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fredfa

12-17-06, 12:21 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Race and gender issues boiling over "Survivor: Cook Islands"
Finale tonight 8 PM ET/PT
By Susan Young Oakland Tribune

“Survivor” creator Mark Burnett has always known just which buttons were ripe for the pushing.

In fact, early on he corrected people who criticized "Survivor" for being more manipulation than reality.

"I never called my show a reality show, you all did. I've always called it entertainment," Burnett said after once again being castigated for being the P.T. Barnum of "reality" shows. "I do whatever it takes to engage and entertain my audience."

After hitting big with the first two cycles in 2000 and 2001 — each averaged about 29 million viewers — last spring's "Survivor: Panama" hit an all-time low of 16 million viewers. Several sponsors, including Coca-Cola and Home Depot, had already backed out of the series because of the sliding ratings.

So with sagging media interest in "Survivor," a once red-hot series that ignited CBS' rise from the ratings cellar and inspired the creation of "Lost," Burnett tapped into the nation's simmering undercurrent of troubled race relations to garner some headlines.

Burnett tossed out the old formula of getting contestants on the show and actively recruited members of minority communities. He then popped the ultimate gotcha by dividing the tribes along racial lines.

Burnett got his headlines.

While the sponsors had opted out even before the division was conceived, according to host Jeff Probst, others in the "Survivor" camp seemed to enjoy the added bonus of people writing and talking about the sponsor

defection as part of the racial element.

Burnett knew he had stumbled onto a great peg for this season, yet he fumbled the ball before he reached the goal line. After getting the initial media reaction he wanted, he quickly ended the social experiment. The tribes that were divided into African-American, Asian-American, Latino-American and white American were merged

into two tribes.

Which was too bad, especially in light of several celebrities getting tangled up in race-related issues in the past few months.

Even before the "Survivor" debut in September, Mel Gibson was making news for his anti-Semitic rant after an arrest for driving under the influence. His subsequent actions to try explaining his actions opened up a whole new dialogue about the rip tide currents of prejudice in our society.

Then, on Nov. 17, former "Seinfeld" star Michael Richards launched a hate-soaked diatribe against some hecklers during his Laugh Factory stand-up act. The Richards affair appeared to reveal a crack in our social veneer about race relations in America.

And recently, Rosie O'Donnell caused an uproar in the Asian-American community when she decided to describe a visit to her daily show "The View" from a seemingly inebriated Danny DeVito.

"The fact is that it's news all over the world," O'Donnell commented on the Dec. 5 show. "You can imagine in China, it's like 'Ching chong. Danny DeVito, ching, chong, chong, chong, chong. Drunk. 'The View.' Ching chong."

Outrage against O'Donnell has been growing, with the Asian-American Journalist Association speaking out against her "mockery of the Chinese language" and a New York city councilman explaining that it is not a trivial matter.

"It really hits a raw nerve for many people in the community," John C. Liu says. "(We) grew up with these kinds of taunts. We all know that it never ends at the taunts."

Sunah Park e-mailed to say that O'Donnell recently went off on talk show host Kelly Ripa after Ripa got mad at guest host Clay Aiken for putting his hand over her mouth.

Ripa said on air that she didn't know where his hand had been, and O'Donnell complained that it was because of Aiken's alleged sexual orientation that Ripa made the remark.

"Kelly Ripa says something completely innocent and (Rosie) takes it as a homophobic comment. But here she is doing and saying something blatantly racist," Park writes. "I just wish there was as much public and media outrage about what Rosie said as there was to what Michael Richards said. What Rosie said is as offensive to Asians as what Richards said to those African Americans."

O'Donnell has said through her representatives and on her blog that she didn't mean anything by it, that it was just a joke.

"(She) doesn't realize how it perpetuates the racism and discrimination against Asians just by ignoring or

dismissing that mockery of the language as a joke," Park writes.

Not to put too strong a point on a puff series like "Survivor," but perhaps if the premise had been allowed to continue, viewers could have been educated at least a little bit about other ethnic cultures.

Those first few episodes were interesting. Members of the African-American tribe did pep yells about representing in a positive light, while Asian-Americans feared reinforcing stereotypes. The Latino tribe wanted to prove their industriousness, while the white team bemoaned its lack of ethnic identity.

But after the merge, this "Survivor" quickly became one of the more boring editions. San Mateo resident and graduate of Walnut Creek's Northgate High School Yul Kwon has emerged as one of the strong favorites, but he's uneasy in the role. He seems to be guided in large part by his game partner Becky Lee, who urges him to get rid of tough competitor Ozzy Lusth.

Ozzy, Yul, Becky and Sundra Oakley were part of an alliance that vowed to go to the final four. This would mean for the first time in "Survivor" history, the final four would not include a white contestant.

In tonight's finale, for the first time there will be a final three facing a jury of nine. In the past, it has been a final two facing a jury of seven.

And when it's all over, we'll have the answer to the question about whether this was a social experiment or self-serving hype.

"Survivor: Cook Islands" fell squarely into the latter category. But it did achieve — at least briefly — the goal of bringing a more diverse face to primetime television.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/tv/ci_4856475

dad1153

12-17-06, 12:27 PM

The Business of TV
Nielsen gives it the old college try
Student measurement could spike ratings
By Michael Learmonth, Variety December 17, 2006

Add to the latenight cram sessions and boozy "study breaks" another campus tradition: "Grey's Anatomy."

Despite the growing number of alternatives, campus life has never revolved more around the tube, an observation that will soon be supported by hard data as Nielsen Media Research begins measuring college audiences the first week in February.

It's Nielsen's first attempt to measure TV viewing outside the home, a move that will instantly expand the number of ratings points within the hard-to-reach 18-24 demographic and will likely boost ratings for shows that have relatively small ratings but big campus followings like "Veronica Mars," "Adult Swim" and "The Colbert Report."

"Statistically, the numbers are small, but they will add to the 18 to 34 audiences," says CBS research chief David Poltrack.

Preliminary Nielsen data indicates students living on campus watch 25 to 30 hours of television a week -- on par with their off-campus peers --and that college students account for 50% of all TV viewing outside the home, with hotels, workplaces, gyms, bars and restaurants divvying up the other half.

"This is the biggest chunk of out-of-home viewing not being measured," says Turner research chief Jack Wakshlag.

Nielsen has long included college students in the sample, but for the nine months or so that they were away at college, their viewing was counted as zero.

Initially, Nielsen is following the college student children of 125 Nielsen families to campus and will install meters on TVs in dorm rooms or in the common areas of suites. The caveat is that the TV must be under the control of the Nielsen family member, and there will be limited ability to detect how many people are watching at any given time.

While this improves on the current methodology -- ignoring campus viewing altogether -- even a casual observer understands it hardly begins to describe campus TV culture, where viewing parties for "Greys," "24," "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica" are as common as off-campus keg parties.

Social networking site Facebook has clubs for every major TV show. "One of the things TV has going for it is it's free, and students don't like paying for things," says Paul Levinson, professor of media studies at Fordham U., which has active viewing clubs for "24" and "Lost."

On Thursday nights in Gambier, Ohio, for example, the public lounge of Kenyon College's Caples Hall fills up with 30 to 35 students. Pizza is delivered, and at 9 p.m. the channel switches from "The Office" to "Greys."

None of this viewing will show up in the Nielsen sample, because televisions in common areas won't be measured. "That's problematic, because it isn't representative of who is watching the show and how freakishly devoted their fan base is," says Kathryn VanArendonk, 21, a senior English major at Kenyon.

VanArendonk believes that serialized dramas like "24" and "Lost" have increased group-viewing in recent years. "You get together, watch it and spend an hour talking about what just happened," she says.

Students also lead the way in terms of downloading shows, passing around DVDs and time-shifting -- which also isn't counted in the ratings. "With 'Heroes' on at 9 p.m. on Monday, it isn't the easiest time to be stuck in front of the TV, so I watch that on the Internet," says Allison Sunderam, 20, a political science major at Santa Clara U.

The push to include college students began more than a decade ago when broadcast ratings began to decline and increasing numbers of young viewers were lost to cable, videogames and other pastimes.

"At the time, there was enough viewing by young people at home that it wasn't considered a big issue. Business was good and there weren't a lot of alternatives for viewers and advertisers," says Tim Brooks, research director at Lifetime.

But then audiences began to fragment, and as networks increasingly found themselves narrowcasting, pressure built to measure students despite the logistical challenges.

In 1998, Wakshlag, then research head at the WB, proposed simply following the members of Nielsen families when they moved on to college, rather than trying to build a separate sample. As a network targeting 18-34, the WB had a big incentive to find these viewers, as the CW does now.

During a test last February, "Gilmore Girls" added four-tenths of a ratings point when college students were added. Such a boost could mean the difference between another season and cancellation.

In the same test, ratings for Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" increased 19% in the 18-34 demo when college viewing was included. MTV, Comedy Central and TBS' "Sex and the City" also increased by double digits in the 18-34 demo.

"These people have been in the sample, but their viewing wasn't being credited to anybody," says Colleen Fahey Rush, exec VP of research at MTV Networks.

Sports and soaps are other categories also likely to increase. In the Nielsen trial, male students watched 29 hours of TV a week, on average, while women watched 24 hours, a stat that could help ESPN or ABC's college football.

Initially, Nielsen will not be providing the college audience as a discrete group, but when the numbers are added, networks and ad agencies will get a good sense of what is popular on campus, which could be of great significance to marketers desperate to reach the demo.

Even if the new data doesn't change the overall ratings much, shows that rate well on campus are going to draw attention from Madison Avenue, which covets the demo, but has been skeptical about its engagement with advertising.

"The college market is very attractive to a lot of advertisers and marketers from credit cards and movie studios to apparel and beer," says Brad Adgate, senior VP of research at media planner Horizon Media. "It's difficult to get them engaged, but many marketers will embrace them regardless of their engagement."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117955874.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

fredfa

12-17-06, 12:30 PM

Saturday’s 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

12-17-06, 01:42 PM

TV Notebook
'Offensive' phone call by publisher preceded her firing
Comments by Judith Regan, already in hot water over Simpson and Mantle deals, to a lawyer at HarperCollins were last straw, sources say.
By Josh Getlin and Sallie HofmeisterLos Angeles Times Staff Writers December 17, 2006

For weeks, publisher Judith Regan had been in trouble with higher-ups over the debacle of the canceled O.J. Simpson book and TV deal. But her firing swiftly followed a Friday afternoon phone call from her Los Angeles office to a HarperCollins attorney that included comments that were characterized as offensive, two highly placed corporate sources said Saturday.

The comments, the precise nature of which was not disclosed, came just before News Corp., the parent company of HarperCollins, held its annual holiday party, an expensive hotel bash in Manhattan attended by more than 4,000 people. Regan's company, Los Angeles-based ReganMedia, is a unit of HarperCollins.

As the book world gossiped over Regan's sudden fall, HarperCollins announced Saturday that Cal Morgan, her longtime editorial director, would take over the leadership of her division, which recently moved its offices from New York to Century City.

The company "will continue operations under the able leadership of Editorial Director Cal Morgan, reporting to Michael Morrison, president and group publisher of Harper/Morrow," according to a statement issued by Jane Friedman, HarperCollins CEO and president. The statement also said that "any future decisions relating to the imprint name or the publication of unpublished books will be addressed at the appropriate time."

One highly placed News Corp. source, however, questioned the viability of the imprint, and its ability to make further inroads into Hollywood, without its founder. "Without Regan, what's the point?" said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

As for Regan's alleged comments during the phone call, "we do not comment on personnel matters," said HarperCollins spokeswoman Erin Crum. Regan was unreachable Saturday, and Suzanne Wickham, chief publicist for ReganBooks, did not return calls. Morgan also did not return calls, and no one appeared to be home Saturday afternoon at his house in Brentwood.

Senior executives at News Corp. said Saturday that although Regan was let go not because of the controversy over either the O.J. Simpson project or another contentious book, a forthcoming fictional "reimagining" of Mickey Mantle's life that had drawn advance criticism for its salacious content, both incidents contributed to her downfall at the company.

"It was an accumulation of her behavior," said one of those executives, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the legal sensitivity of the issue.

The two News Corp. insiders said Regan was not held entirely responsible for the O.J. embarrassment because the project had been signed off on by senior management. But they added that the double whammy of the O.J. incident, closely followed by a wave of negative publicity about the Mantle book, scheduled for publication March 1, put her career at the company "on thin ice," as one executive put it.

The last straw, however, came Friday afternoon, when Regan, working in her office in Los Angeles, blew up on the phone at a lawyer from HarperCollins in New York who had been helping the publisher handle problems with the Mantle book. Regan was dismissed for cause shortly after that phone call, according to a high-level source.

Regan was informed of her dismissal by a letter faxed to her office late Friday, according to the source. Regan apparently packed up her office and left that evening, even as some of her colleagues attended News Corp.'s annual holiday party at the New York Hilton, where executives and the rank and file — more than 4,000 people, some dressed in ball gowns — crammed into various halls, each decorated in the theme of a different continent.

One person who was at the party said few people celebrating were aware of Regan's firing, outside of a handful of top executives, including News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and HarperCollins' Friedman. News Corp. spokesman Gary Ginsberg said Saturday that Regan had been terminated but would not comment further.

On Saturday, Regan's Century City offices where shuttered, and no employees were available to comment on her termination.

Major players in the publishing world, however, could not contain their amazement at the rapid series of events.

"I'm shocked, I'm really surprised," said Sara Nelson, editor of Publishers Weekly. "I had written a week ago that I didn't think she was really in any trouble, that she had gotten her hand slapped, and the rest would be history."

Regan's abrupt departure appeared to signal the end of her effort to blend publishing content and TV and movie production at News Corp., which is run by Murdoch and includes Fox News, 20th Century Fox, television stations across the country, the New York Post and many other holdings. Besides book publishing, she has also branched into television, with reality shows including "Growing Up Gotti."

But Friedman, who has long had a branch of her publishing office on the 20th Century Fox lot, has also promoted aggressive efforts to find synergy between books, TV shows, movies and the Internet. By bringing ReganBooks more closely under her organizational control, she may have strengthened her hand and also gotten rid of Regan, who was a bitter rival in the corporation.

"There was a lot of tension in that corporation, and this was a way to solve it," veteran New York literary agent and former publisher Ira Silverberg said of the firing. "These companies are like any workplace; when there's a lot of tension, they think of the best way to defuse it for everybody involved."

Silverberg predicted that Regan, who has chalked up major successes in the publishing world — promoting national bestsellers by Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh, as well as Jenna Jameson's "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star" — would continue to find success in new ventures.

One well-placed publishing industry source said there were reports that Regan had begun preliminary talks with several TV networks for a possible job.

"She is many things, but stupid is not one of them," said the source, who asked not to be identified. "It would make sense for her to be looking for Plan B at a time like this, when she might be replaced."

Morgan, who is replacing Regan, is a veteran editor who spent 11 years at St. Martins Press before joining forces with Regan in May 1999. He had previously published authors including James Herriot, Patrick McGilligan and Florence King. At ReganBooks, he has worked on titles including "The Case Against Hillary Clinton" by Peggy Noonan and "Business Is Combat" by James D. Murphy. He also worked on Arianna Huffington's bestseller "How to Overthrow the Government."

Earlier this year, when Regan was finishing plans to relocate her staff to Los Angeles, she said Morgan "went to Yale; he's a tweedy intellectual publishing type, and when I asked him what he thought of this move, he looked at me and said, 'Are you crazy?' But I said he should come out to Los Angeles for a few days, and he loved it. If Cal Morgan can be moved by the Hollywood Hills and the architecture in Los Angeles, so can others."

For his part, Morgan said at the time that he considered the imprint's move to Los Angeles "very forward-looking," because too many people in publishing had a New York-centric attitude.

"The mission of this business is to reflect the full breadth of American culture, but it all takes place on a few square miles of Manhattan," he added

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-me-regan17dec17,1,1366295,full.story?coll=la-headlines-business-enter

dad1153

12-17-06, 02:01 PM

RussTC3

12-17-06, 02:18 PM

I'm extremely curious to see what type of effect the Nielsen college measurement will have on ratings.

It's something that truly isn't talked about much when discussing ratings, it happens a lot. I know personally that though I watch some shows by myself, there are others (such as "24" and "The Office") that I watch with a group of friends or on some occasions with family.

I've never understood how Nielsen can accurately estimate how many "people", not households, are watching a show.

fredfa

12-17-06, 02:19 PM

Ms. Regan blew up (on the phone and in person) regularly to almost everyone.

Whatever it was, this was not something new, nor behavior which hadn't been experienced, many, many times, before.

fredfa

12-17-06, 05:49 PM

Top 10 Lists
Plot twists are not all written
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times TV critic Dec. 17, 2006

What sticks out about '06 is Stephen Colbert's routine at the White House Correspondents' Assn. Dinner, Spike Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke" and the arrival of Showtime's "Dexter." Given the ever-expanding offerings — you could do a list of Top 10 Internet video, including but not limited to lonelygirl15 and Michael Richards' Laugh Factory tirade — here's a loosely categorized, fuzzy-eyed look at the year past. On TV, that is.

Best plot twist: "The Sopranos." Series creator David Chase divided fans of his HBO hit with the two-episode fugue state that kicked off the sixth season, when Tony was left in a coma after being shot by his demented Uncle Junior. But the sequence re-established "The Sopranos' " big-tent themes and willingness to test the bounds of viewer involvement.

Biggest tempest in a teapot: Katie Couric, anchor of "CBS Evening News." The move was designed to make a lot of noise, to touch off a referendum on the role of broadcast news and whether a morning person had any business being on at night. Mission accomplished. Only the news failed to change.

Best career move: Michael C. Hall. Granted, he was coming off a boutique hit, HBO's "Six Feet Under," but Hall's performance as a kinder, gentler —but still emotionally absent — sociopath on Showtime's "Dexter" is more than arguably the most consistent performance in a TV series right now.

Best stare: Michael Emerson, "Lost." As Henry Gale, chief executive officer of the Others on ABC's "Lost," Emerson has the bug-eyed thing down pat. On a show that derives much of its tension from the extreme close-up, Emerson's in-your-face face is the best mood-setter this show has left.

Best flameout: "Emily's Reasons Why Not." You couldn't miss the billboards for this misbegotten comedy, but ABC made sure you missed the series, canceling it after one very-low-rated episode and thus depriving legions of Heather Graham fans from gifting the first-season DVD at the holidays.

Best talk-show apology: Michael Richards, "The Late Show With David Letterman." There was Vice President's Dick Cheney's mea culpa for shooting his lawyer friend while quail hunting on Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and Mel Gibson's olive branch to the Jews via "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer. Refresh me: Did any of these men actually apologize, as in "I'm sorry for (insert stage-managed description of supposed transgression here)"? No, wait, I distinctly remember Richards using the word "apologize." So he wins.

Best use of my television for your personal hobby: CNBC's "Conversations With Michael Eisner" and Dane Cook's "Tourgasm" on HBO (a tie). Which was the comedy, and which involved narcissists droning on and on into a camera? We'll let you play around with that one.

Best casting, top to bottom: "The Wire." There are various entry points for talking about the achievements of this series, but in its fifth season on HBO, "The Wire" had four new male protagonists, all 16 and younger, not to mention Felicia Pearson as the nailgun-wielding Snoop, the most ineffable character on TV this year.

Best metrosexual costuming: "Ugly Betty." The men at Mode dress in very primary colors, hot magentas and exciting blues, and not just the gay ones. ABC's adaptation of "Ugly Betty," the much-beloved/translated telenovela, is like staring at a lollipop as it turns into different shapes and colors.

Best sound of silences: White House correspondents' dinner. Stephen Colbert's keynote monologue ("He stands for things," Colbert said, as the leader of the free world looked on. "Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares") seemed to leave the room, not to mention the president and first lady, wearing the kind of smile that hurts.

The worst

In April, after some half-dozen episodes, ABC cancels "Sons & Daughters," a superbly cast, partly improvised, hungry sitcom about a mixed-up extended family in Ohio. In November, it airs "Big Day," a completely starved, bankrupt series about a mixed-up extended family in Connecticut.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-brownfield17dec17,0,5138075.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

12-17-06, 05:55 PM

Top 10 Lists
A surprisingly inventive bunch
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times TV critic Dec. 17, 2006

There are times when a list like this seems an impossible chore, but in what felt like a particularly good, inventive year even for mainstream television (read: fewer new cop shows), many more programs might have made this list. But these are some that came from an unexpected angle and took me out of myself, either by delight or awe or through suspense or sympathy. It is always nice to be surprised.

"Animals" (Ogilvy & Mather New York). Endlessly re-watchable American Express ad, in which Ellen DeGeneres lives out her childhood ambition — to work with animals — by letting them run her television show. Possibly the most perfect 120 seconds of TV this year.

"Brotherhood" (Showtime). In some respects the anti-"Sopranos," this involving tale of two Irish American brothers, one a politician, one a crook (and each a little of the other), in Providence, R.I., was all the more convincing for its slow pace and quiet tone.

"30 Rock" (NBC). Absurdity is played straight in Tina Fey's brainy show about competing kinds of logic/illogic, set backstage at a sketch comedy. Now compatibly installed in a Thursday lineup of skewed sitcoms.

"The Upside Down Show" (Noggin). Australian import for kiddies (of any age) mixes dry humor and physical exuberance as duo David Collins and Shane Dundas transform space via "mime with noise" — what you don't see is what you get.

"Ugly Betty" (ABC). Although the worldwide domination of the "Betty la Fea" franchise might have betokened its domestic success, this charming, ever-deepening urban fairy tale is like nothing else on network television, from its nonstandard heroine to the cool flamboyance of its production design.

"The New Adventures of Old Christine" (CBS). A top-flight, old-school, personality-centered sitcom. Hail to thee, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, your stuttering rhythms, your dogged hopefulness.

"Wonder Pets!" (Nickelodeon). A duckling, a turtle and a guinea pig travel the world saving baby animals while singing light opera. Could you have imagined this?

"Country Boys" (PBS). The poor are nearly absent from American television. David Sutherland's six-hour documentary went deep into the Kentucky hollers to tell the story of two boys attempting in fits and starts to break free from history, and told it in depth, at length and without judgment.

"When the Levees Broke" (HBO). Spike Lee's generous Hurricane Katrina documentary masterfully orchestrated a wide array of regional voices into a compelling narrative of novelistic heft and scope.

Edie Falco, in the first few episodes of this year's "The Sopranos" (HBO). The season went astray after Tony woke up from his coma, but while he was out, Falco gave us the unvarnished Carmella, too worn down to do anything but feel.

The worst

There may have been worse series put on the air this year ("twentyfourseven," anyone?), but measured in terms of waste of talent, none I saw were more vexing than NBC's sub-geriatric sitcom "Twenty Good Years." But these are just bad shows: Far worse is the continuing disinclination of the FCC (or at least of its chairman, former telecom lobbyist Kevin Martin, following in the ideological footsteps of Michael Powell) to act as a custodian of the people's trust, preferring to strew rose petals in the path of runaway media conglomeration. Bad for everyone but the conglomerates.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-lloyd17dec17,0,1495371.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

12-17-06, 05:58 PM

fredfa

12-17-06, 06:12 PM

Critic’s Notebook
'A Perfect Day' entertaining and thought-provoking
Monday at 8, 10 and midnight (ET) TNT-HD
By Jeanne Jakle San Antonio Express-News

Finally, a new Christmas movie that makes you think as well as feel.

Not surprisingly, "A Perfect Day" is based on a book by Richard Paul Evans, the same author who gave us the memorably poignant tale of 12 yuletides ago, "The Christmas Box."

Similar to the classic Frank Capra film "It's a Wonderful Life," TNT's original offering has the hero finally appreciating the really important aspects of his life when he fears losing all through death.

In "A Perfect Day," premiering at 7 p.m. (CT) Monday on TNT, Robert Harlan (Rob Lowe) drops the selfish notions that accompany sudden success and wealth when he believes he's about to die. Only then does he remember the precious intangibles he's about to lose and clings desperately to the people he loves.

When the movie begins, Robert is at a low point. He's fired from his longtime radio sales job just when he thought he was in line for a promotion.

His supportive wife, Allyson (Paget Brewster), convinces him to turn the negative into a positive and return to writing a book that he'd put on the backburner.

His novel is based on a sad time in his wife's life — the loss of her father. When she reads it, she's incredibly moved and urges him to get it out there. He enlists the help of Camille, a friend who's also an agent (Frances Conroy). It's tough going at first, but the book soon grabs readers' hearts and shoots up the best-seller list. Offers of magazine covers and TV interviews pour in.

With this onslaught of fame and fortune, Harlan begins to change — and not for the better. He becomes insufferably egotistical and says all kinds of pretentious things on "Larry King Live," not even acknowledging his wife as the inspiration for his book.

Worse, he virtually ignores Allyson when a beautiful fawning publicist (Rowena King) takes him under her wing and schedules him for appearances around the country that run from Halloween all the way to Christmas.

His daughter Carson (Meggie Geisland) also suffers neglect; she can't make it through her Thanksgiving play without bursting into tears.

Allyson is further alarmed when Carson begins to parrot her dad and speaks of material things as if they were life's priorities.

The last straw arrives when Allyson's beloved aunt dies and Robert doesn't stop his roller coaster ride to accompany her to the funeral. After all, wasn't his wife's grief over a death what inspired Robert to write in the first place?

He seems to have forgotten all that, just as he forgets the help of his agent who jumped aboard when he was nobody. He decides to drop Camille in favor of someone more prestigious.

Robert is slowly awakened, however, when a mysterious stranger (Christopher Lloyd) begins to shadow him and prophesizes that he's about to lose everything . . .

including his life.

The movie ends on Christmas, with a strange twist that might be difficult to buy. No matter. The tale is so wonderful, the acting so believable, the message so true, that the artifice of the end can be easily forgiven.

Making the story even stronger is the fact it's relatable to just about anyone who's had a modicum of success — and has allowed ego to take precedence over friends and family. Writer Evans said he certainly wasn't above this failing. "My first book was about learning the value of your own family and children and putting priorities right," he relates in TNT's press materials. "It was a week before Christmas, and I was leaving home to be on a TV show. I went to kiss my daughter goodbye, and she said, 'Dad, why did you write a book about spending time with your children, and now you're leaving again?' I felt a stab right through the heart."

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/columnists/jjackle/stories/MYSA121706.0P.jakle.17fc50c2.html

dad1153

12-17-06, 07:21 PM

The two previously posted Los Angeles Times columns pretty much clinch slots for Brownfield and Lloyd in my own personal top-five of TV columnists who feel they must show how intelligent they are and how stupid viewers are awards.

It is pretty easy to see why TV viewers really don't need to waste their time reading the LA Times TV critics.

(And why does a financially struggling paper need TWO such egregiosuly pompous critics? Isn't the Tribune Company trying to shave costs?)

I don't know. At least both critics mentioned two moments from the past Sopranos season (the Kevin Finnerty coma sequence and Faldo's performance) that I felt were among the best and most overlooked moments on TV this past year. It's become 'chic' to hate 'The Sopranos,' just as it has been 'chic' for years to bash Saturday Night Live for its terrible writing. Every other critic that smells blood and has become a 'Sopranos' basher seems to be doing it to mirror the audience's contempt for being made to wait endlessly for episodes that didn't fulfill their expectations of Season 2-caliber greatness. I guess since I watched each every episode of 'Sopranos' at least twice this year (the 9PM Sunday premiere and one of the weekday repeats) I picked-up nuances, subplots and throaway lines that made each subsequent viewing much, much more fun than the premiere. Carmela's trip to Paris and Tony's coma inner trip were filled with so many juxtapositions and meaning/depth a whole book could be written just about these three episodes. Call it masochism but I actually enjoyed having my expectations and loyalty as a 'Sopranos' viewers challenged and unfulfilled by David Chase & Co. And this coming from someone that was told years ago in person by Federico Castelluccio (Furio from seasons 2-4) what Chase is like and thinks of the audience when he (Federico) came by our business to put together a demo reel.

But yeah, two critics in one newspaper that think alike? If I were the editor I'd try to get me two completely different reviewers to cover as many tastes and potential viewing options as there are in the city of L.A. Something for Mr. Geffen to think about is his $2 billion bid for the newspaper comes through. :rolleyes:

dad1153

12-17-06, 07:38 PM

I'm extremely curious to see what type of effect the Nielsen college measurement will have on ratings.

It will probably add a few hundreds of thousands of 18-34 viewers to shows/networks that appeal to young people (Adult Swim, 'Conan O'Brien,' college basketball games on ESPN, 'Lost,' etc.). Doesn't sound like that many viewers but since they're mostly in the 'golden' demo the networks want them, and want them bad.

dad1153

12-17-06, 07:43 PM

The Business of TV
TWC, DirecTV settle ad dispute
By Paul J. Gough, Hollywood Reporter December 17, 2006

Time Warner Cable said Thursday that DirecTV has agreed not to run ads saying that the MSO's customers in New York won't be able to watch the New York Giants-Washington Redskins game Dec. 30.

The companies agreed to what TWC called a "stipulated injunction," which was approved by Judge Laura Taylor Swain of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. TWC confirmed the agreement, but DirecTV declined comment.

The Giants-Redskins game is part of the primetime regular-season package that started last month on the NFL Network, which isn't carried by TWC.

TWC filed suit last week against DirecTV in U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleging that the satellite provider falsely said that the game wouldn't be shown in the New York region unless a viewer subscribed to a service, like DirecTV, that offers the NFL Network (HR 12/9).

The game will in fact air live on WNBC-TV.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i16891de0eed2dafec040d8ffbf444bd8

fredfa

12-17-06, 08:11 PM

I don't know. At least both critics mentioned two moments from the past Sopranos season (the Kevin Finnerty coma sequence and Faldo's performance) that I felt were among the best and most overlooked moments on TV this past year. It's become 'chic' to hate 'The Sopranos,' just as it has been 'chic' for years to bash Saturday Night Live for its terrible writing. Every other critic that smells blood and has become a 'Sopranos' basher seems to be doing it to mirror the audience's contempt for being made to wait endlessly for episodes that didn't fulfill their expectations of Season 2-caliber greatness. I guess since I watched each every episode of 'Sopranos' at least twice this year (the 9PM Sunday premiere and one of the weekday repeats) I picked-up nuances, subplots and throaway lines that made each subsequent viewing much, much more fun than the premiere. Carmela's trip to Paris and Tony's coma inner trip were filled with so many juxtapositions and meaning/depth a whole book could be written just about these three episodes. Call it masochism but I actually enjoyed having my expectations and loyalty as a 'Sopranos' viewers challenged and unfulfilled by David Chase & Co. And this coming from someone that was told years ago in person by Federico Castelluccio (Furio from seasons 2-4) what Chase is like and thinks of the audience when he (Federico) came by our business to put together a demo reel.

But yeah, two critics in one newspaper that think alike? If I were the editor I'd try to get me two completely different reviewers to cover as many tastes and potential viewing options as there are in the city of L.A. Something for Mr. Geffen to think about is his $2 billion bid for the newspaper comes through. :rolleyes:

Without even getting in to specifics about "The Sopranos" (we'll just have to agree to disagree -- I thought this most recent "season" was pedestrian at best) I was struck by the fact that both Brownfield and Lloyd apparently felt they had to stay away from almost everything that is popular on network TV.

And that does a disservice to most viewers/readers.

I'd be happier with critics who wrote a year-end network TV best and worst column and then another column highlighting cable shows they felt the viewers were too dumb or lazy to watch.

That would be more honest, to me, anyway.

On the other hand it has been fun watching so many TV critics backtrack quickly. Generally they didn't think much of "Heroes" for example, now they fall all over themselvesw to praise it.

They (almost unanimously) did love the pilot of "Studio 60" yet now they can't stop talking about how the show hasn't lived up to its potential or expectations or something.

Last year they hated "The Unit" and detested "Criminal Minds". Now they seem to sniffle at the horrible taste of the American public. "CM" they say, is so violent and dark....then they go on to expound at length about how wonderful "Dexter" is.

Hello? Can we spot a disconnect here?

(In the interest of full dislosure, personally I don't enjoy either "Criminal Minds" or "The Unit". Or, "Dexter" for that matter.)

But unlike most critics (with the exception of Tom Shales, Matt Roush, Rich Heldenfels, Maureen Ryan and a handful of others) I tend to believe there is far more high-quality TV available right now on network TV than at any time in the history of the medium. (And most of it, thankfully in HD!)

In addition, we don't just have three channels to choose from anymore. And if you go back 10, 20, 30 or 40 years and compare the quality of the top 20 or 30 programs each year, you'd be hard-pressed to make an argument that the old days were truly better -- even if you only compared today's network prime time programming.

And when you add in the cable and premium cable programs readily available, there simply is too much good TV for any sane person to watch. At least there is too much for me.

RussTC3

12-17-06, 09:01 PM

I miss "Sons and Daughters". :(

What a wonderfully well-acted, superbly done comedy.

TommyK

12-17-06, 10:30 PM

Without even getting in to specifics about "The Sopranos" (we'll just have to agree to disagree -- I thought this most recent "season" was pedestrian at best) I was struck by the fact that both Brownfield and Lloyd apparently felt they had to stay away from almost everything that is popular on network TV.

And that does a disservice to most viewers/readers.

I'd be happier with critics who wrote a year-end network TV best and worst column and then another column highlighting cable shows they felt the viewers were too dumb or lazy to watch.

That would be more honest, to me, anyway.

On the other hand it has been fun watching so many TV critics backtrack quickly. Generally they didn't think much of "Heroes" for example, now they fall all over themselvesw to praise it.

They (almost unanimously) did love the pilot of "Studio 60" yet now they can't stop talking about how the show hasn't lived up to its potential or expectations or something.

Last year they hated "The Unit" and detested "Criminal Minds". Now they seem to sniffle at the horrible taste of the American public. "CM" they say, is so violent and dark....then they go on to expound at length about how wonderful "Dexter" is.

Hello? Can we spot a disconnect here?

(In the interest of full dislosure, personally I don't enjoy either "Criminal Minds" or "The Unit". Or, "Dexter" for that matter.)

But unlike most critics (with the exception of Tom Shales, Matt Roush, Rich Heldenfels, Maureen Ryan and a handful of others) I tend to believe there is far more high-quality TV available right now on network TV than at any time in the history of the medium. (And most of it, thankfully in HD!)

In addition, we don't just have three channels to choose from anymore. And if you go back 10, 20, 30 or 40 years and compare the quality of the top 20 or 30 programs each year, you'd be hard-pressed to make an argument that the old days were truly better -- even if you only compared today's network prime time programming.

And when you add in the cable and premium cable programs readily available, there simply is too much good TV for any sane person to watch. At least there is too much for me.

Great post, fredfa.

dad1153

12-17-06, 11:01 PM

In Memoriam
We'll miss these stars, craftsmen, pioneers
By Cynthia Littleton, Hollywood Reporter December 18, 2006

Oh, Barn ...

For those of us who can recite most episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" from memory, it was a sad morning in February when the news broke that that Don Knotts had died at age 81.

There is a good reason why the bug-eyed, rubber-limbed comedian won five consecutive Emmys for playing bumbling sheriff's deputy Barney Fife. Nobody ever threw themselves into a role more than Knotts did, with every sinewy, funny fiber of his being. Before CBS' "Andy Griffith," Knotts was a member of the legendary "Steve Allen Show" troupe, and that alone would have earned him a spot in television encyclopedias for all time. But Knotts clearly was a person who just liked to work, and he kept at it until almost the day he moved on to the great Mayberry in the sky.

Dennis Weaver died the same day as Knotts, at the same age and, yes, he too played a beloved law-enforcement sidekick, Chester Goode, deputy to James Arness' Marshal Dillon on CBS' "Gunsmoke." Weaver graduated to boss-cop status and TV's coolest sheepskin coat ever in primetime on NBC's long-running "McCloud."

Darren McGavin, who died in February at 83, didn't have such a long run as way-out-there investigative reporter Carl Kolchak on ABC's wonderfully weird, mid-'70s comedy-horror series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." But the show still managed to influence just about every spooky/fantasy drama to come along since, i.e. "The X-Files" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Dan Curtis, producer of the first "Night Stalker" telefilm for ABC in 1972, died in March at 78. Curtis left the limited special effects of "Night Stalker" behind in the 1980s for the ABC miniseries spectacles "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance."

A pause for remembrance also is due for such giants who died during the past 12 months as NBC News president Reuven Frank, steward of "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" (good night, Reuven); Mike Douglas, the unfailingly warm talk-show conversationalist and song stylist; Ed Bradley, ever-cool, racial-barrier-busting reporter noted for his derring-do on assignment; and the incomparable Aaron Spelling, who was no stranger to this column in his final years.

Elma "Pem" Farnsworth never was a household name in connection with television, but she should have been. She was married to the genius farm-boy television tube inventor Philo T. Farnsworth, and as such she was a key supporter in all of his lab work and doomed business ventures. And to the end of her 98 years, she never stopped agitating to secure her husband proper recognition for his role in advancing the medium.

Other passings that touched the industry this year included Scott Brazil, who worked as a showrunner on FX's "The Shield" until days before his death in April; Jerry Belson, the comedy writer deemed by his longtime writing partner Garry Marshall to be "the funniest man in the world"; and Ralph Story, the radio and TV broadcaster whose finely crafted news and feature reports for KABC-TV and KCBS-TV (nee KNXT-TV) in the 1970s and '80s linger in my memory as gems of a bygone era in Los Angeles TV news.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/columns/tv_reporter/e3i16891de0eed2dafe8990e8e964964f86
____________________________________________________________ _____

Personally I was impacted by the passing of WABC-TV local anchorman Bill Beutel (March 18) and Press Your Luck host Peter Tomarken (March 13). The former was an old-school local news reporter/anchor from the days when local news were still able to command respect as a source of accurate journalism. The latter died alongside his wife tragically while flying their private airplane for Angel Flight West providing volunteer transportation for medical patients. :(

DoubleDAZ

12-17-06, 11:14 PM

Without even getting in to specifics....................there simply is too much good TV for any sane person to watch. At least there is too much for me.I don't care what anyone says, I've never trusted critics of any kind because I've always believed they have ulterior motives or let outside influences affect their critiques. While there is no doubt there are aspects of The Unit, for example, that could certainly be improved, their dislike centered around the very things they like about other programs, like Dexter. Therefore, I often suspect there is some unacknowleded animous toward specific actors, directors, producers, etc., and all of that should be a non-issue in a truly objective critique.

As for the quality of today's offerings being better than in the past, I have to agree, but I do so with some reluctance. Programs like Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, and many others were exceptionally well done for their time. I think we tend to forget that morals were different and censorship played a big role in what couldn't be done than what can be done today. I can't think of a single primetime program today that would have been allowed to air untouched 30 years ago, and that includes the "reality' shows, with thier blurred out and bleeped scenes.

In the past, I loved programs like I've Got A Secret, What's My Line, etc., but can't stand to even watch commercials for today's crop of similar programming, like Identity. The recent Match Game stuff brought back a lot of memories of just how "innocent" programming used to be. Maybe it's just that today's hosts try too hard to be the focus of the show instead of the show itself. Not to single him out, but I just can't imagine Howie Mandel being as upset as Gene Rayburn over a show's cancellation.

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:14 PM

TV Notebook
MyNet in 'meetings' over sked
By Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter Dec 18, 2006

MyNetworkTV is considering cutting back on its strategy of "all telenovelas, all the time," sources said.

The network, which launched Sept. 5, has a schedule comprising two 13-week drama strips, with new episodes airing Monday-Friday and hourlong recaps airing Saturday.

But in light of underwhelming ratings for the dramas, network executives are exploring other options, which could include reducing the number of nights on which the dramas air or throwing nondrama series programming into the mix, sources said.

The first two dramas, "Desire" and the Bo Derek-Morgan Fairchild starrer "Fashion House," each averaged a 0.7 household rating/1 share over their 13-week run.

The newest dramas -- "Wicked Wicked Games," starring Tatum O'Neal, and "Watch Over Me," starring Casper Van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg -- debuted Dec. 6. In their first week on the air (a partial week consisting of three days because the shows debuted on a Wednesday), "Games" averaged a 0.7/1 among households, while "Watch" averaged a 0.6/1.

As for any possible on-air changes, it's believed there's no timetable for a potential revamping of the programming strategy.

A MyNetworkTV representative declined comment other than to say "we have lots of meetings."

When parent News Corp. announced the network in February, it said that it had several shows in development along with the dramas. Among those in the works were "Catwalk," a reality-competition series involving aspiring models; "Celebrity Love Island," a Granada series that would bring together six celebrities and six singles; "America's Brainiest," a quiz show from Celador; and "On Scene," an investigative series that would put viewers at the scenes of crimes and with the people who solve them.

But at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in July, Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and Paul Buccieri, president of programming at Twentieth Television, which produces the dramas, indicated that the network had abandoned those projects in favor of the telenovela-like serials (HR 7/21). Abernethy was firm on his stance that the network was committed to making the telenovela model work, with each show having its full 13-week run no matter the ratings, and likened MyNet to such "genre-driven" networks as Lifetime and Fox News Channel.

Three months later, at a Hollywood Radio & Television Society panel discussion in October, Abernethy admitted that "the ratings are not what we want them to be" after a month and a half on the air (HR 10/20). But, he added at the time, "this is the best thing for us. If something better comes along, we'll consider it, but right now this is the best model for us."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i16891de0eed2dafe2f73a8a009deb1ac

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:17 PM

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:17 PM

Thanks for the kind words, TommyK. :)

Inundated

12-17-06, 11:24 PM

Someone gave me a new DVD of 30 classic "Match Game" programs and I watched a few of them on a plane the other day. I found the episodes just as funny now as they were a generation ago -- and that is VERY funny.

Fred, I've mentioned this elsewhere but forgot where I could find the answer - is there a list of episodes?

A dear friend of mine was on three MG '78 episodes, and I'll buy it for her if any of her episodes are on it!

I have a MG ARWL on my TiVo, but have to sort through a gazillion episodes from GSN, and they're nowhere near '78...

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:30 PM

TV Notebook
Murdoch Is Said to Have Ordered Editor’s Dismissal
By Julie Bosman and Richard Siklos The New York Times December 18, 2006

Rupert Murdoch personally ordered the dismissal of Judith Regan, the publisher of a widely criticized O. J. Simpson book, after he heard reports of a heated conversation Ms. Regan had with a company lawyer on Friday that included comments that were deemed anti-Semitic, according to two people familiar with the News Corporation’s account of the firing.

Mark Jackson, a lawyer with HarperCollins, a division of the News Corporation that includes Ms. Regan’s imprint, reported the alleged comments from a phone conversation with Ms. Regan to Jane Friedman, HarperCollins’s president and chief executive.

“And then Jane called Rupert and Rupert said he won’t tolerate that kind of behavior,” said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Despite the success Ms. Regan brought Mr. Murdoch’s publishing business since he established her imprint in 1994, their relationship had soured in recent weeks as she became involved in a controversy involving the Simpson book and companion television special she had championed.

After some Fox affiliates declined to broadcast the special, the company pulled the project, which featured Mr. Simpson hypothesizing about how he would have murdered his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald L. Goldman.

“You don’t do this in a perfect world because she makes a lot of money,” the person said of Ms. Regan’s dismissal, adding that Mr. Murdoch did not put the blame for the Simpson controversy solely on Ms. Regan.

Several efforts to reach Ms. Regan since her dismissal, including new attempts since the accusations of anti-Semitism surfaced, were unsuccessful.

A News Corporation spokesman declined to comment.

Mr. Murdoch, who had also approved the Simpson project, has not spoken to Ms. Regan since before the imbroglio it provoked but authorized Ms. Friedman to dismiss her, saying her slurs were the final straw after other recent episodes of what were deemed improper behavior, according to one of the people familiar with the News Corporation’s account.

Ms. Regan’s previous successes at the company seemed in sync with Mr. Murdoch’s penchant for pushing the boundaries of public taste and shaking up the media establishment.

The conversation with Mr. Jackson on Friday afternoon was described by sources as heated and confrontational, even for the famously forceful Ms. Regan. Ms. Regan’s alleged comments, which came in the midst of a tense conversation in which she berated Mr. Jackson, were directed at him and Ms. Friedman, who are Jewish, as well as toward other Jews, one of the sources said.

That source would not say specifically what Ms. Regan is alleged to have said, but characterized the comments as offensive and inappropriate, but not a hateful tirade. Still, the source said, it was enough to prompt Mr. Murdoch to dismiss her.

Ms. Friedman, known to have had a testy relationship with Ms. Regan, called Mr. Murdoch in the late afternoon in New York to discuss Ms. Regan’s behavior just as he was preparing to play host to the News Corporation’s annual holiday party for employees from across the company’s subsidiaries, which include the Fox television network, Fox News Channel, The New York Post, the 20th Century Fox film studio and the Web site MySpace.com.

Later that day, at the ReganBooks offices on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, a stunned Ms. Regan was confronted by security guards who arrived with boxes and ordered her to leave, according to an account by a HarperCollins executive that was confirmed by another person familiar with the situation.

“This came completely out of the blue,” one executive said. “She was completely taken by surprise.”

It was an abrupt decision that ended a tumultuous few weeks for Ms. Regan. She had publicly defended herself from what she called the “backstabbers at HarperCollins” during the taping of her Sirius Satellite Radio show on Thursday, according to the industry blog GalleyCat. And within the company, she had become convinced that there were “people trying to take her down,” said a person familiar with the situation.

On Saturday, HarperCollins released a statement announcing that the Regan imprint would continue under Cal Morgan, Ms. Regan’s longtime editorial director.

Ms. Regan was known for her sharp instincts and even sharper elbows, attributes that had served her well in her ascent from cub reporter at The National Enquirer to publisher of her own imprint under HarperCollins.

Although her empire was built on celebrity tell-alls like Drew Barrymore’s “Little Girl Lost” and by bringing the porn star Jenna Jameson and the professional wrestler Mick Foley to the best-seller lists, Ms. Regan also published several highly respected books, including “The Zero” by Jess Walter, a National Book Award finalist this year. She also published political books by writers like Arianna Huffington and Peggy Noonan.

Last year, Mr. Murdoch allowed Ms. Regan to move her operations to Los Angeles, part of a strategy to build synergy between the publishing world and Hollywood. And it seemed to be working well, until the recent Simpson fiasco and a subsequent, though lesser, controversy over a novel about Mickey Mantle that purported to tell tales of drunkenness and sexual promiscuity in the late Yankee slugger’s own voice.

At the heart of the problem, though, was what many executives said was a tense relationship between Ms. Regan and Ms. Friedman, her boss.

“They always had a difficult relationship,” said one executive at a rival publishing house. “I don’t think Jane was ever happy with Judith. You have two very considerable egos.”

While Ms. Regan was rapidly losing credibility over the Simpson book, Ms. Friedman was enjoying a particularly bright moment in the spotlight. She had stayed silent during the Simpson controversy, never speaking to the press.

Last week, Ms. Friedman was named the Publishers Weekly Person of the Year, an honor within the industry. In the article about the award, Ms. Friedman was praised for managing to “distance the company from the book without openly confronting one of her publishers.”

Longtime publishing executives traded in speculation about Ms. Regan’s fate over the weekend, dismissing the idea that there was another company that would give her as much creative and financial autonomy as the News Corporation did.

“I think right this minute people are saying, She’s a pariah and we don’t want her,” said Sara Nelson, the editor in chief of Publishers Weekly. “But I’ve seen enough of publishing to say that that will change.”

Some thought Ms. Regan might opt for Hollywood, her home of less than two years.

“She’ll certainly have another life in entertainment,” said Laurence J. Kirshbaum, a literary agent and the former head of the Time Warner Book Group. “I think she will rise from these ashes and find another place.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/business/media/18regan.html?ei=5094&en=c9fced1f36c5e7ab&hp=&ex=1166418000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:33 PM

DoubleDAZ

12-17-06, 11:33 PM

Dave:

Someone gave me a new DVD of 30 classic "Match Game" programs and I watched a few of them on a plane the other day. I found the episodes just as funny now as they were a generation ago -- and that is VERY funny.That reminds me of a trip to Laughlin NV last year where we caught a Smother's Brothers show. There was a young newly-wed couple at the same table and they did not laugh once. And, they couldn't figure out the Yo-Yo Man schtick at all. The rest of us were laughing our collective butts off, so some of this is certainly a generational thing. A lot of today's viewers couldn't accept the corny sets, "clean" jokes, etc. Can you imagine a program like The Honeymooner's today? That show took place mostly in a single room with no color, no decorations whatsoever, etc. The content, not the set, was the focus and it worked. How many of today's viewers are going to long for the likes of How I Met Your Mother, Everyone Hates Chris, or even Raymond, 30 years from now? Although I still catch shows like Gunsmoke, Leave It To Beaver, Andy Griffith, Perry Mason, etc., I can't see myself catching House, Criminal Minds, CSI, etc., 30 years from now. Of course, I probably won't be around then, but you get the point. :)

dad1153

12-17-06, 11:39 PM

Fred, I've mentioned this elsewhere but forgot where I could find the answer - is there a list of episodes?

A dear friend of mine was on three MG '78 episodes, and I'll buy it for her if any of her episodes are on it!

I have a MG ARWL on my TiVo, but have to sort through a gazillion episodes from GSN, and they're nowhere near '78...

Inundated, you're better off checking the "trading circuit" on websites dedicated to gameshows. These guys are hardcore collectors that have been taping Game Show Network shows for years and would be willing to trade you for the one you're looking for if (a) it has aired (GSN often skips entire weeks/months of 'MG' shows without any explanation; defective tapes and/or difficulty clearing appearances by some celebrities are suspected) and (b) somebody was taping the show. Try these fan-run websites to get you started:

Match Game Wallpaper Factory: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/matchgame/ (check the 'Links' section).

The Game Show Forum (Invision Board): http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/ (the hardest of the hardcore gameshow fans post here; thread lightly!).

Classic Game Shows.com: http://www.classicgameshows.com/ (slim chance your request will stand out but what you've got to lose?).

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:43 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Not exactly a 'Perfect Day'
By Robert Bianco USA Today

Blah humbug.

The more dully formulaic Christmas movies that TV produces, the more you wish the medium would adopt a very literal reading of Silent Night. If straining-to-be-inspirational, card-shop stocking fillers such as A Perfect Day are the best TV can do, then really, leave us to contemplate the meaning of the season in peace.

As if convinced the holiday abhors originality, TV builds most of its Christmas movies around two popular themes, told in a thousand variants. Year after year, we either get mean guys who don't realize how bad it is to be mean (A Christmas Carol), or nice guys who don't realize how good it is to be nice (It's a Wonderful Life).

For this sanctimonious follow-up to his The Christmas Box, writer Richard Paul Evans blends the two. Over two teeth-ache-inducing hours, a nice-guy-gone-suddenly-bad is reformed by a fallen angel who warns him the end is near.

Yeah, well not near enough.

Would that “Perfect Day” (Monday at 8, 10 and midnight, TNT) were perfectly awful. Movies like that, at least, tend to have some energy, even if it is of the camp/comic variety. This artificially sweetened fruitcake just lies there, as unappetizing and unwelcome as its inedible equivalent.

As the movie plods its way toward its totally nonsensical final twist, the main emotion it provokes is one of pity for star Rob Lowe as a short-sighted best-selling author. True, Lowe isn't exactly working at his best, but it couldn't have been easy to play a character whose only interesting trait is his certainty that he's about to die.

Worse than its treatment of Lowe, however, is the way the movie deadens one of TV's liveliest actors, Paget Brewster. She has elevated bad material before, but even Brewster can't rescue a role that asks her to instantly, inexplicably segue from grating, perky support to shrewish attack.

Bad enough she has to tell her just-fired husband "when one door closes another one opens," but to have to follow that groaner with "this whole thing could be a blessing in disguise" is really adding insult to actor injury.

But then, the entire script is one huge sugar-cube collection of bad lines and unconvincing characters, from Frances Conroy's all-knowing, all-loving agent to Christopher Lloyd's harbinger of doom.

And why exactly is Lowe's writer doomed, by the way? For momentarily taking too much pleasure in success? For spending a few weeks away from home working? For longing to see his book turned into a feature film rather than a TV movie? If those were crimes punishable by death, we'd have no authors left.

The real crime, of course, is television's insistence on turning Christmas into the season of sap.

It is possible, after all, to do a holiday movie that is heartfelt and even sentimental without making people feel as if they've entered some alternate, goo-filled universe.

We've seen better before (think The Gathering or Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory), and surely we'll see better someday again.

That day can't come too soon.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2006-12-17-perfect-day_x.htm

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:48 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Battlestar Galactica: Nuke you!
By Alan Sepinwall of the Newark Star-Ledger in his TV blog “What’s Alan Watching” Dec. 17, 2006

"Battlestar Galactica" spoilers coming up just as soon as I figure out who I have to call to get the Sci-Fi promo monkeys fired...

Ron Moore said that he dreamed up the New Caprica arc because he was getting bored with fleet on the run stories, and worried that the audience was, too. He figured that by taking such a drastic departure from the formula, "Then by the time we get back into space, it'll have much greater impact."

Now, I consider the New Caprica episodes (from "Lay Down Your Burdens" to "Collaborators") to be by far the best sustained stretch this show has ever done, but the return to space hasn't had the impact that Moore was hoping. If anything, the extended stay planetside has made me less willing to indulge mediocre space opera, and we've gotten a little too much of that in the last month or so.

The New Caprica episodes felt like they had things to say, socially, politically and about the characters. The episodes since have had some strong moments, but overall they've felt aimless. Baltar is on the Cylon baseship. Why? Do we know significantly more about the Cylons than we did before? Are they more interesting now? Why bother having Tigh and Starbuck go so far off the deep end if you're going to resolve it (for the most part) so quickly? Was there any real point to "Hero"?

With "Eye of Jupiter," at least, a lot of the seemingly pointless strands began to come together: the Kara/Lee/Dee/Anders quadrangle, the D'Anna/Baltar/Six triangle, D'Anna's suicidal tendencies, the search for earth, etc. Plus, we got our first taste of Brother Cavil in quite a while, and Dean Stockwell continues to be all kinds of awesome. And the cliffhanger would've been pretty cool...

... if the eedjits in Sci-Fi marketing hadn't given away the entire damn resolution in the January promo. Way to not leave people on the edge of their seats, guys.

What did everybody else think? Am I being too hard on the most recent episodes?

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2006/12/battlestar-galactica-nuke-you.html

dad1153

12-17-06, 11:50 PM

TV Notebook
'Nine's' strange, swift decline
By Scott Collins, Los Angeles Times December 18, 2006

Hank Steinberg is trying to keep the faith. But it's tough to wage war against doubt when the show you've poured the last 18 months of your life into has just disappeared from the TV schedule, and no one knows when it's coming back.

Steinberg is executive producer of "The Nine," ABC's drama that was supposed to have been one of the big hits of the fall season. It was the sort of project that was seemingly blessed from the get-go. Critics loved the pilot, a tense thriller about hostages rescued from a 52-hour bank heist who emerge as a close-knit but emotionally battered group. Steinberg, moreover, clearly knew how to make a hit show; his missing-persons drama "Without a Trace" is in its fifth season on CBS. The large ensemble was headed by veteran TV actor Tim Daly ("Wings"), who played a heroic cop with a troubled past. And to help ensure that viewers at least checked out "The Nine," the network bestowed a golden 10 p.m. Wednesday slot after the hit drama "Lost."

You don't need to toil on a soundstage to guess what happened next. "The Nine" tanked. This wasn't a case of a show starting out strong, as is common, and then having the ratings slowly waft downward. The relatively low numbers for the "Nine" pilot — 11.9 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research — sent jaws dropping all over town. Once "Lost" was over, the audience fled as if watching ABC at that hour had been deemed harmful by the surgeon general. And it just got worse from there. The network glumly took note as the show steadily sunk in the ratings, week after week, and finally yanked it late last month. The last episode, on Nov. 22, was watched by a mere 4.1 million.

Some outlets have reported — erroneously — that the series is officially canceled. And Steinberg can understand why skeptics may assume the worst.

"This may be hard for people to believe, but I believe they'll bring it back for another shake," he said last week. "They've been very supportive all the way through."

The network says it has every intention of a return for "The Nine." ABC executives are looking at running the remaining six unaired episodes starting in March or April, which would give the show's small regiment of loyal fans a chance to tie up some loose plot strands. But the network didn't order any new episodes from Warner Bros. Television, which means that crew members are out looking for new jobs. And some observers say it's iffy whether ABC will even bother burning off the episodes, given the series' dismal performance.

"I don't know if they can bring it back," said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president at Chicago ad firm Starcom.

Of course, TV history is filled with examples of acclaimed shows that struggled to find an audience, such as NBC's crime drama "Boomtown" and ABC's family show "Once and Again." But "The Nine" fell further, and faster, than most.

The most vexing question remains: What the heck happened? How did such a promising show whiff?

"If we knew," ABC Executive Vice President Jeffrey D. Bader said wryly, "it would never happen." He added that network executives remain happy with the creative side of "The Nine."

That opinion is widely shared. Caraccioli-Davis dubbed the pilot "the most riveting piece of TV I'd seen in a long time." But in retrospect, she added, that first episode may have proven too self-contained for many viewers who like episodic dramas. "It seemed almost too good for television, almost like a movie," she said.

She also wonders whether viewers were looking for sheer escapism this fall, as evidenced by the strong numbers for NBC's "Heroes." "Maybe 'The Nine' was a little too real," she said. It's also possible that viewers mistook the show for a heist thriller rather than what the producers intended, a twisty character drama about a group of friends getting a second whack at life after a near-death experience.

Steinberg, for his part, was initially pleased to have his show follow "Lost," but now wonders whether it would work better paired with a "softer" character drama like "Grey's Anatomy" (like all TV producers, he dreams big when it comes to scheduling).

But ultimately, theories that presume to explain failure are often no more satisfying than those aimed at illuminating success. "I'm sure there are 20 factors" behind "The Nine's" ratings fizzle, Steinberg said.

One of the assumptions of the TV business is that if a show delivers the goods creatively, today's TiVo-armed, tech-savvy viewers will find it, even if it airs at 2 a.m. and has a marketing budget of zero. That's what many executives like to think, anyway, but it's simply not true.

Who says that the audience always makes aesthetic quality the driving force behind its viewing habits? If that were the case, one would assume that NBC's game show "Deal or No Deal" would die from lack of attention (it's doing just fine, thanks). NBC Universal, in fact, even runs a website, http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com , dedicated to acclaimed shows that couldn't cut the mustard with viewers. And who decides what's "good," anyway?

TV execs, media buyers and critics and columnists, like yours truly, are hardly a representative sample of Americans.

Not that any of that helps Steinberg, of course, who's struggling to stay positive about one of the most frustrating episodes of his career.

"I always say the show is about second chances," he said. "Hopefully, we'll get ours."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-channel18dec18,1,2202030.story?coll=la-entnews-tv

fredfa

12-17-06, 11:54 PM

TV Notebook
Networks have eyes on the prize
By Gary Levin USA Today

Question: What's the latest Band-Aid to treat what ails television networks?

a) Serialized thrillers.

b) Singing contests.

c) Old-fashioned game shows.

If you picked c), you're in line for the big-money prize — but not before programmers seek their cut.

Game shows are the flavor of the moment in the copycat-happy TV business, where they're seen as the cheapest route to success for networks faced with fickle viewers, tighter programming budgets and a big push for profit-boosting interactivity. The success of Deal or No Deal, introduced a year ago this week, has spawned a wave of followers not seen since the heady days of Regis Philbin's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire six years ago.

The risk is that networks could again make the Millionaire mistake: relying too heavily on a format that history has shown can burn out with none of the billion-dollar paydays a CSI or Law & Order can provide through years of syndicated reruns.

• Tonight (9 ET/PT), NBC unveils Identity, a modern-day spin on What's My Line? that will air this week as a five-night event — the same way NBC kicked off Deal, which continues to air twice a week. NBC also has quiz show 1 vs. 100 on Fridays.

• ABC, which canceled William Shatner's Show Me the Money late last week, is readying two more games: Set for Life, in which Jimmy Kimmel promises monthly payouts that can stretch for 40 years, and Wanna Bet, based on a hit German format. Premiere dates haven't been set.

• CBS, home of daytime staple The Price Is Right, is developing several for prime time, including a remake of Name That Tune and a quiz show pitting child geniuses against average adults.

• Fox confirmed plans last week for Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader? from Survivor producer Mark Burnett, which lets adults turn to 11-year-olds as lifelines to answer questions. The show is expected by spring.

What's the audience appeal?

"There's something comforting and pleasurable about watching people win money," says Kimmel, the late-night talker who got his TV start hosting Win Ben Stein's Money on Comedy Central.

Not a big gamble

But it's not so pleasurable to viewers as it is to ratings-starved networks facing escalating costs for other "reality" shows, many of which are no longer cheaper alternatives to sitcoms and dramas. New spins on Survivor require a risky commitment to film an entire season before a single episode has aired.

Not so for game shows: With modest upfront costs, primarily involving construction of a set, networks can order as few as five episodes at a time, with minimal risk.

Two or three can be filmed in a single day and rushed on the air in a few weeks. There are no pesky Friends or Housewives to demand steep pay increases if the show becomes a hit. Networks earn profits from product plugs and text-messaging. And best of all, they're a channel surfer's dream: Game shows appeal to a broad family audience that can instantly grasp the rules, join them midway through or leave when a contestant takes home a parting gift.

"They've got a lot going in their favor," says Identity executive producer Ben Silverman.

Take an economics lesson from NBC, which is the midst of an $750 million cost-cutting drive. Deal now costs about $1 million an episode, a bit more than newer game shows but substantially less than the $2.6 million production cost for a typical first-year drama. Even modestly budgeted Friday Night Lights —shot in Texas with no big-name stars — costs twice as much to film but has less than half the audience.

Programmers are desperate to fill up to 22 hours of prime time, with fewer viable comedies and serialized dramas such as Lost and ER that don't perform well in repeats. And since most new series fail, game shows are far less risky than other shows, though a hit drama can eventually earn far more from sales overseas, in syndication and on DVDs.

As part of its cost-cutting move, NBC announced plans to mostly steer clear of expensive sitcoms and dramas in the 8 ET/PT hour, and ABC has lately adopted a similar strategy on five of seven nights.

"The proportion is shifting," says Marc Graboff, West Coast president of NBC Universal Television group. "Repeats aren't doing well, and we need to pepper our schedule with more programming that's original. We need to tweak the balance and spread our costs out to do more original programming."

So it's not surprising that NBC — and its rivals — have their eyes on the game-show prize. The genre, out of prime-time favor for several years until Deal hit, is a staple dating back to the earliest days of television, when shows such as Truth or Consequences and Beat the Clock migrated from radio.

"There's a bit of a herd mentality, that 'maybe we can capture that magic, too,' " says David Goldberg, president of Endemol USA, the company behind Deal, 1 vs. 100, Set for Life and Show Me the Money. But more than that, "it's low-cost, it's flexible, and in success it can do just as well as any genre on television."

Identity, hosted by magician Penn Jillette, asks players to match 12 people with their occupations, ranging from "sushi chef" to "created Spider-Man," in search of a $500,000 prize. Jillette says viewers can relate: "Every shopping mall you go to, every street you walk down, you look at people and say, 'What's their story?' "

But network executives say game-show producers, recognizing the favorable economics, are pitching new shows at a feverish pace.

Wide appeal in prime time

As American Idol has proved year after year, "People are more involved in wanting to participate than ever before, whether they're shouting at the TV or texting in," says Rich Cronin, president of GSN (formerly Game Show Network). "So the time is right for game shows to come back."

As with Millionaire's imitators, none of Deal's challengers has matched its success: Show Me the Money is gone, and Fox's The Rich List was DOA last month, canceled after a single episode. Yet the low risk makes them tempting just the same. And advertisers applaud them, even as game shows earn lower ad rates than comedies and dramas with similar audiences.

"As 80% of homes in America have only one television on in prime time each night, it makes sense to have programming that appeals to all family audiences," says Initiative Media buying chief Tim Spengler. "Game shows, by and large, do this rather well."

Many of the newer shows don't tax brain power, with kid-friendly trivia questions or games of chance. On Set for Life, "you don't have to be smart; you just have to be lucky or ballsy," Kimmel says.

Deal requires no knowledge or skill: Players choose models clutching numbered briefcases, deciding whether to keep their cash or gamble on what's inside.

Still, the inherent drama is enough to keep viewers hooked. Since premiering as a regular series in late February, Deal's Monday edition has become the network's most popular entertainment series, averaging 16.1 million viewers and eclipsing ER and Heroes, this season's biggest new hit.

"Nobody is more surprised than I am," says host Howie Mandel, an actor, stand-up comedian and onetime talk show host who resisted early attempts to enlist him. "I thought it would put a nail in the coffin of whatever my career was a year ago."

And now? "I've become part of the vernacular," he says. "I have 4-year-olds walking up to me, and 84-year-olds. It's dramatic, it's intense, there's comedy: It's everything all wrapped up in this very simple veil of a game."

NBC plans to air about 60 new episodes this season, nearly three times as many as a hit drama can produce.

'Very short shelf life'

Lingering in the background, though, is the danger of relying too heavily on the genre. ABC learned the lesson the hard way with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which raced to the top of the ratings in 1999 only to burn out two years later, when the network aired it up to five times a week to patch its otherwise faltering schedule. (The show continues to air in syndication.)

That's why producer Endemol agreed to a lower price hike when Deal took off, in exchange for NBC's promise to air it less often.

"There are exceptions to every rule —Survivor and American Idol have long-term value — but generally, reality shows are phenomena that have a very short shelf life," Graboff says. "Scripted shows like Law & Order can go on for years and years. … The payoff is greater but the bet is bigger."

And ABC Entertainment chief Steve McPherson says networks can't cheapskate their way to success. "In your portfolio, there are only a certain number of reality shows that can work; you have to have a mix," he says.

"We all have $1 billion-plus budgets of programming for the entire year, and all the pieces in the puzzle have to fit. But the finances are completely driven by ratings, and the ratings are completely driven by creative," McPherson says. "To say we're going to do cheaper shows and that will make our business better makes no sense."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-12-17-gameshows_x.htm

dad1153

12-17-06, 11:59 PM

fredfa

12-18-06, 12:01 AM

The Business of TV
THE DRAMA VS. THE GAME SHOW
A look at the contrasting economics, per episode:
USA Today

Example: Deal or No Deal
Produced by: Endemol USA.
NBC's license fee of $1million covers the $700,000 production cost and prizes.
Major expenses:
Prize money (average $125,000)
Talent fees (Howie Mandel, models), staff
Physical production
Ad fee per 30-second spot: $165,000
Additional revenue: Endemol: Text-messaging (split with NBC); foreign sales. NBC: Online advertising.
Average viewers: 16.1 million*
Cost: $1 million

Example: Heroes
Produced by: NBC Studios. NBC network pays license fee of $1.3 million per episode; NBC Studios pays remaining production cost.
Major expenses:
Actors
Writers
Physical production
Special effects
Ad fee per 30-second spot: $260,000
Additional revenue: DVDs, foreign sales, cable and broadcast syndication.
Average viewers: 15.1 million
Cost: $2.7 million

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-12-17-gameshows_x.htm

dad1153

12-18-06, 12:14 AM

TV Notebook
PBS Pre-Streams First Full Episode
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable December 17, 2006

PBS is trying a little science experiment.

The noncom programming service will announce Monday that it will, for the first time, stream a show online before it is available on-air. The move comes as the network explores program delivery on multiple platforms and looks to boost its online presence.

PBS will stream pilots/specials for three potential new science series at PBS.org Jan. 1, then air them on member stations starting Jan. 3 and ask Web surfers and viewers to weigh in online with their favorite.

Although the the effort is being dubbed in-house as "PBS Science Idol," the online vote will not actually be determinative. PBS will take the surfers’ top vote getter into account along with other reseach in determining the winner, which will get a 10-episode slot in fall 2007 on member stations.

"Ultimately, we are going to make the call," said Wilson, who said he hopes one emerges as a slam dunk winner. "We have a programming team and this is what we do for a living. But we are looking forward to having multiple feedback loops."

The three pilots are Wired Science, a co-production of KCET Los Angeles and Wired Magazine; Science Investigators, a co-production of WGBH Boston and Lion TV; and 22nd Century, from Tower Productions and presenting station Twin Cities Public Television.

Wired Science is from executive producer Tod Mesirow (MythBusters and Monster Garage), and wil translate the magazine into a "stylish and irreverent" take on the latest discoveries and innovations.

Science Investigators is from, among others, Tony Tackaberry (History Detectives), and features four young hosts providing solutions to a series of scientific mysteries like what secrets a Neanderthal’s DNA could unlock, can bacteria power an iPod, are disappearing frogs something to worry about, and why the knuckleball does whatever it is that knuckleballs do.

22nd Century will look at the shape of scientific things to come, posing such questions as: Will lifespans increase to 250 years, will machines get so small they can do a Fantastic Voyage like repair of the human body, and the Borg-like premise of brains one day being linked much as computers on the Web are today. Taking viewers on the tour of tomorrowland will be an actor playing Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, which was about the possible dehumanizing effects of technolgoy; an "everyday viewer" character, and a resident of the future who paints a rosy picture of the possibilities.

Each will get a free screening on PBS.org as well as a free podcast on Apple iTunes. Each of the three will also air on three succeeding Wednesdays on PBS at 8 p.m., starting Jan. 3 with accompanying promos asking viewers to vote online for their favorite.

Could this be the vanguard of a development strategy of pre-streaming pilots? Perhaps. "This is a first," says John Wilson, senior VP and chief TV programming executive for PBS, "we’ll see if there is a second."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6400457.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

12-18-06, 12:27 AM

WARNING: this review of the premiere of NBC's new gameshow 'Identity' contains spoilers about tonight's show. Do not read if you don't want the surprises revealed
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Critic's Notebook
NBC’s ‘Identity’ a mistaken attempt at entertainment
By Mark A. Perigard, Boston Herald December 18, 2006

“IDENTITY” Series premiere tonight at 9 on WHDH (Ch. 7). [u]Grade: F

Tired of torturing his silent partner Teller, comedian and illusionist Penn Jillette turns his attention to the rest of America.

The Greenfield native hosts NBC’s new prime-time game show “Identity” (tonight at 9 on WHDH, Ch. 7), perhaps the most creatively deficient show to hit the airwaves this season.

In “Identity,” contestants must match a trait with one of a dozen people based on appearance alone.

If it sounds terrible, it’s worse viewing. The producers could have added a smidge of suspense by demonstrating how first impressions can be deceptive.

That would require an ounce of thought, more than NBC is willing to pay for.

In the premiere - the cash-conscious network is stripping the show every night this week - Illinois store manager Nicci Guzik first tries to find the sushi chef among the panel of 12. Hmm. There’s one Asian onstage. Who, oh, who could be the chef?

Among the other traits up for grabs: opera singer, bouncer, alligator wrestler, break dancer and the youngest. The latter is dressed as if she were a backup dancer in Britney Spears’ 1998 video “Baby One More Time.”

The premiere panel includes two celebrities - the world’s fastest man, athlete Maurice Greene, and Stan Lee, creator of Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man - whom Guzik does not recognize.

Correct answers start at $1,000 and work up to a $500,000 payday. Short of just handing contestants the answers, NBC gives the contestants a number of aids. They are allowed one mistake. They can consult a panel of experts once. They can also utilize something called “tri-identity,” in which the field of possible panelists is narrowed to three. It’s overly complicated for something that plays out as simple as a game of tag between two people.

NBC understands viewers enjoy watching emotional ditzes win big money. Even if the network handed out the top prize every episode, the costs would still be far less than what it takes to put on a drama in the same time slot.

Why is Jillette here? If it weren’t for that trademark ponytail, you’d swear somebody must be impersonating the snarky co-host of Showtime’s “Penn & Teller: Bull(expletive).”

At the end of the show, Jillette welcomes contestant Herb Irvine, a private investigator from Boston. Irvine doesn’t have a chance to do more than say hello, so you’ll have to tune in tomorrow to learn how he fares. But when it comes to “Identity,” just forget it.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=172541

fredfa

12-18-06, 12:39 AM

The Business of TV
Chernin Steps In to Plot MyNet Fix
News Corp. CEO, Top Execs Might Trim Soaps on Some Nights:
By Chris Pursell and James Hibberd Television Week December 18, 2006

News Corp. President and CEO Peter Chernin drove the discussions in recent weeks that have resulted in an about-face in the programming strategy behind the company's MyNetworkTV, multiple sources close to the situation said.

Faced with disappointing prime-time ratings that in some markets are lower than affiliated stations' daytime performances, MyNetworkTV executives are plotting changes that could cut the network's current all-telenovela programming from six nights a week down to as few as two, sources said.

Mr. Chernin was involved in the creation and launch of MyNetworkTV, but until about six weeks ago he was relatively hands-off.

Station executives who requested anonymity for this report said they welcome Mr. Chernin's involvement in attempts to right the ship.

The most popular option to have emerged from recent brainstorming among executives of the network has the 4-month-old MyNetwork adding a variety of content on non-telenovela nights that could include movies, unscripted series and sports, sources indicated.

One series being considered for a prime-time slot is "My Games Fever," a live game show formatted from a hit British series that was originally slated for daytime via syndication. The show's appeal will be evaluated during a daytime test run on 10 Fox-owned stations that began earlier this month.

A scenario being considered comprises telenovelas on Tuesday and Thursday, a movie night on Wednesday, a sports event on Mondays or Saturdays and a talk show/variety hour paired with a game show on Fridays.

Any changes to the lineup are not likely to happen earlier than next summer, but the current planning marks a retreat from a format that News Corp.'s Fox fielded in September in response to the formation of The CW earlier in the year. Trying new programming signals that Fox isn't ready to give up on the network, and it may tamp down speculation that the company might pull the plug on MyNetworkTV in the next year if its ratings don't improve.

Executives of the network who have been involved in the recent rejiggering meetings include Mr. Chernin, Twentieth Television President and Chief Operating Officer Bob Cook, Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and Fox Television Stations Chairman Roger Ailes. They have been discussing, both internally and with stations, "more than a few options" designed to kick-start the channel, several insiders said.

A Big Bet

Acquiring or producing alternative MyNetworkTV programming might cost more than telenovelas, which are produced on a shoestring budget. The bet would be that the new shows will draw a broader, bigger audience and generate higher advertising revenue, offsetting the programming investment.

Among the programming options MyNetwork is considering is an attempt to revisit a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization, insiders said. The martial arts league currently televises fights on pay-per-view and Viacom's Spike TV network and has a weekly syndicated series planned with Trifecta Entertainment for a fall 2007 rollout.

UFC was in discussions with MyNetwork executives before the network opted to go with prime-time soaps six nights a week, and Fox station executives have expressed interest in the league in light of its Trifecta deal, sources said.

Distributor Twentieth Television has sought talent for unscripted projects in recent months that include game show series, as well as a variety format, that could be contenders for MyNetwork rather than syndication.

The distributor is looking at potential game shows in "Catch Phrase" and "Connections" from Granada as well as "Temptations" from Fremantle for other dayparts, but could move the projects to prime time, sources said.

Any programming upheaval at MyNetwork is likely to start after cycle two of the network's prime-time soaps. "Wicked Wicked Games" and "Watch Over Me" end their runs next spring. That's when "Saints and Sinners," part of the network's planned third batch of telenovelas, has been scheduled to begin.

A decision to cut back on telenovela nights could have several ramifications for the TV industry. Until now, MyNetwork's content has been distributed by fellow News Corp. property Twentieth Television. Mixing up MyNetwork's programming could open time on the network's schedule to other production companies and studios looking to sell prime-time content.

Scaling back on the format will also take a step toward returning prime time to a field similar to the days before The WB and UPN merged.

More Competitive

Currently, MyNetwork has set itself apart with its unique telenovela programming, which it adapted to English from wildly popular Spanish-language soap operas. Adding a variety of unscripted fare would put the fifth- and sixth-ranked networks into a more competitive relationship.

MyNetworkTV was launched in 180 days as a counterstrike to the creation of The CW, but has struggled to find audiences for its prime-time telenovela format.

Since its launch Sept. 5, the shows have averaged a 0.7 household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's less than a third of what stations pulled in the time periods last year with UPN and The WB.

"MyNet was born out of last-minute desperation, and it's a miracle they got on the air as quickly as they did," said Tim Brooks, Lifetime's executive VP of research. "MyNet is going to have to evolve to survive. The model of telenovelas has shown they're not such an easy translation. It's programming from the finance department rather than programming from creative vision."

MyNetwork executives have urged stations and the media to be patient with the format, saying they were focus-group testing the content and promised the second cycle of telenovelas would show a marked improvement.

Two weeks ago, the second cycle debuted to ratings that didn't improve markedly on the first go-around.

A spokeswoman for MyNetworkTV declined to comment for this report, noting only that "We have lots of meetings."

Syndicators had been waiting for a decision on MyNetwork's future. The mini-network currently holds valuable real estate around the country, including extremely rare prime-time slots in New York and Los Angeles that distributors were looking to target if MyNetwork went away. Executives have privately acknowledged that a number of series in development would move forward only if those time slots were made available.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=31158

dad1153

12-18-06, 12:42 AM

Remember this story (which I condensed for this re-posting) that I posted on this thead a few days ago?

The (International) Business of TV
Mexico’s Newest TV Drama Is a Bid to Block a Third Broadcaster
By Elisabeth Malkin, The New York Times December 6, 2006

Night after night for almost two weeks, Mexican television news has shown exposés on how poor people suffer from the high cost of medicines. It may be merely a coincidence that Mexico’s two competing television companies, Televisa and TV Azteca, have each chosen to focus on this particular social problem at the same time.

Their separate reporting comes to exactly the same conclusion. The culprits who drive the prices so high are two pharmaceutical distributors who together control 70 percent of the market. And both news teams single out the same one for particular opprobrium: Grupo Casa Saba, a $2 billion company controlled by the reclusive octogenarian billionaire Isaac Saba Raffoul.

What neither Televisa nor TV Azteca mentions is that Mr. Saba has his eye on another business: television.

Mr. Saba is the Mexican partner of Telemundo, the NBC Universal unit that is the No. 2 Spanish-language television broadcaster in the United States. In September, Telemundo and another company Mr. Saba owns, Grupo Xtra, formally requested a license for a broadcast television network.

The decision over whether to authorize a new network, which would be awarded by public auction, could prove to be the new government’s first big test when it comes to taking on powerful business interests. Televisa and TV Azteca control almost the entire broadcast television industry in Mexico, although Televisa is much larger, with about 75 percent of the advertising market. Last April, they won passage of a law that critics say gives them free space on the broadcast spectrum.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/06/business/worldbusiness/06tele.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

Well, guess what just happened? :rolleyes:

The (International) Business of TV
Mexico not yet ready for 3rd national net
NBC Telemundo won't be allowed to operate in country
By Michael O'Boyle, Variety December 17, 2006

Mexico's new administration on Friday dashed the hopes of NBC Telemundo that the government would license a third national network any time soon.

Mexico's newly appointed communications and transport minister, Luis Tellez, said the administration was committed only to examining the possibility of new TV and radio stations in certain cities -- not a third national network.

They were the first public comments on the issue by the new administration since President Felipe Calderon took office on Dec. 1. NBC Telemundo has aggressively been seeking to enter the Mexican market since 2005. Recent squabbles between the No. 2 U.S. Hispanic broadcaster and Mexican webs have sparked local debate on competition in Mexico's TV market.

Tellez suggested that allowing Telemundo a major stake in Mexico was conditioned on the U.S. government relaxing foreign ownership restrictions Stateside.

"I think the right policy to have is a mirror policy that reflects what happens in the rest of the world," Tellez said. "If the United States or other countries would open up their television or radio markets so that Mexican companies can participate, then we could reach an agreement that allows their companies to participate in our country."

Mexico's broadcast TV market is split roughly 70/30 between media conglom Televisa, which operates four national channels, and its smaller rival TV Azteca, which runs two.

Mexico's antitrust commission recently issued a ruling demanding the government increase competition in the television market.

Opening up Mexico's TV market -- formerly a political no-fly zone -- has become a hot-button issue since the beginning of 2006, after lawmakers approved new TV regulations that were seen as further entrenching Televisa and TV Azteca.

The battle between Telemundo and Mexican webs has heated up in recent months, including legal skirmishes between Telemundo and TV Azteca and ruthless PR campaigns on both sides.

Both Mexican nets have been using their news shows to smear the powerful Saba family, Telemundo's Mexican partner. Webs recently ran two weeks of tear-wrenching reports on the high prices of drugs that accused major pharmaceutical distributor Grupo Casa Saba of price-gouging. Telemundo and Saba-owned Grupo Xtra formed Palmas 26 earlier this year to seek a national broadcast license.

NBC filed a complaint before the FCC in late November that seeks to bar the license renewal of TV Azteca's L.A. affiliate. The complaint charges the Mexican web with corruption and argues it lacks the character to operate a broadcast channel.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117955956.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
____________________________________________________________ _____

Thanks NAFTA! :mad: :mad: :mad:

HDTVChallenged

12-18-06, 01:07 AM

I don't care what anyone says, I've never trusted critics of any kind because I've always believed they have ulterior motives or let outside influences affect their critiques.

LOL ... I've always suspected that most critics are screen/playwriter wannabees. I mean ... really ... If you are so good at telling folks what they are doing wrong (or right) then why the heck ain't ya in the trenches, doing it your-own-self. ;) :D

Sheesh ... death, taxes and critics ... :eek: ... :)

dad1153

12-18-06, 07:48 AM

Crtic's Notebook
King Author
Rob Lowe As A Rich Writer and Other Holiday Miracles
By Linda Stasi, New York Post December 18, 2006

"A Perfect Day" Tonight at 8 on TNT
Rating: Two-and-a-Half Stars (Out of Four)

If you loved the book "A Per fect Day," by Richard Paul Evans you'll love this TV adaptation, starring the perfect-looking Rob Lowe.

Yes, it's another soapy, sappy, Christmas story from another soapy, sappy novel, which the networks love to dig up this time of year.

But as soapy, sappy, Christmas adaptations go, this one's pretty good - until it totally falls apart at the end with the most preposterous finale imaginable.

OK. It's one thing to buy into the story of a guy who's lost all his values and then is visited by the ghosts of Christmas present, past and yet-to- come in olde England. But it's another thing altogether to buy into the story of a guy who's lost all his values and is then visited by Christopher Lloyd disguised as a stalker/angel.

Perhaps based on Evans' own experiences as a sappy, soapy unexpectedly famous writer, this is the story of an author who reaches unbelievable heights of fame and best-selling fortune only to lose sight of what matters most - his family.

Yes, that one again.

Rob Lowe stars as Rob Harlan, a radio advertising rep who loses his job on the very day he thought he'd be promoted.

Slinking home to a family celebration, he announces that he's unemployed. His forever-understanding-and-loving wife, Allyson (Paget Brewster), tells him that maybe it's a blessing and he should get back to the book that he was attempting to write.

After a bazillion rejections, he's picked up by kind-hearted literary agent, Camille Bailey (Frances Conroy).

That novel, based on Allyson's real-life story of her relationship with her dying dad (sappy, like I said) becomes a best seller - propelling Harlan, who had been reduced to digging ditches (I swear), to super-author stardom.

Suddenly he's all over the place like a bad smell, being interviewed by Larry King (who makes a cameo) and Matt Lauer (who doesn't).

Of course, fame goes to his head and he's lapping up the stays at the fabulous New York-ish hotels and dinners at the fabulous New York-ish restaurants.

Into his fast-track life comes a mystery man named Michael (Christopher Lloyd), as in the angel of the same name, who warns him that he's forgetting the important things. (Yes, that again.)

The more he forgets, the more Michael shows up.

In fact, Rob has turned into a semi-bastard, missing every one of his little daughter's (Meggie Geisland) plays at school. (How this school ever gets any work done what with the constant plays and concerts, I have no idea.)

Naturally, a separation ensues, and he's not home for the holidays.

He even does what it seems most suddenly famous authors do - he fires the kindly literary agent.

Fed up with the fact that Harlan seems thicker than a brick, and no matter how many times and places he shows up he just doesn't get it, the angel/stalker gives him a horrible prediction.

That prediction of course, propels him to examine his behavior.

Can he make it up to those he's hurt - and change the dire prediction?

Or will he simply die a horrible death on Christmas day leaving everyone sadder but much, much richer?

Would I spoil it for you with a prediction of my own?

Bah humbug!

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12182006/tv/king_author_tv_linda_stasi.htm

dad1153

12-18-06, 08:16 AM

TV Notebook
MSNBC's Olbermann Seeks Big Raise
By J. Max Robins, Broadcasting & Cable December 18, 2006

Olbermann and MSNBC are knocking heads over a new contract. The controversial host of Countdown With Keith Olbermann is said to be seeking "north of $4 million" a year, according to an industry source, to re-up on his pact that comes due in April. That would represent roughly a four-fold increase over his current deal, believed to be in the $1 million-per-year range.

Olbermann is looking for such a big pay raise because Countdown has been on fire, playing a big part in the current audience uptick at the network. In the key 25-54 demo, its ratings are up 25% year-to-date and an astounding 75% so far in the fourth quarter.

But MSNBC brass may have their hands tied on how much they can pony up for Olbermann. MSNBC parent NBC Universal has mandated $750 million worth of budget cuts across all divisions, and this is hardly a politic time to hand out a gargantuan raise. Meanwhile, CNN may have interest.

Still, Olbermann likely wants to stay put. He has been given an incredible amount of creative freedom in this, his second tour of duty at the network. Famously, he left MSNBC at the end of 1998 after clashing with management over being pushed to endlessly cover the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky imbroglio.

An MSNBC spokesman acknowledged that talks were under way but declined to provide details. Both Olbermann and his agent Jean Sage declined comment.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6400553.html

jandron

12-18-06, 09:54 AM

TV Notebook
NBC halts production on 'Raines'
Goldblum show will still get a primetime shot
By Josef Adalian, Variety December 15, 2006

There'll be a little less "Raines" at NBC this spring.
Peacock has opted to halt production on the Jeff Goldblum midseason drama, capping the number of episodes produced at seven.

Net had ordered 13 episodes of the show, but ultimately decided it only needed a half-dozen segs beyond the pilot.

"Raines" will still get a primetime shot, however. NBC is sticking by plans to air the seven produced episodes on Friday nights, starting in March.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117955908.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

I got a call from my son on Friday, who works (worked!) on Raines, saying they'd just sent everybody home. It was quite a shocker to him, this being his first writing job on a show, but he was assured by older, wiser hands that it's the nature of the business. Kind of a lousy thing to do, anyway. Fortunately for my son, the episode he wrote was produced, so if NBC is true to it's word, his show will get on the air. Still, he's out of a job, at least for now.

grittree

12-18-06, 10:10 AM

fredfa

12-18-06, 10:22 AM

But a far bigger risk, too, grittree.

Amnesia

12-18-06, 10:35 AM

But a far bigger risk, too, grittree.But lets not forget DVD sales, licensing (T shirts, etc) and syndication.

I think Heroes will make significantly more for NBC than DoND will in these areas...

fredfa

12-18-06, 10:53 AM

I agree, Amnesia. The payoff for a hit is potentially far bigger.

But the losses for non-hits are much, much larger.

That is why, in the short-term, quiz shows (along with reality programs) are an easier financial route for the networks to take.

fredfa

12-18-06, 11:05 AM

TV Review
Mistaken 'Identity'
NBC's New Game Show: One Magician, No Rabbit, Old Hat
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, December 18, 2006; C01

Television didn't invent excess, of course, but it probably has done more than any other medium to explore the outer reaches of wretchedness. That search has accelerated in the 500-channel universe, what with all those additional nooks and crannies to be plugged full of content -- the good, the bad and the cruddy.

"Identity," an NBC game show that debuts tonight (9 PM ET/PT)and airs every night this week (8 PM ET/PT Tues-Fri), emerges almost logically from the relatively new age of Trends Gone Wild. It crossbreeds the game show and reality formats, as has been especially popular since "Deal or No Deal" became a hit earlier this year, thereby serving as a vivid new cautionary example of what might be called high-speed "genre-fication."

Programmers -- especially NBC's -- are so desperate for exploitable commodities that almost the moment a show becomes a hit, instant imitations turn it into a trend and, if even one of the imitations also succeeds, we're suddenly facing yet another new genre.

To what genre, exactly, does "Identity" belong? The reality game show, perhaps. Or the reality fantasy (contradictions in terms go with the territory). Or just more of TV's simplistic gadgetized gimmickry. It's hard to keep up when a new show might become a new genre in a matter of a week or two.

The ponytailed Penn Jillette, who could be called a whale of a magician but only because of a certain physical resemblance, plays the Howie Mandel role in "Identity," Mandel being the singularly ingratiating host of "Deal or No Deal," the template for this new programming hybrid (a new edition of "Deal" will give "Identity" a fail-safe lead-in tonight). Bob Saget has experienced a brief and unnecessary career revival by filling the Mandel role on the execrable "1 vs. 100," another show of this ilk, and William Shatner, whose career now consists almost entirely of mortifying self-parody, also has done a Mandellian turn in ABC's horrific monstrosity "Show Me the Money."

The idea -- so to speak -- behind "Identity" is based on the premise that, as Jillette explains at the outset, we are all guilty of making snap judgments, of sizing up people based on our first impressions of them. First impressions can be accurate, of course, and one's first impression of "Identity" is likely to be that it is a miserably tedious mess, a reaction that probably will grow stronger the further one slogs into the Big Muddy that is the show.

Instead of trying to guess the dollar amounts printed inside suitcases held by curvaceous models -- as happens on "Deal or No Deal" -- contestants on "Identity" try to match up professions ("night-club bouncer") or pithy descriptions ("donated a kidney") with a dozen human props ("strangers," in the show's parlance) who stand before them. And stand and stand, until they are identified.

(Maybe the format should be called Standing-Room Game Show -- a tradition that harks back to "The Weakest Link," that grandmommy of the genre -- because it appears to be a rule on these things that large groups of people spend an entire hour or so on their feet while contestants go about their business.)

Professions represented on "Identity's" premiere include some that seem designed to be dead giveaways based on common conceptions: a sushi chef (one Asian man stands among the 12 "strangers" gathered together), opera singer (a "fat lady," perchance, in a fancy dress), Las Vegas showgirl (leggy babe?), alligator wrestler (man with no limbs? Just kidding) and break dancer. Yes, apparently there are still professional break dancers living among us, survivors of yet another trend that ran its course but hung around anyway.

In the show's most embarrassing moment -- and there are plenty to choose from -- the contestant suggests that the stranger most likely to be the bouncer is a muscular black man. As it turns out, he's not the bouncer at all. If the producers were seriously interested in the mistaken assumptions we make based on appearances, including racial stereotyping, the gaffe might have value, but they aren't -- and it doesn't.

Similarly, the producers probably think they lucked out big time because their first contestant, a woman from Streamwood, Ill., is bouncy, noisy, shrieky, jolly and gabby as all get-out. She's everything you don't want at a dinner party but which producers do want on game shows. It could be, though, that they've miscalculated, because the contestant is so obnoxiously over-the-top from the get-go that many a viewer will stick around purely on the hope that she'll suffer a humiliating defeat.

NBC has asked that critics not reveal the outcome of the program -- the top prize, if all 12 strangers are correctly identified, is $500,000 -- and so, abiding by the rule, we can't tell you how much dough, if any, the peppery little barracuda does carry away, but we can say that she seldom passes up an opportunity to behave like an imbecile ("You know, No. 1 does look like a bad momma-jomma"). Taking yet another page from "Deal or No Deal," members of the woman's family and a friend or two are trotted out to give her moral support and scream useless advice.

Jillette looks largely baffled as the host, perhaps because he usually works with a partner who is not only quiet, as opposed to the contestant, but silent -- the mute Teller, a kind of cross between Harry Langdon and Harpo Marx. Will Teller make a guest appearance on a future edition of "Identity"? Not if he sees the premiere and has any sense or self-esteem.

There's no moment-of-truth catchphrase on "Identity" to equal Mandel's hokey but suspenseful "Deal? Or no deal?" Instead, after the contestant makes her latest guess, Jillette will say to the stranger in question "Is that your identity?" or "What is your identity?" That just falls flat.

It's too early in the show's history to know what happens if a contestant gets the first guess wrong and scuttles the ship right out of dry dock; do the producers have to bring in 12 new strangers as well as a new contestant?

And if so, is there a kind of creepy purgatory backstage, a human zoo of would-be strangers waiting to be dragged out onto the soundstage and under the blinding lights? What a creepy place that must be -- a cross between Guantanamo and "The Twilight Zone." Or maybe Devil's Island and Howdy Doody's old Peanut Gallery.

The game and the show have one more gimmick: a panel of three "experts" on whom the contestant can call if stumped about the identity of one particular person. On the premiere, the experts include a bored-looking psychologist and a bored-looking FBI man. Jillette, whatever his attempts to seem otherwise, is bored-looking, too, come to think of it, but in this aspect of the competition, nobody is likely to look more bored than whatever unfortunate viewers give the show a sampling.

Those who do tune in will feel like lonely tourists who've lost their maps -- and whose SUV's navigational device has broken down -- and thus have wandered into the first inhabited spot they could find, little dreaming they're about to enter the standing reality game show equivalent of the proverbial Living Hell.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR2006121701138_pf.html

fredfa

12-18-06, 11:09 AM

TV Review
'Identity'
To Tell the Truth, What's Their Line?
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times December 18, 2006

A book can be judged by its cover, and appearances are not so deceiving.

That is the lesson of “Identity,” an NBC game show that begins tonight and requires a contestant to match 12 occupations with 12 strangers entirely by how they look. The fat lady in a magenta ball gown does indeed turn out to be the opera singer. The Asian man in a kimono jacket and black headband is, sure enough, the sushi chef. It’s a little harder to determine which young woman is the kidney donor, but the process of elimination is a huge help.

As Penn Jillette, the show’s host, puts it, “This show is all about snap judgments.”

It is also a perverse premise in a society where people are always being instructed not to give in to prejudice or facile stereotypes. The classic game shows of yesteryear like “What’s My Line?” and “To Tell the Truth” sought to confound panelists’ expectations and biases. Celebrities like Bennett Cerf and Kitty Carlisle asked a lot of questions and were still regularly stumped by mystery guests who turned out to not to fit preconceived notions.

“Identity” is to game shows what a gastric bypass is to dieting: a choice that defies convention and social niceties.

The strangers are essentially props and are not competing for any prizes. The contestant is the sole player, encouraged to ham up his or her feelings of anxiety and suspense, but there really isn’t very much tension to the game. The real contest is in the back room: just as players on game shows push their luck to keep trying for the top prize, networks keep tempting fate by adding more game shows to their schedules. NBC had a huge hit with “Deal or No Deal,” and then tried another, similar game show, “1 vs. 100,” that was not as successful. The network is now betting on “Identity,” which also looks and sounds a lot like “Deal or No Deal,” or, for that matter, the 1999 hit, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

Mr. Jillette, a comedian and magician who is the taller, chattier half of Penn & Teller, does not try to be funny on “Identity.” Instead he is more like the Ghost of Game Shows Past, solemnly guiding each player through steps that are time tested and very familiar. He even drags out his signature phrase, “What (beat) is (beat) your (beat) identity?” in the style of Regis Philbin when he was the host of “Millionaire.”

The strangers are standing on pedestals on a theatrically lighted stage, in costumes that hint quite broadly at their status in life. A girl identified only as “the youngest” in the group was obligingly dressed in white knee socks, a tartan miniskirt and white blouse cut above the navel — a pornographer’s rendition of a Catholic schoolgirl.

The unidentified strangers do not speak or move; instead they stare impassively into space. When Mr. Jillette asks them to reveal their identities, they do so with cutesy phrases. “It’s not a croc,” the alligator wrestler replies. “I wrestle alligators.”

The player wins money for each correct guess: a perfect score nets $500,000. An incorrect guess on the last round means going home empty-handed. Each contestant is allowed to consult a team of loved ones — husbands, mothers-in-law and the like — as well as a panel of consultants. On the show sent for review, the advisers included a body language expert, a psychologist, and Christopher Whitcomb, a former F.B.I. agent who was identified by the show as an F.B.I. behavioral expert.

But since the strangers do not move, speak or behave, it’s hard to see what the experts bring to the game besides prolongation: each show lasts an hour.

“Identity” relies on snap judgments, but they are not snappy enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/arts/television/18stan.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1166458001-QDFmgQE1P/pjC+0v4L73pQ&pagewanted=print

fredfa

12-18-06, 11:13 AM

TV Review
'Identity'
Here's an 'Identity' that no one would want to steal
By Jonathan Storm Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Dec. 18, 2006

Hitting a new low in game show dumbness, NBC tonight lines up 12 people and challenges a contestant to guess what they do for a living. The more right answers, the more money. Whoo-hoo!

Do you think the 240-pound mama in the modified Valkyrie gown with the huge bead necklace might be the opera singer?

Actually, not all the stereotyping is about job description. Tonight, the contestant has to select the youngest in the group, and the one who has been the donor in a kidney transplant procedure.

To give each of the 12 "strangers" an identity, the producers of the show, called Identity, are allowed to choose any characteristic they want. If I were standing up there, for instance, my tag might be "flabbergasted" - that after 16 years of covering such magnificent television as The Sopranos, Seinfeld and The X-Files, it has come to this.

Now, you may be saying, "There he goes again, that elitist toad." But believe me, even Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Bill O'Reilly would think this show was stupid.

The youngest? Let's see... Do you think it might be the fresh-faced girl in the porno-movie schoolgirl outfit?

And the kidney donor? Well, you just can't tell, can you, except to know that the chick in the teeny-weeny green bikini doesn't qualify because she has no scar.

They can set this game up any way they want, to make make it almost impossible to win the $500,000 top prize.

And, yes, it's only half the normal big-network game show prize, which almost nobody ever wins, so why should you be surprised? Things are tough all over. Why not on TV, too?

As with its clone sister shows that feature techno-minimal sets, lights and music, there are some wrinkles to give the player a better chance. For instance, the competitor gets one consultation per game with a panel of "experts," as the money climbs from $1,000 for each correct guess.

Some of the "strangers" tonight: break dancer, Vegas showgirl and CSI investigator. The only Asian on the stage is the sushi chef, of course.

It's hard not to recognize Stan Lee, the creator of Spiderman, but tonight's identity-guesser, Nicci Guzik, of Streamwood, Ill., which is about 10 miles due west of Chicago's O'Hare airport, doesn't know comics. She figures it out another way.

"No offense, Stan," she says after learning the guy's first name, "but Spiderman's kind of old."

Identity might have a chance if every contestant were as swell Nicci, who just breaks 5 feet in her 4-inch heels and gives her identity as "store manager for a little coffee shop that's on every corner." A cross between Kelly Ripa and Rachael Ray, she agonizes over every selection and threatens the strangers if they turn out to be something other than what she thinks they are.

"If you don't wrestle alligators," she tells the alligator wrestler, "I'm gonna ask that you go do so."

Riddled with fear about one pick, she vanishes completely in back of host Penn Jillette, the hulking half of Penn & Teller, peeking around his ribs.

NBC pulled a big hit out of the hat this week last year, running five straight nights of Deal or No Deal, as it plans to do through Friday with Identity. But even master magician Jillette will be hard-pressed to wrestle success from this slow-moving loser.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//16263637.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

dad1153

12-18-06, 12:03 PM

Ad fee per 30-second spot: $165,000
Cost: $1 million

Ad fee per 30-second spot: $260,000
Cost: $2.7 million

If you total the ad dollars, they are about $5mil and $8mil. Which makes Heroes more profitable than the game show by $1+mil.

But how many hour-long episodes per year of 'Heroes' can the network afford/produce? Only 22-24 at the most, and they can only be shown once to the tune of big bucks from high ratings. The few times NBC has repeated 'Heroes' the ratings have tanked (still profitable but not as much as the first-run airing) and chances are its syndicated repeats won't get high ratings. Yes, DVD sales and merchandise will be a huge bounty but syndication is where the true financial bonanza lies. IF the show manages to sustain interest in its characters and stories for at least another three seasons worth of episodes then NBC is in for a hefty take. So will ABC if Lost survives its current ratings erosion, but that show's huge DVD sales have proven that just being around long-enough to make a DVD Box Set a reality guarantees some financial return. A full season of episodes to fill a DVD Box Set must have weighed heavily in Kevin Reilly's mind when he decided to renew 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Studio 60.' :rolleyes:

'Deal,' on the other hand, can produce new episodes (up to 60 in a year the USA Today story mentions) at such a prodigius rate NBC can literally afford to waste episodes to fill empty time slots (as it did with the Thursday at 9PM showings opposite 'CSI' and 'Grey's Anatomy'), still make money and have plenty of new episodes to show when all the scripted dramas are showing repeats. There is a limited market for repeats afterwards (likely to wind up on Game Show Network, which has been showing Regis' 'Millionaire' repeats non-stop for almost three years in primetime) but for the right here and now 'Deal' is more valuable as a money-maker to NBC than 'Heroes' even if the former isn't as sexy and 'chic' as the latter. And lets not forget the millions NBC is in the hole for '20 Good Years,' 'Kidnapped' and the make-goods it has to give advertisers for the low ratings of 'FNL' and 'Studio 60.' That's lost money that only a handful of hits and break-even shows (like the 'Law & Order' shows, which NBC can afford to keep on the air with mediocre ratings because it feeds the lucrative syndicated back-end with tons of repeatable inventory) have to support.

grittree

12-18-06, 12:12 PM

Maybe NBC is just being a good corporate citizen.

After all, 50% of the people have a below median intelligence. Can't discriminate against them or some interest group will raise holy heck.

Or maybe they just care about the dollars?

fredfa

12-18-06, 12:48 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
'Survivor' finale tumbles to record low
Off 25 percent in 18-49s from last fall
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec. 18, 2006

CBS caused a minor furor over the summer when it announced that the tribes on the fall season of “Survivor” would be divided by race, prompting protests and a renewed buzz about the fading show.

The network insisted the move wasn’t about ratings, though no one believed that, and ended the experiment after just a few weeks. Still, after all that hoopla, the gimmick didn’t work.

Last night’s “Survivor: Cook Islands” was the lowest-rated finale ever for the reality show, capping off the lowest-rated season for the franchise, now in its 13th season.

“Survivor” averaged a 5.7 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, down 25 percent from last fall’s season ender, which averaged a 7.6.

The finale was also off 7 percent from last spring’s then-record low of 6.1. But that show faced an original “Desperate Housewives” on ABC, which last night’s finale did not. In fact, it was a night of relatively light competition on the other networks, with ABC airing a movie and NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” rating lower than usual.

“Survivor” struggled all season against tougher competition from ABC in the 8 p.m. Thursday timeslot, where “Ugly Betty” beat it among households several times.

Despite all the headlines, the racially divided “Survivor” never did much to stir interest in the show, and it averaged 15.7 million total viewers.

Some media people have suggested that CBS should limit the show to one cycle per year, to build anticipation for it, or switch it to a new night where it could attract new viewers.

Still, even a diluted “Survivor” was the night’s biggest draw as CBS led the night among 18-49s with a 4.7 average rating and a 12 share. Fox was second at 4.4/11, NBC third at 4.3/11, ABC fourth at 3.6/9, Univision fifth at 1.3/3 and CW sixth at 0.6/2.

Fox began the night in the lead with a 4.9 average at 7 p.m. for NFL football overrun and the network’s postgame show. ABC finished second during the hour with a 2.8 for “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” NBC third with a 2.7 for “Football Night in America” and CBS fourth with a 2.5 for “60 Minutes.” CW and Univision tied for fifth at 1.1, CW for an hour of “Reba” and Univision for the first hour of the movie “Madrecita.”

At 8 p.m. CBS took the lead with a 5.2 for the first hour of the “Survivor” finale, followed by a 4.7 for NBC for its first hour of the NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Sand Diego Chargers. ABC was third that hour with a 4.1 for the first hour of the movie “The Santa Clause 2,” Fox fourth with a 4.0 average for “The Simpsons” (4.4) and “American Dad” (3.7), Univision fifth with a 1.2 for its movie and CW sixth with a 0.4 for an “America’s Next Top Model” special.

CBS led again at 9 p.m. with a 6.1 for another hour of “Survivor,” with NBC and ABC tied for second at 5.1, NBC for football and ABC for the last hour of “Santa Clause 2.” That put Fox fourth with a 4.2 for an hour of “Family Guy,” Univision fifth with a 1.4 for the first hour of the movie “Sor Tequila” and CW sixth with a 0.4 for another hour of “Top Model.”

CBS finished the night in the lead with a 5.1 rating at 10 p.m. for its “Survivor” reunion show. NBC was second with a 4.7 for football, ABC third with a 2.5 for a repeat of “Desperate Housewives” and Univision fourth with a 1.3 for the last half of “Sor Tequila.”

Among households, CBS also led, averaging an 8.9 rating and a 14 share. NBC was second at 7.4/12, ABC third at 6.1/10, Fox fourth at 6.0/9, Univision fifth at 1.5/2 and CW sixth at 1.2/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_9211.asp

fredfa

12-18-06, 12:54 PM

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

(Marc Berman's breakdown and analysis is delayed and will be posted later in the day.)

HDTVChallenged

12-18-06, 12:56 PM

Still, even a diluted “Survivor” was the night’s biggest draw as CBS led the night among 18-49s with a 4.7 average rating and a 12 share. Fox was second at 4.4/11, NBC third at 4.3/11, ABC fourth at 3.6/9, Univision fifth at 1.3/3 and CW sixth at 0.6/2.

Good grief! Isn't this the important part? And it only took eight "paragraphs" to get to the point ... critics! :D

WilliamR

12-18-06, 01:30 PM

Good grief! Isn't this the important part? And it only took eight "paragraphs" to get to the point ... critics! :D

So it had less viewers, was down from last year, etc. but it still one first for the evening? And this is a bad thing? It came in first, who cares about numbers, its still a number one show. Wierd.

dad1153

12-18-06, 01:37 PM

Congratulations to Fredfa on this column finally reaching another milestone:

900,000 views

Only 100,000 more to make it a cool million! :D

keenan

12-18-06, 01:39 PM

So it had less viewers, was down from last year, etc. but it still one first for the evening? And this is a bad thing? It came in first, who cares about numbers, its still a number one show. Wierd.
There was virtually nothing else on though, in fact there's literally nothing new for the next week or so. My "To Do List" reads only "nothing scheduled".

fredfa

12-18-06, 01:54 PM

thanks dad

VisionOn

12-18-06, 02:40 PM

Only 100,000 more to make it a cool million! :D
the millionth viewer gets a free lifetime subscription to this thread!

fredfa

12-18-06, 02:48 PM

And the 1,000,001st is forced to read every freakin' post! :)

DrDon

12-18-06, 03:38 PM

Only 100,000 more to make it a cool million! :D
Topic closed.

DrDon

12-18-06, 03:38 PM

^ KIDDING!!! (seriously, congrats and thanks for all the hard work, fredfa!!!!)

fredfa

12-18-06, 03:52 PM

Sunday’s 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.

dad1153

12-18-06, 04:00 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Dead Tree Alert: The Best TV of 2006
James Poniewozik's Time 'Tuned In' Blog Dec. 18, 2006

Amid all the hubbub in a certain newsmagazine over digital democracy, sousveillance and user-generated-media empires, let us take a moment to remember those who toiled at the old-fashioned, quaint task of making expensive entertainments, under contract to giant corporations, for millions of people to watch passively, while being paid a gigantic pile of money to do it. I give you my 10 Best (and one Worst) TV shows of 2006 (see below).

I did something slightly different this year, which to do my list the way most other TV critics do, judging new and old series side by side. There was a tradition preceding me at TIME magazine of including only new shows or series on the year-end list, which made sense in terms of putting new faces on the list every year but little sense in terms of actually honoring the best TV. I finally realized that a list that made it appear as if, say, Dexter, was a better show than The Wire--because the former debuted this year--just seemed a little crazy.

That said, I'll admit to a little jiggering to give credit to some deserving new shows. If I just wanted the 10 best series in absolute terms, I doubt there would be any new ones except Friday Night Lights (#3). Continuing series have a chance to develop depth, rhythms and resonances that even most great series can't after only a few episodes. The 10 plain-old best series would probably include, every year, whichever HBO series aired, plus South Park, and FX show or two and a couple network tokens, year after year until they went out of production. It would be correct, justifiable and boring.

So, reader, I fudged it; returning shows needed to clear a higher bar, thus making room for new blood. If pressed, honestly I could probably name 10 series better than Heroes--as I've written before, the show is exciting and creative on a story level, but badly in need of cliche-removal surgery. But it's trying something worthwhile, and that ought to be noted, and it's not like The Shield and The Sopranos need another top-ten credit on their resume.

That means plenty of perfectly deserving shows could have made the cut and didn't, and later this week I'll give you my Next 10 list: shows 11 to 20, any of which might have been on my list had I gotten out of the other side of the bed in the morning, or had they sent me better bribes. In the meantime, feel free to peruse my list--which will be gussied up in a web-friendlier version on time.com later--and revel in the idiocy of my choices.

1. THE WIRE (HBO)

This sprawling social drama has dozens of characters and, really, only one--Baltimore, Md. The fourth, finest and most heartbreaking season focused on four inner-city schoolboys, serenaded by the drug trade, failed by every institution meant to protect them and facing choices that will make or doom them for life. Meanwhile, it expanded on the show's novelistic tapestry of cops, politicos, junkies, bureaucrats, ministers and hustlers. No other TV show has ever loved a city so well, damned it so passionately or sung it so searingly.

2. THE OFFICE (NBC)

It's not just the other Office anymore. The remake of the great British sitcom has found its own voice, satirizing the culture of coffee, cubicles and Chili's with heart and laser precision. The deep bench of its cast provides a pointillistic taxonomy of American office life (who doesn't work with an Angela, a Kevin or a Stanley?). And the wistful Pam-and-Jim almost-romance--all together now: Awww!--threatens to give the Sam-and-Diane saga a run for its long-unconsummated money.

3. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (NBC)

Call it an underdog, a dark horse, a seventh-round draft pick--just don't ignore the fall's best new series (based on the book and movie) any longer. This high school football drama is a moving, warts-and-all portrait of life in hard-up Dillon, Texas, nailing the fine points of small-town politics and faith that TV too often romanticizes or ignores. It's a poignant picture of what a championship team means to a town that can't afford to wait till next year.

4. LOST (ABC)

TV's most philosophical entertainment--or most entertaining work of philosophy--piled on plot curlicues like the toppings on an oversize novelty sundae. Maddening as its mystery could be (O.K., so the smoke monster was set up by the Others who live by the four-toed statue and--hang on, let me grab a pencil ...), great writing, tantalizing details and ever richer characters made it a yarn worth getting more deeply entangled in.

5. DEADWOOD (HBO)

The only thing wilder than the Wild West, it turns out, was the appetite of civilized capitalism. Gerald McRaney was a captivating villain as George Hearst, the mining magnate and misanthrope who brutally assimilated the gold-rush camp in this expertly written work of sagebrush Shakespeare. (No other TV show is so wonderful just to listen to, swear words and all.) Backstage dealings have apparently denied the series a fourth season--an epilogue has been promised--but it rode into the sunset memorably.

6. BIG LOVE (HBO)

Come for the polygamist, stay for the thespians! The story of a Salt Lake City, Utah, man (Bill Paxton) and his multiple wives was a surprisingly sympathetic treatment of religious fundamentalism and a master-class acting showcase. Ginnifer Goodwin, Chloë Sevigny and Jeanne Tripplehorn portrayed a complicated "sister-wives" dynamic, while Harry Dean Stanton was supporting character of the year as a deliciously snaky cult leader.

7. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (SCI FI)

A high-minded war turns into a brutal quagmire. Terrorist sleepers turn the public paranoid. And the victims of an attack find themselves sacrificing liberty to defend it. Sound like any planet you know? The topical parallels became deeper and more chilling in Seasons 2 and 3 of this thinking viewer's space opera. It's like the Iraq Study Group report with starship fights and hot-looking robots.

8. HEROES (NBC)

No capes, no masks, no problem. The live-action comic book about ordinary folks discovering extraordinary powers transcended geek appeal with a crisp, focused plot and a dose of humor. Special honors go to Masi Oka, who, as time-traveling cubicle jockey Hiro, stood in for every kid (and grownup) who has ever wished he could close his eyes, squint really hard and save the world.

9. DEXTER (SHOWTIME)

Justice is murder for Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a part-time sleuth and--oh, yeah--serial killer who learned young to put his deadly urges to productive use by slaughtering only bad guys. Hall's composed, self-aware performance is flat-out stunning, and so is the treatment of this psychoprocedural's central idea: Is it a man's thoughts or his actions that make him good or evil?

10. BLEAK HOUSE (PBS)

Charles Dickens' greatest novel yielded Masterpiece Theatre's greatest co-production in years. The adaptation captured the disparate tones of the sprawling legal tale--satire, romance, melodrama--and deftly handled its numerous stories. Even at eight hours, it flew by, lofted by Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) as an aristocrat nursing a secret heartache. Bleak, yes, but brilliantly so.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570781,00.html

fredfa

12-18-06, 06:18 PM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic Dec. 18, 2006

Question: After watching the season finale of The Wire, I am shocked and a little sad. I found Bodie's arc particularly compelling this season. I was also shocked to see how Namond and Michael both ended up. I just read your top-10 shows of the year and noticed you put The Wire in second place behind 24. I loved Season 5 of 24, but as you noted, The Wire is visual literature. What caused 24 to top The Wire? I believe both shows had great seasons and could be put at No. 1. I love your column, by the way.— Brian

Matt Roush: Gee, thanks. And as you might expect, it was a tough call to choose between 24 and The Wire as the year's No. 1 show. To me, this year was the best season for both shows (24's fifth and The Wire's fourth), and how rare is it for a show to get even better this late in its run? As I noted in an earlier column, I consider 24 my pick as the most thoroughly entertaining show of last year, while The Wire qualifies as the most important drama. My decision to put 24 in the top position has a lot to do, I imagine (though I never thought about it until now), with my own perception of TV and with TV Guide and my role in all of this as a populist barometer. Though The Wire is a magnificent achievement, shows like 24 are why I do this column week in and week out, and why I enjoy watching TV in the first place. Most of the shows on my list are urgently compelling entertainment that I can't wait to see each week, and 24 was at the top of that list. The Wire operates on a thoroughly different level and always has. It is, to me, the miniseries of the year, a first-rate novel for TV that just happens to be told in weekly chapters. As I've discussed before, I consumed it in several sittings, having been given the entire series in advance of its premiere. But if I were a regular consumer, I think I'd still prefer to watch it in chunks of several hours, using HBO's On Demand service. The Wire plays so much better in a long-form presentation. Airing it in weekly hourlong increments has always felt to me like a disservice. But to get back to the question, am I really saying that 24 is a better show than The Wire? Of course not. That really wasn't the point.

Question: It's bad enough that Lost is on an endless hiatus while the confusing and bad Day Break has taken its place. I am one of those Lost fans who had happily enjoyed the show for the last two and a half seasons, and I am patient with the writers, mostly. But I am losing my patience with ABC. I generally try to record the 10 pm shows because it's just so late, and I am usually too tired to enjoy them. Lost is perfect at 9 pm and should be left there. Just because some Lost fans have jumped to the dull and inexplicably popular Criminal Minds is not a reason to mess with Lost. Yes, ABC is getting killed now, but that's because the Lost slot is occupied by a stupid replacement. If Lost came back at 9 pm, I think at worst they would still be neck and neck with Minds. With Lost at 10 pm, ABC will just fill 8 pm and 9 pm with bad lead-ins and further crush the Lost ratings. Is there any way ABC would rethink this suicidal proposition and keep the show at 9?— Alex R.

Matt Roush: In a word, no. Despite your reluctance to stay up to watch shows at 10, there's still a lot of audience available during that time period. And as we've discussed before, Lost is being moved not just to get out it of the way of Criminal Minds (which may win in overall ratings, but Lost is still strong in the ad-friendly demos), but to avoid the American Idol juggernaut, which will be in full force by the time Lost returns in early February. Add in the factor that ABC has had dreadful luck programming any show after Lost, and that's another argument for airing it at the end of the night. But there's no question that moving Lost later in the night is yet another risk in this pivotal third season's chaotic programming history.

Question: I saw the Nip/Tuck finale this week, and although for once it was pleasantly rewarding to see the main characters bond, the episode lacked the emotional appeal and the bang of previous season endings. What is your take on that?— Carmina C.

Matt Roush: My take is that moving Sean and Christian to Hollywood, where they will be starting over in a new and lucrative environment, would have been the perfect way to end this show once and for all. After a scattershot season — with precious little continuity of tone or story as it veered from the morbid to the morose to the preposterous — I felt this "surprise" ending would have been the perfect opportunity to let it go and leave their further exploits to our imagination. But FX is just that much like regular TV. The show still has a following, so they're going to milk it as long as they can. I imagine I'll force myself to watch next year, but I can't say I'm looking forward to it.

Question: How come no one ever mentions the complete absence of a laugh track on the new NBC Thursday-night lineup? It's certainly a huge turnaround from a few years ago, when every comedy was telling us when to laugh. I am glad we have turned such a corner. Also, do you feel Scrubs is responsible for this craze? If not, what show in your opinion is responsible for this?— Brent M.

Matt Roush: Scrubs has never been a big enough hit to inspire a "craze," I'd think. And something tells me that if NBC could successfully develop a new multi-camera comedy with a sweetened audience laugh track that could approach the success of a Friends or a Seinfeld, you'd see some variety within that comedy block so fast it would make your head spin. I know there's some snobbery regarding the "old-fashioned" form of TV comedy, which is working very well for CBS on Monday nights, but I don't really agree with it, even though single-camera comedies like those on NBC (and, up to this year, Arrested Development) get most of the acclaim and nominations. I like all four of these NBC comedies, but I am also enough of a realist to know that their studiously offbeat styles will probably keep them from ever being top-tier hits the way that NBC's former Thursday breakthroughs all were (a list that includes classics such as Cheers and Frasier, any of which NBC would kill to have nowadays). To your final question, the show that is probably the most influential in spurring this trend away from laugh tracks? Sex and the City, almost certainly.

Question: Out of all the fall-finale cliff-hangers out there, the one that left me with more baited breath and heated anticipation than any other was not the heavily hyped Heroes, Prison Break or Jericho, but Ugly Betty. Now this is how you build suspense! Not only was the episode's drama countered with some of the funniest moments on TV this season (thank you, Becki Newton's Amanda, for a whole season's worth of hilarity, especially when you gag at the sight of Betty's unattractive shoes), but all of a sudden we were witness to one of the sweetest love stories on all of television. Betty and Henry from Accounting are perfect for each other and they make the cutest couple, but naturally something has to get in their way before they can be happy together. I hope the holdup isn't too long, especially if it means not ever having to see the annoying Walter again!— Daniel K.

Matt Roush: Thanks for the shout-out to another of my top-10 finalists and to America Ferrera, the cover girl for our "My Big Year" issue. I couldn't agree more, and how terrific is Christopher Gorham as Henry? I'm rooting for him, too, but how smart of the writers to make Walter, creepy though he may be, such a thoughtful beau in so many other ways. Betty knows where her heart lies, not to mention her sweaty palms (which she'd probably prefer I didn't), but imagine the pain involved in dumping her geeky neighborhood boyfriend for the sweet nerd from the big city.

Question: I was just looking for the next episode of 3 LBS, and after reading your column, now understand why I couldn't find it. You say CBS has to go back to the drawing board. Frankly, I was rather upset when they moved Without a Trace to Sunday night. People are tired and usually go to bed early on Sundays. CBS would dominate Tuesday nights if they moved Without a Trace to after The Unit.— Jason

Matt Roush: Again, I'm not buying that 10-pm-is-too-late argument, on Sundays of all nights. I do wonder how long it will be before CBS experiments with moving one of its successful franchises to Tuesdays (and not in repeats), to see if there's any way to reverse that jinx. Without a Trace would be a good pick, but that would leave a hole on Sundays, where the move to back-to-back procedurals (Cold Case and Trace) is still relatively new. So I wouldn't expect to see a change there anytime soon.

Question: Like you, I absolutely love Friday Night Lights. I have watched every episode and think the show gets better every week. In my opinion, a great television drama is able to make you care about the characters, even ones like Buddy Garrity. I absolutely hated him until last week's episode, when he showed a soft side toward his daughter, Lyla. When you can take a very unappealing, annoying character like him and turn him around in the span of one episode, that is great writing, in my opinion. But I am wondering what you think about the character of Tyra. To me, she seems totally out of place in this show, and I'm thinking the writers will either kill her off or write her off in some other way. What do you think?— Laura

Matt Roush: I would hate to see this particular show stoop to any sort of melodramatic contrivance like killing off a character, even if she does look more like a cast-off from some pathetic CW drama (say, for example, one that rhymes with "None Be Still"). She isn't exactly ruining the show, but I will say that the one episode that absolutely didn't work for me was the one that involved her tryst with an out-of-towner who she thought might be her ticket to greener pastures. I'm curious to see if they're planning to develop more of a backstory for her, or find some way to better integrate her into the other characters' stories (the Riggins brothers', most likely), but if they did quietly write her out, I doubt many would notice or complain.

Question: This year it seems as if the number of new shows has been overwhelming, but a couple of months into the season, I find my TV watching greatly reduced (a good thing). I gave certain shows two episodes and then committed or canceled. I stopped watching Day Break, Men in Trees, Studio 60 and 30 Rock. I am sad that The Nine and Six Degrees are going. Now I am watching Dexter (the best), Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters. Do you think they introduced too many too soon? I suspect that people had to make decisions, as I did. There is just not enough time — how many hours can a person sit in front of a TV set?— Ellen

Matt Roush: Do you really want me to answer that last question? (It's too depressing. I'm moving on.) What your complaint really speaks to is a fact of life these days. It's not that too many new shows were introduced. In fact, with one less network in the game, there may have been fewer than in recent years. The problem is that there's simply too much TV for any sane person to keep up with adequately, unless you're willing to turn your life over to it. But from the itinerary you listed above, it sounds like you've got it well under control. (Although I'd consider giving Men in Trees and possibly Studio 60 a third chance.) Geez, I wish I had the luxury to cut shows off that quickly. (Hypocrisy alert: I think I lasted about three episodes on Day Break and Six Degrees. Guilty as charged.)

Question: I am just writing to say that I have enjoyed Heroes so far, especially now that many of the characters are coming together and interacting. One thing that bothers me is that at the end of every episode it says, "To be continued." That is unnecessary and redundant. We all know the story will continue from week to week and don't need to be reminded of that fact. Thanks for letting me rant.— John

Matt Roush: Hmm. That's one of the things I like most about Heroes, those devices (including the graphically clever chapter headings) that ground the show in comic-book tradition. It's part of the charm of the overall premise, and besides, given the way shows come and go these days (not that Heroes is anything but a hit), there's comfort in that little tagline, since in this case (unlike many other serialized shows this season), we can actually believe the story will continue. Relax and be glad the show is getting better.

Question: Why does everyone seem to hate Rob and Amber so much? I really like them. I think they are very much in love, as opposed to Adam and Candice, for example. He always treated her with the utmost respect and courtesy throughout Survivor and The Amazing Race. And both of them are close to their families — they love and respect their parents and siblings. You don't see nearly enough of that nowadays. I think that the reason most people dislike them is Rob's voice, which sometimes even grates on me. I enjoyed watching them on Survivor and Race and on their wedding special. The thoughtfulness of their gifts to each other was a delight to see. Yes, I realize they had almost unlimited funds to acquire those gifts, but they both went to so much trouble to get just the perfect tokens of their love. I know he was a little arrogant, but that seems to be part of playing the Survivor and Race games. So what is wrong with them?— Doris B.

Matt Roush: In a word: overexposure. Words cannot adequately convey my reaction when I recently opened a press kit from Fox Reality Channel (don't ask why) to learn of yet another reality venture for this couple, Rob and Amber: Against the Odds, in which they travel to Las Vegas so Rob can chase his dream of becoming a professional poker player. Barely had the vomit congealed on my desk than... but I digress. Look, I have no reason to doubt their love for each other, their families, their pets, whatever. I just don't happen to be a fan of recycling reality-TV personalities in any format, whether it be "all-star" editions, stunt Big Brother castings or, heaven help us, reality spin-offs. Rob and Amber are the poster couple for taking this to the furthest extreme, which is why they get the lion's share of the ridicule.

http://tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Ask-Matt/Default.aspx#01wire

dad1153

12-18-06, 06:37 PM

Joseph Barbera (from Hanna-Barbera fame) has passed away: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i931caaebd2fc1f51884cda79c3245c92 (this is the AP story you'll see in newspapers tomorrow). Damn, the irreplaceable one's are leaving us much to soon! :(

fredfa

12-18-06, 06:49 PM

The Business of Television
Sinclair-Mediacom talks stall
(Sinclair Broadcasting Group news release)

Sinclair Negotiations With Mediacom Unsuccessful

Mediacom's Carriage of Sinclair Stations Scheduled to End on January 6, 2007

BALTIMORE (December 18, 2006) - Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:
SBGI) announced today that negotiations with Mediacom Communications Corp.
(Nasdaq: MCCC) are not likely to result in an agreement being reached
between the two companies. The parties have attempted to reach agreement
without success during the extension the parties had entered into prior to
the originally scheduled termination date of December 1, 2006. As a result
Sinclair expects Mediacom to discontinue carriage of a number of television
stations when that extension ends at 12:01 a.m. on January 6, 2007.

"Although Sinclair has attempted to reach agreement with Mediacom,"
commented Barry Faber, Sinclair's Vice President and General Counsel, "we
do not believe we are any closer to a deal now than we were when we agreed
to the short-term extension. We had hoped the extension would allow us
sufficient time to come to an agreement, but we no longer believe that will
be the case. It is unfortunate that no agreement has been reached, but
this merely reflects a failure of a buyer and a seller to agree on terms."

"We apologize for any inconvenience to our viewers," stated
Sinclair's President and CEO, David Smith, "and trust that these viewers
will continue to watch our stations through alternative means. With such
alternative distribution means as direct broadcast satellite and over-the-
air, we think viewers will find it easy to continue to enjoy programming
such as NFL football, American Idol, Gray's Anatomy, CSI, 24 and locally
produced news that appears on many of the affected stations."

As previously announced, to compensate its viewers for the
inconvenience of having to make alternative arrangements Sinclair is
offering to pay new subscribers to DirecTV a rebate of either $150 or $100
in most of the impacted markets. This offer, which was originally
scheduled to terminate on December 1, 2006, has been extended to
subscribers who sign up by December 31, 2006.

The stations and markets impacted are listed below (with the
availability and amount of the DirecTV rebate noted after each market
name). Subscribers in markets with a $150 rebate must call 1-800-376-4388
and subscribers in markets with a $100 rebate must call 1-800-341-4388. In
order to qualify for the rebate, which will be paid in the form of a $10
bill credit each month until the full amount of the rebate has been paid,
potential subscribers must meet certain qualifications, which will be
described when the applicable 800 number is called.

Des Moines/Ames (KDSM-FOX) - $150, Cedar Rapids (KGAN-CBS) - $150,
Mobile-Pensacola (WEAR-ABC/WFGX-MNT) - $100, Peoria/Bloomington (WYZZ-FOX)
- $100, Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville (WLOS-ABC/WMYA-MNT) - $100,
Lexington (WDKY-FOX) - $100, Madison (WSMN-FOX), Nashville (WZTV-FOX/ WUXP-
MNT/WNAB-CW) - $100, Minneapolis (WUCW-CW) - $150, Paducah/Cape Girardeau
(KBSI-FOX/WDKA-MNT) - $100, Springfield/Champaign/Decatur (WICS-ABC/WICD-
ABC) - $100, St. Louis (KDNL-ABC) - $100, Tallahassee (WTWC-NBC) - $100,
Birmingham (WTTO-CW/WABM-MNT) - $100, Norfolk (WTVZ- MNT) and Milwaukee
(WCGV-MNT /WVTV-CW).

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified
television broadcasting companies, currently owns and operates, programs or
provides sales services to 58 television stations in 36 markets.
Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 22% of U.S. television
households and is affiliated with all the major networks.

http://www.sbgi.net/press/release_20061218_189.shtml

dad1153

12-18-06, 06:55 PM

TV Notebook
ABC Gives Kimmel Post Oscar Slot--Again
By Ben Grossman, Broadcasting & Cable December 18, 2006

ABC is continuing to back its late-night horse, giving Jimmy Kimmel a cameo in a new comedy and a post-Academy Awards special for the second straight year.

The network continues to pound away on building the brand of Kimmel, who will make an appearance in the upcoming rookie sitcom In Case Of Emergency and also hosts Set For Life, which ABC is set to debut sometime in 2007.

Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Academy Awards will air Sunday night, February 25, after the Oscars and local news.

Kimmel will also have rookie Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres on the Tuesday prior to the Academy Awards.

Kimmel’s post-Oscar telecast this year drew 4 million viewers, the third-highest number ever for the show.

Kimmel’s show continues to gain traction for ABC, despite its unfriendly Nightline lead-in.

Buoyed by improving bookings, Kimmel’s increasing comfort level in the chair and the addition of Late Show with David Letterman alum Jill Leiderman as executive producer, the show is up 14% season-to-date in total viewers (1.82 million, up from 1.59 million).

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6401035.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

12-18-06, 06:59 PM

TV Notebook
TBS Orders More 'Boys' Episodes
By Jon Lafayette, TV Week December 18, 2006

TBS said Monday it ordered nine more episodes of its original comedy "My Boys" from Sony Pictures Television.

The show will go back into production after the beginning of the year and the additional episodes are scheduled to premiere in summer 2007.

"It's understood that comedy is one of the most difficult forms of entertainment to do well, so it's a great feeling to know that our first attempt at creating an original scripted comedy series has been so well received," said Michael Wright, senior VP of original programming for TBS and TNT.

Since launching on Nov. 28, the series has been the top-rated original sitcom on cable among adults 18 to 49.

Starring Jordana Spiro, "My Boys" is produced by Pariah and Two Out Rally Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television. It was created by Betsy Thomas, with Jamie Tarses and Gavin Polone also serving as executive producers.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11249

dad1153

12-18-06, 07:09 PM

TV Notebook
TV Gal Shares a Moment
By Amy Amatangelo, Zap2it.com December 18, 2006

Raindrops on "Lost" and whiskers on kittens
Television characters in whom I am smitten
Brand new episodes tied up in string
These are a few of my favorite things

When the TiVo breaks, when a plot development stings, when I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite TV moments and then I don't feeeeeeeeel so bad.

Here are my 10 favorite TV moments of 2006.

1. Sara and Grissom are revealed to be in a relationship on "CSI" in "Way To Go" (May 18, 2006): Why is this the best moment of 2006? For one thing it caused an absolute uproar among fans -– some of you loved it, some of you hated it -- but it definitely got you talking and wondering. Plus, I kind of love it when shows keep secrets from us. Heck, we still don't know what's going on between those two.

2. Jim confesses his feelings for Pam on "The Office" in "Casino Night" (May 11, 2006): I think this is why my TiVo broke up with me. It got tired of watching this moment over and over and over again. This moment had the element of surprise (we all thought Jim was going to tell Pam about his new job) and took the show in a surprising direction (on other less sophisticated shows Jim might have pined forever). Plus, it was so honest. The kiss seemed real, slightly awkward but fraught with emotion. Sigh. I heart Jim.

3. Amy brings the ferris wheel to Ephram on "Everwood" in "Foreverwood, Part 2" (June 5, 2006): As my favorite show on television came to a close (no I still don't want to talk about it), the series came full circle cementing the show's central star-crossed couple and bringing a tear to my eye. As I said last week, I still miss you most of all, Ephram.

4. The Veronica, Logan, Beaver showdown on the top of roof on "Veronica Mars" in "Not Pictured" (May 9, 2006): This moment showcased the best of "Veronica Mars": a shocking reveal (Beaver was the killer), a shining and heroic moment for Logan and an Emmy-winning performance from Kristin Bell, who so easily vacillates between the flippant, sassy moments and the heart-wrenching grave moments.

5. Edgar dies on "24" in "Day 5: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM" (March 6, 2006): So, by now we know that "24" will kill of any one at any time with or without notice. But Edgar's death and his final exchange with Chloe still broke my heart. And, as an added bonus, this was the episode that brought Ponyboy to CTU.

6. The Robin Sparkles video on "How I Met Your Mother" in "Slap Bet" (Nov. 20, 2006): From the cheesy outfits, even more hokey lyrics and really bad dance moves, this was one of the most hilarious moments of the year. Come on everybody, let's go to the mall.

7. Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke dance to "Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy" on the second season finale of "Dancing with the Stars" (Feb. 26, 2006): Best. Dance. Ever. The scrappy contender didn't want to lose. He fought for every dance move and since it didn't come as naturally to him, there was a joy to watching this innately likable guy thrive.

8. Michael kills Libby and Ana on "Lost" in "Two for the Road" (May 3, 2006): Oh, it was so difficult to pick only one "Lost" moment. There's Jack imploring Kate to run, the glorious back story of Jin and Sun, and the down and dirty coupling of Sawyer and Kate. But when one of their own became it was the biggest gasp-out-loud moment of the year. I knew it was coming and I was still shocked.

9. Christina and Burke's fight on "Grey's Anatomy" in "From a Whisper to a Scream" (Nov. 24, 2006): I have my complaints about this show and I never really believed that Burke would operate with a hand tremor, but all was forgiven in this heart-wrenching fight that involved a horrifying exchange of irrevocable words. It was so real, I almost couldn't watch.

10. Josh and Donna kiss on "The West Wing" in "The Cold" (March 12, 2006): Finally. We had been waiting for oh so long. The boss and his girl Friday had put it off forever ever. And when the kiss happened at last, it was sudden, spontaneous and oh-so-perfect.

Those were my favorite moments of 2006. What were yours? Talk about it on the TV Gal message board.

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/zap-tvgal-121806-bestmoments2006,0,5637216.story?coll=zap-tv-mainheadline

dad1153

12-18-06, 07:11 PM

TV Notebook
C-SPAN To Air Profanity Arguments Live
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable December 18, 2006

C-SPAN said Monday it has decided to provide live coverage of the oral argument in broadcasters challenge to the FCC's profanity crackdown.

C-SPAN asked and gotten permission from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to cover the Dec. 20 arguments, one of the more amenable to TV coverage.

The arguments in five cases are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., with lawyers in the case not sure where they will fall in the queue but, because they have a senior judge on the three-judge panel, they were hoping for first in line.

C-SPAN Radio will also carry the live coverage and it will be streamed on the Web site, cspan.org.

C-SPAN will have to be flexible about the coveage. According to the office of Carter Phillips, managing partner of Sibley Austin, who is arguing the case for Fox, each side has been given 20 minutes, but the court may not post when that total 40 minutes will be scheduled during the day until Tuesday or even the morning of the hearing.

C-SPAN will also repeat the arguments at 9:15 Wednesday night, and again on Saturday at 7 p.m.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6401063.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

12-18-06, 07:12 PM

TV Notebook
'Day Break' among latest canceled series to find a new home online
Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune 'The Watcher' Blog Dec. 18, 2006

Feeling broken now that ABC’s “Day Break” has been canceled? Never fear, the remaining seven episodes of the thriller, which starred Taye Diggs as a cop whose very bad day kept repeating itself, will be streamed for free online.

Six episodes of the drama, which was supposed to take over for 13 weeks while “Lost” went on a break, aired on Wednesdays before poor ratings prompted ABC to pull the plug. Each of the seven remaining episodes will be posted on the next seven Wednesdays at abc.com.

A spokesman for ABC says “story will be resolved” by the end of the thirteenth episode. Only 13 episodes of “Day Break” were shot, and the plan was always for those episodes to constitute a self-contained season.

Just before a wave of serialized and semi-serialized dramas threatened to take over TV screens this fall, network executives hastened to tell critics and viewers that the shows that didn’t succeed on the air would get new life online. “If people are left hanging, hopefully we’ll have the ability to stream those additional episodes and make them available on iTunes,” Kelly Kahl, CBS’ executive vice president for scheduling, told the Tribune in July.

So far, the networks have followed through on that promise, though with mixed results. Unaired episodes of “Smith” were streamed on CBS.com and summaries of episodes that were not filmed were also posted on the network’s Web site. NBC’s “Kidnapped” and Fox’s “Vanished” also got to finish out their runs online.

However several readers wrote in to complain that the final outings of “Vanished” made little sense and did not give the story of the disappearance of a senator’s wife proper resolution.

“Fox promised a ‘satisfying conclusion,’” a reader named Roger wrote. “There was no such promised ending. The viewing public has been used once again.”

“I really felt … tricked for spending so much time on ‘Vanished’ but without a reasonable finale!,’ wrote one commenter on TV.com.

Network execs have plenty of reasons to film, or at least let fans know the details of, complete story arcs for serialized shows. For one thing, it would help them avoid the wrath of millions of angry viewers (after all, each of these canceled shows attracted at least a few million folks).

Anyone else still remember the “Reunion” debacle of 2005? The gimmick of the Fox show was that each episode depicted one year in the life of six friends, who were caught up in a murder mystery that stretched out over 20 years. But the show was unceremoniously yanked, fans were left hanging and the information about the resolution that eventually leaked out was far too little too late.

The fact is, posting unaired episodes and plot resolutions of canceled shows online just makes sense. TV viewers who feel ripped off by early cancellations and unresolved plots may be slightly mollified by getting free episodes online.

And there’s another potential bonus -- canceled shows with a healthy number of completed episodes make for more successful releases on other platforms, such as syndication, iTunes and the like. After all, even the late, lamented 2005 show “Threshold,” yet another a semi-serialized thriller with a sci-fi flavor, got a DVD release in August -- just before the most recent flood of TV serials was unleashed.

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

fredfa

12-18-06, 10:36 PM

The Business of Television
New York TWC Customers To Get Free NFL Preview
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable 12/18/2006

The National Football League on Monday accepted Time Warner Cable’s offer to put a free preview of the NFL Network on its digital basic tier in the New York area Dec. 24-30.

The preview would allow New York and New Jersey subscribers to see a Rutgers University post-season college football game that the NFL has the exclusive rights to show.

"In light of the fact that 75% of Time Warner’s New York-area customers subscribe to the digital basic tier, we have concluded that its offer represented the quickest and best way to bring Rutgers’ appearance in the Texas Bowl to Time Warner subscribers and to make the freeview a reality," the NFL said in a statement.

Last week, after the NFL Network offered to provide a free preview of its network Dec. 24-30, TWC had said it would either make only the Dec. 28 Rutgers game available to all its customers, or make the entire week-long preview available to digital customers only.

But in a letter dated Dec.14 to Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Glenn Britt, NFL Network (NFLN) chief Steve Bornstein said neither of the two options TWC proposed "satisfy both our goals for the freeview."

The statement went on to say the NFL has informed TWC it "would extend this same freeview to subscribers of Time Warner in affected regions in Kansas and Texas (both states in which state universities are participating in bowl games that NFL Network will telecast) on similar penetration terms. However, the New York resolution is not tied to the additional freeview offer in Texas and Kansas."

NFLN and TWC are still in a standoff over carriage after the network began carrying live NFL games this season.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6401110

dad1153

12-18-06, 10:39 PM

Obituary
Joseph Barbera, Half of Cartoon Duo, Dies at 95
By David Itzkoff, The New York Times December 18, 2006

Joseph Barbera, an innovator of animation who with his partner, William Hanna, gave generations of young television viewers a pantheon of beloved characters, including Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, died today at his home in Los Angeles. He was 95.

A spokesman for Warner Brothers said he died of natural causes, The Associated Press reported.

As a co-chairman of Hanna-Barbera Productions, Mr. Barbera and the studio he founded with Mr. Hanna became synonymous with television animation, yielding more than 100 cartoon series over four decades, including “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?,” “Jonny Quest” and “The Smurfs.”

On signature televisions shows like “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons,” the two men developed a cartoon style that combined colorful, simply drawn characters (often based on other recognizable pop-culture personalities) with the narrative structures and joke-telling techniques of traditional live-action sitcoms. They were television’s first animated comedy programs.

Before that, Mr. Barbera and Mr. Hanna had worked together on more than 120 hand-drawn cartoon shorts for MGM, dozens of which starred the archetypal, and Academy Award-winning, cat and mouse team Tom and Jerry. The Hanna-Barbera collaboration lasted more than 60 years. “I was never a good artist,” said Mr. Hanna, who died in 2001. But Mr. Barbera, he said, “has the ability to capture mood and expression in a quick sketch better than anyone I’ve ever known.”

Born Joseph Roland Barbera on March 24, 1911, in the Little Italy section of Manhattan, and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Mr. Barbera tried his hand at banking, playwriting and amateur boxing before the successful sale of a sketch to Collier’s magazine encouraged him to pursue a career as a cartoon artist. He wrote a letter to Walt Disney, then a rising star of California’s animation industry, in search of employment; Mr. Disney apparently promised to look up Mr. Barbera on a subsequent visit to New York, but the proposed meeting never took place.

Instead, Mr. Barbera began his animation career on the East Coast. After a four-day stint with the animator Max Fleischer, he began writing gags and drawing cartoon cels for the Van Beuren Studios in 1932. When the studio shut down in 1936, he found work at the Terrytoon Studios in New Rochelle, N.Y., but was lured away to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation unit in Culver City, Calif., one year later.

It was at MGM that Mr. Barbera was first paired with Mr. Hanna, a longtime cartoon writer and musical composer and lyricist. After toiling on a short-lived series of animated shorts based on the Katzenjammer Kids comic strips, the two men formed a plan to produce their own material.

As Mr. Barbera recalled in an interview in Michael Mallory’s book “Hanna-Barbera Cartoons,” “In desperation one time, we were sitting in a room waiting for the place to fold, and I said to Bill: ‘Why don’t we try a cartoon of our own?’”

Their first such project for MGM, a 1940 theatrical short called “Puss Gets the Boot,” introduced audiences to a relentless cat named Jasper, perpetually frustrated in his pursuit of a crafty mouse called Jinx. It was nominated for an Academy Award. Over the next 17 years, the occasionally sadistic antics that Mr. Barbera and Mr. Hanna devised for their anthropomorphic rivals — rechristened Tom and Jerry — would earn MGM another 13 Oscar nominations and seven statuettes.

Though MGM put Mr. Barbera and Mr. Hanna in charge of its animation division in 1955, the studio closed the unit two years later. So the two turned to their side company, H-B Enterprises, which they had established to produce animated television commercials, and began working full-time on television programs.

Their first series, “The Ruff & Ready Show,” had its debut on NBC in December 1957. That was followed in 1958 by “The Huckleberry Hound Show,” about a powder-blue pooch who spoke and sung (badly) with a Southern drawl. That series later won an Emmy and yielded a spin-off show for one of its supporting characters, an Ed Norton-like forest denizen named Yogi Bear.

Mr. Barbera and Mr. Hanna revisited the template of “The Honeymooners” in 1960 to create their most popular series, “The Flintstones,” a half-hour animated sitcom about two families living in the Stone Age suburb of Bedrock. It appeared in prime time on ABC and was a top-20 show in its first year.

Despite its fanciful setting, “The Flintstones” hewed to sitcom conventions, using sight gags and one-liners that centered on the domestic squabbles of the prehistoric couple Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Propelled by a catchy, brassy theme song, “Meet the Flintstones” (introduced in the show’s third season), and Fred’s thunderous yell, “Yabba-dabba-doo!” “The Flintstones” ran for 166 episodes over six seasons.

In the succeeding years, Hanna-Barbera produced numerous prime time, syndicated and Saturday morning cartoon shows, from 1962’s futuristic family comedy “The Jetsons” to the 1973 adventure series “Superfriends” to such 1980s-era toy tie-ins as “Shirt Tales” and “Challenge of the GoBots.” The studio also produced eclectic projects like the 1978 television special “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park,” starring that heavy-metal rock band, and a 1973 film adaptation of E.B. White’s novel “Charlotte’s Web.”

In 1990, Hanna-Barbera was acquired by Turner Broadcasting (now part of Time Warner), where it continued to produce animated programming for syndication and for the Cartoon Network cable channel, including “Dexter’s Laboratory” and “The Powerpuff Girls.” In 1998, Hanna-Barbera’s studios were moved to a Warner Brothers office building, and by 2001, the company had been absorbed by Warner Brothers’ animation division.

Mr. Barbera remained active in animation. He worked as an executive producer on such recent television series as “What’s New, Scooby-Doo?” He was also a writer, director and storyboard artist on the 2005 cartoon “The KarateGuard,” his first theatrical Tom and Jerry short in more than 45 years. He is survived by his wife, Sheila, and three children from a previous marriage: Jayne, Lynne and Neal.

Mr. Barbera’s influence can be found today in prime-time animated series like “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” and in cartoons that satirize the Hanna-Barbera style, including “The Venture Brothers” and “Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.” His own work continues to be seen on the cable channel Boomerang, which broadcasts vintage Hanna-Barbera programming 24 hours a day.

Though he was often asked to explain the enduring popularity of his cartoons, Mr. Barbera was reluctant to subject his life’s work to such close analysis. “To me it makes little sense to talk about the cartoons we did,” he wrote in a 1994 autobiography, “My Life in ‘Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century.” “The way to appreciate them is to see them.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/arts/television/19barberacnd.html?hp&ex=1166504400&en=981c92ea242736c7&ei=5094&partner=homepage

dad1153

12-18-06, 11:02 PM

The Business of Television
More NBCU Surprises?
By J. Max Robbins, Broadcasting & Cable December 18, 2006

It’s a fait accompli in most industry folks’ minds that Jeff Zucker will soon ascend to the NBC Universal throne and replace longtime Chairman Bob Wright. But as we say goodbye to a year filled with out-of-left-field surprises—many of them at NBCU—here’s another: Disney-ABC TV chief Anne Sweeney has been mentioned as a contender for the job.

Sweeney’s name came up more than once in conversations I’ve had in the past couple weeks about the future of NBCU.

Not for nothing. She has been instrumental in the resurgence of ABC and Disney’s cable properties, as well as the pioneering deal with Apple to distribute programming on iTunes. And with a reputation as a tough, competitive manager, she could be the right person to lead the company through a sweeping reorganization plan to trim $750 million from the budget and a difficult transition following the defection of three veteran executives.

The turmoil at NBCU in recent weeks—culminating in the successive departures of Randy Falco, David Zaslav and Keith Turner—make this scenario all the more plausible. But despite the chatter about Sweeney, the odds-on bet is that the job is Zucker’s.

Although Zucker’s tenure as NBC’s entertainment chief was rocky, he has improved his record as CEO of NBCU TV Group. The broadcast network is coming back to life after years in the doldrums, and NBCU’s stable of cable networks—from Bravo to USA Networks to CNBC—are all making money. Most important, folks inside 30 Rock say he is close with GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt.

And Immelt seems chipper about NBCU’s future. Speaking at GE’s annual outlook meeting last week, he described NBCU as having a “killer year” and predicted 5% growth in 2007.

Conventional wisdom says that the GE chief is just doing his due diligence by giving Sweeney a once-over. (She may not even be available: I hear she has at least two years left on her Disney deal.) After all, other marquee-name executives have been given obligatory consideration, including ex-Viacom CEO Tom Freston. Reviewing a thorough slate of outside candidates—even after he has already settled on in-house favorite Zucker—is simply what the GE board expects Immelt to do.

While a lot of folks on both coasts are dismissing the Sweeney/NBCU talk as idle chatter—and let’s face it, the media industry lives for this kind of chatter—others are not so quick to write it off.

Immelt’s bullish predictions for NBCU in the coming year are a particularly tall order after being down 4%. Some industry prognosticators suggest that Immelt’s projections are overly optimistic and note that much of the ratings resurgence at the broadcast network has come with a big price tag—as in the $600 million NBC paid for NFL rights.

The stakes are indeed high for Immelt. NBCU accounts for about 10% of GE’s more than $146 billion in revenues. Tea-leaf readers suggest that the recent appointment of Michael Pilot, a GE executive with no TV-industry experience, to head all of network ad sales—a decision made by Immelt, not Zucker—is evidence that the GE chairman could do the unexpected.

If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Zucker. But after a year that began with news of the demise of two broadcast networks and the birth of another, anything can happen. Remember, Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone kicked Freston to the curb after years of treating him “like a son” and all but anointing him as his heir apparent.

The echo chamber can be frivolous—and it’s often wrong. But you can’t ignore it.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6400686.html

dad1153

12-18-06, 11:09 PM

Now this is a sales call I wouldn't mind getting! :)

TV Notebook
Alec Baldwin’s on the Phone, and It’s Nothing Personal
By Jacques Steinberg, The New York Times December 19, 2006

Tens of thousands of fans of the NBC show “30 Rock” (or their friends or colleagues) have had the unusual experience over the last week of picking up their phones to hear the voice of Alec Baldwin addressing them by name and wishing them a happy holiday.

While the messages — reminiscent of get-out-the-vote efforts known as push polls — are obviously recorded, Mr. Baldwin can also be heard relating details about the recipient, like the person’s job (including the fields of public relations or pharmaceuticals) and hobbies (cooking, doing crossword puzzles), as well as complimenting his or her physique. (One choice: “I am not above telling you, you have a nice behind.”)

The promotion, using the fledgling technology of a company called Varitalk, is being mounted by the NBC Universal Television Studio, which produces “30 Rock.” In a telephone interview yesterday, Shelley McCrory, senior vice president for comedy development at the studio, said that she and her colleagues had been seeking a way to give the freshman comedy an edge over its tough competition at 9:30 on Thursday nights, including the veteran dramas “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” on CBS.

The idea of making available customized messages to be transmitted by phone or e-mail — in this case accessible via www.nbc.com/30Rock — was inspired by an earlier Varitalk campaign, in which Web users were able to send messages using the voice of the actor Samuel L. Jackson, who was promoting the movie “Snakes on a Plane.” In recent months the CW television network used similar technology (and Tyra Banks’s voice) to promote itself.

“We just immediately knew the sensibility was right for our audience,” Ms. McCrory said. She declined, however, to say how many such messages have been delivered (beyond an estimate in the tens of thousands) or how much the campaign, which is free to users, had cost NBC.

Still, those who have received the messages, which sound so seamless, have surely been left with a more pressing question: How do they do it?

People who try to send such a message quickly discover that it is like the old, fill-in-the-blank children’s game of Mad Libs. During a session in a Manhattan recording studio that lasted just a half hour, Mr. Baldwin recorded about 500 first names — including such potential tongue twisters as Fowzia — from which the sender may choose. (Choosing a name that is not on Mr. Baldwin’s list will sometimes prompt an error message from the Web site, advising the sender that it could not be found.)

Mr. Baldwin also recorded the names of all the states (so that the message makes reference to where the listener is sitting) as well as entries for drop-down menus that give the sender choices for pinpointing the recipient’s job, interests and “physical traits.” Then a computer synthesizes all this information for a greeting.

Mr. Baldwin was traveling yesterday, according to an assistant, and not able to come to the phone in person.

But Ms. McCrory said that Mr. Baldwin, a favorite target of The New York Post for his occasionally volatile personality, immediately and enthusiastically signed on to the project after being approached by producers in late November. On the messages he sounds as if he were rehearsing for a Broadway play or “Saturday Night Live,” with a dulcet tone of voice that is self-deprecating, and very close to that of Jack Donaghy, the network executive he plays on “30 Rock.”

While not present for the main recording session, Ms. McCrory said she did attend a follow-up session, on the “30 Rock” set at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens, where Mr. Baldwin had to redo seven state names and add three names.

“They called, ‘Action!’ ” Ms. McCrory said. “He said them like bang-bang-bang. Then he said, ‘Are we done?’ Someone said, ‘We’re done.’ And he walked off with a big smile on his face.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/arts/television/19bald.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin

dad1153

12-18-06, 11:22 PM

SACRILEGE!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

TV Notebook
AMC remaking 'The Prisoner'
Cable network to produce remake of classic show
By Denise Martin, Variety December 18, 2006

AMC is remaking 1960s sci-fi cult fave "The Prisoner."

Cabler has come aboard to co-produce at least six episodes -- billed as a modern-day reimagining of the TV series classic -- with U.K.'s Sky One. Granada Intl. also produces.

AMC's is the second adaptation in the works. Universal Pictures has set helmer Christopher Nolan to direct a feature version that Janet and David Peoples are scripting (Daily Variety, Aug. 11).

U has the film rights to the skein, while Granada has separate television rights. Like the planned skein, bigscreen pic is said to be a contemporized take on the 1967 thriller.

Bill Gallagher ("Conviction") is writing the series, to be produced by Michelle Buck and Damien Timmer.

Production will begin next spring for a debut in both the U.S. and the U.K. in January 2008.

Original "Prisoner," which ran for just 17 episodes, starred Patrick McGoohan as a government agent who resigns and is later kidnapped, given a new identity and placed on an isolated island known as the Village.

AMC execs were tightlipped regarding details of the updated version but said it will similarly involve themes of paranoia and deal with sociopolitical issues.

What the new show won't be is an exact replica of the original.

"The show isn't just a re-creation," said Rob Sorcher, AMC exec veep of programming and production. "What we're doing is an entirely new reinterpretation that stays true to the components of the McGoohan (show)'s vision."

New series will revolve around a man who awakes in the Village with no memory of how he arrived. Episodes will follow how he tries to make sense of his new environment, in which inhabitants are under constant surveillance, identified by number and sans any recollection of how they got to the island.

Net exec VP-general manager Charlie Collier said "Prisoner" reps yet another niche AMC is looking to explore in a weekly series. Hope is for skein to complement sci-fi movies like "Independence Day" that already rate well on the channel.

"We want to find series that showcase specific genres, but also bring a new light and feel to them," Collier said.

AMC has already put its spin on Westerns ("Broken Trail"), capers ("Hustle") and, soon, period drama ("Mad Men"). Cabler is also working on a pilot for a crime drama with a twist: Vince Gilligan's "Breaking Bad" centers on a high school chemistry teacher who starts to manufacture crystal meth (Daily Variety, Nov. 13).

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956008.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

fredfa

12-18-06, 11:27 PM

Obituary
Joseph Barbera, 95
Cartoon giant, Hanna-Barbera founder, created 'Flintstones,' 'Jetsons'
By Richard Natale, Michael Schneider [b]Variety[/] Dec. 18, 2006

Joseph Barbera, who with William Hanna founded powerhouse animation factory Hanna-Barbera, creator of TV gems such as "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons," died of natural causes at his home Monday. He was 95.

Early in their careers, Barbera and Hanna (who died in 2001) won seven Oscars for the "Tom and Jerry" cartoon series at MGM; later they earned eight Emmys as the duo set about defining TV animation.

The pair had mostly retired from the business by 1991, when Turner Broadcasting purchased Hanna-Barbera from owner Great American Broadcasting in order to launch the Cartoon Network.

Time Warner purchased Turner in 1996, and its Warner Bros. Animation arm absorbed the remaining Hanna-Barbera assets in 2001. But the Hanna-Barbera name lives on, as toons first created under Hanna's and Barbera's watch continue to be revived on both the small screen and in features.

Born in New York City, Barbera was educated at NYU's American Institute of Banking. He first worked as an accountant and, after selling his first cartoon to Colliers, was a freelance magazine cartoonist. He joined MGM as a story man in 1937, about a month after Hanna had come to the studio. The two were soon collaborating on projects. In 1939 they came up with the battling cat and mouse known as Tom and Jerry.

"We asked ourselves, what would be a normal conflict between characters provoking comedy while retaining a basic situation from which we could continue to generate fresh plots and stories," Hanna once explained. "We almost decided on a dog and a fox."

The first Tom and Jerry toon, "Puss Gets the Boot," received an Oscar nomination for cartoon short in 1940.

Over the next two decades, under producer Fred Quimby, 113 "Tom and Jerry" toons were produced, yielding 12 Oscar nominations and seven Oscars: for "Yankee Doodle Mouse" (1943), "Mouse Trouble" (1944), "Quiet Please!" (1945), "The Cat Concerto" (1946), "The Little Orphan" (1948), "Two Mouseketeers" (1951) and "Johann Mouse" (1952).

Tom and Jerry also made appearances in MGM feature films including "Dangerous When Wet" and "Anchors Aweigh."

MGM promoted Barbera and Hanna to producers in 1955, but TV was taking its toll on movies, and the duo were ordered to dismiss their animators shortly thereafter. Refusing, they asked to be released from their contracts and, in July 1957, founded their own company, Hanna-Barbera Prods., to cater to the burgeoning TV market.

To keep up with the rapid pace of television, they used "limited animation" (or "planned animation"), a technique invented by United Producers of America. With simplified actions, limited backgrounds, closeups and reusable stock footage, they were able to reduce the number of drawings per minute of animation from 1,000 to about 300.

This process allowed them to deliver programming on a weekly basis, starting with NBC's "Ruff and Ready" in December 1957 -- six-minute segments to wrap around classic Columbia Pictures cartoons. Their first series was "The Huckleberry Hound Show," which began in syndication in 1958 and featured such characters as Yogi Bear, Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinx. In 1960, the show won an Emmy.

More importantly, Huckleberry and his friends launched a lucrative children's merchandising line of products, which generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues.

Since Huckleberry also promoted breakfast cereal, it seemed logical that in 1959, Kellogg's would sponsor "Quick Draw McGraw." Other characters included McGraw sidekick Baba Louie, as well as Snooper and Blabber, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy.

Yogi Bear got his own show in 1961, to be joined by Snagglepuss, Yakky Doodle and, eventually, Magilla Gorilla, Wally Gator and Jabberjaw.

In 1960, Hanna-Barbera created another milestone, "The Flintstones," the first primetime animated sitcom, on ABC. The show was dismissed by critics, and owed more than a nod to Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners." But it was a major ratings hit, running in primetime until 1966 and in syndication ever since.

The series spawned millions of dollars in merchandising, including vitamins and cereals, spinoffs, specials, even feature films like "'The Man Called Flintstone." In 1994, Universal produced a live-action feature based on the series that was a worldwide blockbuster, grossing $400 million.

"The Flintstones" remained the longest-running primetime animated show until "The Simpsons" took over that title in the mid-1990s.

"Top Cat" went primetime on ABC in 1961 and lasted a season. "The Jetsons" followed a year later and also ran in primetime for a year before moving to Saturday mornings, where it stayed for a decade (and also eventually spawned a feature-length film, albeit animated). Other nighttime HB offerings were "The Adventures of Jonny Quest" in 1964, "Where's Huddles?" in 1970 and "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" in 1972.

Their daytime output was even more impressive: By the end of the decade, HB Prods. was supplying a third of the major networks' 18 hours of animated fare.

The output of new characters never stopped, continuing with Penelope Pitstop, Motormouse, Wacky Races, Autocat and Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (for which Hanna wrote the theme song, "Stop That Pigeon").

In the late '60s, HB resurrected "Tom and Jerry," toning down the violence for TV, and created loosely adapted literary classics such as "The Three Musketeers," "The Adventures of Gulliver" and "Around the World in 79 Days." They also dipped into live action with "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour," "Danger Island" and "The New Adventures of Huck Finn."

Their biggest success of the period was the animated "Scooby Doo, Where are You?," a supernatural whodunit featuring a cowardly Great Dane.

Starting in 1970, HB Prods. adapted live-action films and series and spun them off into children's animation, including "Butch Cassidy," "Laverne and Shirley," "Happy Days" and "Mork and Mindy." They also created shows around the "Flintstones" characters like Dino, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm.

Always adaptable, HB met with great success bringing comicstrip "The Smurfs" to animation as well as videogame "Pac Man."

In addition to series, HB created specials, including musical versions of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Jack and the Beanstalk" (the latter won an Emmy in 1967). ABC After School Special "The Last of the Curlews" won an Emmy in 1972.

Hanna-Barbera returned to the theatrical market with 1973's full-length animated feature "Charlotte's Web," based on E.B. White's children's classic, and "Heidi's Song" in 1982. Both used full animation techniques.

HB's live-action work includes the made-for-TV "Hardcase," "Shootout in a One Dog Town," "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park" and "Belle Star," all in the 1970s.

Barbera also exec produced 1977's Emmy-winning telepic "The Gathering."

In the mid-1980s the duo created an entire series of animated tales, "The Greatest Adventure: Stories From the Bible." As they moved into the 1990s, there was "Wake, Rattle & Roll," "Fender Bender 500" and "Monster Tails." They even launched their own retail stores.

Hanna-Barbera Prods. was purchased by Taft Broadcasting in 1966, but Hanna and Barbera continued to oversee the 800-plus employees for the decades that followed. In 1988, Taft was absorbed by Great American Broadcasting and Barbera was named president.

In 1994, Hanna and Barbera were inducted into the TV Academy Hall of Fame.

By the time Turner took over Hanna-Barbera in the 1990s, Hanna and Barbera were no longer actively involved. The duo continued as figureheads, however, until the end of the decade. By the time of Hanna's death, the Hanna-Barbera nameplate had been retired for new development.

The massive Hanna-Barbera library lives on, however, on cable nets including Cartoon Network and its classic toon spinoff, Boomerang.

Barbera is survived by his wife and three children.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956009&categoryid=14

fredfa

12-19-06, 02:33 AM

TV Notebook
New Dispute Over Firing of Publisher
By Sharon Waxman and Richard Siklos The New York Times December 19, 2006

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18 — With Judith Regan’s authors still reeling from their publisher’s abrupt dismissal, the sparring between the headline-making Ms. Regan and her former employer, the News Corporation, grew more intense, more personal and more specific on Monday over accusations that she had made anti-Semitic comments that prompted her firing.

The News Corporation, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, released what it described as notes of a heated telephone conversation on Friday between Ms. Regan and Mark Jackson, a lawyer for HarperCollins, the corporation’s publishing division that includes the ReganBooks imprint.

According to the notes, Ms. Regan protested that the publishing house had not supported her during a firestorm last month over a confessional book by O. J. Simpson and a related television program, which the News Corporation canceled after public protests and growing unease among affiliate television stations.

“‘Of all people, the Jews should know about ganging up, finding common enemies and telling the big lie,’” Ms. Regan said, according to the notes Mr. Jackson made as the conversation unfolded; the notes were provided by Gary Ginsberg, an executive vice president of News Corporation.

According to the notes, Ms. Regan then said that the literary agent Esther Newberg; HarperCollins’ executive editor, David Hirshey; HarperCollins’ president, Jane Friedman; and Mr. Jackson “constitute a Jewish cabal against her.”

A lawyer for Ms. Regan, Bert Fields, denied Monday that she had said there was a “Jewish cabal against her,” saying that she had used only the word “cabal” in the conversation, and that was done in response to Mr. Jackson’s using the word in a question to her. But Mr. Fields acknowledged that during the heated conversation by phone last Friday, she had made some version of the first statement, drawing attention to the fact that her boss and others involved in the controversy over the aborted O. J. Simpson project were Jewish.

He denied, though, that this reflected any anti-Semitism. “There is nothing insulting to Jewish people in saying that Jews should particularly understand what it is to be victims of the big lie,” Mr. Fields said. “They were looking for an excuse to fire her, and they fired her, and called it anti-Semitic. It ain’t anti-Semitic.”

And, Mr. Fields said, even if she had said “Jewish cabal,” that would not have been anti-Semitic. “I want to make it clear that had she said it, even that is not an anti-Semitic remark,” he said. “Had she said it, I wouldn’t be offended, as a Jew.”

Mr. Fields said he planned to file a lawsuit against HarperCollins for dismissing Ms. Regan in breach of her contract. HarperCollins declined to comment, as did Ms. Newberg.

ReganBooks has scrambled in the days since the firing to reassure its authors that their books would move forward, despite Ms. Regan’s abrupt replacement by Cal Morgan, and the escalating invective in the dispute.

Pam Manela, who wrote “A Man & His Meatballs” with her husband, John LaFemina, said their editor, Cassie Jones, called on Saturday morning. “They just said, ‘We’re sure you’ve heard the news, we just want to assure you that we’re still committed to your project, and internally nothing has changed,’” Ms. Manela said, adding that she was “shocked, to say the least” about Ms. Regan’s termination. “They’ve assured us that nothing’s going to fall through the cracks.”

Gloria Allred, a high-profile lawyer and ReganBooks author, said she received an e-mail message on Saturday from Mr. Morgan, the new head of the imprint. Ms. Allred speculated that Ms. Regan’s firing was a result of personality clashes. “It’s not been a well- kept secret that apparently there were tensions within the corporation,” she said. “Judith would give you the truth as she sees it. Maybe not always a truth that other people want to accept.”

But Ms. Allred said she was saddened by the suggestion that Ms. Regan made anti-Semitic comments. “I’m Jewish, and she’s never made an anti-Semitic comment to me,” she said.

Other authors said they had been bruised in their relations with Ms. Regan, but had no experience of her making anti-Semitic remarks.

Peter Lance, the author of “Triple Cross,” an investigative work about the F.B.I. and the terror network of Osama Bin Laden, said Ms. Regan abandoned his book, released in late November, when the media storm erupted over the O. J. Simpson project, even canceling a scheduled interview with him on her own radio program.

“Having said that, in the five years I’ve known her, I’ve never known Judith to utter an anti-Semitic remark,” he said.

Pat Montandon, a former San Francisco society columnist who was lampooned as a character in “Tales of The City” by Armistead Maupin, has written a memoir that ReganBooks is set to publish in April. When Ms. Regan announced plans to publish the Simpson book, Ms. Montandon said she nearly withdrew her book, “Oh the Hell of It All,” from the imprint.

“I called my son and said, ‘I feel like having a press conference and saying I’m not going to have my book published,” Ms. Montandon said. She reconsidered, and decided to stay on.

The publishing world has been reeling from the abrupt dismissal last Friday of Ms. Regan, one of the most successful publishers in the business, whose penchant for sensational topics has served her well with books like “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star,” which had the film actress Jenna Jameson as a co-author, and “The Gotti Diet: How I Took Control of My Body, Lost 80 Pounds, and Discovered How to Stay Fit Forever,” by Frank Gotti Agnello.

But Ms. Regan was known to have a strained relationship with Ms. Friedman, who found some of Ms. Regan’s projects distasteful though lucrative, while the independent-minded Ms. Regan felt that her boss and others at the company were allied against her.

Despite the success Ms. Regan brought Mr. Murdoch’s publishing business since he established her imprint in 1994, their relationship had soured in recent weeks as she became involved in the controversy involving the Simpson book, “If I Did It,” and the companion television special she had championed.

“I don’t think she treats people the right way, and it does catch up with you,” said Kathryn M. Ireland, a British-born fabric designer who wrote a book for Ms. Regan that the publisher ultimately rejected. “The chickens eventually come home to roost, and this is what’s happened to her now. But I don’t think it’s the end of Judith by any means. She’ll probably reappear as the head of a studio or something.”

(Sharon Waxman reported from Los Angeles and Richard Siklos from New York. Julie Bosman contributed reporting from New York.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/business/media/19regan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=media&pagewanted=print

fredfa

12-19-06, 10:03 AM

There is a fun poll over on Marc Berman's "PI Insider" blog. It asks you to vote for one favorite show by network.

So go (join!) and vote and pack to ballot box for your favorite show -- in a poll a lot of Madison Avenue folks will be sure to see.

http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/68210551/m/54110442

Speaking of voting, in a brazen attempt to keep some interest here (and the page view counter spinning) during the Christmas-New Year's weekend, I'll be running a poll of your favorite cable shows. I'll get it started later this week.

So after you get done voting in Marc's blog, remember to return here (often!) to pack the ballot box for your favorite cable shows next week.

dad1153

12-19-06, 10:38 AM

TV Notebook
The Trouble With Larry
Won't Replace King: CNN Brass
By Michael Starr, New York Post December 19, 2006

When Larry King retires, he won't be re placed, a high-ranking CNN exec says.

"It's my hope that Larry works for another 10 years," said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide and one of the top men at the news network.

"You can't" replace King, Walton told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Then he dropped a bombshell that was still reverberating throughout the TV industry yesterday.

"It's probably very unlikely that when Larry does retire that we would replace him," Walton said.

King's spot is one of the most sought-after jobs in all of TV news.

Rumors and speculation about his replacement have been circulating for years.

The latest name mentioned was Diane Sawyer, who appears to be ready to leave the morning TV grind and would - at least theoretically - fit well on a nightly interview show.

Bob Costas was thought for a while to be intertested in the job. Even "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest's name has come up.

In fact, says the CNN exec, the format of the King show - 60 minutes of celebrity and newsmaker interviews - might be scrapped altogether.

"We likely would try to find something new," Walton said. He did not specify what that "something new" would be.

"Larry King Live" is CNN's top-rated show, regularly drawing over 1 million viewers and A-list guests - at least in part because King is not known for tough questioning.

Rumors that CNN was planning King's departure circulated earlier this year - and were quickly shot down.

"We'd have to be even crazier than people think TV executives are to even think about moving a legend like Larry out of his timeslot," Jon Klein, president of CNN U.S., said last March.

Still, King is seen inside the network as the symbol of the old CNN, a throwback to a time when the cable news channel had no competition to speak of and all the time in the world to fill.

But in the last five years, CNN has been surpassed in the ratings by Fox News Channel and King himself cannot match the 3 million viewers a night who tune in to his rival, Bill O'Reilly.

That does not mean that King has lost his clout.

His nightly show is still the first stop for people in the news who want to get their stories out - from booted Star Jones to disgraced author James Frey to, earlier this month, the fiancee of Queens cop-shooting victim Sean Bell.

King, 73, is signed with CNN through 2009 in a deal paying him about $7 million a year.

Asked to comment, King issued a prepared statement that suggested whatever plans CNN has will have to wait.

"I'm about to hit my 50th anniversary [next May] and we're already planning my 75th anniversary," King told The Post.

"I have never been happier than where I am now, and I've never felt better."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12192006/tv/the_trouble_with_larry_tv_michael_starr.htm

dad1153

12-19-06, 11:02 AM

TV Notebook
Remains of the 'Day' hit the Web dump
By David Biancully, New York Daily News December 19, 2006

The cancellation of ABC's "Day Break," the Taye Diggs drama in which his cop character relived variations on the same horrible day, doesn't bother me.

What bothers me, though, is ABC's halfhearted attempt to appease fans by promising the remaining unseen episodes will be shown on the ABC Web site. It's the same disingenuous compromise offered by other networks for other canceled serialized series.

Fox posted installments of "Vanished," CBS showed "Smith" and NBC is showing episodes of "Kidnapped."

Better than not seeing them at all? Certainly. For viewers whose interest in those shows is too casual to wait for a potential release on DVD, going online to follow the story line of one of these intricate mystery dramas is indeed a better alternative.

Yet just as the networks collectively - and colossally - overestimated the appetite for new serial dramas this fall, they're making the same erroneous assumptions about the current state of media interchangeability. In theory, it sounds smart to narrowcast a show that failed on a broadcast platform - but here, too, networks run the danger of annoying as many fans as they please.

No matter how much network executives wish otherwise, the simple truth heading into 2007 is this: Watching TV on TV, and watching it elsewhere, are not yet the same activity.

Out of duty, because I'm a TV critic, I watched every episode of "Vanished" and "Day Break" when they were shown in prime time. More out of pleasure - because I liked the shows enough to stay tuned - I also watched every televised episode of "Smith" and "Vanished."

Since they moved to the Internet, though, I haven't followed. Like an acceptable neighborhood restaurant that moves miles away, it just doesn't seem worth the fuss.

Then there's the matter of instant availability, which just isn't true. I fully intended to watch "Smith" on CBS.com, but by the time I got around to it, the show was gone from the network site. All traces have been wiped away, as if by some Leninist revisionism campaign. I can watch one unaired CBS episode on aol.com, but have to pay $2 for the privilege. Sorry, no.

"Kidnapped," right now, is only one episode ahead of where it was when NBC canceled it. Why not just put all the rest of the shows up, so fans can sate their interest and move on?

If it's closure you seek, you may never get it: Even after Fox showed its "finale" of "Vanished," bloggers complained there wasn't anything final about it. It was just the last episode made before the plug was pulled.

If networks are going to burn off inventory on the Web, they ought to post all unseen episodes at once, and leave them up for the rest of the season. Why roll them out like treats? If they were worth waiting for, or if there were that much interest, they wouldn't have been candidates for cancellation in the first place.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/481350p-405089c.html

fredfa

12-19-06, 11:24 AM

It is always fun (and fairly rare!) to see Tim Goodman in a festive mood. But his writing is outstanding, no matter his mood or physical state:
Critic’s Notebook
A Christmas Top-10 List
Sombertown! Grinch. Rudy. Robbie. Olive. It's a hootenanny.

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

Some of you have been wondering what I'm doing on vacation, or why I have so much vacation, or if I've fallen down a hole or been outsourced or if I'm slacking like a madman on the couch.

To which I say: I've been in Sombertown. And no, that's not part of the Westfield Shopping Experience. It's my house when I'm sick, on IR, burning up the day by playing blocks or watching strange shows with the young Goodman snappers. In short, the whole Chronicle thing about me being on vacation is true, just not as true as it seems. (I'm off until January 2, except when I'm sick, or when I'm writing Year End Lists and Who Died In 2006 Lists and watching series that will appear in early January, thus necessitating me writing the review when I'm on vacation, provided I'm not barfing or babysitting).

Let us not speak of it. I'm bored with it.

But what I do love is Christmas. Oh, I'm a sucker for Christmas. And not a Cranky Christmas, either, though I do love Grinch as much as Rudolph. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I have no interest whatsoever in anyone's rant about the merchandising of Christmas or the War on Christmas or who's birthday it is or how expensive the trees are, the greed, the loneliness, the religion or the sorrowful parts of it. Not interested. Those are your issues. If it makes you feel any better (and I live on the Berkeley border, so I know this all too well), then yes, there is charitable giving involved. Sometimes even candle lighting and chats with The God (or Eastern Religious Figure) Of My Choice regarding the less fortunate. But I grew up with a crappy fake Christmas tree with not a whole lot under it so you'll just have to get off the cross (we need the wood) about the fact I like 9-foot Christmas trees and an unholy amount of presents.

What's important here is the TV aspect (took me a while, but I got to it). Now, part of me was happy to see friend and colleague Peter Hartlaub justly slapped down for not liking "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." He wrote that on The Poop, the blog that he masterminds. I almost posted this on The Poop, which I love, since Peter has now granted me access. But I figured I hadn't updated the old Machine for a bit, and I need the hits in the Chronicle's new age of Pandering For Clicks.

Peter wrote a little something about favorite Christmas movies and his new tradition of sharing the same with his young son and lovely wife. As a longtime lover of Christmas movies, I welcome Peter to the Xmas Viewing Experience. But I'll say it right here - his list (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?blogid=29&entry_id=11376#readmore) is weak. I've been watching DVD versions of favorites over and over and over and over again the last two weeks. Here's my list (next year the order may change, but this is my final for 2006):

1. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." It's what I loved as a kid. It's always the leadoff hitter for me come December.

2. "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Brilliant.

3. "It's A Wonderful Life." Yeah, I know. And I don't care.

4. "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Note perfect.

5. "The Year Without A Santa Claus." Heat Miser. That's all you need to know. Oh, and a bunch of other weird Rankin/Bass stuff.

6. "A Christmas Story." It's so hard to make a modern classic - it needs to stand up through time and overcome our youthful memories to even secure a place.

7. "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." One word: Sombertown.

8. "Olive, the Other Reindeer." Huge fan of J. Otto Siebold.

9. "Robbie the Reindeer" (Hooves of Fire/Legend of the Lost Tribe). Deliciously weird and modern.

I'm going to leave the cliched 10th spot open so I can change my mind, make additions, etc. I will say that I'm quite fond of the Penguins from "Madagascar" and their little Christmas ditty that comes with the movie. Same goes for "Creature Comforts" and its nod to Christmas.

The rest? Well, let's just say that Rankin/Bass never let an opportunity to cash in on the next potential "classic" evade them and there's a lot of dreck out there. I know my daughter likes (and cries while watching) "Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" but it never gets me. And I loathe the stupidity (but admire the kitchen-sink greed) of "Rudolph's Shiny New Year," which may be the single worst Christmastime movie ever.

I'm told that at some point I may have liked "Frosty the Snowman," but no more (I prefer the stop-motion animation), and certainly not "Frosty Returns." I keep avoiding "The Little Drummer Boy" though it's on the DVDs I've got. What I've learned from sorting through the dreck is that classics are still classic and spin-offs, revisions, updates and sequels of any kind are woeful. Having said that, I can't remember much about "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown," so I'll have to pop that in for an update.

And yes I love the cable marathon of "A Christmas Story" and the legacy of the televised yule log. Let's face it. At this time of year, I'm pretty soft. Come January 2, I'll have to pull the fleece-lined CP's back on.

Happy Holidays. Happy viewing.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

fredfa

12-19-06, 11:54 AM

Monday’s 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

12-19-06, 12:34 PM

TV Sports
ESPN Buys Stake in the Arena Football League
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable,12/19/2006

ESPN has purchased a minority stake in the Arena Football League in a five-year deal that includes the Disney networks airing a minimum of 26 games per year beginning in 2007.

ESPN will manage the in-game ad inventory and also gets multi-media rights as part of the deal.

Looking to capitalize on the strong ratings for Monday Night Football in its first year, ESPN will air most of its 17 regular-season games on Monday nights.

However, the Arena Football League is Arena fantasy game on ESPN.com nowhere near the draw of the National Football League, as the 21-year-old indoor outfit drew sub-one ratings on Sundays on NBC in recent years. ESPN will air most of the games on ESPN2.

ABC will, however, carry two games, including the season-opener and the championship game.

The Arena League still has additional television packages to negotiate, including both national and regional packages. The league is looking at a Friday night national package, with the NFL Network a possible destination.

League commissioner David Baker said that the AFL board met with five different potential media partners before striking the ESPN deal. The league is also exploring a satellite radio deal.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football producer Jay Rothman will assume similar duties with the Arena Football League package.

John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president of content, maintains that having an ownership stake in the league will not bring up any conflicts of interest, such as coverage within flagship news program SportsCenter.

“I think we understand how to separate our production of games from our news and information coverage,” Skipper says.

ESPN on-air talent Mike Ditka and Ron Jaworski both have interests in Arena Football League teams.

ESPN and ABC have previously carried Arena Football League contests including the 1987 championship on ESPN and various regular-season and playoff packages from 1995-2002.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6401201

dad1153

12-19-06, 02:08 PM

Nielsen Overnights
Big Deal: Hot start for NBC's 'Identity'
Quizzer pulls a 4.4 in 18-49s, leading out of 'Deal'
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine December 19, 2006

Boosted by a strong lead-in, NBC’s new game show “Identity” premiered to better numbers than “Deal or No Deal” last night. The question is whether the show can sustain them for the rest of the week.

“Identity” averaged a 4.4 adults 18-19 rating last night, according to Nielsen, tying lead-in “Deal” for the highest-rated show of the evening on a night heavy with repeats.

That was 13 percent better than the 3.9 that “Deal” pulled in its December debut last year, though notably without the big lead-in.

“Identity,” which aired at 9 p.m., also stayed relatively stable throughout its hour, dipping slightly from a 4.5 to a 4.4 in its second half hour. NBC also notes that the show bettered its “Deal” lead-in among adults 18-34, with a 4.1 versus the latter’s 3.3.

It pulled 12.2 million total viewers, 3.1 million fewer than “Deal” at 8 p.m.

Like “Deal,” “Identity” is being rolled out as a five-night special, airing every weeknight as the networks slide into holiday repeats.

The real test for “Identity” comes tonight, when it airs at 8 p.m. and does not have the benefit of the “Deal” lead-in. If the show can stay at a 4.0 or above, NBC will almost certainly bring it back this spring. Last year “Deal” peaked with a 4.9 on its fourth night.

Meanwhile, NBC’s game shows led it to a first-place finish on a night flush with repeats with a 3.5 average 18-49 rating and a 9 share. CBS was second at 3.0/8, ABC and Fox tied for third at 2.3/6, Univision fifth at 1.7/4 and CW sixth at 0.8/2.

NBC took the first two hours of primetime, starting with a 4.4 rating at 8 p.m. for “Deal.” Fox was second that hour with a 2.5 for a repeat of “House,” with ABC third with a 2.4 for a “Wife Swap” rerun and Univision fourth with a 2.3 for the surging “La Fea Mas Bella.” CBS finished fifth at 8 p.m. with a 2.1 for repeats of “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Class,” and the CW was sixth with a 0.7 for repeats of “Everybody Hates Chris” and “All of Us.”

At 9 p.m. NBC led again, this time with a 4.4 for the debut of “Identity.” CBS moved to second that hour with a 3.1 for repeats of “Two and a Half Men” and “Old Christine,” with ABC third with a 2.4 for “Supernanny,” Fox fourth with a 2.1 for a repeat of “Bones” and Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Mundo de Fieras.” That left CW sixth again with a 0.8 for reruns of “Girlfriends” and “The Game.”

CBS jumped into the lead at 9 p.m. with a 3.9 for a repeat of “CSI: Miami,” followed by a series-low 2.0 for ABC for an original “What About Brian.” NBC fell to third that hour with a 1.7 for a repeat of “Studio 60” and Univision was fourth with a 1.3 for a holiday-themed edition of “Cristina.”

NBC also finished first for the night among households with a 6.7 average rating and an 11 share. CBS was second at 6.3/10, Fox third at 4.5/7, ABC fourth at 4.1/6, Univision fifth at 2.2/3 and CW sixth at 1.3/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9243.asp

fredfa

12-19-06, 04:15 PM

Weekly Cable Ratings
For Second Week, ESPN Fails to Top Prime Ratings
By Anthony Crupi Media Week Dec. 19, 2006

For the second consecutive week, ESPN failed to win the prime time cable ratings crown, placing third behind a resurgent USA Network and the non-ad-supported Disney Channel.

According to Nielsen Media Research data, for the week ended Dec. 17 USA averaged 2.55 million total viewers and a 2.1 household rating in prime, beating out Disney (2.44 million/2.0 HH rating) and ESPN (2.27 million/1.9 HH rating).

ESPN retained the top spot for all individual programs on ad-supported cable last week, delivering 11.18 million viewers with its Monday Night Football match-up between the NFC’s likely representative in Super Bowl XLI, the Chicago Bears, and the rebuilding St. Louis Rams.

For its part, USA delivered cable’s second-largest audience last week, averaging 4.88 million viewers Monday night between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. with its WWE Raw franchise. Meanwhile, The NFL Network, which is available in just over 41 million homes, managed to scare up a proportionately huge audience of 4.14 million viewers Saturday night with its coverage of the Dallas Cowboys-Seattle Seahawks showdown, taking the second largest program share of the week (11.0).

Other nets that served up significant prime time numbers were: TBS, which averaged 4.25 million viewers with its Sunday night presentation of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and Disney, which averaged 4.04 million viewers on Saturday night with the Tim Allen theatrical The Santa Clause.

Rounding out the top five ad-supported nets last week were: ABC Family and Lifetime, virtually tied for third with an average prime time audience of 2.14 million; TNT (2.11 million) and TBS (1.89 million).

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003523588

fredfa

12-19-06, 04:36 PM

Technology Notebook
Nielsen Study Shows DVD Players (Finally!) Surpass VCRs
Most Media Technology Trending Up, According to Nielsen’s Quarterly Home Tech Study
(Nielsen Media Services news release)

December 19, 2006 -- NEW YORK - Nielsen Media Research released findings today from its 3rd Quarter Home Technology Report which show that more U.S. households now own DVD players (81.2% of all households) than VCRs (79.2% of households). Findings from this quarterly study also show ownership of most media technology trending up from previous years, which could continue to climb as the upcoming Christmas season approaches.

As of third quarter 2006, DVD penetration in the U.S. is up 6% from the previous year and continues to grow, while VCR penetration has started a decline. In 1999 when Nielsen first started tracking DVD ownership in its Home Tech Report, DVD penetration was only 6.7% and was dwarfed by VCR ownership at 88.6%.

Nielsen's latest report also found that DVD households now rent DVDs about twice per month, compared to VCR homes renting VHS tapes only about once per month. The frequency with which households rent video tapes has leveled off during the past six months.

“This study shows the culmination of a long battle for share of consumers,” said Paul Lindstrom, senior vice president of custom research for Nielsen Media Research. “Nielsen clients have used information from our Home Tech Report for the past decade to trend the changes in penetration and report use of new devices as they infiltrate the marketplace, and we now see that the popularity of DVDs has finally surpassed that of VCRs.”

Some additional topline findings from Nielsen's Home Tech study include:

• Computers -- 73.4% of U.S. homes currently have a computer in the household, and homes with children and teens are more likely to have a home computer. There is a large difference in the percentage of lower income homes vs. higher income homes that own a home computer. Homes with an income over $60K are 50% more likely to own a home computer than homes with an income below $60K.

• Internet - 95.4% of consumers with Internet access go online at least once a week, and 37.3% of Internet users go online more than once a day. 78.2% of online users have made purchases over the Internet. 46.8% of online users (ages 12+) have used the Internet to download and play music from the Internet.

• MP3 Players - 26.7% of U.S. homes own or rent an MP3 player. Households with the presence of children 12-17 years of age are nearly 2 ½ times more likely to own or rent an MP3 player than compared to the Total U.S. The percentage of homes owning an MP3 player has risen by 149.5% since 3rd Quarter 2003.

• PDA - 16.4% of U.S. homes own a PDA, and since 3rd quarter 2003, PDA ownership has increased by 4.5%. Not surprisingly, higher income homes are more than four times as likely as lower income homes to own a PDA.

Methodology

Nielsen's Home Technology Report is a primary research survey conducted by phone with 1,253 randomly selected American homes four times per year. Issued quarterly to Nielsen clients as a supplement to their syndicated TV ratings service, for the past 10 years the Home Tech Report has been Nielsen's gauge of the penetration and usage of technology into American households.

URFloorMatt

12-19-06, 04:44 PM

It was Cowboys-Falcons, not Cowboys-Seahawks, on NFL Network this past Saturday night.

And I really don't buy the notion from ESPN that their talk coverage isn't dictated by the sports they cover. Their Olympics coverage, unless I'm mistaken, has always been anemic. I wouldn't be surprised if they unveiled a new NASCAR analysis show ala Baseball Tonight to go hand in hand with their new NASCAR package next season (or a similar weekly-recap Arena Primetime to go with this new Arena package). Likewise, I'm sure their golf coverage will decline even more now that they don't have golf events to telecast.

We're not that naive, Mr. Skipper.

fredfa

12-19-06, 04:49 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

12-19-06, 04:50 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

12-19-06, 04:52 PM

URFloorMatt

12-19-06, 04:55 PM

Thanks, fred. I've been reading for a few months now, but I signed up to post questions in my local Adelphia/Comcast and FiOS threads, so now I may participate every now and then in this thread as well.

I really enjoy it. You and all the other contributors do a great job posting interesting programming and industry news. It's a welcome distraction. Keep up the great work!

fredfa

12-19-06, 05:03 PM

I am curious, Matt. Do you subscribe to FiOS -- and if so, what has been your experience with it?

pwrmetal

12-19-06, 05:07 PM

SACRILEGE!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

TV Notebook
AMC remaking 'The Prisoner'
Cable network to produce remake of classic show
By Denise Martin, Variety December 18, 2006

AMC is remaking 1960s sci-fi cult fave "The Prisoner."

Well, I can tell you that it will be superbly acted. It will star Christopher Eccleston who was "fantastic" (pun intended) as the 9th Doctor Who... or so I heard many months ago. (Eccleston will also be showing up on Heroes early next year.)

fredfa

12-19-06, 05:37 PM

Weekly Network News Ratings
Williams Leads, but Gibson is Closing In
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable 12/19/2006

For the second week in a row, NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams was No. 1 in viewers last week, but ABC's World News with Charles Gibson won in news' adults 25-54 demo.

During the week of Dec. 11, Nightly averaged 9.02 million total viewers to World News' 8.45 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. But ABC edged out NBC in the demo by about 30,000 viewers (2.67 million v. 2.64 million, which was close enough to give them an equal 2.2 rating/8 share).

CBS' Evening News with Katie Couric came in third with 7.47 million total viewers and 2.27 million in the demo (a 1.9/7).

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6401464

archiguy

12-19-06, 06:32 PM

Well, I can tell you that it will be superbly acted. It will star Christopher Eccleston who was "fantastic" (pun intended) as the 9th Doctor Who... or so I heard many months ago. (Eccleston will also be showing up on Heroes early next year.)

Gotta' say I'm with ol' Dad on this one. I don't care who they cast. Look, 'Battlestar Galactica' needed a remake. 'The Prisoner' doesn't. That series was one mamafracking, mindbending masterpiece. The story behind the scenes, what Patrick McGoohan intended the series to say, and what he went through to get it made, is fascinating as well.

Can't they ever leave well enough alone?

homcom

12-19-06, 07:26 PM

URFloorMatt

12-19-06, 07:29 PM

I am curious, Matt. Do you subscribe to FiOS -- and if so, what has been your experience with it?

They're coming to do the install on the 29th. Switching to their internet service won't be a problem, but I'm somewhat leary of the FiOS TV install because I'm unsure of the quality of the cable wiring in my house.

We'll see. It'd be nice to have NFL Network HD in time for the Redskins game the next day, since I'm in an Adelphia-to-Comcast area and they're not broadcasting the NFL HD games on INHD for whatever reason. Then again, the HD version is probably on local television anyway. I haven't had a chance to check yet.

Regardless, the irony is that I can switch to Verizon, double the number of cable boxes I need (because FiOS doesn't have an equivalent basic cable package), vastly improve my picture quality and clarity across all my sets, and still save over $10 a month. Competition is a good thing.

SJKurtzke

12-19-06, 07:31 PM

Since when is the Disney Channel non-ad supported.
It actually does not air commercials. They've been slowly phasing into it though, here's the current status:
From Wikipedia
Disney Channel has aired promotions for General Mills cereals, Yoplait, and McDonald's (Playhouse Disney) and Kellogg's. Though they are not regular commercials, they are tailored to Disney Channel as sponsors of Disney Channel. Other than these sponsors, Disney Channel's program breaks remain, for the most part, to consist mostly of promos for the Channel's programming as well as occasional promos for other Disney-ABC Television Group networks (except SoapNet and ABC Family), music videos and public service announcements promoting physical activity.

fredfa

12-19-06, 07:33 PM

Let us know how everything works after the installation, Matt. You are right, competition (the more the better!) will be the driving force for better HD, more of it, and cheaper prices.

Good luck -- and have a great holiday season.

fredfa

12-19-06, 07:44 PM

Critic’s Notebook
'Studio 60' and 'Friday Night Lights' freebies
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” December 19, 2006

The networks are dropping nice little tidbits in our holiday stockings early. Considering it's the season for giving, it's only right that they're all free.

NBC, for example, has made available as a free download http://www.nbc.com/Studio_60_on_the_Sunset_Strip/music/studio_60_o_holy_night.mp3the touching version of "O Holy Night" heard on "Studio 60" on Dec. 4.

A group of New Orleans horn players performed the moving rendition of the holiday classic at the close of the show, and as Dave Walker, TV critic for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, noted in a piece http://www.al.com/entertainment/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1166350950230890.xml&coll=2[/url on the genesis of that performance, NBC was immediately deluged with inquiries about how to get a copy of the song.

The network soon put a free, downloadable version of the song online. If you want to see the performance with video, there's a YouTube clip available, which I'm posting here:

[url] http://youtube.com/watch?v=LXT83g7wsOs

I asked a spokeswoman for the show if the network knew how many times the song had been downloaded. She said that NBC does not release those kinds of figures, but she added that the song was "very popular" on the network's site. She also said that there were no plans at this time to release a commercial version of the song.

NBC's "Studio 60" site refers users to Tipitina's Foundation, http://tipitinasfoundation.org/which assists New Orleans musicians in need. The foundation's Web site also has more on the musicians' involvement in "Studio 60's" Christmas episode.

There's another free treat on the network's Web site: Every episode of "Friday Night Lights" is available online at NBC.com.

I know, I know, watching TV online isn't as enjoyable as watching it on your TV, as Daily News critic David Bianculli points out in a piece http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9214107&&#post9214107 today. I agree with him that more networks should put every unaired episode of canceled shows online at once, not dole them out weekly, as ABC is doing with "Day Break." And I agree with the many Watcher readers who have pointed out that it's a good idea to make canceled shows available via On Demand services.

Still, "FNL" is worth any potential online-viewing hassle. If you haven't seen the show yet, now's your chance.

Other full-episode freebies that are available on the big network's Web sites: "Ugly Betty," "Lost," Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy,""Six Degrees" and "The Nine" at ABC.com, and "Jericho," "CSI," "CSI: NY," "CSI: Miami," "Survivor," "NCIS," Numb3rs" and "How I Met Your Mother" at CBS.com.

NBC, in addition to giving away the full season of "FNL," is offering every episode of "30 Rock" (go watch the one titled "Tracy Does Conan" now) and every episode of "Heroes." The entire Christmas episode of "Studio 60" is also available.

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

fredfa

12-19-06, 09:48 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Another Poll
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog

Today was the deadline for Television Week's semi-annual critics' poll, so I rushed an entry off, naming shows off the top of my head (while "The Year Without Santa Claus" was all too fresh in my head).

It can't serve as a best of 2006 for my purposes -- this poll only considers new shows since the end of July, so no "24," no consideration for even "Brotherhood," that solid Showtime series that started a bit earlier than that.

But it was still fairly easy to compile.

I also made out a poll for Broadcasting & Cable's annual poll, but learned today that I not only missed the deadline, they also printed the results today. (At least my pick, "The Wire," also topped their poll).

List the 10 best shows on TV aired since July 24, 2006 (NOT IN REPEATS)
(from broadcast/cable/syndication)

1. “The Wire” (HBO). The writers create a credible world where African-Americans are not sidekicks but main players, where everything is well acted, kids are taken seriously and where big ideas about contemporary society drive the drama.

2. “Ugly Betty” (ABC). A delightful surprise that bests the telenovelas of another new network.

3. “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (NBC) . Still struggling to find its footing and voice, but a joy generally to have Aaron Sorkin back writing on TV, and what a great cast.

4. “30 Rock” (NBC). Easier for this show to reach its goal with some of the same subject matter as above: being funny.

5. “Dexter” (Showtime). Far better than the grisly promos would have led you to believe, thanks mightily to Michael C. Hall’s portrayal.

6. “The Office” (NBC). Gets better and better as it grows out of its comparisons with the British original to become something of its own.

7. “Frontline” (PBS). Still the strongest and most clear news documentary program on TV.

8. “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central). You actually get more of an idea what went on in the world from this sharp comedy than you would watching the local news at 11.

9. “Lost” (ABC). It’s taken a different approach and is only halfway through the year, but producers are moving

10. “My Name is Earl” (NBC). Like “The Office,” reaching its stride.

List the five worst shows on TV (NOT IN REPEATS)
(from broadcast/cable/syndication)

1. “Nancy Grace” (CNN Headline). Just the worst. She’d be funny if she weren’t so dangerous.

2. “The Underground” (Showtime). Freedom can be a rope that can hang comedians.

3. “Bad Girls” (Oxygen) . Encouraging bad behavior only from the makers of “The Real World.”

4. “The War at Home” (Fox) . When ick is added to unfunny, you get the worst comedy on network TV.

5. “Twenty Good Years” (NBC). Even big names could save this loud unfunny failure.

Best movies/miniseries/specials (NOT IN REPEATS)
(from broadcast/cable/syndication)

1. “When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” (HBO) . Unforgettable, important overview of the massive disaster, which despite all the coverage

2. “Prime Suspect: The Final Act” (PBS)

3. “Sleeper Cell: American Terror” (Showtime)

Worst movies/miniseries/specials (NOT IN REPEATS)
(from broadcast/cable/syndication)

1. “If I Did It” (Fox, unaired). A concept so bad there was an outcry before it could even aired.

2. “The Path to 9/11” (ABC) Rewriting recent history is more insidious when it’s done in an otherwise competently done film.

3. “The Year Without Santa Claus” (NBC). Humans fail to give life to Rankin-Bass special.

1. What is your opinion of The CW's programming and brand so far?

Merging the best of the UPN and the WB should have resulted in a surge rather than a depression. The combination of “Gilmore Girls” with “Veronica Mars” ought to have been stronger, but may have been hurt by new leadership and direction for “GG.” “7th Heaven” shouldn’t even be on. They should be bolder at least with their reality programming. Tyra Banks can’t carry this network forever. And put “7th Heaven” out of its misery!

2. Should MyNetworkTV continue to program its low-rated telenovela format? If not, what should it air?

Eventually, they could become the guilty pleasure/default station if the shows were just a little better and cast members were hired more for acting than modeling skills. The fact that these stories actually conclude already gives them an advantage over other network serials.

3. Some have said there were too many quality shows vying for viewers’ attention this fall. Do you agree and, if so, which shows were overlooked?

Quality overall is up, but I can’t say it’s all great. “Heroes” isn’t doing it for me. I would have tuned into “Six Degrees” or “Vanished” but both are gone.

As well conceived as “Kidnapped” and “The Nine” may have been, they didn’t seem to warrant entire seasons to tell their tales. And the fear with any of these shows is that the plug will be pulled before a conclusion is reached. Which is exactly what happened.

I think people may be missing the improv-styles comedies on cable – things like “10 Items or Less” on TBS or “Campus Ladies” on Oxygen or “Saxondale” on BBC America.

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/12/another_poll.html#more

fredfa

12-20-06, 01:10 AM

Critic’s Notebook
CBS Dramas
The Surefire TV Formula: Ape the Boss
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times Dec. 20, 2006

All the top CBS dramas are alike.

They showcase an omniscient, workaholic and male boss on the dark side of 50 who is surrounded by young, eager-to-please acolytes.

The template is so unvarying that Bill Carter of The New York Times and other television writers subscribe to a man-in-the-Moonves theory of programming: Leslie Moonves, the 57-year-old chief executive of CBS, has an Ozymandian hold on his network that ensures that its top shows pay subliminal homage to his leadership.

But the generation-spanning formula behind CBS’s three iterations of “CSI” as well as “Shark,” “Without a Trace,” “Criminal Minds” and “NCIS” also casts a broad demographic net. That may contribute to its success: “Criminal Minds” and “NCIS” are among the top-rated series on television, and the popularity of “Criminal Minds” is growing so steadily that CBS decided to show it immediately after the Super Bowl on Feb. 4.

Still it is a little puzzling that in the era of HBO, Showtime and serialized dramas like “24,” “Lost” and “Heroes,” these by-the-numbers whodunits (and “Numb3rs” is another one of them, though the father figure played by Judd Hirsch is actually the father and not quite as godly) still have such strong — and apparently growing — appeal. They don’t receive many critical accolades or industry awards, but they rake in the ratings.

Networks, like serial killers, tend to develop patterns. At the moment ABC is the estrogen-pumping network, fixated on sex and swoony romance from “Desperate Housewives” to “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Men in Trees.”

But it turns out that blood, guts and sexual perversion also can be soothing and downright cozy.

CBS offers viewers gruesome murders and revolting autopsies that are softened by familiar, endearing protagonists who wrap up the mystery by episode’s end, without cliffhangers or unexpected twists. It’s “Silence of the Lambs” by way of “Murder, She Wrote.”

“Criminal Minds” and “NCIS” stand out as the two extremes of the template. “Criminal Minds,” in which Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) and a team of elite F.B.I. profilers channel the psychoses of serial killers, is the most disturbing. “NCIS,” on the other hand, is almost disturbingly goofy.

Led by Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), the crack members of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service confront terrorism, murder and espionage with a loosey-goosey insouciance. When a colleague is inexplicably late for work, the team’s lithe and lethal Mossad-trained agent Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), warns that it could mean trouble. “When I was framed by the Iranians for murder,” she says perkily, “I was late for many hours before anyone even noticed.”

Humor on the forensic trail is provided by kooky characters in lab coats. On “NCIS” Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) is a wisecracking science geek in Goth clothing, while David McCallum plays a leering, know-it-all medical examiner, Dr. Donald (Ducky) Mallard.

Almost all CBS crime shows have at least one pet eccentric: “Criminal Minds” leavens the gravity with its own crazy lab lady, Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), a computer wizard in oversized glasses and kooky earrings, and a cute, socially backward boy genius, Special Agent Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler).

On “NCIS” even the front-line investigators are laid-back and comical. Special Agent Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) is a handsome, ex-homicide detective with the sensibility and speaking style of a frat boy on spring break. “You have the right to remain silent,” Tony says as he arrests a homicidal cheerleader. “You have the right to do splits. You have the right to wear a short skirt.”

Partly the show’s levity comes from one of its creators, Donald P. Bellisario, who also was responsible for “JAG.” Jerry Bruckheimer, who is the executive producer of “CSI” and “Without a Trace,” takes crime much more seriously. But Mr. Moonves, a former actor who played mostly villains on series like “Cannon” and made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of “The Practice” on ABC, still exercises his expertise in selecting and developing series and also casting the leads. And the tone of each CBS drama seems to adapt to the stars chosen by Mr. Moonves.

Mr. Harmon is the older, wiser leader of “NCIS,” but he is still a boyishly handsome actor who is best when playing lighthearted heroes. Mr. Patinkin, whose résumé includes “Chicago Hope” and “Dead Like Me,” is more lugubrious, and “Criminal Minds” is accordingly grim and self-serious. (Team members agonize over the horrors they have seen, and they quote Milan Kundera.)

As angst-ridden Jack Malone, Anthony LaPaglia darkens the mood on “Without a Trace,” while on “Shark,” James Woods, playing Sebastian Stark, a defense attorney turned prosecutor, infuses his show with snappy sarcasm.

There are not many laughs on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” or its spinoffs, though there are some inadvertently funny moments on “CSI: Miami,” which stars David Caruso as the smug, sulfurous Horatio Caine. (A recent episode featured a female Islamic terrorist who appeared in court wearing a slinky, low-cut little black dress. Chador, schmador. )

None of these older bosses are bald. (“3 Lbs,” which starred a shiny-pated Stanley Tucci, was canceled after three shows.) CBS’s older men have luxuriant heads of hair and are single and married to their work, which allows young, beautiful women to fall in love with them without tainting the sexual tension with the stain of adultery.

Mr. Moonves recently married Julie Chen, an anchor of CBS’s “Early Show.” Several CBS dramas deal with the issue of nepotism, perhaps signaling concerns buried deep in the network’s unconscious.

On “Criminal Minds” Paget Brewster plays Emily Prentiss, the daughter of well-connected government officials who has to try harder to prove herself to her boss. She always does. On “NCIS” Ziva regularly demonstrates that her dedication and natural abilities, not her high-ranking relatives in Tel Aviv, won her the team’s trust. And on “Shark,” Sebastian is constantly hazing Casey Woodland (Sam Page), a rich, handsome assistant district attorney with friends and family in high places. Despite all his advantages, it turns out Casey has real flair in court.

CBS also has some crime dramas with women in the lead roles, notably “Cold Case” and “Close to Home,” but in those, the formula falls off: the heroines are wiser but invariably young and pretty and mostly blond. “Bones” is similar, but Fox left out the older male authority figure.

At CBS that kind of omission would be considered lèse-Moonves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/arts/television/20watc.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

fredfa

12-20-06, 03:08 AM

The TV Column
The Week’s Winners and Losers
Not a Network Was Stirring, Except for CBS
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 20, 2006; C07

ABC moseyed along last week, offering us no "Desperate Housewives," no "Lost," no "Dancing With the Stars" and just some lousy "Grey's Anatomy" rerun without so much as a "kiss my foot" or "have an apple," when along comes CBS, flexing its Middle American muscle, and wins the week and ties ABC for the season-to-date among the young viewers everyone prizes. In just three weeks, CBS managed to climb three-tenths of a rating point in the 18-to-49 age bracket, which is a Christmas miracle.

Here's a look at the week's candy canes and lumps of coal:

WINNERS

"NCIS." As a holiday treat, the CBS show's producers delivered what the rest of the country most wants for Christmas: the sight of a robot killer Humvee loose on the streets of Washington. Because of this, "NCIS" became the week's most watched program for the first time, averaging more than 17 million viewers. Another theory, of course, is that "NCIS" viewers tend not to get invited to Christmas parties.

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas." In another Christmas miracle, this Dr. Seuss special (the animated version, not the dreadful Jim Carrey flick) was spared the fate of much of the WB's other programming -- CW -- and instead was adopted by ABC, where it more than doubled its audience, to 11 million viewers.

"Santa Clause 2": Most watched theatrical on any broadcast network since ABC's telecast of Tom Hanks-starrer "Cast Away" in January '04.

LOSERS

Barbara Walters. Having apparently lost her knack for tapping into who fascinates America, the annual "Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006" clocked its smallest audience ever -- fewer than 9 million viewers, or nearly 4 million fewer than its second smallest audience. Dead Croc Hunter spouse Terri Irwin? Former tennis great Andre Agassi? Dead-child-beauty-pageant-contestant dad John Ramsey, "smiling preacher" Joel Osteen, Vogue Editor Anna Wintour? Soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi? -- puleeze!

"Survivor" finale. Despite one of the most cleverly ginned-up launches ever, this edition wrapped with its smallest finale number -- 16.4 million. Last December's finale attracted more than 21 million.

Taye Diggs, William Shatner, Ted Danson. All three joined the ABC Hall of Canceled last week when their respective shows, "Day Break," "Show Me the Money" and "Help Me Help You," posted a measly 3.9 million, 6.3 million and 3.5 million viewers, respectively. ABC had launched all three in a cozy post-"Dancing With the Stars" time slot, where they had scored more than 10 million, more than 12 million and nearly 12 million viewers, respectively.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121901551_pf.html

dad1153

12-20-06, 07:51 AM

Somebody tell NY Daily News critic David Hinckley that its the year 2006 and TV technology has made massive leaps forward since the days of analog TV! :rolleyes:

TV Notebook
Yule Log burned into my memory
By David Hinckley, New York Daily News December 20, 200

Let me put this as bluntly as possible: I don't want a new, snazzy, flashy, state-of-the-art, high-tech Yule Log.

When I turn on my TV on Christmas Eve, I want the old Ch. 11 Yule Log, just like the one I used to know.

I like my Yule Log grainy and flickery. I like thinking I can find places where the film has looped into a repeat.

It's an old Yule Log. But it's my Yule Log, darn it, and I'll bet tens or hundreds of thousands of other Yule Log fans feel exactly the same way.

Sure, there are those who snicker at the Yule Log. It's ridiculous, they say. In today's media world, it's like something out of the 14th century.

That's all true. Purely as programming, the Yule Log is pretty gooey, like flashing pictures of babies and puppies for three hours. And that's the point. It's as basic as TV gets, which is why it works best with the most basic, low-tech production.

When technology marches into a room, though, nothing escapes its tentacles, and this year a company called INHD, which creates programming for highdefinition TVs, is rolling out its own version of the Yule Log: a 24-hour program filmed in crisp, vivid high definition.

This one looks so real, INHD says, that you'll try to slip a pan of chestnuts into your TV set so they can roast on the open fire.

Now the folks at INHD aren't villains. They aren't Scrooge, they aren't the Grinch, and filming a crackling fire in high-definition is nowhere near the same kind of cultural felony as, say, colorizing "Casablanca."

It's just unnecessary.

The year-end holidays, including Christmas, aren't like a wedding, where everything is supposed to be perfect. These holidays are about slightly lopsided trees with ragged strings of popcorn, and carols sung with great enthusiasm off-key. Many of our most enduring memories involve gifts that arrived in a slightly wrong size or color.

The classic Yule Log embodies all of this. A new, crisp Yule Log does not.

True, there's no point in being naive about all of this. In a very few years, we will be a high-definition TV nation the same way we are now a cable/satellite TV nation. The next generation will grow up looking at an HD Yule Log as the visual standard.

For that matter, many in the new generation will also be able to watch their Yule Log on 60-inch screens, another technological advance that still leaves open the real question: Will this vivid new Yule Log give off the same warmth as the old one?

We won't know that answer for a while. Meantime, since the next generation doesn't control all the remotes yet, here's one vote for the old Yule Log, where five songs can pass while you wait for the charred end to drop off that piece of wood.

Just because you get a new toy doesn't mean the old toy is no good anymore.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/481686p-405355c.html

dad1153

12-20-06, 07:59 AM

The Business of TV (Sports)
It's Supe Time
Top Advertisers Call Time Out on Big Game Buys
By Holly M. Sanders, New York Post December 20, 2006; C07

This year's lineup of Super Bowl advertisers may prove more memorable because of who's sitting on the sidelines.

While many marketers are still finalizing their plans for the Feb. 4 game, several big names that bought time last year are planning to take a pass this go round.

Among those are Motorola, Gillette, Aleve and Taco Bell. Ford, which has made an appearance the last several years, is still deciding, a spokesman said.

Although a lot of factors come into play, a few reasons stand out. Gillette, which touted its Fusion razor during last year's game, doesn't have a new product launch this year.

Lately, Taco Bell has been focusing its ad efforts on reassuring the public that its food is safe after an E. coli outbreak - a subject that doesn't go well with pizza and Buffalo wings.

One advertiser that hasn't made an appearance in a while and might this year is Microsoft, which is considering a Super Bowl buy as part of a massive marketing push for its new Vista operating system.

This year's Super Bowl was expected to be a tougher sell for TV network CBS. Some ad buyers speculated that marketers, who have more media options than ever, would take the hard line on prices.

CBS said while there are still spots available throughout the game, sales are on track. As is typically the case, most of the unsold inventory is in the second half of the game, particularly the fourth quarter.

"We're where we thought we would be at this time," said John Bogusz, executive vice president of sports sales and marketing for CBS.

The asking price for a 30-second spot is $2.6 million, up slightly from $2.5 million last year when the game aired on ABC.

That's at the upper end. Marketers who buy more than one ad get a discount, while those who buy in the second half pay less since some viewers don't sit through an entire game.

And there are always a couple of advertisers that hold out until the last minutes in hopes of extracting the lowest price possible from the networks.

The Super Bowl remains the most expensive ad buy on television. It continues to draw a massive audience- upward of 90 million viewers - despite declining TV ratings across the board.

So far, the list of Super Bowl advertisers contains few surprises.

Anheuser-Busch, which dominates the game, has bought enough ad time to run at least 10 30-second spots. The maker of brands such as Budweiser and Bud Light has been the exclusive beer sponsor since 1989.

Pepsi, the perennial No. 2 advertiser, will also be back with a handful of spots after also agreeing to sponsor the half-time show.

And Careerbuilder.com, the online recruitment site that has become known for its Super Bowl chimp ads, has bought two spots.

Other returning advertisers include FedEx, Go- Daddy.com, General Motors and Frito-Lay. The major movie studios are big Super Bowl ad buyers and will be back this year.

Three advertisers have asked "real people" to come up with ideas for ads, including the National Football League. General Motor's Chevrolet and Frito Lay's Doritos brand are taking a similar approach.

In addition to Ford, several advertisers in last year's game said they are still deciding whether to return, including Emerald Nuts.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12202006/business/its_supe_time_business_holly_m__sanders.htm

dad1153

12-20-06, 08:07 AM

Cable Ratings
'Dexter' kills on Showtime
By Kimberly Nordyke, Hollywood Reporter December 20, 2006

Showtime's "Dexter" slayed a lot of viewers in its Season 1 finale.

The series, starring Michael C. Hall as a charming blood-splatter expert for the Miami Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer, drew 1.1 million total viewers to its Season 1 finale from 10-11 p.m. Sunday. That figure represents a 79% increase from the show's debut episode at 10 p.m. Oct. 1, which averaged 603,000 viewers.

A second airing of the hourlong episode at midnight Sunday drew 150,000 additional viewers.

The episode now stands as Showtime's single-most-watched original series since 2004, when Nielsen Media Research began reporting Showtime ratings separate from Showtime Plex. It also ranks as the most-viewed program -- original or theatrical -- of the year for the network.

"Dexter" also got good news last week with the announcement that Hall had received a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a drama series.

In other cable ratings news, TBS got some holiday cheer with a Sunday telecast of theatrical "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." The 8-10 p.m. airing averaged 4.2 million viewers.

Meanwhile, ABC Family continues to have success with its ninth annual "25 Days of Christmas" programming. The week ending Dec. 17 ranks as the network's second-most-watched week of the year in primetime (behind only the previous week) in total viewers (2.1 million average) and adults 18-49 (866,000).

Those numbers were boosted by programs including the premiere of the original movie "Christmas Do-Over" from 8-10 p.m. Saturday (2.7 million total viewers) and an airing of the theatrical "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" from 5:30-8 p.m. Sunday (3.5 million viewers). Overall, the network's "25 Days" is up double-digits in all key demos, including total viewers (2.8 million vs. 2.3 million, up 21%) compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Hallmark Channel continues to see success with its movie debuts as the network's latest original holiday telefilm, "Love's Abiding Joy," drew 2.5 million viewers in its 9-11 p.m. premiere Saturday. That figure comes on the heels of strong numbers for the premieres of theatrical "March of the Penguins" (4.5 million) and original movies "The Christmas Card" (4.3 million) and "What I Did for Love" (3.1 million).

At CMT, 1.4 million viewers tuned in to see Toby Keith make his acting debut in the movie "Broken Bridges" during its network premiere at 8-10 p.m. Friday. CMT said the movie ranks among the network's most-watched original telecast ever.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i93192526cf8de34a8f9efd2211eef582

dad1153

12-20-06, 08:39 AM

Critic's Notebook
2006 Programming Surprises
By Tom Umstead, Multichannel News 12/18/06

Tis' the season for TV critics like myself to reflect and ruminate about the year that was on the boob tube via the time-honored exercise of creating "Best of" lists.

Mostly trite and formulaic, such lists -- for which TV beat writers arbitrarily anoint winners in such categories as best new scripted cable series of the year (I'd vote for USA's Psych) -- are surprisingly anticipated and embraced by viewers and industry executives alike.

So with that in mind, I figured I'd contribute to the avalanche of 2006 television retrospectives by looking at the top three most surprising stories in cable programming this year:

3. The Flavor of Reality: Reality programming was a big hit with cable networks this year. That's not big news. But the fact that one of the top reality shows on cable revolved around the love life of a washed-up, ol' school rap artist who wears a clock around his neck was mind-boggling.

I still can't phantom why VH1's Flavor of Love starring Flavor Flav was as big a hit as it was, but there's no denying that more than a few viewers found a sweet taste for it. A VH1-record 5.9 million viewers tuned in on March 12 to see Flav choose a bodacious contestant dubbed "Hoopz" out of 20 women who vied for his affections. That was topped seven months later when the diminutive Flav picked a second "love," nicknamed "Deelishis," in front of a whopping 7.5 million viewers.

2. The Magic of Disney Channel: The tween-targeted network may not finish first in the 2006 prime time ratings race -- USA Network will most likely hold that distinction -- but in terms of getting the most out of its original content franchises, it's hands-down basic cable's champion.

Two of the network's most popular movie titles, The Cheetah Girls 2 and High School Musical, as well as its original series, Hanna Montana, were as big a hit on the Billboard album charts as they were on the Nielsen ratings reports. The soundtracks for the three franchises sold a combined 6.5 million CDs this year and spent a total of four weeks between them at the top of the Billboard album charts. The perky soundtrack from the dance/basketball/love story movie High School Musical alone sold 3.5 million records and is in position to finish as the best selling album of the year in the U.S.

Meanwhile, The Cheetah Girls 2 (7.82 million viewers for its Aug. 25 debut) and High School Musical (7.76 million for its Jan. 20 premiere) will finish among the top five most watched original movies in cable this year.

1. The influence of the Web: Most everyone believed that the Internet would eventually offer video content, but no one would have guessed that it would totally change the way cable and broadcast networks offer their content. This time last year, you were screwed if you missed a first-run episode of Desperate Housewives. Now all you have to do is click on to ABC.com to catch every episode from the women of Wisteria Lane.

This was also the year that video broadband sites like YouTube and MySpace established themselves as clear players in the original programming business. The further proliferation of quality video content on the Web and its affect on the traditional, linear television business will be one of the dominant headlines of 2007.

But I'll leave that discussion for another column. In the meantime, Happy Holidays and here's hoping your favorite show makes all of the "Best of" lists.

http://www.multichannel.com/blog/1800000180/post/1880005988.html

dad1153

12-20-06, 08:43 AM

Let's not disappoint Tom Umstead! ;)

Critic's Notebook
'Deadwood' to 'Daily': Year's best run gamut
By Rick Kushman, Sacramento Bee December 20, 2006

This is the time of year for, really, many things. One of them is declaring the Top 10 of pretty much every entertainment and cultural peep in 2006.

It's a grand tradition. Usually, that happens in the week leading up to the new year, but I'm going to get a jump on that and do it today so I'll look like an original thinker.

So here are my favorite TV shows this year. If your list matches mine, you may want to consider medication, though I hear counseling can be effective.

1. Deadwood (HBO)

It's become the old, well-worn favorite toy now that we know creator David Milch is leaving and there won't be much of a Season 4, but this season was even better than the first two, with a larger canvas and more at stake. This festival of ambiguity, fear, subtext and rampant human nature was at once frightening and revolting and dazzling entertainment. If William Shakespeare were doing television, this is the show he'd write. The characters, the language, the complexity -- all of it -- is sheer brilliance.

2. The Wire (HBO)

HBO's other great series, and the bravest drama on television. It's bracing, grim, depressing and so entirely mesmerizing that you can't look away. The writing, acting and production combine to make its characters, its story and its themes so authentic and powerful, it's a modern novel. A brilliant modern novel. And the stories it tells are even more haunting because we know they're happening right now everywhere.

3. The Office (NBC)

Has there ever been a comedy so different from the rest of network television? Its pace, rhythm, tone and humor are like nothing on TV, and its wit comes from mood and sensibilities rather than punch lines. But it's as reliably funny as it is piercing, and it manages to say something without lecturing or going soft on us. Plus it always has a big heart underneath its stone-dry wit.

4. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC)

I understand why some people aren't interested in the backstage doings of a TV show, but this is so much more. Creator Aaron Sorkin's writing is lyrical and swift, and just listening to the dialogue is pure joy. The acting and production values are equally high quality, and there have been scenes that were so genuine, moving and clever they were poetic. For the record, it's the show that generates the most passionate feedback I get from fans.

5. 24 (Fox)

What a year this series had -- more adrenaline, more peril, more addicting silliness than ever. It's a comic book on TV, and I say that with admiration. There's little on television that can match it for sheer entertainment value.

6. Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

Sure it's a soap, but it's such a well-written soap. The characters get under your skin, and there's just the right mix of ironic detachment, dopiness, and those classic standbys: sleaziness and slushy emotion. What's not to love?

7. Everybody Hates Chris (The CW)

This show is so colossally overlooked. From Chris Rock's self-mocking voice-overs, to the deadpan sincerity of the entire family, to the dexterity of producer Ali LeRoi's storytelling, this family comedy is always fresh, always energetic, and always smart, heartfelt, and most of all, funny. If it were on a major network, it would be a breakout hit.

8. House (Fox)

I've said this before: You know you've found a great show when its central figure is selfish, irritable and seemingly without compassion, and you love the guy. This season, Hugh Laurie's Dr. House is even more infuriating and just as mesmerizing, though the cop-out-to-nail-House story line is a little lame. Still, you wish you could have thought up just a few of House's toss-off lines.

9. Lost (ABC)

Last year it dominated the TV scene; this season it's lost some of it's pop culture shine -- in part because the castaways-in-a-cage bit is getting old -- but it's still an astounding, spellbinding mystery, and it's power, intelligence and tangle of puzzles are just as fascinating. And every development continues to open new, equally fascinating territory.

10. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

Although its new fleet of "correspondents" has not completely found its stride, "The Daily Show" is still roaringly funny, not to mention it's a fake newscast that's one of the few television shows doing real journalism (at times). It towers over everything else on TV for political and social commentary, not to mention just general mocking.

Honorable mention

"The Sopranos" (HBO), I don't even know how this is just as an honorable mention; "The Shield" and "Rescue Me" (FX), also should be in the top 10, but at least they're next to "The Sopranos"; "Friday Night Lights" and "Heroes" (NBC), two great rookies; "Family Guy" (Fox), the animated heir to "the Simpsons"; "My Name Is Earl," and "Scrubs" (NBC), the comedy heirs for "Must-See TV"; the "CSIs" (CBS) and the "Law & Orders" (NBC), because old-style cop shows can still rock; "The Closer" (TNT) and "Dexter," because new, and different, cop shows can rock, too; "Ugly Betty" (ABC), probably TV's most charming show; "Frontline" and "Nova" (PBS), brains without the stuffiness; and "American Idol" (Fox) and "Dancing With the Stars" (ABC), because sometimes TV should just be fun.

http://www.sacbee.com/127/story/95136.html

fredfa

12-20-06, 10:41 AM

Nielsen Notebook
For ABC, its lead looks a lot less sure
Ratings sink, tying it with CBS for No. 1 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec 20, 2006

For most of the fall it looked as though ABC was steaming toward its first full-season win among adults 18-49 in six years. It built a considerable 0.3 point lead over second-place CBS, while watching main competitor Fox fall even farther behind than last year.

But suddenly, after a series of midseason bombs, ABC’s ratings have tumbled, so far that this week it fell into a tie for first with CBS with a 3.9 season-to-date rating, 0.3 behind where it was midway through the November sweeps. It is ahead slightly in share with 11 to CBS's 10.

Now an ABC win looks increasingly cloudy. Fox is expected to surge next month when “American Idol” returns, and CBS, an afterthought a few weeks ago, could easily rise to No. 1 following February’s Super Bowl.

ABC’s midseason schedule has been a bummer. It recently yanked “Day Break” and “Show Me the Money,” two of the new shows that premiered last month after big hits “Lost” and “Dancing with the Stars” aired their fall finales. Another, sagging sitcom “Big Day,” seems unlikely to last past December.

All three dipped below the deadly 2.0 mark among adults 18-49, weighing down the network’s weekly average.

ABC needs not only better performances from its second batch of midseason replacements, which debut in two weeks, but also a quick return for “Stars” and stronger performances from stalwarts “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

If that doesn’t happen, the network’s splendid fall could be squandered.

That’s one of the major issues facing the networks at midseason. All have problems that must be addressed in the coming months, and only two, Fox and CBS, on the strength of “Idol” and the Super Bowl, seem likely to rise during the second half of the season.

Here’s a quick look at where each network is at midseason and the critical issues they must address come January.

ABC
Season-to-date: 3.9 rating/11 share in 18-49s (-3 percent from last year)

After a series of midseason bombs, the network’s average has fallen 7 percent in five weeks. To hold off Fox when “Idol” returns, ABC needs “Lost” to grow from its fall average in its new 10 p.m. timeslot, and it needs veteran comedies “George Lopez” and “According to Jim,” which premiere in January, to average a 3.0 or better until “Stars” returns to the air.

CBS

Season-to-date: 3.9 rating/10 share in 18-49s (-5 percent from last year)

The network will get a major jolt from February’s Super Bowl, when it will likely take sole possession of first. But it has several major issues, one of them the continuing decline of “Survivor,” which is likely to further erode this spring. The network needs stronger comedies in its 8 p.m. Monday hour, where it is getting thumped by NBC’s “Deal or No Deal.” And it needs to find a strong show for its currently vacant slot 10 p.m. Tuesdays. Moving “Survivor” there, where it would face relatively weak competition while opening Thursday up for a more promising show, might help.

Fox
Season-to-date: 3.0 rating/8 share in 18-49s (-6 percent from last year)

Its one and only concern is whether “Idol” can match last season’s performance. If it can, Fox should win a third straight season without much suspense thanks to the addition of the high-rated Bowl Championship Series. But if “Idol” drops 15-20 percent, it won’t be able to catch ABC and CBS, not when most of its schedule save “House” is in decline.

NBC
Season-to-date: 3.7 rating/10 share in 18-49s (+16 percent from last year)

Though NBC is the only network to show year-to-year improvement, it could have the worst spring. It’s even to last year not including “Sunday Night Football,” and media people say its Sunday schedule following football, which includes “The Apprentice” and a new reality show about casting the Broadway version of “Grease,” could really struggle. That combined with full-season orders for low-rated first-year shows like “Friday Night Lights” basically ensures that NBC will finish fourth for the third straight season.

CW
Season-to-date: 1.4 rating/4 share in 18-49s (-7 percent from last year compared to UPN, even to WB)

The network has to find a strong new show, especially with “America’s Next Top Model” off the air till spring. Its best strategy would be to introduce new shows paired with old reliables like “Gilmore Girls,” “Beauty and the Geek” and “Smallville” and see if any can stick. Otherwise next year its ratings could decline further with aging shows like “Gilmore” and “7th Heaven” likely on the way out. But Mondays should continue to grow in the new year.

Meanwhile, in broadcast ratings for the week ended Dec. 17:

Among adults 18-49, CBS was the leader with a 3.7 rating and 10 share, followed by NBC at 3.2/9, Fox at 2.9/8, ABC at 2.5/7, Univision at 1.7/5, CW at 1.0/3, Telemundo at 0.4/1, Telefutura at 0.2/1 and Azteca at 0.1/0.

Among adults 18-34, Fox won the week with a 2.9/9, followed by NBC at 2.7/9, CBS at 2.5/8, ABC at 2.0/6, Univision at 1.8/6, CW at 1.1/3, Telemundo at 0.4/1, Telefutura at 0.3/1 and Azteca at 0.1/0.

Among adults 25-54, CBS led with a 4.6 rating, followed by NBC at 3.7, Fox at 3.2, ABC at 2.8, Univision at 1.6, CW at 1.0, Telemundo at 0.3, Telefutura at 0.2 and Azteca at 0.1.

Top five (18-49s): 1. Fox’s “House” 6.5; 2. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 5.8; 3. CBS’s “Survivor: Cook Islands Finale” 5.7; Tie-4. CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” and “Survivor: Cook Islands Reunion” 5.1

Top five (total viewers): 1. CBS’s “NCIS” 17.39 million; 2. NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” 16.70 million; 3. CBS’s “Survivor: Cook Islands Finale” 16.42 million; 4. Fox’s “House”16.13 million; 5. CBS’s “Criminal Minds” 16.06 million

Bottom five (18-49s): Tie-86. CW’s “Reba,” “Gilmore Girls” and “Top Model: British Invasion” 0.9; 89. CW’s “Supernatural” 0.8; 90. CW’s “Family Television Awards” 0.6; 91. CW’s “Top Model: British Invasion Encore” 0.4

Bottom five (total viewers): 87. CW’s “Gilmore Girls” 2.30 million; 88. CW’s “Supernatural” 2.14 million; 89. CW’s “Top Model: British Invasion” 2.08 million; 90. CW’s “Family Television Awards” 1.69 million; 91. CW’s “Top Model: British Invasion Encore” 1.01 million.

Show on the rise: “The O.C.” Fox, Thursday 9 p.m. It’s still struggling, but Fox’s teen-friendly drama scored its highest ratings of the season with its Chrismukkah special, drawing a 2.0 rating and 5 share among adults 18-49 and 4.3 million total viewers.

Show on the decline: “Supernanny” ABC, Monday 9 p.m. The supernanny didn’t prove as super this week, falling from 20th place among adults 18-49 and a rating of 3.8 to 31st place and a 3.0. In total viewers, that drop was from 32nd place and 9.64 million viewers to 43rd place and 7.71 million.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_9244.asp

dad1153

12-20-06, 11:05 AM

The TV Column
The Week’s Winners and Losers
Not a Network Was Stirring, Except for CBS
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 20, 2006; C07

WINNERS

"NCIS." As a holiday treat, the CBS show's producers delivered what the rest of the country most wants for Christmas: the sight of a robot killer Humvee loose on the streets of Washington. Because of this, "NCIS" became the week's most watched program for the first time, averaging more than 17 million viewers. Another theory, of course, is that "NCIS" viewers tend not to get invited to Christmas parties.

Did anybody else catch that this NCIS episode was a thinly-veiled (and tongue-in-cheek) in-joke from creator/producer Donald P. Bellisario to his mentor Glen A. Larson? Bellisario worked for Larson's original Battlestar Galactica back in the late 1970's. Afterwards Bellisario did Magnum P.I. for CBS while Larson created Knight Rider for NBC in the 1980's. I've never seen an episode of 'NCIS' but even I tuned in to watch this killer Humvee episode since the previews made it clear it was a 'Knight Rider' spoof. If you were a fan of 'Knight Rider' you could tell this episode was Donald poking fun (gently) at Glen Larson's mid-80's cash cow.

fredfa

12-20-06, 11:09 AM

Local HDTV Notebook
KRNV Beats KREN To The HD Punch
By Glen Dickson Broadcasting & Cable 12/20/2006

KRNV, the NBC affiliate in Reno, Nev., is declaring victory in the race to offer high-definition news in the 110th-largest market.

The Sunbelt Communications-owned station began broadcasting news in 1080-line interlace (1080i) HDTV with its noon newscast Tuesday, and will now be offering 3.5 hours of HD news each weekday, including a 90-minute morning show, and 1.5 hours daily on weekends. A 30-minute public affairs program, "Nevada Newsmakers," will begin broadcasting in HD next month from Monday to Thursday, following the 30-minute noon news.

KRNV spent $4 million converting its news operations to HD, which included building a new set and replacing Sony Betacam SX cameras with Canon XL H1 HDV-format high-definition camcorders. The station had initially tried to launch HD news on Nov. 15, but ran into audio synchronization problems with the HD signal and aborted the attempt. The second go-round has been much smoother, says news director Jon Killoran.

"Everything went very, very well," says Killoran. "We are now on the air, and expecting to stay on the air, in HD."

Meanwhile, Pappas station KREN, the CW affiliate in Reno, experienced technical difficulties that postponed the scheduled Dec. 18 launch of its own HD newscast. The 10pm newscast, now slated to launch next week, will be the station's first local news product.

Sister station KAZR, a low-power station and Azteca America affiliate, is already on the air with its own 30-minute HD newscast. That HD newscast, which launched last month, is the first in Reno and the first Spanish-language HD newscast in the U.S.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6401667

fredfa

12-20-06, 12:11 PM

Tuesday’s 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

12-20-06, 12:13 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
'Identity' crisis: NBC game show sinks
Second night averages a 2.9 in 18-49s, off 34 percent
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Dec 20, 2006

The second episode of “Identity” revealed that most of Monday night’s impressive debut was indeed attributable to “Deal or No Deal.” In the show’s second night, it lost much of its premiere audience.

“Identity” averaged a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating last night, according to Nielsen overnights, falling 34 percent from Monday’s 4.4 premiere average.

The game show, which asks contestants to match 12 strangers to their professions, aired at 8 p.m., without the benefit of a strong lead-in. The previous night, it aired after “Deal,” which averaged a 4.5 rating.

“Identity” did rise 36 percent from its first half hour to its second, from a 2.4 to a 3.5. And as NBC points out, it did have the network’s best rating in the timeslot since Sept. 19, though that’s not saying much. The low-rated “Friday Night Lights” had been airing there the past few months.

And the show did win its timeslot, but the competition consisted almost entirely of reruns, save Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean “Identity” is a dog. NBC may be able to pair it with a strong lead-in and get decent numbers for the show, even if it can’t lead off the night. It airs three more times this week, as the network follows the five-day launch strategy that helped turn “Deal” into a hit last December.

Its performance over the next three nights will likely determine whether “Identity” returns this spring.

A night of “House” repeats was enough to lead Fox to first place for the night among 18-49s with a 3.2 average rating and a 9 share. NBC was second at 2.7/8, CBS third at 2.5/7, ABC fourth at 2.0/6, Univision fifth at 1.7/5 and CW sixth at 1.1/3.

NBC started the night in the lead among 18-49s with a 2.9 rating at 8 p.m. for “Identity.” ABC was second with a 2.8 for the special “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown,” with Fox third with a 2.6 for a repeat of “House” and CBS fourth with a 2.5 for a repeat of “NCIS.” Univision was fifth that hour with a 2.2 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW sixth with a 1.0 for a repeat of “Gilmore Girls.”

Fox took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 3.8 for another repeat of “House.” NBC was second with a 2.6 for a repeat of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” CBS third with a 2.5 for a repeat of “The Unit” and ABC fourth with a 1.7 for an hour of “Big Day.” Univision was fifth again, this time with a 1.5 for “Mundo de Fieras” and CW sixth with a 1.2 for a re-airing of the “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.”

At 10 p.m. NBC regained the lead with a 2.7 rating for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” CBS was second with a 2.6 for a “CSI: NY” rerun, ABC third with a 1.5 for a repeat of “Boston Legal and Univision fourth with a 1.4 for “Ver para Creer.”

CBS was first for the night among households, averaging a 6.2 rating and a 10 share. NBC was second at 5.7/9, Fox third at 5.5/9, ABC fourth at 3.8/6, Univision fifth at 2.1/4 and CW sixth at 1.9/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9272.asp

fredfa

12-20-06, 02:18 PM

Washington Notebook
FCC Poised To Grant Telcos a Victory
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 12/20/2006

The FCC appears poised to grant telcos a big victory and what amounts to an FCC version of the sweeping video franchise reform legislation that failed to pass Congress.

If the vote goes as the Commission Democrats were predicting as the monthly FCC meeting began, the commission's Republican majority was planning to approve an order that would put a shot clock on local franchise negotiations, limit build-out requirements and franchise conditions, and cap public and government access channel investments.

The Democratic commissioners who opposed the changes said they agreed that some video franchise reform could be helpful, but called the majority proposal an overreaching that would get smacked down by the courts.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association at press time, even before the item had been voted, had already scheduled a 3:30 press conference to respond.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6401769

fredfa

12-20-06, 02:35 PM

Broadcasting & Cable is now reporting the FCC has approved the sweeping change in video franchise requirements -- a change sought by the telcos and fought bitterly by cable companies.

More details soon.

fredfa

12-20-06, 02:57 PM

If you are new to AVS or the Hot Off The Press thread, you might not know that there are a number of valuable resources which are constantly updated for you.

They can be found in post #4…..here are some of the items you’ll find discover:

Sports HD Schedules
Where to find the HD schedule for your favorite team -- in any sport

AC Nielsen 210 Market DMA Rankings for the 2006-2007 TV Season
Find out where your (and every U.S. TV market) ranks

Digital TV Info for all 210 Nielsen DMAs
The people at HDTV Magazine have supplied a link which tells who in each market is broadcasting digitally, from where and with how much power

Cable/Satellite Penetration By Nielsen DMA Market as of November, 2006
How many people have cable or satellite in each market?

FCC's Digital TV Info Resources

FCC SHVERA Fact Sheet
Now that DirecTV has cancelled bi-coastal HD Distant Network Station reception, here is the FCC fact sheet which may answer some of your questions about SHVERA and how it effects what we are -- or are not -- allowed to purchase.

All of this and much more is available in post #4 of this thread. You can go there directly by clicking here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4278412&&#post4278412

fredfa

12-20-06, 03:01 PM

Washington Notebook
FCC Gives Telcos Big Victory
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 12/20/2006

Video franchise reform went from being stuck in neutral in Congress to being thrown into overdrive at the FCC.
The FCC Wednesday granted telcos a big victory and what amounts to an FCC version of the sweeping video franchise reform legislation that failed to pass Congress over the issue of network neutrality.

In a 3-2 vote accompanied by long and sometimes heated statements, the commission's Republican majority approved an order that would put a shot clock on local franchise negotiations, limit build-out requirements and franchise conditions, and cap public and government access channel investments. changes telegraphed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin over the past several weeks.

The Democratic commissioners who opposed the changes said they agreed that some video franchise reform could be helpful, but called the majority proposal an overreaching that would get smacked down by the courts. Even Republican Robert McDowell conceded lawyers were probably already on their way to the courthouse.

The Republicans argued that it was well within their authority--McDowell ticking off several sections of regulatory cover, to make the changes to prevent local franchising authorities from unreasonably delaying franchise grants and the rollout of price and service competion to cable.

The Commission teed up that decision with its annual cable price survey in the same meeting, which found rates had gone up by 5.2% in 2006, and 93% since the deregulatory 1996 Telecommunications Act.

Martin has pointed to "staggering" cable prices that the study found were not lowered by satellite competition in arguing for helping the telephone companies more easily compete in video and broadband.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association at press time, even before the item had been voted, had already scheduled a press conference to respond.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6401769

fredfa

12-20-06, 03:07 PM

Washington Notebook
FCC Eases Cable Competition Rules
By Corey Boles The Wall Street Journal December 20, 2006 3:02 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted in favor of new rules governing the franchise system that exists across the U.S. for new entrants seeking to providing television service to consumers.

The new rules are aimed at making it easier for potential competitors to enter the video market. They are particularly aimed at facilitating entry by telecommunication companies such as Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., who are keen to expand their presence in the video market.

FCC Commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines at the agency's monthly public meeting in favor of new rules that would impose a 90-day deadline on local governments to decide on whether to grant a new franchise.

They would also strike down requirements for new entrants to provide service to all residents in an area, known as buildout requirements in industry jargon.

---Wall Street Journal subscribers can read the entire story here

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116664369395955925.html?mod=hps_us_my_companies

dad1153

12-20-06, 05:39 PM

Critic's Notebook
Wait 'Til Next Year: My 10 Next-Best List for 2006
James Poniewozik's Time 'Tuned In' Blog Dec. 20, 2006

Every year, my top 10 TV list (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1570781,00.html) is something of a misnomer. The first five, six or seven shows are usually pretty obvious and come to me more or less immediately. Beyond that, you have essentially a fifteen-way tie for eighth place. Below, in alphabetical order, is my next-10 list: shows that could just as well have been in one of the lower spots in my top 10 but for some reason (or none) didn't.

And yes, I could do another next-10 list—which would include Weeds, PBS's Country Boys, South Park, King of the Hill... but that's the path to madness.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX): A show I dropped the critical ball on when it came out in 2005 was hilarious in its second season, with new cast member Danny DeVito proving that he's even funny sober.

The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman (IFC): There's not really such a thing as indie TV—unless you count YouTube—but Laura Kightlinger's acerbic comedy about a woman on the fringes of Hollywood came close in spirit.

Project Runway (Bravo): Still a great reality show; season 3 just didn't stand out sufficiently that I thought it needed to get back on the list. Don't hate me, Heidi.

Rollergirls (A&E): In a weak year for reality TV—the first in a long time I haven't had a reality show in my top 10—this fascinating docu-reality series, from the makers of Laguna Beach, about Texas roller derby queens, came closest to making my list.

The Shield (FX): For some reason, Forrest Whittaker didn't get the media attention Glenn Close did for her guest turn on the show a year earlier, but his performance as an obsessed investigator was staggering. And as Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) finally saw his corruption begin to catch up with him, it set up what promises to be an explosive season 6 in the spring.

The Sopranos (HBO): After a strong few beginning episodes (more Dead Tony! more Dead Tony!), the season went into an overlong detour as the Gay Vito Show. It's still one of TV's best, and it's reasonable to excuse the meandering because the show ended in the middle of season 6, which concludes next year. So I'm withholding judgment for another 12 months.

The Thick of It (BBC America): I loved this black-hearted comedy of British political maneuverings, which played like The Larry Sanders Show with less money and different accents. It's being remade for American TV, and could continue in The Office's tradition of British classics we Yanks managed not to screw up.

30 Rock (NBC): So, so close, and in a weak year for comedies (only one in my top 10) I badly wanted to include it. While Tina Fey's inside-sketch-comedy sitcom gave Studio 60 a schooling this season, the episodes weren't consistent enough to merit a spot. But it's gotten better almost every week—the last episode was the first one where each subplot was grade-A—and is a serious contender for next year (if it's still around).

Ugly Betty (ABC): For me, ABC's charming comedy was like Heroes: excellent premise, appealing execution, not quite strong enough writing to be truly great. I thought one of the two should make the top 10, and awarded the spot to Heroes on the strength of its last few year-end episodes.

When The Levees Broke (HBO): Clear-eyed, outraged and—in the best sense of the word—terrible, Spike Lee's four-hour documentary about Hurricane Katrina and its physical and racial aftermath was the last (so far), best word on a heavily covered subject.

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

bgooch

12-20-06, 07:00 PM

NEW YORK, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The Yankees Entertainment Sports Network (YES) filed a breach of contract lawsuit on Wednesday against Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX.N: Quote, Profile , Research) Time Warner Cable, claiming they underpaid the network by more than $1.5 million.

In a six-page summons and complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court, the sports and entertainment network alleges that Time Warner Cable had "miscalculated the licensing fees due YES under an Affiliation Agreement" since Feb. 1, 2005.

YES said the agreement in question was dated March 20, 2002, and amended on April 6, 2005.

According to the lawsuit, YES alleges that Time Warner Cable "continues to underpay YES in an amount to be proven at trial but believed to now exceed $1.5 million ... and increasing every month."

YES is also seeking compensatory damages and pre-judgment interest and an amount to be determined to reimburse the network for all its expenses.

Time Warner Cable declined to comment.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-12-20T225540Z_01_N20270710_RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-TIMEWARNERCABLE.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

fredfa

12-20-06, 07:28 PM

Washington Notebook
NCTA Could Sue FCC Over Franchise Item
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 12/20/2006

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow wouldn't commit to taking the FCC to court over its decision Wednesday to revamp local video franchise rules, but he suggested that was a likely course of action.

He said NCTA would have to see the actual order first before deciding, but that it was keeping its options open. But he went further by saying that the industry's core value was equal treatment and that the FCC had not provided that.

NCTA has not opposed franchise reform, per se, that would ease telco entry into video and broadband, but it has said that whatever changes the FCC has made should apply equally to cable and telcos.

"This is not a level playing field," said McSlarrow in a conference call to reporters.

He also echoed commission Democrats in suggesting the FCC had overstepped its regulatory authority and was essentially legislating by proxy.

McSlarrow had some positive things to say about the FCC's order. He said that the order at least made it clear that telco AT&T could not argue it did not have to apply for franchises because its service was Internet-based. He was also pleased the order had pared back its preemption of state laws.

But on the key issue of treating all providers equally from day one, the FCC decision fails the cable industry's key test.

The FCC said that it would look into whether the same franchise reforms should apply to incumbents, though it suggested they should. But it also said incumbents shouldn't get that same treatment until their current franchise agreements expire, which in some cases is years away. The FCC also says its new order will preempt most-favored-nation clauses in existing contracts. Those contracts insured that if a new entrant got a better deal from a franchising authority, the incumbent cable operator also got that deal, and vice versa.

Because of that essential inequity, McSlarrow said, the FCC's result would be more regulation, not less. "Treating different players differently is a recipe for regulatory arbitrage," he said. It would also appear to be a recipe for a court battle.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6401834

fredfa

12-20-06, 07:31 PM

Washington Notebook
FCC: 90-Day Franchise Shot Clock

By Ted Hearn Multi Channel News 12/20/2006

Local governments will have 90 days to act on cable-franchise applications filed by AT&T, Verizon Communications and other entities with existing rights to access city-owned conduits, the Federal Communications Commission ruled Wednesday in an action that split the agency along partisan lines.

With support from major phone firms, FCC chairman Kevin Martin championed franchise reform as his proclaimed antidote for rising nominal cable rates and for spurring deployment of high-speed Internet-access facilities across the country.

AT&T senior vice president of federal relations Bob Quinn said, “The FCC has wisely determined that the pace of video competition and broadband deployment should not be held hostage to the administration of a franchising process created for monopoly cable providers.”

Because cable incumbents were not granted similar 90-day guarantees, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association called the FCC vote a rejection of a “level playing field” among cable providers. Needing more time to evaluate the FCC’s order in full, McSlarrow declined to promise that the trade group would take the agency to court.

“We have not made a decision. All we got today was a sketch,” McSlarrow said.

While fellow Republicans Deborah Taylor Tate and Robert McDowell backed Martin, Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein refused to go along, claiming that the commission was on shaky legal ground in thinking that it could boss thousands of cities and towns on how to charter new cable entrants.

The FCC’s ruling also included mandates related to the calculation of cable-franchise fees, network-buildout requirements, contribution of public-access channels and local oversight of noncable services, such as high-speed data and voice-over-Internet-protocol phone service.

More than anything else, Martin wanted to ensure that large phone companies could get cities to act promptly.

If no franchise is granted within 90 days, AT&T, for example, could provide cable service under an “interim authorization,” according to Rosemary Harold, deputy chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau. If the city were to reject the application later, AT&T’s interim authorization would sunset and the company would have to take the city to court, she added.

McSlarrow called the process “awkward” because a city could reject the application on “day 89” in order to move the process to court immediately and without triggering the interim authorization.

“It doesn’t necessarily encourage good-faith bargaining,” he added.

The new franchise rules are expected to take legal effect early next year. For the 90-day shot clock to toll, the applicant must make “a filing of some sort in writing,” Harold said.

Martin -- saying that cable rates had risen more than 90% in the past decade -- asserted that competition was “desperately needed” in local cable markets and that only the presence of a second cable company had caused the rates of the cable incumbent to decline, in some cases by as much as 17%.

Along with Copps, Adelstein insisted that the FCC was intervening based on little evidence that local governments had unreasonably refused to award competing cable franchises.

At one point, Adelstein mocked Martin’s plan as “faith-based rulemaking,” promising that it would “offend many in Congress” and likely face “rejection by the courts.”

Martin, however, did cite a few cases where cities had evidently sought unrelated and unreasonable in-kind contributions from would-be cable-service providers.

McDowell came to Martin’s defense by arguing that the FCC was “on safe legal ground” in attempting to check the excesses of local governments in cable negotiations.

According to McDowell, Martin promised to issue an order in about six months on whether cable incumbents should be entitled to the 90-day shot clock when seeking franchise renewals. The agency has tentatively concluded that they should be.

“No one can say how that’s going to turn out,” said McSlarrow, who has been putting heat on the Martin FCC for failing to meet deadlines established by Congress.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6401838

fredfa

12-20-06, 07:43 PM

Washington Notebook
FCC: 90-Day Franchise Shot Clock
FCC Adopts Rules to Ensure Reasonable Franchising Process for New Video Market Entrants
(Federal Communications Commission News Release) Dec. 20, 2006

Washington, DC – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today adopted a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that establishes rules and provides guidance to implement Section 621(a)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934, which prohibits franchising authorities from unreasonably refusing to award competitive franchises for the provision of cable services.

In the Order, the Commission concludes that the current operation of the franchising process constitutes an unreasonable barrier to entry that impedes the achievement of the interrelated federal goals of enhanced cable competition and accelerated broadband deployment.

The Order addresses several ways by which local franchising authorities are unreasonably refusing to award competitive franchises. These include drawn-out local negotiations with no time limits; unreasonable build-out requirements; unreasonable requests for “in-kind” payments that attempt to subvert the five percent cap on franchise fees; and unreasonable demands with respect to public, educational and government access (or “PEG”).

To eliminate the unreasonable barriers to entry into the cable market, and to encourage investment in broadband facilities, the Commission:

• Found that franchising negotiations that extend beyond certain time frames amount to an unreasonable refusal to award a competitive franchise within the meaning of Section 621(a)(1);

• Found that requiring an applicant to agree to unreasonable build-out requirements constitutes an unreasonable refusal to award a competitive franchise;

• Found that, unless certain specified costs, fees, and other compensation required by local franchising authorities are counted toward the statutory five percent cap on franchise fees, demanding them could result in an unreasonable refusal to award a competitive franchise;

• Found that it would be an unreasonable refusal to award a competitive franchise if the local franchising authority denied an application based on a new entrant’s refusal to undertake certain unreasonable obligations relating to public, educational, and governmental (“PEG”) and institutional networks (“I-Nets”); and

• Preempted local laws, regulations, and requirements, including local level-playing-field provisions, to the extent they impose greater restrictions on market entry than the rules adopted herein.

• The Commission concluded that although the record allows it to determine generally what constitutes an “unreasonable refusal to award an additional competitive franchise” at the local level, the Commission does not have sufficient information to make such determinations with respect to franchising decisions made at the state level or in compliance with state statutory directives, such as statewide franchising decisions. As a result, the Order addresses only decisions made by county- or municipal-level franchising authorities.

The Commission also adopted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in which it seeks comment on how its findings in the Order should affect existing franchisees, tentatively concludes that the findings should apply to existing franchisees at the time of their next franchise renewal process, and seeks comment on the Commission’s statutory authority to take this action. The Commission will conclude this rulemaking and release an order no later than six months after the release of the Order.

The Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on November 3, 2005 to seek public comment on these issues.

Action by the Commission, December 20, 2006, by Report & Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 06-180). Chairman Martin, Commissioners Tate and McDowell with Commissioner Copps and Adelstein dissenting. Separate statements issued by Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell.

http://www.fcc.gov/

fredfa

12-20-06, 07:45 PM

Washington Notebook
Cable Rates Almost Double in 10 Years
FCC Releases Report on 2005 Cable Industry Prices
(Federal Communications Commission News Release) Dec. 20, 2006

Washington, DC – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today released its annual report on cable industry prices. The report shows that average monthly rates for cable service -- including basic and expanded basic cable programming services -- increased by 5.2 percent over the 12-month period ending January 1, 2005, from $40.91 to $43.04, and by 93 percent since the period immediately prior to Congress’s enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Section 623(k) of the Communications Act, as amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, requires the Commission to publish annually a statistical report on average rates for basic cable service, cable programming service, and equipment. The Act also requires the Commission to compare the average rates of cable operators subject to effective competition with those of operators not subject to effective competition.

Specifically, the average monthly charge for basic service increased by 3.3 percent, rising from $13.84 on January 1, 2004 to $14.30 on January 1, 2005. Over the same period, the average charge for expanded basic service rose from $27.07 to $28.74, an increase of 6.2 percent -- more than 84 percent of cable consumers subscribe to the expanded basic service.

The report finds that for the 12-month period ending January 1, 2005, the average monthly rate for basic and expanded basic cable programming services increased by 4.9 percent for the group of cable operators in communities relieved from basic tier rate regulation (the “effective competition group”) and by 5.2 percent for the group of cable operators without a finding of effective competition (the “noncompetitive group”). As of January 1, 2005, cable operators without a finding of effective competition charged an average of $43.33 per month for basic and expanded basic programming, which was 7.9 percent more than the $40.15 charged by the group of operators with a finding of effective competition. The degree of difference, however, varied by subgroup, with the highest percentage differential associated with the subgroup of cable operators for which relief from rate regulation was based on a second cable operator. Prices charged by cable operators in these communities were 17 percent lower than in communities without a finding of effective competition. DBS competition, however, does not appear to constrain cable prices – average prices were the same as or slightly higher in communities where DBS was the basis for relieving a cable operator from rate regulation than in noncompetitive communities.

The Commission also collected information on the prices charged for the most highly subscribed digital tier plus equipment consisting of a digital set-top converter and remote control unit. For all communities sampled, over the 12 months ending January 1, 2005, the price for this tier and equipment increased by 1.2 percent, to $12.99. Of the 98 percent of all cable subscribers served by systems that offered digital video service, 37 percent subscribe to the digital tier.

The report also provides information on the average capacity of cable systems and the percentage of cable subscribers that are offered advanced services such as digital service, Internet access, and telephone service. As of January 1, 2005, approximately 87 percent of all cable subscribers were served by systems that had been upgraded to a capacity of at least 750 MHz. Also, 96 percent of all cable subscribers were served by systems that offered Internet access. In addition, 42 percent of subscribers were offered telephone service by their cable operator. There was very little variation between the groups (those with and without a finding of effective competition) in terms of system capacity or the percentage of subscribers offered advanced services.

The report also provides an econometric analysis of the data collected. The results of this analysis show that cable prices tend to be higher in local markets where cable operators have a larger share of the subscription video market. This may indicate the exercise of market power by dominant firms or may reflect higher costs to serve those markets.

Action by the Commission, December 20, 2006, by Report (FCC 06-179). Chairman Martin, Commissioners Tate and McDowell with Commissioner Copps and Adelstein concurring. Separate statements issued by Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, and McDowell.

http://www.fcc.gov/

fredfa

12-20-06, 08:24 PM

A great resource

Marc Berman of Media Week Magazine has a wonderful website where he posts the daily Nielsen overnights, explains what they mean and also encourages input about shows – both pro and con.

As you may know, Marc has spent a lifetime crunching ratings numbers -- he is not just a trade magazine writer. He is a true expert in things dealing with Nielsen. His contacts in the industry are first-rate and his instincts are even better.

His blog is brimming with Madison Avenue types, so if you want to lobby for your favorite show – or just see what other interested viewers feel about the state of TV – be sure to drop by.

So if you are a TV junkie, I’d encourage you to log in and join the various discussions. They can be fun. But even if you don’t join in, you’ll learn an awful lot about the state of network (and cable) TV.

Just be sure not to desert us here!!

http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/63310451

fredfa

12-20-06, 09:04 PM

Washington Notebook
Phone companies get a break with FCC vote
Cable industry slams video franchise decision

By William Triplett [b]Variety[/b[ Dec. 20, 2006

After contentious debate, the Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines Wednesday to impose a 90-day time limit on local video franchising negotiations and also limit build-out requirements on phone companies trying to compete with cablers.

The time limit would require local authorities to give a yes or no answer within 90 days to an applicant who wants to provide video services. The build-out limit would let phone companies start providing video services without wiring every residence in a community.

The overall effect of the two measures is to make it easier for phone companies to compete with cablers in providing television service.

Response has been swift and strong, including a threatened lawsuit by the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn.

FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin was joined by GOP colleagues and commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate in voting to promote what they claim will be increased competition in video delivery services that would benefit consumers.

But Democratic commissioner Jonathan Adelstein blasted the decision, the goals of which he said are "laudable. But while I support these goals, today's item goes out on a limb in asserting federal authority to preempt local governments, and then saws the limb off with a highly dubious legal and policy scheme that substitutes our judgment as to what is reasonable for that of local officials -- all in violation of the franchising framework established in the Communications Act."

Martin said the decision was a necessary remedy because of reports he'd received that many local authorities were "unreasonably" withholding franchise grants from phone companies attempting to gain market entry.

In a conference call with reporters after the vote, NCTA prexy Kyle McSlarrow would not rule out a court challenge of the limits and even said that such a challenge was likely.

Don Borut, exec director of the National League of Cities, said in a statement, "We are confounded by today's decision that would systematically block the ability of local governments to protect their citizens, local assets and revenues. It is not in the best interest of America's taxpaying public; it is not in the best interest of our citizens who own the public rights of way; it is not in the best interest of the widest number of consumers, who, depending on where they live or how much they are willing to spend, may be shut out from the most up-to-date technology by companies seeking to service only the most well-to-do neighborhoods."

Gary Lytle, senior VP for Qwest, said, "On the eve of yet another rate increase by the cable industry, today's video franchising order by the FCC is an important first step in bringing competition for video services to local communities and providing consumers with better choices and lower prices."

According to the Associated Press, the incoming chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), is questioning whether the FCC has the legal authority to impose the franchising time limits.

Dingell has written Martin, asking him to provide "statutory and legal citations" for imposing the limits.

The vote came on the same day that Martin released a report showing that from 1995 to 2005, cable subscription rates increased an average of 93%.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956146&categoryid=14

fredfa

12-20-06, 09:07 PM

TV Notebook
FCC indecency rulings get day in court
By Alex Woodson The Hollywood Reporter Dec 21, 2006

NEW YORK -- In a hearing characterized by frequent blue language, a three-judge panel from New York's 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals sharply questioned the FCC on Wednesday about its stringent new policy of fining networks for accidental indecent speech uttered during live broadcasts.

Fox Broadcasting's lawyer, Carter Phillips, who also represented the positions of CBS and NBC at the hearing, said the new policy turns its back on "30 years of unbroken precedent." He called the policy "arbitrary" and said it was a "180-degree reversal" from the previous ruling.

At the heart of this issue are two slips of the tongue uttered at past Fox-broadcasted Billboard Music Awards. During the 2002 program, Cher declared: "People have been telling me I'm on the way out every year. So **** 'em." At the 2003 show, Nicole Richie said: "Have you ever tried to get cow **** out of a Prada purse? It's not so ****ing simple."

Phillips repeated both statements verbatim at the beginning of Wednesday's hearing, which was telecast live on C-SPAN, prompting Judge Peter Hall to ask the commission's deputy general counsel, Eric Miller, whether the broadcast would be subject to "hand-slapping" by the FCC.

Miller responded "absolutely not" because of the context of the language and the fact that the broadcast of the hearing constituted "news."

This led Judge Rosemary Pooler to query, "What wouldn't be news?" She said a claim could be made that an awards show or even "The Simple Life," the reality show at the heart of Richie's reference, could be classified as "news."

Judge Pierre Leval agreed that Miller's position seemed to be an "unreasonable hypothesis." Pooler said it stands to reason that a child might not be able to differentiate between a judge saying a curse word in a courtroom -- alluding to the fact that Leval said "****" during the day's proceedings -- and Cher using an expletive on an awards show.

After the hearing, Phillips said he was not aware of the FCC's position on expletives relating to "news." "We didn't know they'd give us a pass if we said it was 'news,' " he said. "That's news to us."

Although the FCC found that the Billboard broadcasts violated indecency rules, it didn't impose a fine because the shows predated a policy established in 2004 after U2 frontman Bono said "this is really, really ****ing brilliant" during NBC's broadcast of the 2003 Golden Globe awards ceremony.

As a basis for the stricter fines, Miller also said Wednesday that many children watch broadcast television alone in their bedrooms, saying that they can't protect themselves against the "first blow" of indecent language on live TV.

Responded Pooler, "I find it disingenuous to point to unregulated TVs in a child's room as a reason for the FCC to come galloping to the rescue."

Miller added that the new policy would hold broadcasters to a "community standard" of what is and isn't offensive -- the basic argument being that if the words are used for "shock value," they are deemed indecent and subject to fine. Pooler said that sounded like a "scheme" based on what the FCC would find offensive, and that broadcasters and courts would have a hard time understanding those boundaries.

In his closing statement, Phillips said, "I have no clue what is offensive." Earlier, he pointed to network broadcasts of "Saving Private Ryan," which contains harsh language but was allowed by the FCC, as a point of ambiguity in the ruling.

All sides repeatedly made mention of the Pacifica ruling, the commission's initial indecency ruling in 1975, when it issued a order granting the complaint and holding that a Pacifica radio station WBAI-FM in New York that broadcast George Carlin's "Filthy Words" routine "could have been the subject of administrative sanctions."

Pooler asked why there had been no hearings on the issue until Bono's slip-up in 2004. Miller said the FCC had "no record" of fleeting expletives in the nearly 30 years between rulings.

Phillips and Pooler said that the commission's new ruling has no studies attached to it proving that children are adversely affected when they hear accidental curse words. Pooler questioned why the FCC wasn't taking as strict an approach to violence on television, which she said has been proven to adversely affect children.

A ruling on the indecency policy is forthcoming. Phillips, though, said he would be "shocked" if a decision is made before February.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3icd8f76d973c2fc7be28159802d4fbb60

fredfa

12-21-06, 01:21 AM

Washington Notebook
Phone Carriers Win a Skirmish in Cable Wars
By Matt Richtel The New York Times Dec. 21, 2006 Ken Belson contributed reporting.

Telephone companies got some help yesterday in elbowing their way into the video arena that the cable industry has dominated.

Arguing that cable television rates have surged in the absence of robust competition, federal regulators moved to speed up the local approval process for phone companies seeking to compete.

The action came in a 3-to-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission. The ruling does not force municipalities to grant phone companies a video franchise, but it does require a decision within 90 days.

Phone carriers, notably Verizon, have asserted that some municipalities are slow to grant approvals, often in the face of cable industry lobbying.

If it succeeds in fostering competition, the decision could eventually affect the rates and services available to the roughly 100 million households that pay for access to television.

The decision is part of a fierce political, regulatory and business battle between the cable and telephone companies. They are battling town by town and household by household to get a share of the growing amount Americans spend on their monthly telecommunications bills.

Cable companies have made considerable inroads at offering telephone service and high-speed Internet access. Telephone companies have in the last year entered cable’s traditional turf, television, and say this decision will fuel their offensive.

“This means an end to the automatic skyrocketing in cable prices and means greater choice in service and programming,” said David Fish, a Verizon spokesman.

But industry analysts said that the decision would not prompt overnight change, in part because it is likely to face a court challenge, but also because the biggest challenge to the phone companies remains the technical and financial logistics of entering a costly new business.

The F.C.C. found that municipalities were unnecessarily and unfairly delaying approval of franchise agreements, refusing them unreasonably, or making unrelated demands, like requiring financing for public swimming pools or recreation centers.

Cable industry officials said they objected to the decision, arguing it creates an uneven playing field by not similarly expediting the process for renewal of their own franchises — the typically multiyear agreements that allow cable companies to provide television access in a community in exchange for a tax of around 5 percent of their sales.

The industry also rejected F.C.C. data indicating that cable television prices had risen steadily in recent years, even as competition had driven down the cost of other telecommunications services, like Internet and phone access.

The commission found that the average monthly rate for cable service increased 5.2 percent, to $43.04, in 2004 alone, and 93 percent in less than a decade.

Kyle McSlarrow, president and chief executive of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said those figures were taken from published rate cards, and thus ignored the reality that most subscribers get discounts or other deals.

He said the prices also did not reflect the discounts offered when subscribers buy bundles of telephone, Internet and television service.

Roughly 66 million American households pay for cable service, compared with around 28 million who get satellite access. There are only a few million who get it through telephone lines.

Bills introduced in Congress this year would have eased the franchise approval process, either by making it national or creating a national standard, but no legislation was ultimately approved.

There have also been political battles at the state level, with the phone companies seeking a statewide approval process that would circumvent municipal franchising. They have prevailed in states including Texas, New Jersey and California.

Jessica Zufolo, an analyst who studies the telecommunications market on behalf of investors, called the F.C.C. decision “a huge victory for the Bells,” but said “it’s a somewhat pyrrhic victory because there’s a high, high litigation risk.” She said cities in particular might sue, arguing that the F.C.C. had overstepped its authority.

Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, who voted against the proposal, asserted that the agency lacked the authority to rule as it had. And Jim L. Haggerton, vice chairman of the Information Technology and Communications Committee of the National League of Cities, said the ruling took away municipalities’ rightful power.

“We’re totally opposed to the federal government making the decisions for cities across the country,” said Mr. Haggerton, who sits on the city council in Tukwila, Wash.

Kevin J. Martin, the commission chairman, who voted in favor of the new rule, emphasized the finding that insufficient competition was fueling a rise in cable rates.

“It is critical then that the commission act to remove regulatory barriers to the ability of a second cable operator to enter the market,” he said in a statement.

The most aggressive effort to compete against cable companies has come from Verizon. The company said it provided television service to 1.2 million customers, and had franchise agreements in about 300 municipalities including 25 in New York State, mostly on Long Island. That is a small fraction of the more than 3,000 municipalities Verizon said it needed to reach to achieve its goal of providing television service in 60 percent of its telephone territory.

Mr. Fish of Verizon said agreements in other cities had taken many months; he said 83 percent of franchise negotiations with cities had been going on for more than a year.

AT&T, the nation’s other big phone company, is so far offering television service in two markets, Houston and San Antonio.

Michael Balmoris, a company spokesman, said AT&T’s position was that because it was delivering television service over telephone lines, it was not subject to local franchise regulation.

But it has already encountered local skirmishes over related issues. For example, he said that “multiple cities” in Illinois had not allowed AT&T to upgrade its network to high-speed fiber lines on the ground that doing so would effectively permit the company to offer video service without a franchise agreement.

“We can use the F.C.C. item today in litigation to show we should be able to upgrade” our lines, he said.

Still, analysts said the chief hurdle for telephone companies would be laying lines in the ground capable of delivering television, then convincing consumers to switch.

The F.C.C. decision “certainly alleviates something of a challenge that Verizon and AT&T have to go through,” said Alan Bezoza, telecommunications industry analyst with Oppenheimer & Company. “But the biggest challenge will be just rolling this out.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/business/21cable.html?hp&ex=1166763600&en=fc1d01f799c4cc1d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

dad1153

12-21-06, 02:03 AM

The New (Mid) Season
CBS plays by Sandler's 'Rules'
Network says goodbye to 'King'
By Josef Adalian, Variety December 20, 2006

CBS is giving new Adam Sandler-produced laffer "Rules of Engagement" the best comedy timeslot on TV while finalizing plans to say goodbye to "The King of Queens" after nine seasons.

Starting Feb. 5, "Rules" will run Mondays at 9:30 p.m. behind the top-rated "Two and a Half Men," the Eye will announce today. Its premiere will come one day after CBS airs Super Bowl XLI, allowing the net to give the David Spade-Patrick Warburton laffer a major promo push during the big game.

CBS Paramount and Sony Pictures TV produce "Rules" in association with Sandler's Happy Madison shingle. Tom Hertz, Jack Giarraputo and Doug Robinson are exec producers.

Move will mean a timeslot switch for "The New Adventures of Old Christine," which has occupied the plum slot after "Men" since its premiere last spring. After a brief hiatus during February, "Old Christine" will shift to Mondays at 8:30 p.m. on March 12.

"The Class," which currently airs in the 8:30 p.m. slot, will wrap its first season on March 5.

Eye's strategy is designed to virtually eliminate comedy repeats in the 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Monday timeslots. Net also wants to give all of its comedy players a fair shake on Mondays before it makes up its mind about how to schedule the night next season.

Sked shuffle marks a major vote of confidence in "Rules." Eye execs are no doubt hoping the male-skewing "Rules," which features a heavy dose of ribald humor, will be a better fit with "Men" than the more femme-friendly "Old Christine."

While "Christine" has been a solid performer on Mondays and has even landed on some critics' year-end top 10 lists, skein still loses about 20% of its lead-in. Not helping matters: "Christine" has had to face off against the red-hot "Heroes" for most of the fall.

As for "Rules," CBS plans to air seven episodes of the laffer on Mondays. On April 9, net will bring back "King of Queens" -- which goes on hiatus after its Jan. 3 broadcast -- in the 9:30 p.m. Monday slot.

CBS will have seven episodes of "Queens" in the can, which means the skein's series finale will likely air on May 21. Net hasn't locked in any dates for the finale, however.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956174.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

dad1153

12-21-06, 02:07 AM

Wow, I didn't know NBC brass had the cojones to do this. Good for them! :)

TV/Internet Notebook
Censored ‘SNL’ Sketch Jumps Bleepless Onto the Internet
By Jacques Steinberg The New York Times December 21, 2006

The nearly three-minute digital film, shown on “Saturday Night Live” last Saturday, was a parody of two boy-band singers (including one played by the real Justin Timberlake) crooning a holiday song about making a gift to their girlfriends of their male anatomy, which they appeared to have wrapped in boxes (strategically placed) and then topped with bows.

Given the subject matter, it was little surprise that NBC bleeped a recurring word in the chorus 16 times. But soon after the broadcast concluded at 1 a.m. Sunday, viewers who’d seen the bit on TV (and others who had just heard about it) could find the uncensored version online. That’s because the network itself had placed it on its own Web site (nbc.com) and YouTube.com, under the headings “Special Treat in a Box” or “Special Christmas Box.”

In less than a week the official uncensored version of the video has been viewed by over two million people on YouTube alone. In the process “Saturday Night Live” appears to have become the first scripted comedy on a broadcast network to use the Web to make an end-run around the prying eyes of both its internal censors and those of the Federal Communications Commission, whose jurisdiction over “Saturday Night Live” effectively ends at the Web frontier.

Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of “Saturday Night Live,” cautioned in an interview that the strategy of treating Internet users to the equivalent of an authorized “director’s cut” of his late-night show “will be the exception” going forward. But he also predicted that other shows and networks, time and money permitting, would surely follow NBC’s lead in making available material that was deemed not ready for prime time, or even late night. “My sense is that, as always, now that the door has been opened, some things will go through it,” he said.

For “Saturday Night Live” the ubiquity of “Special Treat” on the Web this week has proved to be yet another digital stake planted firmly in unexplored ground. Almost a year ago a rap parody from the show (featuring two characters waxing rhapsodic about eating cupcakes and watching “The Chronicles of Narnia” on the Upper West Side) became one of the first bootleg videos to demonstrate the vast potential of YouTube, the portal through which millions of viewers were able to see it. (While NBC quickly ordered YouTube to take down the video, which was titled “Lazy Sunday” and protected by copyright, the network later reached agreement with the Web site to showcase copyrighted material from its shows, including “The Office” and “Saturday Night Live,” on a dedicated page stocked by the network itself.)

The common denominator in “Special Treat” and “Lazy Sunday” — as well as another “Saturday Night Live” favorite on You Tube featuring the actress Natalie Portman and her supposed bad-girl side — is a performer on the show, Andy Samberg, and a supporting cast of producers he brought with him to “Saturday Night Live” from a pioneering Web site called Lonely Island.

The idea for “Special Treat” was hatched, Mr. Samberg said, when Mr. Michaels called him into his office last Tuesday and asked that he try to write something funny that would showcase the singing skills of Mr. Timberlake, who was both the host and musical guest.

Mr. Samberg and his colleagues — including Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone — presented a rough draft of the song to Mr. Timberlake on Thursday afternoon, and after they reworked it to his specifications, they recorded the voice track on special equipment in Mr. Samberg’s office around midnight. They spent Friday and much of Saturday filming the video in and around New York, and not until 4 p.m. Saturday — less than eight hours before the show was to go live — was the video in sufficient shape to be shown to the NBC executive responsible for late-night programming, Rick Ludwin.

While the show’s producers had already concluded on their own that the video would have to be bleeped to be broadcast, they had a special request for Mr. Ludwin: Would he permit the uncensored version to be made available on the Web?

“My first instinct, without having seen anything, was that we probably shouldn’t do that,” Mr. Ludwin said later in an interview. “My thought was that even though it’s going on the Internet, it’s still representing NBC. But I hadn’t seen it yet. So I said it would depend on how dirty it was.”

Drawing close to a monitor adjacent to the show’s vaunted eighth-floor studio, Mr. Ludwin watched as Mr. Timberlake (in a blond wig) and Mr. Samberg (decked out with a close-cropped beard that made him look like the pop singer’s twin brother) sang of the various holidays on which they wanted to present their special gift (including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa) and the various settings (including backstage at the Country Music Association Awards.)

“We were all laughing,” said Mr. Ludwin, who had been accompanied by a representative from the NBC legal department. And then Mr. Ludwin said he had a change of heart.

“Those people who go on the Internet will not be shocked by this,” Mr. Ludwin recalled thinking. “Obviously there are some people who will be offended. Those people are probably unlikely to go searching for it on the Internet. It’s just funny.”

Still, the material was touchy enough, Mr. Ludwin said, that he sought final approval for the Web version of the video from the highest echelons of NBC, including Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment , and Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal Television Group.. Both approved the idea, he said. Another executive suggested that a disclaimer be placed before the Web-only version of the video that warned of its explicit content, a proposal that was immediately accepted.

As yet another production featuring Mr. Samberg spreads like electronic wildfire, the performer said he was pleased that the show was becoming so adept at finding alternate routes to viewers, beyond the 6.5 million who, on average, watch the show on NBC each Saturday night, according to Nielsen Media Research. (A figure that is down slightly since last year at this time.)

“A sign now of success with a certain audience when you do a short comedy piece, anywhere, is that it gets on YouTube and gets around,” Mr. Samberg said. “It’s always something you’re thinking about unconsciously. It’s not our main objective. But there’s no part of us that doesn’t want to be on YouTube.”

Which is not to say that NBC intends to make such decisions lightly in the future. “We’re still not going to put just anything out there,” said Jeff Gaspin, president of digital content for NBC Universal. “We still have to protect the brands.”

Seth Meyers, the show’s head writer, said that he and Mr. Michaels were also mindful that sometimes the funniest material — whether on their show, or Howard Stern’s radio show — was borne of butting up against boundaries, either from the outside or self-imposed.

Sizing up the two versions of the “Special Treat” video, Mr. Meyers observed, “The most interesting thing is that it’s actually not funnier uncensored.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/arts/television/21sket.html?ref=television

fredfa

12-21-06, 02:16 AM

TV Notebook
NBC: Fourth hour of “Today” is “strong possibility”
Amid growing rumors, a spokesperson says that a decision on whether to expand the early-morning leader will come early next year.
By Harry A. Jessell TV NewsDay Dec 20, 2006

"There is a strong possibility” that NBC News will expand the The Today Show by adding a fourth hour, NBC News spokesperson Megan Kopf told TVNEWSDAY today.

A decision on the long-rumored move will come early next year, Kopf said, declining further comment.

Variety first reported that NBC was looking at expanding the early-morning ratings leader last August. But the network knocked down the report in B&C.

The New York Post reported last week that Billy Bush was auditioning to host the extra hour and broadcasters and station reps told TVNEWSDAY this week that they believed it was a done deal.

One NBC affiliate said the hour would be added next September at the start of the 2007-08 TV season and that the move would be coupled with the cancellation of Passions, NBC’s low-rated afternoon soap opera so that affiliates would lose an hour in the morning, but gain one in the early afternoon.

The industry sources say the fourth hour was prompted by the inability of NBC Universal to come up with strong syndicated programming in daytime for the NBC O&Os. They said that the expected cancellation of first-year talk show Megan Mullally will punch a hole in the stations’ daytime schedules that will need to be filled.

For many years, Today ran two hours from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET. It expanded to three hours in October 2000 after a companion one-hour program, Later Today, flopped in the 9 o’clock hour.

http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2006/12/20/daily.7/

dad1153

12-21-06, 02:33 AM

TV Notebook
Have these characters gotten 'Lost' on the way to other shows?
Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune 'The Watcher' TV Blog Dec. 20, 2006

Now this is one of the better “Lost” ideas in ages: Amy, one of the resident bloggers at AmysRobot.com, has decided the best way to both improve the ABC show and “add much-needed spice to the rest of the lackluster fall lineup” is to deport some of the characters from the show to other programs.

Amy’s suggestions:

-Jack: “He's got daddy issues. Big time. So why not move him to House, where he could adopt Dr. House as his new brilliant but emotionally-distant, dysfunctional father figure?”

-Sawyer: “Although we appreciate the gesture, making Sawyer shirtless for six episodes does not equal character development. We need more of the Sawyer sass -- and where better to see it in effect than sunny California? Sawyer and “The O.C.'s” Julie Cooper would be an unstoppable team.”

-Sayid: “Our favorite ex-Republican Guard interrogator would bring many new scenes of reckless torture [to ‘24’]. ‘I'm going to shoot him in the knee, Sayid.’ ‘No, Jack, I think you will find shooting him in the stomach will be much more effective.’”

-Sun and Jin: “With Sun's sailing skills and Jin's, um, negotiating skills, they'd kick [butt] on ‘The Amazing Race.’”

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

dad1153

12-21-06, 02:43 AM

Network News Notebook
'World News' leads with coveted viewer group
By Gail Shister, Philadelphia Enquirer December 20, 2006

Dare we call it a trend?

For the second consecutive week, Charlie Gibson's ABC World News edged Brian Williams' NBC Nightly News for first place among 25-to-54- year-old viewers.

No big deal to the world at large, but it's a streaking comet in the galaxy of network news, where advertisers pay a premium to reach 25-to-54-year-old adults.

Being No. 1 among total viewers makes for nifty bragging rights, but it's 25-to-54 that carries the freight.

"I'm a little reluctant to call it a trend at two, but who knows," says World News boss Jon Banner. "If it is a trend, we like where it's heading."

ABC scored 2.67 million viewers in the key demographic last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's a mere 30,000 ahead of NBC, but 10,000 more than ABC's lead the previous week. Katie Couric's CBS Evening News was third with 2.27 million.

NBC Nightly News chief John Reiss downplays ABC's back-to-back wins. (Quelle surprise!)

"I don't make much of it," he says. "The demo race has always been very close, so it's no shock if ABC slips by us for a week or two. This is nothing, 50,000 viewers over two weeks. Now if ABC beat us in total viewers, I'd be hiding under my desk."

Reiss doesn't have to hide yet. NBC retained its overall winning skein, averaging 9.0 million total viewers compared with ABC's 8.5 million. CBS limped in with 7.5 million.

Still, all the networks will find coal in their stockings on Christmas (again) as their numbers continue to plunge.

Compared with the same week a year ago, NBC is down 10 percent in total viewers and 17 percent in the demo. ABC is down 2 and 9 percent, and CBS, 5 and 12 percent.

As those elves at ABC helpfully point out, it marks the sixth consecutive week that CBS has declined in total viewers and the fifth time in six weeks it's dropped in the demo.

"The demo is how we make our money. It's vital," says ABC's Banner. "Total viewers is for bragging rights. Both are important."

Network-news analyst Andrew Tyndall attributes ABC's success in the 25-to-54 group more to Couric and Williams than to Gibson.

Some of the younger viewers migrating to Couric's CBS Evening News are defections from Williams' NBC Nightly News, Tyndall says. As a countermeasure, NBC is doing more features aimed at baby boomers, he says.

Tyndall points to Nightly News' Dec. 11 broadcast as an example. It included two boomer-driven reports, on the spike of Alzheimer's disease among middle-aged people and on Madison Avenue's increased spending on ads targeted to boomers.

"If you put your resources into the fight to grow an audience, you try to grow younger rather than older viewers," Tyndall says. "There's less payoff in attracting people over 65. Advertisers don't want them, and they're not going to be around that long."

Nightly News' Reiss disputes Tyndall's theory.

"We're not chasing the demo. We're covering the news. Clearly, we are aware of who our viewers are. We don't cater to 15-year-olds. If we do some stories on boomers, it's not an accident. A lot of our viewers are boomers."

ABC's Banner also insists that World News isn't doing anything differently.

"Week to week, the mission of our broadcast has remained consistent... . We think that Charlie's hitting his stride. This is an important, complicated time in our country, and Charlie has the unique ability to make sense of it all."

Mea culpa. Contrary to what was reported in this space yesterday, Tom Brokaw's mother, 89, is alive and well in Southern California.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//16278119.htm

dad1153

12-21-06, 02:49 AM

The Business of TV
Black flight: Big Four pick up CW loss
New network loses half of UPN-WB's black viewers
By Kevin Downey, Media Life Magazine December 20, 2006

It was a big concern among media buyers when the WB and UPN merged into the CW: Where would UPN’s African-American audience go once that network’s largely black lineup was squished into a two-hour block on the new network?

It turns out the CW is only picking up perhaps half the black audience who used to watch UPN and the WB. But contrary to earlier fears, the other half have not quit watching television.

They've simply scattered to other networks. New information from Nielsen Media Research shows that the number of African Americans watching the broadcast networks is virtually unchanged from last season.

Actually, it's even up a tad. The African-American audience on the broadcast networks in primetime this season is about 9.3 million households, on average, versus 9.2 million last season.

Overall, the WB-UPN merger resulted in the loss of perhaps a million young viewers. These are people who apparently simply quit watching television entirely. It was assumed that a good share of them were blacks because of the reduced number of black-skewing shows on the merged network.

But it appears the effect was rather to move them to other broadcast networks.

“By decreasing the amount of programming available, [the CW] is forcing people to go to other places to find their entertainment,” explains Linda Jefferson, senior vice president and director of integrated marketing strategies at Burrell Communications.

The CW’s primetime rating among African Americans for the season through Dec. 15 is a 3.2. That is just over half the 6.2 rating UPN had last season. It’s also well above the WB’s 1.4 but not enough to make up the difference.

CBS and NBC each have a 3.6 rating, with CBS slightly down and NBC up from a 2.8. ABC has a 3.5, down from a 4 rating, and Fox is about flat with a 3.1 rating.

What's interesting is that those black viewers have not migrated to cable. Cable's black ratings are unchanged from last year.

As part of the migration to the Big Four broadcast networks, some shows with multi-racial casts are seeing notable gains in black viewers.

CBS’s “CSI: Miami,” for instance, has a 7 rating so far this season among African Americans 18-49, up from a 6.2 last year, according to a Magna Global analysis of Nielsen ratings released this week.

NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is also up, to a 6.3 from a 5.8 rating.

Other programs doing well in this demographic include NBC’s "Sunday Night Football," the third highest-rated show in this demographic, Fox’s “House,” and ABC reality show “Dancing with the Stars.”

Moreover, ratings among African Americans are starting to pick up for black-oriented programs on the CW, says Sam Armando, senior vice president and director of video research at Starcom.

The network goofed early this season by slotting its African-American programs on Sunday, where shows like “Everybody Hates Chris” slumped against tough competition. The CW now airs these programs on Monday, where they had long been a staple on UPN.

The average ratings this season for shows like “Girlfriends” reflect the troubles the CW was having on Sundays.

The 18-49 rating for “Girlfriends” among African Americans, for example, is a 7.7, compared to a 10.7 last year, when it was the top-rated program.

The CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” is currently the top-rated show among blacks, but its rating has dipped to a 7.8 from an 8.3.

“We’ve seen the ratings go up since [the CW] moved these shows to Monday,” says Armando. “If they stay at these higher levels for the rest of the year, you will see the CW end the year higher than where they started off.”

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9248.asp

kizzo

12-21-06, 03:50 AM

No surprise about blacks switching to the big four. As a black person myself :D ... I've noticed alot of my friends and family watching more shows on the big 4 networks.

dad1153

12-21-06, 07:59 AM

Thanks kizzo. I'm sure the CW executives were not trying to drive black viewers away from their network when they came up with their Fall '06 schedule. Unfortunately they fell into the same trap that kept UPN black-oriented programming a niche': programming all their black shows into an "urban" block on the same night. That might have worked on a night when there's limited competition, but on Sunday night? That's when the really good TV shows are all over the networks and viewers (of any race!) are spread pretty thin between all of them. Even now, on Mondays, the CW's black shows are suffering by being programmed opposite good TV shows like the multi-ethnic (and entertaining as hell) Heroes or the CBS sitcoms.

Keep posting kizzo, and thanks again for reading! :)

dad1153

12-21-06, 08:03 AM

Nielsen Overview
Curse defied: 'Nip/Tuck' hits new high
Series ends season with a new cable record
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine December 20, 2006

Call it the curse of Laura Palmer. It works this way. A show cooks up a nifty plotline, sort of a perpetual cliffhanger, that keeps audiences in front of their TV sets for an entire season.

Then bang, the reveal. In the case of "Twin Peaks," we learn that it was Laura’s dad who killed her.

Big buzz. Big ratings.

Now comes the new season. Audiences come streaming back. But this time there's no new compelling narrative arc, just the self-contained weekly episodes of the earlier season. Viewers drift away, and soon ratings are back where they were. Which is what happened to "Twin Peaks" in the early 90s.

The challenge facing FX’s “Nip/Tuck” this season was to defy the Laura Palmer curse coming back after last season's serial killer The Carver was unmasked.

Its writers pulled it off, and quite well, it seems.

Rather than sink this season, “Nip/Tuck's" ratings rose slightly, giving the show its best season and the best season ever on cable for an original scripted show, according to FX, averaging 2.766 million viewers among adults 18-49, up from last year’s 2.696 million. Last week’s finale, airing Tuesday at 10 p.m., averaged 2.38 million in the demo. The numbers will rise slightly once final digital video recorder ratings are also calculated, which were not included in last season's totals.

"Nip/Tuck's” writers were able to beat the curse by smartly writing in elements into last season's scripts that would emerge as this season's major recurring themes, such as Matt’s relationship issues. Returning viewers had something to carry them forward in place of the Carver arc.

“Nip/Tuck” also turned to big-name stars as guests. But rather than simply toss them in front of the camera as cameos, the writers created roles with real heft. Audience not only saw Brooke Shields and Rosie O'Donnell, they saw them act.

Shields played a sexually deviant therapist quite opposite her usual good-girl characters. And Rosie O’Donnell, way hot right now on “The View,” played a trailer trash lottery winner who bought plastic surgery for her entire family.

Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended Dec. 17:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): USA, ESPN, TBS, TNT, ABC Family

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, ESPN, ABC Family, Lifetime, TNT

Top movie (18-49s): TBS’s “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (Sunday 8 p.m.) 2.88 million

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Monday Night Football (Bears vs. Rams)” (Monday 8:30 p.m.) 11.2 million

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN’s “Bears/Rams” (Monday 8:30 p.m.); FX’s “Nip Tuck” (Tuesday 10 p.m.); USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday 10 p.m.); TBS’s “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (Sunday 8 p.m.); TNT’s “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (Sunday 8 p.m.)

Show on the rise: Showtime’s “Dexter” (Sunday 10 p.m.) The first season finale drew 1.1 million total viewers, the most-watched original program on the network since 2004, when Nielsen began tracking ratings separate from Showtime Plex.

Show on the decline: MTV’s “The Real World” (Wednesday, 10 p.m.) The granddaddy of all reality shows attracted 2.18 million households last week, off 11 percent from 2.45 million the previous week. Over that span, the show fell from No. 26 to No. 37 on basic cable.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9246.asp

dad1153

12-21-06, 08:08 AM

Speaking of the declining 'Real World' franchise, does anybody know why (as the article below states) the earlier seasons of 'The Real World' didn't air in Canada? Seems like a no-brainer that this show would be seen in Canada as well as American while it was red-hot, but apparently that wasn't the case. :confused:

TV Notebook
Real World's real dirty
MTV trailblazer gets hot 'n' steamy
By Bill Harris, Toronto Sun December 20, 2006

The Real World is just one step removed from soft porn.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But that's just to let you know what you'll be dealing with if you decide to tune into The Real World: Denver, which makes its Canadian debut tonight at 10 on MTV.

A strong argument can be made that the wide range of reality TV that exists today is The Real World's fault. It made its debut in 1992 on MTV in the United States -- before Survivor, before The Amazing Race, before the Internet had entered the wider public consciousness -- and was one of the main pioneers of the notion that sticking cameras in front of everyday morons could be intriguing.

And for better or worse, The Real World helped create an entire generation that seems quite comfortable being in front of a camera 24 hours a day.

The Real World is a cultural touchstone among the younger crowd south of the border, where it is the longest-running program in MTV history. However, it's virtually unknown in Canada, for the very obvious reason that the show did not air here in the years when it was breaking new ground.

Canada has its own version of MTV now and the northern branch plant is trying to play a little catchup. But The Real World isn't exactly unique in 2006, so you'll have to find another reason to watch -- like maybe that soft-porn thing.

The concept of The Real World is to pick seven good-looking strangers to live together in a cool house, with cameras recording all their shenanigans and fights and sexual escapades. The show moves to a different city every season and is set to a loud soundtrack of whatever music is trendy at the time.

The producers do their best to pick people who are destined to grate on each other. The Real World: Denver has brought together four guys and three girls, between 21 and 24 years of age, from varying backgrounds.

The three girls -- Brooke, Colie and Jenn -- all are cute, depending upon your personal tastes. They like to sunbathe in bikinis and are not shy about their sexuality, although in the first episode Brooke claims that she is not attracted in any way to any of the males in the house.

Maybe that's why Brooke immediately starts making out with Jenn in the hot tub. One of the horny males, Tyrie, is in the hot tub, too, but his plea of "Can I join in a little bit?" goes unanswered.

"I've been here for less than 12 hours and I've already seen two women get on each other," Tyrie says afterward. "If that's happening on the first day, the sky's the limit."

Not that Jenn's tastes are impeccable, though. She spent the previous four years as a cheerleader for, as she puts it, "the most prestigious team in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders." Uh, Jenn, have you checked the standings lately?

As for the other males, there's Alex, the heartthrob who immediately pits two of the girls against each other; Davis, the obligatory homosexual; and Stephen, the hard-line Republican who conveniently thinks Davis' lifestyle is an affront to God.

It's the Davis-versus-Stephen angle that seems the most contrived, and the most American. Ironically, it's Tyrie (who, like Stephen, is black) who has the most interesting thing to say on this subject matter during the first episode: "The majority of the black community is homophobic. That has just sort of been passed on, but it's not something that's really discussed in our community."

There isn't much real insight like that in The Real World. It's more about pampered and self-centred American kids living up to their stereotypes.

But hey, sometimes hot chicks, hunky dudes and confined spaces are real enough to mesmerize the 20-year-old within all of us.

http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Television/2006/12/20/2894927-sun.html

dad1153

12-21-06, 08:33 AM

Interesting revelation from Al Franken toward the end of this article about the circumstances that led to his leaving 'SNL' back in the mid-90's.

TV-on-DVD Notebook
Ground-breaking TV from SNL's glory days
By Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun December 21, 2006

On Oct. 11, 1975, a TV star was born, in the collective sense. It was the now-legendary debut of Saturday Night Live, a sketch comedy and variety show that, astonishingly, still survives.

So here we are, more than 31 years later, and SNL original Al Franken is struggling to recall those halcyon days at the beginning. Why? Because Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season just arrived on DVD this week in Canada (it was out Dec. 5 in the U.S.).

"Is like everything out on DVD?" Franken teases by telephone from Los Angeles. "I mean, oh my God! This isn't like us going into the Smithsonian -- it's a DVD."

The eight-disc set, despite a paucity of bonus materials limited to screen tests and vintage cast interviews, takes us from the debut show hosted by George Carlin, and featuring singers Billy Preston and Janis Ian, to the season finale July 31, 1976, with Kris Kristofferson as host and Rita Coolidge joining Kristofferson as the music guests.

Franken, who started on SNL as a writer and then segued into on-screen acting duties as well, warms to the act of reminiscing. "It doesn't seem silly at all. I think that it's neat. It's neat that we actually did something historic. Okay, not historic, but ground-breaking, how about that? If you're talking about TV, it's historic."

Live from Studio 8H in the Rockefeller Centre, and broadcast on NBC, SNL showcased and propelled a young cast of comics to stardom. Several had Canadian roots (likewise with producer Lorne Michaels). The originals included Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner.

'GOING TO BE HUGE'

Franken, who was hired to write along with his stand-up partner Tom Davis, remembers on the first day declaring, "with my youthful arrogance, 'This is going to be a great hit! This is going to be huge!' " Davis rolled his eyes.

Franken says his initial enthusiasm was based on a primal instinct about the nature of the show, and its origins. "This is the first time that our generation has been allowed on TV to do this," he recalls bragging then. "This is the first time that the generation who grew up watching TV is going to be able to do TV."

The writers, performers and producers were all rebellious, post-hippy youth, Franken says. "There was a thing called counter-culture, you know. We were like a counter-culture show ... and I was right. It was a hit.

"I think we were all pretty excited from the beginning. You know what? The idea wasn't to have a hit show. It was a very idealistic group. We just felt that our job was to do the funniest show that we could. So that's all we cared about."

On the debut show -- on video that looks crappy now but still contains its comedy gems -- host Carlin did a wry monologue comparing baseball to football. Chevy Chase launched the Weekend Update with a Jimmy Hoffa joke. Andy Kaufman did his weird and wonderful Mighty Mouse routine. Belushi faked being a victim of shark bite. Jim Henson's Muppets made an odd appearance. An out-of-studio satirical skit had cast members on a flatbed truck urging the public to "Show Us Your Guns."

"It was just like having fun," Franken says now. "We just thought of it as: Wow! We got to do stuff on TV!"

Franken spent 15 years on SNL, in two distinct segments. He angrily left for good in 1995 when he was denied the Update job, and went on to comedy publishing with his hit political book, Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot.

"There really wasn't a bitterness for more than like an hour," Franken says. "What happened was that I thought I was sort of entitled to get Update." Norm MacDonald got it instead.

"I was just kind of sad because I was going to leave the show," Franken says. "I was more scared but I wasn't bitter. I also thought Norm was really good. I thought that Norm did a fabulous job. In retrospect, it was actually the right decision. And, fortunately, I landed on my feet."

So now he can happily go back in time, even 31 years.

http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Television/2006/12/21/2913520-sun.html/

dad1153

12-21-06, 09:23 AM

Year in Review
5 Things That Went From Buzz to Bust
By Lev Grossman & Belinda Luscombe, Time 12/25/06 Print Issue

SNAKES ON A PLANE, AUDIENCE DISEMBARKS

When the words Snakes on a Plane hit the Internet, you could almost hear the hisses of delight. Net users celebrated the old-school cheesiness of the movie's premise and urged the studio, New Line Cinema, to amp up the film's violence. But like snakes, Internet hype can't be tamed, and like flying, it's not that easy to get right. When Snakes finally opened, it was box-office venom, taking in a mere $34 million, not even half of cheapie horror flick Saw III.

IF HE DID IT

Twelve years after his wife and her friend were murdered, O.J. Simpson, who, you may recall, was accused of their murders, suggested he was no longer in mourning by writing a fictional account of their deaths, titled If I Did It. He also agreed to do a Fox TV interview with his publisher, Judith Regan. After an outcry from, really, practically everyone, the book was pulled from stores and the TV interview canceled.

STUDIO SCHMUDIO

How, pundits asked, could Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip miss? It was made by the guy who did The West Wing! It had that funny guy from Friends! It was about Saturday Night Live! There had been a network bidding war for it! But after the first episode, viewership plummeted, and while the show is not exactly a failure, it's not a success. And it's pretty expensive to be only the 51st most popular on TV. On the other hand, Seinfeld started badly too.

TO PLAY'S THE THING

The big story in computer games this year was HOW TO BLOW A HUGE LEAD, by Sony. Its PlayStation 2 was the champ in the last round of the console wars. This time Sony bet on a chip called the Cell and a disc format called Blu-ray. They're probably awesome, but how would anybody know? The PS3 is hideously expensive--it goes for up to $600--and Sony manufactured only a piddling few hundred thousand for the U.S., fewer for Japan. Plus it's hard to write games for; the launch titles were lame. You know you're in trouble when you get beat by something called a Wii.

IT ALL WENT DOWNHILL SO FAST

Ah, Bode Miller, the bad boy of Torino. Profiled and promoted in media as diverse as 60 Minutes, Rolling Stone and, ahem, TIME, he was bound to disappoint. But not the way he did. Of the five Olympic events in which he was expected to medal, he did not finish two, was disqualified in one and finished fifth and sixth in the others. After being touted as the best of America--talented, free-spirited and confident--he left Italy as that other type: reckless, careless and cocky. Currently ranked ninth in the world in overall Alpine events, he's making that trudge back up the hill.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570831,00.html

dad1153

12-21-06, 09:24 AM

Interesting experiment! I wonder which of these two versions of the same 'Monk' episode will score a higher rating, the B&W 9PM version or the 10PM color one.

Critic's Notebook
Rejoice: A holiday 'Monk'
'Leper' case gives fits to a shaky shamus
By David Hinckley, New York Daily News December 21, 2006

'MR. MONK AND THE LEPER' Friday, 9 p.m. (B&W) & 10 p.m. (Color), USA.
RATING: THREE STARS (OUT OF FOUR)

The mere fact it is airing an original show during holiday rerun season would have set "Monk" apart from almost everything else on the air.

Tomorrow night's "Mr. Monk and the Leper," however, would be unique in almost any season.

Not only unique, but pretty darn good.

The unique part is easy enough to grasp: This episode is shot in black and white, with the goal of evoking 1930s film noir. We know that because star Tony Shalhoub explains it in a brief -introductory sequence.

When the show starts, Monk immediately runs into characters who could have escaped from an old Jimmy Cagney movie, the kind where the women are "dames" and deception is the name of everyone's game.

If you like "The Maltese Falcon," you'll like this. If you don't know "The Maltese Falcon," you should.

Shot beautifully with the kind of shadows that suggest menace around every corner, "Mr. Monk and the Leper" contains enough violence to convince the viewer that no one is safe, while at the same time not losing the humor that makes Adrian Monk the quirky neurotic he is.

Monk has gotten a call to meet in a dimly lit bar with a billionaire who vanished and presumably died seven years earlier. He's okay with that, he tells Monk, but now he needs some help because he's about to be declared legally dead and his dear wife will lose his estate.

It isn't until the end of the chat that he reveals why he's been lying low: He has leprosy.

Fans will immediately anticipate and relish the impact this has on Monk, for whom germs are an A-list phobia.

Realizing he has shaken hands with a real-life leper, Monk scrubs his right hand for several hours. Then he pours kerosene on it and asks his assistant Traylor Howard (Natalie Teeger) to set it on fire.

Not surprisingly, this joke continues through the show, peaking with an elaborate reprise of a classic Jack Benny joke that itself dates to the golden age of film noir.

Still, "Mr. Monk and the Leper" never lets the humor ruin its inner noir.

Monk has no trouble acting appropriately nervous, of course, and Teeger again does a fine job as his link to the rest of the world. Traylor's daughter Julie (Emmy Clarke) also gets a cute scene, in which she and Monk discover Traylor is paying each to baby-sit the other.

For modernists who can't bear black and white, by the way, the program will be repeated at 10 in color. If you have any appreciation for style, you'll want to see the early show.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/482008p-405702c.html

dad1153

12-21-06, 10:46 AM

The Business of (Regulating Public) TV
Bush Pushes Bell Onto CBP Board
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable December 21, 2006

The administration will ring in the new year with a Bell.

The President Wednesday named conservative Hollywood TV writer and programmer Warren Bell to fill the remaining vacant seat on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The recess appointment came after the Senate took no action on the president's June nomination of Bell. Bell's criticisms of public broadcasting, including reportedly wanting to dismantle it, raised concerns in the noncom community.

Bell, was to have gotten Senate Commerce Committee vetting Sept. 21, but his nomination was taken off the agenda after some Democrats registered complaints. Pryor and Boskin went on to breeze through the hearing.

Bell is an outspoken conservative TV writer and producer--According to Jim, Coach, Ellen--whose writings, and comments, concerned the public broadcasting community.

The nine-member board has been revamping oversight policies in the wake of an Inspector General investigation of former Board Chairman Ken Tomlinson that concluded that it had become too politicized. Republican Tomlinson sought more conservative programming to balance what he said was a liberal bias in public broadcasting. It was a charge that has imperiled funding for the service in the Republican controlled Congress.

In October, the Senate confirmed David Pryor and Chris Boskin to the board. Pryor is a former Senator and Governor of Arkansas. He is seen as a tough but fair moderate who could bring more Blue State backbone to the board. Clue: He was the dean of the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark. Boskin is a magazine executive and board member of noncommercial KQED San Francisco.

The Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester, a vocal Bell critic, called it a "Christmas gift to the right wing of the media establishment." But he also said it was mitigated by the fact that it is an interim appointment--the term is only until the next Congress adjourns--and the fact that the Democrats are in the majority. "Bell will have little room to maneuver with Ed Markey 9D-Mass.) staring them down," he said.

Markey, the presumptive chairman of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, is one of public broadcasting's strongest supporters.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6401951.html

fredfa

12-21-06, 10:50 AM

2006 Nielsen Numbers
Top-10 Shows which benefit from time shifting
Top 10 "Timeshifted" Primetime TV Programs - 2006
Rank Programs Net % Viewers added with Time Shift
1 STUDIO 60 NBC 10.9
2 HEROES NBC 9.1
3 GILMORE GIRLS CW 7.9
4 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL CW 7.7
5 30 ROCK NBC 7.5
5 FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS NBC 7.5
7 NINE, THE ABC 6.7
7 SUPERNATURAL CW 6.7
9 KIDNAPPED NBC 6.6
9 ONE TREE HILL CW 6.6
9 SMALLVILLE CW 6.6

Research Note: Data from Dec 26, 2005 - Dec 3, 2006. Percent Increase in viewership is based on difference between Live Household Ratings and Live+7
• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

dad1153

12-21-06, 11:00 AM

Here's a Fair and Balanced posting of two related stories. First...

Critic's Notebook
Polarized pundits piqued by puny piety
Brian Lowry's Variety 'Tuning In' Column Dec. 19, 2006

For all the artistic toil invested in movies and TV shows, reaction to them has become a Rorschach test that frequently reveals more about certain viewers -- and the prism through which they see the world -- than about the creative minds involved.

This "eye of the beholder" dynamic has grown more persistent in our polarized times, especially with the pundit class drafting pop culture as a means to reach younger consumers and as ammunition in the so-called culture wars, assuming that everybody filters each facet of their lives through an ideological prism.

Hence we get a campaign like Bill O'Reilly's push to expose TV critics' political affiliations, with the Fox News host convincing himself that documenting party registrations will somehow illuminate any negativity directed at his channel. In fact, all the crusade truly does is highlight O'Reilly's self-obsession and translucently thin skin, causing him to see enemies and "smear merchants" around every corner.

Critics, admittedly, aren't immune to human quirks and pet peeves that influence how we react to material. For the most part, though, reviewers are charged with judging productions on their merits and within the intended context, whereas the chattering classes -- under the intoxicating influence of talkradio and cable news -- conscript even innocuous entertainment as evidence of a yawning cultural divide.

Among recent instances, consider the Parents Television Council's latest study regarding religion on TV and the shrill broadsides aimed at "Happy Feet," which sent various conservatives into spasms of indignation bordering on high camp.

Former film critic-turned-radio pontificator Michael Medved fumed over the animated musical's political overtones, saying its "propagandistic theme suggests that the biggest menace for the lovable penguins is the human race" and that "a subtext appears to plead for endorsement of gay identity."

Based on Medved's searing appraisal, the mind boggles at the thought of him re-examining the Disney classics, inasmuch as ol' Walt clearly pushed tolerance in "Dumbo" (long ears = gay?) and slipped in environmental warnings about man and guns in "Bambi."

Along similar lines, the PTC's analysis of religion, "Faith in a Box," fixates on the kind of minutiae that help stereotype the devout as being utterly humorless -- taking umbrage, among other things, over "The Simpsons" for Homer saying, "God has a white beard and invented the Da Vinci code."

Not surprisingly, the group concluded that TV is "hostile to people of faith" -- even though its report determined that general expressions of faith were depicted positively 70% of the time. Moreover, the evaluation period doesn't encompass the premiere of NBC's "Friday Night Lights," which offers the most organic portrayal of religion's role in small-town life in memory, without resorting to fanciful angels or teenage visitations from God.

So beware, Bambi and fellow showbiz denizens: Men are in the forest, and increasingly, they're coming armed with an agenda.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956063.html?categoryid=1682&cs=1
____________________________________________________________ _____

... and Bill O'Reilly's response (which was just recently added to the foxnews.com website) from the 12/20/06 edition of The O'Reilly Factor:

Critic's Notebook
The Culture War Rages in the Press
Bill O'Reilly's Fox News 'Talking Points Memo' Dec. 20, 2006

Every morning my staff gives me a folder entitled "Bill in the News." It contains articles and TV transcripts that have mentioned my name overnight. Ninety percent of the press is negative.

The same holds true for FOX News in general. Most of the media coverage critical.

So we decided to find out why. If FOX News is the dominant number one rated cable network, and our presentation appeals to millions, why are we hammered in the press? The answer, of course, is ideology.

We can't find one TV critic in the United States of America, not one who isn't a liberal or a registered Democrat. Most are committed liberals, who dislike us for giving conservative and traditional Americans a fair shot.

By the way, if you know of a non-liberal TV critic, please let us know because we always want to be fair and balanced.

Now the liberal press is not liking this one bit. Writing in Daily Variety, TV critic Brian Lowry, a left leaning guy, says, "Hence we get a campaign like Bill O'Reilly's push to expose TV critics' political affiliations, with the FOX News host convincing himself that documenting party registrations will somehow illuminate any negativity directed at his channel. In fact, all the crusade truly does is highlight O'Reilly's self- obsession and translucently thin skin, causing him to see enemies and 'smear merchants' around every corner."

Well, Lowry's opinion mirrors the war on Christmas reporting from the liberal media. That is, the war on Christmas doesn't really exist! — O'Reilly made it up!

But facts are facts. And here is some interesting ones. Daily Variety reports on the news and entertainment industry. A magazine called Broadcasting & Cable reports on television. A magazine called Publisher's Weekly reports on books.

All of these publications are owned by the same company — Reed Business, run by a man named Tad Smith. And who is Tad Smith?

He's a far left guy who donates major money to people like Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton. Nothing wrong with that! But Smith also hires editors in his own image and his publications often disparage conservatives and praised liberals.

The one exception is at Variety, where editor Peter Bart is pretty independent in his work.

So what we have here in America is media reporting skewed way left.

Overwhelmingly, the TV, movie, book, and music critics are all committed liberals. That means U.S. culture is defined by them.

Don't believe me? Check out my book "Culture Warrior", where the reviews of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" and "The Passion of the Christ" are contrasted. Most movie critics loved Moore, hated Jesus, at least the way Mel Gibson presented him.

Summing up, the liberal press in America now influences almost everything, even my thin skin.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,237995,00.html
____________________________________________________________ _____

We report (or should I say re-post! ;)), you decide!

JWhip

12-21-06, 11:13 AM

It amazes me how people seem to equate what is good or right with what may be the most popular at any given moment. History is repleat with examples of popular people or idologies that turn out to be awful and wrong as well as wonderful or good. Popularity is not the proper marker to look for on this issue. Just my 2 cents.

fredfa

12-21-06, 11:45 AM

Agreed, JWhip.

And it amazes me that people equate what is good or bad based on their own political philosophy.

That's too bad for conservatives who missed years of the marvelous "The West Wing", CNN and the fun rants of Keith Olbermann; and too bad for liberals who miss a lot of good solid reporting from Fox New Channel and a raft of shows they consider too "tame" or "not relevant".

The posts of Lowry (who apparently gets hives just thinking about Fox News Channel) and Reilly (who has a similar reaction to most TV critics) were informative and food for thought.

But let's not take off from their diametrically opposed viewpoints to start espousing our own political likes or dislikes here on Hot Off The Press.

In this case read (or not) the posts...but let's keep further comments off the thread, please.

Many of the nation's TV critics have had their work posted here. If you read them you have a good idea of where their heart is.

For this thread it is best to comment on things about TV -- not our own personal political like or dislike for the critics, executives, writers, producers, actors and news people who populate the world of television.

fredfa

12-21-06, 01:11 PM

The Wednesday overnight ratings release has been delayed.

We'll post them when they are available.

fredfa

12-21-06, 01:50 PM

Wednesday’s 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

12-21-06, 02:00 PM

TV Notebook
CBS Shuffles Primetime Schedule
By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable 12/21/2006

CBS has scheduled its new midseason comedy Rules of Engagement to premiere at 9:30 p.m. Mondays starting Feb. 5, allowing it to use the Super Bowl the previous night as a promotional platform.

Rules, a comedy about different phases of the male/female relationship as seen through the eyes of a newly engaged couple, a long-married pair and a single guy, will move into the slot now occupied by The New Adventures of Old Christine.

That comedy will be pulled from the schedule during the February sweeps, ending its current run Jan. 29 before relocating to 8:30 p.m. Mondays on March 12 in place of The Class, which has its season finale March 5.

The King of Queens will shift from 8-9 p.m. Wednesdays to 9:30 p.m. Mondays on April 9 to wrap up its ninth and final season.

"These scheduling moves enable us to program more original episodes of comedy in targeted time periods for the remainder of the season," said CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler. "It also provides an opportunity to give The King of Queens a proper send-off in a high-profile time period in the Monday-night block it helped build."

CBS's Monday Line-Up, Effective Feb. 5
8:00-8:30 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9:00 THE CLASS
9:00-9:30 TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:30-10:00 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (Series Premiere)
10:00-11:00 CSI: MIAMI

CBS's Monday Line-Up, Effective March 12
8:00-8:30 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9:00 THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE (Time Period Premiere)
9:00-9:30 TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:30-10:00 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
10:00-11:00 CSI: MIAMI

CBS's Monday Line-Up, Effective April 9
8:00-8:30 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9:00 THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE
9:00-9:30 TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:30-10:00 THE KING OF QUEENS (Time Period Premiere)
10:00-11:00 CSI: MIAMI
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6402045

fredfa

12-21-06, 02:11 PM

2006 Cable Poll
Your top-5 Favorite Cable TV Shows

A few weeks ago you had a chance to vote on your favorite prime-time network TV shows. More than 300 votes were received.

Now it is time for your cable favorites.

So list them in order from 1-5 and either post them here in the thread or PM me.

If you would like, add a "gulty pleasure" cable show -- that is one you hate for your friends to discover you enjoy.

I will post periodic results until the polls close -- at a time still undecided.

fredfa

12-21-06, 02:18 PM

As a reminder, here are the results of the Prime-Time Network Favorites polls:

December, 2006 Viewer Poll
Favorite Prime time network Shows

1. Heroes
2. House
3. Lost
4. Grey’s Anatomy
5. Friday Night Lights
6. Studio 60
7. NCIS
8. Veronica Mars
9. The Office
10. Desperate Housewives
11. Men In Trees
12. The Unit
13. Law & Order: SVU
14. 24
15. Ugly Betty
16. Jericho
17. Bones
18. CSI
19. Law & Order
20. Criminal Minds
21. Law & Order: CI
22. CSI: NY
23. CSI: Miami
24. My Name Is Earl
25. Shark
26. Brothers & Sisters
27. Prison Break
28. Boston Legal
29. Medium
30. Survivor
31. E R
32. How I Met Your Mother
33. Close To Home
34. Deal Or No Deal
35. 30 Rock
36. Amazing Race
37. Smallville
38. Supernatural
39. Family Guy
40. The War At Home
41. The Nine
42. Dateline: Catch A Predator

December, 2006 Viewer Poll
”Guilty Pleasure” Prime time network Shows

1. Desperate Housewives
2. Men In Trees
3. Deal Or No Deal
4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Ugly Betty
6. American Idol
7. Dancing With The Stars
8. Prison Break
9. (tie) Criminal Minds
9. (tie)Gilmore Girls
9. (tie)Las Vegas
9. (tie)Til Death
13. (tie) Adventures of Christine
13. (tie) My Name Is Earl
13. (tie) Supernatural
13. (tie) Survivor
17. (tie) 1 vs 100
17. (tie) 7th Heaven
17. (tie) Amazing Race
17. (tie) E R
17. (tie) Smallville
17. (tie) Two and 1/2 Men
(Others Receiving Votes)
American Dad
Extreme Makoever: HE
Friday Night Lights
Heroes
Show Me The Money
Standoff
The Bachelor
Desperate Housewives
Men In Trees
Deal Or No Deal
Grey's Anatomy
Ugly Betty
American Idol
Dancing With The Stars
Prison Break
Criminal Minds
Gilmore Girls
Las Vegas
‘Til Death

fredfa

12-21-06, 02:24 PM

Technology Notebook
DVD spells digital video decline
By Paul Bond The Hollywood Reporter Dec 21, 2006

Persistent year-over-year declining sales of DVDs at Best Buy and Circuit City stores might portend trouble for the movie industry, according to a Wall Street analyst report released Wednesday.

Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield, who raised concerns about the home video industry in October with a report titled "DVD Party is Over" and again last week, said Wednesday that "2007 appears even more ominous for film studios."

His latest beef comes courtesy of Circuit City Stores Inc., which reported a $16 million quarterly loss Tuesday, sending its shares tumbling 17.5% that day.

While many Wall Street observers focused on falling prices for flat-panel television sets, Greenfield keyed in on DVD sales at Circuit City and at its archrival Best Buy, which reported better-than-expected quarterly results last week.

"Based on company reports over the past four quarters at each retailer, five of those eight reported quarters have experienced negative year-over-year DVD comps," Greenfield said.

The analyst said that he is "increasingly confident that 2007 will be the first year that consumer spending on DVDs declines domestically."

With that prediction, Greenfield is at odds with other researchers.

PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the U.S. market for DVD sales and rentals, combined, will climb from $24.1 billion this year to $24.8 billion next year. When digital streaming and "other rentals" are added to the mix, the industry grows from $25.8 billion to $27 billion domestically.

Greenfield is underwhelmed by the prospect of digital downloads, fearful that movie companies are embracing the concept too quickly and will end up cannibalizing their DVD sales.

"We are concerned about the long-term damage the industry could incur from expanding the rental market via digital downloads (that expire) and/or video-on-demand," the analyst wrote in his Wednesday report.

"While the studios need the VOD/rental industry to support failed movies, we do not believe a greater emphasis on VOD/rental (vs. retail) is the answer to the industry's problems heading into 2007," he wrote.

The analyst is predicting good fourth-quarter results for movie companies "given a great DVD release schedule." It is 2007 and 2008 that worries him, and sales of next-generation DVDs, be they Blu-ray Disc, HD-DVD or both, won't help, either, at least not in the near term.

"Bottom line, keep an eye on 2007 film industry profits," he wrote. "We suspect the risk to expectations is increasingly to the downside, with downside risk growing into 2008 unless there is a notable acceleration in next-gen DVD sales and/or a more attractive business model emerges for digital movie distribution."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ic8170c7030fdbe903a0ec47bc6b6e8b3

rustycruiser

12-21-06, 02:27 PM

My cable favorites:

FAVORITES
1. “The Wire” HBO
2. “Entourage” HBO
3. “Deadwood” HBO
4. “Rescue Me” FX
5. “South Park” Comedy Central
GUILTY PLEASURE
“Real World” MTV

Edit: Honorable mention for Dexter and Weeds. They didn't make the list for me, because I don't have Showtime, and I watched them on my Mac after grabbing the torrents. But they are both excellent shows.

fredfa

12-21-06, 02:45 PM

The TV Column
Nielsen Fun Facts:
Small Talk About Big Numbers
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 21, 2006; C07

It's hard to be one of the Reporters Who Cover Television this time of year. While the rest of the population gets to attend holiday parties and amuse themselves with witty conversation about the regrettably low standard of morality among that segment of the population younger than they are, the poor RWCT usually can be found backed into a corner by a mob of partygoers angrily demanding to know why their favorite TV show was canceled while "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is still on the air even though no one is watching, why reality programming continues to be perpetrated upon them, why TRWCT are so mean to that nice Katie Couric and, finally, to give details of their own idea for the next sure-fire gimongous TV hit.

Generally, at the first party a Reporter Who Covers Television has enough distracting factoids in his arsenal to come back pretty chirpily to this onslaught, if the eggnog is of high enough octane. But by the second party -- third, max -- his knotted and combined locks begin to part and each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine, as Hamlet's dad used to say.

Which is why it was such a relief when yesterday Nielsen Media Research sent out its new crop of Fun Facts to Know and Tell About TV in Calendar Year 2006.

Did you know, for instance, that "Studio 60," in addition to having an unusually upscale audience, as NBC likes to remind us, also is the year's No. 1-ranked show on Nielsen's Timeshifted Primetime TV Program list?

"Studio 60" enjoys an 11 percent increase in viewership when you add in all the households watching the show up to seven days after its Monday 10 p.m. broadcast. That's the largest percent increase of any program on prime-time television, Nielsen says.

This suggests that (a) NBC should try to strongarm Nielsen into using so-called "live + 7" numbers -- how many people record a show on VCR or DVR and watch it up to seven days after its broadcast -- in its weekly ratings reports so as to goose "Studio 60's" ratings and (b) maybe NBC should find a better time slot for "Studio 60."

That's good for at least a half-hour's party conversation among "Studio 60" non-fans, which is to say almost everyone.

The Top-10 timeshifted programs are mostly serialized -- "Heroes," "Gilmore Girls," etc. -- but include the CW's reality series "America's Next Top Model." That makes sense since this fall it aired in the same time slot as ABC reality hit "Dancing With the Stars."

"American Idol," meanwhile, had the most product placements on broadcast TV this year with -- you want to be sitting down -- 4,086 occurrences in calendar 2006, which in the case of "Idol," really means between January and May.

"Idol" is the Mount Everest of product placement. Nothing else touches it. The No. 2 show on the 2006 Product Placement Top 10 is "The Amazing Race" with a mere 2,790 occurrences, followed closely by "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" with 2,701.

We're guessing about 3,346 "Idol" product placement occurrences come in the form of those three insidious red Coca-Cola cups prominently placed in front of judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson. Every time the camera cuts to Paula sitting at the judges' desk drinking "whatever" out of that Coke cup, it counts as one "occurrence," a nice Nielsen spokeswoman explained to The TV Column.

The rest of the occurrences on "Idol" are probably Cingular cellphones, from which we're urged to text-message in our vote for that week's best performance.

Not coincidentally, Coca-Cola is the most product-placed product of 2006, with -- will you look at that -- 3,346 occurrences. Cingular Wireless also is in the Top 10, but with a mere 532 occurrences. That's behind the Chicago Bears football team's 600 occurrences -- thanks to the ABC sitcom "According to Jim."

Here' s a fun fact you can wow them with at the next office party: All of 2006's Top-10 Product Placement Programs are reality series. Except for one scripted show, at No. 8.

Can you guess what it is?

[Pause] "King of Queens."

And no, it's not because Kevin James and his pals work for UPS and wear UPS uniforms with UPS logos on them. Because they don't. They work for fictitious IPS -- apparently UPS wasn't willing to cough up product-placement payola.

Instead, it's about all that Nike stuff James struts around in when not wearing his IPS uniform, we're told. And packaged goods -- James spends a lot of time at the fridge in the show -- and the restaurants to which he goes when not hanging out in front of the fridge. The number of product-placement occurrences on "King of Queens" in 2006 -- and don't forget its season debut this fall wasn't until Dec. 6 -- is a whopping 1,742. That's ahead of the product-placement count on "Big Brother 7" (1,591).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122001828_pf.html

rebkell

12-21-06, 02:54 PM

My cable favorites:

FAVORITES
1. “Deadwood” HBO
2. “Dexter” Showtime
3. “Eureka” SciFi
4. “Dr. Who” SciFi
5. “Battlestar Galactica” SciFi

PJO1966

12-21-06, 03:09 PM

Cable Favorites:

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Doctor Who
3. Dexter
4. Rome
5. Weeds

cherry ghost

12-21-06, 03:23 PM

Cable

Favorites
1)The Wire
2)Deadwood
3)The Closer
4)Weeds
5)Entourage

Guilty Pleasure
My Boys

dm145

12-21-06, 03:26 PM

Favorites:

1. CSI - Las Vegas
2. Law and Order - SVU
3. Dexter
4. Sopranos
5. Myth Busters

mike_somd

12-21-06, 03:32 PM

Cable Favorites

"Battlestar Galactica" - Scifi
"Dexter" - Showtime
"Dr. Who" - Scifi
"Eureka" - Scifi
"Brotherhood" - Showtime

Guilty Pleasures

"Little People, Big World" - TLC
"Big Love" - HBO

"The Sopranos" is another great show, but with a much too sporatic new episode schedule to rate on the list. "Battlestar Galactica" and "Dexter" are heads and shoulders above the rest.

Bradduh

12-21-06, 03:43 PM

Let's preface this by saying I watch a lot of network programming in HD and not that much on cable channels in SD. Will watch anything in HD, but with Charter Cable here in STL the non network HD offerings are limited.

Favorites
1)The Closer-TNT
2)Flip This House-A&E
3)Flip That House-TLC
4)Dog the Bounty Hunter-A&E
5)Extreme Engineering-Discovery HD

Guilty Pleasure
Inked-A&E

fredfa

12-21-06, 03:55 PM

Welcome back to the thread, Bradduh -- I am going to have to figure out a way to get you to post even when there is not a poll!

fredfa

12-21-06, 04:14 PM

Nielsen Notebook
A great resource

Frequent contributor RussTC3 has a great blog where he files (almost) daily the Nielsen overnights. But he adds far more than just last night’s numbers, he also puts them in some context.

Here is a sample from today:

Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, December 20, 2006

CBS takes the win with their mostly repeat filled lineup. A “CSI: NY” repeat was tops for the night in all three main categories.

CBS finished in first place for the evening with a 6.6/11 household rating and 9.92 million total viewers. Among adults 18-49, the Eye earned a 3.0/9 rating, also good enough for first.
• Last Week:
• Households -8.8/14 rating [#1]
• Viewers -13.62 million [#1]
• A18-49 -4.3/12 rating [#1]

• 8:00 & 8:30 PM: CBS aired their only new program of the evening “The King of Queens” (5.5/9 HH rating, 8.27M viewers, 2.8/9 A18-49 rating) followed by a repeat of “The Class” (4.3/7 HH rating, 6.28M viewers, 2.1/6 A18-49 rating).
• Week-to-week numbers (8:00 PM airing of “The King of Queens”):
• Households - 5.8/10 to 5.5/9
• Viewers - 9.08M to 8.27M
• A18-49 - 3.1/9 to 2.8/9

• 9:00 PM: a repeat of “Criminal Minds” (6.9/11 HH rating, 10.45M viewers, 2.9/8 A18-49 rating) showed great repeat numbers, en route to a win for the hour in households and viewers, with a first place tie among adults 18-49.

• 10:00 PM: CBS then ended the evening with a repeat of “CSI: NY” (8.0/14 HH rating, 12.02M viewers, 3.7/11 A18-49 rating) to very solid results. The program won the hour, and night, in all main categories, growing an impressive 1.57M viewers, 16% in households and an even more impressive 28% in adults 18-49 from its lead-in. It did all that while at the same time dropping just a tad over 20% from a new episode airing last week. Again, very impressive numbers for a repeat.
NBC followed in second place for the evening with a 5.4/9 household rating and 7.94 million total viewers. Among adults 18-49, the Peacock placed second with a 2.7/8 rating in the demo.
• Last Week:
• Households - 7.1/12 rating [#2]
• Viewers - 11.11 million [#2]
• A18-49 - 4.4/12 rating [#1]

• 8:00 PM: Night three of five for NBC’s “Identity” (5.6/9 HH rating, 8.82M viewers, 3.0/9 A18-49 rating) perked back up some after losing a chunk of viewers during its second episode Tuesday. The program was first on the hour in all three main categories. It’ll be interesting to see if “Identity” can reclaim more of its first night viewers and become a solid enough hit to warrent a return. Check out the numbers below for the three night performance for the show.
• Day-to-day numbers (Mon-Tue-Wed)
• Households - 7.5/11 to 5.4/9 to 5.6/9
• Viewers - 12.18M to 8.22M to 8.82M
• A18-49 - 4.5/11 to 2.9/8 to 3.0/9

• Week-to-week timeslot numbers (first hour of “The Biggest Loser” finale):
• Households - 6.6/11 to 5.6/9
• Viewers - 10.35M to 8.82M
• A18-49 - 4.0/12 to 3.0/9

• 9:00 PM: NBC got a good numbers out of an edition of “Dateline NBC” (6.1/10 HH rating, 8.77M viewers, 2.9/8 A18-49) which improved upon its lead-in by 9% in households while dipping ever so slightly in viewers (50,000) and adults 18-49 (3%). The performance was good enough for a tie in the key demo for the hour and second place in the other two categories behind a “Criminal Minds” repeat.
• Week-to-week timeslot numbers (second hour of “The Biggest Loser” finale):
• Households - 8.3/13 to 6.1/10
• Viewers - 13.07M to 8.77M
• A18-49 - 5.4/14 to 2.9/8
• 10:00 PM: Closing the evening for NBC was a repeat of “Medium” (4.6/8 HH rating, 6.24M viewers, 2.2/7 A18-49).

Fox finished in third place for the evening with a 4.4/7 household rating and 6.74 million total viewers. Among adults 18-49 the network earned a 2.3/7 rating, enough for a third place finish.
• Last Week:
• Households - 4.6/7 rating [#3]
• Viewers - 7.36 million [#3]
• A18-49 - 2.6/7 rating [#5]
• 8:00 PM: Fox began the night with the first of two repeats of “Bones” (4.4/7 HH rating, 6.68M viewers, 2.2/7 A18-49).

• 9:00 PM: Which brings us then to the second repeat of “Bones” (4.4/7 HH rating, 6.80M viewers, 2.4/7 A18-49 rating) which managed to actually tick up some for the network from the first repeat (120,000 viewers, even in households, 9% in adults 18-49).
ABC followed in fourth place for the evening with a 3.4/6 household rating and 4.86 million total viewers. The alphabet also placed fourth among adults 18-49 with a 1.8/5 rating in the demo.
• Last Week:
• Households - 3.4/6 rating [#4]
• Viewers - 4.89 million [#4]
• A18-49 - 1.6/4 rating [#4]

• 8:00 PM: ABC filled the canceled “Show Me the Money” timeslot with an hour (repeats) of “George Lopez” (3.3/5 HH rating, 4.65M viewers, 1.6/5 A18-49 rating). It’s probably worth noting (as you can see from the numbers below) that ABC had a stronger showing from its weak but canceled game show last week.
• Week-to-week timeslot numbers (”Show Me the Money”):
• Households - 4.4/7 to 3.3/5
• Viewers - 6.40M to 4.65M
• A18-49 - 1.7/5 to 1.6/5

• 9:00 PM: ABC filled the canceled “Day Break” timeslot with a repeat of “According to Jim” (3.8/6 HH rating, 5.58M viewers, 2.1/6 A18-49 rating) followed by another repeat of “George Lopez” (3.4/5 HH rating, 4.80M viewers, 1.8/5 A18-49 rating). The hour performed better than the last episode of “Day Break” (number below).
• Week-to-week timeslot numbers (”Day Break”):
• Households - 2.7/4 to 3.6/6
• Viewers - 3.90M to 5.19M
• A18-49 - 1.4/4 to 1.9/5

• 10:00 PM: ABC ended the evening with an edition of “Primetime Live” (3.3/6 HH rating, 4.75M viewers, 1.7/5 A18-49 rating) which turned in some pretty poor numbers, especially when you compare it to NBC’s “Dateline” (3.58M less viewers, 49% less households and 41% less adults 18-49 viewers).
• Week-to-week numbers:
• Households - 3.1/5 to 3.3/6
• Viewers - 4.36M to 4.75M
• A18-49 - 1.8/5 to 1.7/5

The CW was left with only a 1.3/2 household rating and 1.76 million total viewers for a now common fifth place performance. Things were no different among adults 18-49 where the new network finished in fifth with a 0.7/2 rating in the demo.
• Last Week:
• Households - 1.5/2 rating [#5]
• Viewers - 2.10 million [#5]
• A18-49 - 1.0/2 rating [#5]

• 8:00 to 10:00 PM: The CW seems perfectly content airing the weak performing British import “Top Model: British Invasion” (1.3/2 HH rating, 1.76M viewers, 0.7/2 A18-49 rating) which if you can even believe it, actually managed to dip even further from last week’s attrocious numbers.
• Week-to-week numbers (the ANTM season finale was last week):
• Households - 1.5/2 to 1.3/2
• Viewers - 2.10M to 1.76M
• A18-49 - 1.0/2 to 0.7/2

The ratings for all the programs that aired last night are viewable below in chart form:

http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/files/2006/12/ratingschart12-20-06.jpg

Note: Fast National are used when comparing week-to-week numbers, while Final Nationals are used when comparing year-to-year/episode-to-episode numbers, unless otherwise noted.
Source: Fast/Final National Ratings

Russ’s great work can be found here:

http://wordpress.com/tag/broadcast-tv-ratings/

keenan

12-21-06, 04:39 PM

1. Battlestar Galactica
2. The Wire
3. Dexter
4. The Closer
5. The Shield

Picking only 5 is pretty tough, it's hard to leave off Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, The 4400, Monk, Psych, Eureka, Big Love, The Sopranos, Brotherhood, Weeds and probably a few others I can't think of right now.

How about a poll for that dying breed, the mini-series, for that I would go with Sleeper Cell. NBC's Kidnapped would have made an outstanding mini-series, still hoping for a DVD release of that one.

CPanther95

12-21-06, 04:52 PM

Battlestar Galactica
The Wire
Dexter
The Shield
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Guilty Pleasure:
South Park

dad1153

12-21-06, 05:03 PM

Cable Favorites

Daytime GSN Line-Up (Game Show Network): timeless repeats of Super Password, Password Plus, Body Language, Match Game, Newlywed Game, Press Your Luck and many a forgotten classic gameshow is what cable is all about people: rediscovering throwaway network programming that is still entertaining long after most people have forgotten about it. I'd rather watch Family Feud than Deadwood any day/time of the week (and yes, I saw the first five episode of 'Deadwood' when it premiered before giving up on trying to get any kind of joy or amusement from it).

'Battlestar Galactica' (Sci-Fi): realistic, intelligent, unflinching in its portrayal of flawed-but-relatable characters and almost quasi-philosophical. I've never been a fan of outer-space science fiction shows (never watched any of the Star Trek shows or movies) but this one is special precisely because it's more than just laser firefights and gadgets. It's the humanity of the characters (or, in the case of the Cylons, their attempt at discovering their potentially non-existent human side) that makes this a show with universal appeal.

'The Sopranos (HBO): a cruel twist of irony is that the anticipation with which every new 'Sopranos' episode is received is bound to disappoint viewers expecting the world. This is a show in which not a single glance, action, expression, word or attitude from any of its characters is wasted or casual. Having revisited Season 6 Part 1 on DVD (after seeing the season unfold in real time and watching the same episode several times during the week) reveals eons of subtle references, mannerisms, in-jokes and philosophical underpinnings that continue to make 'The Sopranos' one of the finest TV shows in the history of the medium. Endlessly fascinating even when David Chase makes Vito's homosexuality an anchor storyline despite most viewers' objections. We are monkeys indeed Mr. Chase, and we can't wait for you to s*** all over us so we can play with it some more! :p

'South Park' (Comedy Central): in its 11th season Matt Stone and Trey Parker continue to defy odds by pulling a 'Sopranos.' By upsetting their fans (ask hardcore fans what they thought of the season finale with the Pee-Wee League Hockey storyline) while also satirizing taboo subjects (Oprah's repressed sexuality via her talking private parts holding people hostage at gunpoint) and taking revenge on those that have upset them (Isaac Hayes) to the tune of the show's highest ratings in its history Parker & Stone are on a roll.

'Real Time with Bill Maher' (HBO): despite the whining of conservative pundits about the "liberal media" there isn't an out-and-proud liberal comedy show on TV. Sure, Daily Show, Colbert and the network late night shows skew left in their comedy/guest bookings but they have the need to pussy-foot their tendency by also skewering the left whether it needs to or not. Only Bill Maher's Friday night gathering of left-leaning actors, reporters and conservative-but-too-liberal-for-Fox-News (i.e. Andrew Sullivan) pundits is out there to keep us libs sane from the politically correct humor of network and mainstream cable. A weekly therapy session for frustrated leftists that need to hear 'Bush sucks' hammered long and hard, not a kiddie-oriented take on the man's stupidity.

Guilty Pleasures

Fox News Watch (Fox News)
South of Nowhere (The-N)

I like to pretend Fredfa is Eric Burns trying to keep all of us politically-inclined posters in check. And 'South of Nowhere' is quite an attempt to merge O.C. sensationalism with teenage anxiety.

tanasi

12-21-06, 05:25 PM

Cable Favorites

1. The Wire - HBOHD
2. Deadwood - HBOHD
3. Dexter - ShowtimeHD
4. The Shield - FX
5. The Closer - TNTHD

fredfa

12-21-06, 05:33 PM

Welcome to "Hot Off The Press", Tanasi!

I am glad we could lure you -- at least temporarily -- out of the Nashville OTA thread!

fredfa

12-21-06, 06:15 PM

Washington Notebook
ACA’s Polka: Martin Misguided
MultiChannel News 12/21/2006

American Cable Association CEO Matthew M. Polka had plenty to say about the Federal Communications Commission’s decision on cable rates and local franchising.

On cable rates, Polka said, “The answer is very simple. Who controls the rates of the content on cable, satellite and telco video today? Not the operators, but the media-conglomerate programmers, whose rates and increases far exceed the data reported by the FCC on cable rates. Why are satellite’s rates the same or higher than cable’s? Why did [Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV] just announce a 7.6% increase for January?”

Polka continued, “The truth is that more competition on the retail level is not going to do anything to control or moderate consumers’ rates until something is done to control wholesale programming rates, terms and conditions forced by the big programmers onto all video platforms.”

Moving on to local franchising, the trade-group head said, “These new rules upset the balance of competition, take authority away from local governments and give the Bell companies a free pass on serving all subscribers in a market. Through these rules, the FCC is ratifying the red-lining practice of building out service in only the wealthiest areas.”

Polka concluded, “The ACA’s nearly 1,100 members in all 50 states are not giant companies that need to be regulated against to help AT&T and Verizon -- the nation’s largest telecom companies -- compete. Rather, the ACA’s members are independent providers that have worked hand-in-hand with local governments as partners to bring the highest level of advanced video, broadband and telephone services to all of our customers in our smaller markets and rural areas. It’s patently absurd that companies like Verizon and AT&T can’t compete under the same rules these smaller companies deal with everyday. But that’s the point: The big Bell companies don’t want to compete under the same rules. They want a leg up, and that’s what the FCC has given them.”

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6402183

kizzo

12-21-06, 06:20 PM

harley1

12-21-06, 06:40 PM

CABLE FAVORITES

1. The Wire HBO

2. The Closer TNT

3. Entourage HBO

4. The Sopranos HBO

5. The Shield FX

Guilty Pleasure

Daily Show with Jon Stewart

VisionOn

12-21-06, 06:44 PM

Cable shows:

1. Deadwood (HBO)
2. Rescue Me (FX)
3. Psych (USA)
4. The Closer (TNT)
5. Dexter (SHO)

Guilty pleasure:

Monk. (USA)
It didn't use to be, but it's suffered a constant and severe decline on all levels. Yet I still record it, in the hopes it might be better one week.

fredfa

12-21-06, 07:54 PM

A couple of reviewers say Friday's "Monk" episode is very good.

flint350

12-21-06, 08:00 PM

Well, in my opinion....enter, fredfa (fun-killer)But let's not take off from their diametrically opposed viewpoints to start espousing our own political likes or dislikes here on Hot Off The Press. In this case read (or not) the posts...but let's keep further comments off the thread, please.... exit fredfa, fun now killed...

Poop. I had so much to say.

DeathRay

12-21-06, 08:01 PM

Cable Favorites:

1. Subterranean (MTV2)
2. 30 Days (FX)
3. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
4. Sons & Daughters (coming soon to UHD - does that count?)
5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Cartoon Network - Adult Swim)
6. Pardon the Interruption (ESPN) - in case Sons & Daughters doesn't count

Guilty Pleasure
Degrassi (The N - Noggin)
Newlywed Game (GSN)

DoubleDAZ

12-21-06, 08:21 PM

Cable Favorites

1. Deadwood
2. The Shield
3. The Closer
4. Monk
5. Dexter

Guilty Pleasure - Rome

tanasi

12-21-06, 08:29 PM

Welcome to "Hot Off The Press", Tanasi!

I am glad we could lure you -- at least temporarily -- out of the Nashville OTA thread!

going national, at least temporarily..........

Your efforts are appreciated. I check this thread several times a day!!

cheesesteaks3

12-21-06, 08:32 PM

Cable favorites:

1) Entourage - HBO
2) Weeds - Showtime
3) The Wire - HBO
4) Robot Chicken - Cartoon Network
5) My Boys - TBS

Guilty Pleasure:

10 Items or Less - TBS

SJKurtzke

12-21-06, 08:47 PM

Cable Favorites
If you're just doing original programming...
1. The Colbert Report (Comedy Central, 11:30 PM/All Day Every Day, M-TH)
2. Drawn Together (Comedy Central, Random Times)
3. Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi, Sundays at 10 (?) )
4. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, M-TH at 11/All Day Every Day)
5. The 4400 (USA, Summers)
Guilty Pleasure: Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List (Bravo, Random Times)

As for repeats...: (But they're first-run to me!)
1.Angel (TNT-6AM, 7AM Weekdays)
2.Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (FX, 7AM, Weekdays)
3.The X Files (TNT-Like all night)
4.Family Guy (TBS/Adult Swim at 11PM)
5.Dead Like Me (HDNet, Wednesdays at 8)

Guilty Pleasure--Felicity, but it's never on, so I couldn't tell you what channel

Cable shows I'd like to see, but haven't gotten into:
Firefly
Dexter
Weeds
Entourage

cocoon

12-21-06, 08:59 PM

1: Nip/Tuck
2: The Shield
3: Rescue Me
4: Dexter
5: Weeds

others in no particular order

Battlestar Gallactica, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, and The 4400
and the recent SF channel mini series The Lost Room was fantastic

AtogMuncher

12-21-06, 10:06 PM

Cable favorites:

1) Dexter - Showtime
2) Battlestar Galactica - SciFi/UHD
3) Big Love - HBO
4) Firefly - UHD
5) Monk - UHD

Guilty Pleasure:

Entourage - HBO

AAF

12-21-06, 10:42 PM

1. Battlestar Galactica, SciFi
2. Waking the Dead, BBC America (unfortunately we probably won't see Series 6 until 2008)
3. Midsomer Murders, Biography Channel
4. Rides, TLC
5. PTI, ESPN

Guilty pleasure:

1. Iron Chef America, Food Network

Honorable mentions:

NFL's Greatest Games, ESPN
Master Series, GAC
Stargate SG1, SciFi (but before it jumped the shark with the Ori...and yes a scifi show can jump a shark, it just has to do it in micro gravity while going backwards in time)

Amnesia

12-21-06, 10:54 PM

Cable favorites:
The Shield
Battlestar Galactica
The Wire
Entourage
Rescue Me

Guilty Pleasure: World Poker Tour

fredfa

12-21-06, 11:42 PM

TV Notebook
Hope for the Holidays: Bob Woodruff at ABC
By J. Max Robins at the Broadcasting & Cable “bcbeat” blog Dec. 21, 2006

I’d been sitting in David Westin’s office yesterday for about 10 minutes – I’d been invited by for an informal chat – when I saw a familiar face at the ABC News president’s door. “How you doing?” asked Bob Woodruff. “You going back to Michigan for the holidays? I’m staying put.”

Momentarily speechless--in part from choking up-- yet grinning like a kid on Christmas morning, I managed to say hello. Almost a year since Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt nearly lost their lives covering the Iraq War and there was the ABC newsman, who grew up near me in Detroit, looking and sounding great.

Six of the seven monitors (the seventh was tuned to ESPN) in Westin’s office had President Bush’s press conference on live. We all chatted about Bush’s strategy going forward and how he was handling the questions from the press corp. I was still in a state of disbelief. There was Woodruff, engaged as ever, and happy to be talking shop. At times during our short conversation he seemed to struggle for a second to find the right word or phrase, like somebody with a little jet lag. But make no mistake – this was Woody. The little scarring on the side of his face only gave more character to his matinee idol good looks. He was truly same as he ever was: smart, funny and charming.

After the press conference, we talked for a minute about the primetime special that he’s prepping in conjunction with the memoir he’s writing with his wife, Lee. It's about the ordeal he and his loved ones went through coping with the injuries, including severe trauma to his brain, which nearly took his life.

Before Woodruff left, he chatted for a moment about B&C’s West Coast Bureau chief Ben Grossman. The ABC Newsman knew him from when they used to play soccer together a few years ago when Ben was working at TV Guide and lived on the East Coast. I asked Woody if he was feeling good enough to start playing soccer. “Those days are over,” he said. “I promised Lee. Only tennis with that little ball that won’t do too much damage if it hits you in the head."

Believe it--seeing Woodruff doing so well was one terrific holiday gift.

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

fredfa

12-22-06, 12:13 AM

TV Notebook
Second chance at life for 'The Nine'?
ABC thriller victim of a ratings flameout after lead-in ‘Lost' vanished, might reappear
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 24, 2006

Hank Steinberg is trying to keep the faith. But it's tough to wage war against doubt when the show you've poured the past 18 months of your life into has just disappeared from the TV schedule, and no one knows when it's coming back.

Steinberg is executive producer of "The Nine," ABC's drama that was supposed to have been one of the big hits of the fall season. It was the sort of project that was seemingly blessed from the get-go. Critics loved the pilot, a tense thriller about hostages rescued from a 52-hour bank heist who emerge as a close-knit but emotionally battered group. Steinberg, moreover, clearly knew how to make a hit show; his missing-persons drama "Without a Trace" is in its fifth season on CBS. The large ensemble was headed by veteran TV actor Tim Daly ("Wings"), who played a heroic cop with a troubled past. And to help ensure that viewers at least checked out "The Nine," the network bestowed a golden 10 p.m. Wednesday slot after the hit drama "Lost."

You don't need to toil on a soundstage to guess what happened next. "The Nine" tanked. This wasn't a case of a show starting out strong, as is common, and then having the ratings slowly waft downward. The relatively low numbers for the "Nine" pilot - 11.9 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research - sent jaws dropping all over town. Once "Lost" was over, the audience fled as if watching ABC at that hour had been deemed harmful by the surgeon general. And it just got worse from there. The network glumly took note as the show steadily sunk in the ratings, week after week, and finally yanked it late last month. The last episode, on Nov. 22, was watched by a mere 4.1 million.

A chance at resuscitation

Some outlets have reported, erroneously, that the series is officially canceled. And Steinberg can understand why skeptics may assume the worst.

"This may be hard for people to believe, but I believe they'll bring it back for another shake," he said last week. "They've been very supportive all the way through."

The network says it has every intention of a return for "The Nine." ABC executives are looking at running the remaining six unaired episodes starting in March or April, which would give the show's small regiment of loyal fans a chance to tie up some loose plot strands. But the network didn't order any new episodes from Warner Bros. Television, which means that crew members are out looking for new jobs. And some observers say it's iffy whether ABC will even bother burning off the episodes, given the series' dismal performance.

"I don't know if they can bring it back," said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vice president at Chicago ad firm Starcom.

Of course, TV history is filled with examples of acclaimed shows that struggled to find an audience, such as NBC's crime drama "Boomtown" and ABC's family show "Once and Again." But "The Nine" fell further, and faster, than most.

The most vexing question remains: What the heck happened? How did such a promising show whiff?

"If we knew," ABC Executive Vice President Jeffrey D. Bader said, wryly, "it would never happen." He added that network executives remain happy with the creative side of "The Nine."

"Too good for television"?

That opinion is widely shared. Caraccioli-Davis dubbed the pilot "the most riveting piece of TV I'd seen in a long time." But in retrospect, she added, that first episode may have proven too self-contained for many viewers who like episodic dramas. "It seemed almost too good for television, almost like a movie," she said.

She also wonders whether viewers were looking for sheer escapism this fall, as evidenced by the strong numbers for NBC's "Heroes." "Maybe 'The Nine' was a little too real," she said. It's also possible that viewers mistook the show for a heist thriller rather than what the producers intended, a twisty character drama about a group of friends getting a second whack at life after a near-death experience.

Steinberg, for his part, was initially pleased to have his show follow "Lost," but now wonders whether it would work better paired with a "softer" character drama like "Grey's Anatomy."

But, ultimately, theories that presume to explain failure are often no more satisfying than those aimed at illuminating success. "I'm sure there are 20 factors" behind "The Nine's" ratings fizzle, Steinberg said.

One of the assumptions of the TV business is that if a show delivers the goods creatively, today's TiVo-armed, tech-savvy viewers will find it, even if it airs at 2 a.m. and has a marketing budget of zero. That's what many executives like to think, anyway, but it's simply not true.

A matter of opinions

Who says that the audience always makes aesthetic quality the driving force behind its viewing habits? If that were the case, one would assume that NBC's game show "Deal or No Deal" would die from lack of attention (it's doing just fine, thanks). NBC Universal, in fact, even runs a Web site, brilliantbutcancelled.com, dedicated to acclaimed shows that couldn't cut the mustard with viewers. And who decides what's "good," anyway?

TV execs, media buyers and critics and columnists are hardly a representative sample of Americans.

Not that any of that helps Steinberg, who's struggling to stay positive about one of the most frustrating episodes of his career.

"I always say the show is about second chances," he said. "Hopefully, we'll get ours."

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftel5023571dec24,0,2623996,print.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

fredfa

12-22-06, 12:18 AM

TV Notebook
ABC Offers Online Viewers a Christmas Gift: More Shows
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable 12/21/2006

ABC is beefing up the shows on its online video player starting on Christmas. The ABC.com streaming player will add Brothers & Sisters and What About Brian episodes for the first time ever. Also starting on Dec. 25, the player will offer all of the season-to-date episodes of Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty, in addition to those from the two series new to ABC.com.

So far, the ABC.com player has carried just four episodes per series and will do so again after each series' first episode in January. Joining the player Jan. 3 is midseason new series The Knights of Prosperity. The comedy's first act and a Knights music video will be available to stream beginning Dec. 25.

ABC.com has so far logged 30 million episode starts on its streaming player, according to the network. The network, last May, became the first to start offering its primetime series' episodes for free online.

Separately, blogosphere darling Amanda Congdon, who recently began videoblogging for ABC News is set to launch a new online series tomorrow. In Starring Amanda Congdon, she will videoblog each Friday for video-sharing site blip.tv about her life and various interests - similar, according to a representative, to her videoblog musings for her former company, Rocketboom.

Congdon, who also recently signed a development deal with HBO, decided to do the new show after being approached by blip.tv COO Dina Kaplan, who had had talks with potential sponsors, according to the spokesperson. The show will initially be sponsored by video chat community Paltalk, and Dove, which is promoting a contest for its new Dove Cream Oil Body Wash.

Dove is asking visitors to create 30-second ads for the product, which launches in February, and plans to air the winning spot during this year's Oscars. Entrants are being asked to create a script for the ad, and Congdon will shoot and star in the winning entry. As part of the deal, she will also participate in live online video chats enabled by Paltalk.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6402214

dad1153

12-22-06, 12:22 AM

The Business of TV
NFL Net will allow preview on Cablevision
By Pal J. Gough, The Hollywood Reporter December 22, 2006

The NFL Network told Cablevision on Thursday that it would let the cable operator offer the network as a free weeklong preview under the same terms Time Warner Cable agreed to last week.

TWC's deal calls for the NFL Network to be placed, temporarily, on a digital tier that reaches 75% of its customers. The offer, made in a letter to Cablevision from NFL Network CEO Steve Bornstein, gave a deadline of today for a response by the Long Island-based cable operator so that the network can approve the necessary paperwork.

Cablevision could not immediately be reached for comment.

Thursday's offer follows a heated exchange between the two companies that played out Wednesday. The NFL Network declared that Cablevision had declined its free offer; Cablevision denied that it had declined it but instead accepted the carriage of the Texas Bowl game between Rutgers and Kansas State.

A little less than two weeks ago, NFL Network offered a free preview of the channel from Dec. 24-30 (including the Rutgers game) to TWC and Cablevision. Both cablers have declined to carry the NFL Network on their systems, even after this year's start of regular-season NFL games. TWC and the NFL Network agreed to terms this week but Cablevision had not.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ifc91056537ab39208b9e973a5fdf8759

rebkell

12-22-06, 12:34 AM

fredfa

12-22-06, 12:36 AM

Too bad.

But I did miss an episode of B&S which I am looking forward to seeing.

dad1153

12-22-06, 12:55 AM

The Business of TV (Sports)
NBC looks to break the ice with NHL
By Pal J. Gough, The Hollywood Reporter December 22, 2006

NBC will create a NHL game of the week and focus on emerging hockey stars in an effort to reverse a ratings slide last season that occurred following the league's yearlong lockout.

After having to sit out a season before its rights deal began because of the 2004-05 lockout, NBC's hockey telecasts averaged a 1.0 household rating compared with ABC's 1.1 in 2003-04, according to Nielsen Media Research.

This year, NBC wants to put more of a spotlight on an individual game to draw in hockey fans, not just the fans of one team. The network will still carry three regional games but will focus marketing on one game that features emerging stars, like Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have the ability to become this generation's Bobby Orr or Wayne Gretzky.

"We're still doing three games because you have to regionalize hockey, but there is a focus game, and we want to take advantage of this new NHL," said Sam Flood, coordinating producer of NBC's hockey broadcasts.

About 60% of the country will see NBC's first game, which will feature Crosby's Penguins facing their cross-state rivals the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 13. (The other games are Los Angeles-St. Louis and Boston-New York Rangers.) Flood said that Crosby and other youngsters on the Penguins inevitably cause comparisons to an emerging superstar who lifted basketball in the 1980s and '90s.

"They're still a second-tier team, but they're rising so fast and they're so much fun to watch, you're hoping it's similar to a rise of (Michael) Jordan," Flood said.

Ads for NBC's upcoming NHL telecasts will take a prominent role in the network's Christmas Day coverage of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game and will be seen elsewhere on the network, in entertainment as well as sports. The ads feature Crosby and other up-and-comers like Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.

Flood said there are other in-game improvements coming this season, including more of the "Inside the Glass" reporting by former coach Pierre McGuire, which brings about 30% of the telecast on the ice and benches rather than the traditional overall shot so common in hockey broadcasts.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ifc91056537ab3920c1d43919ccc82559

dad1153

12-22-06, 01:04 AM

Technology
XBox up on downloads
Amazon digital video sales fall below expectations
By Ben Fritz, Variety December 21, 2006

In a topsy-turvy year for the digital download biz, a videogame service in just a few million homes is ending 2006 with more momentum than the world's biggest e-tailer.

The relative success of video downloads on Microsoft's Xbox Live and disappointment of Amazon.com's Unbox point to two factors that differentiate Xbox from Amazon and its many other competitors -- consumers who download a movie want a simple way to watch it on their TV, and those with high-def TVs want high-def content.

Thanks to the Xbox 360's direct connection to a TV and the console's focus on HD content, Microsoft can deliver both. Though exact sales figures aren't available from any Web site or studio, insiders agree that it's the most, and maybe only, positive story in digital movie downloads this year.

Many in Hollywood had high expectations that Amazon's strength in DVD sales would spur the nascent Web download biz. But the Netco faces the same problems as competitors such as Movielink, CinemaNow, Guba and AOL that launched before it: It's difficult for consumers to burn downloads onto DVD (save for a few titles on CinemaNow), and it's tricky for all but the most tech-savvy to watch downloads on a TV.

(Apple launched movie downloads from Disney in September and will start selling a device to watch iTunes video content on a TV this winter.)

As a result, studio sources say, Amazon.com digital download sales have been as slow as at other Web sites -- under 100 downloads per day for some titles.

"We think, and our customers think, that Unbox is another great way (in addition to our DVD store) to find, discover and buy video," said Amazon VP of digital Bill Carr, when asked about the progress of his company's service. "It is day one for digital video, and Amazon will continue to invest in the Unbox customer experience."

The biggest surprise of the year, however, has been Microsoft offering movie rentals and TV downloads to the Xbox 360 via its Xbox Live Internet service.

Though there are fewer than 3.5 million 360s in the U.S. by last count, movies available from Warner and Paramount, as well as content from CBS and MTV on the TV side, are doing at least as well and, in some cases, better than on competing Web sites, which are available to anyone with a PC and high-speed Internet connection.

Xbox 360 owners are a tech-savvy and media-hungry bunch, of course, but the relatively strong start for video downloads on the console show that there is a market when watching a download is as easy as pushing a few buttons.

HD has proved particularly popular with Xbox 360 owners, many of whom already use the console to play vidgames in high-def.

For Warner, the only studio offering HD versions of its movies, consumers are consistently downloading more copies of a pic in high-def than in standard def when both are offered, even though it takes several extra hours to get the HD version.

"If you look at our sales charts, movies like 'The Perfect Storm,' 'Unforgiven' and 'Swordfish' are all doing disproportionately better than you would expect, and the only explanation is that they're available in HD," said Ross Honey, senior director for media in Microsoft's content and partner strategy group.

Microsoft is charging $1 more for HD downloads, which translates into bigger margins for the tech giant and Warner.

Some studios had been worried that only young male-skewing content would get downloaded by gamers. That fear has been realized to some extent.

While "V for Vendetta" and "South Park" are the most popular downloads on Xbox Live, other titles on the top 10 chart include "The Lake House," "Failure to Launch" and "CSI," indicating that some people who typically don't play "Halo" are watching video content on the 360.

That's a good sign for Microsoft, which wants to make its vidgame console an entertainment center for the whole family, even if it was purchased for a young gamer.

Studios, of course, want as many e-tailers as possible to prosper in order to create a healthy and diverse digital download biz. But if they're going to grow in 2007, moviestores like Amazon.com and CinemaNow will have to find a good way to get their content onto the TV.

For now, studios are mostly counting on Microsoft and Apple, two companies very used to competing, to drive growth.

Microsoft is in active talks with all the big studios save Sony, whose PlayStation competes with the Xbox, and is particularly eager to get its hands on more high-def content.

After selling 125,000 downloads of Disney movies during their first week of availability on iTunes in October, Apple has kept quiet about its progress, but studio sources say the Mac maker is pushing hard to get more content.

This winter, Apple is skedded to launch its iTV, a wireless device that promises to make watching digital downloads on a TV as simple as transferring songs to an iPod.

Apple, however, is selling only permanent downloads, not digital rentals like Microsoft, and at a lower price than other e-tailers.

All studios except Disney -- which has Apple CEO Steve Jobs as its largest shareholder -- have been wary of undercutting DVD retailers to meet iTunes' terms.

But if the iTV works as promised, it may be the only alternative to Xbox Live for getting downloaded movies to consumers the way they want them.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956232.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1

SJKurtzke

12-22-06, 07:45 AM

No "Men In Trees" ? :(
No Boston Legal?

dad1153

12-22-06, 07:50 AM

DVD Notebook
On DVD, 'Elsewhere,' 'SNL' are still rookies of the year
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News December 22, 2006

For the first time, DVD collections of the inaugural seasons of two of my favorite TV shows - "Saturday Night Live" and "St. Elsewhere" - have been released, and watching them has provided dozens of hours of nonstop, undiluted pleasure.

"St. Elsewhere: Season One," from Fox Home Entertainment (four discs, $39.98), came to TV in 1982 billed as "'Hill Street Blues' in a hospital." It more than lived up to that billing.

Executive producer Bruce Paltrow managed, in his groundbreaking series, to blaze a trail for every meaningful medical series in the next quarter century.

The interlaced staff romances of "Grey's Anatomy," the cutting-edge medicine of "Chicago Hope," the corridor-wandering camerawork of "ER" - it's all here, and "St. Elsewhere" got there first.

Writer-producers Tom Fontana, John Masius and colleagues also stretched the boundaries of what defined a TV drama, with a mixture of comedy and drama, and a spectacular unpredictability, that made it my favorite TV show of that decade.

Cast regulars included Denzel Washington (woefully underused at first), David Morse, Howie Mandel, Terence Knox and veteran actors Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels. Tim Robbins, in one of his first roles, shows up in several first-season episodes as a hospitalized terrorist. In the fourth episode - the one in which "St. Elsewhere" really found its footing - guest stars Doris Roberts and James Coco gave Emmy-winning performances as a homeless couple.

(The commentary on that episode features director Mark Tinker, who's verbose and funny, and Roberts, who's oddly reserved.)

You also can watch a show take its first steps, and find its singular voice, in Universal Home Video's "Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season" (eight discs, $69.98). These unedited time capsules from the show's 1975-76 year are astounding to revisit in their entirety - a baby boomer delight.

I admit to having a major soft spot for the early "SNL." Its inaugural episode, all those years ago, was my first review as a TV critic. Watching this DVD set, I was stunned to see that Andy Kaufman's "Mighty Mouse" bit was part of that first show, and to recall that the second show, in which Paul Simon made room for a one-night reunion with Art Garfunkel, prefaced their performance by joking, "So, Artie, you came crawling back ..."

The third episode, with Rob Reiner as host and John Belushi as Joe Cocker (next to the real Joe Cocker), is the one that established the template from which Lorne Michaels and company still work. Also in this initial year: classic bits from Richard Pryor, Buck Henry, Lily Tomlin and Candice Bergen, and music ranging from Carly Simon and Janis Ian to Leon Redbone and Loudon Wainwright 3rd.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/482210p-405838c.html

dad1153

12-22-06, 07:56 AM

The New York Post TV critics are on a tear about what they didn't like in the year 2006.

Critic's Notebook
'The Sopranos' and Musical Anchor Chairs
By Linda Stasi, New York Post December 22, 2006

The hysteria that surrounded Katie Couric's departure from "Today" and arrival at "CBS Evening News" gave a whole new meaning to "Shut up already!"

It was the long goodbye followed by the endless hello. JFK's funeral was shorter.

Meantime, over at ABC, Charlie Gibson finally got the gig he'd lobbied for and didn't get when ABC decided earlier in the year to go Younger! Hipper! Meredith Viera, meantime, jumped with equal fanfare to "Today."

The bottom line after all the bottom lines were raised by millions of bucks? Nothing. No change in ratings.

*

"The Sopranos" rates number two on the letdown meter.

After bazillions of breathless stories about anticipated whacks, hookups, and fed flips - the actual season was duller than a PBS special on Ukrainian flutists.

OK, Tony getting shot was a good start, but then it deteriorated into total actor-indulgence with Tony turning into Kevin Finnerty, salesman. It felt like being stuck in a vault with someone pushing long-term life insurance.

Other lowlights: Carmela's trip to Paris, Paulie Walnuts' depressing life, A.J. - period, and Tony's gang's endless beating of old women, culminating in Christopher mugging 81-year-old Lauren Bacall for her bag o swag. At least somebody got something out of that season!

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12222006/tv/the_sopranos__musical_anchor_chairs_tv_linda_stasi.htm
____________________________________________________________ _____
Critic's Notebook
'Stephen Colbert' & YouTube
By Adam Buckman, New York Post December 22, 2006

Here's a bit of truthiness that's not going to sit well with Stephen Colbert's fans: Anchorman spoofs like his are a dime a dozen.

So what's so special about his?

Not very much - unless you're like a lot of people these days who favor sarcasm over wit.

Like Jon Stewart, whose "Daily Show" precedes "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central, Colbert takes aim at the world's easiest targets - President Bush, politicians in general - rolls his eyes and then spews wisecracks.

*

You paid how much?!

It's a question loved ones might have posed to the folks at Google after they shelled out $1.6 billion to buy YouTube, an Internet site consisting, in large measure, of other people's property.

What did the money buy? Well, it bought millions of video clips which are reportedly surfed by millions of people.

But for how long? Haven't the people at Google ever heard of a fad - hula hoops, yo-yo's, the Macarena? They're these things that tend to go away after awhile after people lose interest.

And YouTube is real easy to lose interest in. Most of the video found there is grainy, choppy or, worst of all, amateurish.

There's a reason why movies and TV shows - real ones - cost so much money. It makes them watchable, which is not a word you can use to describe the stuff on YouTube.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12222006/tv/stephen_colbert__youtube_tv_adam_buckman.htm

dad1153

12-22-06, 08:16 AM

Critic's Notebook
What to watch this weekend
Robert Bianco's USA Today 'Critic's Corner' Column Dec. 21, 2006

It's Christmas weekend, which on TV means movies, marathons and the occasional football game.

•We'll let Sports take care of the football. Here, we'll start the weekend movie action with a wonderful double bill tonight from TCM: The Shop Around the Corner (8 ET/5 PT), followed by its musical remake, In the Good Old Summertime (10 ET/7 PT). The first stars Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart; the second Judy Garland and Van Johnson — and both are set around Christmas, despite the odd hot-weather reference in the second movie's title. And if the lonely-hearts-club story seems familiar, you've also seen it in You've Got Mail and She Loves Me.

•Family films don't come much better than The Sound of Music (ABC, Saturday, 7 ET/PT). Sure, as critics at the time noted, it's a sugar lump the size of an Alp, but 'tis the sugar-cookie season.

•Sunday is marathon day: TBS offers a continuous run of A Christmas Story (starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT), while AMC counters with Miracle on 34th Street (noon ET/PT). You'll need to choose your Miracles carefully, however: AMC alternates the black-and-white original with the newer colorized abomination. If you hit color, go away for a bit, and the real Miracle will be there waiting.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/criticscorner/column.htm

WilliamR

12-22-06, 08:17 AM

Favorite cable shows:

1. Stargate SG1
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Nip/Tuck
4. Stargate Atlantis
5. Dead Zone
6. Deadwood when it was on the air but now its not. :(
7. Rome when it is on the air

Guilty Pleasure:

1. My Bare Lady (Fox Reality)

dad1153

12-22-06, 08:21 AM

Holiday TV Notebook
A classic time of year
From ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ to ‘A Christmas Carol,’ the old familiar movies are the ones we choose year after year to ornament our holiday viewing
Diane Werts' Newsday 'Glued to the Tube' Column Dec. 24, 2006

How does a Christmas movie become a must-see TV perennial?

Um, maybe by bombing at the box office?

Surely the makers of Danny DeVito's new theatrical dud "Deck the Halls" are hoping that's the ticket. It worked for "It's a Wonderful Life"; Frank Capra's classic barely earned back its budget in its 1946 theatrical run. And it worked for "A Christmas Story," too; Jean Shepherd's family fave played to empty multiplex houses in 1983 at its initial release.

But as our cartoon friend the Grinch learned from Boris Karloff's famous narration, "Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more" - more than merely slapping a holiday title over seasonal situations, overdone decor and red-suited fat men.

Heart of the matter

What makes a Christmas movie a Christmas classic?

You gotta have heart, that's Numero Uno. But you've also got to understand - and appreciate - the sentiments of the season. Those don't always fall under the category of syrupy sweetness, which too many vintage films tended to rely on. And they aren't necessarily annual agita, either, that latter-day "antidote" emphasizing marketing and mayhem. "Home Alone" and "Jingle All the Way" take place at Christmastime. But they aren't "Christmas movies." Not really.

Films that "get" the reality of the way we celebrate Christmas - and the complex meanings we've come to ascribe to this all-encompassing holiday - are the ones that resonate year after year, warming both our hearts and the Nielsen ratings for the TV channels showing them.

"A Christmas Story" is the most recent arrival in that must-see category, once again getting 24-hour marathon treatment from the Turner cable empire. (This year, the movie starts on TBS every two hours from 8 p.m. Christmas Eve to 6 p.m. Christmas night.) It's really the only film made in the TV era (post-1950s) to join that "classic" holiday pantheon, and it's a comparatively recent favorite, having slowly built a fan base through the 1990s that now supports even a new "Christmas Story" museum on the Cleveland street where its household activity was filmed. (See achrist masstoryhouse.com.)

The minutiae of holiday revelry looming large through the eyes of a savvy kid - that's what Shepherd captured in his humor writings and late-night radio ramblings on WOR 50 years ago, and what he and director Bob Clark fashioned into this feature film treasure. Though set in the slower winters of 1940s steel-town Indiana, the movie's kid-centric view of Christmastime conveys all the modern excitement the holiday stirs in a media-centered America where even little kids quickly get too clever for their own good.

Ten-year-old Ralphie Parker (played to four-eyed perfection by Peter Billingsley) and his narrative adult reminiscences (in Shepherd's resonant voice) reflect every kid's inherent holiday focus: self-indulgence. Ralphie is after that perfect present - a Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle (aka a BB gun) - and he'll do anything to get it, even play along with the Santa game, despite being "a scoffer." Ralphie schemes to butter up his loving (but far from perfect) parents and to flatter his teacher at school, as he, his pals and little brother, Randy, flee the school bully and listen to the hit radio shows of the day. They fight department-store crowds, fetch and decorate the Christmas tree, dread their aunts' maudlin gifts and salivate over Christmas dinner. With a slightly loopy tone (the Leg Lamp!), wild daydream reveries and an appreciative sense of wonder, Shepherd and Clark also evoke the heart underlying those holiday moments.

But "A Christmas Story" does far more than just touch those touchstones, one from Column A and one from Column B. (The Parkers do end up eating holiday dinner at the Chinese restaurant.) With fine work from parents Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon, they create a just-quirky-enough-to-be-real family that we can understand a kid feeling safe at home in. There's jealousy and pouting and crying and punishment (the topper: Mom's "Don't give me that look!"), alongside the seasonal glee and festivity.

The Parkers don't act the way we wish we could behave, but the way we actually do. It's easy to imagine this family existing the rest of the year, and the year after that. Maybe that's why the movie wasn't an instant hit on its 1983 release. We had to live with it for a while, to feel as if we lived in it.

Darkness and light

"It's a Wonderful Life" extends that sense beyond family to community. This mid-century director's body of work came to be known as "Capra-corn" for a reason. He could tug the heartstrings like nobody's business. But nothing in this quiet Frank Capra classic comes cheap. (It's airing on NBC Christmas Eve at 8 p.m.) For all the childish delight of "A Christmas Story," there's adult darkness and despondency in Capra's tale of an ordinary man (the sublime James Stewart) who believes his small-town life means nothing in the scheme of the universe.

This studio-era Hollywood movie taking place during the Christmas season begins with, of all things, an attempted suicide by its leading man. No wonder 1946 audiences were nonplussed. It takes Henry Travers' aging (and nonwinged) guardian angel Clarence to show this would-be suicide that his life is not only worth living, but has a consistently crucial impact on all the lives around him - not through grand gestures but by the unnoticed accumulation of everyday deeds.

There are Christmas lights and trees and seasonal songs, but the real holiday reflection in "It's a Wonderful Life" lies in its evocation of the core meaning of the season - the hope, faith and redemption embodied for Christians in the biblical tale of Jesus' birth as a savior for humankind. The movie's message is not overtly religious, but it richly echoes that original story's promise and values, in a universal way that reaches beyond the specifics of any single creed to the aspirations of all. (It's available on VHS and DVD, as are all these holiday movie perennials.)

"A Christmas Carol" delves into some of those same corners of darkness and revelations of light, retelling the Charles Dickens tale that became a widespread cultural tradition at the same time Christmas did, in the mid-1800s, with the rise of industrial society's ability to market the accoutrements of celebration. The tale's 1951 British filming, starring Alastair Sim as miserly holiday-hater Ebenezer Scrooge, has become another classic of redemption and forgiveness, of seeing the light, so to speak, and changing one's ways with a life-altering Christmastime transformation. Other movies of this three-ghosts-of-Christmas tale have been made, but the Sim version has the benefit of a keen lead performance, authentic British flavor and a straightforward telling that invests the magical tale with down-to-earth emotional immediacy.

Holiday magic

Hollywood hokum has its place, too, and that can be seen in another holiday marathon favorite, 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street." (AMC runs it this year every two hours starting at noon on Christmas Eve, into Christmas morning, in both the original black-and-white and colorized versions.) An 8-year-old Natalie Wood is at the heart of this one, though it's an essentially adult story about a divorced working mom (Maureen O'Hara) coping with a daughter who doesn't believe in Santa Claus and a department store St. Nick (Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn) who swears he's the real thing.

He really does swear it, in court, at a climactic sanity hearing that set the stage for plenty of "Perry Mason" and "Boston Legal" proceedings in decades to come. "Miracle" wraps up its contemporized postwar crises in a neat little bow by the arrival of its feel-good ending, reinforcing the value of fantasy in kids' lives and even finding a handsome new man for the then-scandalously divorced mom. (A less magical tone permeates the 1994 theatrical remake with Richard Attenborough and Elizabeth Perkins, which airs Christmas Eve at 8 p.m. on WLNY/55.)

There's a simplicity to all these Christmas classics that's too often lacking in today's "smart" takes on our yuletide fixations. These vintage outings have their fanciful moments, and their skeptical ones, too, but they always come back to honor a central warmth and belief - in Santa, in God, in family and community, in the value of life itself - that is at the heart of the holidays. True Christmas movies delve beyond trees and lights and presents to the deeper reasons the season captivates our imaginations so.

Maybe we can't verbally express exactly why "Christmas means a little bit more." These films do it for us.

Christmas movies on TV

-IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
NBC: Sunday at 8 p.m.

-MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET
AMC: Christmas Eve marathon features both the original black-and-white film (Sunday at 2 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.) and its colorized version (Sunday at noon, 4 p.m., 8 p.m., midnight and 4 a.m.).

-A CHRISTMAS STORY
TBS: Sunday at 8 p.m., and every two hours thereafter for 24 hours.

-A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1938, Reginald Owen)
Turner Classic Movies: Monday at 6:15 a.m.

-A HOLLYWOOD CHRISTMAS (clips from holiday classics)
Starz Kids: Sunday at 10 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-fftv5023566dec24,0,3607966.column?coll=ny-television-headlines

rebkell

12-22-06, 08:39 AM

No Boston Legal?

Boston Legal is produced by Fox, I think. Several shows are produced other than the network they are on, I think House, MD is the same way, we never seem to end up with those online.

RussB

12-22-06, 09:55 AM

Favorite Cable Shows:

1. Dexter (Showtime)
2. The Wire (HBO)
3. The Situation Room (CNN)
4. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
5. Mythbusters (Discovery)

Guilty Pleasure:

1. Driving Force (A & E)

fredfa

12-22-06, 10:35 AM

TV Sports
NBC Celebrities in the Booth:
Words, Pictures, Promos
By Richard Sandomir The New York Times Dec. 22, 2006

A “Monday Night Football” telecast in 1974 opened with the camera on Burt Reynolds’s face as he mouthed words voiced out of view by Howard Cosell. After showing his mug, Cosell wasted little time before dismissing Reynolds.

“Nice to have you aboard,” Cosell told Reynolds, who was promoting “The Longest Yard,” the prison-football film. “Now get out of here.”

The next season, Cosell sat in the booth beside a standing William Shatner, then promoting his short-lived ABC Western series, “Barbary Coast.” “You recognize this fella,” Cosell said. “You remember ‘Star Trek.’ ”

Cosell and his ABC Sports partners, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith, and subsequent “Monday Night” teams often played host to stars, before and during the game and at halftime.

“Huey, you’ve got a program coming up,” Cosell said in 1975 to the actor Hugh O’Brian, who pitched his ABC movie, “Murder on Flight 502.”

A 1971 pregame moment might be the most precious in football history. Cosell chatted with Richard Long, the co-star of ABC’s sitcom “Nanny and the Professor,” about Cosell’s coming guest spot on that show as an old quarterback.

“Let us show the melancholy of middle age,” Cosell said, prompting a clip of Cosell as old Miles Taylor, wearing No. 16 but no helmet or pads, in a gig that surpasses the times he portrayed himself in ABC’s “The Odd Couple.”

Long said, “Why don’t you admit it, Cosell — you’re washed up.”

•

At ABC, the “Monday Night” booth was every bit as star needy as ESPN’s is now. It is fascinating, then, to hear cries that ESPN’s second-quarter celebrity fun house is a ridiculous distraction from the game or blatant cross-promotion of other parts of the Disney programming complex.

Nothing is new about this — ESPN is deploying the 2006 version.

In earlier days, celebrities talked while the action was ongoing and intruded on Gifford’s play calling. On ESPN, the crew joked with Hank Williams Jr., who has sung the “Monday Night” theme song since Crazy Legs Hirsch was in diapers, causing a hiccup in making note of an injury to Giants linebacker LeVar Arrington.

John Wayne once hung around the booth and gave a little play by play.

“Let’s say he lumbered a few yards,” Wayne said.

“All 27 of them,” Cosell said.

The Duke was even bigger than Cosell. Could you deny him the booth?

One difference between then and now, based on a compilation of ABC star turns, is that Cosell dispatched his guests quickly, as if they had soiled his carpeting. He didn’t want them to stay for more than a few questions.

“I hope you’ll forgive us for not being able to talk to you,” he said to Hal Linden and Steve Allen. They did not seem to care.

To Shatner, Cosell said: “A fumble. We’ll get back to you later.”

ESPN gives its celebrities more time, the peak being 32 minutes for Ronde Barber during the Giants-Jaguars game. Like his twin brother, Tiki, whom he was watching, Ronde, a Tampa Bay cornerback, is smart and well-informed; he knew when to shut up (mostly) and let Mike Tirico call the play. He scorned the Giants’ Plaxico Burress for his passive reaction to an interception.

ESPN has brought in Christian Slater (the worst), Spike Lee (the best), Jim Belushi (star of an ABC sitcom), Sylvester Stallone, Matthew McConaughey, Jimmy Kimmel (who is the host of ABC’s late-night talk show), James Denton (of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives”) and, egregiously, Emmitt Smith. Smith, the ex-Cowboy, appeared not to talk about the Cowboys-Giants game but to discuss being a finalist on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” which he eventually won. For 6 minutes 11 seconds, Newsday reported, he spoke of his dancing regimen (while cheering was heard in the background), then got around to Tiki Barber’s announced retirement.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Jed Drake, a senior vice president and executive producer of ESPN, said the Smith interview faltered because he was not in the booth and couldn’t interact with Tirico, Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser, as the others have.

As for the length of the interviews (McConaughey went for 14:17, the Nascar driver Jeff Gordon for 11 minutes, Belushi for 7:22), Drake said, “You hate to invite them to a show and kiss them off after three minutes.” He said there was an inherent risk of action being missed while the camera showed the talking in the booth, and that he was aware of when the chats have gone too long.

“Eight to 10 minutes shouldn’t be problematic,” he said, if the stars can talk about football and can stop storytelling for the play.

There are some people who see nothing diverting or entertaining about all this, that watching Gordon receive a Belgian waffle maker as a wedding gift (his wife is from Belgium) is piffle, or that hearing Stallone, promoting the release of “Rocky Balboa,” at Kornheiser’s request, bellow, “Yo, Tony, go for it!” in his Rocky voice, is an affront to the memory of Pete Rozelle.

Still, you can’t deny the occasionally brilliant moment that would not exist if not for ESPN extending the ABC celebrity tradition.

Theismann: “Could you catch the chicken?”

Stallone, recalling the chicken he used in training as the youthful Balboa: “Could never catch the chicken.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/22/sports/football/22sandomir.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=sports&pagewanted=print

fredfa

12-22-06, 10:41 AM

The Business of TV
Liberty to Acquire DirecTV
Chase Carey Stays At Helm
By Steve Donohue MultiChannel News 12/22/2006

Liberty Media cut a deal Friday with News Corp. that will see the company acquire News Corp.’s majority stake in DirecTV in exchange for Liberty’s 16.3% stake in News Corp., cash and three regional sports networks in Denver, Pittsburgh and Seattle.

The deal, which has been rumored for several weeks, will see cable pioneer John Malone in control of DirecTV, the nation’s largest satellite provider, with 15.6 million subscribers.

Liberty will acquire News Corp.’s 38.5% stake in DirecTV as part of the deal.

“We are extremely pleased with the successful, tax-efficient conversion of our News holding. Our investment in DirecTV will create financial, operating, and strategic flexibility, Malone said in a prepared statement. “Liberty's ownership of News has created tremendous value for our shareholders, and we are grateful to Rupert Murdoch and News management.”

Liberty and News Corp. said that Chase Carey is expected to continue to serve as DirecTV CEO. Liberty will also appoint directors to fill board seats on the satellite company currently held by News Corp. representatives.

The deal is expected to close by mid-2007.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6402321.html?display=Breaking+News

shuttermaker

12-22-06, 11:07 AM

Cable Favorites:

1. Dexter (SHO)
2. The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
3. Inside The NFL (HBO)
4. Dirty Jobs (Discovery)
5. How Its Made (Science Channel)

Guilty Pleasure: Tie between "Around The Horn" (ESPN) and "Pardon The Interruption" (ESPN)

VisionOn

12-22-06, 12:17 PM

Technology
XBox up on downloads
Amazon digital video sales fall below expectations
By Ben Fritz, Variety December 21, 2006

Some studios had been worried that only young male-skewing content would get downloaded by gamers. That fear has been realized to some extent.

While "V for Vendetta" and "South Park" are the most popular downloads on Xbox Live, other titles on the top 10 chart include "The Lake House," "Failure to Launch" and "CSI," indicating that some people who typically don't play "Halo" are watching video content on the 360.[/url]

They might have a more diverse customer base if they had more than 8 films made in the past year and a choice of better quality. It was an interesting novelty when it started, but in one month they've only added maybe 2 new movies.

VisionOn

12-22-06, 12:23 PM

A couple of reviewers say Friday's "Monk" episode is very good.

I saw some of those, but after the special with Dan Hedaya my expectations are low.

Monk could never have been a police officer based on the revised revelations in new episodes, he could barely function in everyday life before his wife's murder. The Dan Hedaya episode and Monk riding around on a bicycle at the end made him appear as if he was mentally disabled.

humdinger70

12-22-06, 12:48 PM

Cable favorites:

1. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
2. Countdown with Keith Olbermann (MSNBC)
3. Inuyasha (Cartoon Network)
4. Robot Chicken (Cartoon Network/Adult Swim)
5. NFL Sunday Countdown (ESPN)

Guilty pleasures:
1. ECW (SciFi)
2. Any of the old '60s cartoons on Boomerang

JimsArcade

12-22-06, 01:32 PM

FAVORITES
1. “Battlestar Galactica” SciFi
2. “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” FX (it may be on hiatus right now, so it may not count, but I haven't watched anything funnier on cable since)
3. “Robot Chicken” Cartoon Network
4. “Three Sheets” INHD/MOJO
5. “Iron Chef America” Food Network
GUILTY PLEASURE
“Drawn Together” Comedy Central

Meteornotes

12-22-06, 02:11 PM

Cable Favorites:

1 - The Wire (HBO)
2 - The Shield (FX)
3 - Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
4 - Deadwood (HBO)
5 - Pardon The Interruption (ESPN)

dt

flint350

12-22-06, 02:12 PM

Cable Favorites:

1. The Wire (HBO)
2. The Shield (FX)
3. Rescue Me (FX)
4. Dexter (Showtime)
5. Rome (HBO)
6. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
7. Big Love (HBO)

dad1153

12-22-06, 02:54 PM

Nielsen Notebook
Overnight Ratings: Rudolph Scores for CBS
By Rebecca Stropoli, Broadcasting & Cable December 22, 2006

Although it was a night of reruns for CBS, the Eye network still won Thursday's primetime race, scoring a 3.5 rating/10 share in the key 18-49 demo for a replay of a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special, CSI and Shark. It was old Rudolph that really boosted the network; it won the 8-9 time slot with a 3.7/11.

NBC was in second place with a 2.7/8 for new reality show Identity (in second place in the 8-9 slot with a 3.1/9) and comedy reruns.

ABC was in the No. 3 slot with a 2.6/8 for reruns of Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and Men in Trees.

At No. 4, Fox scored a 1.9/6. The network actually featured an all first-run lineup: Til Death, The War at Home and The OC.

The CW got a 1.0/3 for reruns of Smallville and Supernatural.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6402362.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

12-22-06, 02:57 PM

Nielsen Notebook
'Rudolph,' 'CSI' guide CBS to Thurs. win
By Paul J. Gough, The Hollywood Reporter December 22, 2006

CBS's red-nosed reindeer sailed over the fourth night of NBC's game show "Identity," leading CBS to a Thursday win in both viewership and the adults 18-49 demographic.

"Identity" (9.5 million, 3.1 rating/9 share) was up one-tenth of a rating point from Wednesday's edition but couldn't keep pace with CBS's second running of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (10.7 million, 3.7/11), according to preliminary data released Friday by Nielsen Media Research. "Rudolph" won in both key measures while ABC's "Ugly Betty" (7.7 million, 2.1/6) was a repeat. Fox's "Til Death" (5.2 million, 2.0/6) was up a tenth of a point from last week while "War At Home" (4.7 million, 1.8/5) stayed even.

For a second week in a row of repeats, "CSI" (13.1 million, 3.9/11) lifted CBS over a repeat of "Grey's Anatomy" (10 million, 3.4/9) while NBC repeated last week's hourlong "The Office" (5.8 million, 2.4/7). "The OC" (4.5 million, 2.0/5) tied its highest rating so far this season.

"Shark" (10.6 million, 2.8/8) won at 10 p.m. against "Men in Trees" (7 million, 2.4/7) and repeats of "My Name Is Earl" (7.3 million, 2.5/7) and "Scrubs" (4.9 million, 2.3/7).

Nightly averages: ABC (8.2 million, 2.6/8); CBS (11.5 million, 3.5/10); NBC (7 million, 2.7/8); Fox (4.7 million, 1.9/6); The CW (2.4 million, 1.0/3).

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3id29cc6f40f8bce0d88693dffc4167885

dad1153

12-22-06, 03:02 PM

TV Notebook
'Day Break' downer and free holiday treats
Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune 'The Watcher' TV Blog Dec. 22, 2006

ABC had planned to start offering unaired episodes of the canceled “Day Break” this week on the network's Web site, but music clearance issues have prevented the posting of the remaining seven episodes until after the holidays at the earliest, according to a network representative.

The plan had been for one "Day Break" episode per week to be posted at ABC.com. There are a total of seven unaired episodes; six episodes aired before the network pulled the plug on the serialized thriller. The network said to check back after the holiday for more news on when the show's remaining episodes may be posted online.

By the way, the listing on ABC.com saying that "Day Break" will air on Dec. 27 is erroneous. The network's press Web site lists two episodes of "The George Lopez Show" as airing in the former "Day Break" spot.

It may be of no consolation to "Day Break" fans, but there is some good stuff available at ABC.com: As of Monday, the network will post the current seasons of several ABC series, including “Ugly Betty,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Brothers & Sisters” and “What About Brian.” The full-length episodes will remain available until new episodes of those shows begin in 2007.

Also popular of late online: the uncensored version of “Special Treat in a Box,” a naughty (and funny) short film performed by Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake on a recent "Saturday Night Live,” which is available at NBC.com.

Yet more treats: Don't forget that every episode of the fine “Friday Night Lights” is available at NBC.com, and the network is also offering every “30 Rock” online. Both series are well worth checking out.

One final thought: Thanks to everyone who stopped by here this year. Talking and debating and enjoying TV with all of you has been a great gift to me.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, peaceful holiday break.

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

fredfa

12-22-06, 07:50 PM

Sorry for the lengthy absence -- power was out here for almost eight hours.

So thanks to dad1153 for filling in with some overnight numbers and Thursday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings – along with 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

12-22-06, 09:46 PM

Obituary
Mike Evans, 57
Lionel in 'Jeffersons' created 'Good Times'
From Los AngelesTimes Staff and Wire Reports December 22, 2006

Mike Evans, 57, an actor best known for his role as Lionel Jefferson in the TV sitcoms "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons," died of throat cancer Dec. 14 at his mother's home in Twentynine Palms, his niece Dr. Chrystal Evans said.

With writing partner Eric Monte, Evans went on to create and write for "Good Times," one of the first TV sitcoms that featured a primarily African American cast.

Michael Jonas Evans was born Nov. 3, 1949, in Salisbury, N.C., to a dentist father, Theodore Evans Sr., and his schoolteacher wife, Annie Sue Evans.

The family moved to Los Angeles when Mike was a child. He graduated from Los Angeles High School and studied acting at Los Angeles City College before landing the role of Lionel Jefferson in Norman Lear's iconic 1970s situation comedy "All in the Family."

Evans kept the role of Lionel when "The Jeffersons" was launched in 1975 as a spinoff featuring bigoted Archie Bunker's black neighbors in Queens who "move on up to the East Side" of Manhattan and an upscale life.

Evans was replaced by Damon Evans (no relation) for four years, then he returned to the series from 1979 to 1981.

He also acted in the 1976 TV miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man" and made guest appearances on the TV series "Love, American Style" and "The Streets of San Francisco." His last role was in a 2000 episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger."

In recent years he had invested in real estate in the Inland Empire.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-passings22.2dec22,0,2572283,print.story

dad1153

12-22-06, 10:25 PM

The Business of TV
News Corp., Liberty Outline $11B Asset Swap
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable December 22, 2006

News Corp. and Liberty Media have released the details of their planned asset swap.

Under terms of the deal, Liberty will give up its $11 billion (16.3%) stake in News Corp. in exchange for that company's ownership stake (38.4%) of satellite TV company DirecTV.

That puts cable pioneer and Liberty chief John Malone in the business of trying to grab eyeballs away from the wired world. It also keeps News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch from looking over his shoulder to make sure Malone wasn't trying to take over his company.

Liberty also gets three regional sports networks ((FSN Northwest, FSN Pittsburgh and FSN Rocky Mountain)) and $550 million in cash.

Shareholders still have to vote to approve the deal, but if they do, and it passes various regulatory reviews, it is expected to close by the second half of next year.

News Corp. said Friday that it thought the deal would unlock "tremendous value" for earnings on a tax-free basis, but some on Wall Street see Malone as getting the better deal (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6398662.html?display=Search+Results&text=Cable+cowboy).

Liberty last year upped its voting stake in News Corp. from 9% to 17%, startling company Chairman Rupert Murdoch and prompting him to take defensive action.

News Corp. has tried for years to get Liberty out of the company. In the past, for example, News Corp. offered Liberty several local TV stations, but the company apparently likes its broadcasting from space.

DirecTV's limited growth has frustrated News Corp., which could explain its willingness to part with it. Murdoch aggressively went after DirecTV for years, but has been so disappointed with it lately, he has reportedly referred to it as a "turd bird."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6402330.html?display=Breaking+News

dad1153

12-22-06, 10:33 PM

Wow, a recent profile of the man that created my favorite TV show of all time (Nickelodeon's The Secret World of Alex Mack) as well as my current guilty pleasure South of Nowhere. Somedays I love this job! :)

TV Notebook
Enthusiasm that is almost like a kid's
Thomas W. Lynch has been able to create shows that reach those sought-after 'tweens. Two newer shows have him really excited
By Kate Arthur, Los Angeles Times December 24, 2006

In his television credits, he's Thomas W. Lynch, but in person, he's all Tommy.

"Everything is called the Tommy bubble — and Tommy town is where I live!" the writer-producer said recently when describing his creative process, practically shouting with enthusiasm over lunch at the Standard Hotel downtown.

Lynch is an irrepressible 50-year-old, born and raised in West Hollywood, who likes to talk about being Irish Catholic, hating George W. Bush and loving Alec Baldwin ("He's a god, right? When did this guy become America's favorite person?"). He is also a forefather of the 'tween television revolution, which, when you add up the spoils of Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, is now a billion-dollar business.

In 1984, he created the long-running series "Kids Incorporated," in which a rotating cast of young performers played a fictional rock band, and simultaneously tackled the issues of the day. "Kids Incorporated" not only foisted Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mario Lopez and Fergie into the public sphere but permanently fused together what is now a formula of 'tween programming: kids + music + identity issues. (See: "High School Musical.")

Later, Lynch thought up a number of other successful offerings for 'tweenagers, the age group from 9 to 14 that advertisers, perhaps insidiously, love. Nickelodeon's "The Secret World of Alex Mack" is another of his much-copied shows.

His current series, "South of Nowhere" on the N and "Class of 3000" on Cartoon Network, have taken him into new territory: that of teen lesbianism and animation, respectively.

Lynch created "Class of 3000" with André Benjamin of OutKast, who also stars in and writes music for the animated show. Lynch said that because he had never done an animated series, he "wanted to bring something big to it" and thought of Benjamin as "the coolest human being on the planet right now."

"I called people who knew people who knew people, and I hooked up with André," he said. "You go through the hoops — I'm cool with it."

For more than a year, Lynch and Benjamin developed the show, in which Benjamin plays a superstar singer from Atlanta who gets sick of being an entourage-smothered product instead of a musician and quits to teach prodigies at a performing arts school. "Class of 3000" (8 p.m. Fridays) is performing well, and Cartoon Network ordered 26 episodes. Lynch said, "That's 26 — looking for more!"

Lynch is hoping for more "South of Nowhere" too — the teen drama wrapped up its second season Friday but is not yet set to come back for a third (reruns are on at 10 p.m. Thursdays, and all episodes are available on the N's website). Lynch got the idea for the show when his best friend's son came out of the closet; as the father of four young adult sons and a guardian of an adult daughter, Lynch wondered why such an inherently loaded and rich event between parents and their adolescent children hadn't yet been explored as an ongoing subject in series television.

"On some shows, there would be a gay experience, and it would be chaste or it would be the opposite — it would be wild and sensual," Lynch said. "But it would be over in Episode 2. This is like, 'Wake up, this is here.' "

The first two seasons of "South of Nowhere" have told the story of the rocky romance of Spencer (Gabrielle Christian), an Ohio high-schooler transplanted in L.A., and Ashley (Mandy Musgrave), a volatile rich girl. Their relationship has weathered homophobic parents, interest from appealing male peers and, in the finale, a drive-by shooting that has left all of the characters in jeopardy.

Lynch admitted that he reads the message board postings about the show. "These people are passionate," he said. "It's gone from 'I'm telling a story' to 'Whoa, I've got a responsibility.' I can't be short-changing — I'm going to hear about it the next frigging day."

Among his next projects are three potential pilots for Nickelodeon. He's hoping to do "a big, big piece" along the lines of "Harry Potter" or "Eragon." "Kids today, I think they need to breathe. The world and their shows have become commodified and predictable."

He stabbed at his salad and continued excitedly about his favorite topic: children's lives. "It's a great adventure. It's going to be scary, and it's going to be frightening, and fun and different. But it's a great adventure, and they should grab that."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-ca-lynch24dec24,1,6736699.story?coll=la-entnews-tv

fredfa

12-23-06, 12:23 AM

The Business of TV
Liberty to Acquire DirecTV
Malone trades News Corp. stake for DirecTV control, more
By David Lieberman USA Today

NEW YORK — Liberty Media Chairman John Malone, the executive once known as the "King of Cable," is back — this time with a plan that would make him the most powerful man in satellite television.

Liberty unveiled on Friday a deal to exchange its 16.3% stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for that company's controlling 38.5% interest in DirecTV — which has 15.6 million subscribers — as well as three regional sports networks and $550 million in cash.

The announcement comes three years, to the day, after Murdoch took control of DirecTV.

The agreement values Liberty's News Corp. shares at about $11 billion. It also ends the potential threat to Murdoch's control of News Corp. that Malone posed after he acquired his voting shares two years ago.

News Corp. says that it now expects to resume its stock repurchase plans and will consider removing takeover defenses that angered many of its shareholders.

Liberty Media — which owns QVC, Starz/Encore and stakes in several media and technology companies — will "bring a wealth of expertise" in the business "that will be invaluable," DirecTV CEO Chase Carey said in a statement.

Liberty says it expects to Carey to stay after the deal closes, which is likely to take place in the middle of 2007 following approvals from News Corp. shareholders, federal antitrust officials and the Federal Communications Commission.

The companies also want a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service that confirms the deal will be largely tax free for News Corp., and will impose relatively low taxes on Liberty.

Since Liberty is getting some of News Corp.'s long held-properties, the deal can be considered a swap of assets. Sports networks FSN Northwest, FSN Pittsburgh, and FSN Rocky Mountain go to about 8.6 million homes.

Malone controlled the number one cable company, Tele-Communications Inc., before selling it to AT&T in 1999. The phone giant subsequently sold its cable interests to Comcast.

If the new deal is approved, Malone will take control of DirecTV at a time when many analysts question how much satellite companies — including EchoStar's Dish Network — can grow.

"Cable's ability to offer a 'triple-play' suite of video, highspeed Internet and telephony services is appealing to consumers and allows a certain degree of price flexibility that satellite does not have," Prudential Equity Research analyst Kathy Styponias wrote in a report Friday. "Further, cable operators have the ability to offer video on demand, a product satellite cannot provide because its platform lacks two-way interactivity."

In addition, telephone companies led by Verizon (VZ) are entering the fray with their own TV services.

But this may just be step one in an effort by Malone to transform Liberty into a major operator of media properties instead of being largely an investor.

For example, some analysts say they expect him to next swap the company's shares in Time Warner (TWX) for the Atlanta Braves baseball team and about $1.5 billion in cash.

"The cash is the most important element since it would likely be non-taxable and the company could use the proceeds to acquire other strategic assets around the Starz Media Group," writes A.G. Edwards analyst Michael Kupinski.

As a result, Liberty "could emerge as a significant entertainment/media company."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2006-12-22-newscorp-liberty_x.htm

Demodave

12-23-06, 01:02 AM

Top Cable Shows:

1) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX)
Season 1 was good...but season 2 with Danny Devito is pure magical dark comedy.

2) The Shield (FX)
The ensemble cast is one of the best on TV, cable or not. Glenn Close was good a couple years ago; but Forest Whittaker was amazing. How Forest did not win an Emmy for his performance is beyond me.

3) Entourage (HBO)
It's fun being on the "inside".

4) The Daily Show with John Stewart (Comedy Central)
The Colbert report is very good, but Stewart is the king. Most politicians feel the same.

5) Rescue Me (FX)
Denis Leary is a good comedian...but who knew what a great dramatic actor he could be. Denis has created a truly compelling show with great emotional drama, offset with the crazy firemen antics to lighten things up when needed.

Guilty Pleasures:
Match Game (GSN)
South Park (Comedy Central)

fredfa

12-23-06, 01:10 AM

Thanks for joining us again, Demodave -- it's been a long time between posts here!

And if anyone is wondering about all the top-5 lists, you must have missed my post from yeterday:

2006 Cable Poll
Your top-5 Favorite Cable TV Shows

A few weeks ago you had a chance to vote on your favorite prime-time network TV shows. More than 300 votes were received.

Now it is time for your cable favorites.

So list them in order from 1-5 and either post them here in the thread or PM me.

If you would like, add a "guilty pleasure" cable show -- that is one you hate for your friends to discover you enjoy.

I will post periodic results until the polls close -- at a time still undecided.

So have a wonderful Holiday weekend, (keep checking in operiodically for TV news of note) and be sure to vote for your favorite cable shows!

fredfa

12-23-06, 01:19 AM

Merry Christmas!

Or, if it is more appropriate:

Happy Holidays!

Or, if you don’t celebrate,

Have a Great Weekend!

And thanks for participating this year in the thread!

fredfa

12-23-06, 01:28 AM

The Business of TV
Liberty to Acquire DirecTV
Deal Done by Murdoch and Malone
By Richard Siklos The New York Times Dec. 23, 2006

Rupert Murdoch’s Christmas present to himself is a John Malone-free new year and a firmer grip on his media conglomerate.

The News Corporation, where Mr. Murdoch is chief executive, sealed a deal with John C. Malone’s Liberty Media yesterday, trading the News Corporation’s 38 percent stake in DirecTV and some other assets for Liberty’s large shareholding in Mr. Murdoch’s company.

For Mr. Murdoch, the deal, valued at roughly $11 billion, removes the threat of Liberty’s using its 19 percent voting stake in the News Corporation to someday challenge the hold of the Murdoch family, which controls 31 percent of the votes.

It also allows the News Corporation to retire Mr. Malone’s shares, amounting to a giant stock buyback that will have the effect of shrinking the company’s shareholder base and increasing the stake of the Murdochs to close to 38 percent. It also allows Mr. Murdoch to exit the direct broadcast satellite business in the United States during a time of uncertainty over that business’s strategy for providing high-speed Internet access.

Analysts and investors now wonder what Mr. Murdoch will do with the $6 billion that had been amassed in case he had to pay Mr. Malone a higher cash component. One option is that the company could further buy back its stock, which is a popular practice these days by businesses that believe that their shares are undervalued.

Mr. Malone must now decide whether he will try to align DirecTV more closely with programming assets he owns, including the Starz pay-TV network, half of Discovery Communications and the QVC home shopping network, or with the other cable and satellite businesses he operates around the world to create new programming services.

In a statement, Gregory B. Maffei, the chief executive of Liberty Media, reiterated the company’s strategy of converting passive investments like its News Corporation stake into operating businesses. “DirecTV and the regional sports networks represent a critical step in our efforts to transform Liberty Media into a well-positioned, focused operating company,” he said.

Some analysts and investors have speculated, however, that Liberty could end up combining the business with its main competitor, EchoStar, or selling its stake to one of the major telephone companies looking to compete in the video business in response to the forays by cable operators into data and voice services.

If Liberty linked up with a telecommunications operator, Mr. Malone would effectively repeat what he did in the late 1990s when he sold what was then the largest cable company in the country to what is now AT&T.

As previously reported, to make the deal tax-efficient for both sides, Liberty will also receive $550 million in cash and three regional sports networks that the News Corporation has operated for more than five years: FSN Northwest, FSN Pittsburgh and FSN Rocky Mountain.

The retreat by Mr. Murdoch from the United States satellite business that he gained control of only three years ago is perhaps the most remarkable part of the deal — given that he had aggressively coveted DirecTV or a business like it for some two decades.

Doug Shapiro, an analyst at Banc of America Securities, said that it was clear that the initial ardor of Mr. Murdoch for the business had cooled. The company had said it would double DirecTV’s subscribers from 10 million to 20 million. They stand at around 15.5 million today.

“I’d argue that the expectations that they had for DirecTV were never realistic,” Mr. Shapiro said. On the other hand, he added, the move was typical of Mr. Murdoch’s ability to “change course strategically pretty quickly if he sees the need to.”

According to one person briefed on the deal, the standoff between Mr. Malone and Mr. Murdoch — who were allies until Mr. Malone bought his voting stake just over two years ago — came to an end on the morning of Dec. 6. Mr. Malone phoned Mr. Murdoch then to say that he would accept the tax-free swap proposed by the News Corporation.

After unfruitful on-and-off negotiations involving several other assets, Mr. Murdoch floated the idea of trading DirecTV to Liberty.

In the meantime, the News Corporation adopted a poison-pill takeover defense that would stall any effort by Mr. Malone to increase his stake. Mr. Murdoch, at 75, wanted to remove the threat of Mr. Malone’s interfering with his plans eventually to pass control of the company he built to his children.

Jessica Reif Cohen, the media analyst at Merrill Lynch, said she expected the News Corporation to drop its poison pill once the transaction was completed.

The swap is subject to approval by the majority of voting shareholders in the News Corporation excluding Mr. Murdoch and Liberty. If approved it would close in the middle of next year, the company said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/23/business/media/23murdoch.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

dad1153

12-23-06, 06:01 AM

Sports TV Notebook
And now a word from our ... college football bowl analysts
by Ray Frager, Baltimore Sun December 22, 2006

The Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl - that's supposed to start and end the argument about how there are too many college football bowl games.

Far be it from me to complain about product or corporate naming of sporting events - not when I've been trying to get some company to be my column-sponsoring sugar daddy. (Hey, now that you're out of the bowl business, Weed Eater people, let me say how much I've always admired a nicely trimmed lawn. Call me.)

In any case, lawn implements didn't come up this week on a conference call with ESPN analysts Lou Holtz and Chris Spielman, but that likely wouldn't have swayed them from their stance that there aren't too many bowls - even though more than half of Division I-A teams are in postseason games.

(By the way, in case you missed them, two bowls already have been played, and there are five more being played through Sunday.)

"I have never been to a bad bowl," said Holtz, former coach at Notre Dame and South Carolina, among others.

Spielman said that before he got into television he "used to think that way," that the bowl schedule was overcrowded.

"Until I started working for ESPN and covering these games ... [he saw] there's interest out there, and they're great for the kids."

"The players get excited. ... It's a wonderful experience for the players," Holtz said, also citing the benefit an extra month of practice time can be to a team for the next season.

However, you'd better win that game, he said. After a bowl loss, "It is the most despondent group of fans," Holtz said.

As much as he adores all these bowl games, Holtz isn't against some kind of playoff system.

"Let's have a four-team playoff after the Jan. 1 bowls," he said.

Gee, Shnoop

I once thought Washington Capitals analyst Craig Laughlin had the market cornered on sounding the most like the cartoon mouse Blabber (from Snooper and Blabber) among TV sports personalities. But Holtz has him beat. ...

Holtz on the nation's No. 1 team: "I think this is the best Ohio State team since 1968." ... Spielman on what the Buckeyes need to watch out for from their national title game opponent: Florida coach Urban Meyer "is going to have some kind of trick play, some gizmo." ... Holtz on having a coach on his way out - either through firing or retirement - stay through a bowl game: "Let the guy take a last lap with his team."

Owning up

ESPN bought into the Arena Football League this week, so expect to see more of that indoor brand on its various channels and other ESPN media.

With ESPN holding a share in ownership of the AFL, "It becomes a true partnership, and I think that, therefore, ESPN becomes strongly incentivized toward promoting it and growing us," arena league commissioner David Baker said in a conference call Tuesday.

First of all, let us all congratulate the commissioner for enabling me to use "incentivized" in print. Second of all, for those who would say arena league part-ownership distorts ESPN's approach to the game, keep in mind that the network has financial reason to be incentivized in lots of other sports.

John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president of content, said: "We don't say when we do a Monday Night Football game, 'We paid a lot of money for this game. You should be aware we have an interest in promoting it.' ... I think people understand that we and the leagues are in business together, and we have just as much financial incentive to promote NBA games or Major League Baseball games because we have a big, big bet on those. This just happens to take a different form."

Splitting time?

After Wednesday's announcement that Mid-Atlantic Sports Network is adding a simulcast of John Riggins' radio show, MASN will have to figure out a way to accommodate his program and the current simulcast of Anita Marks' WJFK (1300 AM) show, which airs at the same time. MASN has until Riggins' start in February to figure it out, but a MASN spokesman said the network plans to televise both.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-sp.frager22dec22,0,6216957.column?coll=bal-artslife-tv

dad1153

12-23-06, 06:18 AM

Looks like I'll be spending Saturday night with my ol' pal Chris Hansen and the Dateline NBC sexual predators. Life is good! :D

TV Notebook
TV Tonight
by David Biancully, New York Daily News December 23, 2006

The networks presume that, on this last Saturday night before Christmas, most people have much more pressing or satisfying things to do than watch TV. But there still are a few good offerings to watch, if you're home and so inclined. Starting with "The Sound of Music," these are a few of my favorite things.

Movies

7:00 p.m. (ABC) "The Sound of Music." This 1965 movie musical, in this telecast, is restored to its original length - which means there are even more von Trapp siblings than before. Not really.

9:00 (DIS) "The Polar Express." For the holidays: One more showing of this 2004 movie version of the popular illustrated children's book.

9:00 (Starz) "Underworld: Evolution." Kate Beckinsale returned to star, for a second time, as a leather-clad vampire out to protect her clan from aggressive werewolves. (Is there any other kind?)

10:00 (MAX) "The Ringer." Johnny Knoxville stars in this edgy 2005 comedy - edgy in concept, at least. He plays a man who enters the Special Olympics, feigning handicaps, in order to win the monetary prize.

Nonfiction

8:00 p.m. (NBC) "Dateline NBC." Nothing says "happy holidays" like an update of Chris Hansen's "To Catch a Predator" pieces. Here are a lot of them, all wrapped up in a bow and revisited for Christmas.

Series

9:00 p.m. (Fox) "America's Most Wanted." NBC isn't the only network using the night, and the end of the year, to look back and revisit old times and old crimes. On tonight's "America's Most Wanted," host John Walsh takes viewers through a tour of old tips, and even a love story that came out of one investigation.

11:30 (NBC) "Saturday Night Live." Jack Black is the host of this 2005 rerun, but doesn't hog the musical guest spot as well: That goes to Neil Young.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/482466p-406080c.html

fredfa

12-23-06, 10:34 AM

Critic’s Notebook
No-longer-little orphaned Annies
'Life After Tomorrow' catches up with dozens of 'Annie' graduates, some of whom have had a hard-knock life
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 23, 2006

The very words "child star" seem to betoken tragedy: In the story as we often heard it told, early success presages later sorrow. There are the usual tales of drugs and crime and teenage marriages, of parental neglect or parasitic control, but there is also the simple American tragedy of Not Being Famous Anymore.

"Life After Tomorrow," a film by Julie Stevens and Gil Cates Jr. premiering Sunday night on Showtime, takes a look at this phenomenon as embodied in the moppet musical "Annie." Like a lot of documentaries in a day when technology has put the means to make a movie into the hands of anyone with the itch, it is being touted as a "personal journey," Stevens having played an "orphan" both on Broadway and on tour and not having booked a job quite as good since.

If you know nothing about "Annie" itself before watching "Life After Tomorrow," you will not know much more afterward, besides that there are orphans in it, and a dog, and a bald man in a suit, that you're never fully dressed without a smile and that tomorrow is only a day away. You'll learn nothing about the comic strip it was based on, or much about the context in which the show was made, other than that the country was in a sorry state — the musical was written during the Nixon administration, though it didn't hit Broadway until Jimmy Carter was president — and its creators thought of their work as a "song of spirit and of hope."

"Annie" fever struck America. We meet here a man who must certainly qualify as No. 1 Fan — and who feels it necessary to explain that he is neither gay nor a pedophile. It was simpler for little girls, of course, for whom the musical provided much the same sort of fantasy focus as Disney princesses do now, with the advantage that one could actually join the show and not even have to grow up first to do it. After the first cast, to judge by the women interviewed here — some 40 out of the 150 who passed through the show in its five-year initial run and first four national touring companies — every kid who tried out for "Annie" was already obsessed with it.

The film takes a roughly chronological ride through the life of the show, and the lives of the children who played in it (getting cast, instant fame, eye-opening life on Broadway and/or the road, crazy stage mothers and jealous costars, often negative though sometimes positive effect on family, end of the job and the rest of your life). The reminiscences naturally tend to the more sensational, since these make the better stories — though they are only moderately sensational, to be sure.

It was a dream that not only couldn't last, but couldn't last long. Biology saw to that. Stage manager Peter Lawrence recalls, "We had a kind of a rule on the show that once the stagehands started to get interested in the orphans, it was time for them to move on to another job." (He means it was time for the girls to move on, I think, though that rule might usefully have been applied to the stagehands.)

It's a strange thing to peak at 12, but life goes on, and these are women with histories now: Andrea McArdle, the original Annie, is 43; Stevens is 36. Some turned into swans, some ducks, some are happy, others less so. Some have remained in show business, for better or worse; some have had other kinds of success, even if just the success of not needing show-business success — of getting along without the love of strangers. Among those appearing here, the best known are Sarah Jessica Parker, who was Broadway Annie No. 3; MSNBC anchor Dara Brown; soap opera star Martha Byrne; Danielle Brisebois, who was on "Archie Bunker's Place"; and Allison Smith, a regular on "Kate and Allie" and a semi-regular on "The West Wing."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-tomorrow23dec23,0,819840,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

12-23-06, 12:48 PM

Friday’s 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.

rpete

12-23-06, 01:04 PM

My cable favorites

1. The Wire
2. Sopranos
3. Entourage
4. Weeds
5. Dexter

Guilty pleasure - What Not to Wear

AAF

12-23-06, 03:27 PM

...and a Merry Christmas to you!

fredfa

12-23-06, 06:35 PM

Welcome to the thread, rpete.

I look forward to reading lots more post from you in 2007!

fredfa

12-23-06, 07:17 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Good news and bad from the tube
By Rick Kushman Sacramento Bee TV Columnist

Lots of small items today. Don't want to keep anyone from getting to that last-minute shopping. Me, I'm still trying to untangle the lights.

First thing, and I told you it was small in many ways, is that according to People, the first winner of "The Apprentice," Bill Rancic, is engaged -- to E! News celebrity hanger-on Giuliana DePandi.

Basically, so what? But it tells you something about the netherworld of the entertainment business where all the B-grade celebs, including reality-show players and celebrity news hangers-on, percolate among themselves.

And, again, so what? Nothing, really, except that Rancic is supposed to have been this hot business prospect hired from among a gazillion applicants by Donald Trump. You'd think a responsible business exec would stay far away from the DePandi crowd and its meaningless, red-carpet world. On the other hand, Rancic works for Trump, a man who can't seem to function without a camera nearby. As they say, most people hire people like themselves.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Fans of the subversive 1967 thriller/sci-fi series "The Prisoner" will want to know that AMC is remaking the show to hit the air in January 2008.

It's AMC's first science fiction effort, and it will be made in partnership with British media companies Sky One and Grenada International. AMC execs say the remake fits the cable network's mission of airing or re-creating Hollywood classics.

The original, which aired for just 17 episodes, starred Patrick McGoohan as a former government agent who is drugged, kidnapped and taken to a mysterious island called the Village. Prisoner-inhabitants there are ID'ed only by numbers. McGoohan was Number Six.

AMC says it's not re-creating the show, it's "reinterpreting" it, but will stay true to the work of McGoohan, who also created and wrote the show, by maintaining the same sense of paranoia and social and political commentary.

Sounds good. So does the Universal Pictures film in the works based on "The Prisoner." See, who said there's no original thinking in Hollywood?

• • • • • • • • • • •

In case you've been looking for the ABC shows "Show Me the Money" and "Day Break" -- and considering the ratings, the odds are against that -- ABC has canceled both.

"Show Me the Money," the game show hosted by William Shatner and inexplicably featuring dancers, had just gotten an order for six more episodes from ABC. Then, apparently, somebody at the network watched the show. Oops: canceled. It drew about 7 million viewers last time out but was dropping in the ratings every time it aired.

• • • • • • • • • • •

As for "Day Break," ABC was hoping the thriller series would plug a Wednesday night hole so "Lost" could take a short break and avoid airing repeats or clip shows. "Day Break" starred Taye Diggs as a framed cop who has to keep living the same day over and over (think: "Groundhog Day").

But viewers didn't care about his problems. The show drew an average audience of 4.5 million. For the few people who want to know, ABC is continuing to run episodes online at ABC.com.

• • • • • • • • • • •

A dispatch from the ever-moving technology front: Nielsen Media Research reports that the percentage of American households with DVD players has passed the percentage with VCRs.
DVD penetration jumped 6 percent from last year, and now 81.2 percent of all households in the nation have a DVD player. VCR ownership dropped 3 percent, Nielsen said, to 79.2 percent of households.

• • • • • • • • • • •

As recently as 1999, when Nielsen started tracking these kinds of things, only 6.7 percent of American households had DVD players and 88.6 percent had VCRs.

Finally, I need to append to my best-TV-shows list from earlier this week, because, uh, I forgot two good ones.

Fox's "Prison Break" should have been an honorable mention, and Sci Fi's "Battlestar Galactica" has grown into one of the truly great shows on TV. Inside its science fiction format, it's a passionate look at being human, in all our forms. I'm not sure what I'd take out of my Top 10 to include "Battlestar," so this year, I'm officially naming a Top 11.
http://www.sacbee.com/127/story/95854.html

fredfa

12-23-06, 07:24 PM

The Business of TV
Liberty's TV deal done
Malone gets 38.5% of DirecTV in huge News Corp. swap
By Joyzelle Davis Rocky Mountain News December 23, 2006

John Malone's Liberty Media and News Corp. formalized an $11 billion asset swap that makes Malone DirecTV's biggest shareholder, vaulting Liberty into the spotlight as a media operator.

News Corp. agreed to buy back the 16.3 percent stake in its operation held by Liberty in exchange for 38.5 percent of DirecTV, $550 million in cash and three regional networks, including FSN Rocky Mountain. The long-anticipated deal ends a tussle triggered when Liberty quietly acquired a large voting interest in News Corp. two years ago, threatening Rupert Murdoch's control.

For Douglas County-based Liberty, the DirecTV announcement caps a year of frenzied deal-making that included converting the company's stakes in Court TV, OpenTV, IDT Corp. and On Command either into operating companies or cash. Liberty is attempting to simplify its complicated structure, which still includes stakes in a variety of companies, including Time Warner and Sprint.

The News Corp. transaction "is the largest and the most important," said Greg Maffei, Liberty's president and chief executive officer. "DirecTV and the regional sports networks represent a crucial step in our efforts to transform Liberty into a well-positioned, focused operating company."

The deal is expected to close in mid-2007.

Subscribers and DirecTV employees at its El Segundo, Calif., headquarters aren't likely to notice Liberty's ownership in the near future, analysts said. Chase Carey, DirecTV's president and chief executive and a News Corp. veteran, agreed to stay in his post. Liberty will appoint directors to fill the board seats held by News Corp. representatives.

Liberty "might set a different tone or stance. Otherwise, it's going to be business as usual," said Andrew Baker, an analyst at Cathay Financial in New York.

Viewers of FSN Rocky Mountain and the other regional networks in Seattle and Pittsburgh also aren't going to see much change. The channel will continue to get access to Fox Sports' national programming as part of the deal, and Liberty expects to keep the same management, Maffei said.

News Corp.'s stake in the Colorado Rockies baseball team won't transfer to Liberty as part of the deal. That means Liberty is free to continue its ongoing talks with Time Warner to acquire the Atlanta Braves. Major League Baseball rules prohibit one company from owning stakes in more than one team.

One of Liberty's top priorities will be solving DirecTV's lack of an Internet offering. After years of soaring growth, the satellite-TV business is under pressure as cable companies are benefiting from their ability to offer "triple-play" bundles of phone, high-speed Internet and video.

"This is John Malone in a new environment, where his biggest challenge is to come up with a triple play," said Phil Weiser, a University of Colorado law professor who specializes in telecommunications. Weiser was interviewed this month.

Liberty owns stakes in two companies at the forefront of providing alternative ways of providing Internet service: Greenwood Village-based WildBlue Communications, which uses satellites to deliver broadband to rural homes, and Current Communications, which provides Internet service over power lines.

Maffei indicated that Liberty will consider using those assets, as well as Liberty's "good relations" with neighbor and DirecTV rival EchoStar, to work on cooperative technology.

For Malone, who sold cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. to AT&T in 1999, the DirecTV deal makes him once again a major player in the U.S. pay-TV industry. DirecTV, the nation's second-biggest pay-TV provider with 15.6 million subscribers, also secures broad distribution for Liberty's Discovery Communications, Starz and QVC programming assets.

Deal at a glance

•News Corp. gets: Liberty's 16.3 percent stake in News Corp., securing the Murdoch family's control

•Liberty gets: News Corp.'s 38.5 percent stake in DirecTV, $550 million in cash, and three regional sports networks, including FSN Rocky Mountain

The companies

• DirecTV

The nation's second-largest pay-TV provider with 15.6 million customers. Comcast is the largest.

Headquarters in El Segundo, Calif. President and Chief Executive Chase Carey agreed to continue in his position.

• FSN Rocky Mountain

Has a deal to carry Colorado Rockies games through 2014; also shows University of Denver hockey and basketball games, Big 12 football, and several weekly Denver Broncos shows.

Reaches 2.5 million households in Colorado and seven other states.Management and programming is expected to remain the same.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5233606,00.html

fredfa

12-23-06, 09:15 PM

I am sorry I missed this earlier in the week. Karen Foss is a remarkable TV news woman, and if you have never seen her, it is your loss. And in a few days, sadly, it will be a loss for all St. Louis viewers.
TV Notebook
Karen Foss to retire from KSDK
St. Louis trail-blazer leaves after 26 years
By Jo Mannies [b]St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Veteran St. Louis television anchor Karen Foss, a mainstay at KSDK (Channel 5) for almost three decades, is retiring from the station.

Foss, 62, announced to viewers Monday night that she'll sign off after the 10 p.m. newscast on Dec. 28.

Among current anchors in the region, she is the longest-serving at a single TV station.

"I have loved working here since 1979 with the finest broadcasters anywhere, and I have considered it a privilege to be in your homes each evening with the news of the day," Foss said on the 10 p.m. news.

Foss will become the latest in a series of high-profile anchor departures, including Dick Ford last year at KTVI (Channel 2) and Julius Hunter in 2002 from KMOV (Channel 4). Larry Connors at KMOV will now take on the mantle of most veteran current anchor.

Foss said in an interview Monday that as much as she loves the news business, "I do want a chance to do other things."

"I'd like to use my time to do some more personal things," she said as she relaxed between the Monday night news broadcasts. "I wanted some time to play. I didn't want to die in the newsroom."

She said that her plans may include television work but that she has not seriously looked at any other options. She first wants to focus more on spending time with family and friends, she said.

"I really wanted the freedom and the flexibility to consider anything that might come along — or nothing," she said.

For years, Foss has been one of the region's most recognized newscasters. Nationally, she also is seen as one of the female trailblazers.

Foss says her own research indicates that she has been the oldest woman anchoring the 10 p.m. news at any TV station in the country. "I'm very proud of that," she said.

Her colleagues were effusive in their praise. "St. Louis is really losing an icon here," said co-anchor Mike Bush, who was one of the few who knew that she was considering retirement. He said he tried to persuade her to stay on.

Bush has worked with Foss at Channel 5 for more than 21 years, the last three of them as co-anchor. "You couldn't ask for a better mentor or a more generous colleague," he said.

Lynn Beall, president and general manager of KSDK, said: "When you think of news in St. Louis, you automatically think of Karen Foss. Karen is the consummate professional; she's been a pioneer for women in our industry. … There is no doubt she will be missed."

Added Erika Ebsworth, producer of the 10 p.m. newscast, "She's such a force in this newsroom."

Foss said she had been giving serious thought to retiring ever since Ford — for years her co-anchor at Channel 5 — departed from television in December 2005.

Foss said she plans to spend more time with her two adult children, one of whom lives in Germany, her three grandchildren, two college-age stepchildren and her husband, Jim Whiteley.

With her contract expiring at the end of this month, Foss said she had to make a decision, and ultimately decided, "There is just no way I could sign up again."

In the TV news business, employees must give their all, she said. She added that it wasn't fair to Channel 5 for her to stay on if her interest was flagging.

The upshot, said Foss: "I wanted to do less at a time when the industry wants you to do more."

Foss emphasized that her departure is amicable, a point underscored by KSDK executives.

She and station executives had considered various options that would allow her to reduce her role at the station without eliminating it, she said. But she added, "We have looked at all kinds of scenarios, and nothing looked like a perfect fit."

Soon after joining the station in 1979, Foss became one of the region's most prominent news anchors. She has received numerous awards and was inducted last year into the Emmy Awards' prestigious Silver Circle for veteran broadcasters.

Among other things, she became widely known for a 15-year "Karen's Kids" segment that spotlighted children available for adoption. Some of those children, many of them now grown, have continued to keep in touch with Foss.

She said she is particularly proud of a story she covered in the 1980s about a woman's quest to find her two children who had been kidnapped by an ex-spouse. The children eventually were found and reunited with their mother.

More recently, Foss said she enjoyed a feature she did on two men who continue to farm land by Lambert Field.

The stories that made her the saddest, she said, were those that focused on "the inhumanity of one person to another. Those stories have never gotten easier for me."

In her Monday night comments to viewers, Foss emphasized that she may be leaving the airwaves, but she's not leaving St. Louis.

"St. Louis will continue to be home," she said. "So I will most likely see you from time to time."

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/tvradio/story/43BFDBA0B58C337286257249000E6D18?OpenDocument

fredfa

12-23-06, 09:36 PM

TV Notebook
'All My Children' tackles transgender issues
Flamboyant rock star Zarf becomes Zoe, and a soap evolves
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer December 24, 2006

New York — It was late afternoon on the set of "All My Children," a sprawling soundstage that occupies the third floor of an ABC compound on Manhattan's West Side, and Eden Riegel — better known to daytime television fans as Bianca Montgomery — was pacing nervously.

In a few minutes, she would tape the first scene in which Zarf, a flamboyant rock star played by Jeffrey Carlson, was going to reveal his secret to her: He was a she.

This was not your usual credulity-challenging, hidden-identity soap opera plot device. Zarf was coming to terms with the fact that although biologically male, he had long felt he was really a woman.

It's the first time a daytime drama has tackled a transgender coming-out story line, and producers of the 36-year-old soap said they are determined to make it a nuanced, realistic portrayal. Months of research had gone into the development of the character, including meetings with transgender staff from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

The usually bustling set was hushed as the cast and crew prepared for the pivotal scene, which airs Friday. In the episode, Zarf picks up Bianca to go to a New Year's Eve party — only to arrive dressed in a black dress and towering heels, introducing himself as Zoe. Bianca is stunned by the new persona, and the characters engage in a long, emotional exchange about gender and identity.

"I'm terrified; my stomach is in knots," Riegel murmured as she readied for the scene, fussing with her character's velvet party dress.

"We have such an opportunity here," she added later. "It's a beautiful story, and I just hope we tell it in a way that people are open to it."

Riegel is no stranger to the intense scrutiny that accompanies daytime's forays into matters of sexuality and gender politics. Many longtime fans were incensed when her character — daughter of show matriarch Erica Kane — came out as a lesbian six years ago and shared the first soap opera kiss between women.

The viewers react

Nowadays, gay characters are more commonplace in daytime, and "All My Children" viewers have embraced Bianca, who returned to the show this fall after a two-year absence.

But transgender people have rarely been depicted on television, much less soap operas, and ABC's announcement that "All My Children" was bringing Zoe to Pine Valley has sparked a heated debate. In postings to online fan message boards, some viewers angrily denounced the material as "creepy" and "repulsive."

Executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers hopes the audience gives Zoe a chance. "Obviously, I hope there won't be any backlash," Carruthers said. "We're not doing this to turn viewers away. On its purest level, it's a human story about somebody who is different from the masses. It's about love and acceptance."

There's more than viewer loyalty at stake. The story line — which will follow Zoe's struggle to fully transition to life as a woman and to address issues like whether to pursue sex reassignment surgery — could answer a broader question with which all soap operas are now wrestling: Is the faded genre still socially relevant?

"I'm sort of hoping we open the door to soaps in general to get back to more of the adventurous days of storytelling," said Brian Frons, president of daytime for the Disney-ABC Television Group. "Sometimes I think the genre falls back a little bit too much on baby switching and paternity stories. We're doing this as a show of courage as much as entertainment, hoping it encourages people across the genre to be bolder."

There was a time when soap operas were ahead of the curve in tackling thorny cultural debates. Under the direction of creator Agnes Nixon, "All My Children" set the pace with story lines about the Vietnam War, race relations, eating disorders and AIDS. In 1973, shortly after the Supreme Court released its ruling in Roe vs. Wade, Susan Lucci's character, Erica Kane, stirred national controversy when she had an abortion.

But daytime dramas have been more tentative about delving into homosexuality, largely out of fear of alienating the largely conservative audience that tunes in during the day. Before Bianca's 2000 coming-out on "All My Children," soaps had featured just four gay or lesbian characters in substantive roles, according to a study by C. Lee Harrington, an associate professor of sociology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

"Daytime soaps are predicated on heterosexual love and romance, so even to play with the fluidity of sexual orientation was a big deal," Harrington said.

Prime-time shows were less hesitant, introducing close to 50 recurring gay characters in the 1990s, including the leads of "Ellen" and "Will & Grace." But transgender characters have remained a rarity. Until now, Showtime's "The L Word" was the only television program to follow a character's transition from one gender to another.

"This is the new frontier," said Sean Griffin, associate professor of cinema and television at Southern Methodist University. "Transgender characters are where gay and lesbian characters were 10 years ago."

Place for a conversation

But tackling the first transgender coming-out on network television could be risky for a soap opera at a time when daytime dramas are suffering serious audience erosion.

The fall for "All My Children" has been especially steep; the once-top-rated soap has dropped into eighth place this season, averaging around 3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

"I don't know that this is the right time to launch a story line that could be so controversial," said Dan Kroll, owner of the popular website soapcentral.com. "You're giving viewers another reason to say, 'OK, I'm done with the show.' "

However, there are some signs that the transgender plot has piqued new interest in "All My Children." In the first few weeks of the story line, viewership among teens and young women spiked.

"I think we're in an upswing period," Carruthers said. "We're doing some of our strongest material in the time I've been here."

Megan McTavish, the show's head writer, said she was intrigued by the possibilities of telling a new kind of story when one of her writers mentioned that her children were watching "TransGeneration," a Sundance Channel documentary about transgender college students.

"I thought it was a perfect story for our medium because the transition is step by step," McTavish said. "There's the agony of the realization, 'What do I do about it?' — a lot of emotional minefields."

Carruthers was excited about the idea but wasn't sure how to pull it off until Carlson had a one-day part this summer as Zarf, a rock star who licenses a song to Fusion, a cosmetics company run by some of the women in Pine Valley.

"I couldn't take my eyes off him," said the executive producer, who decided that the longtime theater actor was the right person for the role. Before he signed on, she asked if he would be comfortable with the story: Zarf would return to Pine Valley and develop feelings for Bianca, who would be unsettled to find herself attracted to a man for the first time. Then Zarf would reveal that she, in fact, identified as a woman.

"I was very moved by it," said Carlson, who said he was heartened that the producers emphasized that they wanted to tell the story with dignity. "If it creates a conversation, I think we've done our job."

To get the details right, the actors and writers met with representatives of GLAAD, who discussed the proper pronouns to use for transgender people and that hormone therapy and surgery is not necessary for a gender transition.

"This kind of visibility can be enormously powerful," said Damon Romine, GLAAD's entertainment media director. "The power of daytime television is that people become emotionally attached to the characters and travel on a journey with them. This story has the power to change people's minds and perceptions."

Indeed, Riegel said her character's coming-out six years ago generated letters from young gay people around the country, some of whom said their mothers finally accepted them after watching Erica Kane struggle with her daughter's announcement.

"I hope that in six years from now, this will be no big deal," she said.

For now, reaction has been mixed. The message boards on websites like soapcentral.com have been humming with debate, with many saying they are confused that Zarf is both a transgender person and a lesbian. An online poll on the topic has swung between support and condemnation.

Carol Dickson, a 64-year-old retired zoning administrator in Glassboro, N.J., who runs the official "All My Children" fan club, said she's excited about the story line.

"They're not playing it safe, which is what I like," she said. "Anything of this nature, of course it's going to offend some people. But I think daytime viewers have grown up."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/la-ca-trans24dec24,0,4519558,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

12-23-06, 09:50 PM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic Friday, December 22, 2006

Question: I was a little surprised to see that Rescue Me was left off both yours and the AFI's 10-best list. I thought you were a big fan of it. Did it not qualify somehow? I really believe it was at least one of the top three shows of 2006, along with Grey's Anatomy and the sadly departed Arrested Development.— Dave R.

Matt Roush: I am still a big fan of Rescue Me and defended it frequently during the firestorms last summer in the wake of the rape episode (and, to me, the more egregious material involving Sheila drugging Tommy to have sex with him). But in compiling my list, which is all I can talk about (the AFI debates are confidential), I wanted it to be a mix of the offbeat and the mainstream, the edgy and the embraceable, which is why I left room for only one FX show this year. (In years past, I have done an overall FX salute mentioning several of its series, but this year, that honor went to Showtime, which arguably had a much more impressive year.) Rescue Me is unquestionably an outstanding show, and would have ranked in a top 20, if I'd gone that far. The mix of humor and tragedy is wonderfully provocative, although this year I felt the death of Tommy's brother was almost piling it on, as if there were some competition in the TV universe for Tommy Gavin to suffer more than even Andy Sipowicz at his lowest point on NYPD Blue. Still, a great show. But not as consistently gripping as The Shield, with its intense cat-and-mouse game between Michael Chiklis and Forest Whitaker, and the climactic tragedy that set up this next season so brilliantly. A tough call, no question. (And I hope this appeases those at Rescue Me who, I'm told, also worried that I've lost my love for the show. I haven't.)

Question: I'm amazed that the Writers Guild Awards didn't recognize The Wire as the best-written show on TV. Isn't the WGA supposed to be a guild of writers? Why would they fail to see the brilliance of HBO's one truly great show? I'll give 'em Deadwood, but The Sopranos has been very weak for years, and the weakest element of the last two seasons has been its writing. Whereas the writers of The Wire pulled off a staggering fourth season that diminished the role of their primary character (McNulty) and focused instead on the heartbreaking story of four inner-city kids and the forces that make their lives so tragic. Best of all, they brought their story back into position to focus on McNulty in the fifth season, maintaining consistency of theme and character. The continual lack of recognition for The Wire baffles me. Is it because the show is filmed and cast in Baltimore?— David

Matt Roush: For those who missed it, the WGA nominees for drama series included 24, Deadwood, Grey's Anatomy, Lost and The Sopranos. Nominees for a single episode of a dramatic series included The West Wing, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Studio 60 and Big Love; while new series candidates included 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Studio 60 and Ugly Betty. I give you this context because I'm at a loss to explain why the Writers Guild would ignore The Wire, which also has the distinction of inviting some of the country's top crime-fiction writers to contribute scripts. Outside of the usual Hollywood politics, I can only speculate that because The Wire is such a dense and gradually unfolding series, there are few episodes that stand alone in a way that screams "awards bait." But the overall scope and ambition of the series is so great that I can't imagine why it wouldn't be nominated. Everyone I talk to in the industry is awed by it.

Question: It's OK that I can't get my friends, who like really complex and smartly written television, to watch The Wire. And I can't get my mom to watch, even though she has bemoaned the lack of black presence in dramatic television for years. The show is complex, not flashy in its pacing, and it takes time after viewing to digest what just went on. But what I don't understand is how both the Writers Guild and the Hollywood Foreign Press have ignored the series, especially after this season completely elevated the quality of television. This season was beyond great. It was a masterpiece. I cannot believe the folks doing nominations would watch the series and pass on it, or say, "Michael K. Williams was OK as Omar, but he's got nothing on Masi Oka's Hiro." What's your take on The Wire being ignored? Hollywood politics? Is it too black? I personally don't think so. I think it has the United 93 problem, where it puts a human face on America's "villains." I think The Wire is too real for comfort.— Darnell

Matt Roush: Don't waste your time fretting over Golden Globe snubs, I beg you. The TV nominations are mostly an afterthought, and are useful mainly with regard to acknowledging new shows and talent. But you make excellent points about The Wire's discomforting realism, and even the show's creators have said that the cast's complexion may inhibits its mass appeal, and that could unfortunately translate into living under the buzz radar when it comes to awards acknowledgements as well.

Question: Hey, Matt, where was Heroes on your top-10 list? Best new show of the year!— Stephen S.

Matt Roush: Like I couldn't anticipate this question when putting together my list. Truth is: I never even seriously considered Heroes. I'm happy for its popularity, I'm glad NBC swung the bat with it, and I have eagerly added it to my weekly TV menu. But from the very start (even after viewing that awesome third-episode cliff-hanger with Claire lying splayed on the autopsy table), I've had serious critical reservations about this show and have shared them frequently in this column and elsewhere. There's much about Heroes I enjoy (if the show were "All About Hiro," I'd have had no reservations about including it), but I find the writing and the acting to be wildly uneven, and I believe the reason some other critics are putting it on their lists is because they dig the premise (and are responding to its success) more than the actual execution. I will tell you this much about the AFI Awards discussions: I never voted for Heroes. I think its best days are ahead of it, unless (and I hope this doesn't happen) it eventually falls apart, because it still looks to me like they're making it up as it goes along. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But top-10 worthy? Maybe next year.

Question: I enjoyed The Lost Room on Sci Fi, but it left a lot of unanswered questions about the room and the objects. Do you know if it was intended as a pilot at all? It seems with the number of objects out there, there would be lots of opportunities for various story lines, especially with all the varying beliefs of what the objects are meant for.— Jon

Matt Roush: As someone who didn't enjoy The Lost Room, who found all the hand-wringing over deadly Bics and time-stopping combs to be laughable at best (when did I become such a Scrooge about TV fantasy?), I can only say I hope it wasn't intended as a pilot. Besides, there already was a series devoted to supernatural objects (and it was pretty bad, too): the syndicated Friday the 13th series. The only reason Sci Fi would pursue a sequel or a series version is if the Lost Room ratings went through the roof. And while I could be wrong, I'm assuming they didn't, or Sci Fi already would have issued a release crowing about the numbers.

Question: The Shield is the most overlooked show on television. It is consistently snubbed by the Golden Globes and Emmys, with the notable exception of Michael Chiklis' win in the show's first (and weakest) season. It's not because it airs on FX, as Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck have enjoyed nominations for directing, acting and writing. The Shield puts every show other than 24 to shame. I understand why 24 gets its well-deserved accolades. I just can't fathom how people can overlook the best show on television for four straight years. What gives?— Brian

Matt Roush: At the risk of turning this column into a bitching post about awards snubs, I'll answer this one because I included The Shield on my own top-10 list this year for a good reason. It was at its best this year, and that's saying something. One of the things I've heard from folks at FX (especially in regards to the Emmys) is that because they're such a small group —albeit affiliated with the Fox corporation, and The Shield is produced by a major studio — the channel lacks the ability to vote in a large block; it can’t push The Shield like The West Wing, which would get nominated even in lesser seasons because of the powerful blocks at NBC and Warner Bros. that were invested in keeping the show's reputation intact. But honestly, I don't pretend to be an authority on awards politics and procedures. I share your disappointment, and can only also speculate that the biggest problem with these awards shows is that the people doing the nominating don't always watch the best shows.

Question: With all of the buzz about House, I finally decided to watch several episodes. The acting was terrific. The characters were very appealing. The writing, however, was appalling. I saw five episodes. They were all the same, at least as far as the main story line was concerned. Patient comes in. House disagrees with the other doctors. House pisses off everyone (doctors, patients, family). House insists on a treatment. Family agrees (despite House's unbelievably rude behavior). The treatment fails. The patient gets worse and almost dies (or some other near catastrophic event). House saves the day. Patient recovers 100 percent. Secondary plot point: House is addicted to painkillers and everyone defends his actions. After seeing two episodes, I thought this might be a must-see show. After five, I changed my mind. I noticed this show was not one of your top 10. What do you think of it? Is it always so formulaic? At least with shows like Lost (even if you didn't particularly care for this fall's short-story arc) it's very difficult to guess what's going to happen.— David G.

Matt Roush: I think you're a bit hard on the show, but there's no question that House is, more often than not, formulaic. (When it breaks formula, though, watch out. It can be genius.) But is it really any more formulaic than any other procedural mystery or medical show we've ever seen on TV? Besides, few of them have been so grounded in memorable characters as House (not just Hugh Laurie, who is marvelous, but his exceptional supporting cast as well). House has made my top-10 list before, but this year, with the exception of the brilliantly brain-teasing season finale back in May, I'm not sure it was the show's most distinctive or breakout year. Or maybe it's an easy show to take for granted, as is the case with most of the top-tier procedurals. I do enjoy watching House and consider it a must-see, if not necessarily deserving of making the list each season.

Question: I am glad to read that you are also a fan of Ugly Betty. Not only does it have a great cast and good writing, but there is something about the look of the show that appeals to me, and I can't quite put my finger on it. The office set, especially, reminds me of something that you might see in a fantasy movie. Am I imagining things, or is there something different about the way this show is produced?— Maureen

Matt Roush: What you're responding to is the show's brilliantly stylized and heightened production design. Everything is extreme, from the warm garish colors of Betty's home environment in Queens to the sterile, angular, modernistic look of "Mode." One of the great things about Ugly Betty, like Betty herself, is that it resembles nothing else on TV. Nor should it.

Question: I'm sure you may have heard about the controversy regarding the "de-gaying" of the minor character of Zach on Heroes (it was treated by Michael Ausiello in his column last week). I had no problem accepting the character as gay, and it was a minor part of the show's grand sweep anyway. While I fully agree that this is an embarrassing episode and was insulting to the intelligence of the show's viewers (though apparently not creator Tim Kring's fault), it does raise an interesting and politically incorrect question. Why is it utterly horrible to take a character that has been portrayed as gay and then suddenly decide that character is straight, but it is perfectly acceptable to do the opposite? I'm thinking of what Joss Whedon did to Willow on Buffy. In the first three seasons of the show, Willow was straight. She was unambiguously, decidedly straight, complete with a full-on sexual relationship with Oz and years of pining for Xander. Then suddenly, in the fourth season, she was gay. Why, in our politically correct culture, could we accept that as a brave move on Joss Whedon's part, while doing the opposite is somehow discriminatory and bigoted? Wasn't Joss Whedon lying to us as well, telling us that what Willow had with Oz and Xander was all a lie? And even if we buy the argument that she just happened to fall in love with a woman, an argument presented several times by Whedon, that doesn't explain why after that woman's death she was still attracted to women in the last season. It seems to me that when outrage works one way, it should work the other. If we are outraged when a character with ambiguous sexuality is "inned," then why is it heroic or not insulting when an unambiguously straight character is suddenly "outed"? I know that this question might offend many people, but I think that it is a double standard that deserves to be addressed. We have seen prominent people in the "real" world go from gay to straight (Anne Heche is the most obvious example), and the other way around (Elton John was married to a woman), but apparently what can happen in reality is equal to bigotry in fiction.— Kelly H.

Matt Roush: Do you really want me to go there? (I am so in need of this holiday break!) Well, you can't say this column isn't eclectic. Here's a few simple thoughts on the rather profound subject of sexuality: It's complicated. The spectrum, of course, also includes bisexuality, which you rarely see represented on TV, even in these straight-to-gay scenarios. If a writer could develop a character who went from a straight to gay relationship and back again and made it plausible, I'd be willing to roll with it, as long as it didn't look like a retreat from intolerant criticism. But it seems to me that in most instances when a character "comes out" as gay, it dramatizes the fact that people have been known to repress their homosexuality for obvious reasons. People don't tend to repress their heterosexual impulses or actions, even if they're not genuine. So in a typical dramatic arc, once a character comes out, he or she rarely goes back. And I'd rather not get into the psychology of Anne Heche during her Ellen period or the tendency of gay celebrities to marry "beards" of the opposite sex since time immemorial. Personally, I bought Willow and Tara together, and I'm just glad people didn't jump to the conclusion that all lesbians are witches.

Question: Just want to say again how much I'm loving Friday Night Lights. Every episode, somewhere between 15 and 40 minutes into it, I just have to yell "This is such a great show!" My roommates thought I was just weird at first, but then I got them into it and now we all yell. Interesting that they basically skipped the football game in the most recent episode, choosing to show it on TV in Jason Street's room. What a great way to demonstrate how much this show is not just about football. It looks like they'll only use the games when they're useful to the plot. Classy as usual! And it was great to see Dillon's reaction to Lyla and Tim's "mistake." Again, a realistic and unassuming portrayal of life in small-town America, the good with the bad. I freaking love this show! What hope have we for a second season?— Dan

Matt Roush: I guess we'll have to wait and see how the show performs on Wednesdays, when it moves there with new episodes the first week of January. I'm not especially hopeful that Friday Night Lights will make a miraculous recovery and become a sudden hit, but I'd like to think that NBC will continue to find value in it as a prestige item and that advertisers will rally behind it regardless of disappointing ratings. It's too early to speculate on the decisions NBC will have to make come May, but for now, I'm just thrilled the show hasn't been kicked to the curb yet.

For a different twist on the subject, here's a provocative perspective from Mark M.: "Friday Night Lights has become my favorite show currently on television, and maybe even my all-time favorite show not created by Joss Whedon (yeah, I'm one of those). Is it then wrong of me to hope it gets canceled after one season? It used to be that if a show didn't have at least 100 episodes, then it wouldn't make it to syndication and fans would never ever see it again. Now we're in an age when we can buy our favorite shows on DVD regardless of how long they're on the air. With that in mind, is there any reason to push a show beyond its natural lifespan? I see FNL as a 22-episode story arc that will have nowhere to go afterwards. Because of its premise, the show will have to shed characters at the end of every season when seniors graduate high school. Then the writers will have to come up with new characters to take their place. Why bother when it seems impossible to recreate what's been done with this first season? There are a lot of shows for which you can pinpoint exactly the end of the natural story, and yet they push on. Sometimes they manage to reinvent themselves into something equally wonderful, but usually not. Do you see the economic model of the television industry changing at all in the future, shifting away from the idea that profit comes from having a show on the air for 10 years, and towards the idea that shows can be profitable and popular even if they're only on for a short time?"

What an interesting way of looking at it. (Do I have the best correspondents in the online universe or what?) You're right that the networks and the studios (now almost always part of the same company) are in a very transitional period, and we're probably not too far away from a time in which networks present series that are only intended for a limited run. (We kind of saw that with this fall's glut of serialized dramas, although almost none got to take it far enough to realize their vision.) I'd love to think that if Friday Night Lights only got this one season on the air, it would still be considered a creative, if not commercial, triumph. And the fact that it could be packaged as a complete entity on DVD (and perhaps sold into syndication as a 22-hour miniseries) might help bolster that reputation. Whatever it takes to encourage the networks to keep taking risks like this is OK by me. I'd love not to have to sweat out so many underdogs' renewals from season to season. And the shows themselves may well benefit from a more realistic time frame. (Plus, imagine the caliber of talent they might be able to attract with only a single-year commitment.)

And with that rather visionary discussion, I'll officially sign off for 2006, with thanks to everyone who contributed questions, letters and even complaints over the year. I can't tell you how rewarding and stimulating it is to produce this column twice a week, even when it threatens to drive me crazy. (You people don't miss anything!) I promise you I read every e-mail, and only wish I could answer them all (unfortunately, questions about when a show is coming out on DVD, or what piece of music was played during an episode are areas I rarely have the time or resources to pursue). I look forward to picking up the discussion and debate in the new year. Look for the next Ask Matt column the first Friday in January. Until then, enjoy the holidays, keep the faith, and don't let the cancellations get you down. Because you never know what great new show is lurking around the corner.

http://tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Ask-Matt/Default.aspx#01rescue

fredfa

12-23-06, 10:05 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Holiday Letter
By Matthew Gilbert The Boston Globe TV Critic in the Globe’s “Viewer Discretion” blog

Dear Friends,

There are so very, very many of you, and there are so very, very many wonderful things going on in my life, and I’m so very, very proud of everyone who happens to share my DNA, I’m going to put all my year-end happiness and triumph down in one place.

Where to begin? Every week brings such fantastic and terrific news in my household. It’s as though I’m living a fantasy life!

As most of you know, Meredith continues her very important work at Seattle Grace Hospital, where she excels in absolutely everything she does. So selfless, that girl! Always thinking of others! She reports that her mentor, Dr. Shepherd, has been very hands-on with her.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Uncle Vito, meanwhile, has taken a nice, long vacation. He began his journey in New Hampshire, shopping for antiques and enjoying hot Johnnycakes every morning, and now he is off exploring the wonders of this great country of ours. We don’t hear much from him – which, of course, is good news. Vito’s so lost in the joys of travel he might as well be on another planet.

Uncle Jack, too, has been relishing every moment of his trek to China. He works round the clock, so it’s nice that he’s finally taking some time to recharge.

I guess workaholism and conscience run in our great family. Cousin Dexter is on the job day and night down in Miami, doing everything he can to keep the streets safe. He’s still loving his police work – he has always had such a strong sense of justice, hasn’t he?! – and he was integral to the capture of the famous Ice Truck Killer. Dexter tells me he has also developed a taste for the paintings of Jackson Pollock.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Oh, by the way. Claire made the cheerleading squad!! She works day and night practicing all the demanding routines, but you know Claire. So resilient! She is my hero. She’s also quite pretty, just like her sister Betty.

Well, it’s time to say farewell, although I could go on. And on. I hope everything looks up for you in 2007, and that you will know at least a hint of the extreme excellence and elation and pride and glory I have experienced in these past 12 months.

Love,
Matthew

P.S. I’ll be on vacation until after the New Year. See you then.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/blog/

fredfa

12-23-06, 10:16 PM

Look, I realize it is hard work wrapping up all those gift DVD sets, and connecting the new plasma/LCD TVs to surprise the family on Christmas.

But it won’t delay things too much if you take a few moments to fill out your ballot to praise your favorite cable TV shows.

If you missed the earlier posts, here are the poll details:

2006 Cable Poll
Your top-5 Favorite Cable TV Shows

A few weeks ago you had a chance to vote on your favorite prime-time network TV shows. More than 300 votes were received.

Now it is time for your cable favorites.

So list them in order from 1-5 and either post them here in the thread or PM me.

If you would like, add a "guilty pleasure" cable show -- that is one you hate for your friends to discover you enjoy.

I will post periodic results until the polls close -- at a time still undecided.

So have a wonderful Holiday weekend, (keep checking in operiodically for TV news of note) and be sure to vote for your favorite cable shows!

fredfa

12-23-06, 10:47 PM

The Business of TV
West Coast, Here We Come!
Satellite & Broadband Expo Expanding to West Coast Market
(Satellite Expo News Release)

Nashville, TN --Basing the decision on repeated requests by attendees, distributors and manufacturers, the Satellite & Broadband Expo (SBE) will be hosting it’s first ever West coast show in October 2007.

The tradeshow for the satellite and broadband industry has been held in the Eastern portion of the United States since it’s launch in Memphis, TN. The 2006 show was held at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta, GA and will return to the same venue for the spring show in April 2007. Then the SBE goes west.

SBE 2007 West will be held at the Reno-Sparks Convention center in Reno, Nevada. Over 70,000 square feet of exhibit space has been set-aside for SBE 2007 in this venue. An industry veteran that was heavily involved with the past SBCA shows said, “One of the best shows we ever had was in Reno, the town and the people there are just great.” SBE Show Director Lee Gilliland had this to say concerning hosting the west show in Reno: “After visiting Reno, seeing the facilities and meeting a lot of the people in Reno that will be involved in producing SBE 2007 West, I am confident we could not have made a better decision on the site for this show. The entire city of Reno is excited about having this technology show hosted in their city and I am sure will make every attendee and exhibitor feel very welcome.”

Upon arriving in Reno for SBE 2007 West, which is being held October 10-13, you will have your choice of hotels from which to choose. You may choose from the fabulous Atlantis Resort and Casino located just steps from the front door of the Reno Sparks Convention Center or you may prefer to stay in the heart of downtown Reno at the, guest-pleasing, Circus-Circus. Either property will be happy to serve the attendees of SBE 2007 West and their rates are posted on the new website for the SBE show: www.SBEshow.com you may access either the west coast or east coast show from this one website.

We look forward to providing you the same world-class trade show you have grown accustomed to attending. We know you will join us in deciding we made a good choice by placing SBE 2007 West in the “Biggest Little City in The World.”

fredfa

12-23-06, 11:31 PM

The Media in 2007
The Envelopes, Please, for an Unopened Year
By Richard Siklos The New York Times Published: December 24, 2006

So what do you think? Two weeks ago we invited predictions on what 2007 would be “the year of” in media, and the user-generated responses were abundant and wiki-licious.

Roughly speaking, the predictions filling the in-box weighed heavily toward technological trends. The tone ranged from optimistic to apocalyptic. Not many people tackled such questions as whether “The Hobbit” will be greenlighted, whether the Tribune Company will be broken up or whether Judith Regan’s firing will be settled long before all the juicy details come tumbling out in court. (Um: no, yes, yes?)

For those who toil in the big media businesses, the word “media” itself refers to the big information industries — publishing, broadcasting, music, etc. — but some readers chose a refreshingly McLuhan-esque definition, in which a new media technology could be a pencil or a paper clip or just about anything else.

To wit, Pat Noble of Erie, Pa., predicted that “wristwatches are on their way out” because more people are using cellphones as timepieces. Nick Koscis, a writer from St. Catharines, Ontario, said he looked forward to “the year of the fast-food franchises converting to nutritionally correct dining,” adding: “Being major advertisers on media, I include them in the mix.”

And there were a couple of brief, curious outliers that, for all we know, are prescient:

“Night-vision technology will be adapted to cellphones so photos can be taken directly through people’s clothing,” wrote William Topp of Otisville, N.Y.

One that arrived without a name said that 2007 would “be the year of the child film auteur.” And one more said that it would be “the year of the mobile personal headset display.”

There were also plenty of other thoughtful but more mainstream bets. Echoing the prayer of all his brethren, one media executive — who chimed in on condition that he not be named — suggested that this would be the year of equalization: that media companies would figure out ways to make money from new digital distribution formats and the Internet without cannibalizing their existing businesses. In other words, hallelujah, they will finally make up on volume what they are losing on price.

Many media businesses — particularly AOL — reoriented themselves this year to grab a share of the growing online advertising honey pot. This led James Bedell of Queens to wonder whether we’ll see everyone run back to the other side of the room next year in pursuit of subscription dollars. “Banner ads are nice, membership fees are nicer,” Mr. Bedell wrote. “Look for the information superhighway to pick up a lot more tolls.”

Tony Trippe, an associate professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, predicted a year of consolidation.

“We’re going to see organizations learn that their business model is not the end-all and be-all,” he wrote. “These organizations will try to salvage what they can from their pipe dreams, and that will lead to the buyouts, mergers and consolidations.”

A similar less-cheery view — if you’re a media executive — came from Fred Bothwell of Georgetown, Tex., who predicted the “continuing diminished significance of profit-based mainstream media as information sources.” They will wither, he predicted, as more people turn to Web-based purpose-driven services like Craigslist that are not looking to maximize profits, but to make the world a smiley place.

There were a few votes for Google to continue its rise and to extend its tentacles successfully into other forms of media, particularly video. That said, a couple of readers predicted that the Google juggernaut would run out of steam, possibly at the hands of a resurgent Yahoo.

Interesting days lie ahead for the studios. Doomsday forecasts of declining movie attendance went away when the figures reversed slightly this year, but it will be interesting to see what happens if a studio ( Walt Disney, anyone?) becomes the first to simultaneously release a major film on pay-per-view and at the multiplex.

Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Capital, issued a report last week arguing that 2007 would be the first year since the introduction of the DVD roughly a decade ago that consumer spending on the discs will decline, putting pressure on studios that rely heavily on them.

One reader predicted that with the bonanza in DVD growth ending, and big media companies desperate for a new growth engine, 2007 would be the year when “traditional media make a big bet on online gaming: they will buy up, invest in or launch massively multiplayer online gaming companies.”

Luke Luckett, a recent graduate of New York University, predicted that the digital divide between those who have ready access to broadband Internet and those who don’t would become more pronounced next year.

For the haves, the Web could become a much more useful and vibrant place as Web and media companies start stitching together their various services to provide versatile and detailed local information. Those services include maps, listings, reviews, advertising, news, traffic reports and all kinds of content from users, like the growing practice of “tagging,” the online equivalent of Post-it notes.

IN the column two weeks ago about “the year that wasn’t,” the inclusion of high-definition television attracted a chorus of viewers who, having their own personal Howard Beale moments, aren’t going to take it any more when it comes to their television viewing.

Betty Morgan of Sumter, S.C., echoed a dozen others when she wrote: “Why would I want to pay more for the same crummy TV programs? I use it to watch my old DVDs while I wait for them to kill one of the new formats. There are too many things to fix before the year of digital happens.”

As Rein Taul of Toronto put it: “I for one am sick and tired of hearing about the red herrings of piracy, lost ad revenue, new technology impacts, etc. The American auto industry is paying the piper for their lack of respect for their customers as manifest through poor product. How far behind can the entertainment industry be?”

Although such views are subjective by their very nature, it is worth noting that people still care passionately about professionally produced media in this do-it-yourself world of exploding choice and control.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/business/yourmoney/24frenzy.html?ref=business

tkmedia2

12-23-06, 11:44 PM

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
The Wire
The Shield
Deadwood
Thief (does that count?)

fredfa

12-23-06, 11:44 PM

Critic’s Notebook
Where the Tube Beats YouTube
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times December 24, 2006

It was a year in which everything interesting or bizarre on television found its way, secondhand, to YouTube, from Mel Gibson’s apologizing on “Good Morning America” for his anti-Semitic rant and Michael Richards apologizing on David Letterman’s show for his racist rant, to Vice President Dick Cheney explaining to Fox News why he accidentally shot his friend on a hunting trip. But conventional television offered some gems too good to reduce to a 60-second video download.

‘30 ROCK’ Tina Fey’s comedy show on NBC about an NBC comedy show is mostly a showcase for Alec Baldwin, who is brilliant as a loony, smoothie network executive. But the writing and cast keep getting sharper and funnier, making it a fit companion to “The Office.”

‘PROJECT RUNWAY’ This fashion showdown on Bravo actually tests designers’ talent as well as their tempers; the third season was as addictive as the first.

‘SLEEPER CELL’ The second season of Showtime’s dark thriller about a Muslim F.B.I. agent who infiltrates an Islamic terrorist cell in Los Angeles was gem hard and jihad-centric — hard to watch but harder to turn off.

‘THE VIEW’ Rosie O’Donnell, who casts herself as daytime television’s first “gay parent,” burst onto the 10-year-old ABC show like a Molotov cocktail. She outed Clay Aiken (even though he has never publicly addressed his sexuality), while Joy Behar lambasted Vogue magazine for putting “skinny bitches on pedestals” and Danny DeVito showed up seemingly drunk on the set (who wouldn’t?). It’s the best party, the kind that risks a police raid. Bonus: it’s as if Meredith Vieira and Star Jones were never there.

IRAQ STUDY GROUP NEWS CONFERENCE Dec. 6 marked a turning point for American policy in Iraq, and also for inside-the-Beltway oldsters. The stately panel fulfilled the ultimate AARP fantasy: long-ignored graybeards like Edwin Meese III, Sandra Day O’Connor and Alan K. Simpson took back center stage to reprove the president — Scold for a Day.

‘SHARK’ As a celebrity defense lawyer who becomes a prosecutor, James Wood is deliciously glib, sarcastic and sleazy. CBS’s courtroom drama is a “Matlock” for misanthropes, picking up the slack left by “House” and “Boston Legal.”

HELEN MIRREN This year, Americans saw her as Elizabeth I on HBO, as Elizabeth II in the Stephen Frears movie “The Queen” and, perhaps most regally, as Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison in the final installment of the PBS series “Prime Suspect.” Thanks to Ms. Mirren, the retirement-bound, lonely and vodka-gulping Tennison has never been more riveting.

‘SHAKESPEARE-TOLD’ The BBC unleashed a gaggle of television writers on Shakespeare, and the result was “Macbeth” as a Scottish chef in a trendy restaurant and a “Taming of the Shrew” in which a young, shrewish Margaret Thatcher-ette was pitted against her unlikely tamer, a penniless, cross-dressing aristocrat. RE-told and RE-freshing.

‘THIEF’ A six-episode series on FX starring Andre Braugher as the leader of a larcenous gang in post-Katrina New Orleans, this thriller wove crime into a deeper canvas of family, race, love and loss. It was cold, violent, thoughtful, tender and Exhibit A in the debate over whether the art of television has superseded film.

‘THE WIRE’ is Exhibit B. The fourth season of the HBO series again burrowed deep into the psyches of Baltimore’s cops and robbers, as well as its addicts, school board officials and nail-gun assassins. Beneath taut dialogue and sleek, bleak cinematography lies a plot as intricate and convoluted as a Dickens novel. Or maybe it’s more like Joyce’s “Ulysses” — a masterpiece that everyone admires but almost nobody fully follows.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/arts/television/24stan.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

shawn12341234

12-23-06, 11:57 PM

1. Sopranos
2. Entourage
3. Weeds
4. Lucky Louie
5. The Wire

fredfa

12-24-06, 12:06 AM

Thanks for the votes, Tony and Shawn.

fredfa

12-24-06, 01:42 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Last Gasps
Who’s Not Hot: The Lost-Luster Club’s Inductees
By Virginia Heffernan The New York Times December 24, 2006

A WARNING: This might get a little sad, but let’s keep it in the spirit of the season. No glibness. Instead, in the words of Dan Fogelberg, old lang syne.

So here is a gentle, dignified goodbye to eight great television institutions that have run their course this year. For in television, as in all human endeavors, nothing lasts forever. (Except “Guiding Light”! Happy 70th, people of Springfield!)

‘NIP/TUCK’ The compelling FX series about beauty and disfigurement lost its goth focus and slipped into a bacchanal free-for-all with no new ideas. Too bad.

PENN JILLETTE He was a hip, wicked magician in Las Vegas, then a libertarian debunker on Showtime, and now he’s a game-show host on game-show-happy NBC? Come on, man.

THE NETWORK MINI-SERIES It started on ABC almost 40 years ago with the “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” and seems to have met its demise on that same network with “The Path to 9/11.” Producing event TV, with its fact-fiction blend, isn’t what it used to be now that any keyboard jockey — or even an ex-president — will cry foul if things aren’t truthy enough.

DOOMSAYING ABOUT THE SITCOM Yes, that’s right: it’s the end of the end of the sitcom. After dying for years, the sitcom is finally documentably alive and well. It can be found in likely places like NBC (“30 Rock”), newish places like Showtime (“Weeds”) and unlikely places like TBS (“My Boys”).

REALITY TV Even “The Amazing Race” and “Survivor” were off this season, and forget about that gaudy infomercial called “The Apprentice.” The talent competitions are going strong, but the shows that used to define reality on the networks — including “Big Brother” and “The Bachelor” — have turned from novelties to embarrassments.

NBC’S THURSDAY NIGHT PANIC All right, so never again will there be a “Friends”-“Cheers”-“Family Ties”-“Seinfeld”-“Frasier”-“Will & Grace” stranglehold. Must See TV is gone forever. But “The Office” and “30 Rock” can make you laugh, and in general once NBC stopped freaking out about its Thursday glory days, things started to look O.K. again.

PARENT-TEENAGER SHARE SHOWS When WB crashed into UPN and the CW network was born, among the many losses were the top-shelf teen shows. The late “Everwood” is hard to even mention without choking up. And “Gilmore Girls” — well, without its original creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, it has been a ghost of its former self. Surely that great series deserved a more honorable end.

NETWORK NEWS Should it be sweeter, or more savory? More boyish, or more girly? Maybe it should just. Be. Over.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/arts/television/24heff.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

dad1153

12-24-06, 03:18 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Present Sense
By Amy Amatangelo, The Washinton Post December 24, 2006

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through L.A., TV characters wondered what they'd get the next day.

We've set our DVRs and checked air times twice. When it comes to TV, we know who's naughty and nice.

Across the networks from ABC to TNT, we're certain what should be beneath everyone's tree.

So please join in our reindeer game to see what Santa has for those with fame.

-A proper calculator for the banker on Deal or No Deal, so he can rethink his offers, particularly early in the game. They seem pretty paltry to us!

-A subscription to "US Weekly" for Temperance (Emily Deschanel) of Bones. She really needs to stop saying "I don't know what that means" about every single pop-culture reference.

-A big bottle of makeup remover for Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) of Ghost Whisperer. That girl always goes to bed wearing too much mascara.

-A complete set of the Nancy Drew mysteries for Veronica (Kristen Bell) of Veronica Mars. She could use some tried-and-true tips from a classic teenage sleuth.

-A BlackBerry for Earl (Jason Lee) of My Name Is Earl, to better organize his list.

-A membership in the chocolate-of-the-month club for Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) of The Closer. We think her addiction to processed sugar is just fine.

-A marriage counselor for Lorelai (Lauren Graham) andnew hubby Christopher (David Sutcliffe) of Gilmore Girls. We suspect rocky times are ahead.

-A new theme song for Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) of Criminal Minds, because you just know he wants to sing.

-A housekeeper for Allison (Patricia Arquette) and Joe (Jake Weber) of Medium. It's too hard to have psychic visions and keep the floors clean.

-For Betty (America Ferrera) on Ugly Betty, a guest appearance on Extreme Makeover or perhaps What Not to Wear.

-An unbreakable watch for Hiro (Masi Oka) of Heroes, as he perfects his ability to stop time.

-A weekend at a bed and breakfast for Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) of Lost. They *so* need a little privacy.

-Match.com memberships for Cristina (Sandra Oh), George (T.R. Knight) and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) of Grey's Anatomy. They really need to stop dating the people they work with.

-A copy of "He's Just Not That Into You" for Karen (Rashida Jones) of The Office, who just can't seem to grasp that Jim is still in love with Pam.

-Parenting classes for Sam (Linda Cardellini) on ER. Different children have played her son, and she hasn't even noticed!

-A coupon organizer for Julius (Terry Crews) of Everybody Hates Chris. You know the man won't spend $3.49 to buy one for himself.

-A pair of slacks for Charlie (Charlie Sheen) of Two and a Half Men. Sometimes shorts really aren't appropriate.

-Tattoo removal for Michael (Wentworth Miller) of Prison Break. He's just too identifiable with that ink all over his body.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121901009.html

dad1153

12-24-06, 03:22 AM

TV Notebook
When Writers Escaped the 42-Minute Box
By Bill Carter, The New York Times December 24, 2006

Like almost everything else in the media world, the rhythmic beat that television has moved to for most of its history became choppy and uncertain in 2006.

One big reason was the shift to a new (or maybe very old) form of storytelling. This was the year of the serialized action drama, with more and more shows abandoning the format of story lines begun and ended in each episode in favor of one continuous and sinuous plot, spun out over a full season, or in some cases the entire run of the series.

The popularity of the format owed everything to a couple of big hits, “24” on Fox and “Lost” on ABC. Well, almost everything. Other antecedents go back a bit farther — to the 1930s, for example, with serials like “Flash Gordon” in movie theaters, or the 1830s, with novels like “Oliver Twist” that were published in chapter form in periodicals (in that case, Bentley’s Miscellany).

Many television writers were delighted to be freed from the constraints of wrapping up their tales in 42 minutes or so. Some saw the new format as an opportunity to be the novelists they would have preferred being anyway.

As for the networks, they were only too happy to have the ratings when the shows turned out well, as was the case with “Prison Break” on Fox, “Jericho” on CBS and especially “Heroes” on NBC. (Many more serial dramas failed, but that’s business as usual for television.) Still, with success came unanticipated problems that called for some unconventional solutions.

Deep into the fall 2006 season, for example, CBS had no idea what to make of “Jericho,” a show about a small Kansas town cut off from the rest of the country after nuclear attacks on big cities. Kelly Kahl, the chief scheduler for CBS, convened a meeting in October to deal with some pressing questions. Could the show repeat episodes successfully (something “Lost” and “24” have never been able to do)? How would the show manage to get through a 36-week television season with only 22 new episodes? Would die-hard fans have the patience to wait through a long interregnum for fresh episodes?

“We realized we had a different animal on our hands,” Mr. Kahl said. He acknowledged that CBS looked for answers from the track records of “24” and “Lost,” each of which had taken different approaches.

For three seasons, Fox started “24” in the fall, took time off during the baseball playoffs and rebooted the series in January. Finally, the network chose a more radical approach three seasons ago, withholding all the episodes of “24” until midseason, after which they could run consecutively without interruption. “It took a lot of intestinal fortitude to have that patience,” said Preston Beckman, the chief scheduler for Fox. But it paid off: ratings for “24” have soared in the uninterrupted format.

ABC first tried spacing out episodes of “Lost” throughout a season, sprinkling in repeats in December, January and the spring. That only irritated the show’s fans and left the production team exhausted from trying to keep up with occasional new episodes throughout the season.

This year the network shifted to what might be called the semi-season, dividing the show into two separate runs: one in fall, the other in late winter and spring.

CBS decided on that strategy with “Jericho,” announcing an “end to the fall season” in November, with the promise of a “new season” in February. NBC tried a modified version of the split season with “Heroes,” declaring a December episode the official terminus of the initial run of episodes. (The show returns in late January.) In all cases the shows provided the requisite cliffhangers to send viewers off with a hunger for more.

In the meantime, the shows are all offering snippets of new material on the Internet, from profiles of characters to Webisodes to coming attractions.

Will the major innovation of 2006 — the suspended television season — work? “It’s a risk,” Mr. Kahl conceded.

The networks can take comfort in at least one earlier attempt. Fans of “Oliver Twist” had to sit through chapterless months three times in the novel’s two-year run in Bentley’s Miscellany. But they kept coming back for more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/arts/television/24cart.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin

dad1153

12-24-06, 03:31 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Lights, camera ... best of ’06: ‘24’ tops ‘Deadwood,’ ‘Office, ‘Anatomy’ and more
By Mark Perigard, The Boston Herald December 24, 2006

Only 10 shows?

There was so much good TV in 2006, it seems like an impossible challenge for one mere mortal to narrow it down.

Life is about tough choices, so hang onto your remotes.

There may be no room for “Ugly Betty,” but that shouldn’t be misconstrued as a sign of no love for the delightful drama.

“Lost’s” fall stinker exiles it from this isle. “Desperate Housewives” is having a great third season, but that Applewhite mystery almost sank the show last spring. “Heroes’ ” clever marketing campaign (“Save the cheerleader. Save the world.”) ensnared me, but not quite enough to warrant a ranking. Spike Lee’s brilliant, devastating Katrina documentary, “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,” aired as a miniseries, hence its absence (no worries - Lee will clean up at the Emmys).

“Laguna Beach,” “Ultimate Fighter,” “Robot Chicken” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County” were guilty pleasures that say more about this hack’s split personality than anything else.

On to the best series of 2006:

1.- 24: Fox’s serial thriller was the show to beat in 2006, a nonstop adrenaline rush. Its willingness to dispose of beloved regulars bordered on series suicide (not Edgar!) but only made the show even more addictive. Factor in Jean Smart’s mesmerizing turn as a first lady who went from emotional zero to hero, and you can understand why so many other fall shows tried copying the “24” formula - and failed.

2.- Deadwood HBO’s adults-only western found the townspeople uniting against a foe (Gerald McRaney, in the TV comeback of the year) who threatened to crush them all - and almost did. The premium cable channel has canceled the show, but “Deadwood” lives. David Milch is writing two films to resolve the series’ stories.

3.- Battlestar Galactica: After my last glowing review of the Sci Fi Channel series, I received hate mail accusing me of being a member of al-Jazeera. That’s the kind of nerve this show hits. The third season avoided a potentially jump-the-shark cliffhanger and has found gripping stories in a fractured fleet coming together in a desperate bid for survival.

4.- American Idol: Fox’s talent - and often talent-free - competition isn’t about the results, it’s about the process - and awaiting Paula Abdul’s next on-air meltdown (never further than the next commercial break). The morning after every episode, it was all people could talk about.

5.- The Office: Cheaper and more fun than therapy, this NBC sitcom helped many an office drone survive yet another day in soulless corporate America. No other show makes petty personal politics so funny. And how many hearts skipped when Jim finally kissed Pam?

6.- Grey's Anatomy: It’s not about the patients, it’s about the personal crises, and boy, did we get sucked into this ABC drama. Denny died, Izzy refused to get off the floor, Meredith and Derek found their way back to each other (for now!) and McSteamy acted like McAss. Diagnosis: a long life atop the Nielsens.

7.- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The highest rated member of the Dick Wolf troika opened up the procedural formula and gave viewers some tantalizing access to the detectives’ personal lives. The result was an Emmy win for Mariska Hargitay and a nomination for co-star Christopher Meloni. Meloni continues to command the screen as a detective struggling to contain his regrets as his personal and professional lives falter.

8.- Project Runway: If a TV show about something you’ve never cared about - or known anything about - can pull you in, then it’s doing something right. Bravo’s “Project Runway” created millions of armchair fashion critics and turned Tim Gunn into the unlikeliest pop culture icon.

9.-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: While networks and critics alike were writing the sitcom genre’s obituary, FX’s little-seen “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” returned for a second season of vicious and delicious politically incorrect humor. The show managed to integrate new regular Danny DeVito and sharpened the tip of its comedic sword.

10.- The Wire: HBO’s gritty drama turned an unflinching eye on how urban decay affects the lives of at-risk teens. The result was the show’s best received season.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=173623

harley1

12-24-06, 07:51 AM

MERRY CHRISTMAS

foxeng

12-24-06, 08:45 AM

1. Sopranos
2. Rescue Me
3. Rome
4. Most anything on NGC
5. Most anything on Science Channel
6. Most anything on History Channel
7. Most anything on History International

(OK I know it was only 5 things but I only watch 7 things!!) Merry Christmas!!

fredfa

12-24-06, 11:13 AM

HDTV Notebook
Signals unclear to hi-definition buyers
Prices down, sales up ... but headaches abound
By Michael Schneider Variety.com Dec. 24, 2006

Santa probably should have included tech support with those TVs he dumped under the tree this week.

U.S. consumers were high on high-def this holiday season, purchasing digital TVs (particularly plasma and LCD models) in record numbers. But that doesn't mean they understand how those pricy sets work.

"People know what 'digital' means, but they're being asked to remember all these obscure terms," says Matt Swanston, director of business analysis at the Consumer Electronics Assn. "They could learn so much more about HDTV."

Like how to actually watch HDTV on those HD sets. It's not as easy as you'd think.

Many owners don't realize that they need to erect an antenna -- or subscribe to HD service from their cable/satellite provider -- in order to pick up high-def signals.

Otherwise, they're still watching a regular picture on their $2,000 TV. And probably thinking to themselves, "Huh? The screen looked so much better in the store."

"People understand why they want an HD or digital set, (but) relatively few understand everything that needs to happen from the source to their set," says Swanston, who notes that consumers are used to bringing home new electronics devices and simply plugging them in.

"Unlike the cell phone or DVD player, they tend to need more," he says. "Your CD player had everything on board. But a high-def display is dependent on external sources. And that's where consumer understanding drops off."

More of that confusion starts Dec. 26, as the dramatic drop in price this season means a huge jump in household penetration for HD and digital sets. The average digital TV set now costs just over $1,043 -- the lowest price yet -- and will dip to $800 next year, the CEA reports.

This summer the CEA estimated that the industry would end 2006 by selling 19.7 million digital TVs to dealers (worth $20.5 billion), up from 11.4 million in 2005. But Swanston thinks the org underestimated the growth this holiday season and that the number may wind up much higher.

"The prices can't be beat," he says. "It sure seems (like a landmark year), going from recent seasons where we had shortages of sets, and prices were higher, to now, with Wal-Mart declaring early that they'll put downward price pressure on the sector."

Price wars have taken a toll for electronics sellers, as Circuit City posted an unexpected third-quarter loss one week after its larger rival Best Buy also reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results.

Meanwhile, retail has a mixed record when it comes to educating consumers.

"There's a lot of room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding when dealing one-on-one with consumers and sales people," Swanston says.

That's especially true with the 2009 analog cutoff. On that date, broadcasters will shut off their analog signals and continue broadcasting only in digital. But contrary to popular belief, the switchover won't make your existing analog TV set obsolete -- and it doesn't even mean that TV will suddenly go all-digital, all-the-time.

The cutoff will mostly affect just the 10%-15% of the population that still gets its signals over-the-air, rather than via cable or satellite.

"They're the target that we have to make sure understands what's going on and why," Swanston says.

The massive amount of attention devoted to the switchover will probably force some stragglers to finally move to a digital set.

But right now, beyond the dropping price of digital TVs, it's the continuously growing availability of programming in high definition that's fueling a surge in set purchases.

Not only is most of primetime now broadcasting in high-def, but the nets are looking to round out coverage in other dayparts -- particularly sports. The nets early on went high-def with football, but lagged behind in other sports. CBS, for one, is looking to change that this year, adding high-def coverage of events including golf.

Another key selling point: Once you go high-def, it's hard to even watch standard definition anymore.

"Once they've seen it a certain amount, they're spoiled," Swanston says. "There are folks here who refuse to watch anything in standard definition anymore."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956255&categoryid=14

dad1153

12-24-06, 11:16 AM

Critic’s Notebook
High definition
The cable and network shows that clicked
By Marisa Guthrie, New York Daily News December 24, 2006

The familiar lament that television is but a "vast wasteland" has become as obsolete as rabbit ears. Yes, there is still plenty of chaff among the wheat. But as this year illustrated, there's never been more quality, high-fiber nourishment offered over the airwaves - or in your TiVo list, on the Net or on your iPod, if you prefer.

This year, cable continued to deliver impeccably written dramas that present a level of truth unobtainable on broadcast television (thanks to meddling watchdog groups and their government bludgeon, the FCC). "Weeds," "Dexter" and "Brotherhood" on Showtime, "Rescue Me" and "The Shield" on FX and "The Wire" and "Big Love" on HBO all presented indelible portraits of the thorny side of life. And HBO's heartwarming buddy comedy "Entourage" continued to give us a nuanced peak into Hollywood's gilded cage. There's a reason why this show is a must-see for actors, agents and everyone within an HOV-lane joyride of the 405 freeway.

The impact of these series on broadcast TV came this year in the form of more high-concept, serialized dramas, including the sadly canceled "Smith," "Kidnapped" and "Day Break." "Heroes" is the only one that's intrigued enough viewers to become a real hit; the apocalyptic undertones recall "The X Files," and the characters - especially Masi Oka's Hiro and Milo Ventimiglia's Peter - possess a touching humanity.

"The Nine" was the biggest disappointment of the season. The first episode conjured the operatic violence and perilous intensity of "The Sopranos," but by episode two, the ABC series had devolved into a weepy, painfully slow relationship drama - just like the network's latest J.J. Abrams entry, "Six Degrees." ABC has shelved both shows.

This year also brought a resurgence of the game show with NBC's "Deal or No Deal," hosted by the indispensable (who knew?) Howie Mandel and featuring the briefcase girls, some of whom, we're told, are actually really smart. (According to Mandel, one went to Oxford and another is an astrophysicist - or something like that). But what has made this show appointment viewing, and propelled the title into the pop-culture lexicon, are its parallel themes: the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Who isn't heartbroken by the poor shlub who comes so close to $1 million, only to wind up going home with ten bucks?

And since no end-of-the-year postmortem is complete without a list, here are more of the best of the year in television:

Essential personnel: Alec Baldwin; Jason Isaacs; Harry Dean Stanton

What would "30 Rock," Tina Fey's sharply written showbiz comedy, be without Baldwin's obtuse head honcho Jack Donaghy? Baldwin has never been more hilariously deadpan.

In the final episode of Showtime's "Brotherhood," Isaac's Michael Caffee was lying in a pool of blood, and the prognosis was bleak. But the actor has been signed for a second season, and it's a good thing, too, because Isaacs' volatile gang thug is the razor wire holding this great series together

On "Big Love," Stanton's creepy compound lord Roman Grant is the thorn in the side of his son-in-law, Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) - and everyone else's side, too. Every story needs a Lucifer, and Stanton crackles with devilish intensity.

Most lovable: America Ferrera; Emmitt Smith.

As Betty Suarez, the heroine of "Ugly Betty," Ferrera has given us a heroine we can root for. Her outsider status and striving goodness are infectious. And she's all the more appealing for her wide smile - revealing a mouth full of metal - and normal height-to-weight ratio.

And though Mario Lopez may have been more stylish, Smith's graciousness and genuine enthusiasm were what "Dancing With the Stars" fans (and judges) responded to this year. In this case, the nice guy did indeed finish first.

Most appallingly funny: Elizabeth Perkins; the women of "The Real Housewives of Orange County"; Michael Kors on "Project Runway"

Perkins' Celia Hodes on Showtime's "Weeds" is a cancer survivor and a mother. But there's still not a nurturing bone in her body. As Perkins put it: "Celia would eat her own young."

The women of Bravo's docusoap "The Real Housewives of Orange County," which kicks off its second season in January, are absolutely self-involved and crassly materialistic. Thanks goodness we can laugh at them.

And we laugh with "Project Runway" judge Kors, who's mastered the caustically comical put-down on the fashion reality show.

Best show you're not watching

NBC's "Friday Night Lights." Executive producer Peter Berg has crafted a masterful portrait of a depressive American town where football is the only respite from the drudgery of life and high school is the last stop on the highway of unrealized dreams. The young cast is impressive and, as the hardworking football coach, the always affable Kyle Chandler has never been more likable.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/482453p-406063c.html