writers' room. "If you said to Tina, 'How do people rise here?' it's almost always because of their work," Michaels says. "If something killed at read-through, nobody goes into the room and says, 'I don't know, that was written by a woman.' " A mention is made of a recent episode of Studio 60 that makes racial diversity or the lack thereof a major plot point. It's suggested to Michaels that diversity is part of an ongoing discussion. "No it isn't," says Michaels, a tad exasperated. "It is in Aaron Sorkin land, but it isn't here." He points out that Alec Baldwin is set to host on November 11, followed by Ludacris on November 18 as host and musical guest. "Now, Alec Baldwin we know is an acknowledged comedy star, and obviously a favorite here. Ludacris? . . . I think it's all about funny people. Last year it was Maya, Finesse, and Kenan. This year there's just Kenan and Maya but you know, if Darrell's got a really good Jesse Jackson, no one's stopping him" (and no one has; it's one of his specialties).

________________________________________

It's 1:15 on a Wednesday morning and Lorne Michaels is calling. After a discussion the day before about the necessary evils of the budget cuts, tonight he is thoughtful, expansive. He is asked about a comment he made when receiving the Mark Twain Prize at Washington's Kennedy Center in 2004, that being on SNL was like living an arrested adolescence, with all the rebelliousness and questioning of authority that entails. He thinks for a moment, then notes that most of his handpicked first-season staff had had a major life event during adolescence. "In my case my father died, in Gilda's case her father died and I think, not to put an emphasis on that, I think that there's something that if you're formed that way, you sort of connect to questioning authority." He mentions Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and how the rebellion centers around freeing a slave despite social convention: "To the extent that we're supposed to speak truth to power, you want to get back in touch with that part of yourself that always questions things."

A lofty comment. "Well, sorry for that," he says. "It's late."

But how can SNL not be a sentimental enterprise for someone like Michaels? He long ago stopped needing the money. Why is he so excited about another new cast, in another new season?

"I'm here because I just love it," he says. "And . . . I care about it. And on some fundamental level I think it's important to be doing it." He goes on, "There's something about when the show works, what the audience is thinking and what we're going through and where the country is and performance and writing and all of it connects it's a certain thing there's no parallel to it."

But for all the thousands of hours of television Michaels has produced, he acknowledges that doesn't watch much television at all, though he admits to having seen a chunk of Studio 60 at the up-fronts. He does watch 30 Rock, for which he is an executive producer (though he claims never to have watched an episode of SNL after it's aired). As a businessman, Michaels seems frustrated with the presence of a creative competitor for 30 Rock on his own network.

"It's complicated now, because when she started work on it a year and a half ago it was sort of a clean shot, and when the Sorkin surprise happened in May, well it was like, well OK, there's another show," Michaels says. "And honestly, I don't have any issue with his choice I think he's very talented but it sort of muddied the water. I can't tell you the number of people who've come up to me and said they saw Studio 60 and how much they're pleased with the show I'm doing. I go, 'Well, actually, I do the other one . . . ' "

Thirty-one years later, Michaels is still doing the other one: SNL. "You're doing 90 minutes from blank page to on-air," he says. "How can it be everything you'd hoped it could be? And the reason that you show up next week is that hope springs eternal and maybe this week, it'll be that." He mentions the Jaime Pressly show, where he'd seen "the sparks of a new cast" and he'd been "pleased." He mentioned the A-Holes and Kuato and how Will Forte's writing is starting to turn heads, and also seemed "pleased" that the audience might soon develop "that thing of old friends they can hold on to," which clearly Michaels knows something about.

Forty-four minutes have passed, and at 1:59 a.m. Michaels excuses himself. "All right," he says, "and now I'm going back to work.”

http://www.villagevoice.com/generic/show_print.php?id=74893&page=sklar&issue=0644&printcde=MzQ4Nzk5MTExNQ==&refpage=L255Y2xpZmUvaW5kZXgucGhwP2lzc3VlPTA2NDQmcGFnZT1za2xh ciZpZD03NDg5Mw==

fredfa

11-04-06, 01:35 PM

Friday’s prime-time ratings have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

foxeng

11-04-06, 03:53 PM

TV Notebook
That '70s Show
'Saturday Night Live' in the post-Tina Fey, YouTube unknown
By Rachel Sklar The Village Voice
As a businessman, Michaels seems frustrated with the presence of a creative competitor for 30 Rock on his own network.

"It's complicated now, because when she started work on it a year and a half ago it was sort of a clean shot, and when the Sorkin surprise happened in May, well it was like, well OK, there's another show," Michaels says. "And honestly, I don't have any issue with his choice I think he's very talented but it sort of muddied the water. I can't tell you the number of people who've come up to me and said they saw Studio 60 and how much they're pleased with the show I'm doing. I go, 'Well, actually, I do the other one . . . ' "

We may have an insight into what is truly wrong with SNL. Michaels has lost his edge and is now too worried about his "competition," SNL and Broadway Video's other projects. If I remember correctly, in 1975, it could be argued that SNL had MUCH MORE competition at 11:30 pm on a Saturday Night than they do now. (SNL being an untried format with a bunch of unknowns in front and behind the camera who had nothing to loose and made that statement every week.) Now they ALL have SOMETHING to loose. I mean how radical can you be when you have that Beemer payment looming every month verses that Coke dealer looking for you that you stiffed earlier in the week? I am not saying they all need to start doing Coke to get funny, you need people who are hungy. I don't see ANYONE on this show hungry anymore.

According to this article, it would appear that Studio 60 is much closer to the current SNL than 30 Rock is and Michaels doesn't want to or can't admit to and that is why SNL is in the shape it is in.

fredfa

11-04-06, 05:05 PM

Good points, foxeng.

foxeng

11-04-06, 05:24 PM

Good points, foxeng.

And I get no joy out of making them either. Oh how I wish it was it 1976 again. That was a good season, even if Chevy Chase had already left.

fredfa

11-04-06, 05:47 PM

In fairness, it was a far different media time.

Celebs were not appearing on cable channel talk shows; there was no MTV to see the big music stars of the day and it was all so fresh and new. It is very hard to keep that going for decade after decade -- especially with all the competition (cable, DVD, internet) out there and available now.

fredfa

11-04-06, 05:52 PM

Critic’s Notebook
YouTube shows Comedy Central its force
By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and YouTube had a weird week. And, as it's turning out, an increasingly typical one.

It involved the usual tangle of popular culture, profit motive and technology, but mostly, it had the even-more-than-usual perplexed executives who can't figure out where that profit is supposed to come from on the new technologies.

What happened was that Comedy Central, which has gotten big-time publicity on YouTube, earlier this week pulled its clips from the online video bazaar as Comedy Central's corporate parent, Viacom, was sending YouTube a really mean letter.

For a few days, there was no "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" or Stephen Colbert and his lightsaber dance, or anything from the comedy network.

It was, frankly, a sad couple of days. Colbert and that light-saber could be the geekiest moment of the 21st century. (If you haven't seen it, go to YouTube and look for "Stephen Colbert's Lightsaber Challenge." You'll thank me.)

But, and here's the twist, notice I just said "go to YouTube for Colbert." That's because by Wednesday, Colbert, Stewart and the rest of the comedy cable crew were back up. And Viacom officials said in a statement that they meant, well, just no full episodes of Comedy Central shows, but go ahead and show clips.

That kind of dust-up is happening more and more in this new age of Nobody Knows What They're Doing Online. Sites such as YouTube and MySpace have video and music pulled, then re-posted, by media giants almost like clockwork.

There was a big one a couple of months back, when Fox News forced YouTube to pull video of a Bill Clinton interview, then a day later allowed it to reappear. And although Viacom and Comedy Central were fighting with YouTube, CBS -- another Viacom property -- already had signed a licensing deal with the site (as had NBC, some music studios and others).

So here's the confusion for everyone: Is it promotion or copyright infringement when video or music or anything lands in those sites? Or is it free speech, though, seriously, no one argues that any more.

Viacom has said Comedy Central clips get 80,000 viewings a day on YouTube. Is that lost income from Viacom sites -- for instance, Comedy Central has its own video Web site (ComedyCentral.com/ Motherload) -- or great PR for the Comedy Central television network?

The simple answer is, of course, it's both. The harder question is, what's worth more -- protecting your clips and music or getting them out into the big, wide world?

This is the war that will be fought for a while, and no one has any real answers, though the bigger the corporate entity involved, the more weight is given to protecting copyrights.

But the popularity of YouTube and similar online marketplaces seems to show that, at least for now, these kinds of sites will just get bigger. That's why Fox's parent company, News Corp., bought MySpace, and that's why Google last month paid $1.65 billion for YouTube.

These are the new community gathering centers in a digital world. The rules are still pretty hazy and there's going to be a lot more fighting and confusion before everything gets hashed out. Unless, of course, a hero comes along, say a man like Stephen Colbert with a light saber.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Judging by the weak ratings, I may be the only human bothered by this, but NBC has completely dumped "Kidnapped," one of the better new shows, although also one with serious ratings issues.

It originally ran at 10 p.m. Wednesdays, then got shifted to 9 p.m. Saturdays after NBC said the series would wrap up in 13 episodes. Now, it's just gone. It'll be replaced through November by repeats of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

"Kidnapped" had a terrific cast, including Delroy Lindo, Dana Delany, Jeremy Sisto and Timothy Hutton, and it was smart, fast-paced and pretty cool. But it was a serial and a show about a kidnapping. TV is overloaded with both.

Unlike some serials, this show paid off every week with satisfying moments, not to mention great acting. But, as so many other shows have found out, most regular people only have so much time for TV. Who knew?

http://www.sacbee.com/127/v-print/story/70280.html

dad1153

11-04-06, 07:14 PM

And I get no joy out of making them either. Oh how I wish it was it 1976 again. That was a good season, even if Chevy Chase had already left.

Relive the magic all over again! ;)

Here it is. After years of waiting and compilation videos, the incredible Season One of the groundbreaking late night sketch comedy series. Everything you could possibly want is featured in this 8-disc set including all of the episodes in their entirety and as they appeared when they first aired, all of the musical numbers and much more. And don't forget the amazing cast of young soon-to-be superstars that included Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtain and more. Guest host the inaugural season include Rob Reiner, George Carlin, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Anthony Perkins, Raquel Welch and, in a major coup, Richard Pryor. Musical guests were abound as well with a line-up that includes Paul Simon, Joe Cocker, ABBA, Anne Murray, Jimmy Cliff, Toni Basil, Patti Smith, Gordon Lightfoot and more. This was the season where anything went and the amazing cast set the standard for years to come. Whether you are watching a commercial for the Bass-O-Matic or laughing at Belushi's Samurai Deli, this set is sure to be one you watch over and over.

Number of Discs: 8
Running Time: 24:00
Color: Color
Studio: Universal Studios Home Video
Theatrical Release: 1975

http://www.tvshowsondvd.net/graphics/news3/SNL-S1.jpg
http://www.tvshowsondvd.net/graphics/news3/SNL-S1-Trade.jpg

Source: www.tvshowsondvd.com

fredfa

11-04-06, 07:17 PM

I'd go right out and buy it now, but the official release date is Dec. 5.

foxeng

11-04-06, 07:19 PM

In fairness, it was a far different media time.

While that is certainly true, funny is funny and not funny is not funny no matter what era it is. The number of celebs have nothing to do with it. The funniest sketches I remember from early SNL didn't have any celebs in them at all, just the cast. (The Candy Gram Shark, Cheese Burger Cheese Burger. Samurai (you add the situation) and the Blues Brothers.

Of course back in those days no celeb of any real credit would get within ear shot of Studio 8H. If it hadn't of been the likes of Buck Henry, Steve Martin and Richard Pryor, it wouldn't have surpised me if they didn't just pull someone out of the audience to guest host. It could be said in those early years Martin and Pryor were probably the biggest guest hosts to be on SNL. Both were just starting to break big. Martin had yet to do "The Jerk" (1979) but his recordings were breaking big (King Tut- 1977) and Pryor's comic recordings were starting to hit big.That is why those shows are now considered classics. The Pryor one in particular and the many Martin did where he and Aykroyd did the "Wild and Crazy Guys."

dad1153

11-04-06, 07:20 PM

Unlike most of us Fred, you can search the archives of your memory and remember a more intimate look at the behind-the-scenes world of early 'SNL' than any of us could ever muster. You don't need these DVD's, you need to videotape yourself under hypnosis! ;)

Me? I'm looking forward to seeing ABBA's early appearance on 'SNL.' So sue me, I love ABBA and the idea of these lip-synching Sweeds doing two songs on 'SNL' is just too much! :)

foxeng

11-04-06, 07:25 PM

I'd go right out and buy it now, but the official release date is Dec. 5.
I will be there! Too bad we can't get those in HD!! I think it was 81 or 82 when they went stereo.

dad1153

11-04-06, 07:47 PM

Friday’s prime-time ratings have been posted...

"Ghost Whisperer," 7.2/13, put CBS on top at 8 p.m. NBC's "1 vs. 100" was second for the hour at 6.6/11. A "Grey's Anatomy" rerun on ABC came in third. The first hour of "Friday Night Smackdown!" on The CW earned a 2.7/5, beating the return of "Vanished," 2.2/4, on FOX.

CBS held the lead at 9 p.m. with "Close to Home," 7.6/13. "Las Vegas," 5.8/10, kept NBC in second. The first half of a two-hour "20/20" delivered a 5.3/9 for ABC. "Smackdown!" stayed in fourth, while FOX ticked up a little with "Trading Spouses," 2.5/4.

At 10 p.m., CBS' "Numb3rs" scored a 7.2/13, just holding off "Law & Order," 7.1/13, which recorded its best numbers in several weeks with Chase's heavily promoted guest spot. The second hour of "20/20" held steady for ABC with a 5.2/9.

'Law & Order' has got to move back to Wednesdays at 10PM (or at least away from Friday), these season's batch of episodes have been so good (even with the rookie female cop) that they could perform well as repeats on Wednesday night. And wow, look at 'Smackdown' on the CW kicking 'Vanished' and Fox network's a@@! Now the CW has beaten Fox on the first Thursday and Friday nights of November sweeps. If Fox were to put 'The O.C.' and 'Vanished' on hiatus for Nov. sweeps, what the hell could they put in their place? Anyone care to bet 'American Idol' moves to Thursday nights in '07 to fix Fox's Thursday night problems permanently?

foxeng

11-04-06, 08:03 PM

Anyone care to bet 'American Idol' moves to Thursday nights in '07 to fix Fox's Thursday night problems permanently?

That has been talked about in the media and I think Peter Liquori has also been quoted as saying that wouldn't happen but who knows? I guess we will all find out at the same time what gets programmed on Thursdays.

dad1153

11-04-06, 08:09 PM

Peter spoke before this week's CW Thursday/Friday regularly scheduled shows beat his heavily-promoted-during-the-World-Series 'O.C.' and relocated 'Vanished' on the first two days of November sweeps. When CW shows start beating your network's struggling schedule on the month when ad rates get sets the rule book gets tossed out the window. And if you thought the 'Grey's Anatomy' vs. 'CSI' scheduling in the media was overblown just imagine if 'Idol' moved there. Would NBC get 'Scrubs' and '30 Rock' away from the firing line? Would CW relocate some dump shows there and keep 'Supernatural' and 'Smallville' from bleeding further? It would be madness for non-Tivo owners! :D

fredfa

11-04-06, 08:09 PM

Moving "AI" to Thursday won't fix the Fox problem permanently, just late January-May.

While that covers two of the three sweeps periods, we are already in the final death throes of sweeps anyway.

Fox has major, major problems. It should figure out how to nurture "Bones" back to health, find out some way to make "Justice" work and come up with something new that works.

And that sure as heck isn't the vast majority of junk it threw at viewers this season.

dad1153

11-04-06, 08:19 PM

Moving "AI" to Thursday won't fix the Fox problem permanently, just late January-May.

No, but it will make them more money than on Tuesday nights if the ratings hold on to promote all those weekend movie releases and store sales. Remember 'Idol' is flexible and can be made to last from 60 up to 120 minutes, potentially screwing/spoiling not only the 'Grey's Anatomy'/'CSI' 9PM hour but also the 8PM hour. Can you imagine Fox announcing 'Idol' moves to Thursdays? All other networks except CBS and ABC would seriously consider moving shows around to get out of the way. BTW, the way things are going for Fox what guarantee is there that 'Idol's' ratings won't slip from last season's record-setting viewership whether it stays on Tuesday or moves to Thursday? :rolleyes:

fredfa

11-04-06, 09:42 PM

I would expect the ratings to slip -- especially if Fox put it up against "Grey's" and "CSI".

Actually, last year, before she left Fox, Gail Berman said she expected the "AI" ratings to slide a little bit.

generalpatton78

11-04-06, 10:02 PM

I know ad rates are higher on thursdays but sometimes you just have raise a white flag. The OC isn't the best show in the world by any means, but if they moved it to tuesday or wednesday I bet it's ratings would double or even triple.

fredfa

11-04-06, 10:57 PM

I suspect the OC has run its course.

With the World Series having such terrible (in contrast with the past) ratings and the rest of the new Fox shows doing so poorly, even spectacular performances by "American Idol" and "24" might not be enough tosqueeze Fox into first this season.

And given the sagging (or worse) numbers run up by other serialized shows (even "Lost") I am not sure Fox can assume anything but slippage for "24" this year.

fredfa

11-04-06, 11:16 PM

TV Notebook
Cronkite happy to give vocal support
By Marisa Guthrie The New York Daily News Staff Writer

Walter Cronkite turned 90 years old Saturday, and the renowned broadcaster has lost none of his lust for the news business.

"I would like to think that I'm still quite capable of covering a story," he told the Daily News this week.

After anchoring the "CBS Evening News" for nearly two decades, his famous stentorian voice can now be heard introducing one of his successors, Katie Couric.

Asked for his reaction when CBS News executives invited him to do the introduction, he replied without hesitation: "I would like to be doing the whole broadcast."

Still, he said, "I was honored to be asked and I must say rather surprised. I'm very pleased to have my little signature out there at the beginning of the broadcast."

Cronkite, of course, was the first anchor of that broadcast - which was also the first nightly news program. Having him introduce Couric, said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and CBS Sports, was "in retrospect obvious."

"It speaks volumes about what CBS News stands for," he said. "It says so much about our tradition and our foundation."

Cronkite helped build that foundation through his work during a particularly transformative time in American history. He was there to interpret for attentive audiences (undistracted by today's dizzying array of news sources) major world events like the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam, the Watergate scandal, the Apollo 11 moon landing and the assassination of President Kennedy.

And while the image still lingers of the tearful newsman telling a stunned nation that Kennedy was dead, Cronkite is proudest of his coverage of the civil rights movement, the peace talks between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin in the 1970s and the space program.

"The [moon landing] was certainly one of the greatest stories of the century and perhaps will be the greatest story of many centuries."

Television news has changed greatly since Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley ruled the evening news roost. But Cronkite said the anchor's job hasn't changed much.

"The purpose of the news program is to deliver the news," said Cronkite. "I think the three networks still do an excellent job of delivering the news, and some of the other [cable] networks as well."

So which broadcast does "Uncle Walter" watch?

"I bounce around a little bit," he said. "I think all the three major networks do a good job. I'm particularly fond of Jim Lehrer's report on public radio."

And Couric?

"I think Katie's doing very well," he said. "I would like to see just a little bit more hard news on the broadcast. But I think she does quite a good job."

These days Cronkite spends his working hours doing documentary narration and voiceover work, as well as some writing, although he gave up his syndicated column last year. A leg injury has kept him off the tennis courts for the past few years, but he still enjoys sailing. He tries not to ruminate too much on the past.

"I don't dare look at myself too carefully," he laughed.

But he does have one recent regret.

"I unfortunately have not been to Iraq," he said. "It's the first war since (World War II) that I have not covered."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/v-pfriendly/story/467660p-393545c.html

fredfa

11-04-06, 11:56 PM

(Note: There are several references to AVS Forum in this article, along with word that CBS will televise four NFL games a week in HD next season and hopes to broadcast all its NFL games in HD in 2008 and ALL March Madness games will be in HD next March.)

HD TV Sports
Hi-Def TV: Sports Is the Driver Behind HD Revolution
For Fans, Resolution and Aspect Ratio Add Up to Next Best Thing to Being There
By Natalie Finn Special to TelevisionWeek

If you've never made the journey there, chances are you have never noticed the gently rolling topography of Augusta National Golf Course or heard just how loudly Notre Dame fans cheer the home team over in South Bend, Ind.

Unless you've been watching sports in high definition.

Enthusiasts looking to enhance their sports-watching experience are one of the largest forces driving HD television sales, a technological upgrade that industry insiders are comparing to the changeover from black-and-white to color.

The Consumer Electronics Association predicted in January that HDTVs were on track this year to outsell analog sets by 89 percent, after claiming 85 percent of the digital television market in 2005.

Meanwhile, according to a study by market research firm Parks Associates, one in three HDTV buyers expects to watch more sports after his or her purchase, and 71 percent of sports fans up their intake after getting a hi-def set.

"Sports fans are great and fanatical and crazy, and anytime you can deliver their sport in a higher quality, people go nuts," said Marc Fein, senior VP of programming and production for Versus, which produces one regular-season NHL game a week and all postseason games in HD and makes them available to its cable and satellite distributors.

While HD's 16:9 horizontal-to-vertical aspect ratio-as opposed to standard definition's 4:3 screen-also lends itself to at-home movie watching and gaming, the format provides sports fans a view comparable only to catching a game live.

And sometimes, watching HDTV wins the day.

Martin Franks, executive VP of planning, policy and government relations for CBS Corp., recalled watching visitors' reactions to the power of hi-def while sitting in his network's suite this year at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the U.S. Open, an event CBS-the first of the Big 4 broadcast networks to roll out HD sports programming, back in 1998-has been offering in HD since 2000.

"We've always had an HD monitor in the suite, partly to proselytize, to show how neat it is," Mr. Franks said. "Once again this year, there were available seats outside that weren't being filled because people were crowded around the HDTV set inside.

"There's one particular camera angle that looks down the doubles alley from the perspective of the person receiving the serve. ... It looks like the ball is coming right out of the set and is going to nail you right between the eyes."

Vertical and Horizontal

From a TV viewer's perspective, tennis and golf are vertical, or north-south, sports. Their horizontal counterparts are anything that runs from side to side across the screen, like football, basketball, hockey and soccer. Baseball is a combination of both, and track sports, such as NASCAR and horse racing, provide some unique production challenges because of the sheer area that the cameras have to cover, making it more difficult to get a pristine feed back to the trucks.

Wider viewing angles and higher resolution, easily discernible to the naked eye, and 5.1 digital surround sound are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marking the difference between broadcasting sports in high definition and standard definition. But for the fans, it's a perfectly good place to start.

"It's the remarkable clarity and ability to capture detail that high definition brings," said David Neal, executive producer of NBC Sports and executive VP of NBC HD Olympics. "If you look at any sporting venue, all the factors are there. You've got speed, you've got motion, you've got colors.

"It's an undeniable fact that sports are tailor-made for high definition."

NBC, in the process of digitally upgrading its studios, airs "Sunday Night Football," Notre Dame football games, hockey, NASCAR, golf and the first two legs of horse racing's Triple Crown in HD.

The launch of "Sunday Night Football" this year sharpened the spotlight on NBC's HD compression and bandwidth capabilities, leading emotionally and financially invested viewers to message boards such as the AVS Forum to share observations.

While complaints range from the highlights getting macroblocked (in which the screen breaks into pixilated squares) in New York to the action intermittently freezing over in Philadelphia, the technical difficulties rarely originate at field level. Instead, problems tend to occur somewhere along the way, once a signal has left the production truck and made its way to regional affiliates and cable and satellite companies.

"Quality control is almost downright impossible," said Ken Aagaard, senior VP of operations for CBS Sports. He and his colleagues use the AVS Forum to keep track of who's seeing what, and where.

"That happens a lot more than you would think, with audio and video problems," Mr. Aagaard said. "Audio can get reconfigured 17 different ways. It's really been like calling my friends with 5.1 [digital surround sound] receivers and asking, `What's it sound like?"'

Despite the trial-and-error aspect that's still very much a part of broadcasting in HD, quality control in 2006 is a world away from where it was in 1998, when CBS aired four NFL games-total-in HD.

Borrowing mobile units from Madison Square Garden, where Cablevision was experimenting with shooting NHL games in HD, CBS did four side-by-side broadcasts, meaning there were two sets of trucks, cameras, announcers and other equipment to produce two telecasts. At the time it was impossible to originate an SD feed out of an HD truck.

"Part of the problem in the early years was that sports fans in particular are used to a certain production standard," Mr. Franks said. "If you were a regular football fan and you watched the early NFL HD broadcasts that we did, there was no first-down line."

There weren't any HD graphics either, or super slow motion, sky cams, robotic point-of-view or reliable wireless cameras, the last of which was a problem in particular for shooting golf in HD.

CBS was able to upgrade from having two of everything-"the Noah's Ark of broadcasting," Mr. Frank called it-in 2002.

"Getting the unified truck, which of course brings incremental cost down, has made all the difference in the world," he said. Now the games that are shot in HD are downconverted into the SD format, the standard procedure for networks producing HD programming for distribution in both HD and SD.

For 2006-07, CBS is scheduled to air three NFL games in HD each Sunday (out of a total of five to eight regular-season games each week); all of the NFL postseason; 95 percent of its NCAA basketball, including all March Madness games; and all of its golf, starting in January with the Buick Invitational in San Diego, for which National Mobile Television is building CBS a brand-new HD truck and Broadcast Sports Inc. is hooking up the network with the requisite wireless cameras.

Mr. Aagaard said CBS will bump its Sunday HD NFL telecasts to four in fall 2007 and hopes to televise all NFL games in HD starting in 2008. While in 1998 it was the overall lack of available equipment and HD-ready viewers in the marketplace holding back the move to HD, now it's CBS's broadcasting center-"antiquated, to say the least," Mr. Aagaard said-that's slowing the process.

"We were first in so many sports HD broadcasts that we got a little locked into some early-and now it turns out to not be optimal-architecture," Mr. Franks said. "We just now have to go out and replace some stuff that was fairly expensive and hard to do once."

That being said, however, CBS is proud of the pioneering position it took in the industry at a time when HD programming was a boutique offering. In a world of 200 digital cable channels, HD offerings were one of the few new ways that networks could distinguish themselves.

"Now HD gives us the opportunity to marry up either our premium events, if you think of sports, or our premium storytelling," Mr. Franks said. "We're back to being that specially differentiated programming that some of us grew up with.

"We still have room for improvement and we will get there. ... We would really love to be-not just altruistically and not just because we know it would please our audience, but we also happen to know it would be good business-if we could have a 52-weekend-a-year HD sports business. At the moment we're probably close to 40 weekends, and we've just got a little bit more to go."

When ESPN got into the game, announcing its plans to go HD in 2002, the network was building a new production facility in Bristol, Conn., and facing a technical decision that would have long-lasting business implications.

"We looked at each other and said, `Hey, wait a minute,"' said Bryan Burns, VP of strategic business planning and development for ESPN. "`If we build this for digital standard definition, what happens in the 25-year life of that building when our country eventually goes HD?"'

So ESPN kicked off a new era, launching ESPN HD on March 30, 2003, and opening a 120,000-square-foot digital production center-the largest such center, boasting three HD studios-in the summer of 2004. The network promised it would offer 100 live events a year in HD.

At the time ESPN had three mobile HD trucks-two of its own and one belonging to ABC's "Monday Night Football," which started airing in HD during the 2003-04 NFL season. ABC (which now produces sporting events under the label "ESPN on ABC") presented the Super Bowl, NHL Stanley Cup games and NBA Finals games in HD for the first time in 2003.

"What's happening today, three years later, competitive pressures and demands from both affiliate customers and their customers-our fans-people who have this stuff just can't get enough," Mr. Burns said.

Consumers got their first glimpse of ESPN2 HD at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2005. This year the two networks combined will offer more than 700 events and 2,000 programs in HD, totaling more than 6,500 hours. ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD televise whatever is on the SD networks' schedules, so they are not yet 24/7 HD networks like HDNet or iNHD, both of which offer some sporting events.

While ESPN's 2007 schedule is still being hammered out, Mr. Burns confirmed that the network's entire NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series schedules will be shot in HD in the coming year, in addition to Major League Baseball, NBA, NFL and NHL games (ESPN is the only network that has contracts with all four leagues); men's and women's NCAA basketball; National Hot Rod Association events; the NCAA hockey championships; and the network's trademark original programming-the ESPY Awards, "SportsCenter," "Baseball Tonight," "NFL PrimeTime" and other shows shot in-studio .

Fox has made a similar commitment to a future in which HD is the norm. In 2004 the amount of HD sports programming on broadcast TV nearly doubled when Fox jumped in. The network revamped its production facility, acquired six new HD digital mobile production trucks and aired six NFL games in HD each Sunday from the start.

As of 2006, all of Fox's postseason baseball and football, its entire NASCAR schedule and 90 percent of its regular-season NFL offerings are being shot in HD. Come the 2007 MLB season, Fox Sports will shoot seven or eight games a day in HD for its regional coverage.

"High definition is not enough," said Andrew Setos, president of engineering for Fox Entertainment Group. "You need all the things that you had, plus high definition."

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30796

fredfa

11-05-06, 10:03 AM

The Business of TV
NBC Universal the latest to sing a song of synergy
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist November 5, 2006

Beyond the 700 jobs and $750 million in annual operating costs General Electric's NBC Universal looks to eliminate by the end of 2008 as part of its so-called NBC 2.0 initiative, there is the stated goal to "maximize the potential of the entire NBC Universal portfolio."

You know what that means, don't you? Synergy, the concept upon which some media giants were built, many only to be broken apart or buried later.

The mantra that had media conglomerates swallowing everything they could until they, like the dinosaurs, discovered the difficulty of lumbering around with that kind of size and weight to support, is still around--at least among the companies that still believe bigger can be better.

(Not that we know anything about that around here.)

Survivors, everyone seems to agree, will have to be leaner. That's what NBC 2.0's cutbacks, like all the other cost-cutting plans in media these days, are supposedly about. Eliminate redundant operations and personnel. Use one property to build up another in a daisy chain of cross-promotion and multiple use.

That guy getting busted in an underage sex sting on NBC's "Dateline" can be busted on MSNBC a few nights later and on the Web over and over for those who never get tired of America's Least Funny Videos, which will be a good DVD title.

Can selling a ring tone of that "Dateline" guy going "Sir, why are you here?" be far behind?

(This columnist's wife works in syndication sales for NBC Universal. She would like him to stop trying to be funny.)

One option that's been discussed at NBC over the last half-year or so is a daily TV program, perhaps originating from one of the company's theme parks, airing on company-owned stations and possibly built around one of the company's Web ventures.

A smart candidate would be iVillage, a group of women-oriented Web sites the company bought in March for $600 million. GE Chairman Jeff Immelt, at a company town hall meeting last week at CNBC's headquarters, said the company may have overpaid for the Internet outfit.

"But I've got an asset that can grow 30 percent a year for as long as the eye can see," he said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Is it as sexy as the other things online? No. But is it something we can add a ton of content with and make good money with over time? Absolutely."

Specific streamlining efforts on the East Coast and West Coast were mentioned in the official announcement of NBC 2.0, but none in Chicago. Why?

"You can see there's a lot of work to be done nationally [but] we've already taken some actions," said Larry Wert, president and general manager of WMAQ-Ch. 5. "That doesn't mean we won't take further ones. But we're looking at ways to leverage technology and improve coordination."

Since September, Channel 5 has gone with a solo anchor on its Saturday night newscasts rather than the typical two-anchor format. The station earlier moved to make its sports department more of an ensemble effort, eliminating the concept of a lead sports anchor.

WSNS-Ch. 44, the local affiliate for NBC-owned Spanish-language network Telemundo, has shared facilities and operations with Channel 5 at NBC Tower since 2003. And, looking ahead, it is instructive to note NBCSports.com has been using Channel 5 sportscaster Paula Faris as host of its online pregame and postgame programs for Notre Dame football, ostensibly because Channel 5 is the closest NBC owned-and-operated station to the university.

"There are various things happening in various parts of the company, but the focus is to leverage technology, improve coordination and gather content and move it," Wert said.

"Is there economics behind it?" he said. "Yeah, but every media company--new and old--is taking a hard look at their business model. Even if you're Google, you have to figure out how to monetize YouTube. So we're doing that. We're being a little aggressive, but we're doing it."

Well, they're trying to do it.

It isn't done yet.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0611050032nov05,0,6718230,print.column

fredfa

11-05-06, 12:49 PM

Next weekend's HD football schedules have been updated at the top of the first post in this thread.

fredfa

11-05-06, 03:25 PM

The Business of TV
NBC’s “Heroes” Gets Big Assist From Web
By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable 11/5/2006

NBC’s Heroes came out of nowhere to become the biggest serialized hit of the fall—or did it?

CAA agent Peter Micelli, appearing on a panel Saturday at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Next TV summit in North Hollywood, Calif., credits online promotion with generating excitement among the Heroes faithful long before it ever got on the air.

This past July, during San Diego’s annual Comic-Con International convention, devotees of the comic book world packed a 5,000-seat theater for a pilot screening of Heroes less than two months after NBC ordered it and long before conventional network promotion began.

Another 5,000 had to be turned away at the door, according to Micelli, who regularly attends the conventions.

The only word that the series was on the way had come online, which generated long lines among a likely fan base and lots of Web buzz leading up to the premiere.

“You just wonder,” Micelli says, “in a world where we struggle so much to create awareness of a show that actually exists, how is it possible that 10,000 people at this convention are coming to see Heroes? You find these ideas, these simple concepts that resonate, and people find interest in them. Online there is a huge wave to create awareness that the show exists, where it’s going to be, and that’s huge … because the networks don’t stick with shows very long anymore.”

Micelli predicts that online promotion, which has been dependent mostly on avid fans until now, will become a “huge” TV industry practice in the future.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6388471

fredfa

11-05-06, 08:16 PM

Nielsen Notebook
Saturday’s ratings

If you can’t wait until tomorrow when I post Marc Berman’s analysis of the weekend ratings, frequent thread participant RussTC3 posts daily ratings on his blog here:

http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2006/11/05/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-saturday-november-4-2006/

You should visit his blog often, he has a careful and complete way of filing. And, as far as I know, it is one of the very few public sources for Saturday overnights before Monday.

dad1153

11-05-06, 09:14 PM

Great, thanks! Can't wait to see which repeat of 'Law & Order' or half-hour of 'Cops' ranked higher than the other! :rolleyes: Let's face it, now that 'Kidnapped' is not there for us to gawk at just how low the ratings would go the overnight ratings for Saturday night are back to being meaningless and boring! :(

fredfa

11-05-06, 09:20 PM

Actually, a repeat of CSI won the night, dad. :)

fredfa

11-05-06, 11:59 PM

TV Notebook
Down but not out
Despite low ratings, MyNet to stay the course
By Michael Schneider Variety.com Nov. 5, 2006

MyNetworkTV is still waiting to be Somebody's NetworkTV.

Since its Sept. 5 launch, MyNet has averaged just under a million viewers in primetime.

For comparison's sake, that means MyNet regularly places below the top 15 cable networks, including even Spike TV and A&E.

And its major market stations have seen primetime fortunes plummet as much as 90% (Seattle and Tampa, particularly) from last year, when they still programmed WB or UPN shows.

Fox TV Stations and Twentieth TV execs behind MyNet (which still doesn't have a dedicated staff of its own) say it's too soon to judge the venture.

"We didn't know what to expect," says Fox TV Stations CEO Jack Abernethy. "There's no way to handicap a new business. You've got to be very careful not to set yourself up to a premature sense of failure or success."

That said, Abernethy admits that he'd like the ratings to be better.

A slight uptick in viewership last month gave the upstart service some reason for optimism.After launching at 1.3 million and dipping down to just above 800,000 viewers at the end of September, MyNet crept back up to over a million viewers by mid-October.

That's an improvement, but by no means a turnaround.

"As long as we're growing, I could be happy," says Abernethy, who contends Nielsen samples can be hard to read at MyNet's low levels. Meanwhile, execs at major MyNet affils are anxiously looking at the numbers, and say advertisers have been slow to join the telenovela train.

"The agencies, generally speaking, do not take a chance on new product," says Sinclair exec VP/chief financial officer David Amy. "There's a reluctance from agencies to commit money until they see numbers. From that standpoint, it's a much tougher sell."

Abernethy says he understands advertiser hesitancy to "place a bet and then have it go south," but that it's a problem "quickly fixed by better ratings."

What that ratings benchmark might be isn't clear just yet; nor is any backup plan MyNet might have should the telenovelas ultimately fail to take off. With production already under way on their fifth and sixth telenovelas (set to debut in March), MyNet appears to be committed to the strategy through at least June.

Amy says MyNet's strategy of turning over more ad time to affils (tripling local inventory) has offset some ratings losses on Sinclair's affils. That's bought the netlet a bit of patience from station owners like Sinclair, which for now is giving Fox the benefit of the doubt.

"We still have great confidence that they will be a success in the long run," Amy says. "We're not worried about the first six months or year but everyone would have liked to have seen more time to develop the whole thing, from promotion and marketing, to get more viewers to the product than what they have."

It wasn't for lack of trying.

MyNet got a lot of media attention thanks to its unconventional low-cost (about $100,000 an episode) all-telenovelas, all-the-time approach and the fact that it was rising from the ashes of two defunct nets.

Fox TV Stations also took advantage of its much stronger Fox Network outlets to promote MyNet -- raising the hackles of Fox Broadcasting execs, who were concerned that the marketing was overshadowing its own shows.

Sinclair's Amy says he's impressed that MyNet managed to get on the air at all, given the short time News Corp. execs had to launch the netlet.

MyNet was thrown together virtually overnight, after Fox execs were blindsided by the formation of the CW network.

"They did a lot in a hurry and did a heck of a job getting it off the ground that quickly," Amy says. "The folks at Fox have proven themselves in the past that they know what they're doing."

When Warner Bros. and CBS announced in January that they were shutting down the WB and UPN, the Fox TV Stations Group -- with its stable of top-market UPN affils -- scrambled to figure out how to fill that primetime hole.

Abernethy and Fox TV Stations chairman Roger Ailes decided to tap the telenovelas being developed by their 20th TV syndie arm for a netlet to be launched with News Corp.'s former UPN affils as charter outlets.

MyNet also originally planned to throw reality skeins and newsmags into the pipeline. But by summer, Fox and 20th execs were so pleased by the netlet's first two dramas ("Desire" and "Fashion House") that they decided to stick with that genre exclusively.

MyNet may still be wedded to the telenovelas, but execs say they're willing to try something else to air in addition to -- but not replace -- its drama sked.

"Like every programmer, we're looking at what's new out there, what's hot, who are the best people," Abernethy says. "We'd like things that would complement the telenovelas as a lead-in or lead-out. But the idea that we'll cut and run (from telenovelas) is not correct."

Amy hopes that Fox execs will keep the door open to other options should the telenovelas not catch on by the end of the season.

"At some point you'd be crazy to keep doing something that doesn't work," he says. "I'm confident that if it doesn't work they'll make changes."

MyNet will premiere its second batch of 13-week telenovelas -- "Watch Over Me" and "Art of Betrayal" -- next month.

"We're hopeful that as the two current arcs build to their end, and we launch the two new ones, that we'll begin to see the kind of ratings that we'll need to have on a long-term basis," Abernethy says.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953270.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Marcus Carr

11-06-06, 01:18 AM

A&E Forges Mob Ties

By Mike Reynolds 11/6/2006 12:02:00 AM

A&E Network wants to introduce affiliates to its latest family members: The Sopranos clan.

After paying a cable-record $2.5 million per episode for exclusive syndication rights to HBO’s hit, A&E will promote local-ad-sales, HD and video-on-demand initiatives against the mob series, which is slated to bow on its air in January.

“Obviously, this is very important for A&E. We’ve made a huge investment in the show, which is arguably the biggest name out there in TV,” A&E Television Networks executive vice president of distribution David Zagin said. “70% of TV homes have never been able to watch it. We think we have several exciting programs to bring to our affiliates in the marketplace.”

VP of affiliate marketing Jennifer Ball expects all of the network’s distributors -- which began receiving e-mail messages about the initiatives the week of Oct. 23 -- to activate some or all of these elements. While she anticipates that there will be a rush for local ad sales this fall, “there is no set time for affiliates to use the components. The tactics are flexible to fit their needs.”

In support of A&E HD, which launched in September, the network created HD spots and co-branded point-of-sales materials featuring The Sopranos. It will offer premiums as an incentive for subscribers to take HDTV or upgrade to an HD tier.

Ball wouldn’t disclose the HD premium that will be offered to consumers, but she said it will be “something to enhance the viewer experience. It will be redeemable on next month’s bill, so there’s an incentive for the subscriber to keep the service for a while.”

Adding The Sopranos to other A&E HD primetime fare like CSI: Miami makes the service more attractive, Zagin said.

A&E HD is currently available on a few systems, including those in a couple of top DMAs, through deals with a number of distributors. Moreover, the service has launch commitments from several top carriers that will begin in the first quarter and continue throughout 2007. Zagin declined to identify the distributors or markets.

The first two Sopranos seasons will be presented in a wide-screen format (a 16-by-9 aspect ratio), with the remaining seasons depicted in true HD, the network said.

As for VOD, A&E generated short-form pieces, three to five minutes in length, featuring interviews with such cast members as Edie Falco (Carmela), Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi) and Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior). This product will premiere in mid-December.

A&E has already struck on-demand programming pacts with Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable, and “we expect to work with all of our major affiliates” Zagin said, adding that the network has commissioned other short-form Sopranos content.

When customers sign up for high-speed service, they will receive a $50 promotional offer for the A&E online stores, which customers can redeem by sending in their bill.

As for local ad sales, affiliates will be armed with a pair of minutes, sans restrictions.

“There are no category exclusivities to worry about, and the units are within programming breaks, which is more valuable than at the top or the bottom of the hour,” Zagin said.

Ball expects The Sopranos to sell well, particularly in the automotive, beverage, entertainment and consumer-electronics categories.

Bernie Fischer, director of marketing, and Michelle McCulloch, marketing manager for Comcast Spotlight’s West division, believe the show will resonate with viewers and expressed no concerns about its language, nudity and violence.

“For many people, The Sopranos will be new. Others will come back and watch the show again,” McCullough said. “There is great writing and character development.”

While still awaiting official word from A&E on what night the show will be scheduled -- back-to-back episodes will air, with encores during the week -- Comcast Spotlight has been laying the spadework for sales.

For example, at a recent client party in San Francisco, the setup included “a Silvio pasta bar, a cigar-rolling area and Bada Bing pole. There were instructors, and everyone was fully clothed,” McCullough said.

Fischer added: “Once we get the word, we expect to write business quickly. We’re at the sizzle-sell level. This is going to open a lot of new doors.”

http://multichannel.com/article/CA6388410.html?display=Breaking+News

fredfa

11-06-06, 01:56 AM

Next week's HD football schedules have been updated with BCS rankings and team records at the top of the first post in the thread.

fredfa

11-06-06, 02:02 AM

TV Notebook
Cable Star Fades in Network Fight
Competition From Broadcast May Explain 'Battlestar's' Slip
By James Hibberd [b]Television Week November 6, 2006

In the weeks leading up to "Battlestar Galactica's" third-season premiere, the debut seemed like a slam dunk to set Sci Fi Channel records.

Shepherded by Sci Fi President Bonnie Hammer, the show has been hailed as a darkly sophisticated remake of the campy and short-lived 1978 original series. The first 12-episode season averaged 2 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 20-episode second season, despite being divided between the summer of 2005 and spring of 2006, performed even better-averaging 2.3 million.

Sci Fi was so confident in the show's success, the network scheduled the third season to debut Oct. 5, right in the middle of the broadcast fall season's premiere bombardment.

At first, "Battlestar" seemed to hold its own against the broadcast hype. Advance review copies of the first four episodes generated an unprecedented amount of preseason publicity, especially for a basic cable program. On Metacritic, a Web site that tracks reviews, "Battlestar's" third-season premiere was averaging a score of 94 out of 100 points, behind only HBO's "The Wire." "Battlestar" even made the cover of Entertainment Weekly, a Sci Fi Channel first.

Then came the ratings.

The third-season debut was down 29 percent among total viewers compared with the season-two debut in July 2005. Viewership for the first four episodes of the new season is down 20 percent compared with the first few episodes of season two.

A likely culprit for the decline of "Battlestar" was the start of the broadcast season Sept. 19. After experimenting for a few years with rolling shows out more sporadically, this year broadcasters came out guns blazing during an intense, short period with a barrage of shows, many of which were lavish serialized action-dramas-just like "Battlestar." Making matters more interesting: Two of the season's breakout dramas, NBC's "Heroes" and CBS's "Jericho," have sci-fi themes.

Cable networks traditionally don't run original dramas in fall out of fear of getting trounced. In recent years cable networks have become bolder in scheduling their strongest programs against broadcast competition.

Sci Fi Channel's other current drama, the freshman series "Eureka," also took a fall. The show debuted in July and was averaging 2.8 million viewers for nine weeks, then dropped an average 30 percent to 1.9 million viewers for the most recent four episodes.

The lesson: Fall is still the domain of broadcast.

"It's a mistake to premiere shows against network premieres," said Tim Brooks, TV historian and Lifetime's executive VP of research. "The fact that all the broadcast networks premiere their shows against each other is the greatest gift broadcast has ever given to cable. Why would any cable network fly straight into that?"

Sci Fi executives declined to comment. A network spokesperson noted that due to "Battlestar" the channel is having its best October ever.

Ironically, going into the fall season, "Battlestar" had a higher awareness than "Heroes," media consultant Rusty Mintz said.

Sci Fi Channel even helped build interest in the NBC show by airing "Heroes" episodes as part of NBC Universal's cross-platform strategy.

"Hindsight is always 20/20, and clearly in their minds there was a sound logical strategy for diverging from prior rollouts," Mr. Mintz said. "In this case, whether it's hubris or boldness, however you want to define it, it's understandable and essential to keep on pushing in order to compete in a nonlinear world."

This year, not only "Eureka" but Lifetime's "Angela's Eyes," which also debuted in July, saw a sharp average decline once the broadcast networks started rolling out their new season lineups. "Angela's" averaged 2 million viewers in its first nine episodes, then dropped an average of 41 percent since the start of the broadcast season.

Still, the news hasn't been all cable carnage and is not likely to ward off completely cable premieres in the fall.

VH1's reality show "The Flavor of Love" is thriving. And FX's "Nip/Tuck," which premiered Sept. 5, is enjoying a comeback. The show is up 7 percent among total viewers and 6 percent among adults 18 to 49 compared to season three.

"Everybody here was worried when we decided to debut `Nip' in the fall; it's always a risk," said FX spokesman John Solberg. "But the show has survived and grown."

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30826

fredfa

11-06-06, 02:54 AM

TV Notebook
Networks await a key vote — by the viewers
News divisions at NBC, ABC and CBS hope to woo new watchers as their anchors take the election night spotlight.
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 6, 2006

NEW YORK — Political operatives won't be the only ones nervously awaiting the numbers from Tuesday's elections.

For the three broadcast television news divisions, the 2006 midterms mark a potential watershed — the first major news story to test viewer alliances since Katie Couric jumped to CBS this fall and joined the ranks of evening anchors.

Although Couric, ABC's Charles Gibson and NBC's Brian Williams have all participated in election coverage before, Tuesday marks the debut of all three as lead network election night anchors. That fact — along with the possibility that this year's midterms could trigger a dramatic shift in political balance in Congress — has spiked anticipation in each newsroom.

"I live on this stuff," Williams said. "The presidential is the big enchilada, but as midterms go, I think this will be among the more interesting of my lifetime."

This week's election also gives the anchors a chance to practice their political fluency before diving into the 2008 presidential campaign coverage.

"It's my first time in this position, so I just think it's a great way to get my feet wet," Couric said.

The networks are not planning the kind of wall-to-wall coverage they devote to presidential races, but each news division will have a live hour at 10 p.m. on both coasts to cover the results, along with short updates throughout the night. It's nowhere close to the amount of coverage that will dominate cable news channels like Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, but network executives hope it will be enough to woo new viewers.

"Having Charlie on throughout the evening is a real opportunity for us to attract those people who are watching and hopefully hold onto them," said Jon Banner, executive producer of ABC's "World News." "There's no one better at covering an election, in my own humble opinion, than Charlie and the rest of the ABC News team."

Political chops will come in handy on a night in which dozens of competitive House and Senate seats are up for grabs. The anchors' ability to speak knowledgeably about the races and their potential impact on the political balance in Congress will be carefully watched, as will their handling of the reams of data cascading in throughout the night.

"It's fair to judge us by these big events," said Williams, who anchored election night coverage on MSNBC, NBC's sister cable station, before succeeding Tom Brokaw as network anchor. "I've always said that it's not the most difficult thing in the world to deliver a newscast once it's compiled and put in front of you. But it's not so easy to have a live event like an election night and distill it and put it into perspective."

His mandate to the NBC staff: "Keep it very loose and simple and just let what happens happen."

"People say, 'How are you preparing?' " Williams added. "If you haven't been all your life, you shouldn't be in this job. You should raise your hand and say, 'I'm a fraud, I'm sorry.' "

Gibson, whose previous election night experience consisted largely of reporting on congressional races when he covered Capitol Hill, said that after being appointed "World News" anchor earlier this year, "one of the first things that went through my head was ... 'I'm going to get to do election night!' If you're a political junkie, what's cooler than that?

"There's a majesty to a day when 80 to 85 million people go out and express their collective will," he said. "And it takes on greater importance when there are 150,000 kids overseas in a war zone and another 20,000 in a second war zone. You don't want to get gooey about it, but it takes on a greater sense of moment, I guess. And that's what gives you chills."

The ABC anchor, who will remain on the air into the early-morning hours for the live West Coast edition of "Nightline," spent the last week making up color-coded index cards with notations about the most competitive 57 House races, a project that required the purchase of a new color printer for the newsroom.

"There's butterflies, because I've never done it in this guise before," Gibson said. "I'm keyed up."

For her part, Couric — who helped anchor election night coverage for NBC in 2000 — said she's not a "complete political junkie, but I'd say my level of interest is definitely high."

The CBS anchor said she aims to focus her network's coverage on the broad thematic implications of Tuesday's elections, including the impact of the war in Iraq and effect on the 2008 presidential campaign.

"I think most people who are political junkies are going to be hooked up to a cable IV," she said. "But I think what we can offer is a real synopsis of what's happened during the day, what the trends are, what they mean and what the ramifications are.

"I'm hoping that I'll be able to guide viewers through the whole process and, more importantly, use the brains of everybody who is going to be a part of our coverage," Couric added. "One thing I get turned off by — obviously, you want someone who is really well-informed and hopefully offers some insight, but you also want to utilize the players on the team."

Each anchor will be joined by a large supporting cast, including veterans of past elections. Brokaw and "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert will provide assists on NBC. Gibson will have "This Week" anchor and chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos by his side, while Couric's predecessor, Bob Schieffer, will do analysis on CBS.

To avoid the leaks of early exit-poll figures that marred the 2004 presidential coverage, the networks and the Associated Press have agreed to allow just a handful of analysts access to the data collected in this year's voter surveys. Two representatives from each news organization will be sequestered in a secret "quarantine room" in New York, where they alone will have access to the numbers until 5 p.m. Eastern time, when it can be disseminated to each newsroom.

The late release means that each news division will have a relatively short amount of time to process the information and package it for their 6:30 newscasts.

This year's midterm elections come as the evening-news competition is somewhat tighter than it was last year. After briefly falling back during Couric's first few weeks on the air, NBC has since regained its top standing, averaging 8.54 million viewers during the last six weeks, 8% fewer than at this point last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

ABC remains in second with 7.97 million viewers for the last month and a half, a dip of 4% over last year, while CBS has attracted 7.39 million viewers on average, up 7%.

It remains to be seen whether any of the anchors will be able to convert their election night viewers into regular evening news watchers.

"This is the first time they're all in charge, so that will be interesting to watch but not definitive," said Paul Friedman, vice president of CBS News. "I think people take a while to decide 'OK, that's the person or that's the news organization that I want to tune to on major events.' This night is a set piece, in many ways, that we all have very well-formed ways of covering. And it's the traumatic, dramatic events like terrorism that really have a greater impact on audience preferences, I think."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-news6nov06,0,6735121,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

11-06-06, 03:01 AM

TV Notebook
Auditions find best and worst for 'Idol'
By Bill Keveney USA Today

American Idol judge Simon Cowell is known for ripping individual singers. Now he's taking on a whole city's Idol wannabes.

"Seattle is going to be known for something other than coffee this year. They had the worst bunch of miserable singers that I've ever met in my life. It was two days of total misery," he says. "And the weather was bad, as well."

Viewers will get to make up their own minds about auditions in Seattle and six other cities when last season's top-rated show kicks off its sixth season Jan. 16 with two successive nights of two-hour episodes.

Those, plus four more hour-long audition shows, will feature singers who tried out in Birmingham, Ala.; New York; Memphis; Minneapolis; Los Angeles; San Antonio; and Cowell-castigated Seattle. According to Fox, 100,000 auditioned in all.

The best welcome came in Alabama, the home state of two Idol winners (Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks), Cowell says from London. Memphis, one of the smaller audition cities, was a tryout powerhouse, with 16,000 hopefuls.

During the auditions, Cowell, fellow judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, and host Ryan Seacrest were joined by guest judges: Jewel in Minneapolis, Olivia Newton-John in Los Angeles and Carole Bayer Sager in New York.

Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe promises "some of the worst (singers) we've ever had."

The Hollywood round, where singers who survive the regional auditions compete to make the final 24, will run over two weeks starting Feb. 6. This year, about 110 women and 60 men made it to Hollywood, Lythgoe says. "It's going to be tough on the girls" because so many more are competing for the female half of the 24 spots.

In the early measures of talent, Cowell gives the nod to the ladies and to the younger singers. He remembers a couple of strong male singers and a woman in Los Angeles who reminded him of "a young Whitney Houston."

"I felt this year from the contestants a lot more passion in terms of excitement and how disappointed they were" when they were rejected, Cowell says.

Lythgoe wouldn't predict whether Idol, which took the top two Nielsen spots last season, will maintain its phenomenal 30-million-viewer average, which helped make Fox No. 1 with young adults despite a lackluster fall.

Idol's annual audience growth defies the usual rules of television, says Horizon Media analyst Brad Adgate. "Fox is starting off this year the way it has the last two or three," he says. However, with Idol and to a lesser degree 24, "they have a fabulous kick at the end. It's like a Thoroughbred."

FOX'S 'IDOL' LINEUP

• The popular audition rounds start with two-hour episodes Jan. 16 and 17, 8 ET/PT, then move to Idol's regular slots for four more hourlong shows, Tuesday, Jan. 23 and 30, 8 ET/PT; and Wednesday, Jan. 24 and 31, 9 ET/PT.

• The Hollywood round, winnowing the field to the final 24, runs Feb. 6 and 13, 8 ET/PT, and Feb. 7 and 14, 9 ET/PT.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-11-06-american-idol_x.htm

dad1153

11-06-06, 08:07 AM

Guess all this talk about 'Idol' moving to Thursdays is mute now. But again, if 'O.C.' and 'Vanished' are tanking Thursday and Friday nights for Fox (besides their many other leaks elsewhere) what can the network program there? Bet if NFL Network hadn't kept that late season eight-game football package Fox would have snapped it already and put it there to plug their Thursday holes.

AFH

11-06-06, 08:13 AM

The Television Week article on HD sports broadcasting by the nets was good. I'm just wondering when 'ESPN by ABC' will broadcast all of the college football games on ABC (regional or national) in HD. I would imagine at that point we'll see a HD ESPN Gameplan package. I'm thinking 2008.

AFH

11-06-06, 08:16 AM

What did Fox expect The O.C. to do this year with it being in the 9pm Thursday slot? It's gonna tank against CSI and Grey's. I record all 3, but people who don't have that capability will just blow off The O.C. which judging by the first new episode of this season is much better than some of the episodes from last season.

Reagan

11-06-06, 11:45 AM

We may have an insight into what is truly wrong with SNL. Michaels has lost his edge and is now too worried about his "competition," SNL and Broadway Video's other projects. If I remember correctly, in 1975, it could be argued that SNL had MUCH MORE competition at 11:30 pm on a Saturday Night than they do now. (SNL being an untried format with a bunch of unknowns in front and behind the camera who had nothing to loose and made that statement every week.) Now they ALL have SOMETHING to loose. I mean how radical can you be when you have that Beemer payment looming every month verses that Coke dealer looking for you that you stiffed earlier in the week? I am not saying they all need to start doing Coke to get funny, you need people who are hungy. I don't see ANYONE on this show hungry anymore.

Foxeng,

An explanation of why the show is bad now should take into account why it was so good from 99-01 and 87-92 and not just 1976. It's hard to imagine that Lorne is any different now than he was five years ago. What you are looking at is just the typical byproduct of the churn of the cast and writers. Sometimes some of the big new additions don't work out and sometimes the new ones need some time to fully develop. But history has shown that the show has always returned to brilliance. Long story short, the producer did not suddenly lose it.

-Reagan

fredfa

11-06-06, 11:46 AM

The weekend prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

11-06-06, 12:29 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Football pumps NBC to a Sunday win
Best 'SNF' game since the September opener
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Nov. 6, 2006

The Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning and NBC all scored a decisive victory last night for the Colts’ much-hyped matchup with the New England Patriots.

The Colts stayed undefeated with a 27-20 win, Manning outplayed fellow QB Tom Brady, and NBC had its best “Sunday Night Football” game since Manning squared off against brother Eli’s New York Giants in the season opener.

“SNF” averaged a 7.6 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 11 p.m. last night, according to Nielsen fast nationals. As a reminder, fast national ratings are based on timeslot data and not actual live program data, and the game started at 8:15 and lasted past 11.

We’ll know for sure when final ratings come out tomorrow, but based on ratings for the same time period over the past eight weeks, it looks as though this will be the highest-rated “SNF” game since Sept. 10, when NBC averaged a 7.9 from 8 to 11 p.m.

That boosted NBC to a 6.9 rating for the night, 1.2 points ahead of No. 2 ABC despite a strong showing from the latter’s “Desperate Housewives.”

NBC also won the night among households and total viewers. The game peaked with 20.3 million total viewers at 9 p.m., just behind ABC’s 22.5 million for “Housewives.”

“Housewives” had its best 18-49 rating since September’s season premiere, averaging a 9.0 for its much-hyped supermarket standoff episode in which two minor characters died. That marked the second straight week the show has seen improvements, and it boosted lead-out “Brothers & Sisters” to a 5.5, its best 18-49 average since a 6.2 in week one.

NBC won the night with its 6.9 rating and 17 share, followed by ABC at 5.7/14, CBS at 4.1/10, Fox at 3.5/9, and the CW and Univision at 0.9/2.

At 7 p.m., CBS led with a 5.2 for NFL overrun (6.2) and the first half hour of “60 Minutes” (4.1), followed by NBC’s 4.7 for “Football Night in America,” ABC’s 2.9 for “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Fox’s 2.8 for “Simpsons” reruns, Univision’s 0.8 for “Hora Pico,” and CW’s 0.6 for a “Supernatural” repeat.

At 8 p.m., NBC leapt ahead with a 7.2 for the final 15 minutes of “Football” and the start of “SNF,” followed by ABC’s 5.3 for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” a 4.3 for Fox’s “Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror” (4.9) and “American Dad” (3.7), a 3.7 for CBS’s “Minutes” (4.0) and “Amazing Race” (3.5), a 1.4 for CW’s “7th Heaven,” and a 0.8 for the first hour of Univision’s “Reyes de la Canción.”

At 9 p.m., “Housewives” moved to No. 1 with a 9.0, followed by “SNF’s” 7.6, CBS’s 3.6 for the last half of “Race” (3.9) and “Cold Case” (3.4), a 3.5 for Fox’s “Family Guy” (4.0) and “The War at Home” (3.0), a 1.0 for Univision’s “Reyes,” and a 0.7 for CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” rerun.

At 10 p.m., NBC retook No. 1 with a 7.9 for “SNF,” followed by a 5.5 for “Brothers,” a 3.9 for the last half of “Case” (4.0) and the start of “Without a Trace” (3.8), and a 1.0 for “Reyes” on Univision.

Among households, NBC led with an 11.2/17, followed by ABC at 9.7/15, CBS at 9.4/14, Fox at 4.5/7, CW at 1.5/2, and Univision at 1.3/2.

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8381.asp

fredfa

11-06-06, 01:46 PM

TV Notebook
The Big Sweeps
Ratings Period Key to Determining Success of New Networks and Emerging Leaders Alike
Television Week November 6, 2006

November 2006 is shaping up to be a watershed for the broadcast networks.

With November sweeps under way, The CW and MyNetworkTV get their first crack at helping their station affiliates across the country determine their potential on a local level.

What's more, last Thursday, the first night of the sweeps, ABC proved that its new series "Ugly Betty" is working-as is its move of "Grey's Anatomy" from Sunday to Thursday this season. The network won the night among adults 18 to 49, earning its first victory in the demographic on an opening night of a November sweeps in more than 15 years-since Nielsen started its database.

Meanwhile, Fox's perpetual fall road bumps continued with "The O.C." premiering to a record low, leaving The CW to move up and take fourth place due to "Smallville's" pulling its largest audience since its season premiere.

That's a good start for The CW, which along with MyNetworkTV is entering its first sweeps period.

The CW and MyNetworkTV launched in September, both with promises of bringing new programming value primarily to stations formerly affiliated with The WB or UPN.

So far The CW has matched the draw the two former networks accomplished individually. But it has fallen short of hopes that combining the best programming from UPN and The WB would result in racking up the equivalent of UPN's and The WB's former viewers combined. For its first six weeks on the air, The CW has averaged a 1.5 rating among adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen Media Research.

MyNetworkTV's unique Monday-through-Friday telenovela block has struggled to find an audience, pulling a 0.4 in the demo for the same period.

Stations use sweeps periods to set their advertising rates. Though station owners have an idea of what to expect based on standard ratings, sweeps periods are still key, especially for getting a clear idea of the two new networks' draw on a market-by-market level, according to Bill Carroll, VP and director of programming for Katz TV Group.

"It's important for both channels because, realistically, most stations are looking at the metered-market performance but don't have a handle on their own market performance," Mr. Carroll said. "So for a lot of markets it will be their first look at how they're doing. It's a good first indicator of market performance."

Media consultant Rusty Mintz said sweeps is an antiquated model for setting ratings, yet is unquestionably important-especially for the new networks.

"For both The CW and MyNetwork, sweeps are going to be extremely important because so much of their sales pitch, their reason to be, is station-driven," he said. "Sweeps shadows to a large extent how the affiliates will continue supporting networks through promotion and new show launches. Given that there's been radical change in business, from the affiliate perspective this period will be under a microscope."

No Stunts

The CW and MyNetworkTV are not making loud moves to draw viewers during November. The CW has lined up a few guest stars for its series, such as Jason Alexander on "Everybody Hates Chris," Linda Blair on "Supernatural" and Patty Hearst on "Veronica Mars." MyNetworkTV is expected to continue its current programming course, which calls for its next set of telenovelas to launch in December.

"Because we're original 52 weeks a year, we're not loading up all our best programming in sweeps and going to repeats," said Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox Television Stations, who oversees MyNetworkTV. "The nonsweeps months are actually more important. People want to turn on their sets and have good programming on every night."

Executives of The CW declined to comment, though a network spokesperson said several series have shown week-to-week ratings growth this season.

Mr. Carroll said the channels are correct to avoid the attention-getting stunts of the established broadcasters.

"MyNet has their plan, they can only promote, promote, promote," he said. "The backbone of CW is regularly scheduled programming, and the only true gauge is going to be for those shows. They're both early in the game and need to establish themselves before they try to do something different."

As important as the sweeps period may be, the networks are only about two months old. Mr. Carroll noted that stations should "not react to a single sweeps." After all, there's always another one right around the corner.

Season to date, ABC has been firmly leading the broadcast pack among the 18 to 49 demographic, followed by CBS and NBC in a tight race for second, then Fox and The CW.

For the first night of sweeps last Thursday, many shows seemed to dip under the weight of the collective competition. ABC won the evening despite "Grey's Anatomy" (9.0) and "Six Degrees" (3.2) posting their lowest ratings of the season, while "Ugly Betty" was on par (4.4) with its performances so far.

CBS finished second, though "CSI" matched its lowest original of the season (6.9) and "Shark" posted its lowest rating to date (3.7).

Third-place NBC bucked the downward trend with "Deal or No Deal" enjoying its highest Thursday rating of the season (4.6), while "ER" (5.6), "My Name Is Earl" (4.1) and "The Office" (4.2) were about on par.

Fox had a disappointing season debut for "The O.C." (1.5), with freshman comedies `"Til Death" (1.7) and "Happy Hour" (1.4) struggling as well. The fourth quarter tends to challenge Fox as the network finishes up baseball and has to relaunch much of its schedule.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=30819

fredfa

11-06-06, 03:17 PM

TV Notebook
CW Feels Some Growing Pains
By John Consoli MediaWeek Nov. 6, 2006

The nascent CW network, just six weeks into the new fall season, is recording double-digit ratings decreases for most of the shows it picked up from the defunct WB and UPN networks. Now, several media buyers are worried that The CW has put itself in a potentially serious fourth-quarter makegood situation with their clients.

The problem is not so obvious, because the net cumulatively is showing ratings gains in its core adults 18-34 demographic this season of 6 percent over The WB and 12 percent over UPN last season. But The CW is airing only the “best of the best” from both nets, so comparing its cumed ratings this year with its ratings last year—which included numerous low-rated shows—offers a lopsided picture.

Advertisers buy packages of shows within the network, not the entire network, and key returning shows this season on CW are way down. Among live TV viewing by adults 18-34 (which allows for a direct comparison to a comparable period last season), through Oct. 29, ratings for 7th Heaven are down 33 percent, Gilmore Girls is down 22 percent, Smallville is down 22 percent and Supernatural is down 32 percent. For the UPN ethnic sitcom block of All of Us, Everybody Hates Chris and Girlfriends, ratings are down 35 percent, 54 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Only America’s Next Top Model and Veronica Mars are up in the demo over last year, while One Tree Hill and WWE Smackdown are flat.

Media buyers said The CW created its own problems by offering advertisers aggressive ratings guarantees in the upfront—15 percent to 25 percent higher than those shows got on The WB and UPN last season. With most packages under-delivering, the network is close to being in an “out of sale” position for the rest of fourth quarter.

Dawn Ostroff, CW entertainment president, conceded that the network may have been overly optimistic with its initial ratings projections, but explained, “we didn’t want to undersell ourselves, and we thought they were attainable. We really had nothing to compare our projections with.”

Bill Morningstar, The CW’s ad sales chief, said the paucity of ad avails left has as much to do with strong scatter sales as audience deficiency units. “We sold 47 percent more scatter for fourth quarter this year than we did on the WB and UPN last year,” said the former head of sales at The WB. “That has tightened up our inventory. Are we giving out ADUs? Yes. But we gave out ADUs in years past, too.”

Morningstar called for buyers to show patience, and added that ratings in the 18-34 demo overall were 12 percent higher through the fifth week of the new season compared to the first week. “It’s a big thing to overcome that 67 percent of our audience had to switch stations to find their shows,” he said. “And we had to begin rebranding the new network from scratch.” The CW also moved its ethnic comedy block from Sunday back to its Mondays (where it ran last season on UPN), causing the block to rise from a 6.6 rating among African American viewers 18-34 the week it moved, to a 10.8 the week after.

Other CW officials noted that several WB shows, including Supernatural, were moved into more competitive time periods. Last fall, Supernatural aired on Tuesdays at 9, leading out of Gilmore Girls, but it now faces such huge hits as CBS’ CSI and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy Thursdays at 9. “NBC moved My Name is Earl from Tuesday to Thursday, and its 18-34 ratings are off 35 percent,” said one official.

But a media agency exec pointed out that adults 18-49 ratings for the first three weeks of 7th Heaven—which ran in the exact same time slot as last season on the same stations in major markets like New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland—are down between 34 percent and 64 percent. “What’s the explanation for that?” he asked.

Buyers might not be as concerned if The CW had not so aggressively priced its “best of the best” schedule going into the upfront. But Morningstar said in some instances, the net’s ratings projections were lower than those of some of the media agencies’ during upfront negotiations. He added that enough inventory has been held back to give fourth-quarter makegoods to those who want them right away. But even those buyers who are willing to be patient said they need to see progress and solutions to the ratings shortfalls.

“I would have expected some underdelivery as a new network that had to rebuild and rebrand itself,” said one buyer, who declined to speak for attribution. “But the levels of underdelivery are disappointing.”

That same buyer, who has several clients running on The CW, added that he wants “to work with them to help them succeed. We do need them to reach a broad section of young female viewers. Even if The CW does a 1.5 or 2.0 in young female demos, that’s far greater than any of the female-skewing cable networks. And Fox draws in mostly young males, except for American Idol and The O.C.”

“It’s clear that many viewers have not figured out yet that The CW has a lot of the old WB shows on,” said Steve Lanzano, executive vp, managing director at media agency MPG. “And that is a concern among us media agencies. It is something they need to be addressing sooner than later.”

Ostroff said six weeks into the new season, with all the station shifting, it is still too soon to make any concrete judgments. The CW plans to run a second edition of America’s Next Top Model, bring back the WB’s Beauty and the Geek and sitcom Reba, plus another drama or two. She added that the goal was never to rush into development with a slew of new shows “and throw them on the air to see what sticks.”

Ostroff also pointed to a longer term development plan, which includes projects with Josh Schwartz, creator of Fox’s The O.C., and Marta Kauffman, co-creator of Friends, among others, for fall 2007.

Meanwhile, she argued, The CW is fulfilling its mission of reaching younger viewers. “We are the broadcast network with the youngest median age—32—10 years younger than Fox,” she said, “and among adults 18-34 we are the only broadcast network that over-indexes, by 36 percent. Clearly, our brand is desirable. It will just take time to grow it.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003352401

fredfa

11-06-06, 03:23 PM

TV Notebook
Are 'Prison Break's' brothers doomed?
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Nov. 06, 2006

“PRISON BREAK” 8 PM ET/PT, Fox.

There’s a reason dogs and kids sail through disaster movies unscathed as thousands, even millions, perish around them.

Most heroes tend to make it out alive, too, along with whatever love interest they've acquired along the way.

Because as entertaining as it might be to see the Earth pummeled by meteors, flooded by rising seas or invaded by aliens, without some characters to root for, the end of life as we know it can become a bit of a bore.

That, of course, was just the kind of cliched thinking that was vaporized in Season 1 of Fox's "24," when Jack Bauer's wife Teri (Leslie Hope) became the first of many sympathetic characters "24" would kill off just to remind us that no one's safe.

And when that got our attention, the killings spread. To ABC's "Lost" and Fox's "Prison Break" and "Vanished" - which recently killed off its supposed hero (Gale Harold) - and even to shows like CBS' "Ghost Whisperer" and "Close to Home" and Fox's "The O.C.," all of which ended last season with fatal accidents that claimed the lives of regulars.

Frankly, I've lost count of the number of major characters sent off permanently in the past year.

ABC's "Desperate Housewives" alone has become such a killing field that I wouldn't be surprised to see the Wisteria Lane block captain asking the governor to send in the National Guard.

And based on the hype surrounding last night's fatal episode, ABC couldn't be happier about all the gunplay.

But there's a price to be paid.

"Lost" this season is losing audience, and as lots of people scramble to figure out why - Too many serials? Mysteries that never get solved? Mythology fatigue? - I'm inclined to blame the body count.

Sure, there appear to be bad things happening over on CBS' "Criminal Minds," a show whose very promos I find unpleasant but which last week beat "Lost" in total viewers.

I take it, however, that they're mostly happening to guest stars.

Mandy Patinkin's character? Still among the living, last I checked.

On "Lost," which last week killed the popular Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), the sense that no one's safe is beginning to make it feel as if there's no point in getting attached to anyone.

I'm already there on "24," which at some point began leaving me as cold as Jack Bauer's face, and I'm beginning to take my temperature on "Prison Break," where, as we enter tonight's episode, the Fox River Eight has already been whittled - or gunned - down to the Fox River Six.

Last season, this was one of my favorite shows. This season, which began with the killing of lawyer/love interest Veronica Donovan (Robin Tunney), not so much.

Sure, it raises the stakes now that we know Agent Mahone (William Fichtner) is only interested in the first half of the "dead or alive" apprehension of the Fox River escapees. But it also adds to the sense that Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) and his brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), are doomed.

Even if they manage to elude all the people who want to kill them, what do they have to look forward to?

Panama?

Anyone who's seen "Survivor" knows that's no guarantee of paradise.

Tonight's episode raises the hope, however slight, that there could be another way out for Michael and Lincoln.

Let's hope it won't require them to exit feet first.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//15940425.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

11-06-06, 03:30 PM

TV Notebook
'Idol' chatter and some good 'Veronica Mars' news
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” November 06, 2006
(Note: All times are Central.)

• "American Idol" returns Jan. 16 and 17 with the talent contest's inevitable and endless audition rounds. Based on the Fox press release issued Monday, the show will be airing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, at least until late February. That ought to temporarily reduce the ulcers of other network executives who thought the Fox monster hit might be visiting Thursdays in 2007 (and "Idol" still may do so; in the past, some results shows have aired on Thursdays).

• There’s a bit of good news regarding “Veronica Mars.” According to a source at the show, the Tuesday-night CW drama has received an order for three additional scripts, and directors have been hired for those scripts. As is standard with most TV shows, “Mars” got an initial order for 13 episodes in the spring, when it was picked up for a third season. However it is not yet known if “Mars” will get the additional episodes it would need to fill out a 22 episode season, or the “back nine,” as its called in TV parlance. The CW is expected to make a decision regarding back nine for “Veronica Mars” this week.

• Dan Rather will be one of the pundits weighing in on the election results on “The Daily Show’s” live, one-hour “Midterm Midtacular” 10 p.m. Tuesday.

• Fox’s “Happy Hour” has been pulled from the schedule. The network will air back-to-back episodes of “Til Death” followed by “The O.C.” on Thursday, but be aware that a new episode of “The O.C.” will also air on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

• Showtime’s engrossing drama “Dexter” has been picked up for a second season.

• A brand-new video podcast from “Lost” producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof is available at abc.com as of Monday. According to an ABC press release, the producer will recount “their own Lostian crossover tale from the ’80s that involves George Lucas and includes a reenactment and photo proof! Following the video podcast is a special promo for the fall season finale of Lost entitled ‘I Do.’”

• “30 Rock” continues to get even better; last week’s episode had the most laugh-out-loud moments yet. The budding relationship between Kenneth the page and Tracy Morgan’s character has plenty of potential, and I think the show would be wise to continue focus on building those characters. Of course giving Jack Donaghy even more of a spotlight is a given, but the show could also develop Frank and some of the other writers a bit more, and frankly it would probably be wise to diminish the focus on Tina Fey’s character, head writer Liz Lemon. Her overly friendly chat-up of Donaghy in Wednesday’s episode, which took place when he was clearly with corporate bigwigs and not prone to buddy-buddy behavior, just wasn’t funny, and it made her look embarassingly clueless. But all in all, I’m glad NBC is giving this comedy a chance to grow – it’s already gotten miles better.

• Speaking of good NBC shows, please, please, please watch “Friday Night Lights.” I caught up with the last few episodes over the weekend, and the show was even more moving and impressive than it was out of the gate. NBC, please hang on to this sensationally acted and passionately written show and continue to give it a chance. Now that the fall lineup has had time to shake out, I can unequivocally say that I consider “Friday Night Lights” the finest new show of the season. It airs 7 p.m. Tuesdays (though I frankly wish “FNL” had been able to keep the post-“Hereos” Monday-night spot that it had for one night on Oct. 30).

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

homcom

11-06-06, 05:16 PM

HD TV Sports
Hi-Def TV: Sports Is the Driver Behind HD Revolution
For Fans, Resolution and Aspect Ratio Add Up to Next Best Thing to Being There
By Natalie Finn Special to TelevisionWeek
Mr. Aagaard said CBS will bump its Sunday HD NFL telecasts to four in fall 2007 and hopes to televise all NFL games in HD starting in 2008.
Sounds like 2008 is not a hard date for all games in HD, but it should be a dramatic improvement in quantity over what they do now.

While ESPN's 2007 schedule is still being hammered out, Mr. Burns confirmed that the network's entire NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch Series schedules will be shot in HD in the coming year, in addition to Major League Baseball, NBA, NFL and NHL games (ESPN is the only network that has contracts with all four leagues); men's and women's NCAA basketball; National Hot Rod Association events; the NCAA hockey championships; and the network's trademark original programming-the ESPY Awards, "SportsCenter," "Baseball Tonight," "NFL PrimeTime" and other shows shot in-studio .

ESPN does not show any NHL games.

joblo

11-06-06, 05:25 PM

“Studio 60” is better tonight.

But after the preposterous episode two weeks ago and the comments it prompted in this thread, if you’re like me, you may find yourself tempted to change the channel in the first five minutes tonight.

Don’t.

It gets better. Even comedic. Not the skits – er, excuse me, sketches – but in other aspects.

Anyway, at least tonight, they don’t claim that a TV comedy show is receiving “good advice” on – and presumably making decisions about – which military units should get body armor this week.

fredfa

11-06-06, 05:41 PM

That is very hopeful news, joblo -- I just don't know if "Studio 60" can recover enough to save itself.

We can only hope.

fredfa

11-06-06, 05:45 PM

TV Sports
NBC Gets Second Flex Game
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 11/6/2006

The San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos match-up will be NBC's second "flex" game under its Sunday Night Football contract with the NFL.

The November 19 game had previously been scheduled for 1 p.m. (on CBS since it is an AFC match-up), but has been moved to Sunday night and NBC. The two teams are tied for first in the AFC West.

NBC's first flex game is next Sunday's (November 12) Chicago Bears vs. New York Giants game.

For the first time, the NFL is giving a rightsholder, in this case NBC, a shot at some key games later in the season when their playoff implications are clearer or when "surprise" teams have played their way into contention.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6388774

AFH

11-06-06, 05:54 PM

Hey Fred, is there a source that gives the demos for Laguna Bch on MTV? I'm curious to see where that shows fall in the MTV hierarchy. It's probably my favorite show. I just started watching only this season and only b/c of a positive comment that Maureen Ryan made about the show in a article that you posted by her during the summer television press tour.

fredfa

11-06-06, 06:08 PM

I don't have easy access to those numbers, but maybe RussTC3 or another reader does, Antonio.

fredfa

11-06-06, 06:15 PM

(Antonio: Here’s a Laguna Becah story I missed while I was away last week.)
TV Notebook
The not-so-sunny side
As MTV's 'Laguna Beach' tries to recapture its cool chemistry, one of the new teen queens learns it ain't easy being mean.
By Robin Abcarian Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 29, 2006

The cattiness started immediately on the third season of the MTV docu-soap "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County."

"And then there were the popular girls," says Tessa, the season's teenage narrator. "There's Cami, the Queen of Mean. She went out of her way to make my life miserable.... That is Kyndra, the leader of the popular clique. We used to be friends, but she turned her back on me when I needed her most."

Those are fighting words in the hermetically sealed bubble of beachside affluence that is home to the calculating teenagers of "Laguna Beach." To employ one of their favorite phrases: So much drama.

But now that the show has slipped a bit in the ratings, and it has become clear that the new cast may not have the zing of its predecessors, several of whom have broken out on their own, will so much drama be enough? And, in the way of reality shows gone stale, is "Laguna Beach" in danger of losing its freshness because its cast learned how to portray teenagers by watching ... "Laguna Beach"?

When the show made its debut in 2004, it broke new ground in the reality genre and was an instant hit with MTV's coveted 12- to 24-year-old demographic. It was not a contest like "Survivor," nor a contrived situation like "The Real World." Instead, it was an attempt to document — using narrative techniques, lush cinematography and suggestions from producers — the supercharged social lives of a clique of overprivileged schoolmates.

For two seasons — in hot tubs, bistros, bedrooms, boutiques and Baja resorts — cameras followed the core cast of "characters," making a coherent narrative of the extracurricular ups and downs of their junior and senior years.

The show was a stunning success for MTV, with ratings that put it at the top of its time period against both cable and network shows. It spawned copycats, such as Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Orange County" and the flash-in-the-pan CBS show "Tuesday Night Book Club."

'Reality' spawns celebrity

It also made minor celebrities of its protagonists, Lauren, Kristin and Stephen, who, luckily for the show's producers, happened to be caught up in a love triangle as shooting began. Lauren Conrad went on to star in "The Hills," an MTV spinoff show that portrays her life as an intern at Teen Vogue. Kristin Cavallari has become a spokesperson for Bongo, the clothing company, and has had an assortment of oddball acting jobs and magazine layouts. Cutie pie Stephen Colletti dropped out of San Francisco State, appears on MTV's "Total Request Live" and is trying to act.

"Laguna Beach," which airs at 10 p.m. Wednesdays, is just past the halfway point of the season. Its producers are making decisions about how to proceed with the fourth season, which begins shooting in December. Viewership, while still strong, has declined, which the show's creator said is to be expected. "It's sort of like if you recast ' 90210,' " said Liz Gateley, who is also the executive producer. Viewers, she said, have to make "a whole new investment" in the cast. This is where the delicate chemistry of a reality show can get thrown out of whack.

How can you keep acting like a high school kid when you know that a hit MTV show can pretty much derail your college plans and turn you into someone people recognize on the street? The current "Laguna Beach" kids are conscious of the template provided by their predecessors.

Take Cami Edwards, now a 17-year-old senior. She is miffed about being dubbed "the Queen of Mean" by Tessa Keller, but is aware that hyperbole makes for better television. The show has exploited a rivalry between Tessa and Kyndra, playing up a short-lived love triangle between them and a boy named Cameron who, despite an awesome six-pack, just doesn't have the awkward sex appeal of boys from the previous two seasons.

Cami admitted she never felt much antipathy toward Tessa and Raquel before, but "the more they started filming, the more it started turning into a rivalry, just because of the filming, I think."

Now that she's been on TV and in magazines, Cami, who takes advanced placement economics and hopes to attend USC next year, isn't so sure she wants to go to law school. She was a junior when this season was shot, and doesn't hesitate when asked if being on this show can change her life: "I think it will if I push myself to go out and get a publicist. That's what Kristin did. She had the personality on the show to let her do that. Her and Lauren, they moved to L.A. and got publicists who do all that stuff for them — put them in magazines, go to red carpet events. I think Kristin is taking it as far as she possibly can. She's, like, famous for being famous, like Paris Hilton and stuff."

Kristin had the good fortune to be bright, telegenic and, best of all, the female equivalent of a player — manipulative, independent, romantically elusive and sexy. Lauren was not just beautiful and sweet, but weirdly, watchably sweet and in complete denial about Stephen's addiction to Kristin.

[b]Dealing with notoriety

With Cami and her best friend Kyndra Mayo, there's a less flattering dynamic at work, which, at least in Cami's case, has raised uncomfortable questions. What if you can't stand the way you're portrayed on the show? She knows that the producers have to whittle down a massive amount of footage for each week's show. Still, is being portrayed as one of the biatches of "Laguna Beach" worth it?

This is something that Cami seemed to be struggling with during a recent interview at the Heidelberg Café, a modest coffee and snack spot on Pacific Coast Highway where some of "Laguna Beach" has been shot. She wore tight black pants, a gray sweater over a camisole and revealed décolletage that would have gotten her sent to the principal's office in a not-so-distant era.

For the next hour and a half, as she fiddled with her hair extensions and waited for Kyndra, who arrived very late and looked very hair-extended, she explained why it is so annoying to be depicted as one of "Laguna Beach's" resident meanies.

Unlike for Kyndra, who in person exuded an air of 17-going-on-45, it has perhaps not sunk in for Cami that on a cast full of duds, including the narrator Tessa and her soggily sentimental best friend, Raquel, she is basically the wittiest and most polarizing cast member, and therefore the spice girl among the milquetoasts. (And as someone who describes herself as "a quarter black and three quarters white," she is also one of the few vaguely ethnic cast members besides the occasional uniformed housekeeper.) So she rails, a million miles a minute, against her fate.

"I never thought the little things I say, like, 'Oh Tessa's annoying,' would be turned into 'Cami and Kyndra are mean girls,' " she complained. "When I was younger, I was snotty, but who wasn't? Everyone who knows me knows that I am not a mean girl. I mean, everybody my age, if there's some girl who walks by in some outfit, you'd go, 'Whoa, that's a weird outfit.' Everybody says those little things. I mean, they're stupid and they're rude and, of course, we regret saying all that stuff now."

Some of the choicer snippets that have been broadcast to date:

Kyndra tells Cami she has invited her old friend Tessa to a barbecue.

Cami: That's super random. Why'd you do that?

Kyndra: 'Cause we used to be friends a long time ago.

Cami: Is she gonna bring her little friend Rack-well with her?

Kyndra: That'd be weird 'cause she isn't invited.

When Tessa shows up at Kyndra's party with Raquel in tow, Kyndra can't believe her eyes.

Kyndra: There's about to be a girl fight. Excuse me, I don't think so, someone's here I do not want here....

Cami: Tessa is sooo annoying.

----------

The best friends dish.

Cami: I think Cameron has always had a thing for you.

Kyndra: Are he and Jessica still together?

Cami: Doesn't matter.

Kyndra: Does she still like him? 'Cause if she does, it makes it more fun.

--------

Kyndra and Cami wait for Kyndra's Range Rover at the car wash, a day after they abruptly left a surprise party for Tessa at Raquel's house as guests sang "Happy Birthday":

Kyndra: I was glad we left when we did. It was getting super stupid. The funnest part of Raquel's was leaving.

Cami: I know. Raquel, like some of her wardrobe choices. Do you not own a mirror?

--------------

Unlike Cami, Kyndra, who is home schooled, doesn't seem perturbed by how people perceive her. "If everyone played the little nice girl, then no one's gonna watch the show," she said. "So I'd rather draw people into watching the show."

In person, Kyndra could barely contain her boredom, announcing as she flounced into the café in a short brown dress and flip-flops that she had to leave soon for a doctor's appointment. She'd had her appendix out the previous week and needed to be checked before getting on a plane the next day for New York, where she was being put up for free in exchange for an appearance — possibly at a club — that she didn't want to talk about.

'A double whammy'

Kyndra answered questions in a distracted tone, stared out the café window and was snippy when asked what she felt were repetitive questions about the show. "I think I already answered that," she said, when asked whether she agreed with yet another comment from Cami about the show portraying them in an unflattering light. "And I don't really care," she added. "I feel like I am repeating myself." Later, she refused to step onto the beach to pose for a photograph, insisting instead that she stay on the staircase above the sand. (Two MTV publicity executives called later to apologize for Kyndra's behavior; Gateley also apologized.)

Gateley, who said she is happy with this season's cast and considers Tessa a sympathetic character to whom young viewers can relate, seemed a bit surprised by Cami's objection to her portrayal on the show. "I think we portray characters the way that they are. I wouldn't call them mean girls, but I would say mean things come out of their mouths. Mean things come out of everyone's mouth. With Kyndra and Cami, you get a double whammy."

Although Tessa's narration this season seems a bit forced — would a 17-year-old really describe a peer as "the Queen of Mean," which was coined for Leona Helmsley — Gateley said she didn't recall who thought up the phrase. "We basically write down what the narration needs to be in terms of catching people up on what's happened," said Gateley, by phone from New York. "I spoke to Tessa about this, and said, anything you are uncomfortable saying, let us know." (Tessa was not interviewed for this story. She had a minor car accident the day she was to be interviewed, and, despite requests, did not make herself available by phone.)

The current cast will be followed into Season 4, said Gateley, probably with some additions.

Cami is looking forward to next season for her own reasons. "I want to be on the fourth season just to clean things up," she said. "Not that I wouldn't be myself, but I would go out of my way to ... I don't know. It just really, really, really sucks. Tessa seems like this goody two-shoes on TV, and I am just sitting there watching it, going, 'If you only knew.' "

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-ca-laguna29oct29,0,7604847,print.story

fredfa

11-06-06, 06:21 PM

TV Notebook
Getting A Fix On NBC
By Marc Berman MediaWeek Nov. 6, 2006

At this point, I imagine NBC would like us all to forget about the NBCU 2.0 initiative it recently announced, then quickly reneged on. I'm referring to that brilliant plan to cut out all scripted programming in the 8 p.m. hour and replace it with reality/game show fare like Deal or No Deal,

The Apprentice and 1 vs. 100. Executives initially said that this plan would ease the transition from traditional analog media to digital.

"It's a tricky business," noted NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright. "We're trying to make sure that we don't wake up and feel that we should have acted earlier. This is our planning."

But what these suits failed to realize is that eliminating scripted programming across the board at 8 p.m. sends out the message that the network is throwing in the towel. Why, after all, would a producer now pitch his or her product to NBC with so few time periods left for scripted fare?

What gets my blood boiling, though, is the announcement by NBC Universal that it plans to slash expenses by $750 million and cut 700 jobs—about 5 percent of its work force. The network has not reneged on that announcement. Instead of axing the executives responsible for the lion's share of the networks current financial woes (we all know who they are), innocent people are sitting at their desks wondering if the end is near.

I can totally relate. In my five-year (1990-95) stint in research at NBC, I survived two major layoffs. And I remember how badly it felt wondering why I might be victimized instead of any of the big cheeses (with big paychecks) responsible for the mess. It boggles my mind how some big shots manage to get promoted every time disaster is about to hit.

While I could spend the remainder of this column ranting over these frustrations, let me shift gears and focus on what NBC needs to do to get back on the map in prime time. Since this is indeed a cyclical business, what is broken is not impossible to fix.

But let me begin by giving NBC a stern warning: Keep your mouth shut. Do not make announcements that will only make a grave situation feel considerably worse. Focus on finding the right scripted programming options instead of finding ways to explain your shortcomings. And don't cry to the community about your financial troubles. Everyone is struggling these days to make ends meet—it ain't just you.

Secondly, I strongly suggest that when NBC unveils its 2007-08 schedule in May, it does not go first (or second, or third, for that matter). By shifting half of its prime-time lineup around after the other networks made their announcements last May (the lineup that was so "perfect" that first Monday of the upfront presentations), NBC revealed way too much flopsweat to the marketplace. That is no way to head into the upfront selling season.

As for the actual schedule, the good news is there is light at the end of the tunnel. While I have to scratch my head in amazement wondering how the network would order a sitcom like 20 Good Years—which never had 20 good seconds—I commend NBC on Heroes, which works because a) it dares to be different and b) the network scheduled it wisely. And this tells me that NBC still has what it takes to find new hit programming options.

I also admire NBC for taking a chance with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Although the ratings indicate it is unlikely there will be a second season, the series has managed to accomplish one thing: It got viewers talking about the network again. (Just take a look at our chat room, www.pifeedback.com.) And bringing back Scrubs and moving 30 Rock to Thursday, recreating its "must-see" comedy block, is also a step in the right direction.

Since there is no magic wand to wave for planning ahead, I advise NBC to focus on scripted programming—and sitcoms in particular—because that is the format that put it on the must-see map to begin with. Find shows that are creative yet feel familiar, choose the time periods wisely, promote like crazy and give viewers a chance to find the new shows.

Most importantly, NBC needs to be more thoughtful about what it says and does. Changing schedules, changing policies: The last thing you want to do is let viewers think you are grasping at straws. Even if you are.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/departments/columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003352441

dad1153

11-06-06, 06:38 PM

AFH

11-06-06, 07:05 PM

Thanks Dad and Fred. That was a very interesting article on Laguna. Tessa and Rocky (Raquel) come off as very nice girls while Cam and Knydra come off as girls who think they are cooler than the others but they aren't mean. All of those girls are cute but I hope in season 4 that the producers decide to let Lexi get more involved. She's the number 1 cutie for sure.

fredfa

11-06-06, 07:13 PM

Is that only strike three, dad? :)

fredfa

11-06-06, 07:45 PM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com)
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic Nov. 6, 2006

Question: The final Prime Suspect has been shown here in London, and it was sensational. There was a bit of swearing in it, which added to the show. Do you think, though, that the swearing will be edited or dubbed over on the U.S. version? It would be a shame, as the swearing is used rarely and at the right moment to cause impact. The FCC and Parents Television Council don't seem to understand that sometimes sex and swearing increase the dramatic quality of a TV show. Can you imagine Tony Soprano using the word "friggin'" all the time? It just wouldn't ring true.— Adam

Matt Roush: There were, according to WGBH, "a few small edits to bring the program into our usual length and editorial standards." But never fear. The integrity of this brilliant program shines through, at least judging from the review copy I saw. (I'm not sure if the edits were in that version; I didn't notice any gratuitously foul language, but then, I wasn't looking for it and don't always notice it.) As I noted in my review of Prime Suspect: The Final Act, which airs on PBS' Masterpiece Theater the next two Sundays (check listings), Helen Mirren retires her unforgettable character of Jane Tennison with magnificent results. This is no sentimental farewell, but you may well be moved by watching this remarkable actress say goodbye to her career-defining breakthrough role. (What a roll she's on: an Emmy as HBO's Elizabeth I; a possible Oscar, and certainly a nomination, as the current Elizabeth in The Queen; and now another possible Emmy for this, which would be her second for the role of Jane Tennison.) As usual, Prime Suspect makes the U.S. glut of formula crime dramas look so weak. This two-part movie gets my highest recommendation this week, and we're in sweeps!

Question: Why did they move Without a Trace to Sunday nights? It's such a great show, and when they do things like that, it seems the show soon goes out the door. Even though we love the show, we sometimes don't watch it because we either forget or are too tired to watch on Sunday night.— Lorraine C.

Matt Roush: I miss it on Thursdays, too, but CBS isn't second-guessing itself on this one. The network had long planned to dump its aging Sunday movie night and needed to fill the gap with a known quantity that could counter ABC's popular soaps and NBC's football franchise. Pairing Cold Case with Without a Trace, both being among CBS' better (if darker) crime hours, was a smart strategy, even though I personally don't fancy watching hours this heavy on Sunday night as a prelude to the week of ahead — which tends to involve sitting through seemingly endless hours of crime procedurals. The move has paid off for CBS, making it more competitive on Sundays. So you don't have to worry about Trace's future for the time being, you just have to remember when it's on. (And, depending on where you live, factor in football time overruns.)

Question: I know you think Vanished's story was getting ludicrous, but I have to disagree. I think it's one of the most interesting new shows, along with Heroes. You might find the string of new twists and few answers to be annoying, but it's no different than Lost or The X-Files. As Chris Carter said of the latter, "We like to pull the rug out from underneath viewers. We answer questions, only to learn later that they were lies. We're big Indian givers." That lasted nine years, and you want to write off Vanished after only a few episodes. If Vanished has been getting low or declining ratings, it probably has more to do with Fox's not putting it in the right time slot and/or not promoting it enough. Preempting it for the baseball playoffs and the World Series didn't help, nor did rescheduling it to Fridays. You're entitled to your opinion, but I think you need to step back and re-examine your own prejudices and preconceptions about shows. If you liked Lost or The X-Files, then you can wrap your brain around Vanished. It doesn't have to be your favorite, but you should at least give it credit for being a good and interesting show that deserves a greater audience.— David E.

Matt Roush: I like how I'm entitled to my opinion, yet I should "re-examine my own prejudices and preconceptions" when there's a disagreement. What good would my opinion be then? The fact is, Vanished is in a genre that I tend to like, and my opinion on the show has changed as I've watched every episode, though not positively. I was intrigued by the first episode or so, despite some glaringly bad choices in the casting department (one of which has since been remedied) and overheated plotting that by comparison makes Prison Break's current roller-coaster ride almost make sense. I initially thought that if Vanished had the virtue of Kidnapped's cast, we might have been able to cook up one good show between the two of them, but I was wrong. As the Vanished season spun on, I lost faith. And it's not because of the type of show that it is; it's all about execution. Even when The X-Files got swallowed by its mythology, it was generally still a very compelling, scary, fascinating show. Vanished is a victim of trite writing, ridiculous plotting and pretty pathetic acting. Again, that's just an opinion. But it's one that has only become more firm as the show has lurched onward to its imminent early end. And I'm not blaming Fox's scheduling for this one. If the show were up to Prison Break's standards, such as they are, it would still be airing on Mondays. By all rights, that should have been a good fit. It just doesn't measure up.

Question: People have spent quite a bit of time criticizing Studio 60 and its writer Aaron Sorkin for being too smart or for making them feel stupid. The thing is, Amy Sherman-Palladino writes just as many obscure references into her scripts that are never explained. Why is it OK for her to do so without criticism, but not Sorkin? Viewers have been so quick to criticize him, either because The West Wing was such a success or because of his personal battles. Yet we don't hear the same amount of flak thrown at Gilmore Girls and other shows that are just as smart. I would rather look up something that I don't know rather than suffer through one more reality show, procedural or any program that caters to the lowest common denominator. I like my "trashy" shows, but I get a lot more out of people like Joss Whedon, Rob Thomas, the Palladinos and Aaron Sorkin than I ever will out of some of the shows that manage to become hits. If people only want television that they already know everything about, what do the rest of us do? I know I'm not alone, but I'm definitely starting to feel like a minority here.— Jo

Matt Roush: The recent back-and-forth about whether Studio 60 is too smart for its own good certainly stimulated a lot of reaction. Most of it in the vein of, "In a world of so much mindless drivel on TV, how can we complain when someone's aiming this high?" Again, it's a matter of execution. In the best instances of the Gilmore Girls banter, the flurry of pop-culture references (some very obscure, many delightfully so) is a celebration of these characters' absorption of everything from the junkiest of movies (and food) to the heights of literature. Whereas with Sorkin on Studio 60, it does sometimes come off like his characters are on a soapbox, patronizing the audience with an attitude of puffed-up self-importance. Not that it can't also be incredibly stimulating and moving, as many found of the recent blacklist subplot. I don't always share the opinion of Studio 60's naysayers, but there are sound reasons why so many are less willing to embrace this show than they were the early glory days of The West Wing. This is just one of them.

Question: Am I alone in feeling that this season's Veronica Mars story arc is a little difficult to take? I got hooked on Veronica after I watched the first season on DVD, and I'm happy the show has gotten at least a 13-episode run now on the CW. I enjoy the clever writing, the flawed and genuine characters and the great acting. First, let me say that there isn't a whole lot on television that shocks me (except the time I watched a chef on Julia Child's show cut a live lobster in half), and I'm pretty hard to offend. But I'm finding this season's rape-themed mystery a bit hard to stomach. Maybe it's because I don't find cute banter about rape very entertaining. (Joking about Dick's use of the term "raper" vs "rapist"? Not funny.) Maybe I'm finding the feminists on Veronica's college campus a bit overstereotyped (not that the frat boys aren't, as well). Maybe rape just isn't entertaining. The show has never shied away from touchy and difficult topics — certainly date rape was an integral part of the mystery in the first season and also tied into the second. And heaven knows some of the CSI/Law & Order shows on the air deal with all sorts of gruesome sexual crimes. I do hope the show can stay on the air. I'm still watching, despite my misgivings. I'm just not having as much fun this year.— Lyn

Matt Roush: I've got to disagree on this one. While there's nothing funny about rape, this mystery is a solid hook for the new season (already an improvement over the often-unfocused Season 2). And Veronica's own past as a date-rape victim has come into play, even as she finds herself in situations that present her as an outcast (a Veronica Mars staple) to all the various groups: feminists, Greek girls and boys, her student-paper peers, etc — all while she's trying to do the right thing. The fact that she spits out quips like "Crimes against women? It's a hobby" is awfully glib, but that's Veronica for you. What, you want her to lose her wit, the very reason we love her? The good news for you is that, if I understand this season, this story will be wrapped before long, so she can tackle a new case soon (assuming that the CW gives the show a full-season extension, which I have to believe is imminent). Campus rape is a serious subject, and just because they're keeping the show's overall tone light doesn't mean they're making light of the issue. To the contrary. I like the new college setting and am enjoying the threading of self-contained cases for Veronica and for Keith amid the bigger picture of tracking the serial rapist. It's a formula, sure, but a strong one.

Question: After rewatching The Sopranos Season 6, I noticed something I hadn't before. Halfway through the season, the names of writers Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess vanished. Are they done with the series? If so, they did go out with a winner (the "Live Free or Die" episode), but it would be a shame if we won't be treated to an episode penned by them in the final eight episodes. I don't think I'm giving them too much credit. Their writing always treated us to the finest blend of drama and dark comedy, with a dash of quick wit as well. Also, do you think that time will be much kinder to the much-criticized Season 6? I am hoping that once the hype dies down, people will come to accept this season as one of the show's best (much like what happened with the underappreciated Season 4). What's your take?— Lee

Matt Roush: Yes, they did leave the show, and they won't be a part of the final batch of episodes that will air next year, according to HBO. I'm sure they appreciate this shout-out, and we should all look forward to whatever they're involved in next. As for what the DVD (out Nov. 7) is calling Season 6, Part 1, I think its reputation will improve when it's put in context with the back half of this final season, because what left such a negative impression was that the season just didn't feel complete. With The Sopranos, there's always so much anticipation for each season — and for each episode within the season. As they roll out on the air, the show invites disappointment and criticism when an individual hour doesn't meet expectations. The show tells its story in its own time and way, unlike normal TV. The Sopranos, like some of the other HBO classic dramas, is best viewed as an epic novel, and, within that context, the long detour of the gay-Vito story line (which fascinated me) will probably still be controversial. What really distinguished this last partial season for me was Tony's sessions with Dr. Melfi, as he considered the second chance on life that he got after his near-death experience of being shot by Junior. They were among the richest, funniest, most searching scenes they've done over the years. All in all, when the final curtain falls on The Sopranos, we'll look back on its entirety with justifiable awe.

Question: I'm sure you're sick of this subject, but I just wanted to give my opinion on why I miss opening credits, especially in the newer ensemble pieces. I miss knowing which actors are playing which roles. I have to sit in front of my computer during the openings of shows (as the characters' names are appearing at the bottom of the screen) just so I can see which character plays which role. And I have to do it week after week. I can't remember which brother Matthew Rhys plays on Brothers & Sisters or which actor plays Matt Saracen, my favorite Friday Night Lights character. Who are these people? It's not such a big deal after a show's been on a while — I have the cast of Grey's Anatomy down now.— Jill

Matt Roush: A very practical gripe, and one I agree with. There's something comforting about settling in with a show and being able to identify the actors with their characters in some sort of opening montage (which often evolves into a greatest-hits memory tour as the seasons go on). This may be a very old-school way of looking at all of this, and it wouldn't work for every show — I agree with everyone who feels that Lost's less-is-more approach is perfect for that show. But, yes, especially in a show's early days, it's nice when they make it as easy as possible for us to get to know the players and the characters, and a strong opening credit sequence can often accomplish that very nicely. But as we've discussed before, time considerations have made this a dying art.

Question: Is the popularity of Heroes a good sign for superhero TV shows? Or is it a fluke when compared with the ratings failure of Blade? Could we get an Incredible Hulk revival? It doesn't take networks long to clone each other's shows. I mean, a couple of weeks into the new fall season, Fox was already prepping a pilot for a Devil Wears Prada TV show after the success of Ugly Betty. So are there already new superhero shows in the works?— Nathan P.

Matt Roush: I'm sure there are, but this path is fraught with peril. The popularity of Heroes has more to do with someone finally learning the right lessons from Lost's breakthrough: Placing ordinary relatable characters in an extraordinary circumstance makes for powerful and potentially popular TV. To intuit that all of a sudden there's going to be a mass market on network TV for superhero series is a recipe for disaster. The fact that "super" is not in the title of Heroes speaks volumes to the fact that the producers and the network are leery of limiting the audience to comic-book fans, despite the show's obvious debt to comic sensibilities. These new heroes don't wear costumes. For now, their secret identities have more to do with trying to figure out how to carry on with life given their strange new abilities. The thought that a year from now we would get a flood of shows involving Aquamen or Hulks would be good news only if the shows attempt to transcend genre. Otherwise, they're probably better suited for niche venues like the Sci Fi Channel or the CW.

Question: I'm a 45-year-old mother concerned about today's programming. It seems all there is to watch is blood, murder and sex. Whatever happened to funny family shows? You cannot sit down as a family and watch TV anymore. I'm not sure whom the networks are trying to appeal to, but do they realize that there are still generations of families with kids watching TV at 8 pm? This is a sad state of affairs when I can't even let my 15-year-old sit down with me to watch TV. We're reduced to Nick at Nite! When there is a good show, the networks cancel it. Look at the history: American Dreams, Yes, Dear, all replaced with sex: Two and a Half Men, the CSIs, Grey's Anatomy. And how many nights can they shove Dancing with the Stars down our throats? I'm just disgusted that when I sit down to relax, there's nothing to watch anymore.— Midge B.

Matt Roush: Unfortunately, I can't give you much hope. These days, the networks' idea of "family" programming takes the form of the more benign reality programs, like Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and, of course, American Idol. (I'd include The Amazing Race to the list, because of its value as a thrilling travelogue.) The sad fact is that the family sitcom is a very endangered species, virtually invisible on the networks right now. And those few that still exist are awfully mediocre: According to Jim, George Lopez, etc. What TV really needs is the next Cosby Show, Home Improvement or Roseanne, something of genuine quality with an original or at least relatable point of view that can be enjoyed across generations. The cable sitcoms geared toward kids are generally too simplistic to appeal to adults, and most of today's network sitcoms are geared toward the 18-to-34 audience, if not older, often leaning on sexual innuendo (not always a bad thing, though rarely kid-friendly) for its humor. We've already had the debate in this column about the suitability of Friday Night Lights for families, though a 15-year-old would hardly be unfamiliar with the world it depicts. It's not bathed in nostalgia like American Dreams, but still, there's great value there. Bottom line: this really is a tough time for anyone who wishes that TV could present a sanitized, rose-colored worldview to their children the way that it used to. Even tougher for anyone looking for good, smart, clean humor. When did everyone lose that knack?

Question: I know you love Grey's Anatomy and don't really like Desperate Housewives, and last season I shared that opinion. This season, though, I feel as though Desperate Housewives is a great show, while Grey's Anatomy began to slump during the Izzie and Denny story line. What made for an exciting finale with Izzie cutting the LVAD (a term I never want to hear again) has now turned into the Grey's Anatomy version of the Moldavian Massacre. It made for great viewing, but I don't think that creator Shonda Rhimes thought ahead to the fallout from this action. Izzie's being allowed back into the program in any form is a "shark-jumping" moment for me. This is not to say that I don't still like the show. I just think that it's going through a downturn. My friends are starting to leave it, especially after viewing the amazing season premiere of The O.C. I think that an audience backlash is the one thing that seemed to shake up Housewives. I kind of hope Grey's goes through one, so Shonda and company won't rest on their laurels.— Jonathan

Matt Roush: Slump? Are you nuts? One traumatic story line does not this show make. It's still on fire, and more fun than we should have any right to expect it to be. And wishing for a slump on one of the few shows that is incontestably appointment TV for millions is an attitude I can't abide or encourage. I never would have wished for the Housewives creative doldrums to have happened. And while I have been critical (as is my job) of Housewives this season, I've also acknowledged that it's much improved from a year ago. Some things are working this season, some aren't. But the season high point to date just occurred this weekend, with the supermarket hostage-crisis episode that was, to me, the best episode since the heights of Season 1. (I give credit here to Joe Keenan, the brilliant comic writer from Frasier, who joined the staff this season and wrote this episode. Laurie Metcalf and Felicity Huffman were also astonishing in their climactic showdown.) But the idea that Grey's is on a downward cycle similar to Housewives' second season is just wishful thinking, especially if you're comparing it to the played-out fossil that is The O.C. To think that Grey's is resting on its laurels this soon in its life is an incredible insult to a show that is working overtime to sustain that incredibly difficult balance of humor, drama, romance and medical suspense. Few have ever done it better, or with more sex appeal.

http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Ask-Matt/default.aspx

RussB

11-07-06, 12:33 AM

By Daniel Terdiman
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Published: November 6, 2006, 4:00 AM PST

Christopher Ditty, like so many television viewers by now, is sick of political ads.

The Horn Lake, Miss., resident lives just five minutes from Memphis, Tenn., and is being bombarded with commercials from the two candidates for the open U.S. Senate seat in Tenneesse, Republican Bob Corker and his opponent, Democrat Rep. Harold Ford.

"It seems like there (are) one to two (political) ads every break," Ditty said.

But Ditty now has the technology to fight back: His digital video recorder (DVR), a generic model from his local cable company, allows him to skip through the barrage of increasingly nasty ads.

Fans of DVRs--those from market leader TiVo and its many competitors--have long talked up the freedom the machines give them from all kinds of commercials. Now people like Ditty are finding that the current crop of political spots are the best reason they've ever had to hit fast-forward.

While it's impossible to say just how many people are using DVRs to ditch this year's political message, few doubt, with TiVo's increasing popularity and the growing number of DVR features being provided by cable providers, the political ad refusenik class is growing.

The question is just how much of an impact this tech-savvy crowd is having. While some leading political consultants say they're not worried yet about wasted ad dollars due to such a phenomenon, they acknowledge it's something to keep an eye on in future elections.

"I have thought about it," said Kyle Roberts, the president of Smart Media Group, an Alexandria, Va., political consultancy. "Some of the polling we do, we do ask people if they have DVRs and try to gauge penetration."

But Roberts, who said campaigns across the country have already spent a record $1.2 billion on the 2006 midterm elections, thinks it's too early to worry about a Tivo effect on political ad campaigns. "TiVo and DVRs, in my estimation, have not reached a point yet where they're a problem," he said, "because the penetration just isn't high enough yet."

TV ads work

That DVRs could somehow be changing the way politicians spend their ad dollars may for the moment be wishful thinking among technophiles. According to David Miller, an analyst at Sanders Morris Harris Group, DVRs have a 7.5 percent penetration rate nationwide, with just 8.25 million out of 110 million households having one of the machines.

Fred Davis, who runs the Hollywood political consultancy Strategic Perception, argued that in spite of DVRs and the ability they give users to skip ads, there is nothing like television for spreading the word about political candidates and issues.

"At the end of the day, (even) if you include DVRs," Davis said, "if you include everything, the Internet, radios, there's still not a medium that comes anywhere close to the importance of broadcast television in politics."

But some experts think political advertisers should at least be thinking about the power of the fast-forward button.

"In general, advertisers have started to be concerned as adoption of DVRs increases," said Bruce McGregor, a senior digital home services analyst at Current Analysis. "Election ads would fall into that category if (voters have) seen the same political ads the last month and want to fast-forward through them."

Ditty is hardly alone, of course, in his bid to skip through what he sees as a worsening environment of negative political ad campaigning, even while continuing to watch a significant amount of television.

Larry Rodman, from Brookline, N.H., serves on his town's finance committee and lives close enough to Massachusetts to be saturated with ads in that state's gubernatorial race. He'll sometimes watch normal commercials but has zero tolerance for political ads.

"I generally fast-forward through ads," said Rodman. "However, if I see something that looks like it might be interesting, I usually stop and go back. Whenever I see political ads (though), I just skip through them because I think they're all spin."

Of course, to the political campaigns, TV is a necessity, and even if one segment of the viewing public is turned off by the ubiquity or the nastiness of the ads, there is still a significant percentage that watches. And politicos aren't aiming high. Julie Barko Germany, the deputy director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University's graduate school of political management, said political advertisers

"We've known for a long time that people get sick" of political ads, said Barko Germany. "But (they) still seem to do them because they work, they rile up the base and they help with fundraising. They're kind of like telemarketers or (spammers). It annoys the hell out of people, but it's still economical enough."

Interestingly, satellite television services like DirecTV and Dish Network are seen as a bigger problem than DVRs because those services don't allow targeted advertising in local areas, said Roberts, who works on campaign spots for Republicans.

"Rural voters are important to Republicans," he said, "and turning those people out (to vote) is important to our prescription for winning. And in some of those rural markets, the satellite subscriptions are higher than cable."

Nonetheless, to increasingly cynical people like Ditty, the DVR is the best antidote to the "half-lies" and "half-truths" of political advertisements.

"There are times when we aren't paying attention and actually see them and then we remember why we skip them now," said Ditty, who mixes his TV watching between recorded programs and live shows. "The only sadness is that the fast-forward feature doesn't work on live TV."

http://news.com.com/Political+ads+go+up+against+DVR+tech/2100-1028_3-6132631.html?tag=html.alert

fredfa

11-07-06, 12:47 AM

Of course with the proliferation of LIL services on both DirecTV and Dish, I would assume political ads could be targeted to just about any geographic area.

On the other hand, as the article notes, we can always fight back by using our DVRs.

fredfa

11-07-06, 12:50 AM

fredfa

11-07-06, 12:59 AM

TV Notebook
Election Night Viewing Includes Web’s Bells and Whistles
By Bill Carter and Jacques Steinberg The New York Times November 7, 2006

For those who seek out their election news today from the main broadcast networks and cable news channels, the most striking change since 2004 may be the enormous increase in supplemental material that those news organizations will be offering on their Web sites, away from viewers’ TV screens.

CNN, for example, will gather 20 of the most viewed and opinionated bloggers, including representatives from The Huffington Post (which typically tilts left) and Red State (more right) at a Washington Internet cafe known as Tryst. There, they will sit under enormous video screens — showing CNN, of course — while pounding out their reactions to the results for cnn.com.

By seeking to cater to viewers on the Web, CNN and other news organizations acknowledge that they could be diverting some attention from their television coverage — which, in the case of the three main broadcast networks, will include live prime-time specials led by their principal anchors.

But their online strategies may carry an even bigger risk. In seeking to appropriate the swagger and lawlessness of the blogosphere under the imprimatur of the so-called mainstream media, the broadcast news organizations may increase the chances of letting out information early on the Web — projected winners drawn from exit poll data, for example — that they have pledged to keep off the air on their main television outlets.

Broadcast and cable news organizations have agreed to a plan that will embargo information from exit polls, as commissioned by a media consortium, until 5 p.m. Eastern time. Only a few representatives from the major news organizations will have access during the day to a room in which that material will be tabulated, and to see it they will have to surrender cellphones and pagers. Once the embargo is lifted, the networks have promised to report only general trends in voting — such as turnout, or voters’ mentions of the war in Iraq — and not to forecast any winners based on that data before polls have closed.

But those blogs to which many of the news organizations will link during the afternoon and evening may not feel bound by such pledges, a situation that raises the possibility that a Web site like msnbc.com could serve as a means for visitors to learn how a race may be heading before any official results have been released.

“You can’t pretend something isn’t happening,” said Jennifer Sizemore, editor in chief of msnbc.com. “If something happens from other sources, we’ll report that, even though we may say the information is unreliable. We’re not going to be a walled garden.”

Similarly, Matt Margolis — whose Massachusetts election blog, hubpolitics.com, will be linked to abcnews.com via America Online on Tuesday night — said he could not rule out trying to break news on his site based on the exit polls or other raw data.

“I would expect that if I got the information, other people are getting the same information,” said Mr. Margolis, who also runs the site blogsforbush.com. “If people get access to that information and can’t put it out, and can get it to the blogs, there will be a trend of people leaking this out through the blogs. Because the media can’t.”

Driving the networks’ online efforts are the opportunities to reach viewers who might not otherwise turn on a television on election night (an increasing possibility, as television news viewership falls each year) and to offer them new, often interactive technologies that are simply not available through a traditional cable box.

In anticipation of the election, executives at several networks said they had added producers, writers and others to their Web sites, and in some instances had even temporarily diverted staff from the broadcast networks themselves. Michael Clemente, executive producer of ABC News Digital Media, said that the 100 or so people who typically work on the news division’s Web operation would be supplemented on election night by as many as 15 more people — including several borrowed from the network’s news magazines.

ABC will use its Web site, abcnews.com, not only as a forum for exclusive online reports from Charles Gibson, George Stephanopoulos, Mark Halperin and Jake Tapper among others, but also to showcase field reports from students stationed on more than 40 college campuses. The network has armed each with a camera tethered to a cellphone or laptop to gauge the reactions of young voters. (One of these correspondents is Allison Pataki, a senior at Yale University whose father is the outgoing governor of New York; however tantalizing the prospect, the network says she is unlikely to be paired online with Chris Cuomo of “Good Morning America,” whose father, Mario, was unseated by Allison’s father 12 years ago.)

CBS News expects to make available actual results from every House, Senate and gubernatorial race in the country on its Web site, cbsnews.com, soon after polls close. All of that material will be continuously and automatically updated with proprietary software that the network’s sports division typically uses to revise player statistics during professional football games, said Michael Sims, director of news operations for the site.

Meanwhile, Jon Scott, who will be leading the coverage on Fox News Radio on election night, will be heard, as well as seen, in a simulcast on foxnews.com, said Marty Ryan, executive producer of political programs for Fox News. Fox will also draw on the coverage of another Web site, realclearpolitics.com, a compendium of election reports from around the country that typically features a range of voices.

Msnbc.com, which serves as an online beachhead for both NBC News and the MSNBC cable news channel, is touting what it calls its “Democracy Dashboard,” which will include not only a map linked to key races but also a graphic made out to look like a car’s gauge, albeit one toggling between Republicans and Democrats, “with a needle to say where the balance of power is heading,” said Mark Lukasiewicz, vice president of digital media for NBC News.

Mr. Lukasiewicz himself is one reflection of how the balance of power has shifted among the news organizations, with an increasing emphasis on the Web sites. Two years ago during the presidential election, he was the executive producer of NBC’s television coverage. Now he is running the digital side.

Though the MSNBC channel is typically watched by fewer viewers than Fox News and CNN, its Web site ranked ahead of both outlets among visitors in September. Msnbc.com drew 26.7 million visitors, according to Nielsen Media Research, 2 million more than cnn.com (24.7 million) and considerably more than Fox News (7.9 million.) Over the same period, ABC News drew 10.7 million to its Web site, while CBS News had 8.7 million. (In another measurement important to advertisers, users of the CNN site click onto nearly twice as many pages as those at MSNBC, its nearest competitor.)

Mr. Clemente of ABC said that he felt confident that the material distributed via its Web site would conform with the standards and practices of the broadcast network — in large part because the same network executives will be overseeing all of that content. If, for example, the ABC Web site included a link to a blog that decided to post material that did not meet the requirements of the broadcast network, that link would simply be removed, Mr. Clemente said.

“That’s the difference between this and YouTube,” he said. “It’s not a complete free-for-all.”

And what of the risk that the networks might be driving some viewers away from watching their TV’s, where advertising premiums are highest, to log on to the Web?

Jon Klein, president of CNN domestic networks, said, “We find that most people who are news consumers do both at the same time.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/us/politics/07tube.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

fredfa

11-07-06, 01:02 AM

TV Notebook
Fox gets a light at the end of the bleak autumn tunnel:
The return of "American Idol"!
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic in her TV blog

Considering the crazy success Fox enjoys every January, when "American Idol" kicks off," some people wonder why in the heck the network even bothers with fall.

Time and again, we've roundly rejected just about everything old Fox has thrown at us before baseball except for "House" and "Bones." Between those two, "House" is the only one that's consistently outstanding.

As for the rest, "Vanished" is evaporating on Fridays. "The O.C." premiered last week to about 3.4 million viewers. That might fly on The CW, but Fox? Oof. Don't even get me started on the new comedies.

The network only needs to maintain its grip for a little while longer, because "Idol" makes its comeback with a two-night, four-hour wailer of a premiere on Tuesday, January 16th, and Wednesday the 17th.

This is the second swing in Fox's one-two punch; "24" returns with a two-part, four-hour premiere Sunday, January 14th, and Monday, January 15th.

As always, "American Idol's" new season begins with the audition shows. It's unclear when Seattle's (notoriously awful) turn comes up, but we're guessing it'll be at the end of the month. The real competition won't get started until close to the end of February.

As for "The O.C.," the second episode airs at 9 Wednesday night, with the third arriving Thursday at 9, its usual spot. What a grim situation the once-hip series finds itself in. Between this early schedule shift, the basement ratings and its shortened order, another season doesn't look likely. But the drama is better off than "Happy Hour," which got the hook in this latest scheduling switcheroo.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/

fredfa

11-07-06, 01:47 AM

TV Notebook
Stakes high for network news in midterm election
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News

Election night television in a non-presidential year can be a bit like TV coverage of a PGA tournament without Tiger Woods: Something's happening, but it can be pretty darn boring.

But these midterm elections are the kind that political reporters and pundits live for. Control of the House and Senate is in play. The vote is perceived -- rightly or wrongly -- as a national referendum on the war in Iraq. There are contentious, close races and the whiff of scandal.

As a result, the networks and cable channels are ramping up coverage of Tuesday's voting. It isn't at the level you'd see in an presidential year, but there's more heft to it than in any recent off-year election. Plus there's a subplot: two newly anointed network anchors -- Katie Couric on CBS, Charles Gibson on ABC -- making their first appearances as the Big Cheeses on a major story.

Perhaps the biggest news for local viewers is that the three major networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- all are doing two editions of their one-hour election reports: an East Coast version at 7 p.m. PDT and another at 10 for the West Coast. Both reports will be carried by the local network stations.

On ABC's ``Vote 2006'', Gibson will be sharing the anchor desk with Washington correspondent and ``This Week'' host George Stephanopoulos. Cokie Roberts will provide additional analysis, chief political correspondent Jake Tapper will report on key races and ``Good Morning America'' co-anchor Kate Snow will assess the impact on the 2008 presidential race.

Couric gets her shot on CBS's ``Campaign 2006: Election Night''. Joining her on the desk: veteran Washington correspondent (and former anchor) Bob Schieffer. Analysts Mike McCurry (a Democrat) and Nicolle Wallace (a Republican) presumably will provide snappy, if partisan, assessments.

But with all due respect to the other networks, NBC's ``Decision 2006'' probably will be my choice. Brian Williams has shown he can effectively lead coverage of a big story, and he'll be getting some big-time help from former anchor Tom Brokaw, who's working hard for a retired guy, and Tim Russert, the sharpest of the network political commentators.

For true political junkies, though, the place to be -- at least earlier in the day -- is cable, where Fox News and MSNBC will turn to election results at 3 p.m. PDT and CNN will chime in at 4. All three have their big guns out for the evening, although the most intriguing -- and potentially most entertaining -- anchor pairing of the night may be fast-talking, opinionated Chris Matthews (``Hardball'') and Keith Olbermann (``Countdown'') doing the honors on MSNBC.

If you're looking for local results, Bay Area stations will have short break-ins starting after the polls close. In recent years, when it still had a 9 p.m. newscast, KRON (Ch. 4) would have been first with a full report. But now it's stuck with those dreadful MyTVNetwork soaps, so KTVU (Ch. 2) gets the first word at 10, with the others joining the mix at 11.

And if you're looking for a different perspective on the day's events -- and a lot more laughs -- there's always the Comedy Central block of ``The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' and ``The Colbert Report.'' The faux newscasts will air back-to-back -- in what the cable channel is calling ``The Midterm Midtacular'' -- at 8 p.m., with a repeat at 11.

Losing `Lost'

• Much to the dismay of many “Lost” fans, who wailed long and hard online, the nasty cloud of black smoke did the monster mash all over the mysterious Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) at the end of last week's episode.

That puts the body count among the central survivors at five. It also pretty much wipes the prominent ``tailies'' who showed up at the start of Season 2 after Ana-Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) and Libby (Cynthia Watros) got whacked by Michael (Harold Perrineau) last spring. At least Eko got not only a spectacular exit but an intriguing farewell flashback.

This week's episode (9 p.m. Wednesday, ABC) also promises some extra kick (Kate reportedly chooses between Jack and Sawyer, for one thing) since it marks the end of the series' “fall season.” Yep, after Wednesday, ``Lost'' vanishes until early February, replaced by the new ``Day Break.''

Whether this two-season setup turns out to be a good idea -- in response to viewers' complaints about the number and scheduling of repeats -- remains to be seen. But the ABC suits must be a bit nervous about the ratings trends as the show goes on hiatus.

Last week, CBS's ”Criminal Minds” finally edged past ``Lost'' in total viewers (even though ABC heavily promoted the death of a major character) and crept ever closer to it among the younger viewers. Combine that with the fan furor over Eko's demise, and there's trouble in the land of the ``Lost.''

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/15940993.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

11-07-06, 02:36 AM

TV Notebook
A Series Changes Horses, and the Ride Gets Bumpy
By Virginia Heffernan The New York Times November 7, 2006

Something is wrong with “Gilmore Girls.” Early reports had this cherished tragicomedy series faring just fine on the new CW network without its despotic creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, and her husband and co-captain, Daniel Palladino. Those reports were false. The couple left their own show last spring after disputes with Warner Brothers over contracts, money, timing, something. And without them the show is not faring well. It’s faring weirdly.

Has “Gilmore Girls” lost heart? If only. This brainy, dexterous show is now all heart — with Lorelai (Lauren Graham) dating Rory’s father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), and Rory (Alexis Bledel) pining for the London-based Logan (Matt Czuchry). In the new season those emotional cues that used to come from the Sam Phillips score with its airy la-la-la lyrics now emanate from by-the-numbers reaction shots, big doorstep love scenes, vast gaps in the scripts just for feelings, and sincerity galore. As a result, the show that made a virtue of brittleness has become almost moony.

There’s even “I love you” — a sentence that Ms. Sherman-Palladino, who learned timing from her father, a cruise-ship stand-up, and who came of age writing for “Roseanne,” could never abide.

Ms. Sherman-Palladino’s rat-a-tat series used to abhor reaction shots and television silence — those wordless measures, covered with pensive close-ups, that signify emotion on soaps and dramas. Instead, her “Gilmore Girls” had a nervous, competitive tempo: each conversation was a pickup game to be won, not a dance with someone designated to lead.

Casual viewers have typically complained about the show’s stylized dialogue, poseur diction and references seemingly inspired by Bartlett’s and Roget’s. Well, for them, it should all go down easier now. The new show is run by David Rosenthal, a television writer who was famous chiefly for a 2001 morbidly obsessive play about Heidi Klum that Bruce Weber in The New York Times called “not only offensive but also incompetent.” On his “Gilmore Girls,” people lead and follow: one person talks, and the other sighs, frowns or chuckles. The sound mix is especially thick with that chuckling that signals what’s funny. I keep thinking that if Rory and Lorelai, those unsentimental brainiacs, could see this show, they’d hate it.

Ah, but they can see it. They’re right there: or at least some Cylons who look like Rory and Lorelai are there, in Stars Hollow, going through their paces. Ms. Bledel still appears by turns beautiful and loping as Rory, and Ms. Graham is still the show’s power forward, playing as hard as she can, giving all she’s got to proving that a woman’s sensibility can comprise The New Yorker and Us Weekly. A modest goal — but not a toxic one.

And possibly, even, Ms. Graham is relieved that the show has slowed down. There are certainly fewer words to remember and execute. The diction is less eccentric. With the looser, more emotionally direct and less digressive scripts, Ms. Graham may even discover more room to act. On Ms. Sherman-Palladino’s show, the scripts were so packed with dialogue that the actors, even the enterprising Ms. Graham (whose missing Emmy is now just ludicrous), sometimes showed a Mamet-style anxiety, as if it were all they could do just to recite their lines. Ms. Bledel, as Gilmore the younger, almost always came across this way.

Indeed, that was the charm of the old show: women, fundamentally women without men, were compelled to talk as fast as they could to keep their loneliness at bay. The virtue of Ms. Sherman-Palladino’s shticky style was that it created characters who were new to television. In their purest incarnations, Lorelai and Rory shared the witty woman’s challenge: to architect a wall of words so high and so thick that no silence, no stares, no intimations of mortality or even love could penetrate it.

And the more they — and especially Lorelai — did that season after season, and the more she relented only when overcome by real despair (as when she and Rory fought), the more Ms. Sherman-Palladino and Mr. Palladino seemed to have found a way to bring the pain of cleverness to the screen.

Lorelai’s out-of-touchness with her own emotional life — her conviction that to swoon, even once, would be to forfeit her verbal power and thus her reason for being — has only grown more extreme as the show has aged. That process has had an incredible poignancy and even suspense, as when a single friend becomes funnier and more self-aware even as she stifles her need for romantic love.

Lorelai’s internal life — her desperate loneliness (come on, have any of these forgettable guys even come close to matching her?) coupled with her untenable reliance on her daughter as the one true thing in her existence — is clear to longtime viewers. But no one of her fans would really want her to face that suffering, and turn soft. To force some kind of psychological reckoning on her would be sadistic.

Her humor, her style, her neuroses, even her quicksilver physicality were all contrivances that served to shut out existential truths. If she were in therapy, or a character on a show with a dumber audience, maybe she would have to embrace her weakness. But like Elizabeth in Stephen Frears’s movie “The Queen,” Lorelai has a humanity that is perfectly apparent precisely in her unwillingness to betray her stoicism in favor of a therapeutic catharsis.

For all these years, Lorelai in “Gilmore Girls” has been painful and surprising and exciting to watch — a marvelous high-wire act. How cruel that the new writer of the show wants to rub her face in conventionality, strip her of the speed that was her reason for being and transform her into another banal television lead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/arts/television/07heff.html?pagewanted=print

RussB

11-07-06, 02:53 AM

Holding out for Heroes

With its supernatural characters and winding story lines, the superaddictive sci-fi drama Heroes is bringing "must-see TV" back to NBC

By MIKE MCDANIEL
Nov. 6, 2006, 10:03 AM
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Cool alert. If you're not watching Heroes, you're missing the best-crafted mystery serial this side of Lost. Some might say it's even better.

"It's been really a lot of fun," says Tim Kring, the show's creator.

Actually, it's been a lot of work — trying to save the world is exhausting, tricky business — but Kring & Co., including three executive producers, a hefty writing staff and a large ensemble cast, have succeeded in doing what so many others have tried: capture the cliffhanger and mystery qualities of a Lost or a 24 without sacrificing character or otherwise alienating a fickle audience.

The results: Heroes is the No. 1 new show among the 18- to 49-year-old audience and is averaging 14 million total viewers per week.

"We're committed to trying not to fall into this idea that the audience feels that the show didn't know where it was going," Kring said. "That is a dangerous relationship to start with an audience."

So far, so good. Audiences have been hooked since Episode 1, when Heroes introduced characters with supernatural capabilities — one can fly; another can hear thoughts; there's a cheerleader who appears to be indestructible; and there's a Japanese businessman who can teleport to the future and back. There are others, too (see the story below).

That's all well and comic-book good, but Kring, who's not a comic aficionado, has stocked these characters with appropriate ordinariness ("why is this happening to me?") and intriguing traits (not all these "heroes" work for good — but which ones?). He then tacked on an overarching back story that's becoming clearer as the series progresses.

"We decided early on to try to prove to the audience that we knew where we were going," Kring said. "It's a very hard thing to do, because the audience knows only what you tell them. But there are certain key elements that are going to start showing themselves, a few of which have already been seen, like the character Hiro coming back from the future."

Ah, Hiro. Whoever said we don't need another Hiro never met Masi Oka, the show's most delightful character.

"When I was a kid, the superpower I would have wanted is a Midas touch," he said, "because my allowance was about a quarter a week, and that wasn't enough to go the arcade and play more than one game."

But the Tokyo native recognizes that with Heroes he has struck a different kind of gold — one with instant name recognition, serious sci-fi and comic-book fans, and cyber groupies attached.

"Heroes is a big extension of who I am — a grander, more fun, more energetic extension of who I am," said the actor/comedian and part-time consultant for Industrial Light & Magic. "The writers are doing an amazing job writing to Hiro, bringing who I am into the character as well."

For Heroes, there are actually two Hiros — a present-day Hiro who has mastered teleportation and chronokinesis and a Future Hiro, who dresses in ancient Japanese military garb and wields a large sword. Hiro is aware of Future Hiro's movements only when someone else tells him.

It was Future Hiro, for example, who let drop the line that has become the series' early-season mantra: "Save the cheerleader, save the world." The cheerleader, Claire (Hayden Panettiere), discovers she can survive the most horrible injuries. In one mind-bending scene, she revived herself midautopsy, her torso flayed like a chicken. She regenerated, got up and walked away.

Cool.

Apparently Heroes' overarching story involves genetic mutations and an evil entity intent on controlling such mutants. Another big story line involves a nuclear blast in New York City, witnessed by Hiro during his first teleportation.

Whether either of these stories figures in with the "save the world" slogan is still to be discovered. Kring's not talking.

Well, he is, but only enough to whet our appetites.

" 'Save the cheerleader' will be wrapped up in November sweeps," he said. "It will be wrapped up in Episode 9."

Last night's (Note: Monday night 11-6-6) episode (8 p.m., NBC/Channel 2) was No. 7.

Looks like Kring is serious about keeping the story moving. And it looks like NBC promotions will need a new mantra soon.

Cool.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/4312241.html

Note: The web site includes a picture that the next story refers to. The characters are numbered from left to right in the picture.

********************************************************

TV FEATURE

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Heroes

By MIKE MCDANIEL
Nov. 5, 2006, 10:25 PM
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

1. Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura

• Power: Can stop time and spring into the future at will.
• Story so far: Teleports to a future New York, witnesses a nuclear blast and finds comic book by Isaac Mendez (see No. 10) that reveals his story line. Returns to present-day Japan and convinces colleague, Ando (James Kyson Lee), they are destined to stop the blast from occurring. Abuses his powers by cheating at cards in Las Vegas; gets roughed up and abandoned at desert diner, where he sees flying Nathan (No. 6) land. Learns there is a Future Hiro, one who wields a sword and tells Peter (No. 5), "Save the cheerleader, save the world."

2. Ali Larter as Niki Sanders

• Power: Has a killer mirror image.
• Story so far: Struggles to support son Micah (No. 3) as an online adult entertainer. Her mirror image (HMI) sleeps with Nathan to erase a Mafia debt. Becomes aware that HMI is responsible for multiple murders and stealing ill-gotten millions. HMI has ferocious fight with Niki's escapee ex, D.L. (No. 4)

3. Noah Gray-Cabey as Micah Sanders

• Power: To be revealed.
• Story so far: Apparently all but clueless to his parents' superpowers.

4. Leonard Roberts as D.L. Hawkins

• Power: Can disappear. Can penetrate bodies without breaking the skin.
• Story so far: Escapes from prison and shows up inside Niki's house, though cops are parked outside. Tells Niki that he plotted million-dollar heist but bailed out and was framed by a woman (HMI?). Says no prison can hold him. Has ferocious fight with HMI, ending with him reaching inside her belly and squeezing.

5. Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli

• Power: Can assume the powers of other heroes when in their presence.
• Story so far: A hospice worker, he believes he can fly — and jumps off a building to prove it. Nathan flies up to save him. Turns out Peter can fly ... if he's with Nathan. And he can paint ... if he's with Isaac. He has a tender moment with Simone (No. 11). Receives a visit from Future Hiro. Pursues the cheerleader by visiting Isaac and painting her picture.

6. Adrian Pasdar as Nathan Petrelli

• Power: Can fly.
• Story so far: Peter's politician brother tells others that Peter's jump off building was a suicide attempt. Goes to Las Vegas to get campaign money. Though married, has affair with Niki as HMI. Gets kidnapped by Horn-Rimmed Glasses (HRG) and Silent Bald Man. Escapes by flying off, setting off sonic boom.

7. Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet

• Power: Physically indestructible.
• Story so far: Has friend videotape her performing stunts that would maim others but not her. Survives bonfire, attempted rape, brain impalement. Even though she's pronounced dead and cracked open like a crab, she mends herself. Avenges herself by driving car containing her and attacker into concrete barrier. Seeks answers from the people HRG (whom she believes is her adoptive dad) has told her are her biological parents.

8. Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh

• Power: None.
• Story so far: A genetics professor from India, he looks into the research of his recently slain father, who believes people with superpowers live among us. Learns others are after the same research, including a spooky man named Sylar.

9. Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman

• Power: Can hear people's thoughts.
• Story so far: One-time L.A. police officer convinces FBI officer he can read her thoughts. They join up in pursuit of mysterious Sylar. He shoots! He scores! But Sylar gets up anyway and escapes. Hears his wife's thoughts; grants her every unexpressed wish. Appears to have his mind wiped by Creepy Bald Guy.

10. Santiago Cabrera as Isaac Mendez

• Power: Can paint the future when under the influence of drugs.
• Story so far: Paints. Fights with girlfriend Simone. Paints. Fights with Peter. Paints. Fights with Hiro. Paints. Fights with Simone.

11. Tawny Cypress as Simone Deveaux

• Power: None so far.
• Story so far: Loves Santiago but not his drug habit. Has some tender moments with Peter. Takes some of Santiago's paintings, including one showing the cheerleader.

OTHERS:

Nora Zehetner as Eden McCain

• Power: None so far.
• Story so far: Mohinder's convincing ally gives HRG a call, telling him what she knows about Peter, Future Hiro and Isaac. Shows up at Isaac's door.

Jack Coleman as HRG (Horn-Rimmed Glasses)

• Power: None so far.
• Story so far: Kidnaps Nathan. Orders Creepy Bald Man to erase memory of boy who raped Claire. Orders Creepy Bald Man to erase memory of Matt. Tricks Claire into believing she met her biological parents.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/4312231.html

Marcus Carr

11-07-06, 08:37 AM

Split Decision On FCC Profanity Review

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/6/2006 11:30:00 PM

The FCC has upheld profanity findings against Fox for two Billboard Music Award broadcasts, while dismissing ones against CBS' Early Show on the grounds its fleeting expletive was not profane or indecent, and against ABC's NYPD Blue on procedural grounds.

Broadcasters and the commission will now fight it out over those remaining findings in court.

After considering comments from broadcasters and others, the FCC concluded late Monday that "comments made by Nicole Richie during the 2003 Billboard Music Awards and by Cher during the 2002 Billboard Music Awards are indecent and profane as broadcast but that the complained-of material aired on The Early Show is neither indecent nor profane. In addition, we dismiss on procedural grounds the complaints involving NYPD Blue as inadequate to trigger enforcement.

But the FCC also reasserted its presumption that the words "****" and "****" are profane and indecent unless context mitigates.

It also defended its ability generally to regulate indecent broadcast content, saying the availability of blocking mechanisms or the presence of alternate media without similar restrictions--cable, the Internet--did not persuade it that its current enforcement regime was unconstitutionally vague or de facto ineffective in protecting children from indecent content.

Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein dissented in part from the decisions.

The commission said, again, that it would not levy any fines against the two Billboard broadcasts on Fox or hold the profanity findings against the stations cited.

The Commission said that it dismissed the Early Show complaint because it was "deferring to CBS' plausible characterization" of the show as a news interview program and thus the use of the word "bullshitter" by a contestant on Survivor: Vanatu was neither profane or indecent.

Adelstein took issue with what he called an "infotainment" exemption--in a segment essentially promoting an entertainment show on CBS--that did not make the FCC's indecency enforcement standards any clearer.

The NYPD Blue finding was dismissed because the complaints did not come from any viewer in the Central Time Zone market where the complaint was lodged and where the show aired at 9 p.m., but instead from a viewer in the Eastern Time Zone where it aired in the indecency safe harbor period of 10-11.

Again, Adelstein took issue, saying that if the FCC found a broadcast indecent, it was "misguided" to refrain from taking action because a complaint hadn't come from the same market. "I do not understand how we can say we are faithfully enforcing the law when we are aware of violations of the law we simply choose to ignore," he said.

CBS said it was happy with the decision dismissing the complaint against its show, but qualified that:"We are pleased that the FCC has dropped its misguided indecency case against one of our news programs," the network said in a statement. "Our pleasure is fleeting, however, in that a number of indecency cases and inquires are still pending, either in the courts or at the FCC."

CBS stations still face a multimillion-dollar fine over a broadcast of Without a Trace, and the $550,00 Janet Jackson fine it is fighting in court.

"The cloud hanging over broadcasters will remain until the FCC returns to its previous time-honored practice of more measured indecency enforcement. CBS will continue to pursue all of our legal remedies to that end," said CBS.

"I am pleased the Commission acted with appropriate deliberation in responding to the Court's limited remand," said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin of the decisions. "The Commission has always held that the use of certain words could be indecent. Consistent with that precedent, this order affirms that the use of the F and S words in the 2002 and the 2003 Billboard Music awards was indeed indecent.

"Hollywood continues to argue they should be able to say the F-word on television whenever they want. Today, the Commission again disagrees."

That statement came despite the commission's concession that broadcasters generally don't air such language, even using broadcasters own reluctance to air swearing as a justification for its own approach.The FCC pointed out that most broadcasters don't regularly air profanities, even after 10 p.m., when they could do so with relative impunity at least from regulators. It used that to justify its own conclusions that "****" and "****" violated community standards.

Of the news exemption for CBS, Martin said: "It is oftentimes difficult to distinguish between true news programming and infotainment. I found the interview with a contestant on Survivor: Vanuatu to be extremely close to that line [a nod to the Adelstein position], I believe the Commission's exercise of caution with respect to news programming was appropriate in this instance."

"Finally, the Commission dismissed complaints about episodes of NYPD Blue, solely on procedural grounds and they were not decided on the merit."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York in early September granted the FCC's request to delay a broadcaster challenge to those four rulings for 60 days while it reconsidered them.

The court meanwhile stayed enforcement of the FCC's Golden Globes decision finding "****" and by extension "****," and their variations, indecent, at least as applied to the four cases at issue. The FCC warned that broadcasters did not have a free pass to swear in prime time during the review period.

Nov. 6 by midnight was the deadline for the FCC's response to the court, and the commission used just about all of that time.

The four decisions, part of an omnibus March 15 indecency order, dealt with the 2004 airing of “bullshitter” on CBS' the Early Show, Fox's 2002 and 2003 broadcasts of The Billboard Music Awards (the words “****” and “****”) and a “bullshit” in a 2003 episode of ABC's NYPD Blue (“dick” and “dickhead” in the same episode were OK with the FCC).

NBC did not have a program involved, but intervened nonetheless given the still-unresolved Bono f-word decision that signaled the beginning of the tougher profanity policy.

Adelstein also complained that the FCC had not acted on a long-standing challenge to the Bono decision.

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

In essence the FCC was saying: These are the words we believe we can fine going forward. But after the networks sued, the FCC conceded it had made a mistake by not letting them respond and asked the court to let it review the decisions after getting that input.

In a combined filing to the FCC Sept.21, CBS, Fox and NBC took aim at the entirety of the FCC's indecency enforcement regime, saying they wanted the commission to "rescind its radical new interpretation of indecency rules."

The nets asked the FCC to "reverse its radically expanded efforts to regulate through punitive forfeitures what it considers to be "indecent speech."

They argued that the FCC's previous "cautious and limited" enforcement are the "centerpiece" of its defense of having the power to regulate broadcast speech. It is that regime the Supreme Court narrowly upheld, expressly excluding "isolated" uses of "potentially offensive" language, which the FCC is now punishing.

That previous FCC policy--stemming back to the 1970's--did not take action against isolated or fleeting expletives.

The networks argued that the FCC's departure from that restraint has been "an unprecedented [and unconstitutional] intrusion into the creative and editorial process and threatens to bring about the end of truly live broadcast TV." The FCC disagreed on all counts.

The networks are now likely to use similar arguments in their briefs to the court, which will now proceed to hear arguments.

Now that the FCC has weighed in, the court will accept briefs in the broadcaster challenge by Nov. 20, Dec. 4 and Dec. 11, the same schedule as briefs in the Third Circuit Federal Appeals Court, which is hearing the CBS challenge to its Janet Jackson indecency fine.

The FCC has argued it reviewed the decisions to give broadcasters a chance to make their Case, but the move was seen by some broadcasters as an attempt to repair the FCC's case before having to defend it in federal court.

Neither case is expected to be decided before next year.

http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6388805.html

fredfa

11-07-06, 10:28 AM

The Business of TV
Inside Move: Liberty still pecking away at bird deal
DirecTV stake is still in play
By Jill Goldsmith Variety.com

John Malone's Liberty Media said Monday it is still in talks with News Corp. on swapping about $10 billion in shares of the giant media conglom in exchange for Rupert Murdoch's stake in DirecTV.

Liberty CEO Greg Maffei dismissed Wall Street fears the deal could be too onerous, possibly forcing Liberty to assume full control of DirecTV.

"There seems to be at least one conjecture that if we did a swap of our (News Corp.) stock for DirecTV that we might be under some obligation to move to hard control of DirecTV," Maffei said during a conference call. "This is not so."

Analysts have anticipated a resolution by year's end to the contentious negotiations that have been dragging on for years and have targeted diverse assets within the News Corp. empire, including TV stations and the National Geographic Channel. Murdoch badly wants to get Malone's voting stock in News Corp. back inhouse but has declared he won't do any deal he doesn't like.

Meanwhile, News Corp. extended a so-called poison pill anti-takeover provision to keep Malone from building up an additional interest.

Liberty also announced financial results for Liberty Interactive, where QVC revenue rose 12% to $1.65 billion for the third quarter. Operating income at the home shopping net grew to $257 million from $179 million.

Liberty's board has approved the buyback of an additional $1 billion in Liberty Interactive stock.

At Liberty Capital, Starz Entertainment saw revenue rise 3% to $253 million on higher subscriptions. Operating income grew by $5 million to $40 million. Liberty Capital is also home to newly acquired IDT Entertainment.

Liberty has split itself into several tracking stocks to separate and highlight its different businesses.

On a consolidated basis, Liberty Media's income from continuing operations and before special items swung to a profit of $75 million from a loss of $315 million a year earlier.

Liberty Media is also in talks to unload its interest in Time Warner as it simplifies its structure -- moving from a holding company to a number of operating companies.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117953412&categoryid=14

harley1

11-07-06, 10:44 AM

fredfa

11-07-06, 10:48 AM

Monday’s metered market over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

11-07-06, 10:55 AM

(From Marc Berman’s Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006, Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )
Network Results By Day:

Since a number of readers have asked how the networks are faring by individual evening, here are the season to-date results by night (though Oct. 29, 2006), with change versus the comparable evening in parentheses for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Keep in mind that the results for Fox include baseball and ABC aired Monday Night Football last season.

MONDAY

Households:
CBS: 9.0 rating/14 share (- 4)
NBC: 8.2/13 (+ 5)
ABC: 5.0/ 8 (-43)
Fox: 4.3/ 7 (-26)
CW: 1.9/ 3

Total Viewers:
CBS: 13.91 million (- 3)
NBC: 13.13 (+12)
ABC: 7.31 (-45)
Fox: 6.69 (-45)
CW: 2.78

Adults 18-49:
NBC: 4.8 rating (+17)
CBS: 4.7 (- 4)
ABC: 3.1 (-39)
Fox: 2.5 (-39)
CW: 1.1

TUESDAY

Households:
ABC: 10.2/16 (+32)
CBS: 7.9/12 (- 1)
Fox: 7.2/11 (no change)
NBC: 7.1/11 (- 4)
CW: 2.3/ 3

Total Viewers:
ABC: 15.41 million (+33)
CBS: 12.34 (+ 1)
Fox: 11.00 (+ 1)
NBC: 10.68 (- 4)
CW: 3.45

Adults 18-49:
ABC: 4.4 (+28)
Fox: 3.8 (no change)
NBC: 3.8 (-16)
CBS: 3.5 (-10)
CW: 1.5

WEDNESDAY

Households:
CBS: 9.6/15 (+30)
ABC: 9.3/15 (+ 7)
Fox: 5.8/ 9 (-21)
NBC: 4.7/ 7 (-25)
CW: 3.0/ 5

Total Viewers:
CBS: 14.84 million (+33)
ABC: 14.38 (+ 2)
Fox: 8.63 (-22)
NBC: 7.05 (-23)
CW: 4.53

Adults 18-49:
ABC: 4.8 (-17)
CBS: 4.5 (+25)
Fox: 2.9 (-22)
NBC: 2.8 (- 7)
CW: 2.2

THURSDAY

Households:
CBS: 10.6/17 (-23)
ABC: 10.3/16 (+129)
NBC: 7.0/11 (- 1)
Fox: 6.4/10 (+52)
CW: 2.4/ 4

Total Viewers:
CBS: 17.21 million (-22)
ABC: 15.56 (+142)
NBC: 10.90 (+ 4)
Fox: 9.56 (+52)
CW: 3.97

Adults 18-49:
ABC: 6.1 (+190)
CBS: 5.7 (-23)
NBC: 4.3 (- 9)
Fox: 3.0 (+30)
CW: 1.8

FRIDAY

Households:
CBS: 7.2/13 (+11)
NBC: 6.7/12 (+29)
ABC: 4.7/ 8 (no change)
Fox: 4.6/ 8 (+35)
CW: 2.6/ 5

Total Viewers:
CBS: 11.09 million (+12)
NBC: 10.39 (+42)
Fox: 6.91 (+32)
ABC: 6.91 (+ 2)
CW: 4.13

Adults 18-49:
NBC: 3.2 (+52)
CBS: 3.1 (+15)
Fox: 2.2 (+16)
ABC: 2.2 (no change)
CW: 1.4

SATURDAY

Households:
Fox: 4.9/ 9 (- 6)
CBS: 4.6/ 8 (-18)
NBC: 4.4/ 8 (+19)
ABC: 3.8/ 7 (+27)

Total Viewers:
Fox: 7.75 million (- 3)
CBS: 6.97 (-19)
NBC: 6.57 (+16)
ABC: 6.03 (+35)

Adults 18-49:
Fox: 2.4 (- 8)
ABC: 2.0 (+33)
NBC: 1.9 (no change)
CBS: 1.9 (-10)

SUNDAY

Households:
ABC: 9.2/15 (-12)
CBS: 9.2/14 (+12)
NBC: 7.8/12 (+18)
Fox: 6.5/10 (-11)
CW: 1.6/ 2

Total Viewers:
ABC: 14.99 million (-10)
CBS: 14.25 (+14)
NBC: 12.19 (+22)
Fox: 10.20 (-12)
CW: 2.42

Adults 18-49:
ABC: 5.7 (-19)
NBC: 4.8 (+71)
CBS: 4.1 (+21)
Fox: 3.8 (-14)
CW: 1.0

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

foxeng

11-07-06, 11:07 AM

On another topic- Could the FCC members change if the Dems get control of House ?

That is controlled by the party in the "White" House. Republicans will have the majority on the FCC at least unil Jan 20, 2009.

fredfa

11-07-06, 11:13 AM

The President does appoint the FCC members (with the consent of the Senate, of course) but Congress may direct the FCC to move in one direction or the other.

And, if it sees the Commission acting in ways it doesn't like it can pass legislation to force the FCC to act in a certain way.

fredfa

11-07-06, 11:16 AM

The Business of TV
Solid 3Q for EchoStar (MultiChannel News) 11/7/2006

EchoStar Communications posted a 16% revenue gain in the third quarter of 2006, to $2.47 billion from $2.13 billion in the previous-year period.

The direct-broadcast satellite provider’s net income fell to $140 million from $209 million in the third quarter of 2005, but the year-ago quarter included a nonrecurring, noncash benefit of approximately $73 million to recognize the tax benefits of previously reported tax losses.

Basic earnings per share dropped to $0.31 from $0.46.

EchoStar’s Dish Network added approximately 295,000 net new subscribers during the period, bringing its total to some 12.755 million customers.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6388855

fredfa

11-07-06, 11:57 AM

Monday’s updated fast national over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

flint350

11-07-06, 12:44 PM

By the way, what did anyone think of Monday's "Studio 60"?

In my mind, it finally began to show the promise I had expected.

I thought tonight's episode was wonderful, although I still don't expect to see the show make it to a second season. Matt Roush thinks NBC may give it a full season pickup soon, and if this episode was a harbinger of the future, I certainly hope he is right.

I agree completely. It was a complete turn-around for this show, though I thought it still had some preposterous moments (e.g. the head of NBC impulsively flying to Nevada to involve himself in the court case of a minor player??). Overall though, it was good story-telling and made me want to see the conclusion next week. Still some minor issues with the "cast back at the studio" part, but much better.

fredfa

11-07-06, 01:03 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Country airs: CMA wins night for ABC
Awards show averages a 5.4 rating in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Nov. 7, 2006

Monday is one of the few nights where ABC doesn’t compete for No. 1 or outright own the lead among adults 18-49. But last night the network got a welcome sweeps boost from the Country Music Awards with a strong No. 1 finish on an evening where it usually finishes a distant third.

CMA averaged a 5.4 rating from 8 to 11 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, topping usual Monday leader NBC and No. 2 CBS.

The show matched last year’s average on CBS, and it pushed all of CBS’s competing shows to season lows on the night. It averaged 15.9 million total viewers.

While it may well be one of the lower-rated CMA telecasts ever, following a recent trend, it was 2.3 rating points, or 74 percent, ahead of ABC’s season-to-date 3.1 average on the night.

ABC finished 0.6 ahead of NBC and 1.1 ahead of CBS, which should prove helpful as the network pushes toward its first outright November sweeps victory since the “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” days.

ABC will have a huge week this week, with the finale of “Dancing with the Stars” and the first-half finale of “Lost” yet to come, as well as regular episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives.”

It needs to build a big lead, with several new, unproven shows premiering in coming weeks that could pull its average down if they don’t perform well.

Despite the tough competition, NBC’s “Heroes” hit another series-best, averaging a 6.6 at 9 p.m. and recording the highest rating for any new show this season.

For the evening, ABC averaged a 5.4 rating and 13 share, followed by NBC at 4.8/12, CBS at 4.3/11, Fox at 2.7/6, Univision at 1.7/4, and the CW at 1.4/3.

At 8 p.m., ABC’s CMA led with a 4.9, followed by NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” at 4.4, Fox’s “Prison Break” at 3.5, CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” (3.3) and “The Class” (2.9) at 3.1, Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” at 2.1, and CW’s “Everybody Hates Chris” (1.4) and “All of Us” at 1.4.

At 9 p.m., “Heroes” led with a 6.6, followed by CMA at 5.9, CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” (4.7) and “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (3.7) at 4.2, Fox’s “Justice” at 1.8, Univision’s “Mundo de Fieras” at 1.6, and the CW’s “Girlfriends” (1.4) and “The Game” (1.3) at 1.3.

At 10 p.m., CBS’s “CSI: Miami” led with a 5.6, followed by ABC’s CMA at 5.2, NBC’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” at 3.3, and Univision’s “Cristina” at 1.5.

Among households, ABC led with a 9.9/15, followed by CBS at 8.0/12, NBC at 7.4/11, Fox at 4.4/7, and Univision and the CW tied at 2.1/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8412.asp

fredfa

11-07-06, 01:18 PM

TV Notebook
No time for making new 'Friends' at NBC?
Sitcom writers lament the industry's changes as the network plans to devote 8 p.m. to reality and game shows
By Richard Verrier Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 7, 2006

Call it a reality check for Hollywood's writers.

NBC's recent decision to mainly devote the first hour of its nightly prime time to low-cost "unscripted" shows is rattling TV scribes already alarmed by the shrinking number of network comedies requiring their services.

"It's absolutely more bad news for scripted television writers like me," said Tim O'Donnell, whose credits include "Clueless.""It just eliminates the shelf space available for networks to put on what I pitch."

NBC has been under pressure from corporate parent General Electric Co. to reverse its profit slide and avoid a repeat of its fourth-place finish last season. NBC is relying on reality and game shows in its first prime-time hour as it faces escalating costs in scripted television.

But executives say they are responding to audiences' desires, stressing that they remain committed to scripted shows as evidenced by the hits "The Office" and "My Name Is Earl."

"Viewers are voicing a preference for unscripted choices in the 8 p.m. hour, but that doesn't lessen NBC's commitment throughout the rest of prime time to the most ambitious and accomplished scripted programming on television," NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said.

Still, NBC's move is especially disheartening for writers who recall the 8 o'clock hour as the launching pad for some of the industry's most successful and celebrated situation comedies, including NBC blockbusters "Friends" and "The Cosby Show."

"It's a huge development," said Daniel Petrie Jr., former president of the Writers Guild of America, West. "It gives a sense of surrender on the part of one of the largest and most historical networks."

Since "Survivor" debuted on CBS in 2000, reality TV has emerged from a sideshow novelty to a network cornerstone.

Although there are fewer unscripted shows on the air today than there were two years ago, such programs occupy about 15 hours of prime time. By contrast, sitcoms take up about 10 hours of the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. period, nearly half the airtime they had in 2004.

So-called unscripted shows such as Fox's "American Idol," ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," "Survivor" and NBC's hit game show "Deal or No Deal" have dominated the 8 p.m. hour.

Unscripted shows generally have a limited shelf life and don't generate the long-term revenue in repeats that a successful sitcom does. But audiences clearly like them.

They also are substantially cheaper to make. The cost of a drama series typically ranges from $2.3 million to $2.7 million an episode, compared with $700,000 to $1.25 million for reality shows.

"The costs of production have gone up faster than ad revenue, and that's contributed enormous pressure on the networks to keep their programming costs in line," said Larry Gerbrandt, senior vice president of Nielsen Analytics.

Although they are billed as unscripted productions, reality shows use writers to craft story lines and even some dialogue to build drama.

But the pay isn't as good, and many shows aren't covered by guild contracts. David Rupel, who has worked as a story editor and producer on "Big Brother" and other reality shows, recently switched to writing for soap operas so he could get union benefits such as health insurance.

"There are plenty of opportunities for writers in reality TV. It's just a matter of getting the networks and the studios to acknowledge that writers exist," he said.

A tightening in network sitcom jobs also has TV writers looking elsewhere. New cable and digital channels are creating opportunities. And one-hour dramas are enjoying a resurgence thanks to the success of such hits as "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost" and "Heroes."

"If you're a storyteller, then you better learn how to tell the story that the people are watching and that the networks are putting on the air," said O'Donnell, who recently wrote his first one-hour pilot.

TV genres are often cyclical, with comedies and dramas going in and out of vogue. Dean Valentine, a former head of Disney's television unit and president of UPN, believes the networks' current infatuation with reality will fade.

But a resurgence of sitcoms is unlikely, he contends, because younger audiences prefer short, interactive entertainment found on websites such as YouTube.

"I think writers have a lot of reason to be anxious," he added. "The world they've been living and writing in no longer exists. The generic sitcom that has been a staple of TV for 30 to 40 years is not coming back."

But David Goodman, executive producer of Fox's hit series "Family Guy," said audiences had not tired of sitcoms, only weak shows.

"I don't want to insult my colleagues, but the reason people didn't watch 'Joey' wasn't because they didn't want to watch comedy," Goodman said, referring to the short-lived "Friends" spinoff.

"Once somebody develops another 'Seinfeld'-type show, people will tune in again."

With Hollywood labor tensions growing, even more unscripted shows could be debuting soon. One key labor dispute is about the organizing of reality show writers and producers. Over the summer, a dozen writers on the CW's "America's Next Top Model" went on strike.

"This is a genre that is not going away," WGA West President Patric Verrone said. "That validates why we should continue to be aggressive in our efforts to get contracts for the writers who work on these shows."

With writers expected to make reality shows a major contract issue next year, studios are putting together contingency plans for a possible strike.

Chief among them: developing more reality shows.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-writers7nov07,0,201466,print.story

fredfa

11-07-06, 02:23 PM

Last week’s complete network average prime-time results (with demographic averages) are now at the bottom of RATINGS NEWS the first post in this thread.

fredfa

11-07-06, 02:33 PM

Cable TV Notebook
Cable Catching Up in Election-Ratings Polls
By Mike Reynolds MultiChannel News

If the results of the last two national cycles can serve as indicators, cable news networks figure to narrow the gap against the broadcast channels with their election-night-2006 coverage.

Cable’s cause will also be bolstered by scheduling: Cable networks will largely have the TV screen to themselves for election enthusiasts Tuesday because the Big Three networks -- although they will provide updates throughout the evening -- only plan to solely focus on campaign 2006 in the 10 p.m. (EST) hour.

During the 2002 midterm elections, Fox News Channel (2.74 million), CNN (2.46 million) and MSNBC (940,000) combined to average 6 million viewers in primetime, according to Nielsen Media Research data. That compared with a collective 34 million for ABC (9.7 million), NBC (11.4 million) and CBS (12.9 million). As such, cable grabbed about 15% of the viewers in primetime on election-night 2002 (Nov. 5).

Two years later, Fox News (8.05 million), CNN (6.20) and MSNBC (2.83) amassed more than 17.08 million viewers versus 39.5 million for the Big Three -- ABC (13.7 million), CBS (10.1 million) and NBC (15.7 million), according to Nielsen data. By those measurements, cable upped its share of viewing on election-night 2004 (Nov. 2) to 30%.

That ratio will likely rise again given that the broadcast networks will only air one dedicated hour in primetime Tuesday night.

CBS is airing NCIS and The Unit at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., respectively, while NBC is offering Friday Night Lights and Law & Order: Criminal Intent in those time slots. ABC has scheduled Dancing with the Stars and Help Me, Help You, and Fox will run Standoff and House during the aforementioned hours.

Meanwhile, the three cable news networks will hit the political circuit hard Tuesday night.

CNN’s coverage will run from 7 p.m.-midnight with America Votes 2006, anchored by Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs and Paula Zahn live from its state-of-the-art studio in the Time Warner Center in New York.

CNN said that by using its News Wall video wall, it will be able to present real-time vote information, exit polls and analysis of races across the country.

After the polls close, CNN will air a special two-hour edition of Larry King Live starting at midnight.

Over at Fox News, Brit Hume will kick off with Special Report at 6 p.m. and the network’s coverage will extend through midnight. The network will examine the latest returns, with Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday reporting about national exit polls. Overall analysis will be provided by The Beltway Boys hosts Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke; political contributor Juan Williams; Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard; and Michael Barone, columnist for U.S. News and World Report.

In the nation’s capital, chief political correspondent Carl Cameron will provide up-to-the-minute reporting on Senate races, while Major Garrett will report on House action and Megyn Kendall will focus on the latest results of the gubernatorial races. Chief White House correspondent Bret Baier will provide live updates from the White House.

At MSNBC, coverage also begins at 6 p.m., with Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann anchoring from MSNBC election headquarters. During the coverage, which will extend through 6 a.m. Wednesday, Matthews and Olbermann will be joined by Brian Williams, Tim Russert and Tom Brokaw, NBC’s power trio, with additional interviews and analysis.

Chuck Scarborough and Tucker Carlson will analyze the results with a panel of political reporters and experts including Newsweek's Howard Fineman, Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan, The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and CNBC's Carl Quintanilla.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6388798

fredfa

11-07-06, 02:42 PM

Cable TV Notebook
Comcast Is Said to Agree to Carry Fox’s Planned Business News Channel
By Richard Siklos The New York Times November 7, 2006

A business news cable channel planned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has moved a step closer to reality, reaching a deal to be carried by Comcast, the nation’s largest operator of cable television systems.

While Comcast has agreed to carry the channel for its digital subscribers, a final decision on whether to start the channel has still not been made, two executives briefed on the arrangement said. The new network would be spun off from the Fox News Channel.

Comcast’s roughly 12 million digital subscribers would get the channel as part of their service. Those subscribers, combined with the 15.5 million subscribers to DirecTV, the satellite service controlled by the News Corporation, give the channel a substantial platform of as many as 27.5 million subscribers.

At the media company’s annual meeting last month, Mr. Murdoch said the new channel would “definitely” begin in 2007, echoing previous upbeat statements he has made about it.

Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News Channel and the company’s television station group, declined to comment.

An executive close to Mr. Ailes said his position was that Mr. Murdoch alone would decide when the channel gets the go-ahead. But Mr. Ailes has executives working on the channel to be ready for the say-so from Mr. Murdoch once a big enough potential audience is secured.

Negotiations to carry the channel beyond Comcast and DirecTV may be complicated by talks to renew the Fox News Channels’ agreements with cable companies around the nation. Fox News, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has sought substantial fee increases to reflect its considerable growth and increased influence since starting. During that time, Fox News surpassed CNN and MSNBC in total viewers.

But at Fox News Channel, the average audience per day declined to 800,000 in the period from Sept. 19 to Oct. 30, compared with 1.06 million in the period in 2005, according to Nielsen Media Research.

At CNBC, the business channel owned by NBC Universal that would be the chief rival of a Fox business channel, the daily audience increased to 175,000 from 157,000 during the period.

Two years ago, a business news offshoot of CNN called CNNfn was shut.

Still, that has not dissuaded Mr. Murdoch, who has long coveted a business channel that could combine the distinct Fox sensibility with the smaller but lucrative audience that CNBC now has to itself.

Mr. Murdoch takes pride in his ability to move into markets with entrenched players who already dominate — just as he did with the Fox TV network and Fox News Channel.

He has also shown that he can change priorities and direction quickly, and he could still put the brakes on a business channel.

He pursued DirecTV for years before acquiring it three years ago, for example, but in recent weeks he has been in talks to sell his stake to the billionaire John C. Malone in exchange for shares Mr. Malone holds in News Corporation.

Mr. Ailes, who was given oversight of Fox’s broadcast station group last year, has also been busy trying to reinvigorate prime-time programming at 10 of the company’s stations that were part of the former UPN and WB networks. The stations now show prime-time programming from a new network created by Fox, MyNetworkTV, that has not attracted large audiences in its first weeks.

The people with knowledge of the Comcast deal asked not to be identified, because the talks are sensitive. But they said Comcast has not yet signed a renewal for Fox News and its arrangement for the new business channel is separate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/business/media/07fox.html?ref=media&pagewanted=print

fredfa

11-07-06, 03:33 PM

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

fredfa

11-07-06, 03:46 PM

(I am not sure a single word – like “grumpy” – fully describes Tim Goodman’s state of mind. Maybe you can decide)
Critic’s Notebook
Election TV:
TV "Midterm Midtacular" and voting no on "Studio 60" and Couric

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine” Nov. 7, 2006

Honestly, my stated goal is to watch Jon Stewart (with Dan Rather!) on the "Midterm Midtacular" and call it a night. I'm bored witless and made easily angry by politics. But maybe I'll make an exception tonight and watch "The NewsHour"...or not. "MM" for sure, everything else a maybe.

The definition of dreadful television is watching election results trickle in and the often erroneous pronouncements from alleged experts on what it all means. Years and years of watching election results has never once changed my opinion of this.

In separate but tangentially related news, just a couple of days after a decent source said NBC would be announcing a full season pick-up of "Studio 60," Monday night's episode was dreadful. And not only dreadful, but a two-parter. It was like the whole show was written so that one line - about the cast of a Fellini movie flying to Nevada - could be used. Two parts? To be continued? Now my patience is really, truly being tried. I'm all for "Studio 60" to get a full season, but Monday's episode recalled a couple of "West Wing" on-the-road episodes which were infinitely better and more fun to watch. I've never really bought into the notion that a show about the TV industry is less important than a series about government - it's not the premise, it's the writing and acting - but the labor needed to get Monday's episode off the ground should have been a hint to Sorkin that it was all too much. It was a dreadful, completely unrealistic, totally manufactured hour and now I need to watch a second episode for closure.

In some ways, I'd almost rather watch election results.

By the way, this is Katie Couric's first real opportunity to stand out tonight, in the heat of the news battle. (A topic I touch on in Wednesday's Chronicle column.) If she finishes third again (as expected, and at some distance) then there may be no real hope for her. No matter if you hate election results as much as I do, they are still considered news events. And Couric needs to prove tonight that people will go to her when there's an important news event. It's what defines all anchors.

Me, I'm hanging out with Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Rather. You can't beat that line-up.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

DeathRay

11-07-06, 05:38 PM

TV Notebook
No time for making new 'Friends' at NBC?
Sitcom writers lament the industry's changes as the network plans to devote 8 p.m. to reality and game shows
By Richard Verrier Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 7, 2006

This article has some comedy gold in it.

"I don't want to insult my colleagues, but the reason people didn't watch 'Joey' wasn't because they didn't want to watch comedy,"

And...

With writers expected to make reality shows a major contract issue next year, studios are putting together contingency plans for a possible strike. Chief among them: developing more reality shows.

fredfa

11-07-06, 05:38 PM

Nielsen Notebook
Last Week’s Top Five Shows By Network
Week of Oct. 30- Nov. 5
(Original episodes only. Ranked by total viewers in millions)

1 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC 22.648
3 GREY'S ANATOMY-THU 9PM ABC 21.025
5 DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 20.507
6 DANCING W/STARS RESULTS ABC 19.223
9 LOST ABC 16.066

4 CSI CBS 20.769
7 CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 16.973
11 NCIS CBS 15.942
12 60 MINUTES CBS 15.314
13 SURVIVOR: COOK ISLANDS CBS 15.295

18 HOUSE FOX 14.180
38 SIMPSONS FOX 10.458
45 PRISON BREAK FOX 8.936
48 FAMILY GUY FOX 8.454
58 AMERICAN DAD FOX 7.711

2 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL NBC 21.945
8 DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON NBC 16.899
15 HEROES NBC 14.893
16 SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK NBC 14.614
24 LAW AND ORDER:SVU NBC 13.361

77 SMALLVILLE CW 5.007
84 FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN CW 4.633
87 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL CW 4.410
94 7TH HEAVEN CW 3.849
96 EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS CW 3.577
• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

fredfa

11-07-06, 05:39 PM

Nielsen Notebook
Last Week’s Bottom Five Shows By Network
Week of Oct. 30-Nov. 5
(Original episodes only. Ranked by total viewers in millions)

59 SIX DEGREES ABC 7.396
67 NINE, THE ABC 6.518
71 WHAT ABOUT BRIAN ABC 6.078
72 WIFE SWAP ABC 6.071
75 SAT NIGHT FOOTBALL ABC 5.690

35 OLD CHRISTINE CBS 10.600
40 JERICHO CBS 9.868
46 48 HOURS MYSTERY CBS 8.899
50 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER CBS 8.380
62 CLASS, THE CBS 7.221

89 TIL DEATH FOX 4.333
90 RICH LIST FOX 4.102
95 TRADING SPOUSES FOX 3.685
100 VANISHED FOX 3.320
102 HAPPY HOUR FOX 3.199

56 BIGGEST LOSER 3 NBC 7.781
64 DATELINE-WED NBC 7.115
79 DATELINE-SAT NBC 4.936
85 30 ROCK NBC 4.611
92 20 GOOD YEARS NBC 4.098

104 ALL OF US CW 3.094
108 GAME, THE CW 2.854
111 GILMORE GIRLS CW 2.786
111 VERONICA MARS CW 2.701
115 ONE TREE HILL CW 2.511
• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

fredfa

11-07-06, 05:48 PM

This article has some comedy gold in it....

You literally crawl over comedy writers here in Los Angeles.

Yet, it seems to me, DeathRay, that very, very few of what is on the nets as comedies are funny. (Maybe a chuckle per half hour?) So there is a major disconnect. And a typical comedy show has a dozen (or more!) writers.

And they have to be the best-paid writers -- per laugh -- in the history of the world.

If they want to blame anyone for the bloated roster of reality shows, I suspect they should just look in the mirror to find the true villains.

ScottA

11-07-06, 05:56 PM

By the way, what did anyone think of Monday's "Studio 60"?

In my mind, it finally began to show the promise I had expected.

I thought tonight's episode was wonderful, although I still don't expect to see the show make it to a second season. Matt Roush thinks NBC may give it a full season pickup soon, and if this episode was a harbinger of the future, I certainly hope he is right.

Sorry, Fred, I thought just the opposite. I thought last night's episode was the worst of the season. Then I saw the dreaded words "To Be Continued".

I thought the episode wandered all over the place. Sometimes it wanted to be serious about the bible quote about gays and the reaction it got. Sometimes it wanted to be funny with the "Felini Film flying to Nevada". But it never reached either place to any level of satisfaction. Watching this episode I kept having two thoughts: 1) Jeez, even the Monday Night Football game is better than this (Sea 16, Oak 0) and 2) What a waste of John Goodman's talent.

I hope that the second part is better.

// Scott A

fredfa

11-07-06, 06:03 PM

Don't be sorry ScottA.

This thread is not really for me to try to convert anyone to my thinking. It is for the dissemination of information and the exchange of ideas. Your feelings about Studio 60 are just as valid as mine.

Feel free to disgree at any time.

fredfa

11-07-06, 06:07 PM

TV Notebook
Election TV:
Bells and Whistles
By Lorne Manly in “The Caucus Blog” in New York Times

As the first polls near their closing time, the networks are readying all the bells and whistles to amaze and (hopefully) edify viewers throughout the evening and early-morning hours. There are technological marvels (like CNN’s much-touted liquid news wall, which can turn Republican red or Democratic blue at a touch of Jeff Greenfield’s hand).

Analysts galore (the Beltway Boys on Fox News, Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke, Donna Brazile on ABC, Mike McCurry on CBS, to name a few). Heart-warming reunions (Tom Brokaw’s return to election coverage on NBC). And unprecedented sights (CNN will run its news ticker during commercial breaks, a first for the cable news network but old hat for those sports fanatics obsessed with ESPN News).

Alas, the names the networks have given their coverage are not as interesting or varied. At Fox News, the coverage is dubbed “You Decide 2006.” MSNBC is calling its coverage “Decision 2006,” jettisoning the “Battleground America” suffix it used during the run-up to the election. And CNN is going with “America Votes 2006.” The broadcast networks are not much more creative. ABC is turning to “Vote 2006.” CBS: “Campaign 2006: Election Night.” And NBC is sharing the moniker MSNBC is going with, “Decision 2006.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=587#more-587

dad1153

11-07-06, 06:18 PM

Cable TV Notebook
Cable Catching Up in Election-Ratings Polls
By Mike Reynolds MultiChannel News

At MSNBC...Chuck Scarborough and Tucker Carlson will analyze the results with a panel of political reporters and experts including Newsweek's Howard Fineman, Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan, The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and CNBC's Carl Quintanilla.

Wow, anybody from the Tri-State area knows that Chuck Scarborough has anchored the local news in NY's Ch.4 (WNBC-TV) since forever. Guess he quit overnight the local news and went over to MSNBC... unless the news store meant to say JOE Scarborough from the network's 'Scarborough Country.' :rolleyes:

fredfa

11-07-06, 06:25 PM

I would suspect our trade publication friends made yet another slight error, Dad. It would indeed be stunning if Chuck isn't anchoring the Channel 4 election returns -- as he has, I believe, since at least 1978.

The copy desks at the trades don't seem all that up to the task for finding errors before they find their way to the public.

fredfa

11-07-06, 09:29 PM

Critic’s Notebook
On TV: Um, 'Lost,' we can't go on like this
Bells and Whistles
By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Wednesday, November 8, 2006

(Note to viewers: If last week's "Lost" is sitting unwatched on your TiVo, skip this column.)

Hey, "Lost," got a minute? We know you're busy packing for that 13-week hiatus that kicks off after tonight.

That's what we want to discuss with you. Have a seat.

Before we get to the core of the matter, thank you for two exciting seasons. The first really got us. Outsiders blamed our fierce loyalty back then on the head-over-heels rush of endorphins all of us experience at the beginning of a saucy new relationship. Make no mistake, that's what we have -- a relationship. An intricate serialized drama like you requires total commitment. That was crystal from the get-go.

Week after week you teased us with puzzles, filling our brains with questions.

Problem was, you didn't give us enough answers. Then you'd leave us frequently and without explanation during season two, making us wade through repeats and clip shows. Not cool, "Lost." Not cool.

Even through that, we preached patience. Hell, when most viewers wanted to truss up Michelle Rodriguez, coat her head to toe in bacon grease and leave her at the mercy of the island's polar bear, we hung tough.

Now, standing on the edge of season three's winter break, something's amiss and you know it. Oh, sure, you remain one of ABC's most successful series. Last week you snagged about 16.1 million viewers. As advertiser bait goes, you're still tops.

Our issue is that you don't take us places anymore. You've gotten rid of almost everything we liked about you. No more Eko. No more alarming discoveries or profound mysteries. Not enough Hurley.

"Lost," you're boring us.

Don't look at us like that -- look at yourself! Where you once brought us Dharma Initiative weirdness, tasty power struggles and sinister island dwellers, now we have dirty Sawyer, mud-slicked Kate and sweaty Jack sitting around in cages.

Hurley, Charlie and the rest of the survivors are wandering the beach doing next to nothing. Locke has turned into Mr. Rogers with a Bowie knife.

Seriously, would it kill you to actually do something for once?

Killing the only Tailie that we liked doesn't count. Quite the contrary. When that cloud of smoke beat Mr. Eko to death, some of us hit our limit. Not only did you off your best-loved character, you did so with an entity nobody has even come close to understanding.

To be fair, you have an acceptable defense for showing Eko his final exit. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje wanted to return to London to work on a film he plans to direct. Honestly, though -- death by raging pollutant? It's been three years. We've put in our time. You owe us some inkling of what the deal is with Ol' Smokey.

Heaping insult on top of that, you replaced Eko and the other wasted Tailies with Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) and Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro), a couple ripped straight out of the JCPenney catalog underwear section. Dull and duller! Nathan Fillion shows up on tonight's episode, and we can't wait to see what he'll do. That's because we loved him in "Firefly." Oh, you thought our anticipation had something to do with you? Sorry.

Your executive producers, J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, claim to have a plan, so we've heard. Some of us are starting to have serious doubts about that, but OK.

Even if everything's mapped out, the numbers don't lie. Viewers are leaving you every week for "Criminal Minds" on CBS. That procedural that doesn't come close to matching your intelligence and complexity, yet it's putting its boot to your backside in the ratings department.

You know what "Criminal Minds" has that you don't, besides almost 1 million more viewers as of last week? Plots that move.

Tune into "Criminal Minds" and a viewer is guaranteed a solid and electrifying start, a taut center and a firm ending. With you, we get Sawyer gnawing on fish biscuits and taking beatings.

"Lost," you still won among 18- to 49-year-olds by a 32 percent margin, so the news isn't all clouds and misery. Given the sand trap where you've stuck the plot, however, you can't blame us for turning to CBS for a little "wham-bam-thank-you, ma'am" fun with serial killers.

A number of us believe this relationship is worth salvaging. First, you're going to have to change a few things. Start with this: We want action. The bedrock of every relationship. The problem with this season is fairly basic -- nothing interesting or amazing has been happening on the island that you've led us to believe is both of those things and more. That needs to change, and pronto.

In order to jump-start the motor, you'll have to use your get-out-of-jail-free card. Spring Jack, Sawyer and Kate, and get on with the rest of the season. Nobody likes seeing central characters brought to heel for weeks on end. Look at Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica," which reached a fork in the plot similar to yours. The series' human protagonists were under Cylon occupation and the producers wanted to show things from the enemy's point of view. That lasted for three episodes, then BOOM! The humans are back on their ships and merrily zipping through space. Balance, as the series presents it, was restored in short order. As long as the island's group is split apart and aimless, nothing exciting can happen. Break 'em out tonight. Then you'll have a cliffhanger working for you.

Also, how about you ditch the focus on The Others? Scale it back, at least. We've tried to embrace the whole exploration of what their goal is, but the more time we spend among The Others, the more it occurs to us that Ben, Juliet and their neighbors are pretty much just suburbanites with rusty moral compasses, lab equipment and too much time on their hands. "Lost," you hinted at Dr. Moreau-style madness, only to pull back the curtain and reveal an evil cul-de-sac that could have been set in Monroe, Wash.

After all that is rectified, you'd better start answering some questions. We still haven't forgotten about the statue with the four toes. Nobody gets why that polar bear is there and, after Eko's death, the secret behind the smoke demon had better melt our brains.

Shape up, "Lost," because you're not the only unusual option out there. We have our eyes on a new guy, NBC's "Heroes," on Monday nights. "Heroes" might not be as smart as you, but it's always a good time. We could easily redirect our passion over to NBC and abandon you completely.

Fortunately, you have until your Feb. 7 return to fix what's broken. Take this time to think about our relationship, then start doing better by us ... or else.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/291434_tv08.html

fredfa

11-07-06, 10:25 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Cancel the Funeral:
'Studio 60' Isn't Heading Off Into the Sunset Just Yet
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline” Nov. 7, 2006

Despite the assurances from those in-the-know around the blogosphere that the struggling freshman NBC hour "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was mere hours away from cancellation with its low ratings and extravagant $2 million-per-episode pricetag, the opposite now in fact appears to be true. While not yet official, key industry sources are confident that NBC will, in the next few days, announce the show's pickup for its back nine episodes (giving it a full season complement of 22) in the wake of two consecutive Mondays of upwardly-trending numbers.

I chatted this morning with its producer and chief writer Aaron Sorkin, who thought that word of the show's fate could come as soon as today but likely not until week's end or -- at latest -- next Tuesday. It's thought that NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly was desperately searching for an excuse to renew "Studio 60" -- any sign of life that would indicate even modest traction -- and unofficial word is the show's performance over the past two Mondays has supplied it.

"I'd be very surprised at this point if the show weren't picked up (for the full season) in the next couple of days," noted one source who requested anonymity.

This is naturally music to Sorkin's ears, which have had to endure a running stream of pessimistic pronouncements and predictions over the show's fate since the day after it premiered. Critics, after all, love nothing more than tearing down that which they have built up with glowing praise, particularly when it comes from the writing/production stable of a brand name like Sorkin.

"Hopefully soon people will start paying attention to the show instead of who's making it," Sorkin told me today. "I really look at it as just the cost of doing business. I knew the reaction to the show was going to be a little bit noisier than I'd prefer. But hopefully, we're finally settling in and the audience is seeing the amazing cast and acknowledges the great, committed group of people who are behind this show."

Sorkin insisted that due to the last two weeks of ratings results "we're starting to feel optimistic around here" and reminds us that "The West Wing" also wasn't a hit in its first season. That didn't come until season two.

"But I'm much more comfortable with this feeling (of struggle)," Sorkin said. "It feels like it did when I did 'Sports Night.' 'West Wing' felt strange to me. This feels normal."

While Sorkin is now confident that the call confirming "Studio 60's" back nine renewal could come any day or hour, he's also convinced that the show's measurement isn't reflective of its actual viewership.

"The Wall Street Journal wrote that when you add in people who TiVo our show and watch it later, our audience grows 18%," he said. "That's almost a full fifth larger. But those people don't get counted and advertisers don't care, because the assumption is TiVo viewers forward through the commercials. But that's still a very significant number for us. It would add close to two rating points to our total. People watch TV differently than they used to, and to be accurate the ratings need to begin taking that into account."

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

fredfa

11-08-06, 12:01 AM

TV Notebook
Viewers stuck on 'Ugly Betty'
A diverse audience has made ABC's comedy the No. 1 new show.
By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 8, 2006

Mirror, mirror on the wall: Who is the fairest new TV character of them all?

Her name is Betty Suarez, the 22-year-old magazine editorial assistant you might know as "Ugly Betty," ABC's fresh and spunky superstar. The show is one of only a few unquestionable successes of the fall season thanks to its appeal to a multicultural, predominantly female audience. More than 14 million viewers, mostly women of diverse ethnic backgrounds and ages, have made "Ugly Betty" the No. 1 new show in total viewers.

Not only has the 8 p.m. comedy helped put ABC back on the all-important Thursday map without any help from a lead-in show, it also ranks among the top 20 shows with 18- to 49-year-olds, the demographic advertisers covet the most, and ranks as a top 20 show with viewers who earn $100,000 or more, according to Nielsen Media Research.

"To think that last year at this time I was in New York doing some research, sitting at a Starbucks, writing the first few scenes of this pilot," creator Silvio Horta said. "I had no idea if it was going to go anywhere. But I guess it just goes to show that this character's strength, honesty and optimism seems to resonate. She's really tapped into a void."

The show, inspired by one of the most popular telenovelas in history, the Colombian "Yo Soy Betty, la Fea," has been a smash hit everywhere it has been re-made, including Russia, India and Germany, and its most recent incarnation on Spanish-language television, "La Fea Más Bella" on Univision. It seems it was only a matter of time before Americans fell in love with the bespectacled, bushy-browed, braces-wearing Betty, played with aplomb by America Ferrera ("Real Women Have Curves" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants").

Comedies don't typically compel fans to take to the Web the way serialized dramas such as "Lost" and "Heroes" do. But "Ugly Betty" is an exception to that rule.

"It's different from everything else that's on television right now," said 32-year-old Natasha Walcott, who likes the show so much she's created a fan website for it, the Ugly Betty Online Forum at s10.invisionfree.com/UglyBetty/. "I think people are just tired of the whole magazine look and women having to be a certain weight. It shows that character is what's really important. Plus, it's a very funny show, and that turns everything on its ear."

Starting with ABC's expectations. Originally scheduled for Friday nights, ABC pulled an eleventh-hour switch, airing "Ugly Betty" before the No. 1 show on television, "Grey's Anatomy," which moved from Sundays to Thursdays. Expecting it to click with women and younger viewers, the network has been surprised by how wide-ranging the audience is and how well it is faring against CBS' perennial time period winner "Survivor," said ABC Executive Vice President Jeff Bader.

Of its 14 million viewers, 10.5% are African American, 9.25% are Latino and 42% are 18 to 49 years of age, according to Nielsen Media Research. (Nielsen does not provide other data on ethnicity). Seventy-two percent of the audience is female.

"We were just trying to get our foot in the door on Thursdays," Bader said. "I think the surprise is that the audience is as broad as it is. But this show has worked everywhere that it's been done. It seems it's always been the right time for this show. There's just something special in this character."

Betty Suarez is a Latina from Queens who lives with her father (Tony Plana), sister (Ana Ortiz) and nephew (Mark Indelicato) and works in Manhattan as an assistant to the editor of Mode magazine, played by Eric Mabius. Betty may not be a beauty queen or have the best fashion sense — she showed up to her first day of work wearing a colorful poncho — but she's got heart, personality and confidence, qualities of which fans can't seem to get enough.

"She's not trying to fit into anyone's mold," said Leslie Janis Jennings, 31, of Tampa, Fla. "The show has so many positive messages. If you look at her character and her family's strong roots, everyone else has money and beauty, but they're so unhappy. And she who has no money or doesn't come from it, is just as happy as a clam."

Jennings recently turned to the ABC message boards in search of one of Betty's purses and was surprised by the Internet chatter the show has cultivated. Web entrepreneur Rian Montgomery, 29, of New Hampshire, was motivated to create a blog (uglybettyblog.com) to communicate with others about her new favorite show.

On that blog and countless other sites, "Ugly Betty" has sparked all kinds of interactions — from some who appreciate Betty's sass to others who are furious with writers for making her father an illegal immigrant who last week confessed to his daughters that he killed their mother's first husband. Horta said he and the writers keep up with the Internet conversations to find out how his audience feels about the show's development.

Fan Maria Wallace in South Florida reads the blogs for another reason. "I love to sit and read them because people are really intense about their shows and their opinions, and I sit here and crack up sometimes," said Wallace, 39.

Wallace, who grew up in Queens, said she gave the show a chance because it's hard to find Latinos on network television. Now, the woman who used to watch telenovelas with her mother when she was a girl is turning to "Ugly Betty" for laughs.

"The relationship that she has with her dad, sister and little nephew, it brings memories of how I grew up, said Wallace whose parents are from Puerto Rico. "They're really close-knit, and family is the most important thing and I think the show brings that across very well."

Among Latinos, "Ugly Betty" is the No. 1 new English-language show in total viewers as well as those in the 18-to-49 demographic. Desiree Thomas, a Peru native, said she watched the first episode because of Salma Hayek, who has a recurring role and is one of the show's executive producers.

"I knew that it would have a unique female point of view and not treat women as just 'the girlfriend' of the male character," said Thomas, 27, of Los Angeles. "The show is smart and features all kinds of women — like nothing else on television."

That may be true, but this fan base is not just about girl power. Like the telenovela that it is based on, "Ugly Betty" has generated its own community in just six weeks. Even men, such as Jennings' boyfriend, whom she describes as a "total white meat-eater kind of guy," are not tuning in just to watch with their girlfriends or spouses. They have added "Ugly Betty" to their TiVo list all on their own.

"We all like the show, and nobody should be ashamed of that," said Seon McDonald, 20, a Trinidad and Tobago native who lives in Brooklyn. He said he watched the premiere because of his love of Vanessa Williams, who plays one of Betty's diva bosses at the magazine.

"Everybody in my family, we all sit together because it's basically a family show," he said. "Betty is someone who is trying to fit in. It goes to how I felt on my first day of college, you know, you feel a little bit odd. I can relate to her in the sense that she's not like everybody else. But it's also very uplifting."

Stephen Helms hosts dinner parties every week for his family and friends to watch the show he is so obsessed with that he watches every episode several times.

"I loved the pilot but there were a lot of stereotypes in it that were over the top," said Helms, 38, of New York City. "I love the way everyone is getting humanized now. The writing is so smart. It's so refreshing to see so many different people represented on the show. There's a lot of humor, but I also find a lot of it very moving."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-uglybetty8nov08,0,1508622,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

11-08-06, 02:29 AM

In Desperate Times, 'Desperate' Measures Up
The TV Column
The Week’s Winners and Losers
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 8, 2006; D07

Death Week on broadcast TV saw a double shooting catapult "Desperate Housewives" to the top of the ratings heap while, in a stunning upset, a single hot-soccer-chick death on "Criminal Minds" trumped one of the trademark regular-character whackings on "Lost."

Meanwhile, "The O.C." was DOA in its return to the schedule, while presumed dead NBC suddenly developed a pulse, thanks to "Heroes" and football, winning its first week since January '05 among the 18-to-49-year-olds advertisers want to reach.

Here's a look at the week's standing and fallen:

WINNERS

"Heroes." NBC's new Monday superheroes drama snagged its biggest audience yet -- 15 million. In its time slot the serialized drama snared more 18-to-34-year-old men -- the Holy Grail of Madison Avenue -- than ABC, CBS, Fox and CW combined.

Sunday football. Indianapolis Colts vs. the New England Patriots captured nearly 22 million viewers -- NBC's biggest audience of this TV season to date. In truth it delivered an average audience smaller than that, but NBC cleverly puts all the local ads in the first minutes of play so that the time, lacking national advertising, is not included in Nielsen's national ratings.

"Criminal Minds." ABC's big-tease drama "Lost" bumped off another cast member, but CBS's pervy "Criminal Minds" snared more viewers in the Wednesday hour, featuring three pretty blond teen soccer chicks in a hole. It's the first time a scripted series beat "Lost" in its time slot.

Chevy Chase . Playing a fictitious character bearing an uncanny resemblance to Mel Gibson on a slurring tear in Malibu, Chase brought to "Law & Order" about 2 million more viewers than the previous week. The show won its time period among 18-to-34-year-olds.

ABC's Thursday. Plain Betty, Salma Hayek and horn-dog doctors delivered the network's first win on opening night of a November ratings sweeps in at least 15 years.

"Desperate Housewives." Supermarket shootout -- hate it when that happens -- drove nearly 23 million viewers to ABC's Sunday soap despite stiff football competition -- the show's biggest audience, excluding finales and premieres, since February. It was the week's most watched program.

LOSERS

"The Rich List." Fox's roughly reviewed attempt to tap into the enormous appetite for no-hard-questions game shows got yanked after just one broadcast, denying its crowd of 4 million an opportunity to watch more dimwits enjoy the thrill of victory, which, as the TV critic from trade paper Variety noted, is what elections are for anyway.

"The O.C." Minus Mischa Barton, ratings on the return of Fox's neo-soap plunged to a smallest-ever 3.4 million viewers last Thursday. Fox will try to resuscitate it tonight, though some suspect the show's already as dead as Marissa.

"Happy Hour." After being yanked early for baseball playoffs on Sept. 21, Fox's sorry sitcom came back for just one broadcast and attracted a meager audience of 3.2 million. After that, the network yanked it, leading to some speculation, in The TV Column anyway, that Fox brought it back once so it wouldn't be the season's first cancellation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110701695_pf.html

dad1153

11-08-06, 08:47 AM

TV Notebook
A Vanishing Act for ‘Lost,’ as It Takes a 13-Week Break
By Edward Wyatt The New York Times Nov. 8, 2006

After little more than a month of thrills and twists that have some fans feeling that the show is at its best ever, “Lost” is disappearing into the wilderness.

After tonight’s episode, only the sixth of the still-young fall television season, ABC will take “Lost” off the air for 13 weeks. The show will return on Feb. 7 for a run of 16 or 17 new episodes that will carry viewers into late May.

But the midyear split season is a scheduling gambit that could have enormous consequences not only for ABC, but also for the entire genre of serialized television drama, testing whether audiences are loyal enough to expensive, complex shows to weather long midseason interruptions.

Lengthy delays between seasons is a characteristic common to HBO and other premium channels, which have put popular series like “The Sopranos” on extended breaks to accommodate the plotting, script writing, filming and production schedules required to produce such cinematic shows.

But it is highly unusual for broadcast television, which still mostly adheres to a September-to-May season, to remove a show entirely from the schedule for three months in midyear.

“We would love to have 35 weeks of uninterrupted episodes,” said Jeffrey D. Bader, an executive vice president at ABC Entertainment who is responsible for planning and scheduling the network’s prime-time programming. “But the ‘Lost’ air schedule is dependent on the production schedule. And like all one-hour dramas, only a certain number of episodes can be delivered for the fall.”

This season’s split schedule is partly the result of backlash from fans who complained loudly last season about the frequent interspersing of new episodes with repeats. At its annual meeting with advertisers in New York last spring, Stephen McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment, promised to address those complaints.

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, executive producers of “Lost,” said they believed this season’s scheduling would help fans follow the show better.

“Last season we would try to build a narrative arc over three or four weeks, and then it would just die with three or four repeats,” Mr. Cuse said. “We didn’t want to be in a situation this year where the audience would tune in and be confused whether an original episode was on or not.”

But the schedule could still cause confusion and dismay among “Lost” fans who do not spend most of their waking hours scouring recorded episodes and online fan sites for clues about the mysteries of the island where the show is set. If they tune in next Wednesday night at the usual time, they will be greeted with the first episode of “Day Break,” a new drama starring Taye Diggs, that has its own supernatural mysteries.

Part of the problem is that, as television dramas have become more like movies, the time required to produce a single episode has lengthened. Whereas dramas like “Marcus Welby, M.D.” might have required five days to shoot enough scenes to fill an hour of broadcast television, shows like “Lost” and the Fox hit “24” require eight days of filming, not including weekends.

Barry Jossen, the executive vice president for production at Touchstone Television, the studio that produces “Lost,” explained that, compared with shows like “Marcus Welby,” each episode of newer dramas has more scenes, more characters in each scene and more camera angles on each character.

Add in the time required to produce special effects, like the black-cloud monster that last week attacked the “Lost” character Mr. Eko, and the hours spent editing together all those scenes and camera angles, and it can take two weeks or more to create a one-hour show.

One solution might seem to be to start production earlier. But that is difficult with serialized shows, which have a season-long story line, meaning the whole season must be plotted in advance. Therefore more time must be spent writing and plotting in the summer, before actors begin stepping in front of the cameras.

Fox solves the problem by not putting “24” on the air until January, then running the show for 24 weeks straight, without interruption or repeat.

Mr. Bader said that ABC considered that, but other factors worked against it.

“We knew this would be a risky fall for us,” he said. “Monday Night Football” moved from ABC to ESPN this year, leaving a hole in the network’s prime-time schedule. The network also moved “Grey’s Anatomy” from Sunday nights to Thursday and, uncertain what the results of that move would be, decided that it could not afford to keep another signature franchise, “Lost,” off the fall schedule, he said.

Creating an extended, continuous season would require a different approach. “We could say, O.K., ‘Lost’ will be on for 30 weeks without interruption,” Mr. Bader said. “But to produce that many shows, we wouldn’t be able to do a season next year,” and viewers would have to wait until the 2008-9 season for the next installments.

Instead, ABC hopes to keep “Lost” fans enticed over the next three months with what it is calling “ ‘Lost’ Nuggets”: 30-second promotional clips of scenes from episodes not yet broadcast that will hint at what will become of the island castaways when the show returns.

The “Nuggets” will be shown each week during “Day Break,” although ABC is not saying at what time, meaning “Lost” fans will have to watch the new show or fast-forward through their digitally recorded files to unearth the clues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/arts/television/08lost.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin

VisionOn

11-08-06, 09:04 AM

dad1153

11-08-06, 09:33 AM

Any political junkies out there that also happen to be heavy viewers of cable/TV news? If you are then Election night is like the Olympics or the Super Bowl. I'd be curious to know what you watched last night. Which cable network did you stay on the longest? Which hour-long wrap-up show at 10PM on the networks did you like (if any)? Which of your favorite pundits got egg on their face, and which anchors looked to be in their top game while others floundered?

Me? I have Picture-in-Picture so I was always watching two news channels simultanously while flipping between all of them (including C-SPAN and the NYC locals). I watched straight news from 6:30PM yesterday until 3:30AM today, when it was clear the Montana and Virginia Senate races were too close to call. Here are my thoughts after only three-and-a-half hours of sleep (no shower today! :p ):

-did the body language of CNN's Paula Zahn and Bill Schneider while standing together (during Wolf's frequent visits to the Exit Poll section) strike anybody as odd? Because they were shot in long distance it looked like the guy from the Six Flags commercial and his nice daughter attending a ballroom dance.

-the pairing of Matthews and Olberman on MSNBC all night felt weird and forced on the former by the network (i.e. Jack Abrams). Since we all know Keith is way left-of-center while Chris is at least semi-legit as an independent pundit there was very little chemistry. Only when Matthews went to sit down with his panel of pundits at 3AM (O'Donnel, Buchanan, Scarborough, Banable, etc.) did MSNBC's coverage feel as cohesive as it did during the last two Elections.

-I missed Pat Chadle, that former Dem pollster that made MSNBC's election night coverage in previous elections so much fun. He was one of the few Dems that spoke his mind, which was often rightly critical of the Dems. But other than an appearance Monday night on 'Hannity & Colmes' he was MIA from all cable networks last night. Shame! :(

-it always strikes me that Fox News has the least visually-appealing sets during Election night coverage, and last night's coverage was no exception. The graphics remained as over-the-top and colorful as Fox News is known for, but those sets and desks all looked like broom closets quickly dressed-up with monitors and backgrounds. Thank God I don't have plasma or that doughy medium shot of Britt Hume Fox News kept going to would be burned into the screen by now (LOL)! It's as if Roger Aisles is proud that his dinky-looking studio shots still beat the crap ratingswise out of the Hollywood-sized-by-comparison sets and fancy camera shots on the other networks.

-speaking of fancy camera shots, did you notice how often CNN and MSNBC kept shooting with jibs and steadycameras their giant monitor walls? There was Larry King interviewing Diane Feinstein at midnight, and CNN kept showing her interview on the big screen instead of just the video feed from the actual interview. And MSNBC's giant wall of results kept getting jibbed over and over even if the graphics rarely matched the candidate/race/referendum/poll being talked about by the pundits.

-it's official: CBS News betting wrong on Katie Couric. Tried as I might she just didn't have the gravitas or perceived authority to make me care enough to watch her hour-long coverage of the election for more than a few minutes at a time. It didn't help that the graphics and color schemes of the fonts used by CBS News looked like something out of Nick Jr., or that the hour-long recap came across as aimless and all over the place.

-Gibson on ABC did a better job pausing the recap of the races up to that hour for some analysis, even if the way the studio was set made it seem like Gibson was all alone in a warehouse with monitors/projectors sitting a few hundred feet away from him.

-Brian Williams, backed by Brokaw (who looked bored) and Russert along with the entire flag-drapped 30 Rock background (not to mention the 'Sunday Night in America' 103" plasma behind the woman reporter reading the exit polls), was the easy choice for news junkies without cable TV. Lucky for most of these network recaps that, by the time they were off at 11PM, the news was pretty much set that the Dems would win the House or the hour would have been a colossal waste of network time/resources. Incidentally Brokaw, Russert and Williams stayed together until about 3AM for MSNBC to cut to them for punditry. Williams' crack about "The Andy Griffith Show" when he showed the old-fashioned phone handle next to his set was classic, but again Brokaw looked more interested in Montana as a place he'd rather be in fishing right now than discussing its Senatorial contest on TV.

[ELECTION OVERNIGHT TV RATINGS: BIG NETS... ABC 7.3 RATING 11 SHARE... NBC 5.3/8... CBS 4.5/7... Source: http://www.drudgereport.com/.]

-Did Lou Dobbs just dye his hair blonde recently or has he always had hair like that? I could have sworn just two days ago that his hair was the color of Phil Donahue's!

-biggest misfire of the night: CNN's early attempt to have a cyber lounge with bloggers from both sides to cut away to. Yes, watching people type on the computer while a (very nervous) female reporter tried to ask questions was as exciting to watch as it sounds. After two or three lame attempts at this CNN gave up and stayed in their studio from 9PM on. Honorable mention: Fox News giving Michelle what's-her-name (as red-meat a conservative as Anne Coulter but Michelle's at least sane) a token desk assignment monitoring the blogosphere, her reward for going on Bill O'Reilly's show backing his and her bashing of liberals. This was also abandoned after a couple of tries.

-lamest attempt to rip-off Tim Russert's now-trademark little board to count important numbers: Bill Krystol's telestrator showing how many seats the Dems had and needed to pick to get control of the Senate. What can I say? Krystol's no Madden! :rolleyes:

-I thought it was nice that Larry King and CNN took time off to pay a remote TV visit to Larry's old digs at Mutual Radio to talk with Jim Bohanon (who seems to have gained a couple of dozen pounds since the last time I saw a picture of him or Broadcasting & Cable) about how callers were reacting to the results.

-unless you were watching C-SPAN concessions/victory speeches were in short supply on all the cable networks. Except for Harold Ford Jr's. concession speech (which basically all networks showed either entirely or a huge chunk of it) all other speeches were just cut in for a few secs. and then back to more punditry by the so-called journalists. Incidentally I agree with something basically all pundits said when Hilary Clinton gave her victory speech after her NY Senate win: I found myself looking at Bill behind her and not listening to a word she said. Odd!

-who looked more uncomfortable: Bill Bennett on CNN's desk or Michael Barone at Fox News' decision desk? When talked to by the anchors both of these guys looked like they'd rather be outside in the rain getting soaked than where they were.

-image of the night: Wolf Blitzer and Jeff Greenfield's constant walking back and forth in front of CNN's wall of monitors. If I didn't know better I could have been fooled these were two gay gentlemen choosing the decor of the Upper East Side loft they had just purchased (I mean this in a nice way BTW).

More later if anything else comes to mind!

fredfa

11-08-06, 10:22 AM

The Business of TV
Mixed 3Q for DirecTV
Net Sub Additions Down (But So Is Churn)

(The Bridge)—This morning, DIRECTV reported that it netted 165,000 subscribers during the third quarter, bringing the number of subscribers it serves to 15.68 million as of Sept, 30. The customer gains were much lower than the 263,000 net additions reported last year, but the company stressed it's adding better quality customers to its subscriber lists through its efforts.

Because of that push, DIRECTV said it reduced monthly churn from 1.89 percent to 1.8 in the current quarter. The implementation of revised credit policies and dealer incentives designed to improve the quality of new subscribers allowed DirecTV to increase the number of higher quality subscribers by 7 percent when compared to the same period last year.

DirecTV said third quarter revenues increased 13 percent to $3.67 billion, and net income more than tripled to $370 million when compared to the same period last year.

fredfa

11-08-06, 10:39 AM

dad1153: what a great post and summary of last night's coverage.

I didn't watch two at a time, just skipped around a bit, but agree with many of your points.

A few of mine:

Larry King looked pissed all night -- he seemed unhappy to be relegated to a post-midnight (Eastern) time slot, and then continually ignored. His interviews were medocre at best, and he just didn't add anything. But then his interviews have been almost laughably bad for years. It is past his time, I suspect.

I thought the continually scrolling graphics were OK, but someone should stop the damn things when a specific election is being discussed and put up the relevant numbers.

I agree about Olbermann. And I think his recent months of rantings probably should have disqualified him for any more than an occasional smug pat-myself-on-the-back appearance. But then this is MSNBC, which since its inception has shown absoultely no common sense, nor any real reason for for existing, other than to allow NBC NEws to use its excess material some place.

Io me, Gibson at ABC was wonderful, Kouric of CBS was scarily poor, Williams/Russert and the NBC team were pleasingly familiar.

Fox was fun, especially graphically, but could someone at any one of the nets come up with a few folks who aren't white, middleaged and white? Come on.

J.C. Watts was, as always, lucid, thoughtful and interesting. Juan Williams got his occasional word in on Fox, and Candy Crowley looked uncomfortable all night.

Generally, I thought the mood at CNN turned jubilant when it was able to announce the Democrats had taken control of the House. Like that will somehow rescue CNN from ratings Hell. Fox News appeared to me far more down-the-middle than CNN, at least last night.

fredfa

11-08-06, 10:52 AM

Tuesday’s metered market over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

11-08-06, 10:54 AM

(From Marc Berman’s Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006, Programming Insider column at Mediaweek.com )

“…ABC got a jump on Election Night coverage, with a 9.3/13 in the overnights in the 9:30 p.m. half-hour (out of Dancing With the Stars, of course). In the battle of the Election coverage from 10-11 p.m., ABC remained the top choice, followed by NBC and CBS. Take a look:

Tuesday 10-11 p.m. Election Night Coverage
ABC: 6.6/11
NBC: 5.3/ 8
CBS: 4.5/ 7…”

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

kjpjr

11-08-06, 11:43 AM

I thought MSNBC coverage was the best. I watched it off and on until 10:00 and then steady until about 2:30. Keith and Chris gave us the best reporting. Remember you have over 500 races to deal with and major changes like we have not seen in a long time. If fredfa thinks Kieth should not do the reporting then to follow that line of thinking Fox News should not be allowed to report the returns at all. To be honest, I really don't know since Fox News is blocked from my TV's never to be seen by anyone in our home ever!

fredfa

11-08-06, 12:28 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
ABC leads in coverage of the elections
Averages 10.1 million viewers over 90 minutes
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Nov 8, 2006

In the first election for new anchors Brian Williams at NBC, Katie Couric at CBS and Charles Gibson at ABC, it was Gibson who drew the most viewers, though he has Mario Lopez and the rest of the network’s shimmying stars to thank for it.

ABC decided late yesterday to preempt an episode of sitcom “Help Me Help You” and instead go right from mega-hit “Dancing with the Stars” into election coverage. That helped give Gibson, the only one of the three network anchors with a big lead-in, an advantage he never relinquished.

Gibson averaged 10.1 million viewers during 90 minutes of primetime, peaking at 9:30 p.m. with 12.8 million, according to Nielsen overnights. As a reminder, fast nationals reflect timeslot and not program data. Due to the live nature of the broadcasts, final numbers may change when issued later today.

The “World News” anchor, who took over the job in May, averaged 8.7 million at 10 p.m., when NBC and CBS began their election coverage. NBC averaged 7.2 million viewers that hour and CBS averaged 7.1 million.

In the key adults 25-54 demographic, NBC and ABC tied with a 2.9 rating for the hour, followed by CBS at 2.7.

Cable news networks, led by Fox News Channel and CNN, are expected to generate big ratings for the night as well.

But considering how much buzz this election has gotten, with control of the House of Representatives changing hands, it was a relatively quiet evening on broadcast. In fact, one might argue that the night’s real winner was Fox’s “House,” which was up 17 percent week to week among 18-49s to an impressive 6.8 rating in its second episode after a baseball layoff.

That helped Fox win the night among 18-49s, averaging a 4.5 rating and 11 share. ABC was second at 4.2/10, followed by CBS at 3.3/8, NBC at 2.4/6, Univision at 1.7/4, and the CW at 1.6/4.

ABC led with a 5.4 for “Dancing” at 8 p.m., followed by CBS’s “NCIS” at 4.2, NBC’s still-struggling “Friday Night Lights” at 2.5, Fox’s “Standoff” at 2.3, Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” at 2.2, and the CW’s “Gilmore Girls” at 1.9.

At 9 p.m., Fox’s “House” jumped ahead with a 6.8, followed by ABC’s “Dancing” (6.2) and election results (3.3) at a combined 4.8, CBS’s “The Unit” at 3.5, NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” at 2.5, Univision’s “Mundo de Fieras” at 1.6, and CW’s “Veronica Mars” at 1.3.

At 10 p.m., ABC and NBC tied for first at 2.3 with election coverage, followed by CBS’s 2.1. Univision was fourth with a 1.3 for “Lo que No Vio de Los Latin Grammy.”

ABC easily won the night in households with a 10.2/15, followed by CBS at 7.2/11, Fox at 6.6/10, NBC at 4.7/7, the CW at 2.4/4, and Univision at 2.1/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8441.asp

fredfa

11-08-06, 12:41 PM

Tuesday’s updated fast national over-night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

11-08-06, 12:59 PM

TV Notebook
Dems to Take Telecom Command
Multi-Cast Must Carry Reborn?
By Ted Hearn MultiChannel News 11/8/2006 11:54:00 AM

Democrat Reps. John Dingell (Mich.) and Ed Markey (Mass.) -- advocates of Internet-nondiscrimination policies opposed by cable and phone companies -- are expected to take command of telecommunications policy when their party reclaims power in the House in January.

Dingell and Markey -- policy veterans with a combined House tenure of 82 years -- are poised to take control after House Republicans were trounced at the polls Tuesday night, restoring Democrats to power for the first time since 1994. Democrats, picking up 32 seats, are projected to hold a 234-201 majority in the 110th Congress.

If House Democrats adhere to seniority, Dingell will become chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the panel with jurisdiction over cable operators, broadcasters, and phone companies. Markey will take the helm of the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, the likely venue of hearings examining policy at the Federal Communications Commission under GOP chairman Kevin Martin.

“It’s up to the [House Democratic] leadership and the [Democratic] Caucus, but that is the likely outcome,” Washington, D.C.-based telecommunications lawyer Gerry Waldron, a former Markey aide, said Wednesday.

Markey in June lost a House floor vote on his amendment, supported by Dingell, which would have imposed net-neutrality regulations on cable and phone broadband-access providers. New telecommunications legislation by Dingell and Markey in 2007 would likely include net-neutrality mandates from the outset.

Over the years, Dingell and Markey have been friendlier to broadcasters than cable. Both were instrumental in passing the rate-reregulatory 1992 Cable Act, the only law enacted over the veto of President George H.W. Bush. And both are likely to support multicast must-carry, especially if fused to new public-interest obligations for digital-TV broadcasters.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6389178

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:15 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
A Few Leaders Emerge in Election Coverage
By Tom Shales Washington Post Columnist Wednesday, November 8, 2006; D01

So maybe she didn't exactly electrify the nation. Even so, Katie Couric proved herself affably in command last night on her maiden voyage as CBS's anchor of a marathon news event: Election Day 2006, when the Republicans hit themselves an iceberg. Couric did perhaps appear a tad diminutive compared with her counterparts on the other major broadcast networks, but mainly because they are more experienced, and looked more familiar, in the anchor role.

Brian Williams looked most clearly in command on NBC -- with his predecessor, Tom Brokaw, and "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert assisting him. Charles Gibson was solid though not showy on ABC, occasionally flashing wry wit, as when he said of Hillary Rodham Clinton's landslide reelection to the Senate from New York: "That has all the surprise of a Doris Day movie."

No slouch either was ABC correspondent Terry Moran, who reported from Democratic campaign headquarters that the partying party members were wallowing in the thrill of victory: "They can feel it, they can taste it, they can smell it -- and they're starting to drink it, in fact."

ABC's election coverage got the jump on its big competitors by signing on at 9:30 p.m., a half-hour before NBC and CBS. "Exciting it will be indeed tonight," said Gibson, greeting viewers and sounding a little like Yoda. ABC even ran suspense-movie music under Gibson as he rattled off the races that could be called at that hour, with extremely knowledgeable assistance from George Stephanopoulos.

It was a little wearying to see Russert pull out his wipe-away white board again, especially when compared with the Cinerama-like super-screen on CNN's massive election night set. The screen -- which flashed results, graphics, photos and everything but instructions on how to eat crow -- gave CNN the edge in special effects.

Wolf Blitzer, mercifully more animated than usual, and the scholarly Jeff Greenfield paraded back and forth in front of CNN's screen. Most of the commentators on most of the networks, backed by exit poll results and slews of lit-up laptops, agreed that it was a bad night for President Bush and his defense of the Iraq war, and that this was a very nationalized election in even the tiniest precincts.

CBS might have made the most concerted effort at explaining what the results meant to real people, not just political junkies. Staff expert Gloria Borger said that as a result of the election, the country effectively has a three-party system: Republicans, Democrats and the administration.

CNN aired political news all day, as did its cable neighbors Fox News Channel and MSNBC. They managed to keep reporting news even when there was no news to report. Once NBC signed on for its hour of results at 10 p.m., its competition included corporate comrade MSNBC, and some of the same network personalities appeared on both.

With NBC undergoing draconian cutbacks and layoffs ordered by owner General Electric, it seemed odd for NBC and MSNBC to be fighting for the same viewers. MSNBC's coverage had its own personality, however, thanks mainly to insatiable political gourmand Chris Matthews, with such lesser lights from the network as Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough redundantly at his side.

Even Matthews had his gaffes. He spent 30 seconds framing a question for a member of the network's panel of assembled experts, only to discover that this particular expert had moved on and new panelists moved in.

The larger questions were recycled by anchors and pundits throughout the day: Who'd take the key races? Would a big turnout mean a late Republican rally? And surely Topic A backstage in Media Land -- would Couric triumph or bumble anchoring this event?

Couric was, of course, succeeding the often controversial Dan Rather at the command center of the network's coverage, which he sometimes heroically helmed from 1984 through 2004. Rather would not be totally absent from Election 2006, however; Comedy Central announced days before the election that Rather would appear as a guest commentator on the cable channel's election special at 11 p.m.

And as if to keep alive Rather's tradition of dressing up facts and figures with colloquial Texasisms, singer Kinky Friedman, running for governor of Texas as an independent, popped up on Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show in the late afternoon and said of his campaign, "We're hanging in there like a hair in a biscuit." Asked by Carlson what Friedman's first official act would be should he win, the candidate said: "Light up a Cuban cigar with my old traffic tickets."

"He won't win," MSNBC executive Tammy Haddad said from her office of Friedman's quixotic campaigning, "but he'll probably get a talk show out of it."

Neil Cavuto, who hosts a less-than-indispensable daily show on Fox, got into an on-air shouting match with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who understandably took exception when Cavuto kept interrupting him. In Cavuto's defense, Schumer seemed determined to talk as slowly and laboriously as possible, proving himself yet another Democrat who takes to television like a duck takes to oil.

The shining, gray-haired exception, of course, is Bill Clinton, whose appearances during the campaign inevitably, and sometimes spectacularly, livened things up. Unfortunately, he wasn't seen much on TV yesterday, except for perfunctory footage of him casting his ballot -- in Chappaqua, N.Y., with his wife the senator.

Many an anchor or reporter seemed irked that he, like the public, would have to wait for genuine results before declaring winners. It used to be that to "call" an election meant to conclusively declare a winner based on counted votes as supplemented by exit polling. But now, when TV newzees say an election is "too close to call," they mean too close to predict on the basis of exit polling alone.

Reporters were saying Monday night, 24 hours before the polls closed in many states, that certain elections were "too close to call." But of course, you're not supposed to "call" them a day ahead of time.

Similarly, one has to wonder how much the coverage affects the story when virtually everybody on every channel is parroting the same information. Day after day, TV journalists announced that the Democrats were all but certain to take control of the House and Senate -- largely because the Republicans were themselves divided over Iraq and over the competence of Bush, and thus were unlikely to turn out in large numbers.

How big a shock was it then when, in the final days before the election, Republican leaders and party faithful decided that having heard the same media message hundreds of times, maybe they'd defy the predictions, rally together and turn out in greater numbers than predicted? And perhaps even prevent the Democrats from taking the House or the Senate, thereby making pundit upon pundit look ridiculous?

Even if it accomplishes little else in the way of change, the midterm election did promote to genuine star status two fairly new and highly telegenic political figures: Rep. Harold Ford Jr., the Tennessee Democrat seeking a Senate seat, and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who had a head start from the last Democratic convention. These two fresh faces help counter one negative image of Democrats on TV -- geezers peering over their spectacles, looking just this side of clueless.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110701725_pf.html

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:18 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
Networks had their own Election Day race
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News Wednesday, November 8, 2006; D01

Forget for the moment the red and blue states, the House and Senate tallies.

The race no one was talking about last night - and whose results won't be known till the Nielsens come in today - was the three-way contest among Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams.

Election nights have long been branding opportunities for news divisions, and these midterm elections were a shakedown cruise for the three major networks, all of which have put new anchors in place since election night 2004 and were eager to show them off where younger viewers might actually see them.

The difference was perhaps the most striking at CBS, where for the first election in many years, it wouldn't have been possible to construct a drinking game around the number of times Dan Rather suggested that a candidate's lead was "as thin as November ice" or that the "trailer money" shouldn't be bet on a particular outcome.

CBS' Couric, who's probably never wasted two seconds wondering what a frog might do if it had pockets, had an hour in prime time - plus a few cut-ins - to show what she could do, and the first person she turned to was Bob Schieffer, whose own stint as interim anchor helped set the collegial, more-casual tone Couric seemed to be shooting for last night.

Rather, meanwhile, was on Comedy Central, working "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and no doubt itchier than a polecat with fleas for the 11 p.m. start of the live-for-the-night show. (Not as itchy as the local newscasts on channels 3, 6 and 10, all of which pre-empted their networks several minutes before 11.)

ABC made a last-minute decision to start its wall-to-wall coverage a half-hour early, jettisoning the Ted Danson comedy "Help Me Help You" in favor of giving Gibson the big mo' from lead-in "Dancing with the Stars."

It certainly looked as if the set designers for "Dancing" were drafted to put together the moving - if not actually dizzying - backdrop for the anchor, who sat, much as the less-footloose male contestants on the ABC hit sometimes do, while graphics swirled around him.

Still, in many ways, Gibson's was the most traditional presentation, putting more stress on reporting results than on interviews and analysis.

Like Couric, NBC's Williams was joined by his predecessor, Tom Brokaw, as well as by Tim Russert of "Meet the Press" and correspondent Campbell Brown, the four sharing a long desk, and there was plenty of talk.

Talk also dominated the cable-news networks.

They had much of Election Day largely to themselves, vamping for hours as they awaited first the closely guarded results of exit polls and then the closing of the real polls so they could begin calling races.

When the talking heads flagged, they turned to the typing ones. CNN trumpeted its own bloggers' party, in which the cable-news channel had gathered a range of Web writers from the right and left - including Philadelphia's own Duncan "Atrios" Black - for an evening of what, it wasn't exactly clear.

On my TV, it looked like a bunch of people typing on laptops in a room that might have been suited to a party at which people were eating and drinking, not merely working.

Sort of like the Daily News newsroom last night, but with cushier furniture and bigger TVs (all tuned to CNN, of course).

A bit more usefully, Fox News had Michelle Malkin reporting on what was up in the blogosphere. She noted that YouTube was getting footage from both right and left purporting to show voters' being harassed, and actually pointed viewers to a couple of blogs other than her own where they could find them.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15957592.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:21 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
Networks had their own Election Day race
By Jessica Heslam, Greg Gatlin and Sean L. McCarthy The Boston Herald Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Gibson gets our vote.

The former “Good Morning America” co-anchor looked at ease in his election anchor debut.

ABC News’ Gibson deftly moved back and forth from ABC’s Cokie Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, George Will, Martha Raddatz and other commentators without a stumble.

Speaking with Stephanopoulos, Gibson suggested that Deval Patrick becomes a major figure on the national political stage with his Massachusetts victory. Despite early results that suggested Democrats would have a great night nationally, Gibson took a hard line in his interviews, questioning whether the Republicans might still keep control of the House as results from tighter races trickled in.

Anchoring “Decision 2006” for NBC News, Brian Williams conveyed the three C’s of network newscasting. He was cool, calm and collected.

Williams came into Election Night with two major advantages. He had been groomed for the job for years, and his predecessor, Tom Brokaw, was sitting by his side to offer insight and perspective. On his other side, was “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert.

Over at CBS, an unimpressive Katie Couric anchored her very first election night. The former “Today” host looked smart in her white shirt and dark jacket, but at times, she seemed in over her head. Thankfully, seasoned newsman Bob Schieffer, whom Couric rightfully called the “dean” of election night, was at her side offering up perspective. Couric turned her attention back and forth to correspondents covering the election, without offering much else.

When she did, she had this to say about Montana Democrat Jon Tester: “My favorite fact about him, Bob, is he’s missing three fingers on his left hand as the result of a meat grinding accident when he was just 9-years-old.”

http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=166267&format=text

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:23 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
Show of caution
By David Zurawik and Nick Madigan Baltimore Sun reporters November 8, 2006

With a host of very close races and the embarrassment of premature calls in 2000 and 2004 still fresh in viewers' minds, networks and major cable channels began reporting the midterm elections last night with great caution.

But that did not ultimately deter some of them from projecting winners such as Benjamin L. Cardin in the Maryland race for U.S. senator on the basis of exit polls - a process that has caused problems in the past.

Early in the evening, with the TV audience all to themselves as the polls began to close, cable channels CNN, MSNBC and Fox not only held off on any major projections, they qualified virtually every number presented.

A typical moment came at 8 p.m. as vote totals in the hotly contested Senate race in Virginia showed Democrat James Webb nosing ahead of Republican George Allen. It looked like just the kind of horse-race development that an anchor or analyst could use to inject some dramatic movement into an otherwise static situation.

But CNN anchorman Wolf Blitzer stopped such an approach in its tracks: "A word of caution: We don't know what part of the state of Virginia that 23 percent is from. ... And that's a state in which things can vary widely, so it's a mistake to make too much of it at this point."

Nothing on cable could compete with the depth of CNN, which seemed to have correspondents everywhere, two teams of analysts and three of the stronger anchors in Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and Lou Dobbs. CNN was the first to project Cardin's victory in Maryland, doing so at 9:20 p.m. with less than 10 percent of the vote tallied.

On network TV, ABC got a jump on the competition by changing its schedule to begin coverage at 9:30 p.m. The half-hour edge made a difference, as the projections started coming faster in the wake of CNN's call for Cardin.

ABC anchorman Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, the network's chief Washington correspondent, presided with a sure-handed ease - even as the network played catch-up with projections and vote totals made by cable channels and posted on its own Web site.

The class of the network field was NBC, with anchorman Brian Williams joined by chief Washington correspondent Tim Russert, adding savvy analysis, and former anchorman Tom Brokaw, providing tempered perspective.

One of the primary reasons that the networks and cable channels could show more caution than in 2004 was the recent emergence of their Web sites - venues in which they were taking greater risks last night.

About 8:30 p.m., while its parent network was showing an episode of the action drama NCIS, CBSNews.com predicted: "When all the votes are counted, Democrat Bob Casey will have defeated Republican Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania, and Democrat Sherrod Brown will beat Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in Ohio - two big pickups for the Democrats."

A half-hour later, when Katie Couric came on screen with an election update, she made no mention of those races. Instead, she went with two safe results, both wins for Democratic incumbents - Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York and Robert Menendez in New Jersey.

Confusion rather than caution marked coverage at WMAR, Baltimore's ABC affiliate - where it wasn't clear whether the station was making one of the biggest calls of the night.

About 9:40 p.m., anchors Brian Wood and Mary Beth Marsden broke into the network's coverage to report that Martin O'Malley had won the governor's race. Then in a live feed from O'Malley headquarters, reporter Jenny Glick suggested that, although some of the mayor's campaign workers were "tipping back some beers" in celebration, it might be too early to call the race.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.media08nov08,1,6609098,print.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:26 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
The election was on television, but it wasn't all must-see
By Mark McGuire Albany Times Union staff writer November 8, 2006

I think I will win, the beaming incumbent says after the obligatory TV news shot of him leaving the voting booth.

No, I have the momentum, says the smiling opponent, a cherubic child in tow at the polls.

Yawn. I'm desperate to find a TV story this Election Day afternoon that piques my interest. As usual, there's nothing as boring as the Election Day news leading up to the polls closing.

The night would ratchet up as voting finished east to west. Afterward, the anchors and experts and pundits were finally able to weigh in with some specificity, following hours and hours of "too close to call" calls, and incremental stories, and "if this happens, then ..." analysis.

So it went with the pre-pre-pre-game show for the most important and competitive midterm elections this country and state have seen since 1994. Results could not come too soon; with interest approaching an all-time high for an off-year election, air time had to be filled.

Voters are fed up with negative campaigning. ...

Really? Then why does it work?

Voting machine problems reported throughout the country. ...

Paging intrepid reporter Phil Connors from "Groundhog Day." This is a rerun.

Wait, there: On CNN.com. The Top story:

Britney Spears files for divorce.

Yahtzee!

"I'm about to take my shoe off and beat the monitor: Give me numbers. Give me numbers," Charles Cook of The Cook Report said on MSNBC. And polls had been closed for an hour in the East.

Truth is, on a day when technology caused headaches because of voting machine problems, the Internet provided some of the best TV of the day.

All the national broadcast and cable news operations had major vote tracking programs working. (CNN.com was particularly easy to operate.) The Web greatly augmented the round-the-clock coverage on cable, as well as kept the broadcasters in the game prior to the news operations returning to air.

(Meanwhile, the Times Union apparently suffered an Election Day cyber attack that knocked its blogs out of commission. The attack specifically targeted Capitol Confidential, the blog dedicated to all things political. To the culprit: Way to support the democratic process, chucklehead.)

As I bang my monitor with my shoe, here are some other observations from Election Day and Night:

It's five minutes to 6 p.m., Larry Kudlow is yelling at the top of his lungs on his show "Kudlow & Company." Which begs the question: If you scream on CNBC, and there are no viewers to hear it, did you really make a sound?

"Tonight, American voters decide the direction of the nation," NBC anchor Brian Williams said. Williams has done an impressive job since taking over the top chair, but it was still jarring to see him turn to his right and throw it to guest pundit ... Tom Brokaw.

I have two TVs running in my office at home, one on cable and one with rabbit ears. (That's an antenna, for anyone under 35.) Did you know that cable broadcasts are five seconds behind? Neither did I.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=532949

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:28 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
Snafus, blogs, puffery vie with voting results
By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post Staff Columnist Nov. 8, 2006

Glitches at polling places and allegations of voter fraud vied for headlines with the political results on Election Day 2006 as media watchdogs kept tabs on snafus across the country.

In Denver, a denied request for extended voting hours dominated the coverage for hours.

During evening rush hour, KMGH-Channel 7 offered a stunning aerial shot of the long, snaking line to vote at Denver Botanic Gardens that said it all.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper took to the airwaves to pronounce the whole mess "an outrage."

Broadcasters held to their vows of caution in the wake of the debacle of 2004, when they mistakenly called races based on inaccurate exit polling. This time, exit-poll information was strictly embargoed.

The modern, supposedly high-tech computerized voting means the projections will be "more accurate but delayed a while," Fox's Brit Hume said, hunkering down for a long night.

In terms of content, the NBC News team was super - Tim Russert's enthusiasm was contagious as usual - but the set was blindingly bad, a blaze of fluorescent stripes. Visually the most refreshing was CNN's expansive set that allowed Anderson Cooper to stroll to the pundit desk in the midst of the beehive of a newsroom.

"This is an election about credibility and accountability," NBC veteran Tom Brokaw announced.

"This might be the Republican nightmare scenario," CBS veteran Bob Schieffer forecast.

Katie Couric called Schieffer "the dean" of CBS election coverage and, indeed, he lent her a bit of the credibility the American public supposedly craves. Couric let her colleagues do the heavy lifting.

Around the dial, the mantra was "All politics are local, except in wartime."

The blogosphere was in overdrive for the 2006 midterms, unconstrained by the rules governing radio or television. Media outlets steered viewers to Internet sites - CNN, in particular, featured a "blog party" at an Internet cafe full of opinionated political bloggers. The risk of embargoed information seeping out early from the journalistically looser bloggers was apparent. On the left-leaning Daily Kos, for instance, "the Election Day Live Blogging Mothership" called New Jersey for Bob Menendez well before CNN did.

The networks made a show of transparency on their websites, engaging viewers in polls and discussions, using anchors to answer questions and, in the case of CBS, showcasing in streaming video the person deserving hisses if things go wrong: Kathy Frankovic, CBS News, director of surveys, explained how calls are made and noted she's "the one to blame."

CBS' Couric avoided "political minutiae" as promised, while NBC's Brian Williams and Tim Russert excelled in just that.

Among the annoying puffery: CNN continuously advertised its "best political team on TV." Fox touted a John Madden-esque "tellustrator" to highlight the Senate power plays. Be quiet and report the news.

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4621371&siteId=36

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:32 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
Thanks to cautious reporting, election day isn't great TV
Nobody wants to jump the gun and announce a wrong result, making for a long evening of blather -- and Britney
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 8, 2006

The irony of an election day, in TV news terms, is that for most of its course, it's slow.

As crucial as the contest may be, it is, taken in real time, something like watching paint dry. (But in a very loud room.)

It focuses on a process that takes place in secret and whose results are not immediately known, which leaves most of the day for prognostication — particularly circumspect this year, in light of recent election gaffes — and punditry, which has also been fairly restrained, the early-favored Democrats not wanting to count unhatched chickens and the Republicans making discretion the better part of valor.

On the cable news networks, most other news was knocked into the crawl at the bottom of the screen — Britney Spears is getting divorced, you might have seen that news a hundred times — but for much of this election day, until the polls closed, there was little to discuss that hadn't been hashed through in the weeks before. And in a year when hundreds of seats were up for grabs, the coverage focused inevitably on races that were close — "too close to call" — and whose resolution and meaning would be therefore reserved until a late hour or even another day.

For most of the news day, there was no news.

Having been bitten once by misleading exit polls, the networks, broadcast and cable alike, decided to rely on the counting of actual votes. (Their polling experts were also sent into a kind of group seclusion in New York, their cellphones and PDAs taken away in order to prevent "leaks" — that is, to the blogosphere. CNN made up for the slight by inviting a couple of dozen citizen journalists to a blogging party.)

This ran counter to their historic compulsion to be the first to call winners, based on as little information as possible — a smell in the wind, a snap in the air.

"We want to be doubly cautious," said MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, and that caution was endemic: It was a day for "what if" and "who knows?" You could tell it was driving them crazy.

As the day wore on, the more august talking heads began to take their place, though for a long while they too were stymied by a lack of information.

Like Internet service providers or savings banks, the cable and broadcast news organizations deliver the same services; it's perhaps too much to say their differences are merely cosmetic, since no two editorial policies are exactly alike. (And "merely" cosmetic is wrong, anyway, since cosmetics matter in TV.)

Fox News is perhaps more garish and obvious, continually waving its flag-bug, busting out "War on Terror" headlines, and gamely attempting to make the murder of actress Adrienne Shelly an immigration issue. As Democratic victories looked more likely, a pall seemed to settle over the network; Brit Hume seemed as though he could barely be bothered to continue.

Over at MSNBC, they seemed to be laughing a lot in a show of bipartisan insider hilarity, while the mood at CNN, with Wolf Blitzer and Jeff Greenfield contemplating their big "video wall" was pointedly serious and thoughtful. Each network offered commentators of varying degrees of dispassion, partisanship and windiness.

The same themes were taken up everywhere: the large turnout (see? candidates waiting in line!), the voting irregularities (see? candidates turned away from the polls!), the "nationalization" of the issues, and the weather, which let weatherpersons be political commentators.

The night was also seen as a kind of referendum on the network news anchors, none of whom had yet chaired the coverage of a national election.

It is clear, if nothing else, that they are three distinct personalities: Brian Williams, broad-shouldered, deep ("The analysts and the exit pollsters tell us this is an angry electorate out there and the voters have the power to unleash sweeping change"); Charles Gibson, boyish, buoyant ("Good evening. This is going to be a fascinating night. An election day is always a great day for a democracy"); Katie Couric, Katie Couric ("Hi, everyone. Well, it's election night, and voters all over the country are deciding who will control the new Congress"). She was friendly and a little formal, informed but not insidery, and pointed up how male-dominated the competition is.

None were undone by the assignment.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-na-tv8nov08,0,2368232,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

11-08-06, 01:35 PM

TV Notebook
CBS to Split Jericho Season
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable 11/8/2006

Following in the footsteps of ABC’s new strategy with Lost and what Fox does with Prison Break, CBS will bench rookie serialized drama Jericho from December through mid-February, opting to only air new episodes through the rest of the season.

The show, about the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, will air through Wednesday, November 29, and then CBS will sideline the show until February 21, though it will air a recap show on February 14.

One of the surprises of the fall season, Jericho has averaged a 3.4/10 rating in adults 18-49 and 11 million viewers in its Wednesday 8 p.m. timeslot.

ABC is using a similar strategy with Lost in an effort to not show any repeats.ABC airs an original episode Wednesday night, and then it goes to bench until next year. ABC is launching new drama Daybreak in its place.

NBC had originally announced a split season for ER, but changed its mind when the veteran drama returned to stronger than expected ratings.

Also taking a page from Lost perhaps, the first new episode of Jericho in February will feature flashbacks to life in the small Kansas town before the nuclear bombs exploded.

With Jericho gone, CBS will bring back The King of Queens at 8 for four Wednesdays in December, but has not announced what else will fill the slot.

CBS says it will also air seven more episodes of King of Queens sometime next year.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6389368

fredfa

11-08-06, 04:04 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Election Night Coverage
After Previous Gaffes, Networks Mostly Take Their Time
By Bill Carter The New York Times November 8, 2006

The television networks reporting on the results of the midterm elections last night exercised an unusual degree of caution in declaring any shift of power in Congress, apparently chastened by previous miscalculations based on exit poll information.

While some contested races, like the Maryland and New Jersey contests for the Senate, were called fairly quickly by all of them, they held back on the night’s marquee story: whether Democrats would take control of either house.

It was just after 5 p.m. that exit poll data, closely held under a “quarantine,” were released by the National Election Pool, the network-created organization that provides tabulated vote counts and the results of exit surveys. Several network executives said later that those early numbers had indicated a sweeping victory for Democratic candidates, but for the most part that was not mentioned on the air.

The reason was the experience of two years ago, when the exit polls seemed to point to a victory by Senator John Kerry in the presidential race. That night the networks hinted broadly at such an outcome, only to be repudiated by the real numbers.

Last night, network executives said, the numbers seemed so skewed toward the Democrats again that they simply did not trust them.

“We were told the numbers simply looked way out of whack,” said Allison Gollust, spokeswoman for NBC News. “They just seemed too far off of expectations.”

At CNN, the message was the same: don’t believe these numbers. Jon Klein, the president of CNN/US, said: "By not providing any firm ground to stand on, the exit polls simply were not a factor. You have to discount them." The Fox News Channel made its reservations overt during its coverage, with one of its analysts, Michael Barone, stating that “the exit polls have a Democratic bias of six to eight points.”

Still, on a night when three network anchors — Katie Couric on CBS, Brian Williams on NBC and Charles Gibson on ABC—were making their first appearances leading election-night coverage, some effort was made to gain competitive advantage from the exit poll information.

Just after Ms. Couric began the evening newscast on CBS, she introduced her predecessor as anchor, Bob Schieffer, who declared, “There is a wind blowing for the Democrats, and it is a strong wind.”

And while the networks mostly distanced themselves from any exact exit poll projections on individual races, those numbers were available on the Internet blogs to which some of the news organizations’ Web sites provided links. CNN, for example, made a long list of blogs available on its site, and many posted the specific exit poll projections in Senate races as soon as the numbers were available.

One blog, Eschaton, posted the numbers — some accurate, some of which proved wildly wrong — along with the message that the poll numbers “are highly unreliable, but information needs to be free.”

Still, much of the verifiable information of the night, including the outcome of some of the most closely watched Senate races, and the determination of whether there would be a shift in control at the Capitol, came in far more slowly than the networks had expected.

NBC became the first network to report that the Democrats would take the House. It projected a gain of 29 seats less than five minutes before its hourlong election report ended at 11 p.m. ABC followed shortly afterward, and CNN about 11:08.

That close sequence was one reflection of the continuing competition among the news organizations on election night, despite the tilt toward caution. In another, ABC News made a last-second decision to expand its coverage from an hour to 90 minutes, adding 30 minutes to the front end of it.

That decision meant that ABC would be able to begin its coverage immediately after the conclusion of the night’s most-watched program, its reality show “Dancing With the Stars.” Making the move so late also ensured that no other network would be able to counter with a similar move.

One ABC executive , willing to call at least one race early, said the tactic most likely meant that when the ratings for the coverage arrive today, his network will come out on top.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/08networks.html?pagewanted=print

fredfa

11-08-06, 04:07 PM

Washington Notebook
Incoming House Committee Chairman Questions Easing of Ownership Rules
By Ira Teinowitz Television Week November 8, 2006

U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the incoming chairman of a key House committee, on Wednesday strongly questioned any further easing of media ownership rules, suggesting that his panel will offer more scrutiny of telecom measures than the committee has under Republicans.

Rep. Dingell, who will become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in January as a result of Democrats taking control of the House, also questioned whether the Federal Communications Commission was examining media ownership issues sufficiently to ensure the public interest is being served.

"The committee [under Republicans] has been very responsive to industry desires to reduce or eliminate controls on ownership and [not] to maintain the diversity and localism which is so important," he said, in a reference an aide said later was to the FCC. "They have not completed all the outrages they are going to do under existing law. We are going to have to take a careful look and see whether [media ownership changes are] justified and whether we are still having local service or not."

He said his view is that local service is decreasing.

"News and other things which are important to me are no longer being provided, and we are having a bunch of stations providing common service and no difference in service available to the people. The only beneficiary of that is the station owner as opposed to the public, which is supposed to be served by the communications act," he said.

Rep. Dingell said that his committee intends to look at other potential media-related issues, from prescription drug advertising to privacy, will oppose any attempt to include a "sunset" provision on support of public broadcasting and urged the FCC to delay approval of a major phone deal between BellSouth and AT&T until Congress has time to review it.

Rep. Dingell was the first of four Democrats who will hold key House leadership positions next year to speak out on their agendas. The other three are Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who becomes chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee's telecommunications subcommittee; Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who will be chairman of the House Government Reform Committee; and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who will become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

All have outlooks on media issues starkly different from those of the current chairmen and are likely to have the support of House Democratic leadership for examining media issues.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11031

fredfa

11-08-06, 04:14 PM

TV Notebook
DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE 2007 ANNOUNCED
(ABC Television Network news release)

For the 35th consecutive year, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" will lead America into the New Year when Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest host specials starting at 10:00 p.m., ET on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31 on the ABC Television Network.

In all there will be three-and-a-half hours of special New Year's Eve programming, including performances from New York and Hollywood, and the American tradition of Dick Clark counting down to the New Year from Times Square. Additionally, Marysol Castro, "Good Morning America Weekend's" weather and features correspondent, will return to report on other happenings in and around New York City.

The special programming will kick off with "Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007" (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) featuring performances from New York (talent to be announced in subsequent release.)

During "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007, Part 1" (11:35 p.m. - 1:05 a.m., ET), in addition to reporting on the final minutes of the year 2006 and the traditional Times Square countdown to midnight, the show will feature music performances from Hollywood and New York.

Wrapping the night's activities will be "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007, Part 2" (1:05-2:05 a.m., ET) with musical acts continuing to celebrate and additional performances from Los Angeles and New York.

fredfa

11-08-06, 04:18 PM

TV Notebook
''Jericho'' Protected, ''King of Queens'' Returns
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal blog

From CBS today, a couple of things of note. The network is sufficiently happy with ''Jericho'' that it doesn't want people to burn out on reruns, and the people who keep asking me about ''King of Queens'' finally have an answer. Here's the skinny from (the) CBS (news release) :

JERICHO, CBS's hit freshman drama about the aftermath of a nuclear explosion in a small, peaceful Kansastown, will be broadcast without repeats for the remainder of the 2006-2007 season. The network announced today that it has devised a scheduling pattern to broadcast JERICHO in two distinct seasons.

JERICHO will conclude its "fall season" with a cliffhanger finale on Wednesday, Nov. 29 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) and come back in February with all original episodes for the remainder of the season.

JERICHO will return on February 14th with a recap special looking back at the first 11 episodes, followed by an original episode on February 21st. The all-new episode on February 21st will provide a look into life in Jericho the day before the nuclear bombs exploded.

To sustain audience momentum and update potential new viewers, CBS will create an online destination for JERICHO during the show's 10-week intermission. The site will include original content, interactive elements, recaps and sneak previews. CBS will also continue to stream all episodes of JERICHO broadcast to date on its broadband channel innertube. Currently, JERICHO is the Network's most-streamed program on innertube. ...

In a related announcement, Kevin James, Leah Remini and Jerry Stiller return with original episodes of THE KING OF QUEENS in December.

CBS will broadcast back-to-back new episodes of THE KING OF QUEENS on Wednesday, Dec. 6 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) and Wednesday, Dec. 13 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET). New episodes of THE KING OF QUEENS will also be broadcast on Wednesday, Dec. 20 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT) and Wednesday Dec. 27 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT). Seven more episodes of THE KING OF QUEENS to be broadcast in 2007 will be announced at a later date.

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

fredfa

11-08-06, 05:28 PM

TV Notebook
ABC Adds More "Men In Trees"
"Six Degrees" on Hold
By Marc Berman Media Week Nov. 8, 2006

ABC has picked up freshman drama Men In Trees for the remainder of the season, with an order for nine additional episodes and a new time period -- Thursday 10 p.m. effective on Nov. 30.

Current occupant Six Degrees, which is down, on average, from lead-in Grey’s Anatomy by a mammoth 12.51 million viewers (22.15 to 9.64 million) and 57 percent among adults 18-49 (9.3 rating/22 share to 4.0/11), according to Nielsen Media Research data, will return in a new time period in January.

No word at present at what will replace Men In Trees, which averaged 7.32 million viewers and a 2.2/ 7 among adults 18-49 in the Friday 9 p.m. hour.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003379454

fredfa

11-08-06, 07:01 PM

Cable News Notebook
CNN Wins Election Demos;
Fox Leads in Total Viewers
By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable 11/8/2006

Virginia wasn't the only tight race Election Night as CNN fell just short of Fox News in total viewers , but beat its rival in the news demographic. During primetime Tuesday, when the three major cable news networks were wall-to- wall with political coverage, Fox News averaged 3.06 million viewers and CNN came up just 3% shy, at a hair under 2.97 million. MSNBC averaged 1.95 million.

In adults 25-54, the core demo for news shows, CNN beat Fox by around 6%, averaging 1.33 million vs.. 1.25 million. MSNBC averaged 893,000.

CNN's performance was a rare win for the network which has long lagged Fox News in the Nielsens after leading the market for two decades. CNN invested heavily in Election Night, staging a far more elaborate show than other networks did.

Viewers showed much more interest than they did in the 2002 presidential election, even thought that was pretty hotly contested. Fox increased 12% in total viewers, CNN rose 21% and MSNBC doubled its audience.

Network Total Viewers vs. 2002 25-54 Demo vs. 2002
MSNBC 1,949,000 +107% 893,000 +111%
CNN 2, 971,000 +21% 1,330,000 +34%
FNC 3,060,000 +12% 1,253,000 +22%
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6389675

VisionOn

11-08-06, 07:06 PM

fredfa

11-08-06, 07:11 PM

TV Sports
College Bowl blitz
Pigskin payday for nets By Steven Zeitchik Variety
(Rick Kissell in Hollywood contributed to this report.)

NEW YORK -- An abundance of college football storylines is turning ABC/ESPN into a big winner this season -- and giving Fox plenty to salivate over as it prepares to launch its pricey BCS Bowl package in January.

But the riches aren't going everywhere, as NBC will be without a bowl game for the first time this year.

And even those benefiting can find their hands tied.

Fox has a huge postseason but no network games in the regular season. ESPN, on the other hand, will pump up viewer interest during the regular season only to have another net step in for most of the big January games.

Every college football season is rife with enough drama and controversy to satisfy the chattiest talking head. But this year has proved more dramatic than most.

A traditional Big Ten rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan has been blown up to national significance as the two, both undefeated, sit atop the BCS. When they meet on Nov. 18, they will play not just for Midwestern bragging rights but, in all likelihood, for a spot in the title game.

Meanwhile, perennial contenders such as Texas, USC, Notre Dame and Florida continue to string together impressive runs. All have just one loss, giving heat to the games and the tantalizing possibility -- for fans and nets -- that they could wind up in a BCS bowl.

And parity has hit college football, allowing teams like Rutgers and Louisville -- neither known for football dominance -- to become big stories as they remain undefeated in November.

The two will play a showdown Thursday that ESPN is carrying as part of what was a previously little-regarded Big East package. Net is missing no opportunity to promote the game.

ESPN sported an equally important matchup between Louisville and West Virginia Nov. 2. When the net scheduled the game at the start of the season, it was beyond any exec's wildest dreams that it would be between two undefeated, top-five teams. But they were, and the game drew an astonishing 6.4 million viewers, nearly double the number of any cable program that week.

College football ratings have generally been up over the last few years, particularly in the postseason, as the revamped BCS has given added importance to many games.

Ratings hit a peak last year for the title Rose Bowl game, a Matt Leinart-Vince Young showdown that Texas won in an upset. Game averaged 35.63 million viewers and was the most-watched title contest in 19 years.

But this year could prove equally big, especially since a separate national title game was added to complement the four BCS bowls.

Though traditionally college sports-averse, Fox paid a pricey $83 million per year to broadcast four BCS bowls, including the title game, through 2010.

Net's move isn't without risk.

Fox must find a way to promote the games without any regular season college football on its network. To do so, the net will try to borrow a page from another successful college postseason.

Fox for the first time this year will broadcast a live BCS selection show on network primetime, along the lines of CBS' shows for the Division I hoops tourneys. It's also promoting college football on its NFL postgame show and dedicated shows on Fox Sports Net.

ABC/ESPN has the opposite problem -- a great regular season but few of the big ad dollars that come from the postseason. It is carrying only one out of five BCS Bowls, the Rose Bowl, after its package for the other games expired last year.

Still, despite losing those games -- not to mention "Monday Night Football" -- it is compensating with its Saturday primetime college football experiment, which has proved successful. The package's secret? The ability to regionalize.

About 5.7 million viewers tuned in to Saturday's broadcast, which featured three separate games from the Pac-10, the Big 12 and the ACC. Net scored a 1.9 rating in viewers 18-49.

ESPN Programming and Acquisitions veep Dave Brown said the net isn't concerned about its package of lesser, non-BCS bowl games leaving it less able to fully capitalize on the regular season. "Every week is like a playoff game in college football," he said.

Meanwhile, networks with narrower packages were trying to maximize their assets.

NBC execs were breathing hard when it looked as if Notre Dame would rack up its second loss against UCLA, effectively ending its hopes of playing in a BCS bowl. Peacock has bet it all on Fighting Irish home games; for the first time this year, it won't carry any bowl game. And CBS has a deal with the SEC, which has several BCS Bowl contenders but has otherwise been a somewhat lesser player in a big year for college football.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953514.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

kizzo

11-08-06, 07:23 PM

Cable News Notebook
CNN Wins Election Demos;
Fox Leads in Total Viewers
By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable 11/8/2006

Virginia wasn't the only tight race Election Night as CNN fell just short of Fox News in total viewers , but beat its rival in the news demographic. During primetime Tuesday, when the three major cable news networks were wall-to- wall with political coverage, Fox News averaged 3.06 million viewers and CNN came up just 3% shy, at a hair under 2.97 million. MSNBC averaged 1.95 million.

In adults 25-54, the core demo for news shows, CNN beat Fox by around 6%, averaging 1.33 million vs.. 1.25 million. MSNBC averaged 893,000.

CNN's performance was a rare win for the network which has long lagged Fox News in the Nielsens after leading the market for two decades. CNN invested heavily in Election Night, staging a far more elaborate show than other networks did.

Viewers showed much more interest than they did in the 2002 presidential election, even thought that was pretty hotly contested. Fox increased 12% in total viewers, CNN rose 21% and MSNBC doubled its audience.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6389675

Congrats to CNN and MSNBC. I was actually surprise how well CNN did on the election coverage and the picture did look good for a SD show.

Davinleeds

11-08-06, 07:28 PM

TV Notebook
''Jericho'' Protected, ''King of Queens'' Returns
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal blog

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

Good news!

dc10forlife

11-08-06, 07:48 PM

Somebody better tell Fox that the national championship game is in Columbus on the 18th -- carrierd by ESPN on ABC.

kjpjr

11-08-06, 07:55 PM

How true the runner up bowl is in January! UM/OSU v Rutgers/L'ville wow!

fredfa

11-08-06, 08:15 PM

Somebody better tell Fox that the national championship game is in Columbus on the 18th -- carrierd by ESPN on ABC.

I wonder if there is any chance at all that ABC could cut away from the constant blather and let us see the Ohio State band perform for at least a few minutes.

Nah, what a silly thought!

Jediphish

11-08-06, 08:45 PM

Somebody better tell Fox that the national championship game is in Columbus on the 18th -- carrierd by ESPN on ABC.

Please don't turn this into the moronic ESPN boards. At best, the UM/OSU game on the 18th is a proxy for the Big 10 championship. You have to get through your conference first. You may as well say that the National Championship was held when Texas played OSU, because that was a #1/#2 matchup. Nothing changes just because its the last game of the REGULAR season.

fredfa

11-08-06, 08:57 PM

Good point, jediphish, so let's let that the be last word -- until just before Jan 8th, at any rate -- on this thread about any of our favorite college football teams.

RussTC3

11-08-06, 11:28 PM

Quickly, great analysis on election night dad1153.

I pretty much exclusively watched CNN, switching on occasion to Fox News just for giggles (apologies, but its just not my cup of tea). CNN was very finely produced, lots of great info, analysis etc. On the brief occasion I switched to Fox, I was disappointed as usual, especially towards late in the evening when they just reported with a "saddened and disappointed" look on their faces. CNN was the opposite, but they seemed excited, not necessarily happy. It's an election, a very exciting thing especially when some of the races were so damn close. These political experts love this stuff, they should be excited.

Oh, and I'm going to make a prediction: CNN and MSNBC (mostly CNN) are going to increase their ratings and pass Fox News (which will continue to drop) over the next few months if not in total viewers at least in the key 25-54s.

Lots of voters (new and old) feel like they made a difference and will want to keep track of their representatives more so than have in the past.

Best quote of the night? JC Watts:

"I think the American people obviously have spoken and anybody you know that wants to deny that, you know they're smoking some really strange stuff."

That's it. Sorry for my bias. :)

EDIT: Does Comedy Central count? I flipped back and forth from that, pretty funny. :D

fredfa

11-09-06, 01:29 AM

If you put JC Watts in any room, with any group of people, chances are he will end up with the quote of the night.

He is a pretty remarkable man. (And he probably looked even more remarkable juxtaposed with the three tired old-school guys he was with.)

I thought that CNN was the most watchable of the cable nets by far. Jeff Greenfield is the consummate pro in my mind. And even though Larry King looked really upset that he was more or less shunted off to the side, the CNN troops did a great and very visually appealing job. I thought FNC moving Brit Hume out at midnight was a mistake -- although I probably would have had Shep Smith and Hume co-anchoring all evening had the choice been mine.

As to CNN and MSNBC overtaking FNC, perhaps CNN could actually make a run.

But MSNBC? I have a hard time even fathoming the possibility. It is a mess, and whatever Dan Abrams wants to do has to be run by 30 Rock and approved. Ailes can change anything at any time instantly. And he has a gut feeling about what makes good TV that no one else I have ever known can match.

Remember, too, that people on the right have proven over the years that they will tune in even more when they feel politically threatened -- Limbaugh's ratings were higher during the Clinton years, for example. I suspect they'll be tuning in to FNC in greater numbers to keep an eye on what all those liberals are doing. (And then when Hillary runs they'll be back in force!)

But we shall see.

archiguy

11-09-06, 07:43 AM

All the ratings on election night mean, really, is that when people want hard news, as in the case with a disaster of some sort or a major election, they will turn to CNN. This is true all over the world. When its legion of fans want right-wing propaganda, where even the news reporting itself is tinged with bias, they turn to FNC. The FNC regulars wouldn't dream of watching any other news channel no matter what is happening in the world. For the rest of the population who don't watch a news channel with any regularity, those folks will turn to CNN when they just want the facts about what is happening with a major event of some kind. That's all the ratings numbers mean. It doesn't mean CNN is going to overtake FNC once this election has passed. People will resume their normal behavior until the next major news event happens, or FNC's ratings will go even higher as Fred postulates.

DoubleDAZ

11-09-06, 09:02 AM

I think FNC will increase viewership as a result of the Dems gaining back control of Congress. After all, it was born out of the Clinton years. FNC has gotten rather stale of late since they haven't had anyone to really beat up on, other than Bush and the war. That will all change over the next 2 years as the Dems rearrange Congress and begin their agenda, and then again should they take back the White House in '08.

trbarry

11-09-06, 09:13 AM

I tend to switch back and forth between CNN & Fox News for contrasting viewpoints. But I find I prefer CNN most of the time. Sometimes it depends upon the political slant but sometimes it just seems to depend upon who's got more cameras where for some given news event.

- Tom

fredfa

11-09-06, 10:06 AM

TV Notebook
Risky Business
A Vanishing Act for ‘Lost,’ as It Takes a 13-Week Break
By Edward Wyatt The New York Times November 8, 2006

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7 — After little more than a month of thrills and twists that have some fans feeling that the show is at its best ever, “Lost” is disappearing into the wilderness.

After (Wednesday’s) episode, only the sixth of the still-young fall television season, ABC will take “Lost” off the air for 13 weeks. The show will return on Feb. 7 for a run of 16 or 17 new episodes that will carry viewers into late May.

But the midyear split season is a scheduling gambit that could have enormous consequences not only for ABC, but also for the entire genre of serialized television drama, testing whether audiences are loyal enough to expensive, complex shows to weather long midseason interruptions.

Lengthy delays between seasons is a characteristic common to HBO and other premium channels, which have put popular series like “The Sopranos” on extended breaks to accommodate the plotting, script writing, filming and production schedules required to produce such cinematic shows.

But it is highly unusual for broadcast television, which still mostly adheres to a September-to-May season, to remove a show entirely from the schedule for three months in midyear.

“We would love to have 35 weeks of uninterrupted episodes,” said Jeffrey D. Bader, an executive vice president at ABC Entertainment who is responsible for planning and scheduling the network’s prime-time programming. “But the ‘Lost’ air schedule is dependent on the production schedule. And like all one-hour dramas, only a certain number of episodes can be delivered for the fall.”

This season’s split schedule is partly the result of backlash from fans who complained loudly last season about the frequent interspersing of new episodes with repeats. At its annual meeting with advertisers in New York last spring, Stephen McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment, promised to address those complaints.

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, executive producers of “Lost,” said they believed this season’s scheduling would help fans follow the show better.

“Last season we would try to build a narrative arc over three or four weeks, and then it would just die with three or four repeats,” Mr. Cuse said. “We didn’t want to be in a situation this year where the audience would tune in and be confused whether an original episode was on or not.”

But the schedule could still cause confusion and dismay among “Lost” fans who do not spend most of their waking hours scouring recorded episodes and online fan sites for clues about the mysteries of the island where the show is set. If they tune in next Wednesday night at the usual time, they will be greeted with the first episode of “Day Break,” a new drama starring Taye Diggs, that has its own supernatural mysteries.

Part of the problem is that, as television dramas have become more like movies, the time required to produce a single episode has lengthened. Whereas dramas like “Marcus Welby, M.D.” might have required five days to shoot enough scenes to fill an hour of broadcast television, shows like “Lost” and the Fox hit “24” require eight days of filming, not including weekends.

Barry Jossen, the executive vice president for production at Touchstone Television, the studio that produces “Lost,” explained that, compared with shows like “Marcus Welby,” each episode of newer dramas has more scenes, more characters in each scene and more camera angles on each character.

Add in the time required to produce special effects, like the black-cloud monster that last week attacked the “Lost” character Mr. Eko, and the hours spent editing together all those scenes and camera angles, and it can take two weeks or more to create a one-hour show.

One solution might seem to be to start production earlier. But that is difficult with serialized shows, which have a season-long story line, meaning the whole season must be plotted in advance. Therefore more time must be spent writing and plotting in the summer, before actors begin stepping in front of the cameras.

Fox solves the problem by not putting “24” on the air until January, then running the show for 24 weeks straight, without interruption or repeat.

Mr. Bader said that ABC considered that, but other factors worked against it.

“We knew this would be a risky fall for us,” he said. “Monday Night Football” moved from ABC to ESPN this year, leaving a hole in the network’s prime-time schedule. The network also moved “Grey’s Anatomy” from Sunday nights to Thursday and, uncertain what the results of that move would be, decided that it could not afford to keep another signature franchise, “Lost,” off the fall schedule, he said.

Creating an extended, continuous season would require a different approach. “We could say, O.K., ‘Lost’ will be on for 30 weeks without interruption,” Mr. Bader said. “But to produce that many shows, we wouldn’t be able to do a season next year,” and viewers would have to wait until the 2008-9 season for the next installments.

Instead, ABC hopes to keep “Lost” fans enticed over the next three months with what it is calling “ ‘Lost’ Nuggets”: 30-second promotional clips of scenes from episodes not yet broadcast that will hint at what will become of the island castaways when the show returns.

The “Nuggets” will be shown each week during “Day Break,” although ABC is not saying at what time, meaning “Lost” fans will have to watch the new show or fast-forward through their digitally recorded files to unearth the clues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/arts/television/08lost.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

fredfa

11-09-06, 10:26 AM

TV Notebook
ABC uproots “Men In Trees”
Skein will shift to Thursdays on Nov. 30
By Josef Adalian , Michael Schneider Variety.com

ABC is giving a big vote of confidence to "Men in Trees," moving the show from one of the worst timeslots on TV to one of the best.

Alphabet Wednesday said it was shifting the Anne Heche starrer from Fridays at 9 to Thursdays at 10, behind "Grey's Anatomy." In addition, net ordered nine more episodes of the Warner Bros. Television skein, for a full-season total of 22.

"Men" -- which many pundits pegged to be one of the season's first casualties -- is the first of WBTV's new fall shows to receive a full-season order, and the third Alphabet frosh player to get picked up. Its ratings on Friday haven't been huge, but they have been steady, with the show regularly improving on its lead-ins and boosting ABC slightly in the timeslot vs. year-ago numbers.

"Thursdays will be a great platform for 'Men in Trees' to reach a larger audience," said ABC Entertainment prexy Steve McPherson.

"Men" will shift to its new home on Nov. 30, bumping the struggling frosh drama "Six Degrees." ABC said the latter skein -- which had its final airing of the year last week -- will be back in January -- but so far, there's no word on whether the net plans to order any additional segs. McPherson praised the creative content of both shows.

While "Men" has flown under the radar this season, Alphabet execs privately view the skein as a potential sleeper. With relatively little promotion and no real lead-in, skein has managed to hold its own on a night that's proven deadly for ABC scripted series in recent years.

Downside of the move is that "Men" will now be under intense scrutiny, with ratings analysts weighing in each week to examine how much of its "Grey's" lead-in it retains. "Men" will also now face off against another WBTV-produced skein with a strong young female aud: "ER."

In addition to "Six Degrees," ABC frosh players still awaiting full-season orders include "The Nine" and "Help Me Help You." "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers & Sisters" both have 22-seg commitments.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117953564&categoryid=14

fredfa

11-09-06, 10:32 AM

The TV Column
Another Election Upset:
ABC's Coverage
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, November 9, 2006; C07

Congress wasn't the only scene of a stunning upset on Election Night. While the Democrats were taking control of the House on Tuesday, ABC News was unseating perennial election coverage front-runner NBC News on broadcast television, and on cable in prime time, CNN pulled to within spitting distance of Fox News Channel and beat FNC among the 25-to-54 viewers advertisers hope to reach with news programming.

ABC News shrewdly started its "Vote 2006" coverage at 9:30 p.m. -- half an hour earlier than NBC and CBS -- to take advantage of the more than 23 million viewers delivered to Charlie Gibson's doorstep by "Dancing With the Stars."

(We'll pause here to give news junkies a little time to harrumph over that sentence.)

That was a tight race, too: Judges gave Mario Lopez an impressive 30 points for his tango, and 29 for his cha-cha-cha; they awarded Emmitt Smith 29 points for his waltz and 30 for his cha-cha-cha; and they handed Joey Lawrence 29 points for his quickstep, and his rumba brought in a score of 30.

Of the 23 million who sat glued to that performance show, about half hung on to watch the first half-hour of ABC's coverage of the political races. Overall, from 9:30 to 11 p.m., ABC News clocked an average of 9.67 million viewers.

And for 10 to 11 p.m., when the three broadcast news operations were going head-to-head, ABC News was still hanging on to 8.38 million viewers, thumping NBC News's 7 million and CBS News's 6.3 million.

Among those sought-after 25-to-54-year-olds, ABC had a slight edge over NBC and a slightly bigger margin over CBS.

The cable news election-night race was just as exciting. NBC cable cousin MSNBC suddenly sprang to life, averaging nearly 1 million viewers -- a 107 percent increase over its coverage of the 2002 midterms.

CNN logged just under 3 million viewers in prime time; Fox News Channel posted nearly 3.1 million viewers.

And, again in prime time, CNN had a slight edge over FNC among those 25-to-54-year-olds -- 1.33 million viewers to FNC's 1.25 million.

The story was much the same for the total day. From 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. FNC averaged 1.4 million and change to CNN's nearly 1.36 million and MSNBC's 805,000, with CNN slightly out front in the cherished demographic group.

• • • • • • • • • • •

The same day Donald Rumsfeld resigned as defense secretary, CBS announced its decision to pull from the schedule its new drama series about a nuclear attack on the United States.

In truth, CBS also said it planned to bring "Jericho" back after a 10-week hiatus. But we're curious to see how many bloggers read past the first paragraph of an item. Now we can find out.

And there's no getting around the fact that during the "Jericho" hiatus, CBS has decided the perfect lead-in to its increasingly popular pervy crime drama "Criminal Minds" would be -- "King of Queens," so there's really no knowing what dark forces are at work over at the network.

Just like the Bush administration shrewdly waited until the morning after the election to announce Rummy's ouster, CBS cleverly waited until the Reporters Who Cover Television had published their articles excoriating ABC's plans to rest serialized doomsday drama "Lost" for 13 weeks so as to avoid airing repeats, before announcing virtually the same play pattern for "Jericho."

CBS mostly has stayed away from serialized dramas like "Jericho" because the nonserialized ones repeat so well for the network. "Jericho" is considered one of this season's surprise successes; it's averaging about 11 million viewers Wednesdays at 8 and, more important, it's providing "Criminal Minds" with the lead-in it needs to, as of last week, outstrip "Lost" in the 9 p.m. hour.

CBS originally mulled whether it wouldn't be better to keep "Jericho" where it was and air repeat episodes, but after remembering how badly serialized dramas have repeated since the days of "Knots Landing," the network decided to cut "Jericho's" run into two distinct, rerun-free seasons, the first of which will end with a cliffhanger Nov. 29.

In truth, this is not such a new scheduling stunt for the broadcast networks. Back in 2003, ABC cut up the season of "NYPD Blue" and ran it without reruns so as to goose its ratings in its waning days. "Blue" went off the air at the end of November and returned in early February and didn't miss a beat, ratings-wise.

More recently, Fox had success with the same strategy for "Prison Break."

To relaunch the show, CBS has scheduled a recap episode on Feb. 14, followed by an original episode on Feb. 21 looking at life in the little Kansas town of Jericho one day before the nuclear bombs go off around the country.

To keep die-hard fans from revolting during the break, CBS says it will "create an online destination" for the show including original content, recaps and previews and will continue to stream on its broadband channel all episodes that have aired to date; "Jericho" is CBS's most streamed show.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802280_pf.html

fredfa

11-09-06, 10:43 AM

Wednesday’s metered market over-night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just under the HD Football listings near the top of Ratings News the first post in this thread.

fredfa

11-09-06, 10:51 AM

TV Notebook
CBS to Stream Smith
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable 11/9/2006

CBS will today begin streaming all seven completed episodes of cancelled drama Smith on its Innertube broadband service.

The three episodes that aired and four unaired episodes will be available free of charge for the next four weeks.

And in a fall in which a rush of new serialized dramas has been met with a collective shrug by viewers, CBS will post online a written synopsis of how producers planned to resolve the drama. Network execs say some viewers are hesitant to commit to a serialized show, fearing there will be no resolution if the show is cancelled. They hope this strategy will help alleviate those fears going forward.

Warner Bros. will also make all seven episodes available elsewhere online via AOL, Amazon and iTunes.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6389749

fredfa

11-09-06, 11:38 AM

Cable Sports Notebook
FSN To Double Its HD Telecasts
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable11/9/2006

Fox Sports Net (FSN) says it plans to double its schedule of high-definition telecasts of live sporting events over the next year.

FSN says its 18 regional sports networks will air nearly 1,000 games in HD, including contests from the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and college football and basketball.

FSN will produce more than 2,500 hours of live event programming, which it says makes it the most prolific producers of HD sports programming in the country. Next fall, FSN plans on opening a new technical operations center in Houston that will improve its capacity to transmit HD programming.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6389757

fredfa

11-09-06, 11:46 AM

The Business of TV
Just why the scuffle over DVR viewing
Why indeed. Delayed viewing is stunningly high

By Kevin Downey MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Nov 9, 2006

The digital video recorder is the biggest thing to hit television in years, and it just got a lot bigger.

New Nielsen data reveals that when delayed viewing is fully taken into account, ratings actually soar for some shows in households with DVRs. Shows that are only modest performers on the nights they air become big hits when that live viewing is supplemented by DVR viewing over the following week. It appears delayed viewing is especially high in the first three days, accounting for about 85 percent of all time-shifted viewing by NBC's estimate.

Some of the most dramatic increases are for shows in competitive time slots, in some cases twice as high as on the day it airs, as reported by Nielsen Media Research each week.

NBC’s “The Office” and “My Name is Earl” show the biggest gains. The live household rating for “The Office” is 3.7 in all homes but the show generates an 8.7 rating in DVR homes when time-shifted viewing is counted, according to a MediaVest analysis of Nielsen ratings for the first five weeks of the broadcast season.

The gains spread across all dayparts.

“When you look at only DVR households, things get pretty dramatic,” says John Spiropoulos, vice president and group research director at MediaVest. “Daytime and primetime have increases of 70 percent and 75 percent and the other dayparts are roughly up 10 percent or less among 18-34 years olds.”

Among 35-54 year olds in DVR households, primetime ratings are up 57 percent when comparing live-plus-seven-day viewing to live viewing. In the 55-plus group, primetime is up 31 percent.

And even though under 10 percent of homes in Nielsen’s survey have DVRs, their impact is signficant, boosting overall ratings of some shows notably. Case in point: “The Office” has a live rating of 3.7 but when time-shifted viewing in DVR homes is factored in, that rating rises to a 4.4 in all homes, including DVR and non-DVR households. Nielsen for the first time this year is releasing three streams of data, including live, live-plus-same-day and live-plus-seven-day ratings.

This Nielsen data comes out as the broadcast and cable networks and media buyers and advertisers debate over what role delayed viewing should have in ad buying negotations. Networks would like the full seven days counted, noting the sizable delayed viewing audiences, while buyers are resisting, arguing, among other things, that delayed viewing is of little use to time-sensitive ad messages.

In its study, MediaVest looked into the 10 network programs that get the biggest ratings boost from time-shifted viewing.

“The Office” and “Earl” rank No. 1 and No. 2, with ratings up 197 percent and 155 percent, respectively, in DVR homes.

CBS’s “CSI” is No. 3 with a 147 percent bump. The network’s “Ghost Whisperer” is No. 4 at 144 percent.

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” is No. 5 with a 141 percent increase. “Lost” is up 140 percent.

The live-plus-seven-day rating for NBC’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” is 136 percent higher than its live rating in DVR homes.

NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” ranks No. 8 at 135 percent.

NBC’s “Heroes” and CBS’s “CSI: Miami” and “Survivor” round out the top 10, increasing 127 percent and 122 percent for “Miami” and “Survivor.”

“We knew from research and common sense that the DVR gives you an opportunity to watch a show that you probably wouldn’t watch if there wasn’t a DVR,” says Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development at NBC. “This doesn’t surprise us, but the magnitude is surprising.”

The ratings bumps are highest for audiences most sought by advertisers. “On a national basis among 18-34s, who are time-shifting the most, primetime on average is seeing an 8 percent increase in live-plus-seven [ratings] versus live,” says Spiropoulos. He says primetime among 35-54s is up 4 percent on this measure. The increase is 1 percent for people 55 or older.

Further, those bumps extend to ad pods within shows, which makes the data all the more timely as Nielsen, the networks and buyers and advertisers wrangle over Nielsen's proposal to track so-called commercial minutes. MediaVest estimates that commercial ratings for some top-rated time-shifted shows go up about 50 percent in DVR homes when including time-shifted viewing, compared to 182 percent for programs.

Says Wurtzel: “The concern we have is that if we continue to do business on a live-only basis then we’re distorting what the viewing is."

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_8444.asp

fredfa

11-09-06, 12:18 PM

fredfa

11-09-06, 12:25 PM

The Business of TV
Chernin: News, Liberty Still Talking
By Mike Farrell MultiChannel News 11/9/2006

News Corp. is in “constructive” negotiations with Liberty Media regarding the former’s 38% interest in DirecTV Group, chief operating officer Peter Chernin said on a conference call with analysts and reporters Wednesday night.

News Corp. has been in talks for months regarding swapping its stake in DirecTV for the 19% News Corp. voting stake owned by Liberty. Earlier this week, Liberty CEO Gregg Maffei said negotiations were progressing.

In a conference call with analysts and reporters discussing its fiscal-first-quarter results, Chernin said that while there is no hurry to do a deal, talks are moving forward.

“We don’t feel pressure that we have to do a deal,” Chernin said. “So we will continue to have talks and hope that they will progress and be constructive. On the other hand, we don’t feel some sort of defensive pressure. We’re moving forward on the talks and we’ll move forward as constructively as we can.”

Chernin wouldn’t speculate on whether a deal for DirecTV would actually get done, but he added that News Corp. would never consider selling its stake in the direct-broadcast satellite unit if it believed it would aversely impact overall business

Chernin said the two most relevant areas in News Corp.’s strategy are its relationship with cable operators and its ability to widely distribute its content. Neither, he added, would be affected if News Corp. no longer owned a controlling interest in DirecTV.

“We’re pretty confident about our strategic positioning,” Chernin said. “While I’m not going to speculate on DirecTV, we wouldn’t contemplate or even consider a deal if we thought it would have any negative impacts on our overall position.”

Later, asked if a Liberty deal could be reached before the end of the year, Chernin replied that it could. “I don’t want to speculate about timing, but I certainly don’t think it’s out of the question that it could happen this year,” he said.

Chernin added that carriage-renewal negotiations with cable operators for its Fox News Channel were moving forward. News Corp. has already reached deals with Cablevision Systems and DirecTV, and Chernin said those deals will set the pace with future pacts.

“We are extremely pleased with the deals that were struck -- deals that will dramatically increase our affiliate revenues on Fox News beginning later this year,” he said. “And we expect to ramp up our affiliate fees with our other MSO partners in the years to come.”

Chernin wouldn’t confirm reports that News Corp. struck a carriage deal with Comcast for its fledgling Fox Business Channel, but he added that the network is getting close to the 30 million-subscriber benchmark. News Corp. has said it will not launch the channel before it has deals with distributors representing at least 30 million subscribers.

“We believe we have much greater clout than we had in years past and we have an opportunity to sign up a large number of subs before we launch, thereby avoiding the kind of peak investments that we had to make on some of our previous cable-channel launches,” Chernin said.

“We’ve always said that we look at that number as being above 30 million, and we’re getting pretty close to that number,” he added. I would hope that a launch announcement would follow that pretty rapidly.”

Chernin added that carriage of Fox Business is not tied to renewal negotiations for Fox News. “The negotiations we have had on Fox Business up until now have all been completely separate from the Fox News renewal rates,” he said. “And our plan is to continue that going forward.”

For the quarter, News Corp. revenue was up 4.1% to $5.9 billion and operating income declined 6% to $851 million, mainly due to difficult year-over-year comparisons at its film division. At its cable networks, operating income surged 26% to $249 million and revenue was up 14.7% to $889 million.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6389794.html?display=Breaking+News

fredfa

11-09-06, 12:34 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Fox's teen angst: 'O.C.'s' death rattles
Wednesday move fails to revive sagging drama
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Nov 9, 2006

A new timeslot didn’t help revive Fox’s one-time hit “The O.C.”

In what the network billed as a special Wednesday night airing, “O.C.” averaged a 1.5 in adults 18-49 last night at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, matching last week’s season premiere in its usual Thursday 9 p.m. slot. It tied for fourth in the timeslot.

Though the show was up week to week among 18-34s, from a 1.7 for its premiere to a 2.1 last night, that merely tied for fourth in the timeslot with the CW’s “One Tree Hill.” Among teens, "Hill" doubled "O.C.'s" averaged with a 2.9 to the latter's 1.3.

Among total viewers, “O.C.” averaged 3.52 million, a few thousand more than “Hill.” It drew 3.38 million for its premiere.

Last week’s numbers were less than half what “O.C.” drew for its third-season premiere a year ago. Though certainly some of the problem was airing against tough competition on Thursday, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and CBS’s “CSI,” that doesn’t explain all of the viewer drain.

And things didn’t improve last night. Though again it was a tough timeslot, opposite the first-half finale of “Lost” and CBS’s “Criminal Minds,” “O.C.” ranked among the lowest-rated shows on any Big Four network this season.

Some have speculated that the producers angered fans by killing off Mischa Barton’s Marissa last May. Others say the writing on the program began going stale in season two.

But reviews of this fourth season have been generally positive, saying it has regained its sharp season one wit. Fox reportedly did not order a full season of the show, so it may be off the schedule by midseason if ratings don’t improve.

As of now, "O.C." will run another original episode tonight in its usual 9 p.m. slot.

Meanwhile, sweeps leader ABC also led the night with a 5.1 rating and 13 share in adults 18-49, followed by CBS at 4.5/12, NBC at 3.0/8, Fox at 2.2/6, the CW at 2.1/5, and Univision at 1.4/4.

ABC led the first two hours, starting with “Dancing with the Stars” at 8 p.m., which drew a 5.2. “Jericho” was second at 3.0, followed by Fox’s “Bones” at 2.8, NBC’s “Biggest Loser” and CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” at 2.6, and Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” at 2.0.

At 9 p.m., “Lost” led with a 7.0 for that first-half finale. It will return with new episodes in February. CBS’s “Criminal Minds” was second with a 5.1. “Minds” outdrew “Lost” in total viewers for the second straight week, 17.5 million to 17.1 million, though “Lost” continues to hold a large lead in 18-49s. NBC’s “Loser” was third at 3.6, followed by “O.C.” and “Hill” at 1.5, and Univision’s “Mundo de Fieras” at 1.4.

At 10 p.m., CBS’s “CSI: NY” was first with a 5.4, followed by ABC’s “The Nine” and NBC’s “Dateline” at 3.0 apiece and Univision’s “Don Francisco Presenta” at a 1.0.

Among households, ABC led with a 9.7/15, followed by CBS at 9.4/15, NBC at 4.9/8, Fox at 3.5/6, the CW at 2.9/4, and Univision at 1.9.3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_8472.asp

fredfa

11-09-06, 12:49 PM

Obituary
60 Minutes' Ed Bradley Dead At 65
Veteran CBS News Correspondent Succumbs To Leukemia

(CBS) Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley died of leukemia this morning. He joined the staff of the venerable news magazine 26 years ago.

Bradley’s consummate skills as a broadcast journalist and his distinctive body of work were recognized with numerous awards, including 19 Emmys, the latest for a segment that reported the reopening of the 50-year-old racial murder case of Emmett Till.

He was honored with the Lifetime Achievement award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Three of his Emmys came at the 2003 awards: a Lifetime Achievement Emmy; one for a 60 Minutes report on brain cancer patients, "A New Lease on Life" (April 2002); and another for his hour on 60 Minutes II about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, “The Catholic Church on Trial” (June 2002).

Bradley’s 60 Minutes interview with condemned Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (March 2000) was the only television interview ever given by the man guilty of one of the worst terrorist acts on American soil; it also earned Bradley an Emmy.

His reporting on the worst school shooting in American history, “Columbine” (April 2001), revealed on 60 Minutes II that authorities ignored telling evidence with which they might have prevented the massacre.

Other hourlong reports by Bradley have prompted praise and action: “Death by Denial” (June 2000) won a Peabody Award for focusing on the plight of Africans dying of AIDS and helped convince drug companies to donate and discount AIDS drugs; “Unsafe Haven” (April 1999) spurred federal investigations into the nation’s largest chain of psychiatric hospitals; and “Town Under Siege” (December 1997), about a small town battling toxic waste, was named one of the Ten Best Television Programs of 1997 by Time magazine.

Bradley’s significant contribution to electronic journalism was also recognized by the Radio/Television News Directors Association when it named him its Paul White Award winner for 2000. He joins other distinguished journalists, such as Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings, as a Paul White recipient.

More recently, the Denver Press Club awarded him its 2003 Damon Runyon Award for career journalistic excellence. Another prestigious honor received by Bradley is the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards grand prize and television first prize for "CBS Reports: In the Killing Fields of America" (January 1995), a documentary about violence in America, for which he was co-anchor and reporter.

His work on 60 Minutes has gained much recognition, including a George Foster Peabody Award for “Big Man, Big Voice” (November 1997), the uplifting story of a German singer who became successful despite birth defects. In 1995, he won his 11th Emmy Award for a 60 Minutes segment on the cruel effects of nuclear testing in the town of Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, a report that also won him an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 1994.

Also in 1994, he was honored with an Overseas Press Club Award for two 60 Minutes reports that took viewers inside sensitive military installations in Russia and the United States. In 1985, he received an Emmy Award for “Schizophrenia,” a 60 Minutes report on that misunderstood brain disorder.

In 1983, two of Bradley’s reports for 60 Minutes won Emmy Awards: “In the Belly of the Beast,” an interview with Jack Henry Abbott, a convicted murderer and author, and “Lena,” a profile of singer Lena Horne. He received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton and a 1991 Emmy Award for his 60 Minutes report “Made in China,” a look at Chinese forced-labor camps, and another Emmy for “Caitlin’s Story” (November 1992), an examination of the controversy between the parents of a deaf child and a deaf association.

In addition to “In the Killing Fields,” his work for "CBS Reports" has included: “Enter the Jury Room” (April 1997), an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award winner that revealed the jury deliberation process for the first time in front of network cameras; “The Boat People” (January 1979), which won duPont, Emmy and Overseas Press Club Awards; “The Boston Goes to China” (April 1979), a report on the historic visit to China by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which won Emmy, Peabody and Ohio State Awards, and “Blacks in America: With All Deliberate Speed?” (July 1979), which won Emmy and duPont Awards.

Bradley’s coverage of the plight of Cambodian refugees, broadcast on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and CBS News Sunday Morning, won a George Polk Award in journalism.

He also received a duPont citation for a segment on the Cambodian situation broadcast on CBS News’ “Magazine” series. He covered the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter during Campaign ‘76, served as a floor correspondent for CBS News’ coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions from 1976 through 1996, and has participated in CBS News’ election-night coverage.

Prior to joining 60 Minutes, Bradley was a principal correspondent for "CBS Reports" (1978-81), after serving as CBS News' White House correspondent (1976-78). He was also anchor of the "CBS Sunday Night News” (November 1976-May 1981) and of the CBS News magazine "Street Stories" (January 1992-August 1993).

Bradley joined CBS News as a stringer in its Paris bureau in September 1971. A year later, he was transferred to the Saigon bureau, where he remained until he was assigned to the CBS News Washington bureau in June 1974. He was named a CBS News correspondent in April 1973 and, shortly thereafter, was wounded while on assignment in Cambodia. In March 1975, he volunteered to return to Indochina and covered the fall of Cambodia and Vietnam.

Prior to joining CBS News, he was a reporter for WCBS Radio, the CBS Owned station in New York (August 1967-July 1971). He had previously been a reporter for WDAS Radio Philadelphia (1963-67).

Bradley was born June 22, 1941, in Philadelphia and was graduated from Cheyney (Pa.) State College in 1964 with a B.S. in education.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/09/national/main2165871.shtml

fredfa

11-09-06, 01:00 PM

Passings
Ed Bradley, RIP
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” Thursday, November 09, 2006

The news is just trickling out -- though I notice Wikipedia has already updated the entry -- that Ed Bradley, the longtime correspondent for "60 Minutes," has died of leukemia at age 65.

I'll remember him for the earring. The Emmett Till story. The McVeigh interview. Kathleen Willey. And, most recently, the Duke lacrosse story.

We all understand that behind each "60" correspondent is an army of veteran researchers, producers and script writers. Still, if the stories don't get told effectively and the interviews aren't dramatic, it isn't "60."

In that respect, Bradley was as "60" as it got.

He will be missed.

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

fredfa

11-09-06, 01:50 PM

Obituary
Ed Bradley, 1941-2006
Veteran CBS News Correspondent Succumbs To Leukemia
By Caroline Palmer Broadcasting & Cable 11/9/2006
John Eggerton contributed to this report.)

Award-winning television and radio journalist Ed Bradley has died at the age of 65. The veteran journalist was a long-time correspondent on CBS' 60 Minutes.

Bradley, who had won 19 Emmy awards over the course of his career, continued to work for 60 Minutes despite a battle with leukemia and undergoing heart surgery last year. He died of complications from leukemia this morning at Mt. Sinai hospital in Manhattan.

Born in Philadelphia June 22, 1941, Bradley received his bachelor's degree from Cheyney State College in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. After college, he worked as a 6th grade teacher before landing an unpaid job as a news reporter for WDAS-FM in Philadelphia.

During a stint in Paris, Bradley was hired as a stringer for CBS News. He then worked in Saigon before being transferred back to the United States. Among many other assignments, Bradley covered Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign in 1976. The two became good friends, according to CBS Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer.

In 1981, Bradley replaced Dan Rather as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. Bradley marked his 25th anniversary with the program in the 2000-2001 season, and continued to report for the program until the time of his death.

CBS Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer called Bradley "a great observer" who delighted in people but who also saw "the irony and absurdity of human nature." Schieffer said the two had been close friends and colleages since 1976, when Bradley was covering Carter and Schieffer President Ford.

Schieffer said the last time he saw Bradley was Schieffer's last day in the Evening News anchor chair Aug. 31. "He had come by early to wish me well because he was going on assignment and couldn't be there [for the broadcast]," said Schieffer.

"Ed Bradley was the coolest man I ever knew," says Scheiffer. "He knew everybody from Jimmy Carter to Jimmy Buffet, and everybody like him. When people needed help, he was the softest touch in town, and never said anything about it."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6389819

fredfa

11-09-06, 01:56 PM

Obituary
Ed Bradley, 1941-2006
His dream of becoming a radio DJ lead him to news

(the Maynard Institute: The Black Journalists Movement: How They Got Their Start)

One could say that Ed Bradley in part owes his career to a popular Philadelphia radio DJ.

Georgie Woods, after all, was the one who came to Bradley's college and gave a talk that inspired Bradley to become a DJ. Cheyney State was a teacher's college and Woods was there to talk to the senior class about using community resources to reach out to kids.

Bradley, however, was more interested in Woods' work in the studio. Woods invited the young teacher to WDAS and as Bradley toured the station his life's mission became clearer.

"I just knew when I walked out there that night that I was put on this earth to be on radio," he says.

Bradley spent everyday at the station, turning his attention to music, sports and some news. When he graduated from Cheyney and began teaching, he went to the station in the evenings. His friend and mentor Del Sheilds, the station's jazz DJ, always encouraged him to focus on news. That, Sheilds told him, was where the opportunities were.

WDAS served as a conduit connecting community leaders with residents so that by 1965 when riots broke out in Philadelphia, Bradley knew all the important local players in the civil rights movement. WDAS, with its mainly music format, had little to no recording equipment to use out in the field. Bradley covered the riots calling in stories from a pay phone, pulling in an occasional city official or community leader to respond to questions.

Impressed with his work, the station hired him for $1.50 an hour.

While at WDAS, Bradley covered one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches in Philadelphia. Other riots and protests broke out in the city and he was there. As a young reporter he initially struggled with his desire to take part in some of the protests he covered. He quicly learned, however, that if he wanted to give a fair and objective representation of an event he had to detach himself.

Bradley continued his teaching career in tandem with his radio career and soon found juggling both dissatisfying. He also toyed with graduate school but working both jobs made going back to school unfeasible. By this time, Bradley, who had been appointed as interim vice principal of a local school, had spent six months away from the classroom and wasn't excited about having to return. He couldn't hold on to the vice principal position because he didn't have an advanced degree. Something would have to give.

"I knew I wasn't suited to be a classroom teacher," he says. "I knew I wouldn't get a raise because I didn't have a graduate degree."

He started looking for a job in broadcasting, applying to positions in Detroit and New York. His mentor, Sheilds had moved to New York by this time and had heard about a position at WCBS. Bradley auditioned for the job and got it.

Bradley was one of three black people on staff. One served as the radio technician, another as a janitor. In 1968, Bradley was the only African American on air at the station, or at any New York City radio station.

http://www.maynardije.org/programs/history/index/020211_start/ed_bradley/

(The lkink will lead you to several audio bites from Bradley about his career.)

fredfa

11-09-06, 01:59 PM

Passings
Ed Bradley, 1941-2006
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline”

at 65 after battling leukemia. The man was a consummate newsman and the classiest of acts, an African-American who was quietly a news pioneer without ever calling attention to the fact.

When CBS needed someone to interview Spike Lee or the Rev. Jesse Jackson, it was Bradley who got the assignment. But he was hardly a token black face in the network news world. He was a pro with a smooth delivery and well-honed instincts. You never got the feeling that Bradley was either mailing it in or tossing softballs.

But what I'll probably remember most about Bradley is the fact he was able to pull off wearing a shiny diamond earring stud -- alternated with a hoop -- better than any older dude I've ever seen. He was low-key and he was unflappable, but he was also uncommonly hip. Can you imagine Andy Rooney trying to wear an earring? How about Morley Safer? Not bloody likely. But on Bradley, it was a perfect fit.

He will be missed.

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

fredfa

11-09-06, 02:12 PM

Passings
Ed Bradley, 1941-2006

I was fortunate to have had the chance to work with Ed Bradley briefly many years ago.

Even then he was a consummate professional, exceedingly intelligent and always careful to get it right.

He was, of course, a top-notch journalist and a trail-blazer for African Americans in broadcast news.

But perhaps of even more importance: he was a wonderful, kind, generous and thoughtful man.

fredfa

11-09-06, 02:18 PM

TV Notebook
Jeri Ryan Tells All About Swimming with CBS' Shark

by Mary Murphy TV Guide

Shark star Jeri Ryan speaks with TV Guide about this week's arresting episode (airing tonight at 10 pm/ET on CBS), life after Seven of Nine and her real-life wedding news.

TV Guide: When are we going to learn more about DA Jessica Devlin, James Woods' ambitious boss on Shark?
Jeri Ryan: This week's episode is the first one where I actually have a lot to do. You find out about Jessica's past, and it humanizes her. It ties into an old case involving a child murderer, before she was the DA. When she first prosecuted the guy 15 years before, he was being defended by James' character, Sebastian Stark. She was convinced he was guilty and did things that weren't on the up-and-up to put him away. Now she finds out she got the wrong guy, and she and Stark end up working together.

TV Guide: How do you feel about your lack of screen time so far?
Ryan: Of course it's frustrating. They keep telling me to be patient. I am happy to be there, but I'm hoping we're going to see more of the character. I want to see how she develops beyond her scolding Stark.

TV Guide: What's that dynamic about?
Ryan: Jessica's not a fan of the mayor and doesn't like how he stuffs things down her throat, like hiring Stark. They've always liked each other deep down, but she has no respect for his lack of ethics and the methods he uses to win a case.

TV Guide: What's it like working with James Woods?
Ryan: We joke that Jimmy's a windup toy. I have never seen anyone with more energy than he has — and that includes when my son [Alex, now 12] was a toddler.

TV Guide: Will your job as Stark's boss rule out a romance?
Ryan: I don't know if it will go beyond the flirtation and banter, but that's certainly fun. I can definitely see it.

TV Guide: Does airing opposite ER worry you?
Ryan: It's such tough competition. It's a huge vote of confidence for the network to give you that time slot, but it's also an enormous amount of pressure.

TV Guide: We heard you're getting married. Details, please?
Ryan: My fiancé, Christophe Eme, is French, so I'm scoping out the Loire valley. We're planning a June wedding. I'm also helping my future mother-in-law find a house.

TV Guide: What kind of event do you envision?
Ryan: It isn't as small as I thought it would be. We don't want a big American thing. We wanted it to be 60 people tops, but it will still be smallish at 80. It will be very French: simple and intimate. The area is so exquisite.

TV Guide: Where did you and Christophe meet?
Ryan: At a charity food event. He was the executive chef at L'Orangerie in L.A. I'm a big foodie — when I met him, I was cooking at a restaurant on Sundays. He was very cute in his chef's coat. Now we co-own Ortolan, a restaurant in Hollywood. It had always been my dream to do this. I played maitre d' every night for the first six months.

TV Guide: Your sexy turn as Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager made you a pop-culture icon. What's that like?
Ryan: I was at the post office with my son yesterday, and somebody said, "Oh, my god, it's Seven of Nine!" It's so surreal, even after all these years.

TV Guide: Men loved that jumpsuit. How about you?
Ryan: It was miserable to wear. It took 20 minutes to get in and out of it. If I needed a bathroom break, production would shut down.

TV Guide: On Shark, Jessica is campaigning for office. You were at the center of a real-life sex scandal during your ex-husband Jack Ryan's run for the U.S. Senate. How did you get through it?
Ryan: You keep your head down. And you learn that Washington is not very different from Hollywood.

http://tvguide.com/News-Views/Interviews-Features/Article/default.aspx?posting={A13A8C3B-6B5E-4BFE-B822-8019DD2D6FBE}

fredfa

11-09-06, 03:01 PM

Passings
Ed Bradley: Smart, tenacious and cool
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” November 09, 2006

Journalists are a lot of things – curious, persistent, questioning, tenacious.

Ed Bradley, the longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent who passed away Thursday, was all those things and more. But he had one more quality few journalists have: He was cool.

Bradley was one of the first African-American journalists to break into the top tier of broadcast journalism. For that, and for his many other accomplishments, he will be long remembered.

But it’s hard not to also think of him as one of the coolest news guys who ever graced our TV screens.

It wasn’t just the earring. Bradley began wearing an earring in one ear about 20 years ago. It was just a tiny gold ring, a CBS spokesman assured a UPI writer just before the jewelry debuted on “60 Minutes” in the fall of 1987. “You probably won’t even notice it,” the spokesman said.

Of course people noticed it. How could they not? In the starchy, hidebound world of broadcast journalism at the time, he may as well have worn a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses as well. It was a small act of rebellion, and as such, it made the suave, unflappable newsman seem even cooler.

Of course the earring wasn’t the be-all and end-all of Bradley’s career, during which he won 19 Emmys and countless important journalist awards. Bradley was wounded in Cambodia while on assignment as a correspondent for CBS News in 1973, yet he volunteered to go back to cover the fall of Cambodia and Indochina.

He did important stories on everything from Timothy McVeigh to forced labor camps in China to AIDS in Africa. One “60 Minutes” journalist told the New York Daily News in June that Bradley was “the rock of the show.” Still, that same Daily News story said that Bradley was unhappy with his treatment from CBS News executives, who, according to the piece, wanted to promote younger news personalities on the show.

Bradley’s passing Thursday, from leukemia, is another sign that this is the twilight of the TV news titans. Ted Koppel is doing fine work – but he’s not on ABC any longer, he’s working for Discovery Channel.

Dan Rather, who appeared in comedic mode on “The Daily Show” Tuesday, is working on a news program that debuts on the tiny HDNet Tuesday. Another “60 Minutes” correspondent, Mike Wallace, retired from the show earlier this year. ABC’s Peter Jennings, of course, passed away a year ago.

Do the present and up-and-coming generation of news personalities have the weight and the chops of old-school broadcast journalists such as Ed Bradley? It’s hard to say.

One thing is for certain: They’re nowhere near as cool

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

dad1153

11-09-06, 03:47 PM

flint350

11-09-06, 03:50 PM

Interesting how, as posted here, when viewers supposedly want "hard facts" they supposedly only turn to CNN. While only those viewers with a "right wing agenda" would even consider FNC, according to some here. Now there's a fair and balanced assessment. Not to mention the pseudo-psychological analysis that purports to know what FNC viewers really think and that they "wouldn't dream of watching any other news channel no matter what is happening in the world." I'd love to see the source material for this wildly over-generalized conclusion posted here as fact, rather than the skewed personal opinion it really is.

Seems to me those who so easily ascribe agendas to others based on their own biases are often, in reality, the ones with the real agendas. As someone else suggested, many of us watch the important stuff based on the size of the reporting organization/camera coverage - not agenda issues. But maybe that's too difficult a concept for some to comprehend, that we're not all simply sheep.

humdinger70

11-09-06, 05:25 PM

Something not mentioned in any of the preceding articles on Ed Bradley.

He was also the regular host of "Live from Lincoln Center", an NPR (?) radio program that focused on jazz musicians. (I would hear it from time to time on my local San Diego jazz station, KSDS-FM).

fredfa

11-09-06, 06:15 PM

TV Sports
Cox Cuts Deal for NFL Games
By John M. Higgins Broadcasting & Cable11/9/2006

Customers of Cox Communications will be able see a controversial package of live football games that NFL Network starts airing this month, but at not as many subscribers as the league has sought.

When the NFL Network’s new eight-game, Thursday-Saturday package kicks off on Thanksgiving, Cox agreed will carry the matches, but only on a digital sports and information tier seen by a relatively small portion of its subscriber base. Anyone can buy the tier, but currently only 35% of Cox's subscribers get digital and only 60% of those buy the sports and information tier. Hence, only 21% of Cox’s subscriber will get the NFL games. .

The NFL has sought to use the new package of live games to secure wide carriage on cable systems’ basic tiers. However, Cox systems has an older deal allowing them to pay an extra fee for the live games, but keep NFL Network on the sports tier. This way, the additional costs only effect the bills of sports fans willing to pay up, rather than every single basic subscriber. “We are pleased to be offering the games in a way that is appropriate for our customers and gives them ability to choose,” says Bob Wilson, Cox’s senior vice president of programming. Depending on the market, other channels on the tier include ESPN News, NBA TV, Fox Soccer Channel; Fit TV, ESPN classic and Fuel.

The league badly needs to boost penetration after passing on $400 million in annual rights fees it could have commanded by selling the eight games to an outside network. That’s a $2.4 billion investment in the cable network in game rights alone. The league is spending $100 million to market the network, aimed largely at prodding subscribers to lobby their cable operators or switch to satellite TV. The network is currently in 41 million homes, 27 million of those via satellite carriers. Comcast -- the largest cable operator -- is carrying the network on a somewhat favorable digital tier for this season, but in January plans to shove the network on to a very thinly-viewed sports tier.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6390058

fredfa

11-09-06, 06:23 PM

Obituary
Ed Bradley, Veteran CBS Newsman, Dies
By Jacques Steinberg The New York Times November 9, 2006 (Maria Newman contributed reporting.)

Ed Bradley, a pioneering black journalist who was a fixture in American living rooms on Sunday nights for more than a quarter century on “60 Minutes,” died today. He was 65.

Mr. Bradley died at Mt. Sinai Medical Center of complications from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, said Dr. Valentin Fuster, his cardiologist and the director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mt. Sinai. Mr. Bradley, who underwent a quintuple bypass operation on his heart in 2003, was diagnosed with leukemia "many years ago,” Dr. Fuster said, but it had not posed a threat to his life until recently, when he contracted an infection.

His most recent segments on “60 Minutes” had been on Oct. 15 (on the rape case involving Duke University lacrosse players) and on Oct. 29 (an investigation of an oil refinery explosion in Texas). Even many close colleagues had not known that his health had been deteriorating precipitously for several weeks. On the day that last segment was broadcast, he was admitted to Mt. Sinai. He remained there until his death. “This has been a long battle which he fought silently and courageously,” said Charlayne Hunter-Gault of the “News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” who was one of several close friends at Mr. Bradley’s side when he died this morning. “He didn’t want people to know that this was a part of his struggle. He didn’t want people feeling sorry for him. And for a good part of his life, he managed it.”

To generations of television viewers, Mr. Bradley was a sober presence — albeit one who occasionally wore a stud in one ear — whose reporting across four decades ranged from the Vietnam War and Cambodian refugee crisis to the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and the Oklahoma City bombing (his was the only television interview with Timothy McVeigh). He won 19 Emmy awards, including one for “lifetime achievement” in 2003.

But Mr. Bradley’s life off camera was often as rich and compelling as the one in the studio. Having begun his broadcast career as a disc jockey in Philadelphia, Mr. Bradley was an enormous fan of many forms of music — particularly jazz and gospel — who counted the musicians Wynton Marsalis, George Wien and Aaron Neville among his many friends and made a regular pilgrimage to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

“I made the mistake once of letting him get onstage with my band, and he never stopped doing it,” the singer Jimmy Buffett, a friend of Mr. Bradley’s for 30 years who was also with him when he died, said in a telephone interview today. Mr. Bradley had many nicknames throughout his life — including “Big Daddy,” when he played football in the 1960’s at Cheyney State College in Pennsylvania — but his favorite, according to Ms. Hunter-Gault and Mr. Buffett, was “Teddy Badly,” which Mr. Buffett bestowed on him on stage the first time Mr. Bradley played tambourine at his side.

“Everybody in my opinion needs a little Mardi Gras in their life,” Mr. Buffett said, “and he liked to have a little more than the average person on occasion.”

“He was such a great journalist,” Mr. Buffett added, “but he still knew how to have a good time.”

Mr. Bradley, who grew up in Philadelphia, broke into broadcasting as a news reporter for WDAS-FM radio in his hometown. Following that job, he was hired in 1967 as a reporter for WCBS radio in New York.

In 1971, he joined CBS News as a stringer in its Paris bureau and then a year later was transferred to the Saigon bureau. He became a CBS News correspondent in April 1973 and, shortly thereafter, was wounded while on assignment in Cambodia. Mr. Bradley joined 60 Minutes during the 1981-82 season. Among the Emmys he won throughout his career was one for a report on the reopening of the 50-year-old racial murder case of Emmett Till.

Last fall, the National Association of Black Journalists honored Mr. Bradley, who was among the first wave of African Americans to break into network television news, with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I grew up in Philadelphia rather protected from life in the South,” Mr. Bradley said at the association’s awards ceremony in Washington. “Emmitt Till and I were the same age when he was killed, and that was my introduction to the reality of life in this country for a black person in the mid 50’s. When we were awarded an Emmy earlier this year for this story, I said it was the most important Emmy I had ever received. I would say the same thing about your recognition tonight.”

Mr. Bradley is survived by his wife, Patricia Blanchet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/business/media/10bradleycnd.html?ei=5094&en=4b4ab7903c1c0f97&hp=&ex=1163134800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print