The Business of TV
DirecTV Rumor Mill Spins Its Way to CES
By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 1/1/2007

Next week at the nation’s biggest consumer-electronics confab, the chiefs of DirecTV Group and EchoStar Communications, Chase Carey and Charlie Ergen, are scheduled to appear on a “Pipelines Power” panel.

Carey and Ergen — along with several cable operators and broadcasters — are slated to discuss “the state of content delivery” and “what partnerships are in the works,” according to the agenda of the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show.

The Jan. 8 panel in Las Vegas couldn’t be more timely. It comes in the wake of Liberty Media’s $11 billion deal late last month to swap its 16.3% stake in News Corp. for Rupert Murdoch’s 38.5% stake in DirecTV.

There’s been much speculation about “partnerships” since the pact was announced Dec. 22: Namely, whether Liberty chairman John Malone will seek to merge the nation’s largest satellite provider with Ergen’s Dish Network, the second-largest direct-broadcast satellite player. Such a union would create a satellite superpower with 28.6 million subscribers, a base that would exceed cable leader Comcast’s 24.1 million customers.

It remains to be seen whether Ergen and Carey address that topic, duck it or even cancel their scheduled appearances rather than be in the hot seat. They were still confirmed to appear as of deadline last Friday.

Wall Street and industry analysts all have their own theories about the mercurial Malone’s motives — and end goal — for DirecTV.

REGULATORY MUSTER

While a few analysts believe it’s a no-brainer that Malone will seek to merge DirecTV with EchoStar, the majority on Wall Street scoff at that notion. They argue that there is no way such a proposal would ever pass muster with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Others are predicting that Malone will flip DirecTV to a telco, with AT&T considered the most likely buyer in that scenario.

Some media analysts believe Malone, who sold cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. to AT&T in 1999, was motivated to once again be a distributor. Now he’ll regain a platform that he can use to launch new networks or to expand carriage of Liberty’s existing programming services.

And then there are the experts who claim that Malone’s interest in DirecTV is not as an operating entity, but is strictly a passive financial play.

Malone couldn’t be reached for comment last week, and EchoStar declined to comment.

But in a press release, Malone said that the DirecTV investment “will create financial, operating and strategic flexibility” for Liberty. The company also said Carey will continue to serve as the satellite provider’s president and CEO.

'ERGENOMICS’

Some analysts are banking that Malone will try to join forces with fellow Denver entrepreneur Ergen. As a merged entity, some experts believe, DirecTV and Dish Network could better compete — and perhaps devise a viable broadband strategy in response to cable’s highly successful bundle of video, telephone service and high-speed Internet access.

“In terms of synergies, it’s hard to imagine two companies who could get more out of a merger than DirecTV and EchoStar,” said Carmel Group chairman Jimmy Schaeffler. “The future would be one of a 900-pound gorilla in the video space, facing two 600-pound gorillas [Comcast and Time Warner] on the bundled side. And that’s why it makes sense.”

In 2002, due to antitrust issues, both the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice effectively put the kibosh on Ergen’s plan back then to merge his EchoStar and DirecTV. And many media analysts on Wall Street, including Craig Moffett at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and Thomas Eagan of Oppenheimer & Co., said that the odds today of Washington approving any DirecTV-EchoStar merger haven’t improved.

“The idea that John Malone is going to be able to merge DirecTV with EchoStar is one of those rumors that just won’t die,” Moffett said. “But every single credible voice that has weighed in on this issue has given it an unequivocal no-go … No credible Washington insider has said that a deal can be done.”

FCC chairman Kevin Martin, FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, former FCC commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, and former DOJ prosecutors have all said that such a merger “is not feasible,” according to Moffett.

Schaeffler believes that the DOJ would give its OK to a combined DirecTV-EchoStar now because the phone companies, finally, seem to be getting a real foothold in video.

“The telcos give the DOJ and the FCC an out,” said Schaeffler, who also doubts that Carey has a long-term future at DirecTV.

AT&T ANGELS

In a Dec. 18 report, UBS Warburg analyst Aryeh Bourkoff suggested that AT&T, which is enmeshed in its BellSouth merger, could jump-start its video rollout by buying into a DBS company, and that DirecTV would be the ideal partner.

But Moffett is skeptical about the prospect of Malone selling DirecTV to AT&T. He doubts AT&T would have any interest in purchasing a DBS company, pointing out that the telco already has a current partnership with EchoStar, where they have teamed up on Homezone, a video-high-speed data service.

In a report, Eagan also expressed doubt that Malone would sell to AT&T, noting that Liberty might have to wait two years to do such a transaction in order to avoid paying taxes.

Analysts such as Jeff Wlodarczak at Wachovia characterized Malone’s interest in DirecTV as “a passive investment position.”

In his report, he wrote, “By swapping for DirecTV, Malone gets a massive step up in tax basis and a control stake in an underlevered DirecTV.” The satellite company could add $15 billion in debt, according to the analyst.

'MILKING’ ASSETS

Both Wlodarczak and Moffett predicted that Malone will “lever” DirecTV’s balance sheet to pay out a one-time special dividend. Liberty, obviously, would be a major beneficiary by virtue of its large DirecTV stake.

But Bruce Leichtman, president of Leichtman Research Group, said that Malone understands and will take full advantage of his new valuable asset, even without a merger with EchoStar.

“You’ve got an operator with over 15 million subs, and that’s one heck of a way to start,” Leichtman said. “You’re in a milk-it stage, and there’s nobody better at milking it than Malone.”

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6403282

The Business of TV
Malone Boosts Liberty’s Distribution Portfolio

By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 1/1/2007

Through his stake in DirecTV, Liberty Media chairman John Malone will once again own a distribution platform, a 15.6 million-subscriber outlet to potentially expand carriage for his services.

Liberty’s portfolio includes home-shopping leader QVC, Starz Entertainment and stakes in Discovery Communications and GSN, as well as some new assets. As part of the DirecTV deal, along with $550 million in cash, Malone is getting three regional sports channels from News Corp: FSN Rocky Mountain, FSN Northwest and FSN Pittsburgh.

But Malone’s distribution upside may be limited, according to some experts. The core Discovery networks, such as Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, TLC and Travel Channel — as well as QVC and GSN — are already carried on Direc TV’s widely penetrated “Total Choice” package. And the satellite company is one of Starz’s biggest distributors, officials familiar with the situation said. And just because Malone will own nearly 39% of DirecTV doesn’t mean he can just put any channel, new or old, that he wants on it, according to Craig Moffett, a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst.

”DirecTV had to set up a special committee to review any News Corp.-related transactions,” he said. “Liberty would have to presumably set up exactly the same protection.”

That committee would make sure all Liberty deals with DirecTV are “arms-length,” to ensure that “DirecTV shareholders aren’t affectively footing the bill to the tune of 61 cents on the dollar for every transaction with Liberty,” according to Moffett.

Malone could also try to leverage Direc TV’s distribution, by telling Comcast, for example, that he will launch one of its networks in exchange for increased carriage for Liberty channels.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6403282

Fred, I thought you were going early to the Rose Bowl. What happened? ;)

I don't have to leave for while yet, dad.

The Business of TV
DirecTV Rumor Mill Spins Its Way to CES


'MILKING’ ASSETS

Both Wlodarczak and Moffett predicted that Malone will “lever” DirecTV’s balance sheet to pay out a one-time special dividend. Liberty, obviously, would be a major beneficiary by virtue of its large DirecTV stake.

But Bruce Leichtman, president of Leichtman Research Group, said that Malone understands and will take full advantage of his new valuable asset, even without a merger with EchoStar.

“You’ve got an operator with over 15 million subs, and that’s one heck of a way to start,” Leichtman said. “You’re in a milk-it stage, and there’s nobody better at milking it than Malone.”

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6403282
Doesn't seem like too many happy days ahead for DirecTV subs. While anything can happen I suppose, what I get from reading this and other articles on the subject is that there is a strong possibility Malone will sit on DirecTV until he can flip it in another 2 years while sucking cash out of it with the dividend payout to Liberty.

(David Bott of AVS Forum gets quoted again)
Technology Notebook
Clearing the Air on Resolution
True HD' a Polarizing Factor to TV Buyers
By Natalie Finn (Special to TelevisionWeek January 1, 2007

One would be hard-pressed to find an HDTV expert who doesn't think that 1080p is the future, in both broadcasting and display. It's often referred to-by marketers in particular-as "true HD" or "full HD." What's polarizing consumers and industry insiders, however, is the question of whether it's worth investing now in a 1080p display when there's no 1080p television content capable of reaching it.

High-definition content is currently broadcast in either 720p or 1080i, with the numbers referring to how many horizontal resolution lines are in each frame and the letters designating either progressive scan or interlace technology. In a progressive scan format, lines of pixels scan into a frame in order, with each frame displayed on the screen for 1/60 of a second. Interlacing technology sends every odd-numbered scan line onto the screen, and then the even-numbered lines fill in the gaps, all within 1/30 of a second.

Most broadcasters and cable networks that currently produce content in HD have no plans to upgrade to 1080p anytime soon, though they all acknowledge that they will have to eventually.

1080i and 1080p monitors technically have the same level of resolution. Unlike tube displays, however, microdisplays (such as LCD rear-projections and digital light processing screens), flat-panel LCDs and plasma screens are inherently progressive, so those types of sets automatically convert incoming 1080i signals into progressive scans.

"The new devices are fixed pixel, meaning they're only in progressive," said Vincent Sollitto, CEO of HDTV maker Syntax-Brillian, whose Olevia brand has been in a programming partnership with ESPN HD. ESPN uses the 720p format. "While there isn't any 1080p content today, because the transmission mediums are all based on 720p and 1080i, I think when the Blu-ray/HD-DVD thing settles out, there will be a 1080p standard created." (Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD players utilize 1080p.)

Conversion Necessary

Strangely enough, while digital feature films and some prime-time series are produced in 1080p, there's no 1080p transmission format and therefore 1080p sets would be unable to receive the feed. Instead, the sets upconvert 720p and 1080i signals into 1080p. And 1080p productions must be downconverted into 1080i or 720p before they can be televised on cable or satellite networks.

"To show a 1080i signal, many consumer HDTVs do the conversion from interlaced to progressive scan using an economical, `quickie' approach that throws away half the vertical resolution in the 1080i image," Roam Consulting President Peter Putnam wrote last year on his Web site, HDExpert.com. So a 1080i signal played back on a 1080p display just "doesn't cut the mustard," he wrote. "You will quickly see the loss in resolution, not to mention motion and picture artifacts. Add to that other garbage such as mosquito noise and macroblocking and you've got a pretty sorry-looking signal on your new big-screen 1080p TV."

"As it stands now," he continued, "converting 1080p to 1080i for broadcast is a winning combination. Picture quality is quite good and the `film look' holds up well even when converted to interlaced scan."

But while all the stars are not in alignment just yet, the appeal of an HDTV set that promises a brighter, sharper and less pixilated picture is going to attract consumers no matter what.

"While broadcast is going to lag, [1080p] is going to help differentiate products on the marketplace for the holiday season," said Michael Gartenberg, VP and research director for JupiterResearch in New York. Consumers don't have very short replacement cycles for things like big-screen TVs, he said, "so if you're plunking down several thousand dollars for a 42-inch set, this notion of getting a 1080p is something the manufacturers are going to try to encourage pe ple to do as a way of future-proofing.

"It probably makes sense given things like Blu-ray and HD-DVD, [PlayStation 3] and Xbox support the highest resolution standards."

"I say if the display is larger than 50 inches and the price point is right, go for it," AVS Forum founder David Bott said, echoing product reviewers who have said that consumers won't see much of a difference in resolution when viewing 720p or 1080i content on a 1080p set unless they're seeing the image on a larger screen.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=31194

(International) TV Notebook
Nonrenewal of TV License Stokes Debate in Venezuela
By Simon Romero, The New York Times January 1, 2007

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez’s decision not to renew the broadcast license of RCTV, one of this country’s oldest television stations and a frequent critic of his government, has fueled a fierce debate over whether he is stifling dissent in Venezuela as he strengthens his control of the broadcasting industry.

Senior officials in Mr. Chávez’s government moved quickly to react to growing international and domestic criticism of the decision. Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based press freedom group, said the move, which Mr. Chávez announced in a speech before military officers last week, was a “serious attack on editorial pluralism.” The group asked Mr. Chávez’s government “to reconsider its stance and guarantee an independent system of concessions and renewals of licenses.”

Vice President José Vicente Rangel said the decision was not political retaliation but a “right of the state for reasons that are justified.” Others officials, however, made it clear that the decision was a reaction to RCTV’s editorial policies, particularly in relation to a coup in April 2002 that briefly removed Mr. Chávez as president.

“RCTV’s determining role during the events of the 2002 coup must be remembered,” Willian Lara, the communications minister, said at a news conference on Friday. “That irresponsible attitude hasn’t changed at RCTV.”

The actions of RCTV and other private broadcasters during the chaotic days of the coup are at the heart of their tension with Mr. Chávez’s government. Several of the broadcasters appeared to support the coup, substituting coverage of the coup’s collapse and Mr. Chávez’s return to power with reruns of American movies and Walt Disney cartoons.

Since then, Mr. Chávez has accused the broadcasters of waging a “psychological war” against his administration, describing the country’s main channels, Globovisión, Televen, Venevisión and RCTV, as “horsemen of the apocalypse.” His re-election this month to a six-year term has not tempered his disdain for the traditional news media elite and for RCTV in particular.

“This decision can only be seen as a control strategy and an abuse of power,” said Ewald Scharfenberg, executive director of the Institute for Press and Society, a group here that examines press freedom issues.

Through elections and personnel changes over the past eight years, Mr. Chávez and his supporters have consolidated power across Venezuela’s political institutions, controlling Congress, the Supreme Court and every state government but two. The privately controlled media are one of the areas of society, along with private enterprise, religious institutions and professional sports, outside of Mr. Chávez’s control.

Teodoro Petkoff, editor of the opposition-aligned newspaper Tal Cual, described Venezuela’s political system as an “autocracy” advancing toward “light totalitarianism,” in comments this month that inflamed Mr. Chávez’s government.

With their vociferous criticism of Mr. Chávez and his policies, private newspapers, television stations and radio broadcasters, along with a small community of Internet bloggers, offer daily evidence that freedom of expression still exists here.

Still, pro-Chávez legislation has enhanced the government’s ability to clamp down on critics through legal action or threats of prosecution, creating a “climate of self-censorship,” according to Human Rights Watch. A 2004 law subjects television and radio stations to heavy fines or suspension of their licenses for broadcasts deemed to “condone or incite” public disturbances.

Similarly, legislators amended the criminal code last year to increase penalties for criminal defamation and libel. Napoleón Bravo, a well-known television journalist, was charged under those new provisions this year for denigrating the Supreme Court by claiming that it was inefficient and suggesting that it be replaced with a brothel.

Since the coup in 2002, two private stations, RCTV and Globovisión, have remained critical of Mr. Chávez while two others, Venevisión and Televen, have become decidedly less so. RCTV’s contentious relationship with Mr. Chávez worsened during the coup, when Andrés Izarra, the news operations manager for RCTV, resigned after he said his superiors suppressed coverage of developments about the coup.

Mr. Izarra went on to become Mr. Chávez’s communications minister and is now head of Telesur, a pan-Latin American news station that is one of numerous media ventures supported by Venezuela’s government in recent years. Federal and regional governments now control five television stations, including one used to broadcast all of Mr. Chávez’s domestic speeches and an influential talk show that pillories his critics.

The government also controls eight radio broadcasters and a news agency, and is building a communications satellite with assistance from China that is scheduled to be launched into orbit by 2008. Mr. Lara, the communications minister, said one option for RCTV once its license expires in 2007 would be for Venezuela de Televisión, the government’s main broadcaster, to take control of its operations.

Some of Mr. Chávez’s dislike for RCTV appears to stem in part from how Marcel Granier, the broadcaster’s chief executive, has publicly referred to him as a “lieutenant colonel.” The term refers to the rank Mr. Chávez achieved in Venezuela’s army, but is also an attempt to mock him as militaristic.

In his speech announcing his decision to not renew RCTV’s license, Mr. Chávez, dressed in a military uniform and red beret, appeared to jab at the reference. “When they try to say that someone is a gorilla, an ignoramus,” Mr. Chávez said, “they say he is a lieutenant colonel.”

The tension created by the RCTV decision left some wondering how Mr. Chávez will treat other critics as he starts a new term. “It leaves a very bad taste that we end the year with this anxiety,” Archbishop Roberto Luckert of Coro said in comments on private radio. “This is a trampling of freedom of expression.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/americas/01venez.html?ref=business

Critic's Notebook
You Watch That Trash?
There is little new to stare at in Courteney Cox’s smooth Dirt—save for the show’s troubled paparazzo
By John Leonard, New York Magazine - 1/8/97 Issue

Dirt
FX. Premieres Tuesday, January 2. 10 p.m.

Ian Hart is the best thing Dirt has going for it. As Don Konkey, a schizophrenic paparazzo who will do absolutely anything he’s asked to by his editor-in-chief at a down-and-dirty Hollywood scandal sheet, he brings back X-rated pictures of the quick (rooftop midnight hot-tub sex), the dead (the corpse of an OD’d starlet), and the merely hypocritical (the power couple, being far too fast-track to mess with pregnancy or parturition, who pick up a surrogate baby as if the kid were a baguette). But he is also reluctant to open his mouth, because the words he speaks have been known to turn into worms. And he almost never takes his hat off, because the sky has a way of drizzling blood drops. And going to the drugstore is a trial, because aspirin talks back at him and prescription bottles burst into song. Even going to bed is kind of necrophiliac, because there’s a girl ghost who likes to cuddle.

This is not neurotic shtick of a Monk-ish sort. Don is one sick puppy—with, as it happens, a very dead cat. When he isn’t up a tree, snapshooting hanky-panky, we have no idea what he’ll do, say, or think next, and neither does he. Whether we are meant to understand his sickness as a metaphor for false consciousness and bad faith in tabloid journalism I couldn’t tell you after only three hours. But Hart, whom you may recall from Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins and The Butcher Boy, or as a professor of dark arts in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, gives us a character we can’t stop watching and wondering about. And Dirt is never more interesting to look at than when it hallucinates on Don’s behalf.

Whereas you will certainly recognize the editor-in-chief—the one who tells Don where to go—from hundreds of Friends and three Screams. For the purposes of Dirt, Courteney Cox channels more of Gale Weathers, Wes Craven’s TV reporter, than of Monica Geller, the sitcom hysteric. Her Lucy Spiller, part Sphinx, part Slinky, as glam as Anna Wintour and as gotcha as Bonnie Fuller, actually seems to believe that the lowest of denominators and the basest of instincts add up to a higher truth, “preferably with photographs.” Of course, she must report to a publisher, Jeffrey Nordling, with a taste for jailbait, and an owner, Timothy Bottoms, who bought Dirt and hired Lucy only to improve his social standing. But neither of them has read Marcel Proust. Nor is it likely that you would find in their bedrooms a vibrator, a stun gun, and the occasional rock musician.

Let’s see—blackmail, action stars, painkillers, tattletales, erotomania, cocaine addiction, car wrecks, bubble baths … the usual. Professional as it is, like a Parisian streetwalker, there is nothing in Dirt to look at or think about that we haven’t looked at and decided not to think about before, except Ian Hart’s hallucinations. A decade ago, Mariel Hemingway starred in Central Park West as the editor of a Condé Nastie sort of slick whose table of contents included John-John softball and helicopter sex. Téa Leoni starred in The Naked Truth as a newly divorced and hyperkinetic photojournalist reduced from getting nominated for a Pulitzer to whining at a sleazy tabloid called The Comet. David Alan Grier starred in The Preston Episodes as an African-American university professor signed on as house grammarian at a gossip magazine called Stuff. Nobody wanted any of these programs, although Téa Leoni hung on longer than Hemingway and Grier. We seem, as a nation and a Nielsen sample, to prefer our scandal sheets in supermarkets, with real aliens, rather than on television screens, with actors.

Dirt wants us to believe that Courteney/Lucy has feelings that get hurt. On one occasion and very briefly, she seems to experience a soupçon of regret and a smidgen of shame. So we know that Dirt is fiction. I’ve stood in the lobby of places like the midtown Fox building, and I’ve looked into the faces of the people who work there as they emerge from elevators and grope toward sunlight, and I’ve hoped for a shadow of shame on a single face. But there is not an Ian Hart among them. They are proud of themselves.

http://nymag.com/arts/tv/reviews/26007/index.html

TV Notebook
Isn't It Ironic?
Five years ago, pundits declared it dead, but 2006 saw the re-emergence of sarcastic humor with an exaggerated message
By Gina Kim, Sacramento Bee - January 1, 2007

The reports of its death were greatly exaggerated.

Pundits declared irony dead after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but five years later, not only is it alive -- it ruled 2006.

"Given the way the world has gone, we're in more need of irony," says Jerry Herron, a professor of English and American studies at Wayne State University in Detroit. "What 9/11 produced was a world where pettifoggery, obfuscation, half-truths and double dealing are more rampant than ever before."

Irony, the grand dame of the zeitgeist, is pop culture's weapon against hopelessness, experts say. It's a tool that transfers power to the powerless. And in a time of a continuing war, citizens jailed without charges, and a government that knows what we're checking out at the library and searching for on the Internet, it's a key to understanding what's happening to the world -- with a little humor, too.

"The reason irony is more fun than the truth is that it's more fun than the truth," says Herron. "Jon Stewart is fun to watch because it seems to give the feeling of being in a club where everyone's smarter than everyone else. And the whole world seems to be pretty dumb."

Along with raised eyebrows and knowing looks, irony puts us in the know. We become members of the sorority of sagacity. And it gives us some semblance of controlling what we're being told, experts say.

But what is irony?

Merriam-Webster says it's using words to mean the opposite of their literal meaning. But in today's cultural climate, irony is anything said with your tongue firmly planted in your cheek. It's sarcastic humor with an exaggerated message.

"At a time when people feel they're being lied to and treated as though they're too stupid to get it, it lets you regain the claim on your own intelligence," Herron says. "I'm going to tell a lie, too, but I'm going to tell it knowingly and as a joke."

Seeds of irony

Irony has existed in western culture ever since there was a Western culture, says author Ken Kalfus.

"I'm not sure what ironic forms there are in, say, Afghan culture," he says. "You need a pretty well-developed idea of the individual. ... Irony is one of the first things that goes in a dictatorship."

The smug smile of irony bares its teeth when conditions are ripe -- there's overarching disillusionment with the establishment and the public is trying to separate fact from fiction.

"You can look historically at times that seem to be caught up in not telling the truth and irony flourishes," says Herron. "Like in 18th century England, when King George was going mad on the throne and the world was falling apart, irony was a thriving form."

It came to dominate our culture in the 1970s as a way to question authority, says Martin Kaplan, associate dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.

"It was a response to things like governmental lying and to the commercialization and commoditization and corporatization of everything," he says. "The only appropriate way to react to what was going on was to be a smart aleck and to say, 'Yeah, right,' to any assertion by the powerful. There was always someone trying to make a sucker out of you."

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair magazine and co-founder of the defunct satirical Spy magazine, was quoted as saying, "It's the end of the age of irony. Things that were considered fringe and frivolous are going to disappear."

But instead of ushering in an age of sincerity, when people help each other, join together and believe in a better world, we're more interested than ever in whether celebrities wear underwear on a regular basis and have no qualms elbowing that person reaching for the last PlayStation 3 on the shelf.

"Many people, I was probably among them, said irony was dead and in the face of horrors unimaginable, the only appropriate response was authenticity and realism -- postmodern winking was no longer appropriate," Kaplan says. "It probably was about six months that that lasted. Irony is very much alive and well."

Feeding the beast

It's an era in which comedian Stephen Colbert's ironic roast of President Bush at a White House correspondents dinner is now legend. And, according to a study by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, more 18- to 24-year-olds watch "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" than read the print edition of a major newspaper.

"It's become very hard to figure out what is real and what isn't," says stand-up comic Marc Maron. "By nature of that, there's more irony.

"The idea that O.J. Simpson was about to publish a book about what he would have done had he killed his wife and her (friend), that should be an ironic joke, but it's completely real and horrifying."

The lines of reality are so blurred, irony is the only way to formulate some type of understanding, says Maron, who will be on Comedy Central's "Comedy Central Presents" on Jan. 12.

"That's why fake news is resonating much more with people than the real news," he says. "Because when you can exaggerate or be sarcastic or be ironic, the real message is revealed. Sometimes it takes irony to cut through a lot of the bull."

Plus, it can sometimes drive messages home more efficiently than the truth.

"People don't like honesty. They find it boring or too draining for them to engage with," Maron says. "If something's put across in a smug or condescending way, it's got some safety built into it -- you can take it in, laugh at it, and it assumes you're in on the joke."

Today's irony can run the gamut from a simple wisecrack, knee-jerk and silly, to something much darker, says John Tomasic, managing editor of the online pop culture commentary Pop and Politics. But in the process, it can bring people together, as long as you know you're not immune.

"You use it to mock, but you use it best if you're prepared to be mocked," he says.

While irony cuts across all age groups, ethnicities and both genders, it is best understood by the younger generation, who have known irony their entire lives, Tomasic says.

"Young people, by and large, are not confused about the rules of the game. They have grown up with irony. It's their best friend and worst enemy. It's their playground pal, their video game instructor, their movie script writer," he says. "Young people are not at all confused, for example, about 'The Daily Show,' a source of bafflement to the serious men and women in the skyboxes of life."

Debunking myths

In the months after the 9/11 attacks, author Kalfus began to formulate a novel in his head based on the media's glorification of each victim.

"Everyone who was killed supposedly was a perfect husband, a perfect wife, a perfect father or mother. They were all heroes," says Kalfus. "I wanted to see them as people, not the way they were killed but by the way they lived their lives. And most probably lived messy lives, like the rest of us."

Kalfus' book, "A Disorder Peculiar to the Country" (Ecco, $24.95, 256 pages), was published in July and is based on a couple who both thought the other spouse had been killed in the terrorist attacks, and both were secretly happy about it.

"Loosely speaking, irony is a method of humor that deflates a cliché or deflates a particular way of thinking by showing that it's taking itself too seriously," he says. "It's just one literary method of making us see the world a little more clearly in the fog of myths."

Irony never accepts anything at face value. Instead, it delves deeper, looks further and questions every premise, Kalfus says. And in the process, some form of the truth is discovered.

"You try to puncture a cliché in a straightforward way, you only dent it," Kalfus says. "Irony, by ridiculing the supports for the cliché, can actually bring it down."

Irony shifts the reins of power -- taking information from the top, altering it, changing it, and maybe in the process, getting closer to the truth. Like a sword of disillusionment, irony is a defense mechanism that gives the public some say in world events that are unfolding.

"What has happened since 9/11 to promote the recidivism of our ironic culture was the run-up to the war," says USC's Kaplan. "It's hard to see what's going on and when you do see what's going on, to not be cynical about the nature of the world and the nature of power.

"And so making fun of it, using it as the grist for parody, as masters like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are doing, seems to be the best way to let the air out of the balloon of power."

http://www.sacbee.com/127/story/99776.html

TV Notebook
Why Did Viewers OD on ‘The O.C.’ ?
By Emma Rosenblum, New York Magazine - 1/8/07 Issue

Was it only three years ago that The O.C. premiered and became an instant phenomenon? The country went mad for the sunny teen soap: It was like 90210—but funny! And self-aware! The show launched a catchphrase (“Welcome to the O.C., bitch!”), a holiday (Christmukkah), and a barrage of imitators (The Real Housewives of Orange County and MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County). But now, The O.C. is in real danger of cancellation: In November, its fourth season debuted to its lowest ratings ever—a mere 3.38 million fans, and the numbers haven’t gotten better since.

To understand what went so wrong with the show, we should revisit what it once got so right. For starters, The O.C. had great timing; in 2003, there was a gaping hole in the market for smart teen dramas, as Dawson’s Creek had just gone off the air. The O.C. improved on Dawson’s formula of love-triangle angst set to an indie-band soundtrack, then added a smart mix of sarcasm and pop-culture knowingness that didn’t sound like adults writing for teens. (It helped that the show’s creator, Josh Schwartz, was a mere 26.) Not only was The O.C. the first teen drama that didn’t take itself too seriously, it was the first one that understood its audience had grown up watching soapy teen dramas.

There are concrete reasons for the show’s quick decline: Schwartz became distracted by other projects, and lead-character Marissa (Mischa Barton) was killed off last year. But in hindsight, these seem like symptoms, not the disease. The O.C.’s main problem—what took the show from phenomenon to failure—was that it became too cool too fast. Its hipster audience, initially seduced by the show’s self-referential wittiness, was repelled by its mainstream success. And mainstream fans, drawn in by the soap opera, were turned off by increasingly absurdist plot twists. Ironically, the super-hip O.C. failed where Aaron Spelling’s less-intelligent shows succeeded—it was too ironic to be a soap, but too soapy to be a parody. Take this season’s dismal debut: a clunky, dark hour in which hunky Ryan brooded, fought, and mourned the death of Marissa. He should have mourned instead the loss of the show’s last, best quality—an ability to make fun of itself. More recently, Ryan fell into an It’s a Wonderful Life–like coma, dreaming that his character had never arrived in the O.C. If only such a do-over were possible.

http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/26009/index.html

TV Notebook
Networks 'pull together' for Ford funeral coverage
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter Jan 2, 2007

NEW YORK -- Tuesday's state funeral for President Gerald R. Ford has been years in the making, a result of the wishes of Ford and his family and, in the coverage, years of work by TV networks.

Ford's six days of memorials began Friday, when his casket was brought to a Palm Springs church and continued during the weekend in Washington, where his body lay at state in the Capitol Rotunda. After Tuesday's funeral, it will be brought to Grand Rapids, Mich., where another service will be held and then interment at the president's library and museum.

Even though they didn't know when it would occur, network TV's preparations for Ford's services were in the planning stages since before President Ronald Reagan's passing in 2004. Ford at 93 was the longest-living former president and had been in ill health for a while.

"We've been having pool conversations about this story for a while now," said Phil Alongi, executive producer of NBC News special coverage. "This has been in the planning stages for years."

Like such other big national events as inaugurations and State of the Union Addresses, a presidential funeral is covered by the so-called network pool that includes ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC. Each network takes responsibility for a portion of the event, which will take place in three regions of the country and in four states and the District of Columbia.

"These logistically are very, very big projects," Alongi said. "This is one time when all the networks pull together."

CBS is the pool network for the motorcade and Andrews Air Force Base, where the casket was to be flown to Saturday and flown out of Tuesday. NBC is the pool for the Capitol, ABC for the Washington National Cathedral and Fox News Channel handles the pool for the initial viewing in California and the burial in Grand Rapids. CNN is the overall pool producer.

"The assignments are done and the right people have been to Grand Rapids a couple of times, they've known where the cameras are going to be," CNN Washington bureau chief David Bohrman said.

Planning began in earnest after Reagan's state funeral in June 2004, when executives from the networks discussed how the coverage went and what could be improved. Network personnel have gone to the Ford museum and library, where the former president will be buried, several times over the years to organize the coverage when the time came. The networks have met several times since 2004 about the coverage of the state funeral; those calls became daily and more frequently after Ford died.

While the networks waited until well after the family announced the plans Wednesday, executives said it generally was understood what each of the former presidents wish when their time comes.

"We know as much as the (National) Military District and each presidents' library has decided to share with us," Bohrman said. "It's usually a lot. The planning is complex and it's in everybody's best interest."

There haven't been many state funerals in recent years, with the first in 30 years for President Reagan. (The last one was in 1973 for President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Richard M. Nixon declined to have a state funeral when he died in 1994.) But Bohrman and Alongi said that in many ways, covering state funerals are like televising inaugurations that occur every four years.

There are differences, even between state funerals. Reagan's casket was carried by horse-drawn caisson; Ford's body will be driven via motorcade to the National Cathedral. Ford's body arrived Saturday at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland -- and through Alexandria, Va., on its way to the Capitol -- in the late afternoon when it's dark in Washington.

That could cause a bit of challenge, not just for the spectators but also for the networks covering it.

"The arrival motorcade is going to be hard for people to see when they line Constitution (Avenue)," CNN's Bohrman said last week before Ford's casket arrived in Washington.

"One of the reasons we're picking up coverage Saturday at the Capitol is that the actual viewing experience on the motorcade route won't be very good (because of the dark) so it won't lend itself to live television coverage," ABC News senior vp Bob Murphy said last week. "President Reagan's was during the day."

Even with the discussions and the run-throughs, there was some work being done during the holiday weekend by the networks who called in people who were on vacation to make sure it would all be done in time.

"What we've run into in two locations is that in the cathedral there is construction going on and there's ongoing construction at the Capitol," Alongi said. "Some of that hinders what we would like to do ... and we have to figure out unique ways of doing that."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ied0764c52ea0c6b7bab59ccec049cb95

TV Notebook
EchoStar gavels off Court TV
By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood ReporterJan 2, 2007

EchoStar Communications Corp. yanked Time Warner-owned Court TV from its Dish Network channel lineup effective Monday as a result of stalled carriage negotiations.

But sources indicated that this isn't the typical squabble between programr and distributor over rate increases; EchoStar is intent on getting a rate decrease by downgrading Court TV to a channel tier available in 3 million homes fewer than the 13 million to whom the channel was previously offered.

That would impact the amount of revenue Court TV generates, which is based on audience guarantees to advertisers.

Andrew Heller, president of domestic distribution at Turner Broadcasting, which oversees Court TV, expressed regret that an agreement could not be reached. "I've been doing this a long time," he said. "For the first time in my career a channel has gone dark on a major distributor. This is very disheartening."

"We are working hard to negotiate a fair contract with Turner Networks and CourtTV," EchoStar senior vp programming Eric Sahl said in a statement released Monday. "But we must also protect our customers from unreasonable demands. It is not fair to ask our customers to pay a DBS premium for a channel owned by the second-largest cable operator, Time Warner."

Turner issued a statement, saying, "They were unwilling to pay the standard industry rate for a popular network that is currently ranked in the Top 20. We are disappointed with their decision, and hope that we can reach resolution, but in the meantime, our cable operator partners and DirecTV are able to provide this network to Court TV fans."

Sources indicated that months of talks were aborted just two hours before the channel was pulled, at midnight Eastern time. Court TV's carriage deal with Dish expired Dec. 31.

EchoStar's statement expressed that it had offered Turner an extension in which to work out the deal but was rebuffed. Sources indicate Turner was not happy with the terms of the extension, which were offered in two ways: a one-week extension for which EchoStar would not be charged, or a drop to Dish Network's lower tier, known as America's Top 120, at a rate to be determined by EchoStar.

Court TV was on Dish's America's Top 60 tier. How to pay for a drop to Top 120 is the crux of the disagreement; while EchoStar is seeking to pay less to reach fewer subscribers, Turner could see the rate it had locked in for the maximum amount of subscribers as a volume discount.

The Turner-EchoStar standoff is almost a virtual replay of the situation Lifetime Entertainment Services found itself in on New Year's Day 2006, when EchoStar yanked carriage of both Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network the day after their deals expired. However, that disagreement was over determining a rate increase. The channels were not reinstated until a settlement was reached a month later.

Over the years, EchoStar chairman and CEO Charles Ergen has demonstrated a willingness to pull programrs from his service, second in reach only to Comcast Corp. and DirecTV among multichannel distributors. In 2005, EchoStar tossed Comcast's outdoor-oriented OLN, now known as Vs. The year before, Viacom's entire channel lineup went by the wayside on Dish.

In Turner, EchoStar faces a programming powerhouse with top-rated networks that could become leverage in future negotiations, including TNT, TBS and CNN. Turner assumed full control of Court TV in May when Liberty Media sold its half of the channel to Time Warner for $735 million.

EchoStar has since replaced Court TV with Biography Channel. In December, the company said it would have to raise its subscription rates by about 3%.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3idc037a751cbc621277e17e2e2f660b55

Forecast 2007:
Network TV
By John Consoli MediaWeek January 1, 2007

The broadcast networks have spent the past few years reinventing their business models and the way they distribute their content, and, according to Wall Street analysts, those moves will never be more important than this year.

“The broadcast networks have done a great job of recognizing that the Internet is the new window for distributing their programming,” says Lee Westerfield, managing director and senior research analyst at Harris-Nesbitt. “And in 2007, the ball will move even further forward in broadband. I would speculate that for the new television season in fall 2007, we will see new shows premiering in broadband.”

That projection is independently supported by data gathered by CBS, through its online entertainment panel, which numbers 28,000 TV viewers. Dave Poltrack, executive vp and chief research officer for CBS Corp., says 53 percent of viewers who watched a new show this season online, did so before viewing any episode of that show on a broadcast network. “That means Internet access is providing a new means to expand the sampling of new programs,” Poltrack argues.

CBS is not using the Internet simply to stream its new shows—it is also offering content from shows that is not available in the broadcast versions, and using the Web to stretch 22 episodes of a serialized program across a 35-week season. CBS decided not to air repeats of its new drama Jericho, but wanted to put the show on hiatus beginning in mid-December. So it created a Web site for the show on which it will offer original material that will move the storyline forward and engage the viewer until the show returns on air with first-run episodes. Poltrack notes that on the first two days after the fall finale of Jericho, traffic on the site increased tenfold.

Poltrack also says the market for advertising surrounding online streaming of TV shows is on the upswing, with demand exceeding supply for top-rated shows. “Analysts estimate the market to be in the $300 million–$400 million area today,” he says, adding they project growth to about $2 billion to $3 billion by 2010. “If this market materializes to the extent these analysts predict, it will add a second revenue stream for broadcasters.”

Video-on-demand via cable of the broadcast network shows is another untapped revenue stream. After all the networks tested the benefits of a pay-per-view model versus an ad-supported model, it appears the ad-supported model is winning out. Westerfield believes viewers will accept advertising in their VOD selection if it’s a show they really want to see. “Viewers channel-surf during television commercials not because they don’t like the commercials but because they don’t like the show they are watching,” he says. “If the content is interesting, viewers will accept advertising in it.”

While the networks are offering more content online, broadcast viewership over the air is up this season, with ABC and NBC both showing increases in households, adults 18-49 and total viewers, while CBS is down slightly, and Fox a bit more so, but expected to show its usual midseason bump beginning in two weeks when 24 and American Idol make their return. And CBS has the Super Bowl this season.

Advertisers have noticed and reacted. Johnson & Johnson, which sat out last May’s upfront buying period, was very active this fall, spending heavily in scatter. Cancellation options for first quarter of 2007 were exercised at low levels, meaning nearly all the client holds placed during the upfront were converted to orders.

Despite the strength of the marketplace, however, most analysts are not projecting much overall ad growth for the broadcast networks in 2007. Part of that is because there will be no Olympic Games to cover in 2007 as there were in 2006 on NBC, which traditionally brings in an additional influx of ad dollars. And, the merging of UPN and the WB into The CW network means there are far fewer ratings points in the market in 2007 than there were in 2006.
Media agency Universal McCann projects that ad revenue for the Big Four nets will increase 3 percent in 2007 to $17.4 billion, following a 5 percent increase in 2006. Another media agency, ZenithOptimedia, is projecting network TV ad spending in 2007 to decline by 1.5 percent over this year. And Harris-Nesbitt’s Westerfield projects that 2007 ad revenue will be flat over 2006.

But with all the focus on the Internet, it is not too soon to begin speculating on how it will impact the 2007-08 broadcast TV season. Westerfield, for one, believes that as the networks increasingly use broadband to create buzz for their new shows, the importance of on-air lead-in and lead-out scheduling will diminish. “It’s eventually going to come down to if a show has enough buzz created going into a season, it will succeed out of the gate, and if it doesn’t it will rapidly fail,” Westerfield argues. “That does not bode well for second- and third-tier shows in the future.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003526040

TV Notebook
Dick Clark rocks the eve
Diane Werts' Newsday "The TV Zone" Blog - January 1, 2007

Right-hand shake! How great was it to see Dick Clark able enough to shake hands the standard way with heir apparent Ryan Seacrest as the elder tube statesman signed off his live studio segment of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” on ABC Sunday night?

He’d definitely made progress from his return to Times Square a year earlier, after a major stroke a year before that. When time ticked down to 2006, Clark had had to give his customary salute to the audience with his left arm, while his right remained fairly immobile. This time, as 2007 began, he was gesturing with both hands and finally engaged in that celebratory shake, too.

Nice to see “America’s oldest teenager” making progress in the old age that awaits all of us ex-teens. His speech still sounds raspy and labored, but hey, we’ll take this grand old 35-year tradition any way we can. [Note: ABC promo photo here was made available by the network prior to New Year's Eve.]

Seacrest stands in Clark’s stead well, out in the drizzle, chaperoning the likes of Christina Aguilera to and from the live-concert stage crammed in amid the revelers. Like Clark, he’s slick enough to satisfy, yet smart enough not to position himself as the center of attention.

Best of all, ABC saw fit to show us the festivities in high-definition, unlike NBC’s rival Carson Daly soiree or Fox’ abominable Cat Deeley plug-fest in Times Square for Fox-telecast bowl games, Planet Hollywood and other sundry product placements. MTV rocked the house hardest in its Broadway studio overlooking the mayhem, with guest after musical guest slamming the indoor stage. But ABC’s HD clarity put us viscerally on the street for the big countdown ball-drop.

Until they can resurrect Guy Lombardo, that’s still TV’s New Year’s Eve tradition to beat.

http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/blog/

TV Sports
Ebersol: SNF Key to NBC's Turnaround
By John Consoli MediaWeek January 1, 2007

Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, said the first season of Sunday Night Football on the network “more than met corporate goals” by bringing in more male viewers, shoring up the entire Sunday night, and serving as a solid promotional platform for freshman drama hit Heroes.

Calling SNF the “cornerstone of the prime time turnaround at NBC,” Ebersol said the successful launch of Heroes can be attributed “more than anything else” to the promotion the show received on SNF geared toward young men in the first three SNF games before Heroes premiered.

“The Save the Cheerleader, Save the World promo campaign [for Heroes] was created specifically to appeal to the Sunday Night Football audience,” he said. SNF, through the first 16 weeks of the regular season, averaged a 9.4 rating among men18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research data, 262 percent higher than the network averaged last year in the same time period.

SNF was the third best among all prime-time programming in adults 18-49 in fourth quarter, with an 8.9 rating, and assisted by the NFL’s new flexible scheduling system, recorded ratings increases in Weeks 14-16 of 39 percent, 21 percent and 32 percent, respectively, each higher than the comparable weeks for Monday Night Football on ABC last season, when there was no flex schedule system in effect. Ebersol said the success of the flex schedule games in December allowed the network to charge as much as $400,000 per 30-second spot for scatter advertising.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003526041

TV Sports
Ebersol: 'SNF' green for NBC
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter Jan 2, 2007

NEW YORK -- As NBC's first season of "Sunday Night Football" draws to a close, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol is happy with what has been accomplished.

Through its first 16 telecasts, "SNF" is averaging 17.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. That is up 8% compared with last year's "Monday Night Football" on ABC. "SNF" also is up 6% in adults 18-49 and men 18-49.

Ebersol said he is pleased by how "SNF" has done in accomplishing its goals: Turning the NFL game into a cornerstone of NBC Sports and helping the network recover some of what it had lost in the two years of its primetime decline.

"SNF" has helped NBC not only on Sunday nights -- whether the network was a nonentity against "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" last season -- but also boosting its entire schedule. NBC averaged 10.1 million viewers so far this season compared with 9.2 million a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research. That is up 9% year-over-year.

But removing the impact of football, NBC is flat in viewers and adults 18-49. And that is with a strong "Deal or No Deal" and NBC's owning of the season's breakout hit, "Heroes."

NBC also is sure to miss football when it goes away. NBC's postfootball Sunday schedule includes reality series that don't seem like they're going to catch on with men 18-49 or draw the same numbers that "SNF" has been earning.

Ebersol said that "SNF" would make money this season, though he didn't say how much. He said it also is on track to make money next season, despite ABC's contention that its "Monday Night Football" telecasts lost $150 million a year. NBC pays $50 million a year more than ABC did for "Monday Night Football."

Ebersol said that he and Zucker were able to make money by cutting back elsewhere at the network. Also no doubt helping is NBC's parent company, General Electric, which made a significant marketing commitment to the NFL in the categories of healthcare technology, electrical products and financial services.

It has been a good year for football, with each of the networks (CBS, Fox, ESPN and NBC) seeing year-over-year ratings increases. But Ebersol thinks that the impact of flex scheduling -- which guarantees NBC a good matchup into the waning days of the season -- has been a wonderful thing. ABC last season started off well with "Monday Night Football" but, without flex scheduling, had been stuck with miserable matchups in the last weeks of the season.

NBC faced a somewhat tough sell with "SNF" to a Madison Avenue that wasn't convinced that "SNF" would outperform what "MNF" had done on ABC. Some advertisers balked at paying what ABC had gotten for a 30-second spot and sources said NBC retrenched.

But Ebersol said that as buyers saw the strength of NBC's football package and the benefits of flex scheduling, it has been seeing more success.

"By early October, they (advertisers) were both delighted and surprised when they saw we were the clear new destination to reach men on Sunday," Ebersol said.

NBC's regular-season inventory has been sold out for weeks and the cost per spot has been topping $400,000 per 30-second commercial.

"It was a great success and it sets it up for next year," Ebersol said.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ied0764c52ea0c6b7d767d3839dd51764

TV Notebook
Will stoop for scoop
FX's new series 'Dirt' delves into an unsavory world: the tabloids
By Robin Abcarian Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 2, 2007

In real life, Courteney Cox, who plays the rapaciously ambitious editor of a tabloid magazine on the new FX series "Dirt," has pretty much gotten used to the guys with cameras who lie in wait as she exercises on the streets near her home. But what creeps her out most about this weird price of fame is not being able to spend a carefree day at the beach with her little girl. (And don't even ask about Coco's paparazzi-studded 2nd birthday trip to Disneyland earlier this year.)

Likewise, Matthew Carnahan, the attractively disheveled creator and executive producer of "Dirt," has also had his brushes with paparazzi. When Helen Hunt, the woman he jokingly called his "baby mama," was pregnant with their toddler in 2004, photographers would leap out at her, brandishing their cameras like weapons, causing something to rise up in him that, uncontrolled, might have led to litigation.

Now, after creating "Dirt's" protagonists — the cold editor, the unhinged paparazzo — Cox and Carnahan are finding that they feel ever so slightly sympathetic toward the intensely competitive tabloid editors and photographers whose job it is to make life hell for celebrities so that we may enjoy their fashions and foibles.

"The thing I understand more that has allowed me not to be a hard ... with paparazzi or people in that industry is that everybody is just doing their job," said Carnahan during a break at a Hollywood sound studio. He paused. "You know, I don't know if that's actually really how I feel," he said with a chuckle. After a moment he added, "It's just a fact of life, like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, there will always be, certainly for our lifetimes, people lurking in the bushes trying to get pictures of people the world deems celebrities."

It would seem that "Dirt" — in a salacious and successor-to-"Nip/Tuck"-ish way — is very much a show of this moment and, certainly, this place. As Carnahan has said, "We're either at the pinnacle or the nadir of tabloid culture, so it's a really good time to be doing this show."

"Dirt" is an exploration of the weird symbiosis and Faustian trade-offs between parts of the star machinery — the B-listers who sell out the A-listers in exchange for media consideration, the modestly paid network of valets, shopkeepers and workers at restaurants and clubs who keep the photo agencies tipped off about stars' whereabouts, the stars' dependence on being in the public eye.

There is probably no story line in this series so far-fetched that it hasn't already happened in real life. Rick Fox plays a pro basketball player who is set up when Dirt hires a hooker to pose as a fan and get him into an outdoor hot tub for a sex romp. Click! (Remember Frank Gifford's moment of shame in a New York hotel with a woman paid by a tabloid to entice him into a tryst? And not to put too fine a point on it, but even Fox has been there, done that. In 2004, tabs published shots of Fox, then married to Vanessa Williams, kissing a blond woman in a bar. His marriage to Williams crumbled later that year.)

Cox and her husband, David Arquette, both executive producers of "Dirt," bring their experience to the table. For instance, Cox said she has a friend (not a "Friend" friend, she insisted) whose honeymoon was beset by a paparazzo who dug what was essentially a grave on the property to shoot the newlyweds in, yes, a hot tub. In exchange for not printing the shots, the magazine that had commissioned the photos (she wouldn't say which) demanded that a favor be returned.

Fleshing out the unsavory protagonists — particularly Cox's editor, Lucy Spiller, and the photographer Don Konkey, played by Ian Hart — was a challenge for Carnahan. When he first set out to create the photographer's character, he said, both Cox and producer Thea Mann insisted that the shooter be "the lowest of the low."

Carnahan could not write a character that he couldn't love. And so, drawing on research he'd been doing for another project about mental illness, he invented a somewhat endearing character, a "functional schizophrenic" whose illness often puts him in the grip of hallucinations and paranoia. For viewers, this adds a surrealistic component to the show: Girls on Clairol boxes become a Greek chorus; raindrops spatter like blood.

Cox ended up recruiting some of the paparazzi who were bothering her and invited them to be interviewed about their work.

As for the editor, it's not clear in the first several episodes what, exactly, will be lovable about Lucy Spiller, who is frigid in all the usual senses. She Tasers a lover after a one-night stand, casually engages in blackmail, fires subordinates for minor infractions and reads page proofs in bed while masturbating. Monica? Is that you? ("I am faking it, obviously," Cox said, "but I remember sweating about that one.")

In their research for the show, Carnahan and Cox met with several high-profile editors, including Janice Min of Us Weekly and Rebekah Wade of Rupert Murdoch's Sun tabloid, which has the highest circulation of any English-language newspaper in the world.

"I was knocked out by how brilliant she was," Carnahan said. "Smart, funny, engaging, mischievous, clever. Not morally corrupt. Morally complex."

Cox spent time with Jane Pratt, the founding editor of Sassy and Jane magazines (and, incidentally, the short-lived Dirt, which was aimed at teenage boys), who is one of her closest friends.

The one major editor they don't mention hovers over the show as a sort of ghostly inspiration.

Carnahan and Cox say they have never met her, but it's hard to get away from the idea that Spiller is a fictional spawn of Bonnie Fuller, the calculating and driven magazine editor who has not just sated but helped create the appetite for empty-calorie celebrity coverage and who currently sits atop the heap at American Media, the conglomerate that owns Star and the National Enquirer. Her formula of sex, photos and grabby captions was developed during her meteoric rise, which has included stints at Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and US Weekly.

"I never met Bonnie Fuller," Carnahan said. But, he added, "Her reputation looms large over this world. So I am sure there are pieces of Bonnie Fuller in there, and there is so much great apocrypha."

Added Cox: "People will make assumptions, and it's so not about her."

But like Fuller, Spiller rationalizes that what she prints is defensible as the truth. "It's not really her right to expose people's truths, but in her mind it is," Cox said of her character. "In her mind, she has a job to do."

And the fruits of that job, as even the most put-upon celebrity will attest, are ravenously consumed by an insatiable public. Cox, whose 2 1/2-year-old daughter knows the word "paparazzi," loathes unflattering photos of herself but is tickled by flattering ones. "It's a human impulse," Cox said. "I like to look at the pictures."

Carnahan said there is not a moment in the writers' room when one of them is not lost, utterly lost, in the pages of a glossy weekly or one of the tabs. "I started reading the tabs for research," Carnahan said, "but I'm like the actor who decided to try heroin because I was playing a junkie."

Nearly 10 years ago, after Princess Diana was killed in an alcohol- and paparazzi-fueled car chase in Paris, Carnahan remembers thinking that some sort of cultural apocalypse had taken place, that the celebrity obsession that so clearly contributed to her death would change. "I thought, now we are going to shift into something more elegant, more distanced, more objective, more human," he said.

"Boy, was I wrong."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/la-et-dirt2jan02,0,7539911,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

TV Review
'Dirt': More titillation than examination
Though grimly determined, the show never feels quite credible
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 2, 2007

"Dirt," which premieres tonight on FX, is a new series about tabloid celebrity journalism set in the Sodom and/or Gomorrah that is Hollywood. There's no question that the milieu, which reflects not only our pop-cultural preoccupations but our compulsion to devour what we deplore, is a rich subject, ripe for satire or melodrama. But instead of examining the moralizing titillation that fuels the gossip press, "Dirt" just follows its lead: The show takes basic-cable porn about as far as you can imagine, and there are drugs and deception and other displays of human weakness that we somehow account more awful and interesting when magnified by stardom.

It does not help that executive producer Courteney Cox has miscast herself in a lead role that plays to none of her demonstrated strengths or sparkle. As Lucy Spiller, editor in chief of Dirt magazine — the character bears a certain professional resemblance to Bonnie Fuller, commander in chief of the Star and the National Enquirer and notoriously a tough boss, to say it nicely — she seems just grimly determined and never quite credible. In fact, "grimly determined and never quite credible" pretty well describes the show.
Alongside the transient scoops and scandals each week is a long-arc story line involving a troubled "good actor" (Josh Stewart) who is so desperate to get back on the A-list that he essentially sells his soul to Spiller, signing on as an informant in return for good press.

"I'm an actor — that's all I ever wanted to do," he tells her ruefully, having already precipitated the overdose of one actress and the career slide of his bigger-star girlfriend (Laura Allen).

"No, you wanted to be famous — there's a big difference," says Lucy from atop the high horse she rides pretty much the whole time, in spite of the fact that she uses blackmail, bribery and entrapment to get the stories she wants. She looks down not only upon the people her magazine writes about, but also the people who buy it ("the Wal-Mart mommies") and the people who make it, browbeating staffers who won't go for blood. "Is this too hard-core for you Columbia J-school grads? This isn't Tiger Beat."

Which isn't to say that this doesn't reflect a reality of contemporary publishing — the war of Giving People What They Want to Know versus Giving Them What They Ought to Know — as does the top-down pressure for Spiller to cut costs. The mere fact that she's battling the suits is supposed to lend her substance — that she might be expending this energy on an enterprise that is fundamentally insignificant is never broached — as is, for instance, the fact that she knows something about Proust. But Lucy's moral authority is more tenuous than the show is ready to admit. A series like "The Sopranos" or "Deadwood" can involve you in its parallel moral universe to a degree to which you need to check your own compass every so often. Here, you merely get a bunch of people who think they're right, and none of them very convincing.

We do see that Lucy is lonely at the top. Her only friends are her kid brother (Will McCormack) and her chief photographer Don Konkey (Ian Hart), a name one letter away from being an anagram of "Donkey Kong." Konkey is called "the last pap to shoot on film," which is clearly meant to indicate a kind of integrity, as do the facts that he listens to Hawaiian music on vinyl, loves his cat and — given the sort of money actually paid for the pictures he routinely delivers — lives well below his means. He is also a "functional schizophrenic," a malady that makes his role more a study in pathology than in paparazzi, but allows him to date a dead starlet he had previously photographed.

Director David Fincher makes a cameo appearance in the first episode, but for the most part the Hollywood atmosphere depends on random name-dropping ("Altman film," "Mr. Clooney") and what might be called "celebrity sorta-likes." (Ex-Laker Rick Fox, who was married to Vanessa Williams until the Enquirer published pictures of him getting a little too cozy with another woman, does come weirdly close to playing himself.)

As Young Hollywood's drug dealer of choice, Carly Pope (from "Popular") makes a relaxed good impression, as does Alex Breckenridge as a budding Lois Lane. Mariette Hartley will eventually arrive to play Lucy's mother, which is encouraging — Lucy needs some kind of context — as is a coming appearance by Paul Reubens, who has had his own history with the tabloids, and is always worth watching.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-dirtreview2jan02,0,5220892.story?coll=cl-tvent

TV Notebook
EchoStar gavels off Court TV
By Andrew Wallenstein The Hollywood ReporterJan 2, 2007

EchoStar Communications Corp. yanked Time Warner-owned Court TV from its Dish Network channel lineup effective Monday as a result of stalled carriage negotiations.
I actually just seen a commercial of this as I was watching my Dish. The commericial was worded to imply that Court TV pulled the channel from the lineup.

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.

I actually just seen a commercial of this as I was watching my Dish. The commericial was worded to imply that Court TV pulled the channel from the lineup.

TNT was plastered with 'Dish took Court TV Off' commercials during the Law & Order marathon on Monday. Maybe it was the holidays but I had not heard anything about Dish and Court TV having problems.

Me either.

Cable TV Notebook
Films in cable crunch
Pay TV executives want to change terms of deal

By Gabriel Snyder, John Dempsey Variety January 1, 2007

Armed with his new stake in DirecTV, John Malone will no doubt change the landscape of the cable and satellite biz. But the ripple effect extends into some unexpected places -- including the sale of theatrical films to Malone's Starz pay TV network and its HBO and Showtime competitors.

With plans to become a bigger player in films, Malone had hired Chris McGurk, former vice chairman and chief operating officer of MGM, to buy or produce up to 12 movies a year, all of which will end up on Starz.

Showtime also is emphasizing original programming, not just movies but series.

In both cases, Starz and Showtime will be less dependent on Hollywood, which is in danger of losing a longtime cash cow: theatrical movie sales to pay cable.

Some of the major studios' deals at HBO, Showtime and Starz expire in 2008 and '09, and the three networks are seriously weighing whether they want to renew.

If they decide to tear up their current theatrical contracts, which ensure a multimillion-dollar payday for each movie, Hollywood would be forced to rethink some of its economics.

The pay cablers' money makes the difference between profit and loss for many theatricals. And, just as crucially, any potential loss of pay TV money would affect studios' decisions on what future films get made.

The 2008-09 expiration dates may seem a long way off, but as studios develop movie scripts years in advance, they automatically build in the anticipated pay TV revenues. But some of those far-off projects could be scrapped if there's any prospect the pay TV dollars will go away or be drastically reduced.

"You're effectively planning to greenlight movies based on deals that are expiring," says a studio exec.

Especially at risk are low to midrange films. A loss of a few million bucks could mean these films won't get made.

"If you have a big hit, a movie makes money everywhere, but if you have average box office on a movie, your profit is going to be in the pay deal," says one studio chief.

For years, virtually every studio release was included in lucrative long-term output deals with HBO, Showtime and Starz.

It's not likely these outputs will just disappear. Whatever happens, pay networks will still have an insatiable demand for movies -- they're just tiring of the nature of the deals: Take one movie, take 'em all.

The industry expects Starz to renegotiate its Disney deal in some form when it expires in 2009 because, unlike HBO and Showtime, Starz hasn't produced a lot of original series.

HBO's deal with Fox also ends in 2009, and network execs have said movies will remain a vital part of HBO's service to subscribers. HBO may produce plenty of original series, movies and sports events, but movies make up 70% of its overall schedule.

In fact, each of the three pay nets has more than a dozen multiplex channels, and each also programs a robust on-demand service.

"What's happening today is that pay TV networks are changing their priorities," says a studio exec. "They want a certain amount of movies, they just don't want too many."

Some cable execs say the value of movies is declining for two reasons: The networks are using more original programming, and subscribers can see the pictures in a variety of formats, from DVDs to streaming video online, months before the films arrive on pay TV.

Output deals vary, but the networks pay an average of $7 million a picture. The fee can go much higher, based on a box office formula. Starz could end up paying $20 million for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," for example. Even a low-budget film with a tidy gross, like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," could harvest well over $10 million from HBO.

In December, CBS Corp. chief financial officer Fred Reynolds revealed that Showtime funnels more than $300 million a year to its three main suppliers: Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate.

These output deals, which expire in 2008, run up against the fact that CBS is planning its own feature production unit -- and all of the CBS titles would end up on Showtime.

Naturally, CBS' plans have created nervousness among studio execs. "We're in a situation where if it's true that pay TV networks are going to cut their payments," says the exec, "it's absolutely going to have an effect on the number of movies that can be released theatrically in the U.S."

If Showtime doesn't renew its deals, studios like MGM and Lionsgate will be hard hit, as will the Weinstein Co. (which has not engineered an output deal since it opened for business in 2005).

Weinstein Co., Lakeshore Entertainment and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment are the most notable indie producers whose current titles go to Showtime as part of the network's MGM output.

In less jeopardy are HBO's deal with Fox and Starz's pact with Disney, each of which expire in 2009. But these renewals won't be slam-dunks: HBO and Starz are sure to insist on big discounts.

HBO and Starz also have made it clear that they have no plans to sign any more output deals.

HBO, Showtime and Starz are adamant that, over the next few years, the studios will begin harvesting real money from streaming movies on the Internet and downloading them to iPods, cell phones and portable media players.

"This has a lot to do with changing windows," says a producer who is involved in some of the deals. "In a world that includes other pre-pay windows like downloads and iPods, why are the cable networks paying what they're paying for these movies?"

The pay networks say the dollars flowing from these fresh revenue streams will more than make up for any diminution in the amount of money the studios pocket from pay TV license fees.

"Showtime's appetite for movies has diminished because its priorities have shifted somewhat in favor of original series like 'Weeds,' " says Randy Manis, senior VP of acquisitions and business affairs for ThinkFilm, which doesn't have an output deal with Showtime but recently sold it the Edward Norton movie "Down in the Valley."

Showtime and Starz want to own their movies, not just rent them in the pay window.

Reynolds and his boss at CBS Corp., Leslie Moonves, are convinced that some of the money they pay to Paramount and others might be better spent on producing five or six movies a year, which CBS Corp. then would own in perpetuity. However, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone likely would step in if Moonves' strategy threatened to put a severe dent in Paramount's bottom line.

"A lot of financing" for Moonves' low-budgeted movies would come from banks, Reyolds says, adding that CBS would end up shouldering "very little risk."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956457&categoryid=13

Forecast 2007:
Cable TV
By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek January 1, 2007

For those whose fortunes are aligned with TV ad sales, there came a moment during the cable upfront of 2006 when the marketplace assumed the deliberate pace of a daytime soap opera, as any move toward advancing the narrative was stalled by (metaphorical) organ swells and the odd exchange of meaningful glances.

As a result, the conversation between media buyers and network ad sales execs stretched from mid-March, when the kids networks gave their upfront presentations in New York, through the end of summer, when the last cable nets limped past the finish. This year, the drama promises to unfold earlier than ever before, as Oxygen Media announced it will hold its first official upfront presentation in its nine-year history on Jan. 23, a good four months before the broadcast nets kick off the selling season. As such, Oxygen is clearly adding its voice to the “52-week market” refrain, a chorus that at once trumpets the undeniable strength of the cable scatter market while acknowledging that the traditional ad sales calendar is fast becoming an irrelevancy.

Nothing will cause more frisson in this year’s cable ad sales market than the intro of commercial ratings as trading currency, a system that Nielsen Media Research claims will be in place by April 24, (barely) in time for the start of the broadcast upfront. Media buyers say the target date will not give them sufficient time to analyze the minute-by-minute data to their satisfaction, while many network ad sales chiefs believe that although they may be cutting it close, there will be sufficient preliminary data available with which to serve clients looking to buy time based on the controversial ratings.

“Commercial ratings will be part of this coming upfront in one way, shape or form,” says David Levy, president of Turner entertainment ad sales and marketing and president of Turner Sports. “With the right data and the right methodology, I’m fine with commercial ratings.”

Although the upfront could prove to be even more protracted than last year’s scrum, there are some indications that year-over-year growth should continue to be healthy if not spectacular.
Automotive spending should limp along in 2007—Merrill Lynch projects overall growth of 1.6 percent in the category, as GM and Ford work toward revitalizing their respective brands––while Anheuser-Busch has vowed to go after the sports opportunities that continue to crop up on cable. By and large, Wall Street anticipates continued year-over-year growth for cable this year. Merrill forecasts cable should grow by 5.8 percent, to $26.5 billion, down from an earlier prediction of plus 6 percent.

While last year saw a number of cable networks breaking ratings records with their original programming efforts, cable continues to lag far behind the broadcast nets in terms of its share of prime-time ad dollars. According to Nielsen data crunched by Turner chief research officer Jack Wakshlag, although cable captured a 55.5 share of the overall prime-time audience, the measured nets are getting a mere 31 percent of advertisers’ prime-time spend, versus the 69 percent that goes over to broadcast.

The networks aren’t the only competition cable faces. Just before Christmas, the Federal Communications Commission voted to speed the entry of telcos like Verizon looking to muscle into subscription-TV space by streamlining the local franchise approval process, limiting the time of negotiation to no more than 90 days.

That said, Verizon and the other telcos trying to compete with the MSOs haven’t made much headway in terms of actual deployments. According to Leichtman Research president and principal analyst Bruce Leichtman, the four top telcos added just over 1 million video subs last year, 90 percent of which came as a result of DBS pacts. If the Verizon threat remains muted, cable still has to keep an eye on satellite. According to the Television Bureau of Advertising, in November 2006, the MSOs saw some 2.6 million subs churn away, while wired cable’s penetration fell to 64.8 percent, a 16-year low.

If some of this appears to cast a pall over cable’s prospects for the near future, the industry still seems to enjoy a sort of rude health. Perhaps the biggest question facing cable in 2007 will be answered as early as next week, when The Sopranos makes its ad-supported cable debut (Jan. 10 at 9 p.m.). While A&E made a gamble with its $200 million investment in the HBO mob drama, one buyer says that the series is selling steadily, with top-flight sponsors like Ford and Paramount on board for the premiere.

“You’re probably going to see a lot of people waiting out on the sidelines to see if this is going to click,” says the buyer. “There are an awful lot of people who didn’t catch it on HBO the first time around…and an awful lot of clients who want to get in with Tony Soprano.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003526035

Forecast 2007:
TV Production
By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek January 1, 2007

As pilot production nears for fall 2007, reviving comedy remains a top priority for broadcasters. And with the critical success of sitcoms such as NBC’s The Office and 30 Rock, the networks see a glimmer of hope. Now if they can just get the ratings back up to Friends levels.

To do that, programmers are pushing at the boundaries of the format. At least a half-dozen comedy projects are so-called hybrids, either mixing scripted with nonscripted elements, or single-cam with multi-cam elements. Perhaps hoping to strengthen its Thursday comedy block, NBC is taking the most out-of-the-box shots. In the nonscripted comedy pilot Bad Judge, Jon Lovitz will preside over actual court cases—à la Judge Judy—but with more yuks. Along with Endemol USA, the network also is developing the hybrid scripted/nonscripted show Traveling Salesman, which will include nonscripted scenes in which the central character—a salesman—interacts with real people. As well, the multi/single-cam hybrid IT Crowd centers on a company’s underappreciated tech workers.

Meanwhile, Fox is developing a part-scripted, part-improv comedy about a reluctant politician. CBS is trying out the single/multi-cam style with My Name Is Earl creator Greg Garcia’s Fugly, about beauty-challenged sisters, one of whom undergoes an extreme makeover. And ABC is developing a real-time comedy about paramedics, from real-time pioneers Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran, of 24 fame.

Along with these experiments, there is the usual assortment of family comedies, singles comedies and workplace comedies. And even though advertisers have encouraged the networks to take risks in the past, many are beginning to throw their support behind more standard fare. “Most of the seminal sitcoms have revolved around scenarios that were highly relatable to viewers,” says John Rash, Campbell Mithun’s chief broadcast negotiator. “Too many shows are either high concept or don’t bear any resemblance to the lives most viewers lead, which is why I think the failure rate for comedy has been so high.”

Following the fiascos that most serialized dramas experienced this fall, advertisers said it was unlikely many new ones would make next fall’s schedules. Still, drama as a genre continues to thrive. And more certain is a return to close-ended shows.

With the success both of ABC’s Lost and NBC’s Heroes, the networks could make a bigger push into sci-fi this coming fall. Several projects deal with the supernatural, like Demons, the exorcist drama CBS greenlit to pilot last month. Time travel is used as a device in at least three other series at the networks, including an untitled hour for Fox, exec produced by Steven Spielberg. In a class by its own is NBC’s revival of The Bionic Woman.

Character-based dramas also are prevalent. Among them are ABC’s sports-themed Football Wives, CBS’ sex-themed, ’70s-set Swingtown and The CW’s teen-themed Gossip Girl.

And if the networks couldn’t make hay of 24’s serialized structure this season, they still believe there’s room for more action- and suspense-themed programs, including NBC’s reverse-time thriller Deadline and CBS’ untitled action-archaeology hour from Jerry Bruckheimer.

Also on tap are more traditional franchise shows featuring cops, lawyers and doctors. Several advertisers said the life-or-death situations these stock characters face seem to resonate with each new generation of viewers. “Crime, law, medicine—they’re not going away,” says Shari Anne Brill, vp, director of programming at Carat USA. “Those remain subjects of fascination for people.”

Although the nonscripted field may have contracted over the past few seasons, the contest genre continues to flourish with more on the way, including NBC’s Grease: You’re the One That I Want; Fox’s filmmaking contest show On the Lot, from Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett and The CW’s Search for the Next Pussycat Doll.

Despite ABC’s recent cancellation of Show Me the Money, game shows are in high demand. Among the game shows in development are ABC’s Wanna Bet, from a German format and CBS’ revival of Name that Tune. The network also announced a show pitting adult contestants against a group of child prodigies. Fox, along with Mark Burnett, announced a similarly themed show, except without the prodigies—just a regular class of fifth graders.

Although other nonscripted formats have had less success network-wide—including aspirational shows like NBC’s flopped Three Wishes, or docu-soaps like Fox’s The Casino—most advertisers believe the nonscripted genre as a whole remains healthy.

“The networks increasingly are looking for a profit margin,” says Brad Adgate, Horizon Media’s senior vp, director of corporate research. “And because reality shows are inexpensive to produce, even if you get a moderately successful hit, these programs make a lot of money.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003526039

Jan. 1, 2007, 2:33AM

Break in that 2007 wall calendar

A slew of new TV is coming our way in January. Here are the ones we know about.

By MIKE McDANIEL
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

January start dates for new and returning series.

NEW SHOWS IN ALL CAPS

TODAY (January 1, 2007)

Wildfire, Season 3, ABC Family

TUESDAY

DIRT, Courteney Cox, drama, FX

WEDNESDAY

Beauty and the Geek, Season 3, The CW

THE KNIGHTS OF PROSPERITY, sitcom, ABC

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, sitcom, ABC

THURSDAY

AFRO SAMURAI, Samuel L. Jackson, animé, Spike TV

FRIDAY

BEYOND THE BREAK, teen drama, Disney

GUNSLINGER GIRL, animé, IFC

BASILISK, animé, IFC

SATURDAY

Dirty Dancing, Season 2, WE

SUNDAY

GREASE: YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT, reality, NBC

The Apprentice, Season 6, NBC

The L Word, Season 4, Showtime

I'M FROM ROLLING STONE, reality drama, MTV

The Surreal Life, Season 4, VH1

JAN. 8

LINCOLN HEIGHTS, family drama, ABC Family

GAY, STRAIGHT OR TAKEN?, dating show, Lifetime

THE (WHITE) RAPPER SHOW, reality, VH1

I LOVE NEW YORK, reality, VH1

JAN. 10

The Sopranos, edited reruns, A&E

ARMED & FAMOUS, celebrity reality, CBS

Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, Season 2, Oxygen

JAN. 11

Nashville Star, Season 5, USA

JAN. 12:

CORY IN THE HOUSE, teen sitcom, Disney

JAN. 13:

JOHNNY AND THE SPRITES, live-action puppet series, Disney

Little Einsteins, Season 2, Disney

JAN. 14:

24, Season 6, Fox

Extras, Season 2, HBO

Rome, Season 2, HBO

JAN. 15:

High Stakes Poker, Season 3, GSN

My Super Sweet 16, teen reality drama, MTV

DANCELIFE, reality series with Jennifer Lopez, MTV

The Hills, teen drama, MTV

JAN. 16:

American Idol, Fox

Real Housewives of Orange County, Season 2, Bravo

JAN. 17:

THE NAKED TRUCKER AND T-BONES SHOW, comedy, Comedy Central

JAN. 19:

Psyche, Season 2, USA

JAN. 21:

Crossing Jordan, Season 6, NBC

DRESDEN FILES, drama, Sci Fi

Battlestar Galactica returns, Sci Fi

JAN. 22:

Prison Break returns, Fox

Heroes returns, NBC

ENGAGED & UNDERAGE, documentary series, MTV

E-VET INTERNS, documentary series, Animal Planet

JAN. 27:

THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND, mockumentary series, Nickelodeon

JAN. 28:

King of the Hill, animated series, Fox

JAN. 30:

Road Rules, reality, MTV

BAM'S UNHOLY UNION, reality, MTV

Two-a-Days, Season 2, MTV

WRESTLING SOCIETY X, reality, MTV

JAN. 31:

TOP DESIGN, competition, Bravo

America's Ballroom Challenge, reality, PBS

ADVENTURES IN HOLLYWOOD, reality comedy, MTV

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/4437316.html

Note: The link will only be correct until the story is archived. This happens after about a week or so.

Forecast 2007:
Syndication
By Marc Berman MediaWeek January 1, 2007

Like other media, the challenge syndicators face in 2007 (and beyond) is attracting a sizeable, demographically appealing audience in an increasingly competitive and fragmented landscape.

Fortunately, syndication overall continues to survive on the heels of its veteran first-run mix, with ad sales spending gains projected at margins of 3 percent to 4 percent each year through 2010 (to an estimated $3.44 billion by 2010, according to PQ Media). But there have been no new first-run breakout hits since King World’s Dr. Phil, and the absence of hit sitcoms on the broadcast networks in recent years has taken its toll in the off-network marketplace.

Even top-tier occupants Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld and Friends have sprung leaks, dipping by double-digit percentages year-to-year, according to Nielsen Media Research data. And the pending arrivals of King World’s Half and Half and Warner Bros.’ All of Us, George Lopez and What I Like About You offer lackluster content for the future.

First-run programming has stood the test of time better than off-network. But after decades of veteran first-run hits like King World’s Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and Oprah and CBS Paramount’s Judge Judy and Entertainment Tonight—and minus anything new of note in recent years, including King World’s highly touted The Rachael Ray Show—one has to wonder how much longer can these same strips continue to carry the marketplace?

“Shows can only last so long,” says Brad Adgate, senior vp, director of corporate research at Horizon Media. “Oprah, after all, won’t be doing her show forever. And neither will Regis Philbin, Judge Judy, Pat Sajak, Alex Trebek or any of the long-running hosts in any genre. So, there really must be more of an emphasis on finding the next generation of first-run hits.”

Unfortunately, what’s new in first-run will be slim again next season. With the annual National Association of Television Program Executives conference just around the corner (Jan. 15-18 in Las Vegas), only one new show—Judge David Young from Sony Pictures Television—is a confirmed go at press time. And even that announcement comes as a surprise to many, given the lackluster freshman results for the syndicator’s Judge Maria Lopez, which to date remains last in the court show genre at a 0.9 household rating.

“There are other projects in the works, so I imagine there will be last-minute arrivals,” says Garnet Losak, vp, director of programming, Petry Media Corp. “The current restructuring at companies like King World and Paramount [which have merged into the CBS Television Distribution Group] and Warner Bros. might be the cause of some of the delays.”

NBC Universal may launch a daytime version of game show Deal or No Deal (with Arsenio Hall or former Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper star Mark Curry as host); Warner Bros. is high on Celebrity Court, a new twist on court with celebrities as the jury; and The CBS Television Distribution Group has hinted of a new one-hour game show block (featuring a revival of The Joker’s Wild and a new strip called Combination Lock. But even if all four shows (plus Judge David Young) managed to get on the air—and the odds of that are highly unlikely—what’s new in first-run at NATPE 2006 will pale in comparison to the more populated days of yesteryear.

“The obstacle for distributors is finding available time periods in syndication,” says Bill Carroll, vp and director of programming for the Katz Television Group. “That’s a reflection of economics; syndicators are not as quick to cancel low-rated programming as they have been in the past. But what could help redefine the daytime landscape are the upcoming off-network arrivals of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, De Grassi: The Next Generation and the relaunch of Baywatch.”

With eight of the top 10 rated syndicated shows now housed under the recently formed CBS Television Distribution Group, a concern for anyone outside of the merger, of course, is trying to leverage itself in the marketplace. But even the house of hits realizes the only way to stay ahead is to constantly look for new and innovative ways to keep your product fresh.

“Never rest on your laurels,” says Terry Wood, president of creative affairs and development for the CBS Television Distribution Group. “We are blessed with success and not under the same pressure to introduce new product. But that does not mean we have the luxury to ignore our audience.”

Or new technology. Syndicated programming has been slow to be streamed online or on mobile phones. “I imagine the syndicators are taking a backseat to wait and see how the broadcasters fare,” says Dr. Leo Kivijarv, vp, head of research for PQ Media. “But if the networks can turn this into a revenue-producing stream, syndication will ultimately follow. Syndication is more of a follower than a leader, so it could take some time.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003526038

TV Review
FX makes a mess with drab 'Dirt'
By Robert Bianco USA Today Jan. 2, 2007

If you think dishing dirt is fun, think again.

Alas, amusements, ribald or otherwise, are the last things on the mind of star Courteney Cox (who also is an executive producer with husband David Arquette). She seems far less interested in entertaining us than in lecturing us on the evils of all-star gossip — except, that is, when she and her show attempt to revel in it.

Sanctimonious yet salacious, tawdry yet preachy, and dull as, well, dirt, this haltingly comic drama has as much trouble finding a workable tone as it does making a coherent point. Is the problem supposed to be that we dig too deeply into celebrity lives (the star who overdoses when her pregnancy is revealed) or not deeply enough (the star who uses a fake pregnancy as a publicity stunt)?

Though the debate may be interesting, Dirt never is. And the problem starts with Cox's Lucy Spiller, editor of the tabloidy Drrt and its more upscale sister magazine, Now. It's brave of Cox to choose such an unsympathetic character for her post-Friends TV return, but her performance does neither herself nor her show any favors.

Playing an almost absurdly tightly wound career woman, Cox gives full play to the most strident side of her acting style, and the harshness overwhelms even those few scenes that might have been funny in softer hands. When she does soften, as when she goes doe-eyed the instant someone accuses her of sacrificing love for power, it's inappropriate: That's an attack powerful women have heard for eons.

In her defense, Cox is trapped in a show that takes itself woefully seriously, without having the chops to pull that posture off.

The best performance comes from Ian Hart, who plays the most ridiculous character: Don Konkey, a schizophrenic photographer subject to necrophiliac hallucinations. Like so much of creator Matthew Carnahan's script, Konkey's affliction comes across as a sad, strained attempt to make a subpar show stand out, which may explain Dirt's cable-ready fascination with masturbation and vibrators.

In the end, Dirt is a serious stumble for a network that had supplanted HBO as the go-to cable stop for intriguing new series. What FX may be learning is the same lesson HBO has learned: that somewhere around the fourth or fifth series attempt, hits become harder to find, and quality begins to ebb.

Not that you should count the show out. There are people, after all, who love dish and dirt and stars, even of the fake variety. For all we know, Dirt will fly.

Just be careful not to get any on you.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2007-01-01-dirt-review_x.htm

TV Notebook
What to watch Tuesday
Robert Bianco's USA Today "Media Mix" Column - January 1, 2007

Football throws its weight around tonight in more ways than one, taking up all of Fox's evening and chasing most competitors into reruns.

•Big Day (ABC, 9 ET/PT) has two new episodes, but that's only because the network is rushing to get the show wrapped up and off the air. Still, new counts for something.

•Many of you will be happier with an original episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC, 9 ET/PT) — especially because this is a Chris Noth week. Tonight, Logan (Noth) and Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson) investigate the murder of a Pakistani woman who may have been the victim of an ethnic family feud.

•NBC follows with a new outing of Law & Order: SVU (10 ET/PT) built around a guest appearance by Brian Dennehy. He's a dying man who confesses to murder.

•Willing to watch reruns if they're classics? TV Land has a 12-hour M*A*S*H (8 ET/PT) marathon that skips around the show's run, mixing some first-season episodes with the famous finale.

•If you're not in a M*A*S*H mood, how about another go with one of the best "B" sci-fi movies of all time: Tremors (Cinemax, 8:15 ET/PT). Don't stick around, though, for the sequel that follows; it diminishes the experience.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/criticscorner/column.htm

Forecast 2007:
TV Stations
By Katy Bachman MediaWeek January 1, 2007

For local TV, 2007 will be anything but business as usual. In the final days of 2006, news was slow with two exceptions: There was a flurry of new positions created to manage TV station digital media initiatives and the retransmission battle between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Mediacom Communications raged on. Both portended trends that are likely to define the TV business going forward.

Without political dollars, which shattered records in 2006, and coping with ailing automotive and retail categories, local TV’s pursuit of a second revenue stream is where the action will be in 2007.

Across the board, forecasts for the core business are grim. The Television Bureau of Advertising is forecasting total TV spot to decline between 1 percent and 3 percent with national spot down 4 percent and local flat. Not only are rates expected to remain flat in 2007, but both broadcasters and buyers will need to remain flexible. “Over the last couple of years, clients are working closer and closer to deadline,” says Steve Kalb, senior vp and director of broadcast media for Mullen’s mediaHUB. “Directionally media is planned, but you’re always optimizing down to the wire.”

Local TV is suffering from consolidation in the retail business. “Advertisers are moving from spot to national, especially if it’s more of a national brand,” says Kalb. “They might supplement with spot, but that’s a major hit.”

Although auto advertising in 2006 was down overall, particularly among domestic auto spenders, auto spending on spot TV was up 10 percent in third quarter.
“Car sales will be down because the market is saturated, but when that’s the case, they have to work harder to hold onto share. So it will be a pretty good year for automotive,” explains Chris Rohrs, president of the TVB. “Local TV and the Internet are the most complementary of media for the auto category.”

While digital media represents less than 5 percent of revenue, broadcasters are looking at double-digit growth. Local online advertising is expected grow to $7.7 billion this year, a 31.6 percent gain over 2006, according to Borrell Associates. Automotive currently accounts for 12.7 percent of local online ads but is poised to overtake real estate, now at 21.8 percent of dollars, as the top category.

“Everyone is looking for lightning in a bottle,” says Terry Mackin, executive vp and head of digital media for Hearst-Argyle Television. Hearst-Argyle is one of many TV groups taking its digital future seriously by investing significant resources. Last year, for example, NBCU announced NBC 2.0, changing the focus of its strategy to digital. NBCU has a number of local digital initiatives in the pipeline, from NBC Weather Plus to the more recent launch of iVillage Live, the industry’s first multiplatform interactive talk show that melds online and traditional channels. Gannett created Gannett Video Enterprises to provide customized and local video to other media on-air, online and wireless. CBS TV began to experiment with local mobile video offerings. TV affiliates of the major networks began to forge new kinds of relationships with the networks for content and revenue sharing. Those and other initiatives will become more defined as the year progresses.

Buyers are open to the dual buy on the local level, but executing the buy isn’t as easy as the concept sounds. “It’s one-stop shopping for national [digital] buys, but locally, you have to do it market-by-market,” cautions Kalb.

To both lure viewers and provide a more attractive environment for advertisers on the traditional TV channel, stations are working to strengthen dayparts and experiment with inventory. “All of us are looking at different models and length of commercials. We’re using a lot more :15s than in the past and you’re seeing different content client partnerships,” says Larry Wert, president and general manager of WMAQ, NBC Universal’s owned-and-operated outlet in Chicago, which is set to debut Barely Today, an early morning news half-hour at 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 15.

The other potential source of revenue: getting financial compensation from cable for carrying local stations, which took on greater importance in 2006. At the close of the year, several agreements remained in limbo. “Retransmission consent goes right to the bottom line. So even if it’s 3 to 5 percent of revenue, it’s 10 to 15 percent of cash flow,” notes Mark Fratrik, vp of BIA Financial Network.

The industry also is moving forward with e-business, which should ease local TV transactions, and help the business cope with the mountain of daily ratings data generated by the rollout of local people meter markets growing from 10 to 13 in 2007. “We’re poised for a breakout year with some real solutions. These won’t have a dramatic impact for 2007, but it will set the stage for the future,” says Rohrs.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/tvstations/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003526033

Cable TV Notrebook
Court No Longer in Session on DISH
By Anne Becker & John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 1/1/2007

Court TV has been pulled from the Echostar satellite service after the two sides failed to agree on a new contract. Court TV went dark on Dish as of 12:01 Jan. 1.

Court TV parent company Turner issued the following statement: “We were unable to reach an agreement with Echostar and, as a result, we had no choice but to discontinue their carriage of Court TV."

Turner suggested that customers could switch to competitor DirecTV, or cable, if they wanted to keep getting Court TV.

"They were unwilling to pay the standard industry rate for a popular network that is currently ranked in the Top 20. We are disappointed with their decision, and hope that we can reach resolution," said Turner, "but in the meantime, our cable operator partners and DirecTV are able to provide this network to Court TV fans.”

For its part, Echostar says it continues to negotiate but that Turner was asking too much and that it was only looking out for the best interests of its customers, which it said it must protect "from unreasonable demands," according to senior VP, programming for DISH Network, Eric Sahl. "It is not fair to ask our customers to pay a DBS premium for a channel owned by the second largest cable operator, Time Warner," said Sahl in a statesment. "We take pride in offering consumers the best value for pay TV service in the industry, and we remain committed to keeping our cost structure low to the benefit of our customers.”

In the meantime, EchoStar will fill the Court TV vacancy with a freeview of Biography.

Turner wasted no time trying to drum up viewer support for its side. In a spot on CNN Jan. 1, Turner showed the image of a banging gavel with the tag line "don't stand for this injustice" as it urged viewers to register their disaffection with the disappearance of the channel.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6403317

That's the commercial I seen. It aired during Larry King.

TV Review
'Dirt'
Exposed: Celebrities, Tabloids and Sleaze!
By Alessandra Stanley The New York Times Jan. 2, 2007

There is no role as delicious as a truly nasty, sneaky gossipmonger. Burt Lancaster shone as J. J. Hunsecker, the Walter Winchellesque villain of “Sweet Smell of Success.” George Sanders stole scenes as the poison pen Addison DeWitt in “All About Eve,” and Henry Daniell was weasel incarnate as Sidney Kidd, the editor of Spy magazine in “The Philadelphia Story.”

Then there is Courteney Cox.

On a new FX series that begins tonight, Ms. Cox, a “Friends” alumna, plays Lucy Spiller, the ruthless and relentless editor of Drrt, a celebrity gossip magazine.

The character is based, not so loosely, on Bonnie Fuller, the bold and relentless editor responsible for the success of Us Weekly and now Star magazine.

Yet in a part that cries out for flair and flared nostrils, Ms. Cox is strangely wooden and bland. “Dirt” provides a very literal, coloring-book interpretation of a tyrannical publishing diva: the wall art in Lucy’s office is a giant Renaissance-style painting of nude figures twisting under the fiery torments of hell.

It’s not fair to compare anyone with Meryl Streep as the icy magazine editor in “The Devil Wears Prada.” But the Devil in “Dirt” wears red satin, horns and a tail.

Ms. Cox’s performance is not the only speed bump, but the series gets better as it goes along, mostly thanks to Ian Hart as Don Konkey, a tabloid photographer and functioning schizophrenic who hears voices as he works.

Don is a compelling, well-rendered character, and there are some amusing moments and well-observed details in “Dirt.”

As a satire of the cult of celebrity, though, the series is clumsy, weighed down by symbols and pseudo-apocalyptic frills that echo Nathanael West — the Day Spa of the Locust.

An exposé works best when its target’s inner workings are veiled. The public has few illusions left about how tabloids work.

Mel Gibson pummeled the subspecies by producing the inadvertently hilarious “Paparazzi,” a celebrity version of “Death Wish,” in which a movie star wreaks revenge on the photographers who pursue his family.

BBC America recently ran a documentary called “Paparazzi” that also disabused viewers of any lingering impression that gossip rags are run by gentlemen and scholars.

It also helps if the victims command some sympathy. Only the most tenderhearted weep at the plight of billionaire movie stars in need of privacy. Except, of course, movie stars.

Ms. Cox and her husband, David Arquette, have their own production company called Coquette, and they are executive producers of “Dirt.” This kind of uxorious collaboration has scary precedents: Guy Ritchie directing his wife, Madonna, in a remake of “Swept Away”; Ben Affleck starring with Jennifer Lopez in “Gigli”; and Brad Hall working with his wife, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, on the sitcom “Watching Ellie.”

“Dirt” is a labor of love about hate: vigilante filmmaking that allows Hollywood stars to fire back at the pestering paparazzi who stalk them.

It makes the most of its juicy Hollywood setting and even more of its premium-cable license to be licentious. Lucy is seen alone in bed, using a vibrator under black satin sheets. She blackmails a married basketball star with pictures that show him having sex with a prostitute, much of it unconventional, in and around a hot tub. Her gay brother has a tryst with a closeted action-adventure movie star.

But for all of the Deep-Throat details, “Dirt” takes a very shallow look at the shallowness of show business.

Lucy picks up a handsome young stranger in the valet parking zone by noting that he carries a book. “You know nobody in Hollywood reads,” she says. (Actually, it’s the one place where everybody reads.) When the boy toy sums up his novel, “this whole thing happens because the guy dips a cookie in some tea,” she replies, “it’s not just any cookie, it’s a madeleine.”

He is impressed. “Wow,” he exclaims. “She is gorgeous and she’s read Proust.” But it’s mainly the viewer who is taken aback at such an overused literary reference.

Not that all clichés are bad, particularly when they hark back to “The Bad and the Beautiful,” a 1952 melodrama about the movie business that starred Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas.

Lucy, who is pressured by her flinty boss, Gibson Horne (Timothy Bottoms), to raise profits, sinks her claws into Holt McClaren (Josh Stewart), an “actor’s actor” in the shadow of his famous movie star girlfriend, Julia Mallory (Laura Allen). Lucy offers Holt favorable press in exchange for gossip. Mr. Stewart, who has the velvety mumble and heavy-lidded looks of the young Sean Penn, is good even in the banal role of an actor who sells his soul for fame.

“Dirt” does not paint a rosy portrait of Hollywood, just a familiar one. Movie stars are self-absorbed hedonists who abuse alcohol and drugs. An actress with an unwanted pregnancy overdoses in her bathtub; a hot female movie star who wants a baby hires a surrogate to give birth so she can preserve her girlish figure; a Christian pop singer has a drug habit. Lucy has one rule: she won’t publish unsubstantiated gossip and instead tramples over publicists, blackmails celebrities and bullies her underlings to get to the truth.

Yet the drama unfolds around this cold woman’s surprisingly warm friendship with her unbalanced photographer, Don, a friend since their college newspaper days and the only person she seems to care about. Lucy helps Don stay on his medication, and he comes through at deadline with exclusives, from snapshots of a dead starlet in her coffin to a close-up on the singed face of a freebasing pop singer.

“Dirt” comes wrapped in pomposity and pretenses, but it can’t help reveling in the profession it seeks to censure.

“You and all your Hollywood pals read my magazines, you know every word is true,” Lucy tells a look-alike for the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who in the show has a brief cameo as a movie mogul named Harvey. “As much as you all hate to admit it,” she says, “you need me.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/arts/television/02stan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

Cable TV Notebook
Films in cable crunch
Pay TV executives want to change terms of deal

By Gabriel Snyder, John Dempsey Variety January 1, 2007

"Showtime's appetite for movies has diminished because its priorities have shifted somewhat in favor of original series like 'Weeds,' " says Randy Manis, senior VP of acquisitions and business affairs for ThinkFilm, which doesn't have an output deal with Showtime but recently sold it the Edward Norton movie "Down in the Valley."

Showtime and Starz want to own their movies, not just rent them in the pay window.

Reynolds and his boss at CBS Corp., Leslie Moonves, are convinced that some of the money they pay to Paramount and others might be better spent on producing five or six movies a year, which CBS Corp. then would own in perpetuity. However, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone likely would step in if Moonves' strategy threatened to put a severe dent in Paramount's bottom line.

"A lot of financing" for Moonves' low-budgeted movies would come from banks, Reyolds says, adding that CBS would end up shouldering "very little risk."

Showtime is an abysmal movie package. And has been for most of this (or ... er, last) year. Personally I don't want to see Showtime original movies, as I don't like what's left of Showtime's original series. With the exception of Dexter there is too little shown and what is shown I don't particularly like anyway.

I'd be quite happy if TWC dumped ShoHD in favor of Starz or Cinemax HD. High definition is wasted on the content Showtime has. One major original series every 6 months is not enough to justify the bandwidth expended on it.

TV Review
'Friends' In Need
Courteney Returns to TV as Gossip Hound
By Linda Stasi, New York Post - January 2, 2007

"Dirt" - Tonight at 10 on FX
Rating - Two Stars (Out of Four)

It's a dirty shame, but "Dirt," FX's new drama about the world of gossip mags premiering tonight is just a little too, well, down and dirty to actually like very much.

That's weird because the acting is fine and the production is gorgeous, but the characters? Not a whole lot to love there.

In fact, there isn't one character in the whole show to like, let alone relate to (and this comes from an ex-gossip columnist, mind you).

And that, my friends, makes the whole show difficult to care about.

Every character in this show is so ruthlessly vapid that I was kind of hoping that one or more of them would be fatally crushed under the "Hollywood" sign - the ultimate, literal victims of L.A. social climbing.

This is not to say that vapid and ruthless can't work on TV (think "Nip/Tuck"). But vapid and ruthless has to be redeemed by ridiculous and funny.

The characters on "Dirt," however, take themselves so seriously that I wanted to scream: "It ain't the cure for cancer - it's gossip!"

Anyway, in case you've missed the promos, "Dirt," starring the normally squeaky clean (if strangely thin and bizarrely concave) Courteney Cox.

It's about the editor and staff of two celebrity magazines - one that caters to dishing the low-down on the low-lifes of Hollywood, and one that's a kiss-ass, celebrity rag that flatters celebrities no matter how low down.

Both mags are run by one editor, Lucy Spiller (Get it? She spills the beans - hahaha!) - a size zero, couture-wearing, unredeemable, mean-spirited, one-dimensional character who revels in ruining lives and having anonymous sex with men she picks up on the street after fabulous parties.

Spiller is sort of like an over-the-top morphing of Anna Wintour, Bonnie Fuller and Nicole Richie all in one - ruthless, lonely and driven, sure, but thin. You gotta give her credit for something anyway.

Unlike real editors who need to get their sleep, Lucy is out every night looking for scoops while wearing giant couture gowns.

She hobnobs at parties with the likes of "Harvey," an overweight movie producer whose life she's recently ruined (gosh, I wonder who got passed over by the Weinstein brothers lately).

Whether she's outing someone or reporting on their secret pregnancies, causing their subsequent suicides, Lucy is famous for never retracting a story because she makes sure that every bit of loathsome gossip she digs up is fact-based.

If you are never wrong, she points out, you can never be sued.

Her No. 1 source is Don (Ian Hart), a schizophrenic paparazzo who carries around his dead cat and climbs up trees to take pictures of celebrities in compromising positions inside their own homes. Sometimes Lucy uses the pictures as blackmail and sometimes she just runs the pix - and ruins the celebrities.

It's real-l-l-ly ugly.

Bottom line? The folks in this high-rent district are strictly low rent and as plastic as the surgery that keeps that town alive.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01022007/tv/friends_in_need_tv_linda_stasi.htm

TV Review
Tabloid drama is 'Dirt' poor on FX
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 2, 2007

"Dirt" - Tonight at 10 on FX
Rating - One-and-a-Half Stars (Out of Four)

In tonight's new FX drama series "Dirt," Courteney Cox stars as the ruthless editor-in-chief of a supermarket tabloid. As both the leading lady and one of the show's executive producers, Cox succeeds in returning to TV in a part that is the polar opposite of her likable Monica on the hit NBC sitcom "Friends." It's one of the only successes the show can boast. Based on the first three episodes provided for preview, "Dirt" is a rare misfire from the drama-development folks at FX. It's a show where neither the world being created nor the characters populating it are remotely convincing - or interesting.

The series premieres tonight at 10 with a striking image as Lucy Spiller (Cox), editor of Dirt magazine and its more upscale sister publication Now, attends a Hollywood party in a flowing, deep red gown. Cox wears an even more exaggeratedly flowing red gown in the credits, lording it over all of Hollywood like a glamorous monster threatening the entire twinkling territory.

That analogy isn't far off, as Lucy barks orders, slogans and philosophies to cowering staff members at editorial meetings, and even to her nervously obsequious Hollywood contacts.

"If you don't start using your power, you will lose it!" she advises one Hollywood player.

"As much as you all hate to admit it, you need me," she tells another.

And my favorite, told firmly to her staff and employing a term Lucy uses more than once: "This baby picture is what Wal-Mart Mommy wants!"

Well, this TV series is not what TV-Critic Daddy wants.

Of all the supporting characters, only a few make any initial impact. One is Ian Hart (who played John Lennon in the early Beatles biography "Backbeat"), as Don Konkey, a "functioning schizophrenic" who, despite surrealistic visions and aggressive verbal tics, is both Lucy's best photographer and her best friend. Alexandra Breckenridge has one good early scene as Willa, a young reporter at Drrt. Shannyn Sossamon provides ethereal style as Kira Klay, an actress whose beauty Don is unable to forget, and Carly Pope smolders as a sexy drug dealer nicknamed "Garbo."

For the most part, though, "Dirt" seems as false as "Entourage," despite being a comedy, seems real. Here, the actors playing dynamic movie stars - Josh Stewart and Laura Allen - aren't magnetic enough to stick to refrigerator doors. There's no one, really, to root for or care about, as everyone jockeys for position to survive, thrive and devour.

Created by Matthew Carnahan and coexecutive-produced by David Arquette and Joel Fields, the series at least provides some gruesome and unintentionally amusing moments - sometimes simultaneously. In one episode, Don works his way past security at a hospital ICU by chopping off one of his own fingers.

He gets the photo, but it's a trick that will work, at best, only nine more times.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/484861p-408254c.html

TV Notebook
Checking Out, in Style or in Turmoil
By Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times - January 2, 2007

In a New Year’s weekend bracketed by deaths, it turns out that it was sound, not pictures, that made shocking television.

The background noise in a camera-cellphone recording of Saddam Hussein’s execution — jostling and sectarian insults — belied the Iraqi government’s portrait of the hasty hanging as a cool, considered meting of justice.

The accompanying dark and blurry shot of the Iraqi dictator falling though the gallows’ trapdoor — shown in its two-minute entirety on the Internet but not on most television news programs — was about as distinct as a sonogram. It was an unsettling sight, but not really all that graphic or gruesome.

It was more the idea of watching Mr. Hussein die — a snuff reality show — that spooked many viewers. It certainly gave news directors pause. But the first images of the execution, filmed by Iraqi officials and shown within hours on Iraqi and American television, came without the ambient sounds that defined his final moments.

Networks and cable news outlets hesitated briefly about showing the unexpurgated version after it began ricocheting around the Internet on Sunday. But most news programs showed at least some of it. The tape turned out to hold redeeming — and damning — news value: it suggested to viewers that the execution that President Bush initially described as “an important milestone” in Iraq’s advance toward democracy was actually more of a millstone.

Next to the screams and confusion around the gallows in Baghdad, the slow, stately processions in honor of former President Gerald R. Ford seemed almost on mute. As well-wishers lined up to pass before his flag-covered coffin, lying in state in the Capitol rotunda, the only sound came from marine guards’ high-gloss shoes squeaking on the polished marble floor.

Small wonder CNN kept going back to snippets of “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine, Pt. 1,” sung at the raw, boisterous tribute to James Brown in Augusta, Ga. Michael Jackson stood onstage like a bereaved relative, and the Rev. Al Sharpton stepped up as mourner in chief, giving instructions to St. Peter. “You need to open up the gates for the Godfather,” he thundered. Mr. Brown’s music was the unofficial soundtrack of the era when Mr. Ford was in office (Mr. Brown sang “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud” at President Richard M. Nixon’s inaugural festivities in 1969), so those incongruous segues made poetic sense.

Some of the most startling images of the new year were the ones meant to distract and entertain. As he did last year, a frail Dick Clark, 77, took a seat in ABC’s Times Square studio to preside over his signature holiday special, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

Ryan Seacrest, a Dick Clark Mini-Me and the host of “American Idol,” actually led the show. But despite a 2004 stroke that left him in a wheelchair and his speech impaired, Mr. Clark, wearing a tuxedo jacket with shiny lapels, made brief cameos. His voice was slurred and his face gaunt and waxy, but he smiled gamely as he introduced Christina Aguilera and called out the countdown to midnight.

Television has little patience with the aging and not much time for stroke victims, so it was both reassuring and painful to see Mr. Clark struggling to still fit into his nickname, “America’s oldest teenager.”

Anyone who thinks that elderly entertainers can gracefully retire and surrender the limelight don’t know anything about show business. As usual, the hardest-working man in it said it best.

In an interview he gave in 1989 while in prison for, among other things, a PCP-fueled high-speed car chase, Mr. Brown was asked how he was feeling.

“I’m well rested,” the singer replied. “But I miss being tired.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/arts/television/02watc.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin

She's right, but Katherine Oliver conviniently overlooks the fact that the ratings and popularity of the shows she criticizes are much higher than the locally-produced shows. Maybe she's just jealous Jerry Bruckheimer isn't spending his millions in production money in Gotham, which means the city doesn't get a cut. :rolleyes:

TV Notebook
Beware Phony NY Shows: Commish
New York Post Staff Writer - January 2, 2007

Shows like "Without a Trace" and "CSI: NY" are little more than name-brand knockoffs sold by street vendors, says New York City Commissioner Katherine Oliver.

The head of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting tells the trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable that those series in particular get under her skin because they are not shot here in New York.

"It's frustrating to see shows set in New York that are not made in New York," Oliver says. "Something like 'CSI: NY' spends maybe five days a year here. You can see that it's a fake New York."

Shows like the three "Law & Order" shot here have the kind of authenticity you can't get on the backlot, she says.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01022007/tv/beware_phony_ny_shows__commish_tv_.htm

TV Review
Cox digs up Hollywood 'Dirt' in new FX show
By David Kronke, L.A. Daily News - January 1, 2007

DIRT
What: Courteney Cox stars as the editor of a gossip magazine covering Hollywood's worst behavior.
Where: FX.
When: 10 tonight.
In a nutshell: Hyperbolic but arresting.

'Dirt" is filthy, but I mean that in an almost-good way.

"Dirt" is obsessed with bad behavior in Hollywood and has no qualms about depicting it as luridly as you're likely to see on basic cable. HBO's "Entourage" is practically innocent by comparison.

Courteney Cox - sweet, lovable Monica on "Friends" - stars as Lucy Spiller, the ice-queen editor of two tabloids, one mainstream (a la People) and one hard-core (like, say, the Star). She's so consumed with her job that she has little time (or interest) for romantic human interaction, particularly when the technology exists to get the essential job done more efficiency.

Ian Hart co-stars as Don Konkey, a schizophrenic paparazzo who's great at getting the money shot, less accomplished at curbing his internal demons. Don's scenes are miniature surreal portraitures; he can only be calmed by Hawaiian music. Still, the fact that he can operate at such a high level with so much white noise buzzing in his skull makes him the putative empathetic character.

Lucy and Don pursue scoops unveiling Hollywood decadence that aren't even on the other tabloids' radar: A married basketball star's (former Laker Rick Fox) sexual peccadilloes, say, or a big star's (Shannyn Sossamon) unwanted pregnancy via an ignominious source. Lucy recruits struggling actors (such as Josh Stewart's Holt McLaren) to rat out the secrets of others (such as Laura Allen's Julia Mallory) to boost their own careers.

Much of "Dirt" is hyperbolic and over-the-top - even the ostensibly clean-cut characters are free-basers and closeted gays. Not enough attention is paid to narrative logic: For example, big film and TV star Julia Mallory goes from being besieged by paparazzi at the premiere of her action flick to almost dying in a car accident to attending the funeral of someone who died before the wreck to being told, "We need to get you back in the public eye" - all in the space of two episodes. By episode three, she's addicted to drugs and muffing lines on her sitcom to such an extent that she's worried about losing her job.

"Dirt" is quite the wallow in decadence - an acid, unsparing and stylishly over-the-top take on the entertainment industry and the backhanded star-making machinery therein.

http://www.dailynews.com/tv/ci_4933214

TV Review
Down and ‘Dirt’-y: Cox, tabloid show wallow in cliches
By Mark Parigard, Boston Herald - January 2, 2007

Grade: C+
Series premiere tonight at 10 on FX.

Don’t muck with a “Friend” scorned.

Courteney Cox gets even with the tabloids for all the abuse her best friend for life Jennifer Aniston has suffered with her new series, “Dirt” (premiering tonight at 10 on FX).

While imaginatively filmed, “Dirt” is ultimately as enjoyable as bathing in sewage.

Cox, who serves as executive producer along with husband David Arquette, stars as editor Lucy Spiller (gee, obvious much?). She runs two magazines, the upscale Now and the decidedly downscale Dirt, but not for long, as the first two episodes make clear.

Spiller is driven, cold and has only one friend in the world: her vibrator, which gets quite a workout in next week’s episode, in case anyone wants to keep score. In tonight’s commercial-free opener, Spiller snoops on an underling’s Treo and fires her. She turns a stun gun on a booty call.

“As much as you all hate to admit it, you need me,” Spiller tells a poorly disguised Harvey Weinstein doppelganger.

Dirt’s top photographer? He’s mentally ill. (Take that, evil paparazzi!) Don Konkey (where oh where did they find a class of third-graders to name these characters?) is a functioning schizophrenic. He hears voices. Words turn into worms and crawl away. He has visions of dead people. Still, that doesn’t stop him from crawling into pits or sneaking into crematoriums (in a creepy sequence next week) to get that all-important shot. As played by Ian Hart, he’s the best part of the show, a sliver of humanity in a Botox landscape.

“Dirt” is smart enough to acknowledge that as much as stars claim to hate the tabloids, they’re just as quick to use them if it suits their purposes. Meet big star Julia Mallory (Laura Allen, “The 4400”) and not so big star Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart) - think Kirsten Dunst and Jake Gyllenhaal in mid-2005, after “Spider-Man 2” and before “Brokeback Mountain,” respectively.

McLaren is so desperate for buzz, he sells out his friends in a convoluted plot that leaves one friend dead, another injured and him looking like a hero.

Also tonight, ex-Celtics [team stats] star Rick Fox appears as Prince Tyreese, a basketball player whose family-friendly image could take a beating if Konkey’s pictures of him with another woman appear in print.

Next week, to jazz up Dirt’s cover, Spiller wants to splash a picture of a starlet in her coffin. Even her staff is horrified.

“What is this, too hard-core for you Columbia J-school grads? This isn’t Tiger Beat.”

One perk since her “Friends” days, Cox apparently has had all her pores removed. She almost looks lifelike. Unfortunately, “Dirt” never comes close.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=174847

TV Review
If you think scandal sheets are awful, meet Lucy
By Glenn Garvin, Miami Herald - January 2, 2007

DIRT: 10-11 tonight, FX

All my life I've longed for an editor like Lucy Spiller. She illustrates pep talks to her staff with slides of unborn sharks cannibalizing one another in the womb. Her office has a special viewing room for homemade porn. Her lovers are battery-operated. Her preferred foreplay is to gaze at her own magazine layouts. Her idea of a good headline is Dis-ASS-ter over a photo spread of big celebrity butts. She's a liar, a blackmailer, an extortionist and a wiretapper, all while wearing dresses cut down to there.

Unfortunately, Lucy won't be joining The Miami Herald anytime soon -- our porn-screening-room budget was cut to practically nothing when those McClatchy cheapskates took over -- but, happily, she's coming to your television set tonight in the delirious, dizzy, decadent and altogether delicious new FX drama Dirt.

Valley of the Dolls crossed with Citizen Kane and then multiplied by the Drudge Report, Dirt stars Courteney Cox as Lucy, the buccaneer editor of a Hollywood scandal-sheet tabloid. Hiring a hooker to lure a family-values basketball star into some poolside kinks while her photographers are hidden nearby, bribing a crematorium to obtain snapshots of an OD'd actress' corpse, Lucy views herself as a tireless and creative servant of the First Amendment. ''Our people want to know that people actually screw up and they actually sleep with hookers,'' she proclaims in ringing words that James Madison no doubt would have used if only Ecstasy and Internet porn had been available while he was writing the Federalist papers.

Her staff is equally enthusiastic, particularly the off-his-meds paparazzo Don Konkey (British actor Ian Hart, far afield of his role as John Lennon in Backbeat), whose specialty is goading actors into punching him on-camera but can adapt to most any situation: To get into an intensive-care ward where a Christian-pop singer is secretly recovering after setting her face on fire while free-basing, he chops off a finger -- a disquietingly literal interpretation of the age-old complaint by grunts that editors demand a pound of flesh.

Cox not only stars in Dirt, she and husband David Arquette are among the producers, and it would be easy enough to assume she's seeking payback for indignities she and her Friends pals suffered at the hands of the tabloids.

But if anything, Dirt's view of Hollywood is even more cynical and scabrous than its vision of the press, an endless daisy chain of exploitation and betrayal. Even the A-listers swap sex for dope and secrets for publicity in Dirt, ratting out the pregnancies and drug addictions of friends in return for the ephemeral buzz created by a tabloid puff piece. And self-absorption is a way of life. When her boyfriend raises his eyebrow at her suggestion that they have sex in the middle of a party, an actress is bemused: ``You think anybody in here sees anything but themselves?''

Dirt may be television's most visually adventurous series, bringing the schizophrenic photographer's hallucinations to unsettling life through animation and making innovative use of split screens to follow a conversation conducted through instant messages. The writing is not always up to the same standards. The dialogue can sometimes be leaden, and occasionally entire scenes seem to have popped through a rip in the space-time continuum. An actress suicidal over a premarital pregnancy? Perhaps in some alternate universe where Hollywood is controlled by the Amish mafia, but in the here and now, it's difficult to remember the last People spread on a celebrity baby who wasn't born out of wedlock.

Dirt creator Matthew Carnahan clearly imagines he's saying something incisive about the relationship between celebrity, journalism and art, but his observations are neither original nor especially articulate. ''You and all your Hollywood pals read my magazines and secretly love them,'' he has Lucy snap at a complaining victim of one of her drive-by exposes. ''As much as you all hate to admit it, you need me.'' Um, why? Because otherwise we'd forget what celebrity corpses look like?

No matter. If Dirt is not a chemical analysis of mud, just a glorious wallow. As Lucy urges her staffers as she deploys them on yet another ambush of Hollywood's unwashed and unwary: ''Guys, have fun!'' We will.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/television/16360841.htm

TV Review
"Dirt" is just a mess
TV Courteney Cox's new show about a tabloid editor is a soapy, dopey vehicle to show her off
By Edward P. Smith, Denver Post - January 2, 2007

As curses go, the one besetting the alumni of "Friends" is not nearly as toxic as the legendary curse of "Seinfeld."

But that's not to say they've escaped unscathed. Jennifer Aniston has had a lively if often lackluster movie career. Matthew Perry's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is struggling. Matt LeBlanc moved on to "Joey." Enough said. Lisa Kudrow's "Comeback" didn't. David Schwimmer will always have "Madagascar."

That brings us to "Dirt," the new vehicle for Courteney Cox debuting at 11 tonight on FX.

This show about the editor of two tabloid magazines demonstrates that being part of a blockbuster sitcom ensemble - even one where the cast members were getting a million dollars per episode - does not make you a TV genius.

It could be that you had the good fortune of ending up on a show with the right premise at the right time and were blessed with gifted comic writers.

Here, unfortunately, we have a muddled mess that does offer a few life lessons - TV style:

Don't have your husband (David Arquette) as the executive producer. He is likely to indulge your desire to look glamorous, if vacuous.

Decide what you want to make. A drama perhaps, or a parody or a soap opera. Please, pick one.

Allow other characters to have some depth.

The story, of course, revolves around Cox as Lucy Spiller, the editor of Drrt and Now magazines. The tabs seem roughly to correspond to Us Weekly and People, though who can tell these days when every mag on a grocery store rack claims to have the dish on how is Jen coping and where Britney left her panties.

As is typical with this sort of star vehicle, Spiller appears pretty much to single-handedly do all the work on both magazines. She sniffs out the scoops and even coddles her schizophrenic paparazzo.

Did we mention how glamorous she looks?

The mentally ill photographer Don Koney (Ian Hart) is hands down the show's most interesting character. He's brilliant at getting the sort of shocking photos you see on magazine covers. In the first episode, he catches a pro basketball player and family man having sex in a hot tub with a woman who is not his wife. In fact, she's a stripper the photog paid to set him up.

In the second episode, he gets a photo that proves a young star - think Britney and K-Fed - actually had a surrogate carry her baby and only pretended to be pregnant. All the while, Don's meds are not working very well; he starts hallucinating while shooting a dead starlet at the crematorium just before she is incinerated.

While there is no real plot reason for Don to be mentally ill, Hart brings complexity to the character and evokes some compassion from the audience. If only that could be said for the rest of the cast.

Cox is left with dialogue that makes you wonder if anyone did newsroom research before launching the show. When she reveals to her staff a plan to run photos of the dead actress about to be cremated on the magazine cover, she is greeted with groans.

"Is this too hard-core for you Columbia J-School grads?" she says. "This isn't Tiger Beat."

No, apparently it's a remedial TV script-writing class.

"Dirt" is a surprise coming from FX, which has been one of the cable channels creating some of the best and edgiest original programming, including "Rescue Me," "The Shield," and "Nip/Tuck."

In a recently published interview, Cox and Arquette said their interest in creating the show came, at least in part, from their own pursuit by the tabs.

That attitude might have inspired a line of dialogue toward the end of the second episode when Spiller pitches a new approach to the magazines' owner, Gibson Horne (Timothy Bottoms), with a grandiosity that pushes into the realm of the absurd: "We have the chance to shape American culture," she says. "This is what the marketplace wants."

It seems unlikely this is what viewers wants from FX. An inside look at the sleazy world of tabloids turns out to be as ham-handed and crude as the world it intends to expose.

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_4932109

TV Review
If you think scandal sheets are awful, meet Lucy
By Glenn Garvin, Miami Herald - January 2, 2007

Valley of the Dolls crossed with Citizen Kane and then multiplied by the Drudge Report...

TV Review
"Dirt" is just a mess
TV Courteney Cox's new show about a tabloid editor is a soapy, dopey vehicle to show her off
By Edward P. Smith, Denver Post - January 2, 2007

As curses go, the one besetting the alumni of "Friends" is not nearly as toxic as the legendary curse of "Seinfeld."

But that's not to say they've escaped unscathed. Jennifer Aniston has had a lively if often lackluster movie career. Matthew Perry's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is struggling. Matt LeBlanc moved on to "Joey." Enough said. Lisa Kudrow's "Comeback" didn't. David Schwimmer will always have "Madagascar."

OK, I wasn't going to watch this show but these two reviews have changed my mind. Who says TV critics don't influence people? :D And BTW, even though I know its never going to happen for a million different reasons (mostly network politics about promoting a show on a network owned by a rival parent company), how cool would it be if Dirt poked fun at Studio 60 and its star Matthew Perry (Cox's co-star in Friends)? I'd love a scene in which the writers/paparazzi from 'Dirt' tell the Courteney Cox character they have compromising photos/gossip on Matt and Danny from 'Studio 60' (doing drugs again for one, the stripper relationship with the other, etc.) and Cox's character says something like 'nobody between an LAX - La Guardia connecting flight gives a crap about 'Studio 60'' or 'figures that Sorkin would get his licks by making Perry suck up to a stripper.' You know, some inside stuff like that. And yes, I'm obsessed about 'Studio 60' and can't wait for new episodes to start airing again! :)

Also, if you haven't been to this thread over the past few days, please check back the last few pages (#659-661) because we've added a ton of stuff to the thread (lots in just the past 24 hours). And it's not just Dirt reviews we've posted, promise! Honest! ;)

OK, I wasn't going to watch this show but these two reviews have changed my mind. Who says TV critics don't influence people?

No doubt, it's just turned into "Must See TV", I will be watching or at least DVRing tonight's episode.

Just the opposite for me.

I'll DVR it, but have no idea when I'll bother to actually watch it.

It sounds dreadful.

I was still on the fence about whether I would DVR "Dirt" or not, but with that many bad reviews, I'll probably just skip it, or at least let my wife make the call on whether she wants to sample it or not. I am looking forward to both "Knights of Prosperity" and "In Case of Emergency" though, I don't really watch a lot of sitcoms, but those two both look like they could be alright.

Sacramento KCRA-TV makes the switch to news in HD in February.

details here:

http://www.sacbee.com/107/v-print/story/101539.html

I learned a long time ago to never ever take any critics opinion of a tv show or movie. Atleast 50% of the time I don't agree with them. Heck, 50% of the time I don't agree with non-critics either.

One example out of many I've had:

!. "The Ring" got rave reviews by critics and most forum members here and other forums. Made a blind purchase of the dvd. Watched it once and can't bare to watch it again. It was boring to me. Nearly turned it off several times. It was slow, drugout and drab the first 75% of the film with the last 25% being just okay but not great or terrifying. Gave the dvd away. "Ring Two" was much much better but got less favorable reviews. And horror is my favorite genre and Drama being my least favorite genre.

I have my own taste and it's usually oposite of most. So I say give it a try and judge for yourself. :)

One example out of many I've had:

!. "The Ring" got rave reviews by critics and most forum members here and other forums. Made a blind purchase of the dvd. Watched it once and can't bare to watch it again. It was boring to me.)

Then avoid the Ring 2 like the plague. I liked the first one and the second was the most tedious two hours I've spent watching a movie in recent memory.

But that's just my opinion. :)

I'll still be watching Dirt tonight even though the critics mostly hate it. It's new and on FX, so that's two reasons to give it a view before I dismiss it.

I'll be a lot more likely to watch FX when it starts broadcasting in HD.

I learned a long time ago to never ever take any critics opinion of a tv show or movie. Atleast 50% I don't agree with them. Heck, 50% I don't agree with non-critics either. :)

But my experience is that when critics are divided (and even though most reviews of "Dirt" have been negative there have been a few from the likes of Kronke and Garvin that loved it) it's when its most fun to watch a show and make up your mind. I've seen movies/TV shows that got great reviews that have sucked hard (Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula movie being the perfect example) and shows/movies that got panned that I liked (the Fox sitcom Flying Blind with Tea Leoni) with everything in-between. And Ian Harts' paparazzi reporter sounds like the kind of supporting character that steals the show (like Masi Oka's Hiro in Heroes). Those quirky secondary characters are always fun to watch provided star/producer Cox doesn't feel Ian's taking the spotlight away from her and reduces the character's visibility. Ahh, producer's prerogative! :rolleyes:

But my experience is that when critics are divided (and even though most reviews of "Dirt" have been negative there have been a few from the likes of Kronke and Garvin that loved it) it's when its most fun to watch a show and make up your mind. I've seen movies/TV shows that got great reviews that have sucked hard (Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula movie being the perfect example) and shows/movies that got panned that I liked (the Fox sitcom Flying Blind with Tea Leoni) with everything in-between. And Ian Harts' paparazzi reporter sounds like the kind of supporting character that steals the show (like Masi Oka's Hiro in Heroes). Those quirky secondary characters are always fun to watch provided star/producer Cox doesn't feel Ian's taking the spotlight away from her and reduces the character's visibility. Ahh, producer's prerogative! :rolleyes:
Actually I wrote that sentence wrong. I said:
Atleast 50% I don't agree with them. Heck, 50% I don't agree with non-critics either.
I ment to say:
Atleast 50% of the time I don't agree with them. Heck, 50% of the time I don't agree with non-critics either. Kinda changes my intended comment. Sorry about the confusion. Anyway I'll give "Dirt" a try for atleast 3 to 4 episodes then decide.

I'll be a lot more likely to watch FX when it starts broadcasting in HD.
That's how I feel about Dirt, if it was in HD I might give it a look-see, but since it's not, forget it, 3 shows a year from FX in SD is enough for me. In fact, if FX doesn't go HD soon I'll probably just Netflix the DVD sets when they come out, waaaay better PQ and 16x9 to boot.

Opinion
A La Carte
Sports Tears
By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld at multichannel.com Tuesday, January 2, 2007

=If there was ever an argument to be made for a la carte pricing, it’s sports programming that makes it.

Specifically, the NFL Network.

It’s not taking the ball and going home to headquarters quietly in the night. You can be sure Steve Bornstein and compadres will be back before next football season trying to jawbone Time Warner, Cablevision and any other resistant cable operators into taking its full lineup of programming at 70 cents a month -- or more -- even if it only includes eight live games, all year.

If you’re looking at this fee from the standpoint of an average cable subscriber, here’s what the bill starts to look like now and in the near future.

ESPN, $3 a month. ESPN spinoff channels, 35 cents a month. Regional sports network (a la YES Network), $2 a month. NFL Network, 70 cents a month. In the near future, the MLB Network, $1 a month. Regional college network, 50 cents a month. Grand total: $7.55.

All other basic programming networks: Roughly the same total.

Which means it’s clearly time to turn basic cable back into a really basic tier of 70 or 75 channels of news, weather, entertainment and local channels. No sports channels. At all.

Let each sports channel charge whatever they want to charge for their live and recorded events. Let them try to be HBO, if they want. No hidden charges. No hiding their higher ticket prices. Put them out in the open.

Of course, this would take a lot of willpower to enforce on the part of cable operators. Once they buckle on ESPN and include it again on the basic tier, it’s hard to keep the door barred on other sports networks.

But the operator likely would win the popularity contest. Making every sports network an a la carte choice or bundling them all into a separate sports-only tier, as has seemed logical for a good while, would let operators be heroes, dollar-wise, with the customer.

Pricing on basic tiers could be rolled back, as much as by half. True basic for $15 or $20 a month, not $40.

No one ever said live sports was an inalienable right of the TV viewer.

And, similarly, no one ever said sports programmers ever had inalienable access to the TV viewer.

Time for cable operators to make a bottom line stand. And not keep hiding the increasingly high cost of buying tickets to sports events in the cost of basic subscription television.

Sure, some fans will cry rivers of tears for having to pay "extra" for sports. But the costs of capitalistic sports are readily available at open-air stadia: $100 seats, $7 drafts, $10 parking.

Time to start making prices just as explicit for seats at home.

http://www.multichannel.com/blog/1820000182/post/1400006140.html

The Business of TV
Time Warner, Fox News Ink Carriage Deal
By Jon Lafayette, TV Week - January 2, 2007

News Corp. and Time Warner Cable have completed a long-term deal under which the cable operator will carry the long-planned Fox News business channel when it launches.

The long-term deal gives Time Warner Cable retransmission consent to carry all of the Fox-owned TV stations in Time Warner markets and extends its carriage agreement for Fox News Channel, a Time Warner Cable spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

Time Warner Cable has also agreed to roll out the Fox Reality Channel.

"It's a big deal with a major content provider," the Time Warner Cable spokesman said.

Time Warner Cable is the second-largest cable operator, with 23 million subscribers. The deal would put News Corp. close to the 30-million-subscriber level it has said it would need in order to launch the channel.

The channel would operate under Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox News, with Neil Cavuto, managing editor of business news, and former CNBC reporter Alexis Glick in charge of day-to-day operations.

Terms of the overall business deal were not disclosed, but Fox News has been receiving an average of about 70 cents per subscriber per month in recent deals. While not the $1 per sub News Corp. execs had been seeking, it is a substantial increase from its previous rate of about 25 cents per sub.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11290

TV Review
Of ABC's new comedies, 'Knights' is the only likely to prosper
By Melanie McFarland, Seattle Post-Intelligencer - January 3, 2007

"The Knights of Prosperity," 9 on Wednesdays, KOMO/4

"In Case of Emergency," 9:30 on Wednesdays, KOMO/4

Almost every network's TV party hits a slump in January. The players people really want to get down with have stepped out to take a break, and everyone else is looking mighty bedraggled.

Premiering "The Knights of Prosperity" at this point, then, must be ABC's idea of stepping in fashionably late and hoping the crowd will notice its arrival. It's highly unlikely that'll happen. The network's freshman shindig cruised into its diminishing returns portion when "Day Break" flopped onto the schedule in November. "Help Me Help You" and the outright dumb "Big Day" didn't make many viewers excited about its new sitcoms.

Anyway, the scheduling powers at ABC rarely are attuned to the subtle art of managing a good time, and "Knights," a tale about below-average Joes quixotically scheming to get rich by robbing a rock star, stands as proof of that.

This is a series born with a buzz by virtue of its original name, "Let's Rob Mick Jagger." Then ABC thought better of such an inspired title, which rarely is a good thing, and nixed it.

As a small consolation, the Rolling Stones frontman's name remains attached in an executive producer credit (along with David Letterman), and he makes a very funny cameo in tonight's half hour.

Nevertheless, calling a show "The Knights of Prosperity" is easy to ignore. You can almost hear the argument that an underdog series about underdog criminals deserves a mutt of a name -- the spit shine on the whole joke, perhaps -- but, really. People who don't find it confusing will likely sail right on by in any case.

Those deigning to give it a shot will be treated to the kind of single-camera comedy that improves in its second outing -- yep, that old qualification -- but one that still leaves you with the feeling that it'll be gone before it really hits its momentum.

"Knights" is imbued with bona fide sweetness behind the slapstick foolishness spurrish it along. There's a thorny side to its shtick as well; beneath the offbeat humor that occasionally ducks into the locker room, this light comedy nods at the growing chasm between the hyper-rich and the working poor.

One can't quite call its execution subversive, but the plot's engine sure is. Crew leader Eugene Gurkin (Donal Logue), a graveyard shift janitor, comes up with the world's dumbest heist only when he has no other options to fund his dream of opening a bar.

Sitting in his grimy studio apartment, he sees an entertainment special on Jagger's Central Park West luxury pad, scenes from which become a running gag during the first half hour. Jagger has a houseboy who draws him yogurt baths while Gurkin has a Loni Anderson poster taped to the bottom of his wall bed.

So Gurkin and a few of his dead-end pals -- fellow toilet cleaner Francis "Squatch" Squacieri (Lenny Venito); cab driver Gourishankar "Gary" Subramaniam (the side-splitting Maz Jobrani), who was a top lawyer in India; security guard Rockefeller Butts (Kevin Michael Richardson); and voluptuous waitress Esperanza Villalobos (Sofia Vergara) -- decide robbing Jagger is the key to achieving their dreams. They hire a college student, Louis Plunk (Josh Grisetti) as an unpaid intern; they squat and plot in a Jewish party supply warehouse; they make up gaudy orange T-shirts announcing their name. And as one would expect from a criminal crew whose strongman has a soft spot for cookies, they are as inept as three-legged dogs in a greyhound race.

Creators Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman employ the same charm here that won people over in their NBC series "Ed," once again leaning heavily on its characters' humility and fuzziness. A sweaty desperation may be driving Gurkin and his crew, but each mook contains an innocence that's hard to reject.

"Knights" is without question the funniest comedy ABC has on its roster. But look at the network's other options, and you'll understand that's not what you'd call a hard-won honor. Indeed, "Knights" is not in absolute top form out of the gate, and small portions of the pilot were unnecessarily tinkered between last summer's version and the one you'll see tonight.

Either is more successful than ABC's new 9:30 option "In Case of Emergency," the feckless wingman accompanying "Knights" to this soiree.

Viewers probably will recognize "Emergency's" stars (David Arquette, Jonathan Silverman, Greg Germann, Lori Loughlin, Kelly Hu) more easily than the cast of "Knights." Good thing, too, because those names are all this barren 30 minutes has going for it.

Even more familiar is a premise it has in common with CBS's Monday night "The Class," another show about fledgling adults who realize their lives didn't turn out they way they'd envisioned it when they were in school, boo-hoo-hoo. Silverman's character Harry, for example, thought he'd be a great writer. Instead, recently divorced and writing cute slogans for greeting cards, he goes to a "massage" parlor only to discover the class valedictorian (Hu) is handing out happy endings to pay her rent.

Germann's Sherman is a failed diet guru, and Arquette's Jason botched a suicide attempt. Each realizes he or she doesn't have someone to call in a pinch like, say, when one finds himself the hospital or another is arrested.

"The Class," not a terrific sitcom by any stretch of the imagination, trades in this quarterlife crisis nonsense each week far better than "Emergency" does. That show's delivery isn't as hyper or forced as "Emergency" is, and it coaxes out a few chuckles here and there, whereas "Emergency" can't dredge up even a gasp in two episodes.

The quality of its punch lines, or utter lack of them, won't matter in the long run. "American Idol's" arrival in a couple of weeks means both of these comedies are going to be impaled.

"Knights" can easily be moved to a friendlier timeslot if this one doesn't work. Based on the what the first two episodes had to offer, it deserves a chance to circulate a little.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/298122_tv03.html

The Business of TV
Turner: No Progress on Court-Dish
By Linda Moss, Multichannel News - January 2, 2007

Officials at Turner Broadcasting System said Tuesday that they haven’t talked with EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network about Court TV since New Year’s Eve, and they don’t expect the justice network to be reinstated to the direct-broadcast satellite service anytime soon.

“The truth is, we are not currently negotiating,” Turner president of domestic distribution Andy Heller said. “We haven’t had a conversation since 9 o’clock New Year’s Eve … The network is off and, at the moment, absent some change in somebody’s position, it’s going to stay off, I think, for a while.”

Court TV came off Dish’s America’s Top 60 tier at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, when the programmer’s carriage deal with the satellite service expired. It was replaced by The Biography Channel.

That drop sliced roughly 11 million subscribers from Court TV’s distribution, which most recently had stood at 87.7 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.

A year ago, Dish was engaged in a nasty public dispute with another programmer, Lifetime Television. Dish pulled Lifetime and its sister services off its lineup for roughly one month.

This year’s Court TV dispute centers on Dish’s desire to move the network from its most widely distributed tier, America’s Top 60, to America’s Top 120, which reaches about 3 million fewer homes, with a penetration of only about 8 million.

“They proposed that [Court TV] move and they get to write their own rate card after they moved it, which wasn’t exactly consistent with our hopes and dreams,” Heller said.

Heller claimed that he offered Dish an extension to continue carrying Court TV on America’s Top 60 for the current license fee.

“We offered them an extension with no change whatsoever, just maintain the status quo,” he added. “This is the first time someone said, ‘No, I don’t want an extension’ … I’ve been doing this a long time, but this is the first time this has ever happened. Never, all of these networks that we have, I’ve never been in a situation where a network went dark.”

In its press release, Dish said Turner “refused to offer an extension in the company’s Top 120 package for continued negotiations.”

Turner wasn’t in favor of Court TV, a top-20-rated network, being moved to America’s Top 120, with its lesser penetration, Heller said.

“That having been said, we’re not going to say, ‘No, you can’t do it, but if you do it, we’re going to lose 3 million customers that currently have access to the product,’” he added. “That hurts our ad-sales business. And so we have a tiered rate card for that, and they didn’t want to pay it.”

Dish claimed that the license fee Turner was seeking if Court TV was moved to America’s Top 120 would amount to a 70% increase in rates.

“Unfortunately, Turner Networks refused to deliver a reasonable offer for carriage in America’s Top 120 package that fairly reflected Court TV’s overall ratings performance and value,” EchoStar spokesman Kathie Gonzalez said.

Heller conceded that the license fee for Court TV to be carried on America’s Top 120, versus America’s Top 60, “was much more expensive.” But he wouldn’t say how much more.

In the Dish press release, senior vice president of programming Eric Sahl said, “We are working hard to negotiate a fair contract with Turner Networks and Court TV … It is not fair to ask our customers to pay a DBS premium for a channel owned by the second-largest cable operator, Time Warner.”

Court TV became wholly owned by Turner in May, putting its carriage negotiations in Heller’s hands.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6403596.html?display=Breaking+News

TV Notebook
New Year's Irresolution
James Poniewozik's Time "Tuned In" Blog - January 2, 2007

Oh, did I mention I was going on vacation? I could have sworn I had put up a post mentioning that I was going to be gone last week. Apologies to everyone who counted on Tuned In as a refuge from your alcohol-fueled, resentment-filled, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf family holiday get-togethers.

Today Tuned In returns to its regular (but frustrating) schedule of irregular (but still frustrating!) commentary. It's New Year's resolution time, and in the spirit of the holiday, here are a few of my faults as a critic and blogger that I'd like to rectify in the coming year yet almost certainly won't.

Above all, I'd like to make an effort to watch more TV like an ordinary person. Like a lot of critics, I tend to be pretty prime-time-focused: there's a lot to keep on top of, and my daytime is filled with writing for the print magazine, catching up on TiVoed shows, and filling this blog with content for you insatiable ingrates. As a result, I miss a lot of daytime TV, which is probably inexcusable. I'll try to remedy that, so if any Time editors happen to notice Passions on my TV as they walk by my office, trust me, I'm working.

Likewise, because I use TiVo to keep my media diet manageably bite-sized, I don't see nearly as many commercials as the average viewer. Considering that commercials are the genre of programming that makes most of the rest of TV possible, they're arguably more influential than the shows they appear in. I'll try to work more coverage of them in here as well.

More bad daytime TV and more commercials: lofty goals, I know, but someone has to strive for them.

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

Cable TV Notebook
News Corp., Time Warner Sign Carriage Deal for Business Channel
Gives Fox Business News Access to 23 Million Homes
By Claire Atkinson Advertising Age January 02, 2007

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- News Corp. executives spent New Year's weekend concluding a carriage agreement with Time Warner Cable for its long-awaited Fox Business News channel. Time Warner Cable serves 23 million homes and has been long sought after by News Corp. as a cable partner for the launch. With this deal in hand, many expect News Corp. can now move forward with the channel after years of delays.

Time Warner Cable and Fox News distribution executives had been hashing out terms in advance of the holiday week. A senior executive inside Time Warner confirmed that the cable system had finally given the Fox News' business sibling the distribution it needs. Terms were not disclosed.

Major cable players

Time Warner Cable is one of two major cable players in the New York market, which is considered critical for News Corp. to secure before launching its business-news channel. The deal will give the channel access to the crucial Wall Street audience and to the Madison Avenue-based advertising community.

Roger Ailes, Fox News chairman-CEO, has said he would not launch the business service -- the idea for which was first raised in 2004 -- until he had enough distribution partners lined up.

In November, Comcast said it would distribute the business service to its 12 million subscribers should the channel go ahead. Speaking in December at the UBS media conference, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin said the company was still working on the channel and would commit to a launch once it had sufficient carriage deals in place. The company has said around 30 million homes would suffice.

Launch date

While a date for the launch still hasn't been revealed, News Corp. Chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch has said the business channel will launch in 2007.

It is still unclear, however, whether Cablevision, which also has a sizable chunk of New York-based customers, has made an agreement to carry the service. DirecTV -- in which News Corp. owned a significant stake until its sale last month to Liberty Media -- is likely to give the service satellite liftoff but has said nothing on the matter. DirecTV, which is present in 15 million homes, did not respond to a request for comment.

A Fox News spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment. Fox News Channel's managing editor of business news, Neil Cavuto, is expected to be a major part of the new service. News Corp. hired Alexis Glick away from CNBC in September as Mr. Cavuto's second in command.

At the end of 2004, Time Warner closed its own financial news service, CNNfn, leaving the TV business news field to NBC Universal's CNBC and Bloomberg. That's the same year Mr. Murdoch first started touting the idea for the business news service.

Changing environment

The environment has changed considerably since then. Broadband video has taken off as a distribution method, and CNBC has had time to return to its original business-news mantra after a brief foray into prime-time entertainment. CNBC is distributed to 90 million homes and in December revamped its own website to offer video from around its international bureaus. The channel also launched new shows such as "Fast Money," which features a roundtable of investment professionals debating features such as the trade of the day. In some ways, such shows ape Fox News in their fast-paced discussions and analysis of news stories.

Annual advertising revenue at CNBC is estimated at $300 million. Time Warner has also boosted its financial presence online, plugging its Fortune magazine staff to its CNN Money offering. Major online giants such as Google and Yahoo are also looking to own the daytime business viewer with their own stock market information.

The move could be a way for Fox News sales to reach out to fresh advertisers. After the company's 10-year ascent to lead the cable news ratings, Fox News may have already soaked up all double-digit spending increases it can muster.

Gaining traction

Business news has gained traction within News Corp. just in the past month. On Dec. 4, Fox News launched an online-programming partnership with Yahoo Finance that rolls video branded "Fox Business Now." The segments air weekdays and comprise two-minute market reports.

Yahoo helps promote the service, and Fox News has given it on-air support. The segment currently online is "Terror Free Investing," hosted by Stuart Varney, dated Dec. 28.

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article.php?article_id=114045

The Business of TV
Time Warner Cuts Broad News Corp. Deal
By Mike Reynolds, Multichannel News - January 2, 2007

The renewal of Fox News Channel and the “placeholder” provision for its proposed business channel with Time Warner Cable are components of a larger deal the cable operator has struck with News Corp.

According to a Time Warner executive familiar with the deal, the broad-reaching contract, which was finalized on Dec. 28, also encompasses retransmission-consent carriage for Fox’s owned and operated stations through 2009, renewals for Fox News Channel and Speed Channel, plus the addition of Fox Reality Channel to its channel lineup and a commitment to the business channel that Fox News has been contemplating launching.

Another executive with knowledge of the deal placed the monthly per subscriber fee for the proposed business channel in the 10 to 15 cents range.

A Fox News Channel spokesman confirmed the extension agreement for the news service and the placeholder pact for the business channel, but declined to comment on any financial terms. Officials at Time Warner Cable and News Corp. officials declined comment.

Of the 35 stations in 26 markets comprising the Fox Television Station group, a number transmit in such Time Warner Cable-served DMAs as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Austin, Texas, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Kansas City and Greensboro, N.C.

The Time Warner executive familiar with the pact said that Fox’s O&Os had been out of contract with the cable operator since Dec. 1, 2004. The stations had remained on the air in the interim via month-to-month renewals under terms of the old contract, said sources with knowledge of the O&Os.

The far-reaching pact also covers a contract renewal for Speed, which counts nearly 70 million subscribers nationwide, as well as the launch of Fox Reality in roughly half of Time Warner Cable’s footprint. The Time Warner launch, coupled with a pact with Comcast Corp., will push Fox Reality’s sub count into the 35 million-home range.

As for Fox News Channel, Time Warner Cable, whose original 10-year contract with the cable news leader was set to expire in fall 2007, has reached a multiyear contract extension covering some 13 million subscribers.

An executive familiar with the negotiations said the terms are similar to the ones that Fox News reached with Cablevision Systems Corp. last fall in that there is an escalating license fee structure. The agreement with Time Warner, this executive said, tops out in 80-cent range in the latter years of the pact. The Fox News’s deals with CVS and Time Warner Cable average around 75 cents per subscriber per month over the life of the contracts.

Fox News also inked renewal contracts with DirecTV and the National Cable Television Cooperative last year.

The Time Warner Cable/News contract also pertains to the proposed business channel Fox News has been eyeing. The executive familiar with the deal said the cable operator would pay a monthly per subscriber license fee in the 10 to 15 range, should the service get off the ground.

Time Warner Cable’s large subscriber base, particularly its strong presence in Manhattan, home to this nation’s financial district, is viewed as critical for News Corp. to give the official go-ahead. Officials at the media giant have indicated that a business channel, which go after the same lucrative advertising base that is now the province of CNBC, would need some 30 million homes before it would debut.

Fox News already has a commitment from DirecTV and a placeholder pact with Comcast Corp. for the business channel.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6403607.html?display=Breaking+News

TV Review
Courteney Cox washes out in 'Dirt' on FX
By Tim Goodman, San Francisco Chronicle - January 2, 2007

Dirt: Drama. 10 p.m. Tuesdays on FX

There are a number of problems with the new FX series "Dirt," starring Courteney Cox in her first post-"Friends" television show, but one of the biggest is Cox herself. No doubt she wanted to reinvent herself with a more rough-edged dramatic role, and there's no place better outside of HBO to do just that than FX.
But in one of the few instances where FX doesn't go far enough (not an argument you'll often hear about the channel that airs "The Shield," "Rescue Me," "Nip/Tuck" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), "Dirt" seems artificial as it tackles Hollywood and tabloid gossip peddling.

After three episodes of earnestly wishing that "Dirt" was as good as its promos, we admit that the whole series just misses its mark -- despite that mark being one of the fattest, ripest targets imaginable. Given a chance to skewer the shallow, self-absorbed world of celebrity and, in the same instant, the morality-challenged scandal-rag industry, you'd expect the biggest challenge for the "Dirt" writers would be whittling down the numerous, whopping, juice-dripping story lines at hand.

And yet, "Dirt" never seems to get anywhere close to something that resembles Hollywood, and Cox -- who was perhaps the most underappreciated character on "Friends," where her self- deprecating humor honed her winning personality -- never seems believable as Lucy Spiller, a ruthless nutcracker of an editor whose sole passion in life is to reveal the drug addictions, marital infidelity and bloating butts of the very famous. Since Cox and husband David Arquette are executive producers on "Dirt," this is not a problem that is going to be corrected soon enough to make "Dirt" the sharp-edged series many hoped it would be. (The series was created by playwright and filmmaker Matthew Carnahan.)

That's not to say Cox isn't up for a provocative makeover of her light-comedy persona. While the pilot has pretty much every actor partaking in "Nip/Tuck"-style sex scenes, Cox's Spiller character takes her boy-toy one-night stand and pushes him down under the sheets (and later calls on him to repeat the task). But mostly she's reduced to her vibrator -- she's too busy for sex and love anyway, and as "Dirt" tries unconvincingly to show us, Spiller gets her only true orgasms by revealing celebrity sins. ("Dirt" still goes out of its way to show Cox masturbating, which may boost ratings and sex up Cox's reputation but is oddly off-putting.)

"Dirt" tries to make Cox seem like the most feared woman in Hollywood -- she runs two magazines, Drrt and Now, a quasi-journalism empire -- but viewers are likely to spend any time invested here wondering why Monica from "Friends" is trying to play tough (and why her masturbating is so unsexy). This is the biggest obstacle -- but not the only obstacle -- to the success and believability of the series. Something is amiss here. Monica/Cox could not possibly be mean and, no offense intended to Cox, but she's not the type of woman that men tend to imagine in the masturbation arena (their own or hers -- Jennifer Aniston perhaps, but not Cox, who seems more like your giggly and sweet best female friend).

Beyond the limitations of Cox as a sensationalistic, power-toppling viper, there's the artificiality of Hollywood in "Dirt." We're shown Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart), who made a really great movie long ago but since has fallen onto the B-list with a string of duds. His girlfriend is Julia Mallory (Laura Allen), an A-lister with a film career and a hit TV show. When McLaren hears that Julia's friend and fellow hot actress Kira Klay (Shannyn Sossamon) is pregnant, he trades the secret to Drrt in exchange for favorable coverage that makes him look as if he's in demand.

Not exactly original, but "Dirt" runs with it -- and mostly gets away with it in the pilot because of a quirky character who ends up being the show's only redeeming quality, the "functioning schizophrenic" paparazzo Don Konkey (Ian Hart), who persuades McLaren to rat out Kira Klay.

(And yes, if you're wondering, "Dirt" does have the dumbest character names in recent memory, a small but vital reminder that it is trying way too hard.)

Hart imbues Konkey with multilayered charm. He's clearly struggling with demons, mentally. He's off his meds a lot and has visions. But he's also phenomenally good at what he does. When Spiller needs him to get the impossible shot, he does (sometimes at great, ill-advised personal peril). In the midst of a seedy profession, Konkey has a dose of humanity. He's a hermit who loves his cat. And he feels genuine sadness about invading the privacy of those he photographs. In the pilot, Hart's bent Konkey character is the standout performer.

Unfortunately, by the third episode, his allure is waning, his shtick heavy with we-get-it-already predictability. Meanwhile, with Cox unable to convince anyone that she's a bloodsucker, and Stewart and Allen unable to make the audience care about (or believe in) their celebrity, "Dirt" finds itself with no core.

If "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" has a hard time selling the importance of making a TV show (with likable characters, no less), imagine the burden of "Dirt," where devious tabloid writers and editors scheme to embarrass vain, drug-addicted actors you've never heard of before.

A wealth of supporting roles in this series are either confusing or superfluous, with gay themes tossed in as supposedly shocking tidbits (two former stars of prime-time network soaps aimed at teens get same-sex lip-locks). And then there's former NBA star Rick Fox playing an NBA star, Prince Tyreese, who is portrayed in the media as the ultimate family man but ends up doing what a lot of professional athletes do -- screw around. Only this time Drrt captures Tyreese with a stripper who, in one of those "Nip/Tuck" moments, bounces around with him in a hot tub and then straps on a little something and has a backcourt violation that will no doubt have content referees blowing their whistles like mad.

Now, how is all of this muck not going far enough? Well, for starters, Cox isn't evil enough. Her magazines are not mean enough (though in the third episode, a hospital room cover photo manages to capture the repulsive nature of feeding off celebrity misery), and, ultimately, the series only scrapes the surface of the symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the magazines that fuel their fame. Instead of a deeper examination of the cult of personality, or entertainment as fantasy fulfillment in the hollow lives of the masses -- or even how actors, writers and directors are used and abused to fuel the Hollywood dream machine -- what "Dirt" mostly delivers is salacious visuals and no real story.

Which is very Hollywood, of course, but ultimately not very interesting as a TV series.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/02/DDG2JNABCE1.DTL&type=tvradio

TV Notebook
Critic's TV picks for Wednesday: 'The Knights of Prosperity'
By Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - January 3, 2007

• Tops of the night:'The Knights of Prosperity' 8 p.m. on ABC (Channel 30) - All Eugene Gurkin (Donal Logue) wants is to open his own bar. But after years of working as a janitor, his savings (total: $89) won't make that dream come true. Then he happens to catch a "lifestyles of the famous" documentary on Mick Jagger and his ridiculously lavish home, and a new dream is born. Gathering a gang of have-nots, Eugene proposes: "Let's rob Mick Jagger."

That, in fact, was the original title of this new sitcom from Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman, creators of "Ed." Then it became "Let's Rob ...," making room for victims post-Jagger. Finally, somebody decided on "The Knights of Prosperity," the name Eugene chooses for his band of misfit robbers.

The struggle with the title symbolizes the show's problems in deciding what kind of sitcom it is. Like "Ed," it's part broad comedy and part poignant character study, with plenty of dry, tongue-in-cheek irony a la David Letterman, an executive producer along with Jagger. His cameo in the pilot is hilarious. For good measure, there's even a caper: the robbery itself.

The time may be right for this sort of hybrid, with "My Name Is Earl" already a hit on NBC. "Knights" is different and entertaining; unfortunately, it's a terrible fit with "According to Jim," which precedes it. And beginning in two weeks, it will face "American Idol."

• Also new tonight: 'In Case of Emergency' 8:30 p.m. on ABC (Channel 30) - So often, promos for a new series give away all the good jokes. "Emergency" has the opposite problem: Its promos are so loud and slapstick, they make this dumb show look dumber than it is.

The plot has three friends, 20 years past high school, serving as a support system for one another. Harry (Jonathan Silverman), who wanted to be a writer, works for a greeting-card company and is a divorced dad. Sherman (Greg Germann) is a diet guru with food issues. Jason (David Arquette) is about to be indicted.

If "Emergency" didn't feel the need to force-feed us pratfalls, gunfire and repeated assaults with a bedpan, it might be just another mediocre comedy. Instead, it's just painful.

• Season premiére: 'Beauty and the Geek' 7-9 p.m. on the CW (Channel 11) - The third season of Ashton Kutcher's charming "social experiment" introduces eight new beauties ("gorgeous but academically impaired women") and their corresponding geeks ("brilliant but socially challenged men"). The drill is the same: The men and women are paired up, each learning from the other until the two who have learned the most take home a $250,000 prize.

• Season premiére: 'According to Jim' 7 and 7:30 p.m. on ABC (Channel 30) - The sixth season begins with back-to-back episodes. First up: Jim (Jim Belushi) teaches Kyle (Conner Rayburn) to defend himself.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/tvradio/story/19E3AE093D1DAE4986257257007902CB?OpenDocument

Ford and Indiana. Did I miss it?

Are you talking about Indy 4? That's a yet-to-be-made movie, this is the AVS Forum thread were we talk TV, HDTV and the business of TV. Welcome to the board BTW! :rolleyes:

TV Review
Dirt - FX
By Garth Johnston, Broadcasting & Cable - January 2, 2007

As much as it tries Dirt, FX’s newest hour long drama does not have that Sweet Smell of Success.

Yet.

The show, which premieres on January 2, stars former-"Friend” Courtney Cox as a celebrity-tabloid editrix combination of Bonnie Fuller and Gail Weathers, Cox’s alter ego in the Scream trilogy.

Like other FX dramas, especially Nip/Tuck, Dirt tries desperately to be “dark” and “edgy.” To wit: Lucy Spiller (Cox) runs two nasty tabloid magazines that never print lies but aren’t above setting up stars with prostitutes to get the money shot.

Initially the series attempts to follow two magazines (ala American Media's empire), but to make things simpler for viewers, in the third episode the two magazines, ‘Drrt’ and ‘Now,’ are merged into ‘Dirt Now’.

Spiller's best friend from college Don Konkey (Ian Hart) is a “functional schizophrenic” who happens to also be an ace paparazzo who talks to his dead cat. Spiller and Konkey interact with a full range of Hollywood stereotypes from closeted action stars to murdering rap producers to sports legends with penchants for anal action. One such cliché is Holt McLaren (Josh Stewart), a young actor whose star is on the wane. In exchange for favorable clips, McLaren lets slip to Spiller that a popular young catholic actress (Shannyn Sossamon) is pregnant out of wedlock. When Spiller runs the news on the cover of her magazine the young actress ODs and dies. But she doesn’t leave town, instead her pregnant ghost proceeds to move in with Konkey. Rumor has it in a later episode she gives birth to kittens. Seriously.

In press materials Matthew Carnahan, the show’s creator who produces with Cox and her husband David Arquette, has described initially wanting to write a show about a schizophrenic and being persuaded to refocus his efforts on the tabloids. That Dirt’s creator wasn’t initially hooked on the concept is apparent and the final product suffers for it. Of the three episodes available for review, the one episode not directed by Carnahan was noticeably more vital.

Dirt does have a lot going for it, however. With Nip/Tuck, The Shield and Rescue Me FX has a proven track record of incubating and nurturing unconventional guilty pleasures, and if the progression of quality in the first three episodes is any indication, a little practice could go a long way for this show. While Hart’s Konkey the Paparazzo is often a bit much, Cox seems to relish playing mean and a few of the side characters are particularly inspired - specifically noteworthy is Canadian actress Carly Pope scene-stealing as a lesbian drug dealer to the stars.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/1640000164.html

dad -- daveinleeds is a long-time (and fairly prolific) poster here.

I am sure he was welcomed quite a while ago. :)

The Business of TV
Turner: No Progress on Court-Dish
By Linda Moss, Multichannel News - January 2, 2007

...Heller claimed that he offered Dish an extension to continue carrying Court TV on America’s Top 60 for the current license fee.

“We offered them an extension with no change whatsoever, just maintain the status quo,” he added. “This is the first time someone said, ‘No, I don’t want an extension’ … I’ve been doing this a long time, but this is the first time this has ever happened. Never, all of these networks that we have, I’ve never been in a situation where a network went dark.”

In its press release, Dish said Turner “refused to offer an extension in the company’s Top 120 package for continued negotiations.”

Turner wasn’t in favor of Court TV, a top-20-rated network, being moved to America’s Top 120, with its lesser penetration, Heller said.

“That having been said, we’re not going to say, ‘No, you can’t do it, but if you do it, we’re going to lose 3 million customers that currently have access to the product,’” he added. “That hurts our ad-sales business. And so we have a tiered rate card for that, and they didn’t want to pay it.”

I'm sorry, but is Court TV really in a position to play hardball? I can't possibly imagine that there are regular diehard viewers for this network, but maybe I'm underestimating the O.J. Trial crowd.

Court TV might have its viewers, but I'd wager that they aren't half as dedicated to watching Court TV on any given night as I'd imagine that Lifetime viewers tend to be. For me at least, it's one of those channels that I only happen upon when there's nothing else on. It's nothing close to appointment television and it's certainly a channel that I wouldn't even know was missing were it to disappear.

On an unrelated note, Fred, my FiOS install was finally finished today, and while we had to tackle a few problems along the way, we got everything worked out and it is much, much better than my previous Adelphia service in almost every way. I'm just disappointed I waited two months to get hooked up. The picture quality is better (but maybe only marginally so) for HD, the SD analog/digital channels are vastly improved, Internet video downloads are noticeably faster, the onscreen guides and STB remotes are vastly superior to my previous service, and the channel selection, both SD and HD, is also superior. Great stuff all around.

That sounds great Matt -- a happy New Year to you, obviously!

Is there a good HD DVR?

TV Sports
The Fiesta Bowl: And Now, a Few More Words
By Richard Sandomir The New York Times January 3, 2007

This is the first college football postseason I can recall without Keith Jackson, whose voice defined bowl games. Although Jackson was frustrated with his performance in his finale, last year’s Rose Bowl, his presence was welcome. His retirement coincided with the conclusion of ABC’s era of dominance over televising the Bowl Championship Series.

ABC still has the Rose, but Fox has the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and the new national championship game, to be played Monday between Ohio State and Florida in Glendale, Ariz. Bowl games played in the Cactus State are invariably more meaningful than what is perpetrated in the name of the National Football League, and played in the same stadium, by the Cardinals.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Fox began its reign Monday night with Boise State’s wild, 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

For the Fiesta — and the national championship — Fox assembled an announcing team of Thom Brennaman, better known for calling Fox baseball; Barry Alvarez, the former Wisconsin coach and still its athletic director; and Charles Davis, who is on loan from TBS’s college football crew.

My interest was mostly in Brennaman. He has called N.F.L. games for Fox, on and off, since 1994, giving him far more experience than Bryant Gumbel had before he mis-stepped into the NFL Network booth.

Brennaman has never been my favorite baseball announcer, but recently I speculated that his big voice might be better suited for college football, with its rah-rah atmosphere, and need to speak over a loud stadium roar.

It turns out that he was pretty good Monday night. He was restrained for much of the game, modulating his voice in a way that will serve him well when he returns to calling baseball for Fox and for the Cincinnati Reds. He grasps the mechanics of the job and the rhythms of the broadcast. He quickly identified players and whether they held onto a pass or not. He knows to say a runner heading downfield is “inside the 30,” not crossing it.

• • • • • • • • • • •

On many of the night’s big plays, he used his profundo voice to convey excitement, not to puncture viewers’ ear drums. On Allen Patrick’s second quarter 30-yard run for Oklahoma, Brennaman said: “Give to Patrick. He’s inside the sideline, back to the inside, all the way to the 22.” On a dropped pass by Boise State’s Nick Harris, he said: “Oh, goodness, Nick Harris, an eye on the end zone, but apparently not an eye on the ball.”

But he could lose a little control. On Drisan James’s 32-yard touchdown reception from Jared Zabransky, which extended the Broncos’ lead to 20-10 over the Sooners, Brennaman topped his call with a resounding, “HOLY MACKEREL!” As the coda to a score, it was too retro and too loud. In the third, he channeled Dick Enberg with an “Oh my,” without a video footnote.

Late in the fourth, after Marcus Walker’s interception for a touchdown put Oklahoma ahead, 34-28, Davis said, “It may seem trite, but for Oklahoma, it’s ‘Been there, done that.’ ” Advice: if you must utter a banality that need not be said, don’t compound it by introducing it as trite.

Avoiding clichés at crucial moments (unless you invented them) can only improve Brennaman’s play-by-play. He needs to eliminate platitudes about how Boise State “can run with the big dogs.” In a worse case of overused truisms from the kennel, he said, “It is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog,” on Boise State’s hook-and-lateral play that wound up sending the game into overtime.

Brennaman could also try to use his favorite end-of-touchdown topper — “Can you believe it?” or “Can you believe that?” — only once, instead of twice.

How much, after all, can you ask an audience to believe?

Alvarez and Davis showed promise, meshing well with Brennaman after a few rehearsals in Madison, Wis., and calling one N.F.L. game as a team. They didn’t goof around like Brennaman’s recently fired baseball partner, Steve Lyons.

But Alvarez’s official connection to a major Big Ten program is troubling. His ties to the Badgers make him contemporary, but why should the issue of his objectivity, especially with Big 10 rival Ohio State in the national championship game, linger in anyone’s mind? What if he upsets Buckeyes Coach Jim Tressel with remarks that would sound like standard criticism from any other analyst, but biased from a former star Big Ten coach?

After Boise State pulled to within one point in the overtime, Davis quickly said the Broncos would go for the win on a 2-point conversion, which they did, deploying the Statue of Liberty play: Zabransky faked a screen pass and hid the ball adroitly with his left hand before handing it off to Ian Johnson. The replays showed Zabransky’s legerdemain, and Alvarez said that Oklahoma could only defend what it had seen in game film.

The game did not produce spectacular viewership — an average of 13.7 million people watched — but the 8.5 rating at the end, at 12:51 a.m. Eastern, exceeded the 8.3 for the entire broadcast. The 2005 Fiesta Bowl, with Utah as the featured midmajor team, playing Pitt, attracted 12.2 million viewers. Last year’s Ohio State-Notre Dame Fiesta Bowl generated 20.6 million.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/sports/ncaafootball/03sandomir.html?ref=sports&pagewanted=print

That sounds great Matt -- a happy New Year to you, obviously!

Is there a good HD DVR?

Happy New Year to you as well.

I don't have one unfortunately. I plan to upgrade to the Multiroom DVR eventually, but it's like $20 a month. Because FiOS only has local channels over analog, I had to invest in the max of seven STBs. The main problem is I have two HD boxes, one for each HDTV, so basically I'd have to invest in two DVRs, and then we're talking like $30 on top of my bill.

For now, I'm trying to see what I can do with my Media Center PC.

Critic’s Notebook
Hey! Never Underestimate the Average Joe
By Virginia Heffernan The New York Times January 3, 2007

“The King of Queens,” the longest-running live-action comedy currently on television, is the opposite of an acquired taste. Like pizza or the Doors, the show just hits the spot — the simple, happy sitcom spot.

But you can train yourself to disdain “The King of Queens.” Determined viewers have had nearly nine seasons, and a campaign of rerun-saturation so thorough that you might begin to suspect a state sponsor, to muster complaints. They have come up with two. Unable to say it’s not funny, detractors say “The King of Queens” is unconvincing. Slim, go-getter secretaries like Carrie (Leah Remini) don’t marry lugs who drive trucks like Doug (Kevin James), do they? Others don’t buy Jerry Stiller as Carrie’s dad. He’s always George’s dad of “Seinfeld” to them.

Inside, though, that first conviction doesn’t go away. “The King of Queens,” which ends this season, now that Mr. James is turning to other pursuits, is funny. It’s brisk, perceptive and unpretentious. It works. See for yourself tonight on CBS.

In the late 1990s, when writers were taking stock of the would-be new economy, they decided that the back-end of retail — the part that involved getting merchandise to consumers — was not obsolete. Whether or not people shopped on the Internet, they still needed a way to get their goods. Warehouses and roads, stockers and drivers.

Thus, in 1998, while Fox and NBC were peddling “Getting Personal” and “Conrad Bloom,” comedies about front-end figures like art directors and admen, CBS banked on a fat deliveryman. The overgroomed swingers foundered, but “The King of Queens” persisted. Its hero, Doug Heffernan (not a relative), worked for a U.P.S.-like company that hasn’t gone under.

When that new economy became kind of upsetting, then, and we didn’t want to think about it for a while, it was nice that the old economy, with its outer boroughs and its cardboard boxes, could still make us laugh.

“The King of Queens” may no longer exemplify a cultural trend. But people watch it. According to CBS, 8.7 million viewers tune in each week. After tonight’s episode, the series goes on hiatus until April 9; it’s expected to do as well or better for its seven valedictory episodes.

Just as “The Pilgrim’s Progress” begins when the everyman comes upon a book, “The King of Queens” begins when Doug comes across a television set. That anachronism, a pre-digital, 70-inch technology coffin, is intended for enshrinement in Doug’s basement in the series’s pilot episode. He hopes it will attract his slobby friends to the rec room for sports viewing and dissipation. But Arthur Spooner (Mr. Stiller), Doug’s father-in-law, shows up to wreck the plan when his house burns down.

Doug adapts, but Arthur’s arrival is this comedy’s original sin. Anyone who suggests that it’s Carrie who gets the raw deal in the marriage is not thinking straight. As far as I’m concerned, the spouse who brings a parent into the marital home puts everything in hock to the other spouse, and must spend a lifetime paying for it.

“The King of Queens” and I are in agreement, and the moral imbalance of the show — Carrie’s presumption in allowing Arthur to stay — compromises her hard-won authority. Yeah, she’s trim, organized and snippy, with the makeup, the Manhattan job and the shopaholism, but she’s also the one in the couple who can’t really grow up because she lives with her dad. She’s irritated with Doug because she feels obliged to him for accommodating her regression, and the series has found humor in this conflict at every turn.

On a recent episode, Carrie tries to pass off a frosted sofa cushion as a homemade cake. Not being able to contribute baked goods for a church auction — and be “wife-ish,” in Doug’s nice neologism — seems at first trivial. But Ms. Remini manages to keep Carrie stubbornly blind to her incompetence until that incompetence becomes the dark night of her female soul; then she must fake it. Any woman who can’t bake will recognize this harrowing arc.

On another Carrie-centric episode, she cheats at board games. The Heffernans and their friends decide to have a game night; Carrie wins, and relishes her victory, by subtly cheating. But then she’s caught. The everyday foul play is not played as madcap or off-kilter, as it might have been on “Seinfeld.” Instead, it comes across as it might if anyone were caught cheating at board games, i.e., utterly humiliating.

Doug and Carrie are childless (“You’re pregnant?” “No.” “Thank God!” was dialogue on the pilot), and much speculation about whether they’ll have kids has attended this final season. The question may be moot, since the series has always been about the competition between the spouses to grow up. Like many couples who met and married young, Doug and Carrie are learning responsibility and even refinement together, but they also have each other’s number — and any overreaching by one is met with a swift retribution by the other.

Which is not to say that they don’t, eventually, move on in the world — socially, psychologically, culturally — but the progress is slow, and it works by feints and dodges in the marriage.

This checkers match to maturity keeps jokes on tap, and it’s a reminder of why comedies set among average Joes, who detect a wider range of mockable pretensions, are more durable than “hip” comedies, which can really never be hip enough. Also, the imperative to stasis — not to budge from the couch, the family, the buddies, the neighborhood — is just funny, and clearly of a piece with the ambition-free practice of television-watching.

Mr. James, a onetime football player from Mineola, N.Y., with a rosy complexion and a reassuring frat-guy voice, is the making of this show. A bravura standup, he writes and acts with easy athleticism. Conspicuously, he lacks the darkness of his friend and occasional collaborator Ray Romano.

The dirty secret of his Doug character is that he loves life. The brilliantly senile Arthur, along with Doug’s lechy, creepy friend Spence (the pro stand-up Patton Oswalt), present a fair challenge to his frankness and naïveté.

But the greatest challenge to Doug’s modus vivendi comes from Carrie, and the result is the series’s elegant equilibrium. Exuberant, open-book, gluttonous Doug is married to a woman of cosmetics, schemes and guile. His inertia, it turns out, is their shared honesty; but her guile is their ambition, and it’s what allows them to keep moving. It’s a lovely dynamic. It could almost last forever.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/arts/television/03heff.html?8dpc=&pagewanted=print

TV Sports
Bidding war rages for NFL vet Barber
Retiring running back in talks with three nets
By Michael Learmonth Variety.com January 3, 2007

Retiring NFL starTiki Barber is set to sign a broadcasting deal said to be worth more than $3 million a year over four years.

But the question remains: With which network?

Barber, 31, has been the target of a multinetwork bidding war ever since he announced he would retire from professional football to begin a broadcasting career at the end of this season.

The Giants running back has been in talks with three nets with both football and significant news assets: ABC/ESPN, NBC and Fox.

A report in the New York Post said Barber had agreed to a deal with ABC/ESPN that includes football commentary as well as work on ABC News' "Good Morning America" and "20/20."

But business manager Mark Lepselter denied the report and said talks with all three networks are still alive.

"The report in the New York Post was an erroneous report," Lepselter said. "We have certainly had detailed conversations with Disney as we have had with NBC and Fox as well. Nothing has been finalized. No networks have been informed of anything."

An ABC News spokesman declined to comment.

That another sports figure is heading to the broadcast booth would be unremarkable except that Barber wants to do general news, not just sports.

Also landmark will be the size of the deal. If signed, pact would exceed the value of the last two years of Barber's contract with the New York Giants, which is worth $8.3 million.

Barber had planned to make a decision on his future this week, but Lepselter said he's delaying that until the end of the Giants' playoff run.

The Giants made the playoffs in large part due to Barber, who rushed for 234 yards against the Redskins on Saturday, a team record. His performance silenced those who criticized Barber for talking about his post-football career while the Giants' season was still alive.

The ability to do news will be the most important part of the deal for Barber, but to pay the freight for his salary, networks will look to spread the hit over a number of shows in both news and sports.

Barber is a regular Tuesday substitute on Fox News Channel morning show "Fox & Friends," using his day off from football to gain experience on the set.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956535&categoryid=14

Note:

The TV pilot pickup season is upon us, and over the next few months we will be inundated with stories of this and that project being "picked up" by one network or another.

As a matter of policy here, such news isn't reported unless there is some overriding reason: a major star is committed, for example.

The fact is that many of these series never see the network schedule board. I post more than enough stories here, and those are -- until a series gets a schedule slot -- just too far away from reality.

In the case of cable networks and non-HD shows, I prefer an even stricter standard. Barring some major item of general news interest in such a pickup, let's keep the thread free of such minutiae.

Thanks.

I'll be a lot more likely to watch FX when it starts broadcasting in HD.

If I waited to watch most of the programs on TV in HD, most of them would be canceled by the time TWC actually acquired them! I'm just glad FX broadcast in 16:9 even if the quality is poor.

The TV pilot pickup season is upon us, and over the next few months we will be inundated with stories of this and that project being "picked up" by one network or another. As a matter of policy here, such news isn't reported unless there is some overriding reason: a major star is committed, for example.

Would the news I posted earlier about the creator of Gilmore Girls (Susan Palladino) getting her sitcom pilot greenlighted qualify? 'GG' generates a lot of buzz and the creator's departure was (a) huge news that (b) explains the show's current (and widely perceived) decline in quality. What about the casting of Nathan Fillon (of Firefly and Serenity) on Fox's mid-season action series Drive? I posted that as well. :confused: :confused: :confused:

TV Review
'Emergency,' exit at once
By Verne Gay, Newsday - January 3, 2007

Before deciding to devote a little quality downtime to ABC's "In Case of Emergency," consider the premise: Who do you call in case of an emergency? For some, the answer's easy; for others, not so easy. This show is about the others: The lost, the lonesome, the emotionally unattached (and unattachable).

Sounds like a riot, does it not?

It does not, and it is not. "Emergency" is sodden, forbidding, a waste of 22 good minutes - ABC's as well as yours, should you fail to pay heed to this fair warning. "Emergency" is what TV comedy should not be doing, namely turning the rank and immature travails of four late-30-something adults into a soupy mess that's borrowed from every sitcom from here to "George Lopez."

What's especially mystifying about "Emergency" is the on-screen and off-screen pedigree. The series show-runner, Howard J. Morris, is an experienced writer with a dozen credits, from "Home Improvement" to "According to Jim," while the cast has some bona fide TV stars: Jonathan Silverman, David Arquette, Kelly Hu and Greg Germann.

Harry Kennison (Silverman) is a struggling writer who always wanted to be Kurt Vonnegut Jr., but instead now creates cute little lines for greeting cards; for kicks, one night he heads over to the local "massage" parlor where he recognizes the masseuse, Kelly Lee (Hu). Twenty years earlier, both went to the same high school, where she was class valedictorian. Meanwhile, Kennison's buddies are having a bad night. Overwhelmed by financial and emotional setbacks, Jason Ventress (Arquette) decides to kill himself but shoots his foot instead and ends up at the hospital, just as other friend and diet guru Sherman Yablonsky (Germann) has a meltdown and hijacks a doughnut truck. Emergency calls are sent out to Kennison, and - cue to the credits - all four are now living in Kennison's house with his young son, Dylan. (Think "Three and a Half Men and One Sexy Woman.")

Watching all this, you may find yourself wishing for "Emergency" to succeed, if only because there are some talented people here. But don't wish too hard. "In Case of Emergency" is dead on arrival.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ettvtwo5036850jan03,0,4432471.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV Review
Painful Mick is their gall Stone
By Verne Gay, Newsday - January 3, 2007

Some ideas seem like great TV ideas until you actually see them on TV, which then prompts this instant and visceral gut reaction: What was I thinking or (more to the point) what were they? Maybe here's what ABC was thinking about the idea two talented ex-writers from "Late Show With David Letterman" floated last year: Let's con Mick Jagger into doing a cameo for a new series that we'll call "Let's Rob Mick Jagger," and then maybe a prestigious national newspaper with the words New York in its name will run a front page story about how we're re-inventing the comedy genre with a bold and innovative new concept.

Bingo! The plan worked flawlessly. Until now.

Since renamed "The Knights of Prosperity" - with Donal Logue as a hard-luck janitor with a plan to turn his life and anemic bank account around - this is a sweet, gentle, good-natured trifle that is (nonetheless) surprisingly airless and only rarely funny, if that. Pretty much the only thing ABC has succeeded in reinventing is Mick Jagger and - under the circumstances - that's nothing to brag about. With a total of about 25 seconds of screen time over the first two episodes, Jagger is atrocious: a painful-to-watch wraith of a superstar with a couple of bad lines and some bits meant to pass for physical comedy.

What was he thinking?

Jagger's appearances are embedded in some show-within-show sequences from E! News, which pose as satirical little swipes at those awful celebrity home segments that (in fact) have polluted E! for years. He swishes gamely through the scenes, and if we didn't know better - after witnessing four Technicolor decades in public view, we do know better - you'd think Jagger was supposed to be gay here. In his sparse scenes, he boots a soccer ball into the face of an Asian houseboy and brags about a swimming pool for his dogs. He's flamboyant and silly, like Richard Simmons playing Mick Jagger.

Why, Mick, why! Don't worry. We still love you. We always will. What we didn't need is this misguided career asterisk.

"Knights" comes from Jon Beckerman and Rob Burnett, former "Late Show" writers (Burnett is still top boss there after Letterman, who also gets billing as executive producer), but someone neglected to tell them that the heist genre on TV has pretty much cratered. For whatever reason, TV viewers have zero tolerance for the heist, so "Knights" tries to get around this by fusing farce to the concept.

Just think of the possibilities: What ridiculous contortions will the gang that can't rob straight tie themselves into week after week? To a point, the contortions are amusing enough, made nearly buoyant by the eccentric little touches that Burnett/Beckerman specialize in. The problem is, this farce isn't nearly farcical enough.

Logue's Eugene Gurkin is a hard-luck janitor with a big dream, to open a bar in Queens, but he's broke. One day, he witnesses a fellow janitor succumb while cleaning a urinal and then, he's ready to finally ready to try something dramatic. That's when he sees Jagger on TV. Gene gets together a crew, each member equally delusional, with soft hearts and softer heads.

They include Gourishankar Gary Subramaniam - "just Gary" - who's played by Iranian-born veteran actor Maz Jobrani with a Tony Shalhoub-like zing. As a New York City cab driver, Gary's effectively a running Letterman gag - the cabbie with broken English and a broken odometer. Francis "Squatch" Squacieri (Lenny Venito) likes to toss the occasional ethnic insult at Gary, while Rockefeller (Kevin Michael Richardson - Captain Gantu in "Lilo & Stitch" and a million other voices in movies and on TV shows) is the muscle. They're joined later by Esperanza Villalobos (Sofía Vergara), the saucy spitfire with sex appeal, and Louis Plunk (TV newcomer Josh Grisetti), the nebbishy grad from SUNY New Paltz with no sex appeal whatsoever.

Yup, they're all cliches and meant to be, while their harebrained schemes to roll Jagger - by making copies of his key, or getting the keypad code to his security lock - seem doomed from the start.

Sadly, a once good idea from a pair of quality writers appears doomed instead.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ettel5036852jan03,0,2253596.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV Review
ABC heist sitcom's stealing the show
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 3, 2007

"The Knights of Prosperity" - Tonight at 9 on ABC
Rating - Three Stars (Out of Four)

When ABC announced its 2006 fall schedule, one sitcom, starring Donal Logue as a night janitor who recruits a bunch of blue-collar misfits for a crime of opportunity, boasted the best title of the year: "Let's Rob Mick Jagger."

But that was last year, and that sitcom never showed up. Instead, it's now ABC's first new series of 2007. It arrives with what, 362 days from now, may well be the worst title of the year: "The Knights of Prosperity."

Yet this show, by any other name, still smells as sweet - and will make you laugh as hard. Its time slot and midseason status may make it harder to succeed, but creatively, "The Knights of Prosperity" has delivered this season where so many new shows have failed: It introduces a serialized story line with characters and a plot that are different and likable enough to warrant a return visit.

Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman, co-creators of "Ed," team again for a laugh-track-less comedy, and "Knights" (tonight at 9) has everything you'd want from a new sitcom.

It has a hilarious extended cameo by Jagger himself, poking fun at his image by taking viewers on an "MTV Cribs"-type tour of what is supposed to be his Central Park West apartment. Twenty-year janitor Eugene Gurkin (Logue), desperate to change his life after a colleague drops dead on the job cleaning a toilet, sees Jagger on TV and convinces himself that robbing Jagger of just enough to finance a dream of a neighborhood bar would be tantamount to a victimless crime.

To pull off the job, he assembles a crew of blue-collar folks with modest dreams of their own, and enough larceny in their souls to team up as the Knights of Prosperity.

"They even made up T-shirts," says the theme song, and thank the TV gods there's at least one new show with an actual theme song (music by Paul Shaffer, yet, with clever lyrics by Burnett and Beckerman).

Eugene's quintet of fledgling criminal assistants includes two riotous scene-stealers: Kevin Michael Richardson as deep-voiced, big-bodied Rockefeller Butts, a warehouse security guard, and Sofia Vergara as gorgeous, cocky Esperanza Villalobos, a waitress. The other players, all scoring with funny lines and scenes, are Larry Venito as "Squatch" Squacieri, another janitor; Maz Jobrani as "Gary" Subramaniam, a cab driver, and Josh Grisetti as Louis Plunk, a communications student at college who signs on initially thinking it's an internship on a movie shoot.

The pilot is delightful, and a subsequent episode sent for review, with Reiko Aylesworth making a potent TV return after her character died on "24" last season, proves the show could have legs - and not just hers and Vergara's. But starting next week, "Knights" goes up against "American Idol" - and that's a bigger crime than anything this gang is attempting.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/485094p-408431c.html

TV Review
Just in the 'Mick' of Time
'Knights' Gets Laughs
By Linda Stasi, New York Post - January 3, 2007

"The Knights of Prosperity" - Tonight at 9 on ABC
Rating - Three Stars (Out of Four)

CAUTION: This review was written by a person in the final stages of shock.

Why am I in this precarious medical state? Because TV made me laugh, that's why.

Yes, in a year when the funniest thing on TV was watching Katie Couric delivering the news in "when librarians go bad" outfits, I'm thrilled to report that an actual sitcom, "Knights of Prosperity" had me laughing out loud.

And this from a mid-season replacement that was shoved off the fall lineup.

"Knights" is about a toilet-scrubbing night janitor from Queens named Eugene Gurkin, (Donal Logue) who can't take being a poor schmo anymore and decides to get a crew together to rob Mick Jagger's apartment.

This happens after two events push him over the edge of the bowl.

First, Gurkin, depressed, asks his colleague-in-toilets for some words of wisdom and the guy snarls: "Wisdom? Who do you think I am - Morgan Freeman? I been drunk since the bicentennial." He then promptly drops dead.

Gurkin then goes home to his miserable apartment, and watches the fabulous Mick Jagger showing off his equally fabulous crib on E! News.

Pushed to the limit, Gurkin tries to enlist all of his loser friends in his criminal enterprise - and there hasn't been a ragtag bag of losers this bad since "Animal House."

Only three others want in: Gorishanker (Maz Jobrani), a-much married Indian cabby; Squatch, (Lenny Venito), another janitor; and Rockefeller Butts, (Kevin Michael Richardson), a fatty night watchman at a Jewish goods warehouse.

While every single actor is perfect and perfectly funny in his role, every time Richardson opens his mouth, I nearly spit my Weight Watchers fat-free snack food all over my desk. The guy is brilliant.

Into the crew also comes Louis (Josh Grisetti), a loser of a communications major who is "hired" by the cabby as the crew's intern, and Esperanza, (Sofia Vergara), a gorgeous waitress who Gurkin wants to nail. (Good luck pal!)

Every week (and hopefully ABC will let this show get its legs) the crew overcomes a hurdle or four to get to their goal of robbing Mick.

There's a joke in the first episode about Gurkin naming the crew "The Knights of Prosperity," which is an inside poke because the show was originally called "Let's Rob . . . Mick Jagger" but was changed for legal reasons. Personally I like the fact that the crew wears T-shirts emblazoned with their new name which is strictly for their illegal reasons.

Be sure to also catch the equally hilarious "Knights of Prosperity" music video on "You Tube" with Richardson singing the horrible and hilarious theme song.

A crew of losers out to rob Mick Jagger? I'm in.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01032007/tv/just_in_the_mick_of_time_tv_linda_stasi.htm

TV Review
The 'Geek' still inherit the mirth
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 3, 2007

"Beaty and the Geek" - Tonight at 8 on The CW
Rating - Three Stars (Out of Four)

The third-season premiere of "Beauty and the Geek," a former WB staple resurfacing tonight at 8 on the CW network, arrives with the same old tricks, tone and formula - but that's not a complaint.

When something's this not broke, there's no need to fix it.

With new contestants but a familiar approach, "Beauty and the Geek" is the team-sport equivalent of "American Idol." There's a lot less talent involved, and an exponentially smaller audience, but in both cases, the formula is as comfortable as it is pleasing.

In "Idol," the mega-success that starts next week on Fox, you know you'll get, in the opening auditions, a mix of impressively good and horrendously bad, and that the editing and photography will milk and stretch the drama every step of the way, playing up any and all clashes of personalities or hints of romance.

So, too, in "Beauty and the Geek," which Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg brought to TV years ago as a fully formed high-concept competition show. A bevy of young beauties who are stronger on social skills than academic achievements are paired into two-person teams with high-achieving academic nerds who are the exact opposite.

The girls arrive in cars, the cameras homing in on their high heels. The guys arrive on scooters - and one guy is even named Scooter. The chasm between these two groups, a Grand Canyon of social differences, is as wide as it is humorous. It'd be mean-spirited if "Beauty" didn't take care to be an equal-opportunity offender, making sure the beauties and geeks display weaknesses and strengths.

One woman, asked to describe her best feature, replies, "Pouting." And she offers a display, with her lower lip thrust out long enough for a bird to perch on it, just in case we didn't take her seriously. Which, from that moment on, we don't.

And when one of the guys wants to impress the girls, what does he reel out? His very loud, astoundingly annoying impression of ... a high-speed blender.

"It's as if they're Romulans and I'm the Federation," says one baffled "Star Trek" enthusiast, setting the stage for the fun, humiliations and lessons to come.

What's nice, though, is that the teaming of these pairs - eight young women, eight young men - tests them in ways that enhance, as well as challenge, their self-esteem. "Beauty and the Geek," in the end, is warmer than most reality competition shows. It's also effortlessly watchable, with more laughs than many of this year's sitcoms.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/485093p-408429c.html

TV Review
The 'Geek' still inherit the mirth
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 3, 2007

"Beaty and the Geek" - Tonight at 8 on The CW
Rating - Three Stars (Out of Four)

The third-season premiere of "Beauty and the Geek," a former WB staple resurfacing tonight at 8 on the CW network, arrives with the same old tricks, tone and formula - but that's not a complaint.

LOVE this show, really enjoyed the lats two seasons. Can't wait to see what this season holds.

Would the news I posted earlier about the creator of Gilmore Girls (Susan Palladino) getting her sitcom pilot greenlighted qualify? 'GG' generates a lot of buzz and the creator's departure was (a) huge news that (b) explains the show's current (and widely perceived) decline in quality. What about the casting of Nathan Fillon (of Firefly and Serenity) on Fox's mid-season action series Drive? I posted that as well. :confused: :confused: :confused:


The Palladino story was OK.

I just think casting of less than A-list actors and pickup stories in general are pretty useless. There is plenty of time to catch up with actors from previous shows, etc, when their new show actually gets close to airing.

Lord knows there is little shortage of TV news to post.

Obituary
Jim Karvellas: 1935-2007
By Frederick N. Rasmussen Baltimore Sun Reporter January 3, 2007

Jim Karvellas, whose courtside play-by-play as radio voice of the Baltimore Bullets during the 1960s and 1970s chronicled such legendary players as Earl Monroe, Wes Unseld and Gus Johnson, died of prostate cancer Monday at his daughter's home in Wesley Chapel, Fla. He was 71.

Karvellas also had stints in the announcing booth with the Baltimore Colts and Orioles during a broadcast career that spanned more than 40 years. Born and raised Demetrie C. Karvellas, he was the son of a Greek immigrant grocer on Chicago's South Side.

As a child, he enjoyed playing All-Star Baseball, a popular board game that included a spinner and created an imaginary game. He added a voice to the mix.

"When we were 14 or 15, we played what we called spinner baseball, and Jim always did the commentary after we'd spun the dial," said a cousin, Larry Poulman of Chicago.

Karvellas earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1958 from Northwestern University and attended Columbia College in Chicago.

In 1962, he began his broadcasting career in basketball as the voice of the Chicago Zephyrs, and when the team moved to Baltimore the next year as the NBA's Bullets, he came with it.

"It was my first really big league job. It was exciting for me being with a major league team. Although the NBA wasn't as big league then, it was big enough for me," Karvellas told The Sun in 1988.

"I've always preferred radio. I think a play-by-play man really prefers radio. It's like a Broadway stage. In TV, there is no play-by-play man; the camera does the play-by-play," he said in the interview.

"He was certainly a colorful guy and a spectacular announcer. He brought an awful lot of life to his broadcasts," said Vince Bagli, a retired WBAL-TV sports anchor and longtime friend. "He caught the spirit of a team and made its players larger than life."

From his courtside table in the Civic Center - now 1st Mariner Arena - Karvellas began using his trademark "bull's-eye" slogan to recount the action as players popularized the slam-dunk shot.

"In those days it was the beginning of dunking, and he described Gus Johnson's style of play as the 'windmill dunk,' because of the way he waved his arms. When Gus flew cross the floor from the foul line and slammed the ball, Jim would say, 'bull's-eye,' " Bagli said.

Beginning in 1968, Karvellas began calling Colts games and became the third member of the Orioles' broadcast team that included Chuck Thompson and Bill O'Donnell. A year later, he called both the 1969 Super Bowl and World Series on national radio.

When the Bullets moved to Washington in 1973, he followed once again, and remained there until becoming the voice of the New York Knicks from 1980 to 1992.

In addition to his broadcast duties in the early 1970s, he was president of the Baltimore Bays soccer team before its move to Philadelphia.

After an effort to bring professional soccer back to Baltimore, he was briefly sports director for WTTG-TV in Washington, and from 1976 to 1980 was the voice of the North American Soccer League's New York Cosmos.

"There was always an undercurrent of enthusiasm when he was on the air because he loved the game. And he had that deep resonant voice. You can be a great technician but you have to have that voice," Frank Deford, senior writer for Sports Illustrated and National Public Radio commentator, said yesterday. "Jimmy was the real deal. He was the total package."

Karvellas provided NBA basketball play-by-play for CBS radio from 1978 to 1986, and was host of the USA Network's NBA Game of the Week from 1979 to 1981.

He also did commentary or was host of 26 nationally televised broadcasts of PGA and LPGA matches, including the Kemper Open and Ryder Cup. He covered NASCAR races, too.

"As a sports announcer, you may be better at one or the other depending on your style. But doing all those sports made me more professional," Karvellas told the St. Petersburg Times in 2002. "You learn how to open and close events, fill time during delays in auto races, so those were all really important in helping mold me as an announcer."

John Cirillo, a New York public relations executive and former Knicks vice president, said: "He was a true sports icon and one of the most knowledgeable sports guys around. He called a great game but also gave great insight.

"Jim was loved by the players and Knicks fans. He was a true gentleman and never put on airs. He always treated everyone with respect and love, and I think he belongs in the Basketball Hall of Fame."

A former resident of Timonium and Ocean City, where he established an annual celebrity golf tournament in the late 1980s, Karvellas moved to Tampa after the 1997 death of his wife of 38 years, the former Lorie Hirst.

He continued to work as the host of Beyond the Game, a weekly syndicated radio show based at WDAE-AM in Tampa.

"Golf and sports. With him it was 24/7," said his daughter, Jamie A. Karvellas of Wesley Chapel, one of the show's producers. Talking sports and doing his shows was all-consuming. He didn't have time for anything else."

Plans for a memorial service were incomplete yesterday.

Also surviving are a son, Chris D. Karvellas of Richmond, Va.; a brother, Peter C. Karvellas of Bedminster, N.J.; a sister, Becky Russo of Chicago; and five grandchildren.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.karvellas03jan03,0,3580385.story?coll=bal-sports-more

2006 Obituaries
So long, Steve Irwin, crocodile hunter
Saluting the media notables who died in 2006
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 3, 2007

In life, Steve Irwin was the odd and often controversial Australian animal conservationist whose interactions with wildlife, such as the time he held his infant son in one hand while feeding a crocodile with the other, drew widespread criticism.

But in death Irwin became an almost iconic figure, touching even those who had caught only a fleeting glimpse of him on his Animal Planet shows and specials. His unexpected death last September may have been the year’s most surprising fatality, and it sparked a huge public response that has yet to die down.

Irwin's death was the most-searched news story of the year, according to Yahoo, finishing ahead of the Iraq war, the midterm elections and Saddam Hussein’s trial. In the UK, his death was the third-most-searched-for query of the year, according to Google’s Zeitgeist survey, behind the World Cup and video searches.

Hundreds expressed condolences on the messageboards at AnimalPlanet.com, and Irwin marathons on the network drew huge ratings.

Why did the death of this otherwise minor celebrity resonate so deeply? Certainly the shocking one-in-a-million circumstance that caused it was one thing. Irwin, who was 44, was barbed in the chest by a stingray, a rare event, and no doubt that intrigued even non-Crocodile Hunter fans.

But Irwin’s story also drew attention because of the grace shown by his family in their mourning. His 7-year-old daughter, Bindi, delivered a poised, poignant eulogy for her dad on a funeral service seen on television across Australia and around the world. And his widow, Teri, was chosen as one of Barbara Walters’ 10 most fascinating people of 2006 for her dignity throughout the affair.

Here’s a look at some of the other media notables who died last year.

Frank Stanton, 98
Stanton presided over CBS as the broadcaster moved from the radio to the television age. He became president in 1946 at age 38. He would hold that job for 26 years.

But perhaps his most lasting contribution was in the area of research, where he pioneered ways to measure radio listenership and led the way for Nielsen ratings years later with his methodology.
Stanton died late last month of natural causes.

Ed Bradley, 65
Bradley, the longtime CBS newsman, was many things: the network’s first black White House correspondent, a “60 Minutes” stalwart and winner of nearly two dozen Emmy Awards.
But perhaps Bradley was best known as the cool guy on a network not exactly known for cool. With his understated earring and passion for jazz, Bradley was a journalist people wanted to talk to both on and off camera.

He died in November after a little-publicized battle with leukemia, just months after winning his final Emmy and weeks after his final “Minutes” segment aired. Among the stories he covered in his 35 years at CBS were the Vietnam War, the Oklahoma City bombings and, most recently, the Duke lacrosse rape case.

Louis Rukeyser, 73
Rukeyser was the father of TV financial journalism as the longtime host of PBS’s “Wall $treet Week,” the program he started and hosted for 32 years, starting in 1970. Rukeyser died in May after a long struggle with bone marrow cancer.

In recent years the elegant journalist was known more for his inelegant exit from PBS than anything else. Four years ago, Maryland Public Television, the show's longtime producer, abruptly dumped Rukeyser in favor of younger hosts with the aim of attracting a younger demographic. Rukeyser went on an on-air rant about the switch, and for that he got unceremoniously bounced. The dapper punster went on to host a rival program on CNBC, but neither show did as well as the one he founded and hosted for so many years.

Aaron Spelling, 83

He may have been the most successful TV producer in history, with hits ranging from “Charlie’s Angels” in the 1970s to “7th Heaven” in the 2000s. Spelling, who died in June, produced more than 70 shows, many of them for ABC.

His hits included low-brow fare like “Dynasty,” “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Love Boat,” as well as the highly regarded drama “Family” and the groundbreaking HBO movie “And the Band Played On.” He was honored with a posthumous Emmy at last September’s awards ceremony.

Peter Boyle, 71
He was best known as the cantankerous father on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” but Boyle, who died last month of multiple myeloma and heart disease, had a fascinating career beyond television. He moved facilely between playing a murderous bigot in the 1970 movie “Joe” to the tap-dancing monster in Mel Brooks’ 1974 classic “Young Frankenstein.”

A close friend of Yoko Ono, Boyle had John Lennon serve as best man at his wedding. But it was with “Raymond” that he became familiar to most of the country. Surprisingly, Boyle never won an Emmy for his role, despite being nominated multiple times.

Also dying in 2006:

Arthur Bloom (“60 Minutes” co-founder) 63
Scott Brazil (“The Shield” producer) 50
Pat Corley (“Murphy Brown” barkeep) 76
Mike Douglas (TV show host) 81
Reuven Frank (former NBC News president) 85
Benjamin Hendrickson (“As the World Turns” actor) 55
Don Knotts (“Andy Griffith” actor) 81
Bill Lamb (PBS producer) 76
Rickie Layne (“Ed Sullivan Show” ventriloquist) 81
Al Lewis (“The Munsters” actor) 95
Tony Malara (former CBS executive) 69
Darren McGavin (“Night Stalker” actor) 83
Moose (“Frasier” dog) 15
Gloria Monty (former “General Hospital” executive producer) 84
Buck Owens (“Hee-Haw” actor) 76
George Page (Former PBS “Nature” host) 71
Chris Penn (actor) 40
Pablo Santos (“Greetings from Tucson” actor) 19
Daniel Smith (Anna Nicole Smith's son and E! reality show co-star) 20
Richard Stahl (“Laverne & Shirley” actor) 74
Peter Tomarken (“Press Your Luck” host) 62
Raul Velasco (Mexican TV legend) 73
Jack Warden (“Brian's Song” actor) 85
Dennis Weaver (“Gunsmoke” actor) 81
Jane Wyatt (“Father Knows Best” actress) 96

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9275.asp

Tuesday’s 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.

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Pulped: Orange Bowl gets the squeeze
Early ratings show a steep tumble in viewers
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 3, 2007

Last year’s Orange Bowl was one for the ages. It featured the two most-winning coaches in NCAA Division I-A history, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and Penn State’s Joe Paterno, squaring off in a game that went to overtime before the Nittany Lions finally prevailed.

So it was no surprise that ratings for this year’s Orange Bowl, which matched the considerably less-popular Wake Forest and Louisville in a comparative snoozer, took a tumble. But just how steep that tumble may end up being is a bit of a surprise.

From 8:31 p.m. to 11 p.m., Fox averaged a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, finishing well behind No. 1 NBC at 4.1 and down more than a third from last year’s 6.5 for the Orange Bowl.

The game and pregame, which lasted about a half hour, drew 9.7 million total viewers during primetime, just over half of last year’s 18.5 million for the Orange Bowl airing on ABC.

The overnights are based on early ratings provided by Nielsen that measure timeslot data, not actual program data. Once final ratings are released later today, which also take into account time zone differences, a more accurate picture will emerge, as the game lasted more than an hour past the 11 p.m. end of primetime. But it seems safe to say that the bowl took a big tumble from last year.

That’s in large part because last year’s numbers were inflated by the historic coaching matchup. But thus far, Fox’s two Bowl Championship Series games have finished behind the two games on ABC last year in the former network’s first year of carrying the BCS.

Last year ABC dominated every night of BCS coverage. Fox finished behind NBC last night and performed merely decently with Monday’s Fiesta Bowl.

Still, this may help produce Fox’s biggest week of the year so far, as the network has struggled in the first half of the season.

NBC finished first for the night among viewers 18-49 with a 4.1 average rating and a 10 share. Fox was second at 3.4/9, CBS third at 2.5/6, ABC fourth at 2.0/5, Univision fifth at 1.6/4 and CW sixth at 0.8/2.

Fox took the first hour of the night among 18-49s with a 3.1 average at 8 p.m. for football pregame and the first part of its game between Wake and Louisville. CBS was second with a 3.0 for a repeat of “NCIS,” NBC third with a 2.9 for “Dateline” and ABC fourth with a 2.7 for a repeat of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” That left Univision fifth with a 2.3 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW sixth with a 0.9 for a “Gilmore Girls” rerun.

NBC took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 4.1 for “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Fox fell to second with a 3.7 for its coverage of the Orange Bowl, with CBS third with a 2.6 for a repeat of “The Unit” and ABC fourth with a 1.8 for an hour of “Big Day.” Univision was fifth with a 1.5 for “Mundo de Fieras” and CW sixth with a 0.6 for a repeat of “Veronica Mars.”

At 10 p.m. NBC led again, this time with a 5.2 for “Law & Order: SVU.” CBS was second during the hour with a 1.9 for a “Numb3rs” rerun, ABC third with a 1.5 for a repeat of “Boston Legal” and Univision fourth with a 1.2 for “Ver para Creer.”

NBC also finished first for the night among households, averaging an 8.6 rating and a 13 share. Fox was second at 6.4/10, CBS third at 6.2/10, ABC fourth at 3.9/6, Univision fifth at 2.1/3 and CW sixth at 1.3/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9301.asp

The Business of Television
Analyst Downgrades Mediacom
By Linda Moss Multi Channel News 1/3/2007

Predicting that Mediacom Communications’ retransmission-consent dispute with a broadcaster will “end badly,” Pali Research downgraded the cable company’s stock to “sell” Wednesday.

In his report, which details the aggressive promotions Mediacom has been offering, Pali analyst Richard Greenfield said he believes Sinclair Broadcast Group will go ahead and pull its TV stations off the cable company’s systems this weekend.

“Mediacom has very little leverage, given how important Sinclair stations are across MCCC’s [Mediacom’s] footprint, compared with how unimportant Mediacom’s subscriber base is to Sinclair,” Greenfield wrote.

To maintain growth despite negative press from the Sinclair standoff, the cable operator has been offering new customers a monthly $59.95 triple-play bundle, increasing to $115 after six months and $136 after 12 months, according to Greenfield’s report.

He said he expected the Sinclair situation “to end badly” for Mediacom, with the midsized cable company “forced to pay significantly more than management was budgeting in 2007 [or risk losing subscribers to the multichannel-video competitors].”

Greenfield also wrote that he is worried about the precedent the Sinclair dispute could set for Mediacom in its future negotiations with other broadcasters.

In November, Sinclair granted Mediacom an extension to continue carrying roughly two dozen of its TV stations until Jan. 5. Mediacom officials have said that about 700,000 of its subscribers would be affected if Sinclair pulls its signals, although Greenfield put the number at 550,000 in his report.

He outlined several “aggressive” promotional offers Mediacom kicked off in December. In addition to the $59.95 offer to new subscribers, existing Mediacom customers were able to add digital-voice service for only one penny per month for the first six months, increasing to $29.95 per month after that.

And customer-service representatives sometimes combined the promotions, according to Greenfield’s report, allowing Mediacom subscribers to have video, voice and high-speed data for only $49.96 per month for six months, increasing to $110 after six months and $136 thereafter.

Greenfield said he doesn’t expect the promotions to impact Mediacom’s fourth-quarter results.

“However, the company’s ability to convert deeply discounted subscribers into full-paying subs during mid- to late-2007 is a meaningful risk to our 2007 estimates,” he wrote.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6403827

TV Reviews
'The Knights of Prosperity' and 'In Case of Emergency'

By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 3, 2007

In the feature-like premise of "The Knights of Prosperity," (9PM ET/PT Wednesday, ABC) a new single-camera sitcom debuting on ABC tonight, a janitor forms a misfit posse for the purpose of robbing the posh Manhattan crib of Mick Jagger.

Eugene Gurkin (Donal Logue) is the slacker posse leader, and the robbing of Jagger is like Earl Hickey's list on NBC's "My Name Is Earl" — a bright idea following an epiphany that comes to him through the TV.

On "Earl" it was Carson Daly talking about karma, which led a slacker and petty thief to reform himself to do good deeds; here it's Jagger showing off his house on E! Entertainment Television, which inspires the other way, turning a job-holding slacker to organized crime.

The comedic GPS on "The Knights of Prosperity" is programmed to harken us back, at warp speed, to great moments in ironic movie team-building — John Belushi's "When the going gets tough" speech in "Animal House," Bill Murray's pep talks in "Meatballs" and "Stripes."

It's an evergreen, I will allow, even if creators Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman ("Late Show With David Letterman" producers who previously did the series "Ed") rather rush you to the kitsch. It was their style on "Ed" to be too cutesy by half, and so here: The "Knights" hold their clandestine meetings in a warehouse of Jewish supplies, which quickly has them donning T-shirts with phrases such as "I'm with Meshugganah" and "Kiss Me, I'm a Mensch" as the operation kicks into higher gear in the second episode.

The T-shirt wearers are prize recruits in the category of highly lovable goofballs: a cabdriver (Maz Jobrani) who was a lawyer in India; Eugene's janitor friend Squatch (Lenny Venito) and security guard Rockefeller Butts (Kevin Michael Richardson, called on to purr his punch lines in a Barry White baritone).

Their ranks quickly swell to include a nerdy intern (Josh Grisetti) and a Latin bombshell (Sofia Vergara); by then, in addition to T-shirts, the Knights have their own theme song from Paul Shaffer (David Letterman's among the show's executive producers) and a show logo with retro font, if not enough players to form a Central Park softball league team.

"The Knights of Prosperity" once had the catchier title of "Let's Rob ... Mick Jagger." The Rolling Stones icon is onboard here, sending up his idle wealth winningly; he's a natural at self-caricature, but he's such a dogged entertainer, touring and touring, that I came to wish the series had picked a different target, someone who truly seems to live a celebrity life so blessed you'd rather just watch cash fall on their head (David Spade comes to mind, or ABC's own Jim Belushi or Ryan Seacrest).

"Let's Rob ... Jim Belushi (if not Seacrest)" has a much more comprehensible, Robin Hood feel to it — a palpable and needed anger at the spoils of certain showbiz success. Whether they know it, Burnett and Beckerman have come up with a catchphrase, "Let's rob ... ," that has a certain metaphorical resonance about our runaway celebrity culture; you could see it becoming the next "Jump the shark."

The "Knights" gang briefly considers robbing Fran Drescher instead ("She's got that 'Nanny' money," Rockefeller argues cogently), before Gurkin has them sticking with the plan. But they needed to discuss this more, because as it stands the show lacks a fun villain, à la Ben Stiller's fitness freak in "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story," or David Huddleston's Big Lebowski.

I could also get behind robbing the ABC executives who picked up "In Case of Emergency," which comes on tonight after "Knights of Prosperity" and instantly displays a commitment to slapstick in direct proportion to a state of comedic denial.

"In Case of Emergency" stars Jonathan Silverman (robbable), David Arquette (ditto) and Greg Germann (less so) as old high school friends in various intersecting mid-30s poses of identity crisis and privilege collapse. This involves a stolen bakery truck, gunplay and a visit to a massage parlor, the happy ending provided by the high school's former class valedictorian (Kelly Hu).

These four will join forces to find themselves — and a sense of family — anew. Great, more team-building. And — sitcom trend alert! — ironic Jewish T-shirts, including a midriff-baring tank that Hu wears, which says, "You had me at Shalom."

Is this comedy's new spit-take?

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-comedy3jan03,0,6912254,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

TV Reviews
'The Knights of Prosperity' and 'In Case of Emergency'
Gallant 'Knights' faces uphill battle
By Robert Bianco USA Today

You can't blame a sitcom for the company it keeps.

Yet most likely, bad companions will be The Knights of Prosperity's (9 PM ET/PT ABC, tonight) undoing. A sweetly offbeat salute to oddball crooks, Knights is being asked to prosper on a network that seems incapable of protecting it or pairing it up. The few ABC sitcoms that were any good over the past few years were out of step with public tastes and are long gone. And the vast majority were awful, as witnessed by the flat-out loser premiering tonight with Knights, In Case of Emergency.

Worse luck still, Knights is another ABC attempt to launch a serialized sitcom, a particularly unpopular subset of a troubled genre. Having folded Big Day's day-long wedding tent, ABC now expects viewers to commit to a set of inept crooks as they attempt to rob the plush penthouse of Mick Jagger.

How many viewers are going to trust Knights to pull off that caper when they never found out why the wife vanished on Vanished, why the kid was kidnapped on Kidnapped or why the day kept breaking on Day Break?

Still, Knights is worth the leap of faith, in large part because the robbery is only one part of this good-natured tribute to the appeal of the American dream, the get-rich-quick variety. Unlike the glum Smith, Heist and Thief, the show immediately sets out to establish that its Keystone crooks are, if not deserving, as least not undeserving — and that they pose no real risk to Jagger's wealth and health. ("Certainly he will not miss a few crumbs from his table of much plentifulness.")

Knights is brought to you by the folks behind Ed, who bring with them Ed's gentle sensibility and knack for clever casting. Start with appealing everyman Donal Logue as Eugene Gurkin, a janitor with an unconventional life-improvement plan. But really, each of the Knights is a sitcom hero: Esperanza (Sofia Vergara), the gorgeous ex-girlfriend of a Colombian mobster; "Squatch" Squacieri (Lenny Venito), Eugene's janitorial co-worker; Gourishankar, aka "Gary" (Maz Jobrani), an Indian cabdriver; Rockefeller (Kevin Michael Richardson), a security guard with a voice like Barry White; and Louis (Josh Grisetti), a fussy, virginal college student.

As in many filmed comedies, at times Knights seems content to substitute movement and scenery for comedy, but the brighter moments compensate for those times when the show goes slack. The concern is whether the concept can sustain a series and whether the series can build on its propitious beginning.

No such long-term concerns with In Case of Emergency. It flops right from the get-go. Indeed, if the TV gods are kind, we will never again be subjected to a "meet cute" as repulsive as the one Emergency uses for its opening scene: Harry (Jonathan Silverman) becomes reacquainted with high school dream girl Kelly Lee (Kelly Hu) at a massage parlor as she's giving him sexual release.

Life has not been kind to Harry and Kelly, and it's about to turn on two other classmates. Just-dumped diet guru Sherman (Greg Germann) goes on a televised eating spree, which includes hijacking a pastry delivery truck. And then there's Jason (David Arquette), a scandal-plagued accountant whose plans to kill himself go awry.

The reason behind this unconvincing convergence of events will be obvious to any viewer. It's so all four losers can be tied together into one big loser clump. It's kind of like Friends if every character had been outlandishly contrived, every situation had been stripped of every humorous moment, and every attempt at sentiment had felt cheap and unearned.

What do you do in case of that kind of emergency? Run.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/reviews/2007-01-02-knights-main_x.htm

TV Notebook:
NBC Universal Pulls Plug on 'Mullally'
By Chris Pursell Television Week January 3, 2007

The first syndication casualty of the season got the axe Wednesday, as NBC Universal informed staff of "The Megan Mullally Show" that the series was being cancelled.

Production is being shut down immediately and airings of the first-run talk show strip will continue through the end of January in both originals and repeats. The series has been averaging a 0.8 rating this season, tying it for last among all series in the genre.

In a statement, NBCU wrote "We are very proud of the hard work and effort that our staff put into the production of this show. And our host, Megan Mullally, is truly one of the most talented people in our business. We are grateful to have partnered with her on the show and are appreciative for her tireless commitment, effort and dedication to this endeavor."

Executives at the distributor will be working with stations to find potential programming solutions to fill the hole left by "Megan's" departure.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11296

TV Notebook:
Fox Yanks The O.C.
By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable 1/3/2007

Fox has bid farewell to Warner Bros. TV’s The O.C., cancelling the four-season-old series that has been struggling in the ratings this season.

The sun will set for the last time on the once-hot series on Thursday, Feb. 22, in its 9-10 p.m. time slot. All original episodes will air from this Thursday through the last episode.

“This feels like the best time to bring the show to its close,” says Josh Schwartz, creator and executive producer of The O.C. “Thanks to the hard work of our cast, crew and writers, we have enjoyed our best season yet, and what better time to go out than creatively on top. It has been an amazing experience and a great run. For a certain audience, at a certain time, The O.C. has meant something. For that, we are grateful."

The show debuted in August 2003, following a group of friends and families whose lives were changed by the arrival of an outsider to their oceanside community of Newport Beach.

It helped revive the teen-drama genre and became a pop-culture phenomenon, with its soundtrack and wardrobe sought after in stores. It also helped make Newport Beach an even more popular tourist attraction.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6404082

TV Notebook:
Fox Yanks The O.C.
(Fox Press Release)

The sun will set for the last time on THE O.C. when the series ends its four-season run Thursday, Feb. 22 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The countdown has begun, with all-original episodes airing from Thursday, Jan. 4 through the last episode on Feb. 22.

THE O.C. stars Peter Gallagher (Sandy Cohen), Kelly Rowan (Kirsten Cohen), Benjamin McKenzie (Ryan Atwood), Adam Brody (Seth Cohen), Melinda Clarke (Julie Cooper), Rachel Bilson (Summer Roberts), Autumn Reeser (Taylor Townsend) and Willa Holland (Autumn Reeser).

Set in Orange County, California, THE O.C. premiered in August 2003. It follows a group of friends and families whose lives were changed by the arrival of an outsider Ryan Atwood to their ocean-side community of Newport Beach.

THE O.C. revived the teen drama genre while including humorous and heartfelt adult storylines. Shortly after its summer premiere, THE O.C. was a pop culture phenomenon its actors are household names and its indie music (and subsequent six soundtracks) and hip California wardrobe are sought-after in stores. The shows Newport Beach locale also has become a popular tourist attraction as fans visit the real locations featured in their favorite episodes.

"THE O.C. Season Four finale will also be the series finale. This feels like the best time to bring the show to its close, said Josh Schwartz, creator and executive producer of THE O.C. Thanks to the hard work of our cast, crew and writers, we have enjoyed our best season yet, and what better time to go out than creatively on top. It has been an amazing experience and a great run. For a certain audience, at a certain time, THE O.C. has meant something. For that we are grateful."

Critic’s Notebook:
O.C-Ya Later...
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal blog


During its first season, ''The O.C.'' was a more than credible drama. Later, not so much. So we come to the end of the trail, according to today's announcement from Fox:

The sun will set for the last time on THE O.C. when the series ends its four-season run Thursday, Feb. 22 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The countdown has begun, with all-original episodes airing from Thursday, Jan. 4 through the last episode on Feb. 22 ....

"THE O.C. Season Four finale will also be the series finale. This feels like the best time to bring the show to its close,” said Josh Schwartz, creator and executive producer of THE O.C. “Thanks to the hard work of our cast, crew and writers, we have enjoyed our best season yet, and what better time to go out than creatively on top. It has been an amazing experience and a great run. For a certain audience, at a certain time, THE O.C. has meant something. For that we are grateful.''

As I said, it could have turned out differently. The second season was a mess, Mischa Barton's shortcomings as an actress became more evident (and probably drove away viewers who did not return when she left) and so on and so on. The collapse, like that of ''Joan of Arcadia'' in its second season, suggests yet again that the extended U.S. broadcast season is murder for some shows -- that the British model of as-few-episodes-as-we-are-happy-with would better serve many U.S. series as well.

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

TV Review
'In Case of Emergency' flatlines
By Rodney Ho, Atlanta Journal Constitution - January 3, 2007

• What It's About: Four lonely friends from high school bond 20 years later under odd circumstances. A diet guru (Greg Germann of "Ally McBeal" fame) finds out his wife left him and steals a pastry truck. A sexist, suicidal exec (David Arquette) accidentally shoots himself in the foot. And lead man Jonathan Silverman runs into the high school valedictorian (Kelly Hu) at a massage parlor

• What Works: : The frenetic pace and zany action evoke "Malcolm in the Middle." And Hu rises above the mediocre writing.

• What Doesn't Work: As the lead character, Silverman must think that making faces and reading his lines extra loud make him funnier. They don't. Instead, he seems to be channeling the most annoying aspects of Rob Morrow and Zach Braff with an ugly dollop of Jackie Mason.

• Will it Last? Based on the first two episodes ABC provided, the prognosis for this sitcom is poor. Zaniness alone doesn't make a show worth sticking around for week in and week out.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/entertainment/content/entertainment/tv/stories/2007/01/02/0103lvtvemergency.html

Critic’s Notebook:
'Knights' to the rescue!
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star January 3, 2007

This week sees the debut of two TV series each starring one half of the power couple of Courteney Cox and David Arquette. But as so often happens in television, they are upstaged by a bunch of no-names.

Remember how Ray Liotta was going to spice up prime time as a high-class thief? Or Taye Diggs was going to make us forget about “Lost”? And yet, they are gone from prime time, while the fresh young faces in “Heroes” are the biggest sensation of the fall TV season.

And now, from heroes to zeroes: Meet “The Knights of Prosperity,” a motley crew of blue-collar crooks who think they can break into rock superstar Mick Jagger's Central Park West apartment. What they lack in sophistication, they make up for in sheer ineptitude. And yet, these “Knights” may well steal something this winter … your hearts.

OK, that line even made me cringe. But said just the right way, it could be a line from “Knights of Prosperity,” a show that won over my audience this summer at the “Watch the Pilots with Aaron” event.

A goofy action comedy that sends up “Ocean's Eleven” and all those robbery shows that came and went last year, “Knights” succeeds where others fail. That's because its creators -- two veteran producers from David Letterman's Worldwide Pants shop -- struck exactly the right tone, chose the right palette, and made great casting calls. You will regret tuning in even a minute late for the premiere, which airs at 8 tonight on KMBC-9. You will not, however, regret switching away from “In Case of Emergency,” the Arquette vehicle which begins right after “Knights.”

Donal Logue plays the show's lovable loser Eugene Gurkin. A janitor whose life matches his joyless and shabby apartment in Queens, he is stuck in the 1980s. Loni Anderson adorns his wall and his radio blares the music of supergroup Boston as they ironically extol a time when, surely, Eugene Gurkin's life held more promise.

One day, after receiving several grim reminders of how much his life stinks (literally, given his job), Eugene hatches a plan. Swiftly he assembles a group of his fellow bottom-dwellers and tells them the promised land lies beyond the locked doors of the Rolling Stones frontman's penthouse.

“I don't get it,” says Gary, a cabdriver from India after hearing the plan. “Why Mick Jagger? Why not some other celebrity like Alex Trebek? Or Willem Dafoe? Or James van der Beek? Or Jeff Conaway?”

“Who?” asks Eugene's friend Squatch.

Pulling the stogie out of his mouth, Rockefeller Butts, a security guard of tremendous girth and few words, says simply, “Kenickie.” (From "Grease." Look it up on the Internet, like I did.)

What makes this and other scenes so delightful are the actors' voices. If “Knights” were a cartoon series instead of live-action, you could cast the same people in it: Maz Jobrani as the Punjabi, Lenny Venito as the Jersey guy and Kevin Michael Richardson as Rockefeller, whose voice is pure Barry White butter. The fact that these are all typecasts from a less politically correct era is part of the joke. Indeed, “Knights” adheres to a retro-uncool feel not unlike “The Fugitive Guy,” a beloved running skit that featured Chris Elliott on the old Letterman show.

Throw in a Colombian hottie (Sofia Vergara, who actually is from Colombia) and an intern (Josh Grisetti) and you have a gang that I predict will be guilty … of making you laugh out loud.

And then, the comedown, “In Case of Emergency.” Clearly ABC wanted this as a companion piece to “Knights,” and that's a nice compliment to “Knights,” but “Emergency” is not a worthy complement.

Another show filled with nostalgic '80s touches, it stars Arquette (whose wife's show, “Dirt,” debuted Tuesday on FX), Greg Germann (from “Ally McBeal” and “Eureka”), Jonathan Silverman and Kelly Hu as high school classmates whose paths re-intersect 20 years later, as they discover life didn't turn out for each of them as they'd hoped.

Sadly, the same can be said of this show. It's not well cast (sorry, but Germann cannot pull off the farce he's asked to do here). It's not well written (poor Arquette is given lines better suited to Jim Belushi). Worst of all, it so closely resembles another ABC comedy from this season, “Help Me Help You,” starring Ted Danson as a shrink, that it makes me wish that show were still on the air. Now, Ted Danson -- there's a TV star.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2007/01/knights_to_the_.html

If you have read this thread for a while, you are well aware that one of my favorite TV critics is Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star.

He frequently appears on radio shows around the country chatting about TV. Here's a note from his blog (and a link) to his latest discussion about what's happening in TV. It is a fun listen:

"...Today on KMOX, Paul Harris and I talked about "Knights of Prosperity," the ABC show that I'm calling the best new comedy of the season. Courteney Cox's newseries "Dirt" and David Arquette's "In Case Of Emergency." We also had a discussion of how college football playoffs would work on TV."

http://podcast.kmox.com/kmox/58060.mp3

TV Notebook
Steal This Sitcom
James Poniewozik's Time "Tuned In" Blog - January 3, 2007

A funny thing happened to my pick for best new fall show of 2006. It, uh, didn't air in fall 2006. The suits at ABC decided to hold The Knights of Prosperity until January. The network said it held the show to give a promising series a launch time amid less new competition, but you could see how they might have thought that the show was, shall we say, a long shot. Knights (tonight at 9 p.m.) is not what you'd call a beautiful-people show. It opens with Eugene Gurkin (Donal Logue) waking up, rolling out of bed in his undershirt and boxers, zipping his pudgy body into a janitors' uniform, and trudging off to work, where we see him plunging an overflowing toilet. But Gurkin has a dream: to open his own bar. ("I want to be the guy who puts the tangerine in the toilet," he vows, "not the guy who has to take it out.") And one day, turned down for a bank loan and watching Mick Jagger showing off his palatial apartment on a celebrity home-tour show, he comes up with a plan: to burgle the star's home.

OK, it's not a good plan, and the crew of working stiffs he assembles—using as their criminal lair a "Jewish-supply warehouse" chockablock with "I'm With Meshuggenah" t-shirts--are not good burglars. But Gurkin's brimming confidence makes his criminal plan sympathetic. "Were you born with a silver spoon in your mouth?" he asks his recruits, in a speech befitting Bill Murray in Stripes. "Me either. I was born with a plastic spork in my ass!"

Created by two Late Show producers (Paul Shaffer wrote the hilarious Shaft-like theme song), the show is filled with Lettermanesque non sequiturs and '70s pop-culture arcana--the pilot references Loni Anderson and Jeff Conaway from Grease--but it has heart too. Gurkin is appealing in the same way the bad singers on American idol are: he has little ability, little expertise (most of his ruses involve his putting on a very bad British accent) and most likely little chance, yet he believes in himself so strongly despite all evidence to the contrary that you pull for him when he prays, in all sincerity, "Tonight, Lord, we ask you to help us successfully rob Mick Jagger." ABC may have robbed him of the chance to end up on 2006's best-TV lists, but here's looking at 2007.

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

TV Notebook
Time's up for 'Megan Mullally Show'

By Kimberly Nordyke, The Hollywood Reporter - January 4, 2007

Freshman daytime talker "The Megan Mullally Show" won't be back for a second season.

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution delivered the news to the "Megan" staff Wednesday that it was stopping production immediately on the first-run syndicated strip. The news means that "Megan" is the first syndicated rookie of the 2006-07 season to get the ax.

The show will remain on the air through the end of the month, airing a previously scheduled mix of original and repeat episodes. NBC Universal is planning to work with each station currently airing "Megan" to find "potential programming solutions" that fit their needs following the show's departure, a spokesman said.

"We are very proud of the hard work and effort that our staff put into the production of this show," NBC Universal said. "And our host, Megan Mullally, is truly one of the most talented people in our business. We are grateful to have partnered with her on the show and are appreciative for her tireless commitment, effort and dedication to this endeavor."

Added Mullally: "I am extremely proud of the show we created and am thankful for the passion and tireless efforts of (executive producer) Corin Nelson and the entire staff."

The hourlong show, which launched in September, is averaging a 0.8 household rating season-to-date.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i5d92ced0876b5ae0356d12e1a8194d55

TV News
Sawyer Signals Commitment to Morning Show
By Jacques Steinberg, The New York Times - January 3, 2007

Diane Sawyer, whose continued commitment to “Good Morning America” has been the subject of speculation since Charles Gibson departed the show in June, has in recent weeks left some executives at ABC with the impression that she intends to remain with the program until at least early summer, according to one executive briefed directly on Ms. Sawyer’s status.

By sending signals that she intends to stay with “Good Morning America” — at least through the end of the current prime-time television season, and perhaps longer still — Ms. Sawyer has prompted some exhaling in the upper echelons of both the news division and the network as a whole. That is because she remains ABC’s biggest news star in the morning — and perhaps the evening as well — on a program that is by far the news division’s most valuable, with annual profits believed to be well in excess of $100 million.

The executive, who spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity because of the delicate diplomacy involved, said Ms. Sawyer had met before Christmas, as she does periodically, with David Westin, the president of ABC News. Separately, the official said, she had also had a holiday lunch in New York with Robert A. Iger, the president and chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s corporate parent, though that get-together was characterized as more social than business.

By staying put, Ms. Sawyer, 61, also promises to keep “Good Morning America” competitive with “Today” on NBC, the ratings leader for more than a decade, at a moment when that program and its audience are continuing to adjust to a new co-anchor, Meredith Vieira, who replaced Katie Couric in September. (Since Mr. Gibson’s departure for “World News,” “Good Morning America” has gone through some growing pains of its own, as it introduced Chris Cuomo as its news reader and Sam Champion as its weatherman, while pairing Robin Roberts with Ms. Sawyer as lead anchors.)

In the most recent November sweeps period, “Today” had an average daily audience of 5.8 million, about 735,000 more than “Good Morning America,” which drew an audience of about 5.1 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. During the same period a year ago, the lead of “Today” over “Good Morning America” was about 5,000 viewers larger, although both shows have lost viewers over the last year.

In June an ABC spokesman said Ms. Sawyer remained committed to “Good Morning America” through at least early 2007. When asked in September how much longer she planned to stay with the program, she told a reporter that she was not ready to entertain that question.

“‘I’m sorry if it sounds like a dodge,” she said at the time. “I truly am looking ahead and enjoying this part. And there is plenty of time to think about what remains after — when and whether.”

Since then Ms. Sawyer has appeared to throw herself into the program anew, traveling to North Korea — for both “Good Morning America” and a prime-time special for ABC — and later Israel (for less than 24 hours), as well as landing the first interview with Mel Gibson after his drunken-driving arrest (which the network also played big in the morning and evening) and, yesterday, reporting at length from South Africa on the opening of a private school for girls by Oprah Winfrey.

When asked yesterday about Ms. Sawyer, Jeffrey Schneider, a senior vice president of ABC News, dismissed any notion of a timetable for her tenure on the program.

He added: “Diane is having a great time on ‘G.M.A.’ She loves the new team. And she has had an unrivaled run of groundbreaking reporting which has her passionately engaged.”

Ms. Sawyer’s current contract with the network extends for at least two more years, said the executive with knowledge of her situation. But Ms. Sawyer has always characterized her tenure on “Good Morning America” as temporary — and the network has regarded it as such — even if it has been eight years since she joined the show, at a moment of crisis, after the network had just jettisoned a new, low-rated anchor team.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/arts/television/03sawy.html?_r=1&ref=arts&oref=slogin

TV Review
‘Knights’ shows signs of life; Emergency’ in ICU
By Mark A. Perigard, Boston Herald - January 3, 2007

“The Knights of Prosperity” Season premiere tonight at 9 on WCVB (Ch. 5).
Grade: B-

“In Case of Emergency” Season premiere tonight at 9:30 on WCVB (Ch. 5).
Grade: D

There’s surprising satisfaction in ABC’s new comedy “The Knights of Prosperity,” and it all comes in the strutting form of rocker Mick Jagger.

Jagger sends up his image in a series of sprightly cameos in the debut (tonight at 9 on WCVB, Ch. 5).

As an E! camera crew wanders his swank New York apartment, Jagger shows off a palatial swimming pool - for his dogs - and his hat room, maintained at 62 degrees with 10 percent humidity.

Watching at home is janitor Eugene Gurkin (Donal Logue, “Grounded for Life”). Gurkin desperately wants something better for his life and decides the only way to get it is to rob Jagger’s place. To do so, however, he’ll need a crew, and he gathers the biggest group of misfits outside of NBC’s “Heroes.”

There’s Francis “Squatch” Squacieri (Lenny Venito), Gurkin’s co-worker at the toilet stalls; Gourishankar Subramaniam (Maz Jobrani) - called “Gary,” an Indian lawyer who now must drive a cab; security guard Rockefeller Butts (Kevin Michael Richardson, who sounds so much like Barry White it’s as if he swallowed him whole); waitress Esperanza Villalobos (Sofia Vergara), who is drawn to bad boys; and college student “intern” Louis Plunk (Josh Grisetti).

Out in their gang T-shirts, they look like the cast of NBC’s “Biggest Loser.”

Unfortunately, Jagger, who also serves as executive producer of this sitcom from David Letterman’s production company, has taped nothing beyond the pilot, which makes “Knights” seem like it’s only stealing time.

“Knights” is gold compared to “In Case of Emergency.” This irritating sitcom (tonight at 9:30on WCVB) apparently splurged its production money on a recognizable cast and forgot about hiring decent writers. It opens with nebbishy Harry (Jonathan Silverman) realizing his masseuse Kelly (Kelly Hu) is the high school valedictorian he pined for 20 years ago just as she is giving him, umm,a happy ending.

Their classmates also are having bad nights. Best-selling diet author Sherman (Greg Germann) discovers his wife has left him and cleaned him out, even taking the water in his pool. He hijacks a pastry truck and goes on one helluva binge.

Jason (David Arquette) is facing jail time for business fraud and considers suicide - but only shoots himself in the foot. He finds another reason to live when he meets ER doctor Joanna (Lori Loughlin). When she rejects him by telling him she is engaged, he says, “Is there any chance your fiance is a chick?”

It’s CBS’ “The Class,” 10 years forward and minus a hint of humor. Silverman’s take on Harry makes “Monk” look like a model of stability. This bag of neuroses never stops talking, and when someone finally pops him in the nose, this viewer wanted to cheer. “Emergency” is so bad, you’ll be scrambling for an exit.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=175011

TV Review
Here’s ‘Beauty’ tip: Give brains-babes show a makeover
By Mark A. Perigard, Boston Herald - January 3, 2007

“Beauty and the Geek” Season premiere tonight at 8 on WLVI (Ch. 56).
Grade: B-

If you’ve seen one dweeb rave about “Star Trek,” you’ve seen them all.

CW’s “Beauty and the Geek” (returning tonight at 8 on WLVI, Ch. 56) remains one of the sweetest reality shows on the networks, but in its third season, its format is starting to look as predictable as the periodic table. (Not that I, humble reader, could ever be mistaken for a geek - I’m just sayin’, that’s all.)

You know the drill. Eight brains pair off with eight beauties in a series of challenges to test their respective weaknesses. Last couple standing captures $250,000.

In the two-hour opener, the guys roll up in scooters; the women in a stretch limo. Massachusetts is well represented on the geek side, with a Harvard grad, an MIT grad and Nate, a Harvard student who fronts a “Star Wars” tribute band. Mario, whose onscreen ID boasts he owns 25,000 comic books, has a Nintendo controller tattooed on his arm.

The women range from a model, a UFC ring girl and a voice teacher. “Being attractive makes life a little bit easier,” Jennylee says. Not on this show, and that’s the appeal of “Beauty and the Geek.” It’s the great equalizer, negating players’ strengths and forcing them to work on their weaknesses. Just about every viewer can relate to feeling outside one’s comfort zone, and there’s plenty of humor in the chaos that follows the challenges.

Tonight, for the women, that means fetching three books out of a library using the Dewey Decimal System, reading from a teleprompter (the word “enigmatic” trips up almost all of them) and interviewing an author. For the guys, it means asking for a girl’s phone number, convincing a stranger to rub suntan lotion on their back and getting laughs at a comedy club.

The winning teams get to pick who goes into an elimination round, where the contestants are tested on their knowledge of current events and pop culture.

But unlike so many other so-called reality shows, “Beauty” is about genuinely improving oneself, about opening up to people one would never typically meet. Contestants don’t throw each other under the proverbial reality-TV grinder. The elimination is sad.

Still, you could lose IQ points the way some segments drag on in the two-hour opener. When is the CW going to move on that long-talked-about pairing of himbos with female dorks? That could be a revolutionary hour.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=174991

TV Notebook
Time's up for 'Megan Mullally Show'

By Kimberly Nordyke, The Hollywood Reporter - January 4, 2007

Freshman daytime talker "The Megan Mullally Show" won't be back for a second season.

I'm surprised it lasted this long. I can sit through a lot of terrible stuff on television but on the occasions I've switched on the TV and come across this I actually found it physically difficult to watch. In an overcrowded celebrity chat show market, this was just trying painfully to be not like the others, and came across as just being a collection of the most painful parts of all the others.

I agree, VO.

It was pretty dreadful.

So Megan gets to go back to auditioning for sitcoms/movies while Maury and Jerry Springer continue to parade their waste of living organisms for the world to gawk one more year. Where's the justice? Where's the outrage? Where's my baby's daddy? :rolleyes:

When I was having tires replaced on my car, she was on in the waiting room and gave a vintage vaccum to a kid who collects vacuums. Didn't help with my vintage rubber. It was too far from her Will & Grace character-was she hoping we'd see something different?

Nielsen Ratings
NFL scores for NBC, Fox
'Dirt' debut draws 3.5 million total viewers
By Rick Kissell, Variety.com - January 3, 2007

Getting a boost from the closing day of the NFL regular season, NBC and Fox moved to the lead in key demos during primetime last week.

Fox benefited from a full hourlong overrun to kick off primetime Sunday and NBC scored with the season ender of "Sunday Night Football." Although ratings were somewhat muted for both given the holiday weekend, these shows dominated the action on New Year's Eve and made the difference in the weekly averages.

For the Dec. 25-31 frame -- the least-watched of the current season -- the Peacock and Murdoch nets tied in adults 18-49 with a 2.5 rating, followed by ABC (2.2), CBS (2.1) and ESPN (1.8), according to Nielsen.

The all-sports cabler was pumped up by pigskin action as well, as the frame started with its final "Monday Night Football" contest of the season and included college bowl games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

NBC also won in adults 25-54 (3.0/8), while Fox edged out the Peacock in the 12-34 demo (1.9/7 to 1.8/6) and CBS led as usual in total viewers (8.5 million).

A special Christmas edition of NBC's "Deal or No Deal" was the week's No. 1 primetime telecast in key categories including adults 18-49 (5.3/15) and total viewers (16.43 million), airing behind a high-rated early-evening NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.

Also on that night, a special episode of gameshow "1 vs. 100" performed well at 10 (4.1/12 in 18-49, 11.81m), combining with "Deal" for NBC's highest Christmas 18-49 average (5.0/14) since 1997.

Net didn't do much in the middle of the week, but closed things out with pretty good numbers for a meaningless NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears (4.7/15, 13.45m).

"Sunday Night Football" ended the season with an average aud of 17.5 million viewers -- up 7% from last year's 16.3 million for ABC's "Monday Night Football" and the best for the broadcast primetime game in six years. Of course, a new rule increasing the number of appearances by hot teams certainly helped, as the popular Dallas Cowboys, for example, played four times on NBC.

At Fox, the final hour of the San Francisco 49ers' overtime victory over the Denver Broncos averaged a big 7.3 rating/24 share in adults 18-49 and 19.5 million viewers overall to dominate the start of primetime Sunday.

Net's only other highlights for the week were Tuesday's repeat of "House" (3.6/10, 9.25m) and Thursday's special movie repeat of "Sweet Home Alabama" (2.8/8, 7.20m).

ABC, without benefit of football, was paced by a Christmas repeat of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" (3.2/9 in 18-49, 8.66m).

Net also got nice newsmag contributions from "Primetime: Basic Instincts" on Wednesday (3.0/8, 7.73m) and "20/20" on Friday (2.6/8, 7.61m). The primetime edition of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" (2.8/9 in 18-49, 8.29m) was up 17% year-to-year in 18-49 and drew the spec's largest overall aud in five years.

CBS' mostly repeat week was led by "CSI" on Thursday (4.0/11, 14.03m) and "CSI: NY" on Wednesday (2.9/8, 10.68m). Net also got an assist from the NFL on Sunday with a roughly 30-minute overrun (3.8/12 in 18-49, 10.88m).

Univision tied with ABC for third place among the broadcast nets in adults 18-34 (1.6/6) as its telenovelas "La Fea Mas Bella" and "Mundo de Fieras" remained in firstrun.

And in the evening news race, NBC's "Nightly News" (2.4/8 in adults 25-54, 9.38 million viewers overall) edged out ABC's "World News" (2.3/8, 8.97m), with CBS' "Evening News" remaining third (2.0/7, 7.33m).

• • • • • • • • • • •

On Tuesday of the current week, FX drama "Dirt" opened to solid numbers, drawing 2.1 million viewers 18-49 and about 3.5 million viewers overall. Cabler points out that the show, starring Courteney Cox as the editor of a celebrity tabloid, opened to numbers similar to "Nip/Tuck's" in 2003.

NBC won the night with original segs of "Law & Order: SVU" (prelim 5.2/14 in 18-49, 15.1 million) and "Law & Order: CI" (prelim 4.1/10, 13.4 million).

Fox ran second with its college football Orange Bowl matchup between Louisville and Wake Forest (roughly 3.8/10 in 18-49, 10.6 million) -- a low score for the Bowl Championship Series, but not surprising given the teams' geographical proximity and scant national following.

Fox was expected to fare considerably better on Wednesday with its Sugar Bowl matchup between Louisiana State and Notre Dame.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956599.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Cable TV Notebook
PGA Tour tries different strokes for TV gains
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter Jan 4, 2007

NEW YORK -- When the 2007 PGA Tour tees off today with its new TV rights package, it's going in with a new plan to drum up interest year-round with a page straight out of the NASCAR playbook.

The PGA is introducing the FedEx Cup, where players compete in a seasonlong points competition that runs 37 weeks, from the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii that begins today to the Tour Championship in Atlanta that concludes Sept. 16. Like NASCAR's Nextel Cup competition, the format is designed to hold fan interest -- and keep TV ratings strong -- in a build-up to the crowning of a champion.

Ratings for golf's four major tournaments and the other events that Tiger Woods plays have remained sturdy. But Woods plays a limited schedule (he appeared in just 15 PGA events in 2006, and he and his wife are expecting their first child this summer), and Tour officials felt they had to do something to attract what sources said was $3 billion over six years from CBS, NBC and the Golf Channel.

"These second-tier events have been watered down to the point where the sports fan needs to have a reason to watch, has to have a reason that all this leads to something in the end," said Jim Nantz, CBS' lead golf announcer who has spent 22 years broadcasting the PGA. "For me, I love all the events. But the reality is that the PGA Tour wasn't building up to anything. It didn't have the big bang."

"It's a really strong effort to put some definition on the season and build an ongoing story," said Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports and News. "It's creating a lot of buzz and excitement."

NBC Sports president Ken Schanzer said that the structure of the FedEx Cup ensures that virtually all the top players will compete in the concluding events, three of which will air in September on NBC. Schanzer said the Tour's most recent change regarding the Championship Series -- with cutdowns in the Boston tournament from 120 players to 70 and then in the Chicago event that slices the field to 30 players for the Tour title field in Atlanta -- increases the drama and pressure.

"We think it's going to be interesting, not only to the golf fan but also to the casual fan," Schanzer said.

"You're going to have the marquee players playing a lot in a condensed amount of time at the end of the season, when in the past a lot of them would have wound down," said Rob Correa, senior vp programming at CBS Sports.

Added Nantz: "I think it will work. I'm anxious to see how it will all interface with the PGA Tour. I think it will be an upgrade. The Tour needed to do something like this. It was a gutsy move, and they used the NASCAR template, which has been a raging success."

The new rights deal increased the commitment of CBS and NBC while ABC, which carried 16 PGA tournaments in 2005, now only carries the British Open as the network makes space for NASCAR.

CBS carries the most PGA Tour events, 19 as opposed to 16 last year, including most of the West Coast events like the Buick Invitational from Torrey Pines in San Diego and the Nissan Open from Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. It also has the first stop, in New York, of the four-event Championship Series.

Watching all this from the CBS tower on the 18th hole will be Nick Faldo, the six-time majors champion. The Englishman, who brought a humorous touch to ABC broadcasts the past two seasons, will be paired with Nantz as the replacement for former lead analyst Lanny Wadkins.

Meanwhile, NBC doubles its PGA telecasts to 10. In addition to the Championship Series, its events include its traditional crown jewels, the U.S. Open and the Players Championship, as well as the World Golf Championship, the Presidents Cup and the so-called Southern Swing.

"We think it's the right fit for us," Schanzer said. "We had the opportunity to add attractive, particularly attractive events, and we leaped at the opportunity."

The Golf Channel, in its biggest year ever, will televise the first three PGA events of the season and six or seven end-of-the-season tournaments now known as the Fall Series.

As far as the broadcasts go, CBS and NBC promise further technical innovations for this season. They were busy scouting golf courses for the best angles, since they are increasing the number of tournaments and televising ones they haven't in years past or ever.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i18751a2aea10d2f43a6bb595ce5f3e7b

Cable TV Notebook
Getting the Dirt on FX
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/3/2007

FX saw a decent performance for the premiere of its original series Dirt last night (1/3). The hour-long commercial-free episode at 10 p.m. averaged 3.4 million total viewers and 2.1 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic, according to live-plus-same day data from Nielsen Media Research. An 11 p.m. encore averaged 2.6 million total viewers and 1 million adults 18-49.

The premiere's audience in the demo was smaller than those for the premieres of other FX marquee originals The Shield and Rescue Me, which drew 3 million and 2.5 million viewers 18-49 in March, 2002 and July, 2004, respectively, but bigger than Nip/Tuck's - 2 million in July, 2003.

Dirt, which stars Courteney Cox as the editor of a celebrity glossy magazine, built significantly on its lead-in, Spider-Man 2. The movie averaged 2.4 million total viewers and 1.4 million adults 18-49 between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Compared to the 2006 season averages of FX's other returning scripted originals, Dirt's audience compared closest in age and gender distribution to Rescue Me, according to the network.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6404130.html?display=Breaking+News

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

Here's the loudest voice yet in what is sure to grow into a screaming mob in a few months (weeks?) as the weekly 3rd-place Nielsen books continue to pile-up.

Opinion
How CBS can salvage the Couric debacle
Move her back to where she belongs - mornings
Jon Friedman's CBS Marketwach "Media Web" Column - January 3, 2007

Katie Couric's discouraging prospects are becoming clearer with each new disheartening television ratings update.

I wonder if anyone at CBS has concluded that the time has come to move Couric back to where she belonged, all along: early-morning television. I suspect that CBS could find a place for Katie on the couch, yukking it up with Harry, Hannah and Julie.

The classy Rene Syler, one of the four original co-anchors of "The Early Show" on CBS, recently exited the program, conveniently leaving an opening. A conspiracy theorist would suggest that it's merely a matter of time before Couric joined a morning show that has long trailed NBC and ABC in viewers and professional respect.

Meanwhile, Meredith Vieira, who replaced Couric on NBC's "Today," has gotten largely favorable reviews for her work. "Today," a virtual cash machine for years, has continued to roll on, here in the A.C. period (After Couric).

CBS could solve two problems by shifting Couric. It would ease its evening-news conundrum and, presumably, lift the ratings of that moribund morning-hour asset.

Does this idea make sense? Sure.

But will it happen? Probably not.

Pride

The resistance may boil down to pride.

Couric has too much pride to accept a return to her television roots.

And CBS won't easily admit that it a) made a mistake by installing Couric in that time slot b) bungled the ham-fisted marketing strategy for its new star or c) presented an inferior, puffy show at 6:30 p.m. to a news-oriented audience.

Publicly, CBS can maintain that it still has confidence in Couric as an evening-news anchor. Privately, the network suits might fret that they have already invested too many millions of dollars in Couric.

Further, they could argue that pulling the plug after four months (gosh, it sure seems longer than that, don't you think?) would make them look downright panicky.

America loved the early-morning Katie. Whether she likes it or not, it's evident that viewers embraced her for the "P" word: perkiness. Fair or not, however, the nation isn't willing to accept her in the traditionally solemn evening-news time period.

CBS hoped that Couric's fans would follow her both to CBS and the new show. While Couric attracted a big audience during the honeymoon period, that has long since ended. With the Internet speeding up the world, Couric's grace time wasn't destined to last very long, anyway.

Barring something unforeseen, America isn't likely to warm up to her as the anchor of "The CBS Evening News."

CBS has tinkered with the show. Couric has gotten the credit she deserved for deftly interviewing newsmakers and celebrities on camera. True, Couric is capable of securing a juicy "get" interview on camera -- but why would a publicity-hungry newsmaker rush to appear on the No. 3 evening news show?

To CBS' disappointment, Couric's ratings have been stuck in mud. She trails rivals Brian Williams on NBC and Charles Gibson on ABC. CBS executives' sunny statements, about how the new show is going to get better and that it's still way too early to reach a conclusion, are becoming redundant, if not stale.

Maybe it doesn't matter to the network, in the long run. Media pundits have speculated that the gigantic publicity blitz last year, building up Couric's Sept. 5 debut, enabled CBS to sell big blocks of advertising. Even so, the show's ratings failure remains a public embarrassment.

Football coach Bill Parcells is fond of saying, you are what your record says you are. It doesn't matter to him if his team has suffered crippling injuries or if the referees made bad calls to hurt his prospects or if supporters swore that his squad had tremendous potential. He is unforgiving. You are what your record says you are.

Couric's record says she is in third place. It's time for CBS to go to Plan B.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/how-cbs-can-salvage-katie/story.aspx?guid=%7BAE157230%2DF057%2D46C0%2DB8C3%2DB4A0C0D6A AA5%7D&dist=morenews

Last week’s complete network average prime-time results (with demographic and season-to-date averages) are now at the bottom of RATINGS NEWS the first post in this thread.

(Regular readers know my computer literacy is pretty low. So can someone explain to me what a Googlebot is and why it seems to be s-l-o-w-i-n-g the forum dreamatically?)

I googled Googlebot and here's what Wikipedia had to say:
A Googlebot is a search bot used by Google. It collects documents from the web to build a searchable index for the Google search engine.

If a webmaster wishes to restrict the information on their site available to a Googlebot, or other well-behaved spider, they can do so by with the appropriate directives in a robots.txt file.

Googlebot has two versions, deepbot and freshbot. Deepbot, the deep crawler, tries to follow every link on the web and download as many pages as it can to the Google indexers. Currently (01 2007), it completes this process about once a month. Freshbot crawls the web looking for fresh content. It visits websites that change frequently, according to how frequently they change. Ideally, freshbot would visit a daily newspaper's website every day and a weekly ezine would get crawled once every 7 days. This collection of information is also known as "The Google Dance".

Googlebot discovers pages by harvesting all of the links on every page it finds. It then follows these links to other web pages. New web pages must be linked to from another known page on the web in order to be crawled and indexed.

A problem which webmasters have often noted with the Googlebot is that it takes up an enormous amount of bandwidth. This can cause websites to exceed their bandwidth limit and be taken down temporarily. This is especially troublesome for mirror sites which host many gigabytes of data.

Or, CBS could just work at building the program slowly. There is no magic bullet.

And CBS has already made more in advertising than it cost for Katie.

This win-this-week-or-else mentality is what has been killing the networks for the past two+ decades. I am no Couric fan, but IMO CBS should stay the course. (By the way, I would doubt Katie's contract would allow the suits to put her on the morning show, even if they wanted to.)

And as the network news audience gets more and more strangled by cable and internet competition, a woman anchor could prove to be a boon in the long run.

Thanks, Dave.

I am no Couric fan, but IMO CBS should stay the course.

Yeah, because that stay the course mantra worked so well for the fella most associated with it. :rolleyes:

HDTV Technology
Samsung to Unveil Large L.C.D. TVs
By Eric A. Taub, The New York Times - January 4, 2007

Samsung, the world’s largest seller of televisions, will introduce at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show a new line of rear-projection L.C.D. televisions that will not be much thicker than flat-panel TVs but will cost about 30 percent less.

The new sets, aimed at those who want a bigger set but cannot afford a plasma TV, will come in 50- to 60-inch sizes. At 10 inches deep, they can be hung on a wall.

While consumers are embracing L.C.D. flat-panel TVs in ever-larger sizes, Samsung has also recommitted itself to plasma TV and will double its current plasma production capacity later this year, said G. S. Choi, the company’s president for digital media, in an interview from South Korea.

Plasma will continue to dominate in larger sizes, and the company will add an 80-inch model to its lineup this year, Mr. Choi said. To help consumers fit these larger sizes in their homes, Samsung said it was redesigning the TV frames to make them up to 30 percent thinner.

At the electronics show, held annually in Las Vegas, Samsung will also introduce a wireless plasma TV that will be able to receive HDTV programming sent from an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player or set-top box. Because there will be no cables to hide, consumers may be more likely to hang such a plasma display on a wall.

The company, which was the first to introduce a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player last year, will announce its second-generation player next week. The new model is expected to cost about 20 percent less than the current version, but will have more interactive functions.

Although LG will introduce a dual format HD-DVD/Blu-ray player, Samsung has no plans to do the same. “If the market is still divided, we could do a dual-format player, but we will wait and see,” Mr. Choi said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/technology/04chip.html?ref=technology

HDTV Technology
LG Electronics develops world's first dual-mode DVD player
Yonhap News - January 4, 2007

SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Yonhap) -- LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's electronics giant, said Thursday that it has developed the world's first DVD player that supports two competing disc formats -- Blu-ray and HD DVD.

The dual-mode player will be launched next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company said in a statement.

Global companies remain divided over which disc format they should choose for next-generation DVD players.

Created by Japan's Sony, the Blu-ray format is supported by Samsung Electronics, Hitachi, JVC and Toshiba, while the HD DVD, invented by Toshiba, is backed by Microsoft, Intel and NEC.

Discs based on the two formats can store much more data than ordinary DVDs, allowing for seamless and vivid video images.

LG Electronics said that its dual-mode players will ease confusion among consumers planning to buy new DVD players.

The new model will hit the U.S. market during the first quarter of the year, the company said, adding the exact timeframe and prices will be announced at the exhibition.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20070104/660000000020070104110044E0.html
____________________________________________________________ _____

Associated Press has picked the story as well: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070104/D8ME8BG00.html

SON OF A BITCH!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

HDTV Technology
New Disc May Sway DVD Wars
By Richard Siklos, The New York Times - January 4, 2007

Consumers wary of buying new high-definition DVD players because of a technology war reminiscent of the days of Betamax versus VHS will soon have a new kind of DVD that might make the decision less daunting.

Warner Brothers, which helped popularize the DVD more than a decade ago, plans to announce next week a single videodisc that can play films and television programs in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, the rival DVD technologies.

Warner Brothers, a division of Time Warner, plans to formally announce the new disc, which it is calling a Total HD disc, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Two rival camps introduced high-definition DVD players last year: a consortium called Blu-ray, backed by Sony and others, and a group called HD-DVD, backed by Toshiba and Microsoft. Retail and media executives say this clash of corporate titans and their incompatible machines has left some consumers bewildered and has slowed the introduction of what is intended to be the next great thing in home entertainment.

Executives at Time Warner and its Hollywood subsidiary hope to spur sales of new DVD players and movies by gaining the support of retailers and cajoling rival studios into making their film and television libraries available in both formats on a single disc.

In addition to reviving the ghost of the war that marked the introduction of videocassettes in the 1980s, the high-definition battle has been exacerbated by the decision of several major studios to support only one of the technologies.

Thus, for instance, a copy of 20th Century Fox’s “Ice Age: The Meltdown” is available only on Blu-ray, while Universal’s “The Break-Up” can be viewed only on a disc and player built with HD-DVD technology.

Barry M. Meyer, the chairman and chief executive of Warner Brothers, said in an interview that the company came up with the Total HD disc after concluding that neither Blu-ray nor HD-DVD was going the way of Betamax anytime soon.

“The next best thing is to recognize that there will be two formats and to make that not a negative for the consumer,” Mr. Meyer said. “We felt that the most significant constituency for us to satisfy was the consumer first, and the retailer second. The retailer wants to sell hardware and doesn’t want to be forced into stocking two formats for everything. This is ideal for them.”

In a world besotted with gadgetry, few consumer products have generated as much excitement — and head-scratching — as high-definition television. Flat-screen, high-definition TVs have been flying off the shelves for the last year and are now as common in homes as coffee pots. Yet few people are actually watching superclear high-definition programming.

Part of the disconnect is the lack of high-definition programming on cable and satellite television, and the additional outlay for decoder boxes and premium channels needed to get it. The rival movie player technologies have further blurred the outlook for high definition. Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Capital, predicted in a recent report that this would be the first year since the introduction of the DVD that consumer spending on the discs would decline, putting pressure on the studios that rely heavily on them for profits.

For now, Sony; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which is owned by private equity firms in partnership with the Comcast Corporation and Sony; 20th Century Fox, a division of the News Corporation; and Walt Disney Pictures are all exclusively releasing their DVDs in Blu-ray.

Universal Studios, which is owned by General Electric, is releasing only in HD-DVD. Warner and Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom, are issuing DVDs in both formats.

Behind these allegiances are complex strategic questions revolving around everything from manufacturing costs to profit margins, debates over each format’s technical strengths and weaknesses, and how these players relate to Microsoft and Sony’s video-game strategies.

(Blu-ray players are built into the new Sony PlayStation 3, while Microsoft is selling HD-DVD drives that attach to its Xbox 360.)

Another wrinkle is plans by LG Electronics, and possibly other gadget makers attending the Las Vegas conference, to announce new DVD players with drives for both formats; however, such players will most likely be initially more expensive than other players.

Jeffrey L. Bewkes, the president of Time Warner, said the Total HD disc has a better chance of catching on than dual players. Research commissioned by Warner indicates that consumers are willing to pay several dollars more than current high-definition DVDs for a disc that works on both players. At the Web site for Best Buy, Warner’s “Superman Returns” DVD was selling yesterday for $19.99 in its standard format, $29.99 for Blu-ray and $34.99 for HD-DVD.

Still, it is not clear whether news of Warner’s Total HD disc would convince the studio heads who are backing one format or the other to release their wares in both. Sony, of course, has placed a big bet on Blu-ray’s success and does not want to relive the sting of Betamax’s defeat. The number of studios committed solely to Blu-ray has been seen as a competitive edge, particularly because HD-DVD came to market several months ahead of Blu-ray.

And HD-DVD’s boosters say they doubt gaming fans who have been snapping up the just-introduced PlayStation 3 will take advantage of its built-in Blu-ray player and buy movies as well as video games.

In recent interviews, executives at Fox and Disney were unequivocal in their support for Blu-ray. They said they believed that releasing DVDs in both formats would only prolong confusion and the emergence of a winning format. “I think the fastest way to end the format war is through decisiveness and strength,” said Bob Chapek, the president of Buena Vista Worldwide Entertainment, the home video arm of Walt Disney.

Like other Blu-ray proponents and partners, Mr. Chapek said that he favors Blu-ray because of its greater storage capacity and other attributes. HD-DVD offers the same vivid picture by storing less information on its disc, which means fewer minutes of video and other features. However, among its perceived advantages, HD-DVD players are less expensive and also play standard DVDs, while Blu-ray players do not.

Because of manufacturing complexities, the Total HD disc will not contain a standard format version, said Kevin Tsujihara, the president of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group. However, several months ago the company filed patents for a new disc incorporating all three formats, which it could produce in the future.

Mr. Tsujihara described the new disc as an elegant way for studios to make their content available more widely “in a way that is not conceding defeat” for the format they have been backing.

In the short term, Total HD would actually add to the number of formats retailers will have to stock, raising it from three to four. However, Irynne V. MacKay, senior vice president for entertainment products at Circuit City, said she supported the idea because it took pressure off consumers puzzling over which format to invest in. “The simpler the future is for us, the better,” said Ms. MacKay.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/technology/04video.html?ref=technology

This win-this-week-or-else mentality is what has been killing the networks for the past two+ decades. I am no Couric fan, but IMO CBS should stay the course.

I agree. Ultimately, I think viewers are attracted to a particular news program solely on the familiarity factor. The more recognizable and long-standing the face on the show is, the more likely they are to attract and hold viewers.

I think that's why NBC groomed Brian Williams for the job, why Bob Schieffer was able to transition so seemlessly into the job before Katie, and why Charlie Gibson is doing so much better than Vargas and Woodward.

That's why, in the end, you'll need a long-term solution to reap success, and pulling Katie can only undermine that goal.

On the other hand, I think there are several elements of Katie's broadcast that are dragging down her ratings. Part of her problem is a personal one: that condescending motherly voice (for lack of a better descriptor) she uses to interview people and sometimes even speak to the viewer. It's not like she's talking to them so much as at them, and it comes off annoying and aloof.

Also, the stupid little bits she has filled the hour with are annoying too. People are tuning in for the news, not for Katie's half hour of trinkets and sketches. That last segment, Free Speech or whatever it is, for instance, is pointless. We get plenty of that opinionated garbage on cable, but Katie acts like she's bringing some lost voice back to television. We have to swallow (more than) enough talking heads, but thanks for piling another one on top, Katie.

On an unrelated note, the new set looks nice. They should go HD.

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
Clark rocks, 'Deal' rolls
By Gary Levin USA Today

• Rockin'. The prime-time portion of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC Sunday averaged 8.3 million viewers, its best showing since 2001.

• Deal made. NBC game show Deal or No Deal rolled on, averaging 16.4 million viewers for a two-hour edition Christmas night to rank first for the week. A special 1 vs. 100 that followed drew 11.8 million, its best number since Oct. 20.

• News notes. With the Katie hubbub receding, the three evening-news telecasts retained their traditional pecking order for the three months ending Dec. 31: NBC remained first with an average 9.1 million viewers but was down 7% from the same period in 2005; ABC ranked second with 8.5 million, down 2%; and CBS was third with 7.5 million but managed a 1% increase. ABC and NBC tied for first among viewers ages 25 to 54.

• Cable news. In 2006, Fox News Channel averaged 825,000 viewers all day long, down 14%. That trimmed its still-substantial ratings lead over CNN (477,000, down 7%). MSNBC (263,000) posted an 8% gain, but CNN Headline News (218,000) was down 7%. Financial news network CNBC gained 22%, to 169,000 viewers.

• NFL capper. NBC's Sunday Night Football wrapped up the regular NFL season with a subpar 13.4 million viewers. The 16-game prime-time season averaged 17.5 million viewers, best for the package since 2000 and up 7% vs. ABC's Monday night games last season. ESPN's Monday Night Football Christmas Day finale averaged 11.1 million, No. 1 for the week on cable.

• Honors. CBS' Kennedy Center Honors —minus an excised Jessica Simpson rendition of 9 to 5 — averaged 10 million viewers Tuesday, down slightly from last year, and ranked second for the night behind an NCIS rerun. Both were among seven of the top 10 programs claimed by CBS, which won its 15th straight week. Fox tied NBC for its first weekly win this season among viewers ages 18 to 49.

• 25 Days. ABC Family's ninth annual 25 Days of Christmas stunt averaged a record 2.6 million viewers. The channel boasted three of the month's top five cable movies.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-01-03-nielsens-analysis_x.htm

So Megan gets to go back to auditioning for sitcoms/movies while Maury and Jerry Springer continue to parade their waste of living organisms for the world to gawk one more year. Where's the justice? Where's the outrage? Where's my baby's daddy? :rolleyes:

Some people can talk, some people can act. Megan should stick to the acting. Maury and Springer are considerate enough to not try to be actors in movies. Well, not every week at least!

I predict that, by next Monday afternoon and based solely on the previous night's overnight Nielsens, The Donald will determine whether to continue his "feud" with Rosie O'Donnell or just let it go. Because let's face it, if this show doesn't get a ton of sample viewers tuning it out of curiosity for the premiere then what's the point to continue taunting Rosie and alienating more potential viewers? :o

TV Review
Trump fires up new L.A. 'Apprentice'
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 4, 2007

"The Apprentice" - Sunday Night at 9:30 on NBC
Rating - Three Stars (Out of Four)

Donald Trump heads west for the sixth cycle of NBC's "The Apprentice," taking his show on the road and relocating it in Los Angeles with a new setting, new boardroom assistants and enough changes to shake up the show's now-familiar structure.

The personnel changes are obvious as soon as the show's expanded 90-minute opener gets underway Sunday night at 9:30. Carolyn Kepcher is indeed gone (dismissed by Trump between seasons), and affable George Ross is a start-of-season no-show. Instead, we have Trump's impressive, no-nonsense daughter Ivanka keeping an eye on the two teams as they go about their tasks.

Helping Ivanka and dad evaluate the losing team in the boardroom this season (one major change this year) is the project manager from the winning team. He or she not only sits in the catbird seat next to Trump, but holds that seat, and title of project manager, until losing.

An "Apprentice" equivalent of "Jeopardy!" winner Ken Jennings could run the table, and never leave it.

Another big change is that while the winning team (first task: holding a car wash) can kick back and relax in a glamorous L.A. mansion, the losers have to sleep on the mansion grounds, with communal tent, portable toilets and outdoor showers. Needless to say, they are not happy campers.

The latest batch of 16 contestants, for the most part, is less noteworthy for displaying managerial skills than for having little command of basic grammar.

One contestant speaks of being concerned "If I got blew away by a landslide," and he's one of the more coherent ones.

When playing this game, there's a difference between being in tents and being intense, and what's so entertaining about "The Apprentice," as always, is how quickly contestants stumble over one another to expose their worst traits.

Pitching bad ideas, wasting time on fools' errands, being abrasively obnoxious and combative, falling in love with the sound of their own voice - watching "The Apprentice" is a crash course in what not to do on a job interview, or in a competitive job situation.

Donald Trump this season seems to be speaking even more deliberately than usual, sprinkling each sentence with long pauses, like the tycoon equivalent of William Shatner from "Star Trek." But he also seems to be suffering fools less gladly, and this batch has more than its share of fools rushing in.

For viewers of "The Apprentice," that's an encouraging sign.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/485359p-408645c.html

TV Review
'Afro Samurai'
By Diane Werts, Newsday - January 4, 2007

Premieres Thursday Night at 11PM on Spike

Just call our hero Afro Sam. It works for the series title, which is actually "Afro Samurai," and it works for the star, who's Samuel L. Jackson. Sounds kinda glam, too, and this is a hip-hop manga. Style counts.

It's dripping from tonight's new Spike TV anime half hour, where blood provides practically the only splash of color in a world of muted tones, all dusty desert landscapes and cold gray interiors. A "Shaft"-styled guitar wah-wah accompanies our first killing, the one that sets it all off, when our Kid With No Name sees his warrior father vividly beheaded during a flashback duel in an epic sort of Monument Valley watched over by Buddha. Or is that Confucius?

Here's John Ford's old West, there's some flavor of feudal Japan, and in between we've got grenade launchers, cell phones and hand-rolled cigarettes. "Afro Samurai" is all over the map. The beat comes from The RZA, late of Wu-Tang Clan, while the philosophy is Asian pseudo-spiritual with sacred headbands and cheek-licking babe slaves. Asking any of this to make sense might only spoil the mood.

Of which, there's plenty. Jackson not only voices the title's wandering vengeance-seeker - if you can count a total of maybe 10 well-spaced words as voice work - but he produces the series in league with a Japanese team led by Takashi Okazaki, who in 1998 created the concept in print. The ostensible plot is that Afro is after the guy who killed his father, in the process taking the headband of No. 1 from the son who feels it's rightfully his to inherit, or something like that. Tonight's premiere is short on specifics, really, and long on lingering atmosphere, whether it's Afro's flowing locks, smoldering cigs and bullet-slicing sword, or those eerily alien landscapes on which snatches of imagery flash past us.

That's what makes it manga (from the Japanese term for comic books), the visceral kick of attitude over information. "Afro Samurai" is a cool stew combining the Japanese origin of the animation and the current American street culture that has so embraced the art. A bit more depth of character wouldn't hurt, though, since the premiere feels somewhat short on emotional resonance and long on those red splatters from severed heads, split skulls and other gash-splashed body parts. The best anime teases the mind as well as the senses. Here's hoping this "Afro" is more than skin deep.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ettel5037707jan04,0,2056989.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV Notebook
Watching 'The Wire' on BET
Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune "The Watcher" Blog - January 4, 2007

If you’ve read any TV coverage at all in the last few years, you’ve no doubt come across a lot of critical blathering about how terrific “The Wire” is.

It is terrific, one of the finest TV series ever made. But, given the sheer number of “best show ever” stories you’ve probably come across, it’s entirely possible that you have, at one time or another, grumbled to yourself, “I haven’t seen the show. I wish these critics would shut up already and stop making me feel guilty about not having seen it. Grrrrr.”

Well, now’s your chance to see the show from the beginning, even if you don’t have HBO. BET is going to start airing “The Wire” on Jan. 10.

Here’s how the first few days of the BET’s “Wire” schedule looks:

-Episode 1 of Season 1 will air at 8 p.m. Central time on Jan. 10.
-Episode 2 of Season 1 will air at 8 p.m. Central time on Jan. 11.
-Episode 3 of Season 1 will air at 8 p.m. Central time on Jan. 12.

From then on, episodes of the show will air, in order, 8 p.m. Central on Thursdays on BET. Repeats of each episode will air 8 p.m. Central on Saturdays.

On HBO, “Wire” episodes are around 60 minutes long, but on BET they’ll be 90 minutes long, due to commercials. A BET executive told Variety that the network has had to make some trims in order to meet the network’s broadcast standards, but the executive said BET has tried to edit “The Wire” judiciously.

I highly recommend that you watch this ferociously intelligent, gripping drama about Baltimore’s good police, bad police and drug dealers (and, of course, the unforgettable thief Omar). But then you already knew that I’d implore you to watch “The Wire.” Sorry, it’s just part of the job.

• • • • • • • • • • •

No more sun and fun in 'The O.C.'
January 3, 2007

Say goodbye to the beach, the Bait Shop and Seth Cohen’s witticisms: “The O.C.” is history.

Ratings for the Fox show have tumbled in recent seasons, especially after the teen soap moved to Thursdays, where it faced tough competition from the likes of “CSI” and, this season, “Grey’s Anatomy.” Most media observers expected the once white-hot show to end its run this year, but that ending is approaching very quickly: The show’s fourth season finale, which will serve as the series’ swan song, will air Feb. 22.

The final batch of Season 4 episodes starts airing Thursday.

“For a certain audience, at a certain time, ‘The O.C.’ has meant something. For that we are grateful,” creator Josh Schwartz said in a statement.

In that spirit of gratitude, let us not spend this moment nitpicking about “The O.C’s” plots, which were often repetitive and meandering when they weren’t annoying and predictable (hello, Oliver). Let’s use this moment to remember that, in its heyday, “The O.C.” was a delightful bit of escapism.

It mocked the conventions of soap operas even as it aped them with the usual array of love triangles, paternity tests, lesbian kisses, unrequited loves and so forth. Then there was the epic Ryan-Marissa merry-go-round (by the third season, it got to the point where I could never remember whether they were apart or together, not that it seemed to matter much overall).

Still, so what? Creator Josh Schwartz and his writers knew that playing Boys II Men’s “The End of the Road” during one of Seth and Summer's relationship crises was the perfect thing to do. The writers made Seth and Summers’ toy horses, Captain Oats and Princess Sparkle, recurring characters. They gave us the wonderful Sandy Cohen and his ultra-WASP wife, Kirsten Cohen (and holla to Alan Dale, who was perfect as the sketchy billionaire Caleb Nichol in the first couple of seasons). The show helped make indie bands such as Death Cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse household names. It made reading comic books -- sorry, graphic novels -- and watching anime and digging taciturn, musclebound guys from Chino cool.

I’ll miss Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan as Sandy and Kirsten (and I’ll try to forget Kirsten’s ill-conceived trip to rehab). I’ll miss Melinda Clarke, who was never less than delicious as Julie Cooper, no matter what kind of kooky plot the writers threw at her (don’t start me on Kaitlin. Just don’t). I won’t miss Marissa, because, well, they already killed her off and, unlike some of the show’s hardcore fans, I still say that’s one of the best things they ever did.

Still, it was obvious that the show needed a fork stuck in it. It was done (and clearly Fox was thinking that, since the network only ordered 16 episodes for the season).

The cast was never less than competent, but they’ve been going through the motions for some time now. Even so, the most recent Chrismukkah episode showed a little of “The O.C.’s” patented magic – Ryan brooded darkly, Seth quipped awesomely, Summer was, well, silly and adorable as only Summer can be. And there’s no way I’m going to harsh on a show that gave Chris Pratt a role as a hemp-wearing environmentalist – or any role, of any kind, really.

So, see you later, “O.C.” Thanks for all the fantastic tunes –and by the way, the latest “O.C.” CD compilation, “Mix 6: Covering Our Tracks,” is great (I can’t get Lady Sovereign’s version of “Pretty Vacant” out of my mind).

Thanks for the witty dialogue, for Seth Cohen’s ability to make nerdiness seem cool, for the tortured love affair between Ryan and Marissa, which did suck me in for the first couple of seasons.

Thanks for the quoteworthy dialogue, for the fisticuffs at parties and for the weekly opportunity to mock Marissa’s clothes.

At a time like this, it’s easy to forgive “The O.C.’s” sins. Because after Feb. 22, we won’t have it to kick around anymore.

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

Cable TV Notebook
2006 Cable Ratings Roundup:
USA Tops, Followed by TNT, ESPN
By Anthony Crupi MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 3, 2007

USA Network wrapped up 2006 as the most-watched ad-supported cable channel, averaging 2.63 million total viewers in prime time over the course of the year, an increase of 13 percent versus 2005.

According to Nielsen Media Research data, USA also beat all comers in the core demos, averaging 1.18 million adults 18-49 (an 11 percent increase over 2005) and 1.19 million adults 25-54 (a 9 percent year-to-year hike), breaking TNT’s four-year winning streak among the two categories. USA also notched the best number with adults 18-34 (537,000, up 15 percent versus last year).

In the total cable universe, non-ad-supported Disney closed out the year at number two, averaging 2.54 million viewers in prime, a 20 percent jump from its 2005 performance. Disney claimed 12 of the year’s top 100 programs of 2006, reaching its apogee on Aug. 25 with its original movie The Cheetah Girls 2, which debuted to 8.12 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Among ad-supported nets, TNT finished on the heels of rival USA, averaging 2.38 million viewers in prime, a dip of 7 percent from the number it posted in 2005. The Turner net also took second among adults 18-49 (1.07 million, down 8 percent) and adults 25-54 (1.14 million, down 8 percent) and closed the year with 26 of the top 100 programs on basic cable.

TNT reached its biggest audience with the season two premiere of The Closer, which delivered just under 8.5 million viewers on June 12, breaking the record for a single episode of an original cable series.

Third place on the year was wrapped up by ESPN, which parlayed the first year of its Monday Night Football contract into huge ratings, averaging 2.19 million viewers, an increase of 19 percent year-over-year. The sports net laid claim to 17 of the top 20 programs on cable with MNF, averaging 12.3 million viewers throughout the season and breaking the all-time cable record with its Oct. 23 presentation of the NFC East showdown between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys, which drew 16.03 million viewers.

ESPN also took third among adults 18-49 (1.01 million, up 17 percent) and 25-54 (1.03 million, up 18 percent), while finishing second among adults 18-34 (482,000, up 18 percent).

Rounding out the top ten cable nets of 2006 were: TBS (1.64 million, down 3 percent year-over-year); Lifetime (1.54 million, off 12 percent); Cartoon Network (1.49 million, down 10 percent); Nick-at-Nite (1.49 million, down 21 percent); Fox News Channel (1.41 million, off 20 percent); FX (1.26 million, up 8 percent) and Spike TV (1.24 million, off 19 percent).

Although the top 10 nets generally saw their ratings drop in 2006, a number of networks enjoyed double-digit increases. Among the top 30 nets, Hallmark Channel chalked up its second consecutive year of ratings growth, upping its average prime time audience to 1.17 million, a boost of 26 percent over 2005. (The previous year, Hallmark had grown 27 percent.) Discovery Channel continued its comeback, growing 14 percent to 1.13 million viewers, while sister net TLC was up 12 percent (816,000). The previous year, the flagship had fallen 14 percent, while TLC was off 23 percent versus 2004.

Elsewhere, HGTV grew 18 percent (1.02 million); BET was up 11 percent (692,000); VH1 beefed up by 14 percent (679,000) and Bravo soared 21 percent (546,000). A&E, which was down 6 percent in prime in 2005, flipped the script, averaging 1.13 million viewers in 2006, a gain of 7 percent.

On the other side of the ledger, MTV continued to struggle in prime (down 10 percent to 966,000), as did CNN (-12 percent to 753,000).

Cable news outlets saw prime time audiences dwindle in 2006, with the leader in the space, Fox News Channel, dropping 26 percent in the core 25-54 demo, delivering an average 341,000 viewers in the category versus 462,000 the previous year. CNN fell 17 percent in the demo (224,000 versus 271,000), while CNN Headline News was down 5 percent in total viewers (334,000) and 4 percent in the demo (123,000).

CNBC was the only cable net that saw significant growth in 2006, upping its prime time audience by 32 percent to 170,000 and boosting its core demo by 16 percent to 78,000. MSNBC grew slightly, upping its total prime time audience by 5 percent (382,000) and its 25-54 number by 7 percent (157,000).

FNC in 2006 continued to dominate cable news on a program-by-program basis, boasting nine of the year’s top 10 shows and 14 of the top 20. Bill O’Reilly retained his seat as host of the most-watched cable news program, averaging 2.09 million viewers and 437,000 adults 25-54 with The O’Reilly Factor. CNN’s most-watched program remains Larry King Live, which took seventh place on the year with an average 1.03 million viewers and 263,000 adults 25-54 tuning in.

CNBC’s most-watched program of 2006 was the non-newser Deal or No Deal (543,000), while MSNBC’s top dog was Countdown with Keith Olbermann (427,000), which finished out the year in a dead heat with Headline News’ top show, Nancy Grace (427,000).

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003527494

After reading all those positive reviews of "Knights of Prosperity", I gave it a shot last night. Guess I must have lost my sense of humor along with ABC this past year, bcz I didn't personally find it that good or funny. Interesting premise and it did improve marginally closer to the end. But, overall, I would not have this one set on my DVR just yet. And while I agree that there was the occasional (very occasional) chuckle, I didn't see the "laugh out loud" moments the various critics praised or the overtly lovable "win your heart" sweetness of the group. Must be me.

Me too, Ray.

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

TV Notebook:
SAG Award Nominations Announced
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 1/4/2007

The Screen Actors Guild announced the nominees for its film and primetime TV awards.

Like the producers guild award nominees announced Wednesday, cable dominated the long-form category, and like the Golden Globes announced last month, NBC dominated the best actor in a comedy category.

Nominations were given out in eight primetime categories. In the best actor category, NBC had three of the five nods (it took for of five in the Globes), with male leads in The Office (Steve Carell), Earl (Jason Lee), 30 Rock (Alec Baldwin) all getting nominations, with only Zach Braff of Scrubs missing. Rounding out the SAG nods were tony Shalhoub of Monk (also a Golden Globe nominee), and Jeremy Piven from Entourage, who won the Emmy last year for his turn as Ari Gold, and also was a presenter at the SAG awards.

HBO got the most long-form nominations with four in the best actress and actors categories, divided among Mrs. Harris (Cloris Leachman and Annette Bening) and Elizabeth I (Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons). AMC was next with three, all for Broken Trail (Greta Scacchi, Robert Duvall, and Thomas Haden Church). TNT took two for William H. Macy and Matthew Perry in Nightmares and Dreamscapes and The Ron Clark Story, respectively. Hallmark's was for Shirley Jones in Hidden Places.

Cable boosted the top-nominated shows, with Broken Trail and The Sopranos each getting three apiece. A bunch of shows got two apiece, including Ugly Betty, Boston Legal, 24, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, My Name Is Earl, The Office and Weeds.

Steve Carell got the most nominations, combining two for TV, as bets actor and member of best ensemble cast, and for theatrical Little Miss Sunshine. America Ferrera of Ugly Betty also got two nods for best actress in a comedy and best ensemble cast.

HBO had the most nominations with 10, followed by ABC and NBC with eight apiece. Fox got three and CBS only one, for Julia Louis-Dreyfus in The New Adventures of Old Christine.

The awards will be handed out Jan. 28 in L.A., simulcast on TNT and TBS.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6404180

TV Notebook
Screen Actors Guild TV Award Nominations

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Thomas Haden Church / BROKEN TRAIL – Tom Harte - AMC
Robert Duvall / BROKEN TRAIL – Print Ritter - AMC
Jeremy Irons / ELIZABETH I – Earl of Leicester - HBO
William H. Macy / NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES – Clyde Umney - TNT
Matthew Perry / THE RON CLARK STORY – Ron Clark - TNT

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Annette Bening / MRS. HARRIS – Jean Harris - HBO
Shirley Jones / HIDDEN PLACES – Aunt Batty - Hallmark Channel
Cloris Leachman / MRS. HARRIS – Tarnower’s Sister - HBO
Helen Mirren / ELIZABETH I – Elizabeth I - HBO
Greta Scacchi / BROKEN TRAIL – Nola Johns - AMC

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
James Gandolfini / THE SOPRANOS – Tony Soprano - HBO
Michael C. Hall / DEXTER – Dexter Morgan - Showtime
Hugh Laurie / HOUSE – Dr. Gregory House - FOX
James Spader / BOSTON LEGAL – Alan Shore - ABC
Kiefer Sutherland / 24 – Jack Bauer - FOX

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Patricia Arquette / MEDIUM – Allison Dubois - NBC
Edie Falco / THE SOPRANOS – Carmela Soprano - HBO
Mariska Hargitay / LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT – Det. Olivia Benson - NBC
Kyra Sedgwick / THE CLOSER – Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson - TNT
Chandra Wilson / GREY’S ANATOMY – Dr. Miranda Bailey - ABC

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin / 30 ROCK – Jack Donaghy - NBC
Steve Carell / THE OFFICE – Michael Scott - NBC
Jason Lee / MY NAME IS EARL – Earl Hicke - NBC
Jeremy Piven / ENTOURAGE – Ari Gold - HBO
Tony Shalhoub / MONK – Adrian Monk - USA

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
America Ferrera / UGLY BETTY – Betty Suarez - ABC
Felicity Huffman / DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES – Lynette - ABC
Julia Louis-Dreyfus / THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE – Christine Campbell - CBS
Megan Mullally / WILL & GRACE – Karen Walker - NBC
Mary-Louise Parker / WEEDS – Nancy Botwin - Showtime
Jaime Pressly / MY NAME IS EARL – Joy - NBC

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

24 - FOX
Jayne Atkinson - Karen Hayes
Jude Ciccolella - Mike Novic
Roger Cross - Curtis Manning
Gregory Itzin - Charles Logan
Louis Lombardi - Edgar Stiles
James Morrison - Bill Buchanan
Glenn Morshower - Aaron Pierce
Mary Lynn Rajskub - Chloe O’Brian
Kim Raver - Audrey Raines
Jean Smart - Martha Logan
Kiefer Sutherland - Jack Bauer

BOSTON LEGAL - ABC
Rene Auberjonois - Paul Lewiston
Candice Bergen - Shirley Schmidt
Craig Bierko - Jeffrey Coho
Julie Bowen - Denise Bauer
William Shatner - Denny Crane
James Spader - Alan Shore
Mark Valley - Brad Chase

DEADWOOD - HBO
Jim Beaver - Ellsworth
Powers Boothe - Cy Tolliver
Sean Bridgers - Johnny Burns
W. Earl Brown - Dan Dority
Dayton Callie - Charlie Utter
Brian Cox - Jack Langrishe
Kim Dickens - Joanie Stubbs
Brad Dourif - Doc Cochran
Anna Gunn - Martha Bullock
John Hawkes - Sol Starr
Jeffrey Jones - A.W. Merrick
Paula Malcomson - Trixie
Gerald McRaney - George Hearst
Ian McShane - Al Swearengen
Timothy Olyphant - Seth Bullock
Molly Parker - Alma Garret
Leon Rippy - Tom Nuttall
William Sanderson - E.B. Farnum
Brent Sexton - Harry Young
Bree Seanna - WallSofia Metz
Robin Weigert - Calamity Jane
Titus Welliver - Silas Adam

GREY’S ANATOMY - ABC
Justin Chambers - Alex Karev
Eric Dane - Mark Sloan
Patrick Dempsey - Derek Shepherd
Katherine Heigl - Isobel “Izzie” Stevens
T.R. Knight - George O’Malley
Sandra Oh - Cristina Yang
James Pickens, Jr. - Richard Webber
Ellen Pompeo - Meredith Grey
Sara Ramirez - Callie Torres
Kate Walsh - Addison Montgomery Shepherd
Isaiah Washington - Preston Burke
Chandra Wilson - Miranda Bailey

THE SOPRANOS - HBO
Sharon Angela - Rosalie Aprile
Lorraine Bracco - Dr. Jennifer Melfi
Max Casella - Benny Fazio
Dominic Chianese - Corrado “Junior” Soprano
Edie Falco Carmela - Soprano
James Gandolfini - Tony Soprano
Joseph R. Gannascoli - Vito Spatafore
Dan Grimaldi - Patsy Parisi
Robert Iler - Anthony Soprano, Jr.
Michael Imperioli - Christopher Moltisanti
Steven R. Schirripa - Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri
Jamie Lynn Sigler - Meadow Soprano
Tony Sirico - Paulie “Walnuts” Gaultieri
Aida Turturro - Janice Soprano-Baccalieri
Steven Van Zandt - Silvio Dante
Frank Vincent - Phil Leotardo

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - ABC
Andrea Bowen - Julie Mayer
Mehcad Brooks - Matthew Applewhite
Ricardo Antonio Chavira - Carlos Solis
Marcia Cross - Bree Hodge
James Denton - Mike Delfino
Teri Hatcher - Susan Mayer
Josh Henderson - Austin McCann
Zane Huett - Parker Scavo
Felicity Huffman - Lynette Scavo
Kathryn Joosten - Mrs. McCluskey
Nashawn Kearse - Caleb Applewhite
Brent Kinsman - Preston Scavo
Shane Kinsman - Porter Scavo
Joy Lauren - Danielle Van De Kamp
Eva Longoria - Gabrielle Solis
Kyle MacLachlan - Orson Hodge
Laurie Metcalf - Carolyn Bigsby
Shawn Pyfrom - Andrew Van De Kamp
Doug Savant - Tom Scavo
Dougray Scott - Ian Hainsworth
Nicollette Sheridan - Edie Britt
Brenda Strong - Mary Alice Young
Kiersten Warren - Nora
Alfre Woodard - Betty Applewhite

ENTOURAGE - HBO
Kevin Connolly - Eric Murphy
Kevin Dillon - Drama
Jerry Ferrara - Turtle
Adrian Grenier - Vincent Chase
Rex Lee - Lloyd
Debi Mazar - Shauna
Jeremy Piven- Ari Gold
Perrey Reeves - Mrs. Ari

THE OFFICE - NBC
Leslie David Baker - Stanley Hudson
Brian Baumgartner - Kevin Malone
Steve Carell - Michael Scott
David Denman - Roy Anderson
Jenna Fischer - Pam Beesly
Kate Flannery - Meredith Palmer
Melora Hardin - Jan Levinson
Mindy Kaling - Kelly Kapoor
Angela Kinsey - Angela Martin
John Krasinski - Jim Malpert
Paul Lieberstein - Toby Flenderson
B.J. Novak - Ryan Howard
Oscar Nunez - Oscar Martinez
Phyllis Smith - Phyllis Lapin
Rainn Wilson - Dwight Schrute

UGLY BETTY - ABC
Alan Dale - Bradford Meade
America Ferrera - Betty Suarez
Mark Indelicato - Justin
Ashley Jensen - Christina
Eric Mabius - Daniel Meade
Becki Newton - Amanda
Ana Ortiz - Hilda
Tony Plana - Ignacio
Kevin Sussman - Walter
Michael Urie - Marc
Vanessa Williams - Wilhelmina Slater

WEEDS - SHOWTIME
Martin Donovan - Peter Scottson
Alexander Gould - Shane Botwin
Justin Kirk - Andy Botwin
Romany Malco - Conrad Shepard
Kevin Nealon - Doug Wilson
Mary-Louise Parker - Nancy Botwin
Hunter Parrish - Silas Botwin
Tonye Patano - Heylia Jones
Elizabeth Perkins- Celia Hodes

http://www.sagawards.com/PR_070104.htm

TV Notebook
Stage flight: Whither “CSI's'”Petersen?:
Good question. The actor is out a few episodes.
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 4, 2007

A few years ago, William Petersen caused quite a stir when he suggested in an interview that he was ready to leave the hit show “CSI.” He complained about the expansion of the franchise, with two spinoffs bound to dilute ratings for the original, and said he was sick of playing the same character.

He shut him up quickly after being reminded that he still had time left on his contract and that CBS wasn’t paying him a rumored $300,000 per episode to whine.

But now Petersen is stepping out of the “CSI” world, if only for a few episodes, to return to stage work. And that has many speculating that it could be the beginning of the end for his “CSI” character, Gil Grissom.

On tonight’s episode at 9 p.m., Grissom decides to take a four-week sabbatical due to personal reasons. He’ll be replaced in upcoming episodes by guest star Liev Schrieber, who plays a hotshot crime scene investigator.

Though Petersen is scheduled to return in a few weeks, many wonder if the temporary leave is a precursor to a more permanent one. Rumors on the internet suggest he’ll appear in fewer scenes upon his return and could be off for good by the end of the year, though he is still under contract.

Perhaps a shakeup in the “CSI” office would be a good thing, as ratings for the show have been trending downward for the past year. Certainly a good part of that is because of increased competition from ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” which moved to the same Thursday timeslot this season. But ratings began sliding last spring, well before “Grey’s” moved in.

This season “CSI” has averaged a 6.9 adults 18-49 rating, down 16 percent from last year’s 8.2 average. Tonight, however, with Grissom’s heavily promoted departure and a repeat “Grey’s,” that average should be up.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9303.asp

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.

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A buff return for 'Beauty and the Geek'
Pulls a 2.9 in 18-34s, tying previous series high
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 4, 2007

While “America’s Next Top Model” takes its annual between-seasons hiatus, the CW has found a very capable space filler.

The third season of “Beauty and the Geek,” the Ashton Kutcher-produced reality show matching brainy guys and pretty girls, debuted last night to solid ratings among the adults 18-34 that the network targets and “Model” often dominates.

A special two-hour “Geek” averaged a 2.9 18-34 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, tying a series high set with season two’s premiere. The show also hit series highs in women 18-34 (3.5) and women 18-49 (2.7).

The show took second place in its two-hour timeslot in 18-34s and was first in women 18-34. Among total viewers, its 4.9 million was slightly lower than season two’s 4.95 million premiere.

That gives a big boost to the CW’s midseason, when it’s without its highest-rated show in “Model,” which returns this spring. The network needed a program that wouldn’t completely collapse in the same Wednesday 8 p.m. timeslot. With those numbers, “Geek” could become the network’s No. 2 show behind “Model” in 18-34s.

That will give it a strong platform to advertise midseason programming like the upcoming Pussycat Dolls reality series.

Meanwhile, college football led Fox to a first-place finish for second time in three nights among 18-49s with a 4.9 average rating and a 13 share. CBS was second at 3.2/8, NBC third at 3.0/8, ABC fourth at 2.5/7, CW fifth at 2.2/6 and Univision sixth at 1.7/4.

As a reminder, fast nationals measure timeslot data and not actual program data, and the Sugar Bowl lasted well past 11 p.m. Fox’s true performance won’t be clear until final ratings are released later today.

Fox led each hour of the night, beginning with a 4.1 rating at 8 p.m. for football pregame and the first portion of the game between LSU and Notre Dame. CBS was second with a 2.9 for an hour of “The King of Queens,” ABC third with a 2.6 for the premiere of “According to Jim” and Univision fourth with a 2.4 for “La Fea Mas Bella.” That left NBC fifth with a 2.3 for “Friday Night Lights” in its new timeslot premiere and CW sixth with a 2.0 for its first hour of “Beauty and the Geek.”

At 9 p.m. Fox led again with a 5.1 for football. CBS and NBC tied for second that hour at 3.5, CBS for a repeat of “Criminal Minds” and NBC for “Deal or No Deal.” That left ABC fourth with a 2.9 average for the could-be-better, could-be-worse premieres of “Knights of Prosperity” (3.0) and “In Case of Emergency” (2.7), CW fifth with a 2.5 for another hour of “Geek,” and Univision sixth with a 1.6 for “Mundo de Fieras.”

Fox continued to grow during the 10 p.m. hour with a 5.4 among 18-49s for football. NBC was second with a 3.3 for “Medium,” CBS third with a 3.2 for a repeat of “CSI: NY,” ABC fourth with a 2.1 for “Primetime” and Univision fifth with a 1.2 for “Don Francisco Presenta.”

Among households, Fox led with a 9.0 rating and a 14 share. CBS finished second at 6.9/11, NBC third at 5.9/9, ABC fourth at 4.1/6, CW fifth at 3.0/5 and Univision sixth at 2.1/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9329.asp

After reading all those positive reviews of "Knights of Prosperity", I gave it a shot last night. Guess I must have lost my sense of humor along with ABC this past year, bcz I didn't personally find it that good or funny. Interesting premise and it did improve marginally closer to the end. But, overall, I would not have this one set on my DVR just yet. And while I agree that there was the occasional (very occasional) chuckle, I didn't see the "laugh out loud" moments the various critics praised or the overtly lovable "win your heart" sweetness of the group. Must be me.

well the only laugh out loud moment I had was the naming suggestion of "Jedi Council" but that was it. based on the preview trailer it might improve but the initial concept didn't really suggest longevity last night.

While I was watching it I couldn't help think that it was like a reverse My Name is Earl. Except not as funny. Instead of doing the right thing they are doing the wrong thing and the characters seemed to have been dragged from unused Earl plot lines.

In any case, isn't this up against Criminal Minds and American Idol? A swift death I think is going to follow.

"The Class." [/fONT] CBS announced it will shutter early its new Monday sitcom about pretty white 20-somethings linked by the bond of a common third-grade teacher -- where do they come up with this stuff -- to make room for the return to sitcom TV of skin-crawlingly creepy David Spade, who will play a single skankster chick magnet in "Rules of Engagement." "Rules" debuts Feb. 5, the night after CBS's Super Bowl broadcast, which means lots of Spade ads in the game, during which we can check in on the action at Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl. "The Class" calls it a wrap March 5.

"King of Queens." It took nine years, but CBS finally decided to put this poster child for Male Pattern Optimism -- pudgy idiot man married to hot non-idiot chick -- out of our misery. Thanks, Santa!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701641_pf.html

Fredfa - I noticed The Class is not listed in your list of canceled shows. Does that mean it's just ending its season early with an expectation of returning in the fall?

Cable TV Notebook
USA #1 Cable Network in 2006
USA Network sweeps all demos for first time since 2000
(USA Network News Release)

USA finished 2006 as the #1 network in basic cable prime in all key demos, making the network the undisputed ratings king for the year. Celebrating the network's best performance ever, 2006 marked the first year since 2000 that USA led the charge as #1 across the board. USA finished 2006 with an average of 2.0 million households, 0.5 million in P18-34, 1.2 million in P18-49, 1.2 million in P25-54 and 2.6 million total viewers.

USA's landmark performance was led by stellar outings from established original series MONK, THE 4400, and THE DEAD ZONE, as well as the #1 new series on cable, PSYCH. WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW was the #1 weekly series in cable in its first full year back on USA. The acquired movie PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL was the highest rated entertainment telecast of the year in basic cable prime. LAW & ORDER: SVU and LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT were the top two acquired series for the year.

• USA was home to more top original series than any other network with PSYCH, MONK, THE 4400, and THE DEAD ZONE all ranking among the top ten scripted original series in basic cable prime for 2006 among both P18-49 and P25-54.

• In its premiere season on USA, PSYCH drew in 2.2 million in P18-49 and 2.5 million in P25-54 to rank as the top new original series of the year in both demos. MONK was also a top performer in 2006, with its original episodes averaging 1.9 million in P18-49 and 2.3 million in P25-54 for the year. The success of PSYCH and MONK in both original and repeat episodes helped USA earn the rank of #1 Friday basic cable prime network for all of 2006 among both P18-49 and P25-54.

• THE 4400 earned its spot among the top five original scripted series of the year among P25-54, with an average of 1.9 million in P18-49 and 2.0 million in P25-54.

• With an average of 2.6 million in P18-49 and 2.4 million in P25-54 in 2006, WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW was the year's most watched weekly series in basic cable prime among P18-49, giving USA the title of #1 entertainment network on Monday nights in 2006.

• USA also saw success with its acquired movies in 2006, as the basic cable premiere of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL drew in 3.6 million in P18-49 and 3.9 million in P25-54 to rank as not only the most watched movie of the year among both P18-49 and P25-54, but also the top basic cable prime entertainment telecast of the entire year among P25-54.

• Along with USA's original series and acquired movies ranking strongly in their fields, LAW & ORDER: SVU and LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT ranked as the year's top two acquired series in basic cable prime with an average of 1.0 million P25-54 each.

USA Network continues to grow stronger, earning year-over-year gains in all key demos with a 12% increase in household delivery, a 15% increase in P18-34 delivery, an 11% increase in P18-49 delivery, a 9% increase in P25-54 delivery, and a 13% increase in total viewers. In addition, USA saw more real delivery growth over last year than any other entertainment network, with 71,000 more P18-34, 114,000 more P18-49, and 103,000 additional P25-54 than in 2005. USA is also getting younger, with its 2006 median age of 46.3 years coming in nearly a full year younger than 2005's median age of 47.2 years.

USA NETWORK is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports and entertainment events, off-net television shows, and blockbuster theatrical films. The #1 basic cable network across the board for 2006, USA Network is seen in 90 million U.S. homes. The USA Network Web site is located at www.usanetwork.com. Characters Welcome.

USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience

Cable TV Notebook
Sci Fi Soars in Adults 18-49
Double Digit Increases in Fourth Quarter
(Sci Fi Network News Release)

New York – Fueled by strong performances from original programming, SCI FI Channel had its second strongest fourth quarter ever among adults 18– 49, trailing fourth quarter 2002 when the blockbuster 20-hour epic miniseries 'Steven Spielberg Presents TAKEN' premiered. SCI FI ranked a strong number six in cable primetime for the last quarter of 2006 among adults 25–54. Gains include a 29% surge among adults 18–34, a 33% increase among men 18–34, and a 22% rise among women 18–34 vs last year's fourth quarter. SCI FI also enjoyed a 6% jump in adults 18–49, and a 2% increase among adults 25–54 vs last year.

'Battlestar Galactica,' which premiered its third season on October 6th, 2006, showed growth among younger and female audiences, and outpaced Season 2.5 (January – March 2006) by 8% among adults 18–34. Up 15% among the teen audience of 12–17 year olds, and with a 20% increase among women 18–34, a 17% increase among women 18–49 and 14% increase among women 25–54, 'Battlestar Galactica's' median age is 1.2 years younger than Season 2.5.

2006 highlights for SCI FI Channel include the series premiere of 'Eureka' on July 18, 2006, which was the highest rated and most-watched series telecast to air on SCI FI in the network's history with a 3.3 household rating, 1,802,000 adults 18–49, 2,028,000 adults 25–54 and 4,164,000 total viewers. 'Ghost Hunters' also outdelivered its season 2.5 delivery in households (+15%), total viewers (+13%), adults 18–34 (+6%), teens 12–17(+10%), adults 18–49(+22%) and adults 25–54 (+28%).

SCI FI has maintained a 1.0 household rating for its fourth consecutive year, as well as maintaining over one million total viewers in prime for the fifth consecutive year. SCI FI was the seventh ranked cable entertainment network in primetime among adults 25–54, edging out Discovery Channel.

SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com <http://www.scifi.com>) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 86 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.

THIS JUST IN FROM THE FCC:

The FCC has denied Mediacom's "good faith" complaint against Sinclair Broadcast Group and won't intervene.

In their order (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-07-3A1.pdfhttp://) the FCC Media Bureau ruled against Mediacom on all counts, including the arrangement with DirecTV. Under the arrangement, Sinclair stations -- through on-air crawls and TV and newspaper advertisements -- encouraged Mediacom subscribers to switch to DirecTV, and offering rebates of $100 to $150 for anyone who did. DirecTV, in turn, would allegedly compensate Sinclair for those viewers who switched.

Although it denied Mediacom's request, the Media Bureau did encourage all sides to consider binding arbitration to settle the matter. But the bureau admits it doesn't have the authority to force arbitration.

not sure if this got posted elsewhere, but I think this is just further evidence of the decline of Showtime ...


Showtime Networks Launches Games Service
By GARY GENTILE
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES -- Showtime Networks Inc. is branching out into the video game industry with a joint venture to offer games to high-speed Internet service providers.

The CBS Corp.-owned cable channel behind such shows as "Weeds" and "The L Word" is joining with game publisher Broadband Libraries LLC to form "On Broadband." The new company will offer a private label game service for cable TV companies and DSL broadband providers.

The service, expected to launch in the second quarter of this year, will offer a collection of games that can be downloaded or played online. Some offerings will be free and some available for purchase. A subscription option will also be available.

Game-related content, including reviews, cheats and tricks will also be offered, the companies said.

"While it might not seem like a natural, when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense for Showtime," Matthew Blank, chairman and chief executive of Showtime Networks told The Associated Press Wednesday.

"We are used to dealing with a premium customer. We have the marketing and promotional expertise to be in those businesses."

more:

http://www.newsday.com/technology/wire/sns-ap-showtime-video-games,0,2279350.story

TV Notebook:
Production To Cease on “Geraldo at Large”
By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable 1/4/2007

Twentieth Television will cease production on the syndicated Geraldo at Large in mid-January, with a weekend version of At Large with Geraldo Rivera returning to Fox News Channel (FNC).

The move greatly strengthens the chances that Warner Bros. will gain a clearance this fall for its new celebrity magazine series based on the TMZ.com website that Time Warner owns, since it is geared toward the same early and late fringe slots that Geraldo had appeared in on the Fox stations.

In the meantime, Fox is expected to carry additional runs of off-network sitcoms in the time slots.
The magazine show was averaging a 1.6 rating season-to-date, not enough to justify its hefty production budget, which was estimated to be $500,000-$1 million per week. FNC is expected to absorb a majority Rivera’s staff, which was informed of the decision at a meeting Thursday.

Geraldo At Large had a slow roll out last season on the Fox stations and went into national syndication this fall. FNC will return Rivera’s show to Saturday and Sunday evenings in a yet to be determined time slot.
In an announcement, FNC said the move is part of a new multi-year deal between Rivera and the cable network.

The series marked the first syndicated entry for Roger Ailes, chairman-CEO of Fox News, after adding duties as chairman of the Fox Television Stations. Ailes noted that in addition to hosting his signature program, Rivera will continue to make guest appearances on The O'Reilly Factor and serve as a correspondent at large during major breaking news events.

"Geraldo is a great talent and did a tremendous job for us in syndication,” Ailes said. “His ratings were climbing in several markets, including New York. However, with the soft ad marketplace, the lack of an early news lead-in for his show in several cities and the timeline for financial success, I've asked him to come back to Fox News Channel. We look forward to bringing his special journalistic skills back to FNC."

Added Rivera, "I'm proud to work for Roger and I'm a team player. Fox News Channel is the best outfit in the business and the new deal allows me to cover breaking news and work with one of the most talented group of reporters in the world. Roger and I go back decades and I want to thank him for another great opportunity.”

Rivera joined FNC in 2001 as a war correspondent.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6404349

TV Sports
Fox's NFL Games Up 6% Over Last Season
By John Consoli Media Week Jan. 4, 2007

Fox's national NFL game telecasts this season averaged a 13.8 household rating and 26 share, with an average 21.8 million viewers per telecast, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

Those ratings were up 6 percent over last season and the viewership was up 7 percent.
CBS' national NFL games averaged a 12.4 household rating, while NBC's Sunday night games averaged an 11.0.

The entire slate of Fox regular season NFL games, including the regional telecasts, averaged a 10.6, up 5 percent over last season, and the highest-rating since 1999. Fox's 16.6 million viewers per telecast for all of its NFL games is its highest average since 1995.

Fox's NFL pre-game show, Fox NFL Sunday, averaged a 3.2 rating and 8 share, and Fox's postgame show, The OT, averaged a 7.7/13, up 10 percent over last year's 7.0/12.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003527931

The Business of Television
FCC Rules in Sinclair's Favor in Mediacom Retrans Spat
By Katy Bachman Media Week Jan. 4, 2007

The FCC Thursday ruled in favor of Sinclair Broadcast Group in its ongoing retransmission consent negotiations with Mediacom Communications.

In response to a complaint filed by Mediacom alleging that Sinclair had not negotiated in good faith, the FCC agreed with Sinclair that the failure of Sinclair to grant retransmission consent to Mediacom represents nothing more than “a fundamental disagreement between the parties over the appropriate valuation of Sinclair’s signals.” The FCC said that “Sinclair did not breach its obligation to negotiate retransmission in good faith,” and ended the FCC’s formal involvement in the dispute.

At issue since late last fall are the distribution of 22 Sinclair stations in 16 markets such as Des Moines, Iowa; Mobile-Pensacola, Fla.; Madison, Wis.; Nashville, Tenn.; Norfolk, Va.; and Nashville, Tenn.

Mediacom will be forced to discontinue carrying the stations at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 6.

“In its order, the FCC agreed with virtually every argument advanced by Sinclair, disagreed with virtually every claim made by Mediacom, and this decision represents a resounding victory not just for Sinclair, but for all broadcasters in their efforts to be fairly compensated by cable companies,” said Barry Faber, vp and general counsel for Sinclair.

Following heated exchanges in the press last month, the two parties agreed to extend their former carriage agreement until Jan. 5.

Sinclair has indicated that a new agreement is unlikely before the Jan. 5 deadline. To help consumers seek alternative means for watching its stations, Sinclair recently extended to Feb. 5 its DirecTV rebate offer of $150 or $100 depending on the market.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003528041

I never did see what the big deal was with Knights of Prosperity. I thought it was okay when I seen it, certainly not as good as a few critics were making it out to be.

And I actually enjoyed In Case of Emergency. It wasn't brilliantly funny or anything, but it was amusing. I doubt it'll be around much longer, but I'll continue watching.

Probably just a symptom of all the bad press it got, because I don't think it's as bad as it was made out to be.

Me too, Ray.Ditto here. 2.5 Men remains the only sitcom I watch regularly. I even gave Dirt a try, but that only last 10 minutes, and I rarely give up on anything. :(

The Business of Television
FCC Rules in Sinclair's Favor in Mediacom Retrans Spat
By Katy Bachman Media Week Jan. 4, 2007

The FCC Thursday ruled in favor of Sinclair Broadcast Group in its ongoing retransmission consent negotiations with Mediacom Communications.
........................If you think cable rates are high now, just wait until the dust settles from all this crap! Not only do we get to watch ads on local channels, now we will get to pay more for the priviledge. I wonder just how much DirecTV is paying Sinclair (and others) to stir up such trouble. :)

I'm seeing instances of OTA channel lineup being subjected (influenced by) to local "negotiations" .

If you think cable rates are high now, just wait until the dust settles from all this crap! Not only do we get to watch ads on local channels, now we will get to pay more for the priviledge.

If cable had been doing the right thing from the start, we wouldn't be talking about this. Cable is under a microscope now by the FCC and Congress on their escalating costs over the last 10 years. IMHO, I don't see many people in their camp if they start raising rates over this. Cable had a BAD day today.

I wonder just how much DirecTV is paying Sinclair (and others) to stir up such trouble. :)

Fair market value. Something cable has been opposed to.

The Business of Television
Times Co. Agrees to Sell TV Stations to Equity Firm
By Louise Story, The New York Times - January 5, 2007

The New York Times Company has agreed to sell its nine local television stations to Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity firm, for $575 million.

In September, the Times Company announced that it would sell its Broadcast Media Group as it refocused its strategy on its newspaper and digital businesses. The deal, expected to close in the first half of this year, comes as the Times Company and other newspaper companies struggle to maintain advertising revenue and circulation.

“Our focus now should be on the development of our newspapers and our rapidly growing digital businesses and the increasing synergies between them,” Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive of the Times Company, said yesterday in a statement.

Oak Hill Capital Partners, which was founded in the 1980s by Robert M. Bass and others, does not own other media assets. It is one of several private equity firms that have expressed interest in media properties lately.

Advertising revenue and circulation growth have suffered at the Times Company recently, as they have with many other newspaper companies, as consumers spend more time on the Internet. The company owns The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The International Herald Tribune as well as 15 local newspapers, 35 Web sites and 2 New York City radio stations.

Total ad revenue for the Times Company has been down more than 3 percent every month since July compared with the same month in the previous year, reversing gains in the earlier months of 2006. As of November, ad sales were down 0.8 percent for the first 11 months of the year compared with the period in 2005.

The Times Company reported in early December that its companywide ad sales were down 3.8 percent in November from November 2005.

Times Company stock closed at $23.34 yesterday, down about 14 percent from a year ago.

In late December, Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating for the Times Company’s long-term corporate debt from A– to BBB+.

The Times Company increased the prices that subscribers to The New York Times pay by 4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 and increased the price of its Sunday papers in the Northeast. The price increases are expected to produce about $12 million in additional revenue a year.

The broadcast group has been a profitable part of the Times Company. The nine TV stations generated $139 million in revenue in 2005, about 4 percent of total revenue, and, according to a forecast issued in September, are expected to account for about $150 million in 2006, helped by political ad spending.

The Times Company acquired the nine stations, which have 900 employees, over the last 35 years, beginning with a station in Memphis in 1971. The company most recently acquired a station in Oklahoma City in 2005. Four of the stations are affiliated with CBS, two with NBC, two with ABC and one with My Network TV, which is owned by the News Corporation.

The Times Company is also selling one of its radio stations, WQEW, to ABC, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, for $40 million. That deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/business/media/05times.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

TV Notebook
CBS: Serious Web Users Bond With Prime-Time Shows
By Mike Shields, Media Week - January 4, 2007

While conventional wisdom may say that network television is rapidly losing viewers’ attention to the Internet, the most connected Web users tend to become more attached than most to their favorite prime-time hits, according to new figures released Thursday by CBS’ research department.

According to CBS, a rapidly growing “fully connected” segment of the TV universe--which they define as users that both access the Internet via a broadband connection and have also purchased a digital television--is the group most likely to watch the top broadcast shows. This group, which CBS claims has grown from 22 percent of the population to 30 percent this year, is also more likely to be heavily engaged in their favorite shows, visiting network Web sites and even streaming shows on the Web.

Thus, it seems that the explosion of distribution platforms is helping early adopters connect with shows on a deeper level, rather than abandon TV, says CBS. “This data clearly show a correlation between connectivity and primetime television viewing,” said CBS research head David Poltrack, who authored the new report.

“Consumers who embrace the new media are the heaviest viewers of the top network prime-time programs, and this sector of the audience is growing. By offering them new ways to connect to their favorite shows, whether it’s Web sites, podcasts, ringtones or other mobile features, we’ve been able to deepen the bond these fully connected viewers have with our programming.”

Speaking of streaming TV hits online, CBS says that the networks’ recent flood of such offerings is quickly making its way into the public consciousness. More than half of those surveyed by CBS (56 percent) said they knew that full episodes of network shows were available on the Web, and 46 percent have already streamed at least one show.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003528040

Fair market value. Something cable has been opposed to.That's baloney in my book and I suspect we'll just have to agree to disagree. The channels are free OTA and neither cable nor satellite subs should have to pay for them (or at least not any more than we already pay). These channels are supposed to be ad-supported and traditionally have been just that. Sinclair and others are just the tip of the iceberg though, the networks themselves are next. Just another reason for ala carte so I can vote with my wallet. :)

TV Notebook
Farewell to The O.C., Bitch*
James Poniewozik's Time "Tuned In" Blog - January 4, 2007

The brilliant-for-a-while teen soap The O.C. is officially departing after four seasons in February. I'm sad that the show, better than Beverly Hills 90210 or Dawson's Creek, didn't manage to last as long as either. I'm also glad, as the show proved the rule that no high-school drama should last longer than it takes to get through high school. And I'm a hypocrite for saying either, since I haven't seriously watched the show, except to see Marisa die, die, DIE!, for about a year and a half. I'm told by some of my TV critic brethren--who may make up all the remaining audience--that the new season marked a creative comeback; personally, I couldn't stop laughing at seeing Ryan in that cage-fight match in the season premiere, and gave up for good then.

I'll be back for the finale, though. There's something dutiful, sweet and sad about watching the send-off for a show you haven't watched for years but loved once, like attending the funeral of an old teacher or going to the wedding of your high-school sweetheart. I came back for the Dawson finale, if only to watch Joshua Jackson, James Van Der Beek and the future Mrs. Cruise pretend to be young once more. I did the same for 90210, Frasier and Alias--well, anyway, I think there's still a copy of the Alias finale somewhere on my TiVo menu, and I swear I'm going to watch it someday.

All is not lost for O.C. fans, anyway, as the CW picked up the second of two pilots sold by creator Josh Schwartz this week. (What ever happened to Athens, the college drama for Fox that the network said was forthcoming, like, 20 years ago, I have no idea.)

In the end it was probably best of Fox to mercy-kill the show, and maybe even best that its ratings dropped, so that it didn't stay on the air until Adam Brody had laugh lines to match Peter Gallagher's. And kind of them to wait until after Chrismukkah to announce it.

* It's an allusion, people. Relax.

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

HDTV Q&A
de-fin'-ing High-Def
Even if you're not ready for digital TV, digital is ready for you. In fact, it's inevitable
By Dan Vierria, Sacramento Bee - January 2, 2007

TV once was so simple -- buy one, plug it in, turn it on and watch. That is sooo not true today.

OK, Einstein, do you prefer standard, enhanced or high-definition? LCD, plasma, CRT, front or rear projection TV?

And those words they throw at us -- pixels, digital, analog, resolution, processors, quadrature amplitude modulation and more.

Basically, we just want to watch our sports, "Heroes" or "American Idol," but the HDTV world is closing in, forever changing the channel of the TV world we once knew. Many of us already have joined the digital age of TV. Eventually, it will be all digital.

Analog, the traditional TV signal, is scheduled to go away as of Feb. 17, 2009. That's when digital, already making appearances, takes over completely. Much clearer picture, the experts say.

Lots of TVs were purchased over the holidays, and many more will be bought just in time for the Super Bowl next month, and as a result of early income-tax refunds.

For those reasons -- and to get a clearer picture of the current state of digital and HDTV -- we chatted with a national expert, Carl Laron, senior electronics editor of the New York-based online site ConsumerSearch; and a local expert, Steven Payette, a sales consultant for Paradyme, a Roseville company that provides -- among other things -- home theater products and services.

Here's what they had to say.

Question: What's today's high-def TV price range?

Payette: Three years ago a 60-inch plasma was $20,000. Today, about $4,500. In the 50-inch sets, they range from just under $2,000 to $8,000.

Question: Will the TV we buy today be obsolete in two years, like other high-tech products?

Laron: The standard will be with us for a long time. You've got the personal investment and a tremendous infrastructure investment from broadcasters. They are not going to want to change.

Question: What model is currently the best of the bunch?

Payette: The $8,000 Pioneer Elite is the best TV on the market with the highest digital resolution, the best video processing and twice as many pixels as the other plasmas. Laron: Pioneer Elite is considered to be very good. Panasonic also makes very good plasma displays. Pioneer and Panasonic are the best displays on the market. Vizio, carried by the warehouse stores, the Costcos of the world, is a good value. They're not going to look as good as the Pioneer and Panasonics, but it's a value issue. Sharp is generally pointed to as the top maker of LCDs.

Question: Is there anything on the TV horizon that could be potentially as groundbreaking as HDTV?

Laron: No. Everything so far has been vaporware -- talked about but has never seen the other side of a lab door.

Question: Has screen size pretty much maxed out?

Laron: It depends on the set. LCD or plasma? Sharp has a 65-inch LCD. You're getting close to maximum realistic sizes. If you want something bigger than 65 or 70 inches, go with a front-projection set.

Question: Why would it be a good idea to buy now?

Laron: Prices have never been lower. There's a lot of technology out there, a lot of manufacturers competing. There's some very attractive prices. Another thing is the availability of programming. Most cable companies these days have some level of high-def in their packages.

Question: Why would it be a good idea to wait?

Payette: If you've got a TV that's still working fine, that's OK. Stuff is always getting better and less expensive. The industry sold more high-def TVs in 2005 than standard-definition sets. Once you get exposed to high- def, it's pretty much a no- brainer. Laron: Aside from an economic reason, like waiting for prices to go lower, there's no reason to hold off. Analog will be turned off in 2009; either move to a digital TV set or get an external digital tuner for your old set.

Question: Is there anything significantly different about the latest HDTV units?

Payette: The TVs that came out this year are capable of accepting the highest of all digital resolutions. There are fabulous choices on the market. I get a kick out of some people who come in and are just in looking for the biggest TV they can fit into their budget instead of the best picture. Laron: There's an incredible amount of clarity and resolution. Instead of a green field, you can sometimes pick out the individual blades of grass.

Question: What did you notice most after you switched to high-def?

Payette: In older movies that have been converted, you start seeing the makeup lines. But what really surprised us most was watching football or basketball games and, if you knew somebody in the crowd, being able to pick them out. The higher resolution gives you much more background detail.

Question: Do you still have any TVs in your own home that aren't high- definition?

Payette: We have one. It's a 27-inch, and we're looking for a 42-inch flat screen to replace it. We have seven TVs and can record eight different channels at the same time. Laron: Yes, the one in the bedroom is only a 32-inch CRT (the old cathode ray tube) set. Mostly it's turned off. We don't watch much TV in the bedroom.

http://www.sacbee.com/127/v-print/story/101537.html

TV Notebook:
The Annual TCA Winter Tour

Just a reminder: next week the nation’s TV critics descend on Pasadena CA for their annual winter tour.

As usual, lots of news is expected. (Last year some major surprise headlines included the end of "The West Wing", and the demise of The WB and UPN along with the creation of the CW and MyNetworkTV.)

You’ll be able to keep track of all of this year's surprises here.

So keep checking out the thread next week – perhaps even a bit more than usual – to keep up with the latest news in the world of television.

TV Sports
30 Seconds of Fame at Super Bowl XLI Will Cost $2.6 Million
By Stuart Elliott The New York Times January 5, 2007

A month before Super Bowl XLI, it remains unclear which teams will face off on Feb. 4 in Miami. In the other big game that night — the battle of the Super Bowl advertisers — the lineup is becoming clearer.

More than a dozen marketers have agreed so far to pay an estimated average of $2.6 million — a record amount — for each 30-second commercial that will appear during the CBS broadcast of the game.

As of this week, CBS has sold about 80 percent of the available advertising time, which totals about 30 minutes. That is a typical commercial load for a Super Bowl.

Advertisers will include Super Bowl stalwarts like Anheuser-Busch, FedEx, General Motors and the Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola divisions of PepsiCo. There will also be commercials from recent Super Bowl arrivals like CareerBuilder, Diamond Foods and GoDaddy.

Other advertisers, including several movie studios, have bought spots but do not want to identify themselves until closer to game time. These companies want to maximize the hoopla they can generate through public relations campaigns and other marketing techniques.

At a time when Madison Avenue is anxiously seeking alternatives to traditional selling tactics like TV commercials, it is surprising that demand for Super Bowl spots is as ardent as ever 30 days before kickoff.

However, those involved in making the decisions to spend so much money say they have many good reasons to remain in the game.

For one, as audiences split among a seemingly infinite number of media choices, the Super Bowl is almost always the most-watched TV event of the year — and it is almost always watched live, commercials and all, rather than on a delayed playback using digital video recorders that can zip through the spots.

Also, Super Bowl marketing has been rapidly evolving to add nontraditional methods to reach consumers. For example, computer users can watch the commercials online after the game on Web sites like aol.com, video.google.com, video.yahoo.com and youtube.com.

And consumers are being invited to enter contests to create Super Bowl spots as part of a trend known as user-generated content. At least three advertisers are sponsoring such contests during Super Bowl XLI: the Chevrolet division of General Motors, the Doritos brand sold by Frito-Lay and the National Football League.

“There is no other platform quite like the Super Bowl,” said Robert Lachky, executive vice president for global industry development and chief creative officer at the Anheuser-Busch beer division of Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis.

For several years, Anheuser-Busch has bought the most commercial time of any Super Bowl advertiser, about five minutes in each game. The company will maintain that ranking again, planning to run 10 spots for three brands it brews — Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Select — and one it imports, probably Grolsch from the Netherlands.

“It’s worth it,” Mr. Lachky said of the cost. “When you can touch that many households, that many adults, in one sitting, it’s actually efficient.”

Being the game’s biggest sponsor also works for Anheuser-Busch from a timing standpoint, Mr. Lachky said, because the next day the company intends to introduce a significant advertising initiative, an online entertainment network called Bud.TV that will be on a Web site with the bud.tv address.

Bud.TV will feature all the Anheuser-Busch commercials seen during during the game, Mr. Lachky said, along with content like video clips, sports programs and talk shows.

“We will definitely be ‘popping’ Bud.TV via one of our billboards,” Mr. Lachky said, referring to the moments during the game when brand logos are superimposed on screen as an announcer lists the sponsors.

Anheuser-Busch spends weeks each year testing batches of would-be Super Bowl spots before deciding on the final lineups. Sometimes, decisions are not made until the day before the game.

The Grolsch commercial being considered for the Super Bowl is being created by the St. Louis office of Momentum, owned by the Interpublic Group. The spots under consideration for the Bud brands are being created, Mr. Lachky said, by Cannonball in St. Louis and three agencies that are part of the Omnicom Group: the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide, Downtown Partners in Toronto and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco.

Goodby, Silverstein could be a Super Bowl double-dipper. A humorous 30-second spot it is producing for the Emerald brand of snack nuts sold by Diamond Foods will run in the third quarter. This will be the third consecutive year for Emerald as a Super Bowl advertiser.

“The Super Bowl is an event, an event that lives on,” said Andrew Burke, vice president for marketing at Diamond in Stockton, Calif. “It’s about the next day, when people in their office say to each other, ‘Did you see that guy in that Super Bowl commercial?’ ”

Hoping to include Emerald in that chatter, the commercial created by Goodby, Silverstein will be “a little bit different, a little bit irreverent,” Mr. Burke promised, featuring the singer and actor Robert Goulet in an offbeat performance.

To generate additional attention, Mr. Burke said, there will be video clips on a Web site, promotions, signs in stores and coupons.

GoDaddy, which registers Web site names, will be back for a third straight year. The company will run one or two commercials that will represent the first work from its new agency, the Shine Advertising Company in Madison, Wis.

Curt Hanke, account director at Shine, said yesterday that he would not be able to discuss the campaign for a week or two. In the 2005 and 2006 Super Bowls, GoDaddy ran risqué commercials that raised some eyebrows; the reactions to the spots were described in copious detail on a blog written by the GoDaddy president, Bob Parsons.

The estimated average price tag for each 30-second commercial in the game, at $2.6 million, is slightly ahead of the estimated average cost for each spot during Super Bowl XL, which was $2.5 million.

The sales activity is “pacing very close to where we were at this time three years ago” when CBS last broadcast a Super Bowl, said JoAnn Ross, president for network sales at CBS in New York, part of the CBS Corporation.

“We’re getting there,” she added, referring to the eventual goal of being sold out. “We’re not wringing our hands or gritting our teeth.”

The steps the network is taking to stir up Super Bowl excitement will include a special, “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials 2007,” to be broadcast on Feb. 2, Ms. Ross said. CBS is also exploring the idea of offering Super Bowl sponsors the opportunity to make their spots available online on the CBS SportsLine Web site (cbssportsline.com).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/business/media/05adco.html?adxnnl=1&ref=media&adxnnlx=1167974680-tVdGocyXmfAs4r4n2hff+A&pagewanted=print

TV Notebook
ABC's high on Lowe
'Brother' guest invited to stay
By Michael Schneider Variety.com Jan. 5, 2007

The polls are in, and Rob Lowe has been given a full-season term on ABC's "Brothers & Sisters."

Lowe, who plays conservative Sen. Robert McCallister on the show, was originally slated to guest star in just a handful of episodes (Daily Variety, Nov. 2).

But Lowe's presence has helped "Brothers & Sisters" in the Nielsen voting booth: The show matched its series highs among adults 18-49 on Nov. 19, when he first appeared.

Lowe will continue to be labeled a "special guest star" (think Heather Locklear, who kept that billing on "Melrose Place" even after becoming a regular) and remain on "Brothers & Sisters" through the end of this season. His character, a John McCain-style Republican, has forged a professional -- and possibly romantic -- relationship with Calista Flockhart's character, talkshow host Kitty Walker.

"Brothers & Sisters" reps Lowe's first regular series work since playing another politico, Sam Seaborn, on "The West Wing."

Lowe will next be seen in the upcoming thriller "Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming," and he appeared in the satire "Thank You for Smoking."

"Brothers & Sisters" returns to ABC with new episodes starting this Sunday.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956779&categoryid=14

The above article fails to remember Lowe's regular series work in "Dr. Vegas" and "Lyon's Den".

Just goes to show you not to blindly believe everything you read.

TV Notebook
How much will these shows get whacked?
'The Sopranos' and 'The Wire' join A&E and BET
By Verne Gay, Newsday - January 5, 2007

Starting Wednesday, two of the most celebrated series in HBO history will be joining some commercial TV networks, but fans may well be asking themselves, ummm, what's missing?

At 9 p.m., "The Sopranos" goes to A&E in repeats; at the same time, BET begins airing reruns of what may be TV's other finest drama, "The Wire." (the first three episodes from season one will air Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; next week, the show airs in its regular time slot, Thursdays at 9 p.m.).

While good perhaps for newcomers, hardcore fans might have other opinions. Foremost, there will be commercials, and where there are commercials there are usually rules relating to what those in the TV trade euphemistically refer to as "content issues." This means no four-letter words, nudity or extreme violence (especially to children).

Moreover, the presence of commercials usually means that something has be excised to make room for the commercials. So what will hit the cutting-room floor?

In a statement, A&E (which says this will be the first time "150 million viewers" without HBO will have access to the show) notes that "The Sopranos" will air "largely" at original length and that A&E relied in part on HBO's "library of alternative shots and pre-recorded dialogue loops."

As for "The Wire," paraphrasing BET chief Reginald Hudlin, a BET spokeswoman said, the network "will be using a scalpel and not an ax to cut out the language and some of the violence" in the gritty, Baltimore-set drama about cops and drug dealers. She added that the episodes will nevertheless be complete. Noted.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ffbuz5038727jan07,0,7107867.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

That's baloney in my book and I suspect we'll just have to agree to disagree.

That is certainly your right to do so, but I would say that that FCC doesn't agree with you on that point and at the moment, their opinion trumps yours and/or mine! :)

The channels are free OTA and neither cable nor satellite subs should have to pay for them (or at least not any more than we already pay). These channels are supposed to be ad-supported and traditionally have been just that. Sinclair and others are just the tip of the iceberg though, the networks themselves are next. Just another reason for ala carte so I can vote with my wallet. :)

Again the FCC disagrees with you. The FCC says in this rulling that cable is making money off of rebroadcasting the locals and not paying fair market value for said product. According to this FCC ruling, cable is basically stealing since cable can't prove that other non OTA services are worth more, as Mediacom attempted to, as outlined in this ruling and if a station wants cash money, they have a right to ask for it and as I have pointed out in the past, as long as a legally executed contract is in play, no government agency or court will get in the middle of it. It would be unconstitutional. The FCC upheld that point as well by not getting involved.

The above article fails to remember Lowe's regular series work in "Dr. Vegas" and "Lyon's Den".

Just goes to show you not to blindly believe everything you read.

Dr Vegas wasn't a bad show. Not the greatest but I liked it and I am not a huge Rob Lowe fan even though I thought his Sam in West Wing has been his best role, in my mind.

foxeng,

I understand all that, I just don't agree with them (and since when did anyone always agree with the FCC? :) ). There is no doubt cable would have to adjust (as in add OTA tuning to their boxes), but AFAIK the FCC mandates that cable provide locals (including digital) WITHOUT boxes, therefore they should get some consideration for that. The only change in all this is "cash" payment vice the other compensation Sinclair, et al, get today. The end result will be the stations pay cash and sell the ad space, so there really should be no change for the user unless, as Mediacom points out, Sinclair and others are not negotiating in good faith. Note that the FCC suggested arbitration on that point.

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

TV Sports
Rose's bowl performance has been a bonus for Fox
By Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 5, 2007

Fox has all the BCS bowl games except the Rose. But the network does have a Rose it is pretty excited about.

That would be Chris Rose, the host of Fox's BCS coverage.

"A new star has arrived. We knew how good he is. Now America is finding out," gushed Fox Sports chairman David Hill.

That overt enthusiasm aside, Rose has done well so far.

On Fox's first three BCS bowls, he worked alongside Jimmy Johnson and guest commentators Barry Switzer (Fiesta Bowl), Dave Wannstedt (Orange) and Tim Brown (Sugar).

For Monday night's championship game between Ohio State and Florida, Rose and Johnson will be joined by two guest commentators — Eddie George, a former Buckeye, and Emmitt Smith, a former Gator.

That's a star-studded lineup that Rose is working with. Not bad for a 35-year-old who started his broadcasting career as a camera operator for a Cincinnati television station.

But it's not as if Rose, a graduate of Miami of Ohio, came out of nowhere. He was originally hired in 1999 by FSN, Fox's cable network, as an anchor for its "National Sports Report." He became the host of "Best Damn Sports Show Period" in 2001.

How he got that job is a case of right place, right time.

"I remember the night well," Rose said. "It was a Tuesday night, my wife's birthday, July 17, and we had gone to a movie. I got a page from [former FSN producer] Steve Tello. After the movie, I called him and he told me they needed me to come in on that Thursday and Friday and help them with a new show."

The name "Best Damn Sports Show Period" was set. So was the cast, which included Tom Arnold, John Kruk, Reggie Theus, D'Marco Farr and Lisa Guerrero.

But a host had yet to be named. Rose was to sit in and act like the host for a dress rehearsal. The first show was due to air the following Monday at midnight. It was what the network called a "soft launch," without much fanfare.

"We were still tinkering with the show and deliberating about a host," Hill said. "We had three guys in mind."

Then Rose, in his fill-in role, impressed Hill and executive producer George Greenberg.

"We looked at each other and said, 'We've just found our host,' " Hill said.

And Hill said he and Fox Sports President Ed Goren had no qualms about selecting Rose as the host of the network's BCS coverage.

"We wanted it to be distinctive from our NFL show, and Chris was the obvious choice," Hill said. "And we picked Jimmy to work with him because of his college background."

Johnson coached at Oklahoma State and Miami before moving on to the Dallas Cowboys in 1989.

The national ratings for Fox's first two BCS bowl games, relatively speaking, were not good. The Fiesta got an 8.4 and the Orange a 7.0, compared to a 13.9 for the Rose Bowl on ABC. But Fox spokesman Dan Bell pointed out that the Sugar Bowl did a 9.8, which was up 4% over the rating for last year's West Virginia-Georgia game and allowed Fox to win the night by a considerable margin.

Although Fox's BCS bowl telecasts have not been error-free, Hill said that overall he has been pleased with the coverage, particularly because this was the network's first big-time venture into college football.

Fox couldn't have asked for a better game than Boise State's 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta. The same crew that announced that game, play-by-play announcer Thom Brennaman and commentators Charles Davis and Barry Alvarez, will be working Monday night's title game.

Meanwhile, Pat Haden and Terry Donahue, who worked with play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian on Tuesday night's Orange Bowl, showed a Trojan and a Bruin can make a good pairing. And Hill said Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long, working with Kenny Albert on Wednesday night's Sugar Bowl, jelled as well as they do on Fox's NFL pregame show.

NFL playoff connection

NBC has two NFL playoff games Saturday, with CBS and Fox having one each on Sunday.

NBC has hired Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher to serve as a guest commentator for its studio show Saturday.

Fisher was an easy choice for David Neal, NBC Sports' executive producer. He has known Fisher since their days together at Woodland Hills Taft High. Neal, 50, was a senior when Fisher was a sophomore. Both also attended USC.

Neal describes himself as a "marginal" high school football player, but the coach at Taft, Hal Lambert, asked him to serve as a volunteer assistant coach when he was a sophomore at USC. Neal was assigned to handle the receivers. Fisher, a senior at Taft, was the team's star receiver. He also played defensive back, the position he played at USC and with the Chicago Bears.

But Neal didn't pick Fisher to work as a guest commentator because of their friendship. He said he picked him because of his football knowledge and communication skills.

"He doesn't speak in coaching cliches," Neal said. "He speaks conversationally. I know he is going to remain in coaching for a long time, but down the road he has a future in broadcasting."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-sp-tvcol5jan05,0,782880,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

The TV Column
'Armed & Famous,' a.k.a. La Toya's Last Shot
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 5, 2007; C07

CBS next week will debut a reality series in which it has armed with loaded guns a bunch of has-beens, including a 21-year-old recovering drug addict who says he has attempted suicide, once put a knife to his sister's throat and once shot her, and who says he had enormous difficulty handling the stress of his previous reality-series experience.

Joining Jack Osbourne -- son of Ozzie and former star of MTV's "The Osbournes" -- on "Armed & Famous" are La Toya Jackson, Erik Estrada, professional skateboarder Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña and former WWE wrestler Trish Stratus.

In the series, the five C-listers were put through something approximating the training given to reserve police officers in Muncie, Ind., and then put to work as cops on the 6 p.m.- 2 a.m. shift in that city of 70,000 residents, 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Ironically, Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle told reporters yesterday on a phone conference call that Osbourne was one of the two C-listers best suited for the gig (Stratus was the other).

Estrada and Jackson would be nixed in real life because they are in their 50s; the age limit is 36 for new recruits, Winkle explained. The young Osbourne, on the other hand, "works well with people, is pretty strong verbally" and "seems to have a knack for the job."

And he's a good shot, doing the best by far among the five in firearms training.

Not surprising. In the first episode of "Armed & Dangerous" Osbourne tells the camera, "I love shooting guns -- they make me feel good. I started shooting guns at 6; at 8 I shot my sister. . . . Right now I own two guns."

And that's not the first time he's used a sister for weapons training. In his autobiography he says, "From the moment I became a teenager I started having trouble controlling my temper. I would have these incredible fits of rage. I'd trash my room and get into really nasty vicious fist fights with my sisters. I think the boiling-point for my parents came when I held a knife to Kelly's throat."

In his autobiography and in interviews, Osbourne has said being catapulted to celebrity status while doing "The Osbournes" was "like a shock to the body" and an "insane" experience.

"You get followed by photographers, you can't go out and have a cup of coffee with a friend without someone coming up to you with a picture and saying 'Sign this.' . . . It's stressful."

Still, Winkle told the reporters Osbourne's well-documented instability was "not a concern" so long as he had not been arrested for his actions. "My understanding is he's not had an arrest for any of those things," Winkle told reporters. He said Osbourne passed the psych test, and the show's executive producer, Tom Forman, who was also on the call, jumped in to say Osbourne passed it "with flying colors."

Reporters on the conference call seemed remarkably un-knicker-knotted about the premise of this show -- Jack Osbourne + La Toya Jackson + guns.

But then, they've become numbed by CBS's long history of incendiary reality series setups. Way back in summer '01, the network introduced on the Webcast of "Big Brother" a drunken Justin Sebik holding a knife at the throat of a drunken Krista Stegall and inquiring whether she would mind if he killed her. (CBS suits said at that time there was no way they could have seen that coming because Sebik had passed the psychological review with flying colors. Hmmm, that sounds vaguely familiar.)

More recently, CBS brought us "Survivor: Race Wars." And let's not forget "Amish in the City"; granted, that ran on UPN, but it was developed under CBS chief Les Moonves.

We asked one or two critics why they had not become more exercised about this new reality series. Doing so, they noted wearily, only gives the network boatloads of free publicity for the series and does not stop CBS from airing the show (see "Survivor: Race Wars").

Even so, one critic, understandably, wanted to know how much it cost to insure a show in which La Toya Jackson was given a loaded gun.

"Not as high as you would expect," Forman responded, explaining that the "training was real."

Yeah, training of La Toya Jackson, hello.

Forman went on to say that he wanted to make this series to show people how tough it is to be a rookie cop "through the eyes of someone they can identify with."

You know, like La Toya Jackson.

But anyway, the reporters seemed to swallow that one, which is probably what gave Forman the confidence to start laying on the applesauce very thick -- like when he said the skills that make "a good Hollywood star" (we think he meant the C-listers here) also make for a good police officer.

You know, like "walking the red carpet with the paparazzi screaming at you is not bad training for dealing with a domestic dispute."

Yes, he really did say that. And now the picture of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie toiling as social workers on the next "Simple Life" is seared into our brain forever. Thanks for that.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/04/AR2007010401807_pf.html

TV Sports
Ratings for NFL increase
By Tim Lemke The Washington Times January 5, 2007

The NFL's broadcast partners said television ratings for football were among the best in history, with viewership increased on every network.

Fox reported its highest viewership since 1995, with an average of 16.6 million people tuning in on Sunday afternoons, while CBS reported an average of 15.4 million viewers, up 2 percent from 2005.

Meanwhile, NBC's new "Sunday Night Football" games lured an average of 17.5 million viewers, or 1.2 million more than comparable "Monday Night Football" games on ABC last year.

ESPN, which took over the "Monday Night Football" broadcasts this year, reported an average of 12.3 million viewers, or 38 percent more than "Sunday Night Football" games on ESPN in 2005.

Some observers had predicted ratings for Fox and CBS would drop after NBC received permission to select the top matchups for its broadcasts in the second half of the season. But it appeared to have no ill effect.

Fox said its late afternoon games, which usually feature NFC games of national interest, lured a 13.8 Nielsen rating and an average of 21.8 million viewers, giving them a larger audience than any prime-time show this fall including "Desperate Housewives" and "Dancing with the Stars."

The NFL reported that football topped local ratings 80 percent of the time this year, breaking a record set in 2003. The Pittsburgh Steelers had the highest local ratings of any NFL team, scoring a 42.8 local rating, which represents two-thirds of all the television households in the Pittsburgh area. The Washington Redskins averaged a 24.9 local rating, representing 49 percent of all television households in the region.

The only broadcaster still struggling to gain viewers is the league-owned NFL Network, which began showing games on Thursday and Saturday nights this season. The cable network, which still is not available in many homes across the country, averaged just more than 3 million viewers for its games.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20070105-124305-7097r

TV Review
'24': All hail the power of Bauer
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 5, 2007

"24" - January 14 at 8 on FOX
Rating - Four Stars (Out of Four)

The return of "24" on Fox deserves to be treated differently than most TV dramas.

It's news as well as entertainment, generating intense anticipation and curiosity about the latest adventures of Kiefer Sutherland's indefatigable, never-sleeping Jack Bauer.

It's earned that status. Unlike most serialized dramas of late, which either fade away from lack of interest or inspiration, or vanish partway through for annoying periods of hibernation, "24" continues to do everything right.

And based on the coming sixth season's first four hours, just provided for preview, that winning streak remains unbroken.

It's long been apparent, though at first Fox executives were slow to commit, that the show's real-time, 24-hour, 24-episode format of "24" was a master stroke.

The folks at Fox get much more credit, though, for the other high-risk concept that makes "24" such a rewarding TV experience: By holding it until January, and showing every episode without a single pre-emption or repeat, Fox has made "24" its own stand-alone hour of Must-See TV.

The formula is as brilliant as it is difficult to duplicate. The first four hours of a new season of "24" are rolled out over two nights as a megaevent (this year, that's Jan. 14 and 15, after which it settles into its regular 9 p.m. Monday slot), setting the stage for the season to come and building enough momentum to keep the "24" train on track until its May season finale.

Last season, you'll recall, "24" opened with the rapid-fire deaths of several key characters, including Dennis Haysbert's President David Palmer, and closed with Jack Bauer being carted off by Chinese government agents. The new season begins 20 months later, with Jack, looking like Rip Van Bauer, about to be freed from having spent that whole time in a Chinese prison, defiantly mute and definitely tortured.

Since it occurs at the virtual start of this new cycle of "24," it's not spoiling much of anything to reveal that the man in the Oval Office is, again, President Palmer - but this time it's brother Wayne (D.B. Woodside), whose inner circle includes both the familiar (Jayne Atkinson as Karen Hayes, now national security adviser) and the new (Peter MacNicol as Tom Lennox).

To keep all the surprises intact, let's limit the basic information to the fact that Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is still at CTU, along with Curtis (Roger Cross), Milo (Eric Balfour), Morris (Carlo Rota) and boss Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) - and that among the new players, as Jack and company pursue the latest dire terrorist threat, is Alexander Siddig from "Battlestar Galactica."

The plot is propelled with deliberate speed, and with truly startling events to climax two of the first four hours. The tension is high, the body count is substantial, and the thrill-ride momentum of "24" swiftly veers viewers away from any nagging lapses of logic or credibility. (My favorite: That an information-treasuring outfit like CTU would devote the giant TV screen in its central headquarters to Fox News Channel.)

"I don't know how to do this anymore," Jack says with a sigh midway into the second hour of his latest very bad day.

Don't believe him.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/485660p-408895c.html

TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic Friday, January 5, 2007

Question: I feel like Christmas came early this year, courtesy of Showtime and the season finales of their magnificent series Dexter and Sleeper Cell. While I fully expected the Dexter finale to feature edge-of-your-seat plot twists and the show's signature dark humor, I was unprepared for the emotional tour de force it delivered. Michael C. Hall and everyone involved with Dexter deserve major praise for making such a complex and damaged character absolutely compelling. As for Sleeper Cell: American Terror, I couldn't help feeling that the dramatic impact of the inevitable Darwyn-Farik confrontation was somewhat diluted by delaying it until the very end of this season, but I like that they left the outcome unresolved. Please tell me that there will be at least one more season of both series? Thank you!— Barb S.

Matt Roush: Figured I'd start off on a positive note, in keeping with my "Happy New Year" mood this week. Where Showtime is concerned, a second season of Dexter is a slam dunk. It's the network's most popular show, and there's plenty of story to tell for at least a few more seasons. The picture's a little murkier on the Sleeper Cell front. I checked earlier this week, and a Showtime spokesperson tells me that there have been no discussions yet regarding a third go-round, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. I'm thinking it probably will, although you'd think Darwyn's cover would have been pretty conclusively blown for good by now. Still, it's a great character and a wonderfully scary and timely premise, so I hope to see more. Till then, let's just hope for the best from Showtime's next big series project, The Tudors, coming this spring.

Question: Why do people who love a new program insist it is the greatest program in the world without letting it stand the test of time? Don't you agree that a TV show should be on the air for more than one season before honors are heaped upon it, or on the air for several seasons before awards are even considered? It's like getting a new toy for Christmas. It's fun for a few minutes, hours or days, but will it still be the favorite in a week, or will it become just another item in the toy box? The West Wing, for example, had great writing and acting for a few years; then its quality went down for a couple of seasons, but then it finished great. New TV shows shouldn't be on anyone's top-10 list unless they’re on a list of the top 10 new shows.— Dewey Q.

Matt Roush: Boy, I couldn't disagree more with this one. This is the same tension the TV industry faces come awards time: How to balance new breakthroughs against old favorites. Plus, you seem to be confusing a show's long-term reputation (as in assessing the overall quality of The West Wing, which I'd still rate as pretty fantastic, even considering its off seasons) with the quality of a show in the moment. And it's "in the moment" that counts when putting together a top-10 list or in assessing a show from season to season or covering it in real time. To think you could put a year into perspective without acknowledging the breakthrough shows of that given year because they may not follow through in the long run is an awfully unfair and uncharitable way to approach the business. Almost no series makes it to the end without faltering at some point, but that shouldn't prevent or inhibit us from celebrating a show at its peak. And a show is often at its peak in its earliest seasons. To ignore or undervalue them at that point just seems wrong. I think I'll stick to accentuating the positive whenever I can, thank you very much.

Question: My favorite show this year is Men in Trees, especially thanks to James Tupper. The show brings me a smile, if not a laugh, every time it is on. We all need this during the times we are living in. Tell me others feel this way, too. I sure hope that it continues to air for a long time. I also liked 3 LBS, and can't believe it isn't on after only a couple of weeks.— Jeanette

Matt Roush: From the mail I'm getting, and the response to my recent Review column about the show, I think it's fair to say Men in Trees has a chance to catch on, especially if ABC leaves it after Grey's Anatomy for a while, so that the maximum audience can find it and discover what a pleasant hour it has turned into. This ABC Thursday lineup has become one of my new favorites: Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Men in Trees. That's a serious amount of pleasure right there.

Question: I hope your much-deserved vacation was nice and relaxing, because the second half of the TV season is starting, and if it's anything like the first half, it will be busy. I have two very different questions for you. First, what do you think about the TBS sitcom My Boys? I think it is great. It isn't anything particularly new or innovative, but it is warm, comforting and, above all, funny. It seems like everything that most of the second-rate sitcoms on the networks (NBC's Thursday lineup excepted) are trying to be. I'm only sorry that we have to wait until this summer to see new episodes, but that's better than none at all. My second question is about Sci Fi's new show, The Dresden Files. The books on which it is based are a fun twist on the whole noir genre, and what little I've gleaned about the show seems encouraging. But as a professional, you probably have better information and may even have seen an episode or two by now. You didn't mention it on your list of new shows coming up this year, which leaves me with a sinking feeling. So, what's your opinion of Battlestar Galactica's new lead-in on Sundays?— Nathaniel A.

Matt Roush: You are so right about the new TV year being busy right out of the gate. I'm already missing repeats. I liked My Boys quite a bit. I wouldn't rearrange my schedule for it (actually, I would have missed quite a few of them, if it hadn't been for TBS' nifty On Demand service). But any time I watched, I was pleasantly surprised and amused. It's a keeper. I'll be reviewing The Dresden Files in next week's issue of TV Guide, and the column will be posted online on Wednesday. What I'll say for now is that I hope it gives Battlestar a solid, mainstream lead-in. It's a fun idea for a show, and the lead character would be right at home over on USA Network, with its quirky heroes of shows like Monk and Psych (both of which are returning this month with new episodes on Fridays). If it can help Battlestar find an audience on this overcrowded night, I'm all for it. That said, I won't be rearranging my own Sunday schedule for it. ABC and CBS still come first. (And I can always watch Battlestar later, at 11.)

Question: Networks are always moving shows around on the schedule, then acting surprised when viewers don't read their minds and tune in at the new time. I had one friend who was upset because her favorite Sunday show wasn't there, and she thought the series had been canceled. It had actually moved to Monday for some reason. Why don't the networks either let things stay put or do a better job of explaining what's going on? Is it too much to air a five-second message saying: "If you're trying to tune in to Grey's Anatomy, it's on Thursdays now"?— Charles

Matt Roush: If anyone went into the fall season unaware that Grey's Anatomy had moved to Thursday, they simply weren't paying attention and only had themselves to blame. ABC did much more than blare a five-second message about the move, and it was the most widely discussed (and promoted) time-period switch of the year. But to address the larger point, I think it's fair to say that networks would rather not move their assets around; they do so out of desperation in many cases, knowing full well that there's a major risk involved. That is probably why Studio 60 is staying put on Mondays, when many figured NBC would try it elsewhere. There's probably no safe place to air it, and moving it would probably only do worse damage. Sometimes these moves pay off, like Grey's Anatomy's switch to Thursdays. But often, it just adds confusion to the chaos that already exists among viewers trying to figure out what airs when (and yes, I know, people with DVRs rarely concern themselves with the calendar anymore, but we're dealing with people who don't let the machine do it for them). The networks really don't try to keep these things a secret, and we on this side of the business try our best to keep viewers in the loop. Shows that are being moved all over the schedule tend to be the ones that are struggling to find an audience in the first place, so it usually amounts to just another nail in a predestined coffin.

Question: I almost always agree with your opinions, but I've noticed that you have consistently put down the CW network since its inception, as you just did in your Year in Review column. Sure, there are some not-so-great shows on the new network (like One Tree Hill and 7th Heaven), but there are also some very good shows on the CW (such as Veronica Mars, Supernatural and Smallville), just like on any other network. You keep referring to it as cobbled together and uninspired. However, the CW did what it sought to do. It took the best-performing shows of the WB and UPN networks and combined them into one, and from what I understand, it is starting to make a profit. Like any other network, it had its missteps. Runaway barely lasted two episodes, and I certainly would've preferred a renewal for Everwood over 7th Heaven. But honestly, who's to say Everwood would have fared any better in the ratings than 7th Heaven or One Tree Hill? It's not as if that show was raking in the viewers, either. I'm just surprised that you've been so biased against the new network from the start. Are you watching any of their programs other than Veronica Mars? Though Gilmore Girls is not nearly as good as it used to be (which is probably not even the CW's fault), Veronica Mars as well as Supernatural and Smallville seem to have reached creative highs in their new seasons. Supernatural, in particular, has grown with each episode this season. I really wish you would have some nice things to say about a network with some wonderful shows that would not have been given a chance on the bigger networks, rather than constantly putting it down.— Carrie Ann

Matt Roush: It really doesn't matter much what I say or think about this hybrid network right now. It won't really engage my interest or attention until May's upfronts, when we can see if the CW can generate some new programming that we might actually think of as belonging to this "new" brand. Due to the fact that right now everything that's notable about the CW is old-hat from either the WB or UPN, and while some of the preexisting franchises are still thriving (mainly on Thursday, with its fantasy-horror genre alternatives), your argument doesn't convince me that the CW has done much to merit our taking it very seriously yet, either in ratings or as a creative force. Of course, it could be worse. It could be MyNetwork TV and be completely off the radar.

Question: I watched several interviews when the new CW network premiered, but one video in particular interested me greatly: Kristin Kreuk was asked a question about how much longer she wanted to do Smallville, and she said that next season would definitely be her last because she wants to move on. I was very upset to see that, because Smallville is one of the best shows on TV, and I can see it going beyond a seventh season. I mean, just in this season, Lex and Clark are not friends anymore, and basically hate each other. Clark is getting closer and closer to that red cape. The freakin' Justice League is about to emerge! The Green Arrow and the Lois romance is hot! Jimmy Olsen is a regular on the show, and he is dating Chloe!?!! Lana is pregnant with Lex's baby!!! Martha Kent, the senator, is growing closer and closer to Lionel every day! THIS SHOW IS AWESOME!!!!!!! In my opinion, if Kristin Kreuk does not want to do this show after next year, they should write her off. Her character has just become annoying to me, anyway. I would hate for such a riveting show such as Smallville to say adios because one of the many characters on the show is "done." Sorry, sometimes I rant. Anyway, have you heard anything about Smallville extending beyond next season? I think in the fragile state the network is in, the CW would want to keep Smallville on the air as long as it is popular and brings in the ratings. They could premiere a new show following Smallville. I know Thursdays are tough, but Smallville does have a large following.— Kristin

Matt Roush: It's a good thing we don't charge by the exclamation point around here. Thanks for the recap on behalf of those who haven't stayed glued to this show, which clearly is one of the CW's key assets these days. There's no question Smallville will be back for a seventh season, but it's way too early to speculate about an eighth (or so my colleague here who specializes in the show tells me). If Smallville does extend beyond next season, it would probably have to shed at least a few longtime cast members and characters, for contractual and economic reasons. I'm sure the CW would love to have it on its schedule as long as possible, but there is going to be a point, sooner than later, when Smallville will have to think about making a dignified exit, no matter how loudly its fans scream. Personally — and this comment is less a reflection on the show than a reflection on the realities of covering this beat) — I think if Smallville were to announce that next season is its last and plotted the story and episodes accordingly, it might be the best thing for everyone. But if the numbers hold up, and they probably will, I wouldn't be the least surprised to see everyone try to keep milking it as long as they can, or as long as they can keep Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum and a few other key personnel in place.

Question: Why do you downplay Heroes as uneven but celebrate the very uneven Lost? While overall I like Heroes, I agree that some story lines are working better than others, and some actors haven't hit their stride. There are touching moments of brilliance and moments that are contrived. But I don't mind watching the whole episode without turning the channel, because overall it's a fun show. As for Lost, I was a huge fan the first season, but I can't watch it at this point. It's become even more improbable than I would ever have imagined a show about plane-crash survivors to be — sometimes I think Gilligan's Island was more realistic. I like the characters and the actors, but the plotting is cumbersome and the dialogue can be brilliant and terrible in the same 20 minutes. If I had to pick a show to watch straight through, it would be Heroes, because the overall impact of a show is a better measure of quality than a handful of good or bad moments.— Olivia

Matt Roush: You ask me why I prefer Lost over Heroes? It's just a fact that I do. Sorry. I love Lost, even though I took a bunch of abuse from fans for admitting that even I got tired of watching Sawyer get slapped around for six weeks this fall. (But I am fascinated by Juliet and can't wait to find out more about her and the Others.) I do not yet love Heroes, although there are elements and scattered characters in it that I do admire and enjoy. It is no surprise to me that some early Lost fans have gotten fed up, but I'm not there yet. I find the characters, the writing, the storytelling framework and the production values to still be terrifically effective and entertaining. Is it perfect? No. What show is? But Gilligan's Island? Get real. Even at its best, Heroes is much more of a mixed bag to me, but one that I'm glad (and as with Lost, very surprised) to see be so instantly popular. But I never regard it with the same passion I bring to Lost, even when that show frustrates and mystifies me.

Question: I'm wondering if the fall '06 episodes of Lost will be rerun before the spring '07 episodes begin? I have only recently discovered Lost, and have viewed Seasons 1 and 2. But I find watching downloaded Season 3 episodes on my computer kind of uncomfortable.— Patricia F.

Matt Roush: Unless ABC has some open Saturday nights between now and early February, or one of ABC's cable partners runs the episodes, I think you're stuck watching them on the computer. The network isn't likely to waste prime time on Lost repeats. The reason Lost is off the air from November to February this season is precisely because the network wants to avoid airing repeats of this show, which tend to perform badly.

Question: I love 7th Heaven and watch the reruns on ABC Family all the time. During the Christmas season, it was on hiatus, and now I see that it has been replaced with Smallville. Do you know if ABC Family is just testing Smallville, or is 7th Heaven off the schedule for good? I really love 7th Heaven and know many people are disappointed that it has not been on in a while, so any information you have would be great!— Laura R.

Matt Roush: I rarely answer questions about scheduling of shows in syndication or on cable — it's hard enough for me to keep up with the networks' first-run scheduling patterns — but I checked into this. ABC Family reports that while 7th Heaven is not currently on the channel's rotation of repeats (give Everwood a try, you'll like it), it will eventually return. I just can't give you a date.

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

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A sweet adieu: 'CSI' hits a season high
Aging CBS crime show clocks an 8.3 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald medialifemagazine Jan 5, 2007

The much-hyped temporary exit of William Petersen’s character from “CSI” last night boosted the veteran crime drama to its best numbers of the season. Of course it didn’t hurt that fellow 9 p.m. timeslot occupant “Grey’s Anatomy” was a repeat last night on ABC.

“CSI” averaged an 8.3 adults 18-49 rating and 25.9 million total viewers, according to Nielsen overnights. That was the first time this season the show has jumped above an 8.0.

In fact, just a few weeks ago it neared series lows in competition with original episodes of “Grey’s.”

But CBS heavily promoted Petersen’s four-week exit to return to his stage roots. During its Sunday NFL games the past few weeks, there were loads of ads teasing Gil Grissom’s departure. He’ll return after Liev Schreiber finishes a guest stint.

“CSI’s” ratings have fallen 16 percent from last season, in part due to the tough competition from “Grey’s.” When “Grey’s” is in repeats, the show performs noticeably better. In its final episode of 2006, airing opposite a “Grey’s” repeat on Dec. 7, “CSI” averaged a 7.8, its second-best rating of the season.

“CSI” helped CBS to a comfortable first-place finish for the night among 18-49s, as the network averaged a 5.2 rating and a 13 share. NBC finished second at 4.1/10, ABC third at 3.8/10, Fox fourth at 1.9/5, Univision fifth at 1.8/4 and CW sixth at 1.1/3.

Though CBS finished first for the night, NBC took the first hour with a 4.3 average rating at 8 p.m. for “My Name is Earl” (a season-high 4.3) and “The Office” (4.3). ABC was second that hour with a 3.7 for “Ugly Betty,” CBS third with a 3.5 for a “CSI” repeat and Univision fourth with a 2.3 for “La Fea Mas Bella.” That left Fox fifth with a 2.0 average for “‘Til Death” (2.0) and “The War at Home” (2.0), and CW sixth with a 1.0 for a repeat of “Smallville.”

At 9 p.m. CBS led the hour with an 8.3 rating for “CSI.” ABC remained second with a 3.7 for a “Grey’s Anatomy” rerun, with NBC falling to third with a 3.3 average for “Scrubs” (3.6) and “30 Rock” (3.0) and Fox jumping to fourth with a 1.7 for the recently canceled “The O.C.” Univision dropped to fifth that hour with a 1.6 for “Mundo de Fieras” and CW stayed in sixth place with a 1.1 for another “Smallville” repeat.

NBC jumped back into the lead at 10 p.m. with a 4.6 for “ER.” ABC was second with a 4.0 for another repeat of “Grey’s,” CBS third with a 3.7 for “Shark” and Univision fourth with a 1.4 for “Aqui y Ahora.”

Among households, CBS was first for the night with an 11.2 average rating and a 17 share. ABC was second at 7.1/11, NBC third at 5.8/9, Fox fourth at 2.9/4, Univision fifth at 2.3/3 and CW sixth at 1.7/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9357.asp

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.

Critic’s Notebook
Tag -- you're not 'it.' So what is 'it,' anyway?
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Friday, January 5, 2007

In TV Land, spotting "it" is mostly a fluke. Having "it" and keeping "it" are ephemeral. But losing "it" -- and everybody loses "it" -- is painful.

Several seasons ago, I asked a successful network entertainment president why she agreed to buy a series that anyone in her position -- and certainly mine -- could see was a creative catastrophe. The series tested through the proverbial roof, she said. The people loved it. But it's a lousy show, and you know it, right, I asked?

"I hated it," she said.

Turns out, the people didn't wind up loving it. And we were both right. The show was awful and "the people" sussed that out pretty quick. Two years later, I asked her again about the art of picking winners. And she said that if TV critics and the marketplace always agreed about quality, there wouldn't be enough shows on the air to fill the time.

And she's right about that. Terrible shows are hits. There's no accounting for taste. But there's accounting. When you run a network owned by a major corporation -- and major corporations own them all -- you need to count the beans more than you need to achieve brilliance.

Which is a way of saying, what happens in the television industry is scary magic.

Think about recent events. On Wednesday, Fox, a network as desperate for good mojo as an addict for a needle, canceled the once supremely hip and wonderfully creative series "The O.C." Now, Fox is not a network that can afford to cancel any series that 1 out of 3 people can identify by the recitation of the title. The network has megahits -- "American Idol," "24," "House" -- and a bunch of stuff they picked up at Aunt Bee's garage sale.

But "The O.C." had clearly lost "it." Truth is, the series had spiraled down years ago from its heady first-season mix of teen and adult soap operatics, hip music, smart dialogue from a boy wonder writer-producer and that indescribable "it" that made it cool. Now "The O.C" is o-ver and life in the ephemeral business of television goes on -- for everyone else.

In the daytime talk show arena, Megan Mullally's show was also shut down this week. Last July, the former "Will & Grace" co-star was in Pasadena trying to sell herself to TV critics. In one of the strangest sessions I've been in, Mullally essentially pulled her car alongside the tracks and gunned it when a big locomotive came rumbling by. Desperation, a clear sense of being in the wrong arena -- she was the complete package of future failure analysis. I looked around at the NBC Universal executives on hand. Why are they not seeing this? Because they can't? Or because they don't want to? Then I stared at her -- the wreck that was her -- and pretended to get a call on my cell phone. Bye. She didn't have "it." Six months later someone would cop to the truth.

On Tuesday, FX rolled out "Dirt," the glossy and sensationalistic drama starring and executive-produced by Courteney Cox. The show does not have "it." And, in this instance, neither does Cox. Those two things are not entirely surprising. But FX, a network that has spun so much of what it has touched into gold, has a gleaming track record of recognizing, nurturing and airing "it." So what happened?

Television happened.

This is a failure business. There's no shame in putting out something bad (even if early indications are that the numbers are good, once you factor out the curious samplers in coming weeks, you may find yourself with a flop). This is not the first time FX has tumbled (a very good miniseries that was poised to be a series -- Andre Braugher's "Thief" -- did not resonate with viewers, which is one example of several where FX product has not launched or has not, in the critical arena, lived up to expectations).

The lack of execution in "Dirt" isn't the story. What's of interest is the public face of guessing wrong when it appeared that FX was (and is) mostly right. To gaze on that face is to learn a lesson on fallibility. It's the same one HBO learned when it aired "Lucky Louie," defended it against critics, then canceled it. I have enormous respect for Chris Albrecht, who has guided HBO through stratospheric creative heights, but he took serious issue with me when I said that "Lucky Louie" was probably the worst show HBO has ever made. He was defiant (but thankfully not belligerent, as numerous smaller executives have been in the face of criticism), but I think his visceral reaction had something to do with believing that the show had "it," when it patently had none.

This is not a good business to be in when you feel doubt. And he must have felt some when "Lucky Louie" missed so badly. Elsewhere, such miscalculations are more damaging. An argument can be made that serialized dramas are dragging down network television, which gorged on the genre this fall. And though it's not exactly fair to single out one network, you have to marvel at the series of missteps ABC has made lately. It decided -- probably correctly at the time -- that fan reaction to excessive reruns during "Lost" last season had something to do with bleeding off viewers at a furious and frightening pace. Hence the decision to pull it after six episodes this season (enough to whet appetites) and replace it with a 13-week thriller kinda-sorta in the same vein called "Day Break." The idea? To bring "Lost" back in the February sweeps period and run it uninterrupted through the end of the season. Beautiful.

The problem? "Day Break" never had "it," despite star Taye Diggs having "it" in abundance. The fickle nature of allegiance and interest worked against the show.

So, just as Lennie imagined the farm and the rabbits, the best-laid plans of ABC went quickly awry when nobody watched "Day Break" (because it was confusing and they wanted "Lost" instead) and entertainment President Steve McPherson had to put it down. But in so doing, he weakened any chance that future viewers will invest in a serialized drama when it can be pulled so unmercifully without a satisfying conclusion.

Lastly, what of series that are currently swimming in "it," winning admiration and making money? When will be their time to lose "it"? For example, season 6 of "American Idol" on Fox begins Tuesday. Is the Death Star vulnerable? Of course. But when? You could make a lot of money if you knew that -- and triple the amount if you knew how.

And yet, one day "American Idol," the series that other networks fear more than any other show, will go the way of "The O.C." Another franchise reality series, CBS' "Survivor," is already tumbling down the other side of the mountain. There is an inevitability here.

Yes, "Idol" is different. Bigger. More culturally ingrained. Countless more detractors. It's the better story, the series to watch scientifically, to monitor for weakness. Why? Because "Idol" has so much "it." When that goes, you will feel the awesome power of the TV gods rising up as the great levelers.

The only real question is what will take "Idol" down. Viewer fatigue or another "it" show?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/05/DDG4HNCEGV1.DTL&type=printable

The Business of Television
MediaCom Poised to Drop 22 Sinclair Stations
By Ira Teinowitz Television Week January 5, 2007

A potentially precedent-setting battle between MediaCom Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group over broadcast TV retransmission rights payments escalated today, with MediaCom saying it will drop 22 Sinclair stations from its cable systems in 12 states at midnight tonight.

MediaCom Chairman and CEO Rocco B. Commisso said he is being forced to drop the stations after failing to reach agreement on a new carriage contract, a move that will deny 500,000 MediaCom households cable access to some major network stations. MediaCom, the country's No. 8 multiple system operator, provides service in smaller cities.

MediaCom and Sinclair have been fighting over retransmission since September. Sinclair, which hasn't been getting retransmission fees, wants MediaCom to start paying fees for its 22 stations in MediaCom's service areas, arguing that it should be getting the kinds of fees cable program providers get. MediaCom has been trying to limit fees to 12 major network stations that get the majority of local viewership and to get other, lesser stations for less or nothing.

The fight had already been escalating, with MediaCom filing an anti-trust lawsuit against Sinclair and a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission charging that Sinclair wasn't engaging in "good faith" negotiations. Meanwhile Sinclair has been offering local residents $100 to sign up with satellite services competing with MediaCom.

The FCC's Media Bureau rejected MediaCom's complaint yesterday, urging the two companies to engage in binding arbitration. Mr. Commisso said today MediaCom would appeal the Media Bureau's action to FCC commissioners. He said his company is willing to engage in binding arbitration, but that Sinclair has been unwilling to negotiate, and that it has been increasing the amount of its payment demands, asking rates that are 100 percent to 500 percent higher than it is getting from Comcast or from satellite services for the same channels.

"The egregious demands by Sinclair will become a lightning-rod issue for Congress and are going to lead to much higher consumer rates," he said.

Barry Faber, Sinclair's VP-general counsel, called the Media Bureau's action yesterday "a resounding victory not just for Sinclair, but for all broadcasters in their efforts to be fairly compensated by cable companies. In addition to its overall holding that our actions in this negotiation have been completely legal, we were particularly gratified by the FCC's conclusion that marketplace considerations for the value of broadcast stations can take into account the prices cable companies pay for nonbroadcast, cable channels."

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11316

TV Review
'24': All hail the power of Bauer
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 5, 2007

"24" - January 14 at 8 on FOX
Rating - Four Stars (Out of Four)

[snipped]

To keep all the surprises intact, let's limit the basic information to the fact that Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is still at CTU, along with Curtis (Roger Cross), Milo (Eric Balfour), Morris (Carlo Rota) and boss Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) - and that among the new players, as Jack and company pursue the latest dire terrorist threat, is Alexander Siddig from "Battlestar Galactica."



Sorry, but Alexander Siddig is NOT from Battlestar Galactica. He's from the "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" series, where he portrayed the space station's chief medical officer, Dr. Julian Bashir.

Also, If I remember right, he was originally listed as "Siddig el Fadil" in the credits, before the name change. He's also married (still?) to Nana Visitor, who portrayed the Bajoran liason officer, Major Kira Narese, on the same show.

Sorry, but Alexander Siddig is NOT from Battlestar Galactica. He's from the "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" series, where he portrayed the space station's chief medical officer, Dr. Julian Bashir.

Also, If I remember right, he was originally listed as "Siddig el Fadil" in the credits, before the name change. He's also married (still?) to Nana Visitor, who portrayed the Bajoran liason officer, Major Kira Narese, on the same show.


According to imdb, they divorced in 2001

Welcome (if briefly!!!) back to the thread, Barte -- don't be such a stranger!

Thanks. I posted in the wrong forum.

Just as long as you visit, that's fine.

But we'd love to have your input, too, when you are so motivated.

The Business of TV
Mediacom to Appeal to Full FCC
By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 1/5/2007

Set to lose carriage of 22 Sinclair Broadcast Group stations at midnight, Mediacom Communications planned to appeal to the full Federal Communications Commission Friday with hopes of keeping those outlets from going dark.

During a conference call Friday morning, Mediacom officials also said they were still hoping that Sinclair would finally agree to their request that their ongoing retransmission-consent dispute be submitted to binding arbitration and that the stations stay on in the interim.

“Last night, we reoffered binding arbitration to Sinclair and are still awaiting their response,” Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said.

In his remarks, Commisso said his company would appeal a ruling Thursday by the FCC’s Media Bureau rejecting its claim that Sinclair was not negotiating in good faith.

Mediacom will seek a ruling on its complaint by the full FCC, according to Commisso.

“Hopefully, [FCC] chairman [Kevin] Martin will provide expedited treatment for our appeal so any disruptions to consumers will be minimized,” Commisso said, adding that the FCC Media Bureau “has ruled badly.”

Mediacom’s current retransmission-consent extension with Sinclair expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. At that time, the cable company will lose the right to carry 22 Sinclair stations -- affiliates of Fox, The CW, My Network TV and ABC -- in 12 states.

The total number of Mediacom subscribers who could be affected is 700,000. But the number of Mediacom subscribers who will lose stations affiliated with the major networks, such as Fox, is only about 500,000, according to officials at the company.

“That number [700,000] is dramatically reduced because we’ve been able -- as we’ve done in Iowa City -- to import some Big Four-affiliated programming stations, as permitted by law,” Commisso said.

During the call, Iowa State Sen. Jeff Angelo (R-District 48) complained about comments Sinclair officials have made about their willingness to sacrifice their stations in Mediacom markets to eventually secure $100 million in retransmission-consent fees.

“As a representative of a large area of Mediacom customers, this is basically economic terrorism and it’s not in the public interest,” Angelo said.

Sinclair couldn’t be reached for comment.

Mediacom extended three new proposals to Sinclair this week, according to Commisso, and each was rejected.

Those new proposals were that Mediacom would pay Sinclair: a weighted-average price that reflects what direct-broadcast satellite, cable and phone companies are paying for retransmission of the broadcaster’s stations; a weighted-average price based on the pacts Sinclair just reached with McLeodUSA and is finalizing with Time Warner Cable; and per-subscriber, per-month price that reflected an increase from Mediacom’s prior offers.

Sinclair turned down those proposals Thursday and “proceeded on increasing their obnoxious demands once they became aware that the Media Bureau was going to rule in their favor,” Commisso said.

Mediacom made arrangements to put on alternative programming, such as digital-cable networks, to replace Sinclair stations that it is forced to drop, officials said.

Commisso claimed that the FCC Media Bureau’s ruling, as it stands, basically means that broadcasters will be able to extract about $5 billion annually in retransmission-consent fees -- a cost that will be passed on to consumers and raise cable rates.

“The egregious demands by Sinclair and other broadcasters will force, for sure, retransmission consent to become a lightning rod for Congress,” he added.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6404660.html?display=Breaking+News

TV Notebook:
” Nightline” Ratings Rise in 2006

(ABC News Release)

According to Nielsen Media Research for the week of December 25, 2006, ABC News' “Nightline” continued its growth trend in both Total Viewers and the key Adults 25-54 demographic. Compared with the same week a year ago, “Nightline” is up a significant 18% in Total Viewers, delivering 3.63 million. CBS’ “Letterman” declined 2%, while NBC’s “The Tonight Show” decreased 8%.

Among Adults 25-54, “Nightline” was again the only late-night program to post growth compared to the same week a year ago, increasing 20%, with 1.76 million viewers (1.4 demo rating). In comparison, CBS’ “Letterman” decreased 5%, while NBC’s “The Tonight Show” declined 10%.

In addition, “Nightline” was the only late-night program to grow compared to last week. The program grew 13% in Total Viewers and 11% in the Adults 25-54 demo.

ABC News’ “Nightline” is anchored by Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Martin Bashir. James Goldston is the executive producer. The program airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network.

*Note: Due to the Christmas holiday, ratings for “Nightline,” “Letterman, and Leno were excluded from the average. “Letterman” and “Leno” did not air original programming last week.


(Week of December 25, 2006)

TOTAL VIEWERS A25-54 (000)/ Rtg
ABC “Nightline” 3,630,000 1,760,000/ 1.4
CBS “Late Show” 3,850,000 1,840,000/ 1.5
NBC “Tonight” 5,070,000 2,370,000/ 1.9

Source: NTI and NSI

The Business of Television
Mediacom Turns to Press in Retrans Spat
By Katy Bachman MediaWeek January 5, 2007

As the clock ticked down to the midnight deadline when Mediacom Communications must pull 22 stations in 16 markets owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Rocco Commisso, chairman and CEO of Mediacom had strong words for Sinclair in a Friday morning press conference. The cable company is also hoping that the FCC, whose Media Bureau ruled in favor of Sinclair Thursday, would accept Mediacom’s appeal to bring the matter before the FCC’s commissioners on Friday, allowing Mediacom to carry the Sinclair stations while negotiations continued.

“Contrary to Sinclair’s press release, the FCC’s formal involvement is not over,” said Commisso. Mediacom would still like to see the negotiations resolved by binding arbitration, suggested by the FCC and other Congress members, but according to Commisso, “Sinclair rejected this approach more than once.”

Unless the FCC steps in, (and there is no indication that it will), or the parties agree to binding arbitration, the Sinclair stations will go dark on Mediacom’s system.

On Thursday, Mediacom sent three new offers to Sinclair, which were rejected. Commisso suggested that once Sinclair knew that Mediacom’s appeal would be rejected by the FCC’s Media Bureau, Sinclair went for the juggular.

“Once again, Sinclair proceeded to increase their obnoxious demands. Sinclair wants to get paid like cable networks, but they don’t behave like cable networks. Except for local news, Sinclair is nothing but a middle man for someone else’s programming,” Commisso said. “How do you negotiate in good faith when you propose a market offer and they turn around and ask for an even greater offer? That’s why we feel we have reached the stage when an appeal or binding arbitration is the only resolution.”

In the long-run, retransmission battles could hurt broadcasters and cost cable companies an estimated $6 billion annually, Commisso suggested. “For Sinclair and broadcast TV, the repercussions are worse. Egregious demands by Sinclair and other broadcasters will make this a lightning rod issue in Congress, because it will lead to higher cable rates for consumers,” he said.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003528041

Critic’s Notebook
Golden Globe TV Picks
by Michael Ausiello TV Guide

Handicapping the TV portion of the Golden Globes is a little like predicting the path of a tornado: The minute you think you know which way it's going, it changes directions.

Case in point: last year I correctly guessed just three of the 11 winners — an embarrassing ratio for a kudos expert such as myself.

Of course, it's going to take a lot more than one really off year to get me to pack in my crystal ball, so humor me while I try this again.

Best Drama Series
24
Big Love
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
Lost

Should Win: Grey's. Technically, Battlestar Galactica should win, but since it wasn't even nominated (what the frak?), I gotta give it to Grey's, if for no other reason than its sheer consistency. And of the five nominees, it's the only one that makes me cry every week. And I don't cry easily. (Really, I don't!)
Will Win: Grey's. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association prides itself on being Emmy's hip cousin, yet it failed to honor TV's hottest show last year. It wouldn't dare make that mistake again — especially not with my reputation on the line.
Dissed: Battlestar, Friday Night Lights, The Sopranos, The Shield and Deadwood.

Best Actress in a Drama
Patricia Arquette (Medium)
Edie Falco (The Sopranos)
Evangeline Lilly (Lost)
Ellen Pompeo (Grey's Anatomy)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)

Should Win: Falco. Pompeo may have the cool factor going for her, but Falco's got the goods. Her spellbinding work during Tony's near-death experience was the stuff of legend.
Will Win: Falco. If the HFPA wants us to believe they actually watch TV, they have to pick Falco.
Dissed: Mary McDonnell, Sally Field and Molly Parker

Best Actor in a Drama
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Hugh Laurie (House)
Bill Paxton (Big Love)
Kiefer Sutherland (24)

Should Win: I'm going with Hall even though I have yet to see a single episode of Dexter. The buzz is just too deafening to ignore.
Will Win: I'm going with Hall even though the HFPA probably hasn't seen a single episode of Dexter, either. Again with the killer buzz. (Get it? Killer? It's a show about a serial killer? I'm a genius.)
Dissed: Matthew Fox, Kyle Chandler, Michael Chiklis, Ian McShane and Denis Leary

Best Comedy
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
The Office
Ugly Betty
Weeds

Should Win: Betty. Yes, America Ferrera is the best thing since sliced bread, but Betty has more going for it than just a transcendent leading lady. It has heart, humor and some of the most inventive directing on TV.
Will Win: I'm leaning toward The Office. And on the off chance that Housewives pulls off yet another upset, the awkward silence following the announcement will feel like an homage to The Office anyway.
Dissed: Scrubs and Everybody Hates Chris

Best Actress in a Comedy
Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives)
Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives)
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine)
Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds)

Should Win: Ferrera. It's one of the most perfect marriages between actress and character in TV history. Watching Ferrera inhabit Betty is like watching me sell my soul for scoop. Some things are just meant to be.
Will Win: Ferrera. If the Globes are predictable in any one area, it's in recognizing breakout actresses (see previous winners Jennifer Garner and Keri Russell). And there's never been a more deserving freshman sensation than Ferrera.
Dissed: Tichina Arnold

Best Actor in a Comedy
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Zach Braff (Scrubs)
Steve Carell (The Office)
Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl)
Tony Shalhoub (Monk)

Should Win: Braff is long overdue, but I'll also be happy with anyone but that Monk dude. I mean, enough already.
Will Win: They'll go with Baldwin for his scene-stealing baboonery on 30 Rock.
Dissed: No one

Best Miniseries or Movie
Bleak House
Broken Trail
Elizabeth I
Mrs. Harris
Prime Suspect: The Final Act

Should Win: That Elizabeth I movie was supposed to be really good, so let's go with that.
Will Win: See "Should Win" above.
Dissed: No one

Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Gillian Anderson (Bleak House)
Annette Bening (Mrs. Harris)
Helen Mirren (Elizabeth I)
Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect: The Final Act)
Sophie Okonedo (Tsunami: The Aftermath)

Should Win: Anderson, if for no other reason than we shared a bed together at press tour last January.
Will Win: Mirren for her Prime Suspect swan song.
Dissed: No one

Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Andre Braugher (Thief)
Robert Duvall (Broken Trail)
Michael Ealy (Sleeper Cell: American Terror)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Tsunami: The Aftermath)
Ben Kingsley (Mrs. Harris)
Bill Nighy (Gideon's Daughter)
Matthew Perry (The Ron Clark Story)

Should Win: Braugher's awesomeness knows no bounds.
Will Win: Braugher, because I'm pretty sure he wins every award he's up for.
Dissed: No one

Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries, Movie or Series
Emily Blunt (Gideon's Daughter)
Toni Collette (Tsunami: The Aftermath)
Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy)
Sarah Paulson (Studio 60)
Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds)

Should Win: Much more than just a pretty face with blonde hair, Heigl earned her thespian stripes during that whole Denny crisis. No single win would bring me more joy.
Will Win: Heigl. Because isn't it the HFPA's mission to bring me joy?
Dissed: Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson, Kate Walsh, Kelly Bishop, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, Jaime Pressly, CCH Pounder, Jean Smart, Paula Malcomson, Robin Weigert and Connie Britton

Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries, Movie or Series
Thomas Hayden Church (Broken Trail)
Jeremy Irons (Elizabeth I)
Justin Kirk (Weeds)
Masi Oka (Heroes)
Jeremy Piven (Entourage)

Should Win: As much as I love me some Masi, Piven makes me laugh so hard, my insides hurt.
Will Win: I've seen the future, so trust me when I say Oka's got this one sewn up. (And wait until you hear his acceptance speech. It's a riot.)
Dissed: Donald Faison, Forest Whitaker, T.R. Knight, Omar Epps, John Krasinski and John C. McGinley

http://tvguide.com/Special/Golden-Globes-2007/tv.aspx

TV Sports
Sugar Bowl telecast a delectable debut for Bradshaw, Long
By Michael McCarthy USA Today

Fox Sports president Ed Goren worried about the "challenge" of finding announcing teams for four Bowl Championship Series Games when Fox doesn't have a regular college package. Stop worrying, Ed. Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long, stars of the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show, ran rings around most announcing teams for college or pro football during Wednesday's telecast of the Allstate Sugar Bowl from New Orleans.

Based on their performance, along with play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert and sideline reporter Jeanne Zelasko during LSU's 41-14 victory over Notre Dame, I'd rather watch them call Monday's national-championship game than Fox's No. 1 team of Thom Brenneman, Barry Alvarez, Charles Davis and Chris Myers. Goren should encourage the team to call some NFL games next season.

Bradshaw had not called a game in 25 years, while Long had never called any game. But they were informative, folksy and funny. They made obvious mistakes, like saying "great play" without telling us why or how. But they were prepared and kept viewers entertained.

Bradshaw showed how LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell's ability to throw the ball 85 yards in the air obliterated the Notre Dame secondary: "His receivers never have to stop running."

Long gets points for stopping himself in midstory "until after this play is over."

Bradshaw and Long had the kind of funny, sharp chemistry that ESPN's Monday Night Football team of Mike Tirico, Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser struggled to find this season.

"Although we're very pleased with Kenny, Howie and Terry's performance, we're very happy with our No. 1 BCS broadcast team, who did a terrific job calling one of the greatest sporting events in history a few nights ago," said Fox's Dan Bell, referring to the Fiesta Bowl.

As for calling NFL games, Bell said, "Anything is possible, but that's something they'd have to discuss with (Goren) and Fox Sports chairman David Hill."

Goren singled out Davis for praise Wednesday. Expect to see more of him.

• • • • • • • • • • •LeBron tuning in to fans for theme song

NBA superstar LeBron James is the next Michael Jordan in more ways than one. Like MJ, James is an endorsement superstar on Madison Avenue. Now James is tapping into one of the hotter marketing trends: Inviting consumers to participate in the commercial process.

James and Coca-Cola's Sprite plan to announce a national contest Friday inviting consumers to create theme songs for new Sprite TV commercials airing during NBA All-Star Weekend next month.

"I wanted to do something new and different. Sprite came to me with the idea. I thought it was cool," James said. "Without the fans, there's no players."

Consumers may enter the contest at LeBron23-23.com. James and hip-hop artists Paul Wall and Al Fatz will personally pick three tracks.

"Your mission is to create a theme song for me," says a virtual James at the website. "If your mix gets the votes, and my crew and I like the sound, you'll win the chance to collaborate on my theme song in the studio."

• • • • • • • • • • •Tilghman gets the call; Titans coach mikes up

Some well-known announcers and NFL coaches assume new roles this weekend.

The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman will join Nick Faldo in the booth as the network's first full-time, play-by-by commentator.

Tilghman says the PGA Tour's new lead TV partner will unveil WinZone, a computer program that will predict winners after one round of play. How will players react?

"I can't wait. They'll have to get mad at the computer," Tilghman said.

Meanwhile, Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher will serve as guest studio analyst during NBC Sports' NFL playoff doubleheader coverage Saturday.

Executive producer David Neal coached Fisher in high school. The friends attended Southern California, then partied together on Chicago's Rush Street in their bachelor days.

"The great thing about Jeff is he doesn't talk in coaching cliche," Neal said.

Studio analyst Cris Collinsworth will shift into the game booth with Tom Hammond to call the Kansas City Chiefs-Indianapolis Colts game at 4:30 p.m. ET.

• • • • • • • • • • •Little League stays with ESPN/ABC

ESPN/ABC and Little League Baseball announced an eight-year contract extension through 2014. But missing from the network's 2007 coverage will be former analyst Harold Reynolds.

Reynolds was fired from his $1 million-a-year post in July. He sued for $5 million in October, saying he was improperly terminated for giving an "innocuous hug" to an intern.

ESPN's Joe Morgan replaced Reynolds last year. But ESPN hasn't finalized its announcer lineup for 2007, spokesman Josh Krulewitz said.

ABC has televised Little League since 1963. For the first time, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will televise all 32 games of the Little League Baseball World Series, from Aug. 17 to Aug. 26.

ESPN and ESPN2 will also show the title games of Big League Baseball (ages 16-18), Senior League Baseball (14-16) and Senior League Softball (14-16).

• • • • • • • • • • •

Media take Saban to task over Alabama job

Nick Saban lied to Miami Dolphins fans and the media when he denied interest in the University of Alabama head coaching job before, naturally, joining the Crimson Tide on Wednesday.

But before rebuilding 'Bama, Saban will have to recover from the worst media scorching of any coach in recent memory:

• During ESPN's Pardon the Interruption on Thursday, Miami Herald columnist Dan LeBatard called him a "liar, a quitter and a fraud." The day before, LeBatard said Saban's nickname in Miami is "Nick Satan."

• During Fox's telecast of the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Wednesday, ex-college coach-turned-Super Bowl-winning Dallas Cowboys coach and TV analyst Jimmy Johnson told host Chris Rose that Saban "was distraught over the time commitment for NFL coaches — and how hard it is to win in the NFL."

• During ESPN's telecast of Around the Horn on Wednesday, panelists tore Saban to shreds. "Nobody can trust Nick Saban," declared Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times, adding, "We're going to remember him as a guy who failed in the NFL and ran back to college for the money."

Hold on. Coaches dissemble about jobs all the time. Just ask Larry Brown. Urban Meyer was tagged "Urban Liar" by fans for jumping from Bowling Green to Utah to Florida. So what is it about Saban that led sportscasters to paint him as the worst liar since Bill Clinton or Richard Nixon?

John Saunders, host of ESPN's The Sports Reporters, said it was Saban's decision to angrily deny rumors that turned out to be true which let loose the hounds.

"He's his own worst enemy. All he had to say was, 'Any questions about the Alabama job are inappropriate and unfair to my team.' But when you flat-out get belligerent with the media and lie to their faces, that makes you a bad guy. The media has a hammer. He'll find that out over the next several months."

Head coaches are control freaks, and Saban is freakier about control than most, Saunders said. Throw in his open hostility for the national and Florida-based sports media which refused to play along with, or believe, his stories, and Saban didn't get cut much slack when his whoppers caught up with him this week.

"Nick is a hard-ass; he has zero respect for the media, so he had no problem lying to them," Saunders said.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/mccarthy/2007-01-05-sports-television_x.htm

Critic’s Notebook
Golden Globe TV Picks
by Michael Ausiello TV Guide

Should Win: That Elizabeth I movie was supposed to be really good, so let's go with that.
Will Win: See "Should Win" above.

I love that reason. That sums up my voting logic in a lot of cases.

Judging by past results, I suspect a majority of the Golden Globe voters agree with you, VO!

TV Notebook
REMINDER: Television Critics Association Winter Tour Coverage

This year’s TCA Winter Tour officially begins Tuesday morning in Pasadena CA.

(Among many, many stories, last year’s event featured the news of the demise of “The West Wing”, The CW and UPN, along with the announcement of the CW.)

As usual, there will be many, many news items of note coming from the TCA, and you’ll keep abreast of all of them if you just visit this thread from Tuesday through the final session on January 20th.

The Business of Television
Sinclair Could Pull 30 Stations Off Comcast
By Anne Becker Broadcasting & Cable 1/5/2007

Sinclair Broadcast Group could end up yanking 30 stations off of Comcast because of an ongoing battle over retransmission consent - leaving some 3 million customers without their broadcast signal.
Sinclair's carriage deal with Comcast is up Feb. 5 and the broadcaster is demanding cash from the cable operator to carry its stations in 23 markets. Comcast, the nation's biggest cable operator, is refusing to pay cash and says Sinclair is the only broadcaster with which it can't reach a deal.

But in an interesting twist, many of its stations can't go black then due to a federal law that says no in-market station can be pulled from cable during a sweeps period.

By demanding cash, Sinclair becomes the latest broadcaster to assert its legal right to demand money in exchange for allowing the cable operator to retransmit their signal. Last month, fellow station owner Northwest Broadcasting Corp. pulled Fox stations on Time Warner Cable in three states because the two couldn't reach an agreement.

So far, stations have accepted advertising time from major cable operators or carriage of sister cable networks and have only gotten cash from satellite and small cable operators. Kagan Research projects that station owners stand to collect some $225 million in retransmission fees this year from cable and satellite operators and telcos, and $1 billion in 2009, the year some station owners’ cable deals, notably CBS, come due then.

The cable operators have historically said that they do not want to pay cash because they do not want to create higher bills for their customers, bills already getting hammered by the FCC as too high. Comcast would not say how much Sinclair was seeking and Sinclair did not return calls at press time.

In a statement, Comcast Corporation Executive Vice President David Cohen said: "Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the nation’s largest broadcast television station owners, has demanded large cash payments from Comcast, and ultimately consumers, so that these customers can continue to view broadcast television stations that are available over-the-air for free. We do not believe that our customers should have to pay extra to watch free TV.

"We are currently negotiating with Sinclair to reach a fair agreement, but are not legally allowed to carry these channels without Sinclair’s permission. We will do everything in our power to avoid service interruptions without adding Sinclair’s proposed fees to customers’ bills."

Sinclair, which owns mostly Fox and MyNetworkTV stations, has had similar battles with Time Warner and Mediacom. Time Warners rights to carry the Sinclair' station in Buffalo was up Dec. 31, according to Sinclair, but was extended until Jan. 12 when an agreement couldn't be reached, according to a Time Warner spokesperson. And Sinclair's contentious retransmission dispute with Mediacom - with Sinclair scheduled to pull 22 stations Jan. 5 - resulted in the cable operator filing a complaint with the FCC .

In a similar standoff, Nexstar pulled its stations off cable systems in four small markets in December 2004 after the operators refused to pay the 30¢ per subscriber rate Nexstar was seeking. Most of the disputes have been resolved, and Nexstar says the majority of cable operators are paying cash (however, CableOne and Cox, two of the biggest operators Nexstar fought, are not).

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6404747.html?display=Breaking+News

Fred, whatever happened to the results from the Favorites/Guilty Pleasure Cable TV poll? No new responses have been posted in days and we're anxiously awaiting the results. Golden what? SAG snag? :o

Counting the ballots takes a while, dad...and my accoutning firm has been attening a golfing outing in Hawaii for the holidays.

I'll get the results posted in the next few days.

The Business of Television
The paradox of Moonves
The CBS CEO is a throwback to Old Hollywood
By Peter Bart Variety

Les Moonves is now entering his 10th year as CEO of CBS, and the mere mention of his name elicits a range of vehement opinions. On one point, however, there's agreement: Moonves, more than any other contemporary industry executive, represents a throwback to the Irving Thalberg or Jack Warner school of power players in the Hollywood pantheon.

And the key reason is his total zeal for show business -- for the story sessions, the casting, the scheduling, the negotiations, the intrigues. Moonves is not an accountant or an attorney, but rather a creature of the business, which helps account for his remarkable tenure. Agents complain about his grudges, producers about his micromanaging and news purists about his lack of respect for the traditions of TV journalism, but nearly everyone respects the sheer panache with which he runs his company, and the obvious joy he derives from it.

Hence the paradox of Moonves: He is very much Old Hollywood, while simultaneously playing a pivotal role in the events of the moment, as the giant corporations try to morph their content to exploit newly emerging platforms.

It was only a decade ago that CBS itself was struggling to crawl out of last place and shed its geezer image. Remember the season when no fewer than 11 anti-geezer series were introduced bearing titles like "Central Park West," "Bless This House" or "American Gothic"? An ex-actor who had cultivated his executive swagger at Warner Bros. TV, Moonves knew he had a tough hill to climb, finding new shows to reshape his stolid demos.

He's proven to be a master at the game of network resuscitation, and at the corporate machinations that accompany it. Witness the fact that Tom Freston presently sits on the sidelines while Moonves' stock continues to rise.

Not all of his decisions have made sense, to be sure.

Moonves was convinced "The Fugitive" would be the hit show of 2000, not "CSI." His mandate to reinvent network news with Katie Couric as its new superstar remains perplexing.

Snarky critics at the New York Times even subscribe to what they call the man-in-the-Moonves theory of CBS programming that pays subliminal homage to the network's leadership style. CBS shows, they suggest, habitually feature the omniscient, workaholic male boss who is surrounded by young acolytes. (The Times relishes its Jungian approach to criticism.)

And his long-term strategy certainly has challenges. CBS has dallied with its downloads, but all the networks are losing ads to the Web, and if things are to continue growing, Moonves will have to try new adventures.

The latest rumors are that CBS is courting the Tribune Co. and entertaining schemes with Google -- at once dealing with Old Media and New Media hurdles simultaneously.

Amid all this, Moonves, like the Hollywood lions of old, has been proven right more often than he's been proven wrong. Indeed, it's interesting to speculate how Moonves would perform were he running a major movie studio today along with his network (he's alluded to this possibility in recent times). The Moonves studio would probably shape up like this:

• Its movies would largely be built around upbeat stories with strong narratives. ("Audiences don't like 'dark' " is a famous Moonves bylaw.)

• Decision-making would be quick and definitive, and if a filmmaker veered from his budget or his script, Moonves would quickly be in his face.

• Star vehicles would swiftly move forward. Moonves has always championed star value, but avid agents would hit the wall if their appetites became too voracious. ("Les will bend on some major points, but then he'll also kill you on your next deal, and he never forgets," warns one top agent.)

• Couric would turn up in a starring role -- or maybe not. Moonves is, most of all, a realist.

The Moonves studio would likely be a winner. And people would enjoy its pizzazz just as they did at the MGM of old.

For someone that fearful of "dark" stories, Moonves has managed for a decade now to light up a lot of rooms. That, in itself, is a superb way to ensure longevity.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956777&categoryid=14

TV Review
Trump's twists and turns
By Verne Gay, Newsday - January 5, 2007

In the early glory days of "The Apprentice" so very very long ago, there was but one reason and one reason only to watch yet another reality show about lean hungry type-A twinkies conniving their way to fabulous riches and fleeting prime-time fame. That was - naturally - the Trumpster. There was the hair that launched a thousand (mostly bad, mostly predictable) jokes. There was the soaring Trumpian hyperbole. The gold-lamé lifestyle. The this-could-be-yours-if-you-were-only-me attitude. The I'm More New Yorker Than Thou posture. Donald Trump was a complete ham - a walking, talking mound of glorious kitsch, and pretty much an unexpected pleasure to boot. The show wasn't half-bad, either.

Then, something happened: He got bored. The show got boring. NBC got bored. Viewers? Yeah, them too. (The fifth edition on Mondays ranked 55th in prime time, with just under 10 million holdouts, about half its first season average.) And now, on the eve of the sixth edition, the once-loyal viewers have every right to wonder, why bother this time around?

There are some compelling reasons not to. Trump's infantile Rosie rant continues unabated, shredding both his TV image and putative "authority" on the show. "You're fired" doesn't sound quite so menacing any more, and may even be a blessing to the recipient because (really) who wants to work for someone who exacts revenge with a meat hook? (Donald, take your own boardroom advice: Don't get mad. Get even.)

And ditching the greatest city on the planet: What's up with the show's shifting 3,000 miles west to Los Angeles? Now there's an underexposed metropolis for you! Minus the sun, the beach and a few movie studios, what have you got? Philadelphia. (Ba- dum.) Let's just say that this sprawling city-state lacks the urgency of New York, and as we all know, Donald Trump is very much of New York. In L.A., he's just another well-fed rich guy who drives around in a white convertible and lives in a hilltop mansion with a swell view of the smog. Big whooping deal. Doesn't everybody?

The new edition also features four contestants with Long Island connections. Publicist Jenn Hoffman grew up in Huntington; attorney Martin Clarke was raised in Amityville, and attorney Marisa De Mato was originally from Centereach. Hockey Olympian Angela Ruggiero, who grew up in Los Angeles, now lives in Oyster Bay and directs the Islanders' Project Hope, which provides young Chinese athletes with access to educational opportunities. They blend into this homogeneous crowd of Donald mini-mes, each of whom is anxious, bordering on desperate, to run a Trump construction site in Chicago. Considering the risk-reward ratio (see: Rosie rant), the enthusiasm hardly seems justified.

Those are the chief drawbacks. But this is a show produced by Mark Burnett. As reality TV's premiere head gamer, he's savvy enough to know that changing the rules doesn't necessarily mean gutting the show. With the sixth edition, he added some nice twists, though hardly imperfect ones.

Foremost, there's daughter Ivanka as Carolyn Kepcher's replacement: Viewers know her from past appearances, although she has assumed stature with this edition. A statuesque blond, she oversees the striving supplicants with a titanium-hard glare. She may be tougher and smarter than the old man. An obvious drawback: Why would Trump overrule his own daughter in the boardroom? He likely won't, which means she's become the real power behind his throne.

George Ross is also gone; that's too bad, but in his place there's a new twist. The leader of the winning team sits in judgment of those about to be fired. So, winners get double jeopardy - immunity and a chance to help eliminate a future rival.

Trump and Burnett have also embraced a "have/have-not" theme for number six. Winners of each weekly contest get to live in a well-appointed mansion adjoining Trump's hilltop aerie. Losers live in a well-appointed tent that lies in its shadow. The tent is just uncomfortable enough (check out the nice sound effects with the coyotes yapping up in the Hollywood hills) to make the losers try just a bit harder the following round.

The adjustments are good, while the show still has some of the same boardroom babble that made the early editions of "Apprentice" occasionally compelling. Enough to salvage a show once anointed to anchor NBC's money night (Thursday)? By now, the answer should be self-evident.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-etapp5038978jan05,0,2188069.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV Review
Will viewers follow the Donald and 'The Apprentice' to L.A.?
Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune "The Watcher" Blog - January 4, 2007

Like so many aging stars, “The Apprentice” has had a face-lift.

For its sixth edition, “The Apprentice” (8:30 p.m. Sunday, WMAQ-Ch. 5) has moved from New York City to Los Angeles, where the locals know a thing or two about nips and tucks.

There’s no doubt that the reality franchise, in which Donald Trump picks a minion to work in his business empire, needed surgical procedure or two to fend off the effects of aging. “The Apprentice” was a sensation when it debuted a mere three years ago, but it failed to adapt or evolve and quickly became formulaic. Only 11 million viewers tuned in for the most recent finale of the show in June - that’s a far cry from the 28 million who breathlessly watched the end of the first “Apprentice.”

And the debacle that was the Martha Stewart edition of the show demonstrated that mindlessly cloning every detail of “The Apprentice” format just doesn’t work ad nauseam. Mark Burnett and the other producers of the Donald version have realized that, hence the tents and Port-a-Potties.

Yes, this edition of “The Apprentice” is in tents. That’s no typo; there are actually tents out in the back yard of the hilltop L.A. mansion that serves as the show’s headquarters. The tents are the digs of the losing team each week, which must bathe, eat, go to the bathroom and sleep outside. Worse yet, the losing team must listen to the clinking glasses and triumphal chatter of the winning team, which stays in the posh mansion just a few feet away.

The back-yard digs do add a layer of interest to the franchise: The tents and outdoor bathrooms create substantial motivation for both teams to win each week.

Nobody wants to be exiled to “Trump trailer park,” as one contestant calls it.

There are other changes as well. Carolyn Kepcher and George Ross, Trump’s fellow judges in past seasons, are history. Trump’s daughter Ivanka is helping dear old dad with boardroom decisions, and other “special guests” will drop by to help with the candidate assessments.

Winning project managers also will get the opportunity to advise Trump on who should be fired, and the team leaders will get to hang on to their posts as long as their side continues to be victorious.

There’s still a pretty large helping of boardroom bickering in each episode; one’s tolerance for that kind of sniping may wane as the season progresses, depending on how interesting -- or not -- the contestants turn out to be. And there’s the whole issue of whether anyone still wants to listen to the advice of Trump, whose pompous-blowhard shtick isn’t getting any fresher, and whose recent war of words with Rosie O’Donnell made the business titan look like a petulant schoolyard bully.

Despite the new bells and whistles, which may attract some viewers back to the fold, the trouble with “The Apprentice” is the competition -- and I don't mean the battles between the contestants.

There are a lot of good shows on television as the new year dawns, and whether this edition of the show will go the distance depends a lot on whether these “Apprentice” alterations will keep things interesting for a full season.

Let’s face it, the Donald and the new-style “The Apprentice” are going up against “Desperate Housewives” on Sundays. And those perfectly sculpted women play to win.

Also Sunday: NBC debuts “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” (7 p.m. Sunday, WMAQ-Ch. 5), in which Broadway producers do an “American Idol”-style search for the lead performers in a Broadway revival of “Grease.”

Could this NBC reality show about the Great White Way’s next Danny and Sandy be the holy grail that the non-Fox networks have been looking for - a new reality show that can actually snare “Idol”-style ratings?

Who knows, but it should be noted that the English version of this show, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria,” in which London theater luminaries searched for a lead for their West End revival of “The Sound of Music,” was a sensation across the pond last summer.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2007/01/will_vieweres_f.html

Wow, I actually own "Gunslinger Girls" on DVD and never thought it would ever air in America because of its theme (which is a dark mix of the movies Leon: The Professional and Le Femme Nikita). Kudos to IFC for bringing it over to America. This one definitely gets a season pass on my DVR just so I can check how the English translation turned out.

TV Review
Into anime? Then check out these three bloody good series
By Melanie McFarland, Seattle Post-Intelligencer - January 4, 2007

Cable channels opened the anime floodgates in recent seasons, granting fans more access than ever to a number of series that transcend the hoary giant robot cliche. This has been a good thing, mostly.

Cartoon Network has long been home to some terrific Japanese imports such as "Inuyasha," "Cowboy Bebop" and more recently, "Fullmetal Alchemist." Anime programming popped up on G4 and various premium movie specialty channels. Comcast even has a video On -Demand section devoted to the genre.

Anime is more mainstream than it ever has been, and yet it remains a tough sell to the average broadcast viewer. Those who get past the idea that cartoons are kid stuff might be put off by the extreme violence of it all, on top of other concepts middle America would no doubt find distasteful, one of which figures prominently in "Gunslinger Girl," half of a Japanese animation block premiering on IFC Friday night.

More to come on that one.

Aside from these points, even a hard-core fan would readily admit that a lot of anime is tough to follow. Some series seem absolutely pointless by the end, in fact. Few contrivances test one's patience more than a half-hour that ends up being all show and no substance.

Spike TV's "Afro Samurai," a limited-run series airing late night on Thursdays, threatens to tumble into that category, but it's hard to tell with one half-hour dose, an admittedly satisfying one at that. The thrills come fast and bloody in this first episode, starting with a brutal beheading and progressing to dismemberment and a waterfall of red ink soon after. Make sure your children are in bed.

Considering the Spike TV audience's demands, though, merely knowing that Samuel L. Jackson is the Afro Samurai is reason enough to watch. Jackson co-produced the miniseries, voicing the main character as well as a mouthy bum following the wandering warrior.

Lending dialogue to two characters doesn't pose much of a problem here, since Afro is a silent guy who slices his katana through bullets and rocket-propelled grenades without much of a problem. Blending the classic imagery of the old-school Japanese samurai with futuristic technology -- the enemy keeps tabs on Afro using spies with cell phones, for example -- "Afro Samurai" adds another enticing level with music composed by The RZA.

And the tale? Well, spaghetti Western junkies, you've seen this one a million times.

As a boy, Afro watches as his father, wearing the headband of Number One, is coldly murdered by a gun-slinging villain Justice ("Hellboy's" Ron Perlman). Flash forward a few years, and Afro now wears the Number Two band, requiring him to slaughter all challengers in his journey to avenge his father.

There are other forces at work, of course. See, whoever holds the Number One band is considered to be a god who can only be brought down by Number Two. Number Two's fate, in contrast, is constant battle. Everyone is after Afro and his headband, including a dark pseudo-religious organization on a mountain. Stick around for lots of good times with weapons.

There are many ways something like this, long on style and adrenaline and short on everything else, can go awry. A bloodbath per week can sustain a story for only so long, and judging where the first episode leaves us, one wonders whether its obvious drive to be cool will be enough to keep people watching through to the finale.

Animation of this caliber demands that all the accompanying elements be locked in place, and that includes intricate, solidly directed story lines matching the originality of the concept. And yes, those are highbrow requirements for brain sherbet, but the best anime satisfies them.

If you agree, click over to the Independent Film Channel's latest anime block additions, "Gunslinger Girl" and "Basilisk" Friday nights. Of the two, "Gunslinger" is darker and deeper: An underground Italian government group called the Social Welfare Agency takes little girls, preferably orphans near death, brainwashes them, gives them cybernetic bodies and trains them to be assassins.

A number of viewers probably would consider the idea of girls in sailor suits armed to the teeth to be the product of sick minds. (We're guessing they've stopped reading by this point.) Actually, that image is an anime standby, but this sinister little number takes it to a different level. The assassins are paired with adult handlers in teams called "fratello," Italian for sibling, and each handler treats his charge differently. Some connect and care for them more like fathers than brothers. Others treat them as the government meant to treat them, as machines, tools to be used up and replaced.

In reality, we soon learn of all the ways she and the other girls are, in fact, merely little girls who stargaze, have tea parties and develop crushes they later have to -- never mind. All you need to know is that each haunting chapter leaves you heartbroken, disturbed and hungry for the next.

To keep the night from becoming too much of a downer, "Basilisk," a history-inspired soap opera pitting feudal-era ninja clans against one another in a fight to the grisly end, follows "Gunslinger Girl." There's a star-crossed romance at the center with murder swirling all around them and again, the battle sequences are epic and the visuals are stunning.

"Basilisk" and "Gunslinger Girl" each have compelling, thoughtful stories beneath all that action, which is the main reason a person craves anime in the first place. Amid a river of simpler imports, they are an astonishing, welcome addition no animation fan should pass up.

WATCH IT

-"Afro Samurai," 11 p.m. Thursdays, Spike TV

-"Gunslinger Girl" and "Basilisk," 8 and 8:30 p.m. Fridays, Independent Film Channel (repeats at 11pm and overnight)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/298271_tv04.html

A little late but this article states something that's been on my mind this past week.

TV Notebook
Changing seasons
Nowadays on TV, January means premieres, not reruns and also-rans
By David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun - January 2, 2007

Not long ago, if a network or cable channel scheduled the premiere of a new TV series in winter -- rather than the fall -- it was tantamount to a kiss of death.

But these days, TV executives frequently save their top-draw fare -- think Fox's American Idol and 24 -- for what's being called television's "second season." The strategy, which was pioneered by HBO and honed in recent years by Fox, is a direct response to the revved-up, all-year-round competition catalyzed by aggressive cable programming and the demands of an audience armed with new digital viewing options such as TiVo.

"It used to be that if you saw a new show in January, it meant that the show had failed to make the fall schedule," says Rob Burnett, Emmy Award-winning co-creator and executive producer of ABC's The Knights of Prosperity, which premieres tomorrow night.

"But that has changed completely. The network told us this show is too good to launch in the fall."

The second-season warfare starts tonight with the premiere of cable channel FX's Dirt, a racy new drama starring Courteney Cox (formerly of NBC's Friends) as a Hollywood gossip-magazine editor. In addition to marking the return of Cox to weekly television, the series arrives at a time of heightened interest in celebrity exposes, thanks to the recent debacles of Mel Gibson and Michael Richards.

"A lot of people will be back into their routines as of Jan. 2 and will come home from work looking for an opportunity to see something new and fresh," says Chuck Saftler, executive vice president for scheduling and programming at FX. "That's what we're trying to give them with the early January launch of Dirt."

According to Saftler, cable channels such as FX introduce new programs in January hoping "to get a foothold with viewers" before the February sweeps ratings period starts.

"For cable, we're trying to get four weeks of our new series running before the networks start making all their marketing noise for big events during February sweeps," he explains. "We're hoping to create viewing habits that will be cemented by the time February arrives."

Network executives, meanwhile, are making an all-out effort to head off their cable competitors at the midseason pass.

ABC, for example, tomorrow night will offer two new series: Burnett's Knights of Prosperity, a blue-collar comedy from David Letterman's production company about a crew of common guys who decide to rob Mick Jagger's New York apartment, and In Case of Emergency, a sitcom about a group of middle-aged men taking stock of what their lives have not become.

Thursday night, a pair of TV's most popular series, ABC's Grey's Anatomy and CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, return with new episodes after more than a month of reruns. By Sunday night, all of network TV's top series will be showing original episodes.

But nothing in network series television tops the start of the sixth season of TV's most acclaimed drama, 24, on Jan. 14 and 15, and the beginning of a new cycle Jan. 16 of American Idol, the medium's highest-rated series the past two years.

Idol, with its team of celebrity judges and legions of stardom seekers, is so attractive to advertiser-coveted young viewers that its success has twice carried Fox to first-place finishes among viewers 18 to 49 years old for the entire September-through-May season despite only arriving in January. Stoked by Kiefer Sutherland's powerful performance as federal agent Jack Bauer, the anti-terrorism serial 24 spawned an entire genre of serialized imitators last fall -- none of which came close to matching the original in buzz or Nielsen Top 10 ratings.

"We've made two decisions that have really paid off for us during these last two years," says Preston Beckman, executive vice president of strategic programming and research at Fox.

"First, never abuse American Idol. We make it a January-through-May event only -- and we don't overexpose it. Second, we took a calculated risk two years ago by holding 24 until January instead of starting it in the fall, so that we could run it continuously through May and premiere it as a big-event, miniseries-like launch in January."

The fact that those decisions last year took Fox from fourth place in January to first place in overall ratings by May is also driving the increased competition between cable and network TV this midseason.

In coming weeks, cable will premiere a slew of such reality series as MTV's I'm from Rolling Stone (Sunday), a competition that pits six young journalists against each other as they compete for a staff position on the counterculture magazine, and Lifetime's Gay, Straight or Taken? (Monday), a dating game in which women try to determine who might be an eligible bachelor.

Later this month, HBO starts a new season of Ricky Gervais' Extras (Jan. 14), while USA brings back Monk and Psych (Jan. 19).

NBC will counter by relaunching Donald Trump's Apprentice (Sunday) after a move to Los Angeles and restarting its fall hit Heroes (Jan. 22) for what network executives promise will be an uninterrupted run of original episodes through May.

Fox will do the same with Prison Break (Jan. 22), while ABC and CBS will go nonstop through May with two other highly successful serialized dramas that had been off the air for more than a month, Lost (Feb. 7) and Jericho (Feb. 21). The strategy of scheduling shows from January to May without interruption is on the rise this year, and it's a technique that network executives learned from their cable counterparts, according to FX's Saftler.

"Once viewers get hooked on what's going to happen to Jack Bauer, or who is going to be eliminated by the judges, they want the show to be there week after week," he says.

"Once the viewer is engaged, don't let them down -- that's something that cable has shined a little light on for the networks, I think."

Though Fox in recent years has refined the art of midseason programming, the practice began in January 1999, when HBO premiered The Sopranos, a crime drama about a mob boss on the verge of an emotional meltdown. The series will begin its final season of eight episodes in April.

Regardless of when the shift to midseason started, the net effect is that the late winter, prime-time landscape has been significantly transformed for the better.

"Giving viewers great programming in January has so far been a pretty good formula for success for us," says Fox's Beckman. "When American Idol and 24 come on, the whole circulation of the entire network goes up. ... The viewers and the networks win."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-to.tv02jan02,0,6865310.story?coll=bal-tv-utility

TV Review
You’re tired!: Small changes can’t improve ‘The Apprentice’
By Mark A. Perigard, Boston Herald - January 4, 2007

“The Apprentice” Season premiere Sunday at 9:30 on WHDH (Ch. 7).
Grade: C+

The angriest comb-over on TV relocates to Los Angeles to bully a new group of job applicants in the latest edition of “The Apprentice” (Sunday at 9:30 p.m. on WHDH, Ch. 7).

The surprise: Sometimes nepotism is a good thing.

Now that Donald Trump has given boardroom judge Carolyn Kepcher the heave-ho (allegedly because she was too enamored of her own rising star), Rosie O’Donnell’s arch-nemesis has finished a familywide search and plucked daughter Ivanka to sit by his side in the boardroom executions - err, dismissals. (Ivanka filled in occasionally last year.)

Ivanka, as the bloated 90-minute premiere demonstrates, has a quick way of summing up people, cuts through bull and can keep a conversation on track. She’s proof that business sense can be inherited - from the mother’s side, no doubt.

The 18 thoroughly overqualified candidates vying for Trump’s approval include a millionaire Internet entrepreneur, an attorney-professor, a three-time Olympic ice hockey player and numerous attorneys. These people aren’t looking for or in need of life-alternating mentorships with The Donald. They’re here for one more bullet-point on their resumes. Why the show doesn’t open its format and include folks for whom a year with Trump might actually mean something remains a mystery.

The local in the mix, Newton native Tim, 24, is a Harvard grad, musician and the owner of a tutoring company. Judging from the first two episodes, he’s the stock type who likes to blame others before any blame can be cast his way. It’s the kind of pettiness “The Apprentice” encourages and rewards.

There are some tweaks to the format. The losing team must bunk outside in tents.

“The sinks don’t drain. This does feel like Third World,” one complains. Yes, exactly right, a Third World nation located in the back yard of a California mansion with a gorgeous view. The teams eavesdrop on each other through enormous hedges.

The winning project manager sits in on Trump’s boardroom deliberations with the losing team, a possible strategic advantage.

The boardroom sessions remain depressing, with people throwing each other under the bus to score points with Trump.

In the first challenge, the two teams must run a car wash. Because one is located in West Hollywood, “a homosexual area,” we’re told, the team hires two male models to carry ratty cardboard signs.

Next week, cribbing from sister network’s “Project Runway,” the contestants must design and sell a line of swimwear. You’ll witness the creation of the single most unflattering piece of men’s swimwear in history and hear Trump exclaim, “I have a great, great body.”

It’s not worth your time.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=175182

TV Review
I'm mad at 'L' and may not take it anymore
By Melanie McFarland, Seattle Post-Intelligencer - January 6, 2007

Cybill Shepherd. Marlee Matlin. Bruce Davison, Jessica Capshaw, Heather Matarazzo and Annabella Sciorra attached as guest stars, jumping into a series that has made L.A.'s lesbian community synonymous with high fashion and celebratory sexuality.

Taste the spoils of "The L Word's" baroque period, with the writers going hog-wild with the show's status of being a premium cable's "in" thing; yes, open wide for a big gulp of it.

In this fourth season, creator and executive producer Ilene Chaiken is smashing her creation's excess in our faces, much like a joker squishing wedding cake in his bride's face in front of all the guests.

You probably don't like witnessing that kind of aggression at a reception, and you definitely shouldn't have to put up with it in what used to be a TV pleasure. But that's what you've gotten for a couple seasons now, twists, shockers and flaccid story lines introduced solely for the sake of throwing them in our laps.

Oh, well. We still have The Chart.

The creative decline of "The L Word" is one of TV's bigger disappointments, even taking into account the fact that downward spirals are inevitable for nearly every TV series.

Maybe we're silly to hold Showtime's first decent drama to a higher standard. Or, maybe we just remember that when the series was in top form, it was a fearless, joyful, addictive good time.

Somewhere between the second and third season, "The L Word's" plot drifted and skittered between the slightly plausible and indulgent, and hands have been off the steering wheel ever since.

That came to a head with its irritating, thoughtless third-season finale, which showed off with two tricks as old as the television soap opera: a kidnapping and a wedding.

Those lazy twists have an additional level of thoughtlessness here. "The L Word" has never been afraid of making political statements or social commentary; even if the clumsiness with which Chaiken and her writing staff handle the show's soapbox tirades makes some viewers deeply wish it were. (This season Chaiken and the writers bumble their way through workplace discrimination, do a fly-by on abortion and -- hold breath and nose -- wrestle with the war in Iraq.)

Yet, months before a midterm election in which numerous states banned gay marriage, what does it do? Have one of the most popular characters, Shane (Katherine Moennig) abandon her lover, Carmen (Sarah Shahi), at the altar for, when you think about it, no reason other than to service shallow melodrama.

At least when Bette (Jennifer Beals) kidnapped her daughter, Angelica, it had the benefit of being preceded by a season's worth of tension.

Slapping a cliffhanger into a show is easy enough. What Chaiken hasn't mastered is the art of leaving viewers with substance worth gripping, following that with a solid landing from which to continue. I wish I could say season four's opener atones for previous mistakes. It does not.

Instead we have superficial storytelling dotted with stiffer public-service announcements, haphazard attempts tie up last season's loose ends, and Shepherd in a guest-star role that makes middle age look like an endless nightmare.

"The L Word's" flirtation with guest cameos wasn't always so pointless. Alan Cumming spiced things up as The Planet's hedonistic booker, Billie Blaikie, last year. A few minutes with Shepherd's character, and you'll miss him more than you thought possible.

As California University's top dog and Bette's new boss, Shepherd doesn't overpower the cast, and her performance isn't half bad. We'll give her that.

Nor is it impressive enough to make her addition to the cast anything other than ornamental. Matlin, as artist-in-residence Jodi Lerner, brings a sharp quirkiness to the mix, but only by a touch.

Luckily, they're not the ones people care about. Shane is a mess. Bette's AWOL, and when Tina (Laurel Holloman) isn't out of her mind with worry about where Angelica is, she's whining about how tough it is to reconcile her new straight life with the comfortable glamour of her posse.

Helena Peabody (Rachel Shelley) is comically pouting over being cut off from her family's bottomless well of money; Max (Daniela Sea) is still trying to navigate the female-to-male transition as his career takes off; and Kit (Pam Grier) has to figure out how to handle her pre-menopausal pregnancy.

And Jennifer, oh Jenny (Mia Kirshner). Newly published and more insufferable than you could possibly imagine, her obsession with one particularly unkind review bloats into the season's most asinine development. Again, you have to wonder, why kill Dana and not this hack?

One bright reason may be because she becomes the pompous foil to one the best things "The L Word" has going for it: Alice (Leisha Hailey), a charming, awkward extrovert with a snarky sense of humor.

The other, of course, is The Chart, Alice's ever-growing web of sexual hookups and the show's key motif.

Now, The Chart has become an Internet phenomenon that melds bedpost notches with Facebook. Clicking a face shows the connection each character has too other women, making them the center of galaxies. It's global and, in one of Chaiken's savvier marketing ideas, it'll be real.

The fourth-season premiere coincides with the launch of OurChart.com, a joint venture between Chaiken and Showtime, a real version of Alice's pet project. (Beals, Moennig and Hailey are founding partners and will contribute content.)

Contrary to other "L Word" elements, this isn't product placement for its own sake. The in-show Web site introduces a new force named Papi (Janina Gavankar) who, amazingly, has slept with more L.A. lesbians than Shane, pre-monogamy collar. But beware -- Papi is the personification of what "The L Word" has become -- stylistically baroque, perhaps creatively broke. We're still curious, though, as to whether it can be fixed.

WATCH IT

-"The L Word," 10 p.m. Sundays, Showtime

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/298626_tv06.html
____________________________________________________________ _____

If you're a hardcore fan of "The L Word" you might want to read this Miami Herald article about the online presence of the show. It's not a topic that fits within the parameters of this thread but an interesting read nevertheless: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/television/16393838.htm

Opinion
Play Fair, NFL
Levi Maaia's Multichannel News "Voices" Column - January 5, 2007

For a football fan, the NFL Network might sound like a dream come true. All football, all the time. Why then can’t football fans in many cable markets buy the NFL Network separately from expanded-basic cable? The NFL is trying to do an end run around sports tiers and be in every cable-subscribing home, whether the individual subscriber wants them or not. The NFL will not allow cable operators to launch the NFL Network on anything but the most highly penetrated program tier -- analog basic cable. For nearly all operators, this is a technical and financial challenge.

Consumers clearly want a model more like á la carte programming. While this goal may be idealistic but impractical for many reasons, cable and its partnering network programmers should be looking at giving consumers more choices, not less. Force-feeding niche cable sports programming will only stir even more consumer contempt toward cable.

Through very slick marketing, the NFL Network has attempted to pit subscribers against their cable companies by making it appear that cable operators are depriving them of incredible sports content available on satellite. In our little corner of Rhode Island, this marketing has been less than effective.

Full Channel has received inquiries about the NFL Network from less than 0.01% of the subscriber base. In dealing directly with the customers who have contacted us, I have found that they are largely unaware of what the NFL Network really is. Some think they will see every football game in the country for free. Others think they are missing games that used to be available on other networks.

After explaining the situation to a typical customer touching on the facts that: “There are only eight live games on the network, and the NFL wants your cable bill to go up at least 70 cents monthly,” nearly all of our subscribers have stayed with Full Channel even though our Atlanta-based MSO overbuilder (Cox Communications) carries the network.

Through a targeted marketing campaign (see SportsChoiceNow.org) the American Cable Association, the voice of the nation’s independent cable operators, has pushed hard on the NFL, demanding reasonable treatment for all cable systems, big and small. So far, the NFL has thrown its weight around, ridiculed the little guy and ignored the larger issues.

The NFL has been nothing short of unreasonable with their demands. As reported in the press, the NFL is asking for nearly 70 cents from each analog basic subscriber. Like most small operators, Full Channel doesn’t have 70 cents extra per subscriber to send to the NFL.

If added, the NFL’s fee would come directly from every subscriber’s pocketbook. By refusing the NFL Network’s demands, we, along with other independent operators, are making a concerted effort to control rapidly inflating cable TV rates. As long as programmers continue to tie the hands of cable operators, consumers will have more and more reasons to turn away from cable and toward online-based video-on-demand and other alternative content delivery methods, hurting both cable operators and network programmers equally.

http://www.multichannel.com/blog/20000202/post/400006240.html

TV Notebook
Critics prepare to be bombarded by networks
By Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - January 7, 2007

Six months ago, when TV critics last met in Pasadena, Calif., the temperature topped 110 degrees and the hot topic, other than the heat, was the rise of the serialized drama.

The networks had loaded their fall schedules with "to be continued" series. At a time of fragmenting viewership, the broadcasters believed, the need to tune in each week to get a clue and solve a puzzle would compel audiences to stick with these new shows, turning them into hits the way fans did with "Lost" and "24."

The gathered critics were skeptical. How many serialized shows, we wondered, could an ordinary viewer really keep up with? And wouldn't bad feelings result if audiences got attached to a show with an ongoing story, only to have it canceled with no end in sight?

The network bosses pooh-poohed our concerns, but who's pooh-poohing now? Many of fall's new serialized shows have already been canceled, creating the inevitable bad feelings with viewers of "Vanished." And "Kidnapped." And "The Nine." And — well, probably nobody remembers "Runaway."

Clearly, there will be a "told you so" factor at work when the Television Critics Association and the broadcast networks meet beginning next week. But cable goes first at the winter confab, with networks from the Weather Channel and Great American Country to Showtime and HBO spotlighting their midseason offerings at Pasadena's Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel.

Los Angeles is typically lovely in January, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s during the day, plunging all the way to 50 at night. Not that the weather matters so much; with eight to 10 networks presenting panel after panel all day and into the night, the cable portion of what we call the TCA press tour is a confusing, chaotic event relieved only by a hospitality suite open into the wee hours.

A&E headlines a new series about the Dark Ages. Animal Planet announces a six-part miniseries tracking the arrival of spring. The Travel Channel urges us to think about "1,000 Places To See Before You Die."

BBC America offers "Robin Hood" for a new generation. ABC Family serves up an uncharacteristically gritty look at a suburban family in the inner city. E! goes inside Las Vegas with Ryan Seacrest.

But PBS can top that. Following cable, public TV has Ben E. King for a "Great Performances" look at Atlantic Records. And PBS also has Sting, performing in an intimate little concert featuring his "Songs From the Labyrinth." Even with 16th-century minstrel music, Sting is A-list.

By the time the broadcast networks arrive, maybe the critics will be mellowed out. ABC promises a "Lost" panel and an Oscar preview. NBC will bring in the new "Today" team and risk an appearance by the desperately controversial Donald Trump, in addition to rounding up the whole cast of "Heroes."

CBS schedules a farewell chat with Bob Barker and a Super Bowl-theme happy hour. The CW outlines "The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll." Fox has "The Simpsons," "American Idol" and something called "Drive."

But that's not all. The critics will also board buses and schlep off in all directions for set visits, with "Ugly Betty," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "NCIS" and "24" on the agenda.

I'll be writing my Tube Talk blog on stltoday.com from Pasadena beginning Wednesday. And look for my first "Postcard from LA" in A&E next Sunday.

Stay tuned.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/columnists.nsf/gailpennington/story/EF00F62F73C55C218625725B00113E1A?OpenDocument

The Business of Television
Mediacom: Sinclair Says Pull Plug
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 1/5/2007

Cable company Mediacom said Friday that Sinclair Broadcast Group had instructed it to pull its stations--22 of them--from its channel lineup.

The FCC had denied a Mediacom complaint that Sinclair had not bargained in good faith, and Sinclair had told the company it would have to pull the signals Jan. 5. The FCC also had asked the companies to submit to binding arbitration and for Sinclair to keep the stations on the cable system during that process. Sinclair had said it would consider the advice.

The two have been unable to come to terms for cash payments to Sinclair for carriage of its mix of network affiliated and independent stations. Sinclair says it should be paid a carriage fee comparable to that for cable networks that are similarly rated to its stations.

“We are certainly dismayed with Sinclair’s inability to commit to our offer of binding arbitration made yesterday, a solution that was strongly encouraged in the recent Order by the FCC’s Media Bureau,” said Mediacom Executive VP John Pascarelli.

In the interim, Mediacom will put alternate programming on the vacant channels, including other cable networks, local programming and even other TV stations where markets overlap.

Mediacom has also handed out over-the-air antennas to customers. The NFL playoffs begin Jam.6, and the college championship game is next week.

Sinclair has aired on-screen crawls warning cable viewers they might lose access to the station, and encouraged them to seek alternatives, especially DirecTV, with which Sinclair has a standing agreement to get money for each new sub it refers.

Sinclair is in another retrans dust-up with Comcast, with another couple dozen stations slates to be pulled in early March if the two sides can't agree on a price.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6404769

The Business of TV
Mediacom Note to Sinclair-area subscribers

(This is the notice posted for Mediacom viewers in the St. Louis area. Almost identically-worded statements were posted on the Mediacom website for subscribers in other Sinclair areas.)

(January 6, 2007)
Dear Mediacom Customer,

At 12:01AM (Central Standard Time) January 6, 2007, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of KDNL Channel 30, demanded that Mediacom remove that station along with its other stations from our cable systems. We had been working hard to keep this from happening and we regret that they have taken this drastic step.

Up until last month, Sinclair had allowed us to carry their stations for no charge. They are now demanding that we pay much more than we are paying any other broadcaster and, we believe, more than any other comparably sized cable company is paying them.

We have presented a number of reasonable offers to Sinclair over the last few months, all of which have been rejected. These offers have ranged from cash payments, to the same terms and conditions we have negotiated with other broadcasters in these same markets, to Binding Arbitration, all to no avail.

We are doing what we can to bring the stations back quickly without giving in to unreasonable demands. If we give in, the other broadcasters we carry would then also expect similar payments which would impact our cable rates dramatically. These increased costs are ultimately paid by you – our loyal customers.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this dispute with Sinclair may cause you. In situations in the past where broadcasters have pulled stations from cable companies, the disputes were often resolved quickly and the stations returned to the lineup.

In the meantime, we urge you not to rush into a long term agreement with anther provider while we negotiate.

We appreciate your patience and support.

Sincerely,
Jim Carey
Senior Vice President Southern Division

All the Mediacom notices to subscribers are here:

http://www.befairsinclair.com/

Technology Notebook
Companies Pay Dearly for Technology Trade Show

By Brad Stone and Damon Darlin The New York Times January 6, 2007

For a small technology company called Digeo, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is one of the biggest opportunities of the year. For the next few days, the city will be jampacked with potential customers, partners and press — but the price of participation is daunting.

It starts with $24,500 for reserving 700 square feet of booth space on the sprawling convention center floor, tens of thousands more to furnish and operate the booth, plus $300 a night for hotel rooms for the 29 Digeo employees who are attending the convention.

Then there is the cost of rental vans, thousands of dollars to advertise at the show and meals for employees. The eight-year-old company, which makes gear and software for home entertainment, estimates that it will spend $500,000 to $1 million on the show this year.

Is it worth it? “Ask me afterward,” said Allison Cornia, vice president for marketing at Digeo.

Financial anxieties aside, Digeo, like almost every other technology company, hardly thinks twice about attending the event, North America’s largest trade show and the industry’s flashiest stage, which turns 40 years old this year.

Luminaries like Bill Gates, Michael S. Dell and Robert A. Iger, the Disney chief executive, will deliver keynote speeches. Starting Monday, powerhouses like Sony, Samsung and Panasonic will light up the showroom floor for four days with their largest high-definition TVs, smallest digital music players and latest high-tech gadgets, many of them months away from going on sale.

The event, known in the industry as C.E.S., provides more than $80 million in revenue for the Consumer Electronics Association, an industry trade group and lobbyist. It has thrived even as Comdex, the computer industry show that once held sway here, went bust. And it is a windfall for a booming city.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimates that 140,000 attendees and 2,700 exhibiting companies will pump about $230 million into the city economy this year, 40 percent more than the show generated in 2001.

But for many of the exhibiting companies, C.E.S. is something else entirely: a huge and ever-growing bill and a challenge to be heard by the industry elite over a deafening cacophony.

“I don’t think you can buy the value you are getting from exposure to that many people,” said Sterling Pratz, chief executive of Autonet Mobile, a month-old company trying to bring Internet access into cars.

Mr. Pratz is bringing all six of his employees to the show and asking them to share hotel rooms to save money. “We are putting the people who snore together,” he said.

Headaches for companies at C.E.S. go far beyond simply opening the corporate pocketbook. Hotels triple their rates for the event, and most of the city’s 133,000 rooms are sold out for months in advance.

A regular suite at Caesars Palace that runs $99 a night any other weekday will go for $350 during C.E.S. On the other end of the spectrum, Verizon Wireless is renting the Hardwood suite at the Palms Casino Resort — which features a half basketball court and 10,000-square-foot room. The room goes for $25,000 a night.

Hewlett-Packard, a major exhibitor that has paid $40,000 to brand big plastic tote bags with its Connecting Your World slogan, has to find accommodations for 500 employees for the week. It does get a discount because it buys in bulk, a marketing executive said, but he said total show expenses easily run to several million dollars.

On the convention floor, booth space costs $35 a square foot for association members and $40 for anyone else. That means the electronics giant Samsung, this year’s largest exhibitor, with a 25,000-square-foot booth, will pay the Consumer Electronics Association $875,000 for real estate alone.

C.E.S. is so vast that GES Exhibition Services, the show’s main contractor, lays 350,000 feet of extension cord, enough to run up and down the Empire State Building 140 times, and 1.2 million square feet of aisle carpet, enough to cover 600 average homes.

Other charges include union labor to bring the booth materials into the hall ($70 an hour), separate union workers to actually build the booth (up to $1 million for the larger setups), Internet access ($1,195), booth “spokesmodels” ($300 a day plus agency fees) and water ($49 for a case of 24 bottles) to keep everyone properly hydrated.

The toll on the expense accounts, and sanity, of technology executives does not stop there.

Limousines are used to chauffeur many executives from the convention center to the hotels on the Strip, where companies set up hospitality suites or showrooms. But the streets are so clogged with traffic that it can take 30 minutes to travel from the convention center to a nearby hotel.

The city’s entire fleet of limousines has been booked, often for 30 percent over the regular rate, and one of the few available minibuses would cost a company’s marketing department $4,656 over four days, according to one firm, Las Vegas Transportation.

Restaurants are sold out months in advance. Craftsteak, the star chef Tom Colicchio’s steakhouse at the MGM Grand, is booked solid for the first three days and says it will do 40 percent more business than usual. The “surf and turf” tasting menu (Kobe beef, lobster and salmon) costs $135 a plate, but the restaurant asks for a minimum bill of $3,000 to $4,000 from large groups.

Putting on parties is not cheap either. On Tuesday night, Dell is renting out Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. Such a party, including music, food, premium liquor and photos of guests with Lucille Ball and George Washington, can cost $60,000.

On many nights during C.E.S. there are miniconventions in hotel ballrooms, like tomorrow’s Digital Experience at Caesars Palace. Exhibition tables at the event go for up to $12,000 to companies like Sony and Microsoft, which seek to court the attending journalists.

Chris O’Malley, a partner at Pepcom, the company that runs Digital Experience, says the cost of operating his event at C.E.S. goes up 20 percent each year. As attendance grows, he said, prices for food, drinks, labor and ballroom rentals rise, too.

“Las Vegas is the ultimate supply-and-demand city,” he said. “The cost to host 1,500 hungry, thirsty people during the most expensive week in the city is now a little staggering.”

Yet pretty much every company in the intermingling fields of consumer electronics, entertainment, automotive gadgets and video games arrives for C.E.S. and takes part in some way, even if it is not directly on the showroom floor. I.B.M., which says its computer business is growing indistinguishable from consumer electronics, is returning to the convention center after a 10-year hiatus and renting 3,600 square feet.

On the other hand, DirecTV, after renting a booth for the last decade, is leaving the show floor amid concerns about rising costs and what its co-president, John Suranyi, calls “the hype and clutter of the experience.” Instead, it is renting a ballroom at Caesars Palace and holding its own events during the show.

Some companies clearly do not mind the chaos. Monster Cable, a company in Brisbane, Calif., that makes home entertainment products that in any other context would appear numbingly dull — like cables connecting audio and video equipment — leaps at the annual opportunity to catch a bit of Las Vegas glamour.

This year it will put 140 employees up at the Venetian Hotel, operate two separate booths and six private demo rooms at the convention center, and put on a Monday night concert at the Venetian Palace that will unite the jazz greats George Benson and Al Jarreau.

The company would not specify its overall C.E.S. expenditure but said that it devoted 10 to 15 percent of its annual marketing budget to the show.

Monster’s chief executive, Noel Lee, said the investment was worthwhile because the show gave his employees a singular goal and deadline. “If it weren’t for C.E.S., we could not have grown the company the way we have,” he said.

Many companies say the show actually saves them money by allowing sales representatives to meet all their prospective customers in one place, instead of taking multiple business trips later in the year.

“There is an amazing ability for a small company like us to go in and be able to meet with senior executives all at once,” said Singu Srinivas, co-founder of HiWired, a three-year-old company from Needham, Mass., offering technical support to consumers and small companies.

Last year at C.E.S., HiWired scored a promising partnership with the retailer OfficeMax after Mr. Srinivas met its executives at a cocktail party and went out with them the next night for an informal dinner. “The nature of meetings is very different in Las Vegas,” Mr. Srinivas said.

This year, HiWired will bring six of its employees and will pay $20,000 to attend C.E.S. and rent a table at a press event, ShowStoppers, on Monday night.

For some attendees, C.E.S. is not just expensive and essential — it is also a tad bittersweet. Jason Chudnofsky, who will attend this year on behalf of the trade show and publishing firm Pulvermedia, ran the Comdex conference for 16 years before it imploded in 2003 after the technology bust. Many of the companies, speakers and attendees have since migrated to C.E.S.

Mr. Chudnofsky thinks that even though the same growing pains that afflicted his show also plague C.E.S. — overcrowding, draconian room rates and grueling convention floor walks — the annual Consumer Electronics Show is not going away anytime soon.

“The reason is simple,” he said. “There is no other event that can take its place and bring the entire industry together like C.E.S.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/technology/06electronics.html?ref=technology&pagewanted=print

Fred,

Can you post the end of year 2006 cable primetime rankings or have a link to it...if it's not embargoed data.

Thanks,

The Business of TV
Sinclair to Pull Stations from Mediacom
By Linda Moss & David Cohen MultiChannel News 1/5/2007

Mediacom Communications announced late Friday night that Sinclair Broadcast Group refused to extend the cable operator’s right to carry its stations and ordered their removal as of midnight.

Earlier Friday, Mediacom said it planned to appeal to the full Federal Communications Commission with hopes of keeping those outlets from going dark.

During a conference call Friday morning, Mediacom officials also said they were still hoping that Sinclair would finally agree to their request that their ongoing retransmission-consent dispute be submitted to binding arbitration and that the stations stay on in the interim.

However, in the late-Friday announcement, Mediacom executive vice president John Pascarelli said, “We are certainly dismayed with Sinclair’s inability to commit to our offer of binding arbitration made yesterday -- a solution that was strongly encouraged in the recent order by the FCC’s Media Bureau. Contrary to their statement today that Sinclair had not heard back from Mediacom, further discussions regarding arbitration could not take place this afternoon because according to Barry Faber, Sinclair’s VP and general counsel, Sinclair’s CEO, David Smith, was not available to approve such discussions.”

Pascarelli added, “Because our interim agreement already provides Sinclair with cash compensation, they have nothing to lose by agreeing to continued carriage while the details of the arbitration process are worked out. By ignoring the bureau’s clear encouragement to avoid a disruption in service to consumers, it appears to us that Sinclair is continuing to show its lack of concern for the public interest.”

He concluded, “In light of Sinclair’s decision to pull its stations, we will take this opportunity to provide our customers with quality family entertainment from a variety of our programming partners on the channels previously occupied by the Sinclair stations.”

In his remarks earlier Friday, Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said his company would appeal a ruling Thursday by the FCC’s Media Bureau rejecting its claim that Sinclair was not negotiating in good faith.

Mediacom will seek a ruling on its complaint by the full FCC, according to Commisso.

“Hopefully, [FCC] chairman [Kevin] Martin will provide expedited treatment for our appeal so any disruptions to consumers will be minimized,” Commisso said, adding that the FCC Media Bureau “has ruled badly.”

Mediacom’s current retransmission-consent extension with Sinclair expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. At that time, the cable company will lose the right to carry 22 Sinclair stations -- affiliates of Fox, The CW, My Network TV and ABC -- in 12 states.

The total number of Mediacom subscribers who could be affected is 700,000. But the number of Mediacom subscribers who will lose stations affiliated with the major networks, such as Fox, is only about 500,000, according to officials at the company.

“That number [700,000] is dramatically reduced because we’ve been able -- as we’ve done in Iowa City -- to import some Big Four-affiliated programming stations, as permitted by law,” Commisso said.

During the early Friday call, Iowa State Sen. Jeff Angelo (R-District 48) complained about comments Sinclair officials have made about their willingness to sacrifice their stations in Mediacom markets to eventually secure $100 million in retransmission-consent fees.

“As a representative of a large area of Mediacom customers, this is basically economic terrorism and it’s not in the public interest,” Angelo said.

Sinclair couldn’t be reached for comment.

Mediacom extended three new proposals to Sinclair this week, according to Commisso, and each was rejected.

Those new proposals were that Mediacom would pay Sinclair: a weighted-average price that reflects what direct-broadcast satellite, cable and phone companies are paying for retransmission of the broadcaster’s stations; a weighted-average price based on the pacts Sinclair just reached with McLeodUSA and is finalizing with Time Warner Cable; and per-subscriber, per-month price that reflected an increase from Mediacom’s prior offers.

Sinclair turned down those proposals Thursday and “proceeded on increasing their obnoxious demands once they became aware that the Media Bureau was going to rule in their favor,” Commisso said.

Commisso claimed that the FCC Media Bureau’s ruling, as it stands, basically means that broadcasters will be able to extract about $5 billion annually in retransmission-consent fees -- a cost that will be passed on to consumers and raise cable rates.

“The egregious demands by Sinclair and other broadcasters will force, for sure, retransmission consent to become a lightning rod for Congress,” he added.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6404660.html?display=Breaking+News

Technology Notebook
Companies Pay Dearly for Technology Trade Show

By Brad Stone and Damon Darlin The New York Times January 6, 2007

Some companies clearly do not mind the chaos. Monster Cable, a company in Brisbane, Calif., that makes home entertainment products that in any other context would appear numbingly dull — like cables connecting audio and video equipment — leaps at the annual opportunity to catch a bit of Las Vegas glamour.

This year it will put 140 employees up at the Venetian Hotel, operate two separate booths and six private demo rooms at the convention center, and put on a Monday night concert at the Venetian Palace that will unite the jazz greats George Benson and Al Jarreau.

The company would not specify its overall C.E.S. expenditure but said that it devoted 10 to 15 percent of its annual marketing budget to the show.

Monster’s chief executive, Noel Lee, said the investment was worthwhile because the show gave his employees a singular goal and deadline. “If it weren’t for C.E.S., we could not have grown the company the way we have,” he said.

And now we know why those Monster Cable HDMI/component/etc. cables at BB and CC are so expensive: we (the consumer) have to pay for Monster's employees annual trip to Sin City. Monoprice cables, here I come! :rolleyes:

Technology Notebook
Are You Ready For the Switch?
If you don't already own a digital TV or converter, all you'll see is static on Feb. 17, 2009, because of a government mandate requiring stations to broadcast in digital.
By Marc D. Allan Special to The Washington Post Sunday, January 7, 2007; Y05

You may have heard about upcoming changes in broadcasting -- that Congress passed a law requiring broadcasters to switch from analog to digital signals by Feb. 17, 2009 -- but you might not have paid attention because 2009 is so far away.

Even with two years until that deadline, many people are already preparing for the digital switch by purchasing a new television: 11.4 million digital TVs were sold in the United States in 2005, with about 19.7 million digital sets purchased in 2006. And January is a popular month for TV sales, thanks in no small part to the Super Bowl, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

Many of these are for high-definition TV sets -- just one form of digital television. HDTV offers a wide-screen picture with far more detail and clarity than analog TV sets can provide. To view programming in high definition, you'll need an HDTV set with an HD tuner or a cable box from your cable or satellite provider.

HDTV "is like flying first class," said Jim Krause, an Indiana University professor who studies developments in television technology. "Once you fly first class, you never want to go back to coach."

If you have a cable or satellite subscription, you most likely have the equipment you need to receive a digital signal.

But if you don't want to pay for that service and you don't want to buy a digital television by 2009, you have another option. Households that watch free, over-the air television -- and there were about 20 million such homes as of 2005 -- can purchase an analog-to-digital converter box. (Analog refers to information transmitted via radio frequency waves, while digital signals send information encoded as a series of zeroes and ones.)

The boxes, currently being developed, are expected to cost about $50 when they debut later this year, and the federal government has mandated that at least $990 million be set aside to help subsidize the purchase of the converters. Every household will be eligible for up to two coupons worth $40 each to enable their analog sets to receive digital pictures. And with the signal coming over the air, TV will remain free.

"Some of the best picture reception you can get is over the air in Washington," said Bary Maddox, who owns Graffiti Audio-Video stores in the District and Bethesda. "Most people don't know that. There's no reason to get rid of your antenna."

Why is this change occurring?

• Digital television gives broadcasters the ability to use bandwidth more efficiently. Essentially, that means one station can broadcast multiple channels. More channels, more advertising. More advertising, more ad dollars. And for consumers, more channels, more choices.

• Digital television also frees up a portion of the broadcasting spectrum for police, fire and other public safety officials to use.

• And digital picture and sound quality is far superior to analog. TV viewers have lived with the same broadcast standards since 1941, Krause said. Digital TV still isn't as good as what you get in most movie theaters, he said, but it's much closer.

As promising as the new technology is, pollsters say many of us remain completely uninformed about the switch to digital.

You can get more information from several resources:

The Federal Communications Commission has set up a Web site, http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html, to answer questions, and a spokesman said the government will work with consumer electronics groups to spread the word about the change. In addition, the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act includes $5 million for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to conduct a consumer-education campaign.

Separate FAQs are available at the NTIA Web site, http://www.ntia.doc.gov, and you also can get information from 888-CALL-FCC (888-225-5322).

The Move to Digital: How to Prepare

IF YOUR TV IS: Analog

AND YOU GET YOUR PROGRAMMING: Over the air, for free

THE LEAST YOU'LL NEED BY FEBRUARY 2009 IS: An analog-to-digital converter box.*

AND YOU GET YOUR PROGRAMMING: From a cable/satellite provider

THE LEAST YOU'LL NEED BY FEBRUARY 2009 IS: Call your provider and ask.

AND YOU CAN MAXIMIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE BY: Buying a digital set, which costs from several hundred to many thousands of dollars. All TVs 13 inches or larger now sold in the U.S. are equipped with digital tuners.

- - -

IF YOUR TV IS: Digital

AND YOU GET YOUR PROGRAMMING: From a cable/satellite provider

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010200771_pf.html

TV Review
“Grease: You’re the One that I Want”
By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Critic January 6, 2007

NBC didn’t make a screener available for “Grease: You’re the One that I Want” (Sunday, 8 PM ET/PT) until the last second, and it’s sort of easy to see why: The show’s essentially an “American Idol” ripoff, with Sunday’s inaugural installment chockablock with ostensibly amusingly bad auditions.

The conceit here is that NBC is charting the progress behind casting a Broadway revival, one that will cost producer David Ian (who self-aggrandizingly serves as the series’ Simon Cowell) a putative $10 million.

Of course, the fact that casting is being done on a broadcast network could both work for and against the actual production: This show is nothing but free advertising for the Great White Way, but if it tanks in the ratings, the production could still lose money: Who’d want to see a Broadway show headlined by people no one cares about? (On the other hand, Ian could’ve secured so much money from NBC that it doesn’t matter what happens with this show – it could become a real-life “Producers,” where actual failure means success for the initial investors.)

Problem is, Sunday’s installment is a low-rent cousin of “American Idol’s” early episodes. Auditioners fail, though not nearly as amusingly. Ian’s not nearly as wittily wicked a critic as “AI’s” Simon Cowell; one applicant is informed, not so amusingly, “You’re not Danny, you’re a doody,” an one-liner that even the crummiest TV critic could probably improve upon.

Another setback is that the series has hired two utter hacks as hosts, the famously obnoxious Billy Bush and the clueless Denise Van Outen, who provide narration as if they’re walking viewers through the show as if they’re particularly clueless children. Bush declares the show will “scour the mean streets of America” to find the precisely correct Danny and Sandy to appear on Broadway. Bush even intercedes, to create some extraordinarily faux drama, on behalf of a rejected contestant, to no avail. Tonight, he inquires, “Will your favorites make the grade?” Given that we’ve seen contestants for, at best, 45 seconds, no one could have possibly picked a favorite.

And, as contestants are moved to the next level of competition, they’re portentously informed by Ian, “You’re … (very pregnant pause) the one that we want to go to ‘Grease Academy.’”

And given the general level of uninspired performances in the first round, let’s just say that as this series grinds progressively, agonizingly, forward, that even if you did like the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” you will probably be sick of it by season’s – if not the first episode’s – conclusion.

What might be cool is if, as this show procedes, viewers actually vote for the least talented performers, ensuring that the summer’s Broadway revival of “Grease” will be an utter, humiliating, bomb. Contributing to such anarchy really seems to be the only reason to sit through this insipid nonsense as the season plays out.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tv/2007/01/grease_youre_the_one_that_i_wa.html

TV Review
A post-football NBC faces new Sunday realities
By Ed Bark former Dallas Morning News TV critic at his website unclebarky.com

Football's gone, leaving NBC's Sunday lineup in need of an extreme makeover for the second half of the 2006-'07 TV season. The night's hairs apparent are two guys who spend lots of time in the salon -- Billy Bush and Donald Trump.

The exceptionally annoying Bush (from the syndicated Access Hollywood) hosts Grease: You're the One That I Want, which gets a 90-minute premiere from 7 to 8:30 p.m. central time.

Then comes an egomaniac who needs no further introduction. NBC's sixth edition of Trump's The Apprentice shucks New York for Los Angeles in hopes of reviving interest in this flagging enterprise. It also gets a 90-minute startup (8:30 to 10 p.m.).

You're the One isn't one to resist comparisons to American Idol. It slavishly copies the Fox juggernaut in virtually every way imaginable. Let us count the ways: Three judges, one of them a sharp-tongued Britisher named David Ian. Auditions in select cities, beginning with Los Angeles and Chicago. Really bad auditioners, allowing the judges to cringe and crack wise. Eventual live voting from viewers, who will pick the next Danny and Sandy for a new Broadway production. And a host who might as well be Ryan Seacrest and no doubt wishes he was.

Bush certainly isn't self-effacing, though. He refers to himself as a "handsome devil" in Sunday's opener. Later he tells a hopeful named Vincent, "I have great hair. You have great hair. We're the great hair buddies right here."

The host can be a bridge over troubled teardrops, too, particularly when the sobbing discard is a cute would-be Sandy named Fawn. Rejected by the judges, she's embraced backstage by smarmin' Billy.

"This one I don't agree with," he tells her. "It's tough. This one is for you. That's for you. Oh my God."

What he does is hand her a tissue touched by him. Then Bush grandly implores the judges to give this piece a second chance. Which they do after ludicrously dramatic music makes it seem as though they're deciding the fate of the western world. Which come to think of it . . .

Actually, this makes One That I Want different in at least one respect from Idol. Imagine what Simon Cowell might have said if his judgment were questioned by a mere host. It might go something like this: "Get out of my sight, you silly little twit, and go change your panties while you're at it."

OK, let's not be too harsh. Actually, let's.

Two particularly obese hopefuls, one of whom moonlights as a "tap-dancing cupcake," are passed through the singing round into the dancing round. It's a transparently phony effort to show that the judges will consider more than good looks and physiques in casting Sandy. Then both of the women are shot down as being "not right" for the part. This dashes their dreams to be one of 50 contestants sent to "Grease Academy" for further schooling. Frankly, they never had even a ghost of a chance in the first place. Still, the show isn't above using the two for comic relief before giving them the old heave-ho. When you get right down to it, that's just not a very nice tradeoff, even for all that TV exposure.

The big-screen's original Sandy, Olivia Newton-John, makes a few brief appearances to essentially say nothing. Bush's co-host, Denise Van Outen, doesn't have much to do either. Nor does the city of Chicago. It gets maybe one-third the screen time of Los Angeles, where the talent is deemed much stronger.

After several weeks of this, the top 12 contestants from Grease Academy will begin performing on live shows, starting Jan. 28. That's when the American public will start winnowing the field, provided the American public cares enough to do so.

The return of The Apprentice, which the American public once cared very much about, gives Trump at least one last round of bragging rights. He's first seen on a rainy day in Manhattan, supposedly talking to his latest wife and their baby son on the telephone as he heads West to join them.

"I'm Donald Trump, and I have properties all over the place," he says with typical humility. Then he's quickly behind the wheel of a convertible while proclaiming, "I love L.A. What's not to love about great weather and an economy that's worth almost $600 billion dollars?"

His reunion with spouse Melania and baby Baron is less than teary-eyed. Big Don doesn't even touch the kid, whom Melania cradles in her arms while the nanny gets a few seconds off.

Trump has 18 supplicants this time. It's the usual crowd of self-important ass-kissers, led by a Bronx contracting company CEO named Frank. This means that Trump again has the genius to cast someone who's even more obnoxious than he is.

His boardroom now is absent helpmates Carolyn Kepcher and George Ross, who have been supplanted by Trump's daughter, Ivanka. She looks just like the old man and seems to have the same imperious ways about her. The Donald did good.

A car wash competition separates the first winning team from the losers, who have to sleep in tents until redeeming themselves. So it's a blend of Survivor and The Apprentice from the creator of both series, Mark Burnett. Or as one of the losers puts it, "The sinks don't drain. This does feel like Third World."

An exceedingly long and contentious boardroom segment finally cuts one of them loose. But not before Trump can observe, "Martin's a bit of a pompous ass."

Of course he should know. But The Apprentice still has its entertaining moments, with even Trump an easier swallow than shallow Billy Bush.

Grades: Grease: You're the One That I Want -- D+; The Apprentice -- C+

http://www.unclebarky.com/reviews.html

Critic’s Notebook
An apology to Courtney Cox

One of my favorite TV writers (although I disagree with him a good deal of the time) is Tim Goodman [ of the San Francisco Chronicle. His his TV blog, “The Bastard Machine”, is always a great read.

The most recent entry is extremely interesting -- although I won’t post it in full here because of my own perhaps overly conservative concerns about taste. But I’ll tease you with it’s opening paragraph:

“Context is everything, it has been said. And after events of the last couple of days, I think that's pretty true and has led to what may be the strangest admission of getting it wrong on my end in some time. Getting it right, in this case, might also lead to getting in trouble with Mrs. Cranky Pants. But duty calls.

So here's the thing….”

The rest of the Goodman post gets to be a bit, uh, adult. So if you enjoy Courtney Cox, or Tim Goodman, and are of age, feel free to check the link. (But don’t complain you weren’t warned.)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

(When does TV news blur the line? What ethical questions does it skirt in the interest of ratings? There are some fascinating thoughts in this piece. It is long, and rambles a bit, but it does address some fascinating -- to me, at least -- questions.

By the way, I question it on almost the same taste grounds I mentioned about Tim Goodman's apology (above) but then everything quoted in the article appeared on a network TV "news "show.

Nonetheless you might well (and very understandably) disagree with my posting, so please feel free to skip to the next item if this one gets a bit graphic for your own tastes.)

TV Notebook:
“Dateline NBC”: The Shame Game
By Douglas McCollam, a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review

It was just before 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon last November when a contingent of police gathered outside the home of Louis Conradt Jr., a longtime county prosecutor living in the small community of Terrell, Texas, just east of Dallas. Though the fifty-six-year-old Conradt was a colleague of some of the officers, they hadn’t come to discuss a case or for a backyard barbeque. Rather, the veteran district attorney, who had prosecuted hundreds of felonies during more than two decades in law enforcement, was himself the target of an unusual criminal probe. For weeks the police in the nearby town of Murphy had been working with the online watchdog group Perverted Justice and producers from Dateline NBC’s popular “To Catch a Predator” series in an elaborate sting operation targeting adults cruising the Internet to solicit sex from minors. Dateline had leased a house in an upscale subdivision, outfitted it with multiple hidden cameras, and hired actors to impersonate minors to help lure suspects into the trap. As with several similar operations previously conducted by Dateline, there was no shortage of men looking to score with underage boys and girls. In all, twenty-four men were caught in the Murphy sting, including a retired doctor, a traveling businessman, a school teacher, and a Navy veteran.

Conradt had never shown up at the Dateline house, but according to the police, using the screen name “inxs00,” he did engage in explicit sexual exchanges in an Internet chat room with someone he believed to be a thirteen-year-old boy (but was actually a volunteer for Perverted Justice). Under a Texas law adopted in 2005 to combat Internet predators, it is a second-degree felony to have such communications with someone under the age of fourteen, even if no actual sexual contact takes place. Armed with a search warrant — and with a Dateline camera crew on the scene — the police went to Conradt’s home to arrest him. When the prosecutor failed to answer the door or answer phone calls, police forced their way into the house. Inside they encountered the prosecutor in a hallway holding a semiautomatic handgun. “I’m not going to hurt anybody,” Conradt reportedly told the police. Then he fired a single bullet into his own head.

Standing outside the house with his crew, the Dateline correspondent Chris Hansen said he did not hear the shot that ended Conradt’s life, but did see his body wheeled out on a gurney. Discussing Conradt’s death over lunch a couple of weeks later, I asked Hansen how it made him feel. Hansen said his first reaction was as a newsman who had to cover the story for his network (Hansen filed a report the next morning for NBC’s Today show). Hansen said that on a human level Conradt’s death was a tragedy that, naturally, he felt bad about. But he understood the true import of my question: “If you’re asking do I feel responsible, no,” Hansen said. “I sleep well at night.”

Others aren’t so sanguine. Galen Ray Sumrow, the criminal district attorney of Rockwall County, Texas, who heads the office where Conradt worked as an assistant district attorney, has reviewed evidence surrounding the case and believes it was badly botched. Among the problems he cites are that the search warrant obtained by the Murphy police officers was defective because it had the wrong date and listed the wrong county for service, basic errors that he believes would have gotten any evidence seized from Conradt’s home tossed out of court. He is also mystified as to why the police would force their way into Conradt’s home when they could have tried to talk him out, or just picked him up at work the next day. “He was here in the office every morning,” says Sumrow, who is himself a former police officer and has been prosecuting cases for more than twenty years. “You generally like to do an arrest like that away from the home to avoid things like what happened.” A sworn affidavit supporting the warrant also shows that the information about Conradt’s online activities was given to the Murphy police by Perverted Justice just hours before they went to arrest him. Why were the police in such a rush to pick up Conradt? Texas Rangers are investigating that question, but Sumrow thinks he knows the answer: “It’s reality television,” he says. Sumrow says an investigator told him the police pushed things because the Dateline people had plane tickets to fly home that afternoon and wanted to get the bust on film for the show. He says investigators also told him that film excerpts show Dateline personnel, including Hansen, interacting with police on the scene, supplying them with information, and advising them on tactics. Sergeant Snow Robertson of the Murphy police says accommodating Dateline’s schedule “wasn’t a factor at all.” Rather, he says, the urgency was to keep Conradt from contacting another minor. Dateline’s Hansen confirms that he was to fly out that Sunday, but says such plans are always subject to change and that he hadn’t even checked out of his hotel. He also denies advising the police during the operation at Conradt’s house. “This stuff is not remotely based in fact,” Hansen says.

At a town meeting called to discuss the Dateline sting operations, several Murphy residents expressed outrage that a parade of suspected sexual predators were lured to their community. Neighbors recounted police takedowns and car chases on their blocks, and some said fleeing suspects tossed drugs and other contraband into their yards. In a statement to the Murphy City Council, Conradt’s sister, Patricia, directly implicated Dateline in her brother’s death. “I will never consider my brother’s death a suicide,” she said. “It was an act precipitated by the rush to grab headlines where there was no evidence that there was any emergency other than to line the pockets of an out-of-control group and a TV show pressed for ratings and a deadline.” She added: “When these people came after him for a news show, it ended his life.” In an interview, she was even more direct: “They have blood on their hands,” she said, referring to Dateline, the police, and Perverted Justice.

In a sense, Conradt’s death was a tragedy foretold. In a piece for Radar magazine about the show, the writer John Cook quoted an unnamed Dateline producer as saying that “one of these guys is going to go home and shoot himself in the head.” When I asked Hansen and David Corvo, Dateline’s executive producer, if they were reviewing the show’s procedures in light of Conradt’s death, both said that there was no evidence to suggest that Conradt was aware of Dateline’s presence when he shot himself (though a camera crew was apparently on his block for hours before the police arrived), and that there were no plans to alter how the “Predator” series is handled. “I still feel like the show is a public service,” said Corvo. “We do investigations that expose people doing things not good for them. You can’t predict the unintended consequences of that. You have to let the chips fall where they may.”

The reluctance to tinker with the show’s formula is no doubt attributable to the fact that since its debut in the fall of 2004, “To Catch a Predator” has been the rarest of rare birds in the television news world: a clear ratings winner. The show regularly outdraws NBC’s other primetime fare. It succeeds by tapping into something that has been part of American culture since the Puritans stuck offenders in the stockade: public humiliation. The notion of delighting in another’s disgrace drives much of the reality TV phenomenon, and is present in the DNA of everything from Judge Judy to Jackass to Borat. “Predator” couples this with a hyped-up fear of Internet sex fiends, creating a can’t-miss formula. The show’s ratings success has made it a sweeps-week staple and turned Chris Hansen into something of a pop-culture icon. To date, by the show’s own count, it has netted 238 would-be predators, thirty-six of whom have either pleaded guilty or been convicted. Hansen regularly gives talks to schools and parent groups concerned about Internet sex predators, and he was even summoned to Washington to testify before a congressional subcommittee investigating the problem, where he and Dateline received effusive praise for their efforts. When the comedian Conan O’Brien filmed a bit to open this year’s Emmy Awards that showed him parading through the sets of hit shows of every network, his last stop was a “Predator” house where Hansen confronted him and O’Brien gave a spot-on rendition of the sweaty, shaky dissembling that most of the show’s targets display.

All that is a long way from where “To Catch a Predator” started. The Dateline producer Lynn Keller says she first contacted the Perverted Justice group about the possibility of doing a show in January or February of 2004. Perverted Justice had already worked with several local television stations, including one in Detroit, where Chris Hansen knew one of the producers and had talked with him about a sting operation the station had filmed using Perverted Justice’s online expertise to lure targets. Dateline’s first sting house was set up in Bethpage, Long Island, about an hour outside of New York City. Hansen recalls being nervous that no one would show up and that he might have to explain to the network why he had blown a bunch of money on a flop investigation. “We thought we might get one person,” Keller recalls. They needn’t have worried. Before he could even reach the house for the first day of filming, Hansen got a frantic call from Keller that the first target was inbound. Hansen beat him there by just fifteen minutes.

The Long Island sting netted eighteen suspects in two and a half days. Eight months later, the show set up a sting house in Fairfax, Virginia (at a home belonging to a friend of Hansen’s in the FBI), and snared nineteen more men, including a rabbi, an emergency-room doctor, a special-education teacher, and an unemployed man claiming to be a teacher, who memorably walked into the house naked. The third show, filmed in early 2006 in southern California, drew fifty-one men over three days. But even as the stings expanded and ratings soared, critics inside and outside the network raised serious questions about whether “To Catch a Predator” was erasing lines that even an increasingly tabloid newsmagazine show should respect.

To begin with, the show has an undeniable “ick” factor. The men (and to date they are all men) are mostly losers who show up packing booze and condoms. It is also undeniably compelling television. Each show follows a similar pattern: after asking the mark to come in, the decoy disappears to change clothes or go to the bathroom. Then, in a startling switcheroo, Hansen appears from off-stage and directs the man to take a seat. The men almost always comply, concluding that Hansen is either a cop or a father. The marks then proffer comical denials about what they are doing at the house, which never include their intent to have sex with a minor. Hansen then produces some particularly salacious details from their Internet chat with the decoy (“But you said you couldn’t wait to pour chocolate syrup all over her and lick it off with your tongue”). The mark then switches gears to say he has never done anything like this before and was just kidding around or role playing, which in turn cues Hansen to say something like, “Well, you’re playing on a big stage, because I’m Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC,” at which point cameras enter from off stage like furies summoned from hell. The mark, now fully perceiving his ruin, usually excuses himself, often pausing to shake hands with Hansen — the cult of celebrity apparently transcends even this awful reality — then exits into the waiting arms of police outside who swarm him as if he had just shot the president.

The police busts are the emotional capper to the encounter, one that highlights the show’s uncomfortably close affiliation with law enforcement. On the first two “Predator” stings, the show didn’t involve arrests, an omission that garnered complaints from viewers and cops alike. Though certain individuals from the initial episodes were subsequently prosecuted, the lack of police involvement from the outset made it hard to make cases that would stick. “The number one complaint from viewers was that we let them walk out,” says Keller. Starting with the third show and in the five subsequent stings, police were waiting to take down the suspects. In our interview and in his congressional testimony, Hansen is careful to refer to those arrests as “parallel” police investigations, as if they just happened to be running down the same track as Dateline, but the close cooperation is always evident. At a time when reporters are struggling to keep law enforcement from encroaching on newsgathering, Dateline, which is part of NBC’s news division, is inviting them in the front door — literally. Hansen tried to deflect this criticism of the show by saying that the volunteers from Perverted Justice serve as a “Chinese wall” between the news people at Dateline and the police.

But as we’ve learned from recent corporate scandals, such Chinese walls are often made of pretty thin tissue. In the case of “To Catch a Predator,” Perverted Justice does most of the groundwork preparing the shows and roping in the men. Initially, Dateline’s responsibility was to cover the group’s expenses, procure the house and outfit it with hidden cameras and, of course, supply Chris Hansen and airtime. However, after the third successful “Predator” show, Perverted Justice hired an agent and auctioned its services to several networks. NBC ended up retaining the group for a fee reported in The Washington Post and elsewhere to be between $100,000 and $150,000. Hansen would not confirm an amount but said he saw nothing wrong with compensating the group for its services, likening it to the way the news division will sometimes keep a retired general or FBI agent on retainer. “In the end I get paid, the producers get paid, the camera guy, why shouldn’t they?” says Hansen.

On the surface that certainly seems reasonable, but it ignores a few relevant points. First, Perverted Justice is a participant in the story, the kind of outfit that would traditionally be covered, not be on the news outlet’s payroll. “It’s an advocacy group intensely involved in this story,” says Robert Steele, who teaches journalism ethics at The Poynter Institute. “That’s different from hiring a retired general who is no longer involved in a policy-making role.” Second, it is clearly a no-no, even at this late date in the devolution of TV news, to directly pay government officials or police officers. Yet in effect that’s what Dateline did in at least one of its stings. The police in Darke County, Ohio, where Dateline set up its fourth sting in April 2006, insisted that personnel from Perverted Justice be deputized for the operation so as not to compromise the criminal cases it wished to bring against the targets. After some discussion, NBC’s lawyers agreed to the arrangement, which the network shrugs off as less than ideal but an isolated circumstance.

Further, though Hansen and Dateline reject allegations that they are engaging in paycheck journalism by paying Perverted Justice — arguing for a distinction between paying a consultant and paying a source for information — the line looks a little fuzzy. For example, Xavier von Erck, who founded Perverted Justice, says via e-mail that the operation had come to a point where it could “not bear any further costs relating to the shows. Hence, we obtained a consulting fee.” In turn, local law enforcement groups have stated that without the resources provided by Perverted Justice they couldn’t afford to do the criminal investigations they’ve mounted in conjunction with the “To Catch a Predator” series. See the problem? But for NBC’s deep pockets, no “parallel” police actions would take place. And are they really parallel? One lawyer I spoke with, who asked not be identified because her client’s case is still pending, claims the man was entrapped and said she has every intention of subpoenaing members of Dateline’s staff to testify if the case goes to trial. “They are acting as an arm of law enforcement and are material witnesses,” the lawyer said. “They definitely crossed a line.”

There is also the question of whether the series is fair to its targets. Let’s concede up front that this is an unsympathetic bunch of would-be perverts. But are they really that dangerous? Hansen himself divides those snared in the probes into three groups: dangerous predators, Internet pornography addicts, and sexual opportunists. But by Hansen’s own calculation fewer than one in ten of the men who show up at a sting house have a previous criminal record.

But the image projected by the “Predator” series is clearly meant to inflame parental fears about violent Internet sex fiends. The show has invoked the specter of famous child abduction cases like Polly Klaas. The very term “predator” calls to mind the image of the drooling, trench-coated sex fiend hanging out at the local playground with a bag full of candy. Reading through the chat transcripts posted on the Perverted Justice Web site, however, it seems clear that a lot of the men snared aren’t hard-core predators. Many express doubts about what they’re doing and have to be egged along a bit by the decoys, many of whom come off as anything but innocent children. Consider a few of these exchanges. In the first, the mark (johnchess2000) is talking to someone he believes is an underage girl (AJ’s Girl). She has agreed to let him come over to watch a movie:

johnchess2000: anything you want me to wear or bring?
AJ’s Girl: hmm
johnchess2000: wow your thinking for a long time
AJ’s Girl: lol sowwy
AJ’s Girl: u beter bring condoms
johnchess2000: wow. condoms???
johnchess2000: wow. your thinking big huh? ;0
johnchess2000: ;)
AJ’s Girl: :”>
johnchess2000: wow so you like me that much? :)
AJ’s Girl: maybe
johnchess2000: maybe?? why did you say condoms?
AJ’s Girl: :”> i duno
johnchess2000: haha. be honest
johnchess2000: you must like me a lot then huh?
AJ’s Girl: yea
AJ’s Girl: ur cute

Or this exchange between Jason, a twenty-one-year-old fireman and the decoy, a girl he thinks is thirteen:

jteno72960: so what kinda guys u like
katiedidsings: hot firman 1s
jteno72960: ok what else is sexy to you
katiedidsings: tats
jteno72960: i have 2 inside my arm
jteno72960: will u kiss them for me?
katiedidsings: yajteno72960: what about on the lip
skatiedidsings: ya
jteno72960: i love to kiss
katiedidsings: me 2
jteno72960: really what else
katiedidsings: i dunno watevr u wantd 2 do
jteno72960: well what have u done
katiedidsings: evry thing
katiedidsings: wel not evrything
katiedidsings: but alot of stuff
jteno72960: well what did u like
katiedidsings: from behind

Or this last exchange between Rob (rkline05) a twenty-year-old from Ohio, and Dateline’s online decoy “Shia,” who poses as an underage girl. After days of chatting, Rob expresses doubts about their age difference and about a sexual encounter, but Shia dismisses his concerns and reassures him:

rkline05: but idk about everything we talked about
shyshiagirl: why not
rkline05: well you sure you wana do all that
shyshiagirl: yeaa why not
rkline05: idk i just wasnt sure you wanted to you are a virgin and all
rkline05: you sure you want it to be me that takes that
shyshiagirl: yea why not. ur cool
rkline05: i just..... you really sure i feel weird about it you being so much younger than me and all
shyshiagirl: ur not old. dont feel weird

Rob came to the Dateline sting house and later pleaded guilty for soliciting a minor online.

Entrapment is a legal term best applicable to law enforcement. Perverted Justice says it’s careful not to initiate contact with marks, nor steer them into explicit sexual banter. But as these chats and others make clear, they are prepared to flirt, literally, with that line. Under most state statutes passed to combat online predators, the demonstrated intent to solicit sexual acts from a minor is sufficient to land you in jail regardless of whether the minor is a willing participant. So, as a legal matter, the enticements offered by the decoys are of little importance to the police, or to issue advocates like Perverted Justice. But journalistically it looks a lot like crossing the line from reporting the news to creating the news.

Dateline has run afoul of this distinction before. Famously, in 1993, several producers and correspondents were fired for rigging a General Motors truck to explode in a crash test. More recently the program took heat for bringing Muslim-looking men to a NASCAR race to see what might happen (the program never aired). “Predator” seems to fall somewhere between those two examples. Perhaps its most direct counterpart in recent journalistic history is the famous sting operation mounted by the Chicago Sun Times. In 1978 the paper set up the Mirage Tavern in Chicago and snared a host of city officials for seeking bribes from the “owners,” who were actually undercover reporters. The Mirage was controversial in its day, but it seems tame by comparison to the Dateline stings. Al Tompkins, who teaches the ethics of television journalism at the Poynter Institute, draws a clear distinction between the Mirage and “Predator.” Mirage, he notes, was targeted at public officials who were known to be abusing the power of their offices for personal enrichment. “It was a legit question whether you could have covered the story any other way,” Tompkins says. “You couldn’t go through law enforcement because you didn’t know if police were involved in the corruption.” Tompkins, who has watched the Dateline series, says it looks more like a police prostitution sting than a news investigation.

Dateline has argued that “Predator” serves a genuine public good, but it could be argued that, in fact, Dateline is doing the public a disservice. When Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave a speech about a major initiative to combat the “growing problem” of Internet predators, he cited a statistic that 50,000 such would-be pedophiles were prowling the Net at any given moment and attributed it to Dateline. Jason McLure, a reporter at Legal Times in Washington, D.C., (where I was formerly an editor), asked the show about the number. Dateline told him that it had gotten it from a retired FBI agent who consulted with the show. When the agent was contacted he wasn’t sure where the number had come from, terming it a “Goldilocks” figure — “Not small and not large.” He added that it was the same figure that was used by the media to describe the number of people killed annually by Satanic cults in the 1980s, and before that was cited as the number of children abducted by strangers each year in the 1970s. Dateline has now disowned the number, saying solid statistics about Internet predators are hard to find, but that the problem seems to be getting worse, a sentiment echoed by lawmakers in Congress.

But actually there isn’t much evidence that it is getting worse. For example, many news reports have cited a Justice Department study as saying that one in five children is approached online by a sexual predator. But as Radford Benjamin of The Skeptical Inquirer pointed out, what that 2001 study actually said was that 19 percent had received a “sexual solicitation” online, about half of which came from other teens and none of which led to a sexual assault. According to the study, the number of teens aggressively solicited by adults online was about 3 percent. A more recent study by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire found that the number of kids getting unwanted sexual advances on the Internet was in fact declining. In general, according to data compiled by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, more than 70 percent of sexual abuse of children is perpetrated by family members or family friends.

That doesn’t mean Internet sex predators don’t exist, but Dateline heavily skews reality by devoting hour after hour of primetime programming to the phenomenon. As Poynter’s Tompkins notes: “Is there any other issue that’s received that much airtime? The question is whether the level of coverage is proportional to the actual problem.”

The answer, it seems, is no, and the explanation of why Dateline has seized on this mythical trend to anchor its venerable news show is that reality TV has so altered the broadcast landscape that traditional newsmagazine fare — no matter how provocative — just doesn’t cut it anymore. “Reality programs came in and newsmagazines no longer looked so great,” says one former producer for NBC News. While newsmagazines are cheap compared to other primetime shows, they don’t have the potential to be gigantic hits like Survivor or American Idol. For that reason, the producer notes, the entertainment divisions at the networks never really liked newsmagazines, which they had little hand in producing and for which they received no credit. At NBC, the former producer says, Jeff Zucker, formerly the president of the network’s news and entertainment group and now the c.e.o. of its television operations, regularly put the squeeze on Dateline, maintaining that the network needed its time slots to either develop new programming or schedule hit shows. “About the only thing they really want newsmagazines to do now is crime,” says the former producer. “If it’s not crime, they don’t think they can sell it. The traditional investigative reporting on shows like Dateline, or 48 Hours, or Primetime Live is no more.” (A notable exception, he says, is 60 Minutes.)

Dateline’s executive producer David Corvo prefers to see the change as a setting aside of older journalistic conventions to focus on new kinds of issues. The “Predator” series, he says, is just another form of enterprise journalism, one suited to the Internet age. But the distinction between enterprise and entertainment can be a difficult one. Dateline hasn’t so much covered a story as created one. In the process it has further compromised the barrier between reporters and cops that is central to the mission of journalism. If humiliating perverts and needlessly terrifying parents is the best use that newsmagazines can make of hours of primetime television, then perhaps they should be allowed to die and the time given over to the blood sport of reality programming. At least no one would dare to call it news.

Douglas McCollam is a contributing editor to CJR.

http://www.cjr.org/issues/2007/1/McCollam.asp

Thanks Fred. As the only poster in this thread unashamed to admit to watching and liking the To Catch A Predator 'Dateline' series that CSJ piece was a fun read. The juxtaposition between the need for a TV newsmagazine to get good ratings, the public's right to know, the state-by-state definition of entrapment (and what will hold up in court), tabloid sensationalism and the selling of one's soul for the sake of making a buck (Chris Hanson will never live this thing down whenever he decides he wants to become the next Brian Ross, unless he goes over to Fox News! :D ) are all elements that go into making this series unique. Everybody I've shown these shows to (yep, I tape them and keep them) is fascinated and can't stop watching. They keep asking me when new one's are coming out and when the old one's (the first two specials were the best because there were no cops involved until after the specials aired; the perps were just allowed the leave by the TV crew, which opens an even larger moral question about these guys' obilgation to society) will be repeated or available on DVD! :o

Didn't Mike Wallace face similar criticism in the 60's, 70's and 80's when he practiced his brand of gotcha journalism on 60 Minutes? Didn't Allen Funt get criticsm for exposing the follies of people's personalities when they thought nobody was watching them on Candid Camera back in the 1950's? The 'Dateline' producers are only taking these existing TV premises/parameters one step further and mirroring society's voyeuristic attitude when it comes to ilicit sex: a public comdemnation masquarading a private fascination with the subject matter. And ultimately the most fascinating and fun parts of the 'Catch A Predator' specials continues to be the chance to watch sexual perverts (or curious people that should know better) show up at a complete stranger's house expecting to score a young boy or girl for sex. That Texas prosecutor that killed himself broke a law in his own state by logging online to chat sexually with someone he thought was an underage person. Had he had a legitimate reason for doing it, like research about the subject matter (which got Pete Townsend on some hot water a while back), he wouldn't have shot himself. Hansen is right, he and "Dateline" (along with the Perverted Justice folks) are no more guilty of killing this man than the police officers or judge who found sufficient reason to try to arrest him.

This is ultimately what shields 'Dateline' and its audience from feeling any guilt about these 'Predator' shows: we (the average folk) would never place ourselves in the same situation these perverts did, but we have all done (or tried to do) something we don't want anybody to know, and gone places we shouldn't have and gotten away with it. It's the ultimate detached role-playing spectacle, with the audience substituting their own vice (adultery, gambling, drugs, etc.) for the jail bait lust of the sexual predators.

Oh yeah, to keep this thread "on topic" :rolleyes: , anybody know how hard would it be to wire one of those stakeout homes with HD-compatible cameras? Like Amazing Race the only thing missing to make 'To Catch A Predator' 100% perfect would be for the look of shock in the perps' faces to be captured in glorious high definition. :p

My only real reaction to this is that I'm one of those that think it is up to the public to decide what they like/dislike. I think this stuff is total trash along the lines of the old fakeish tabloid news programs of the late 80s early 90s. It just pushes that barrier futher down the line. The only way to get rid of it is for people to NOT watch it. The fact that people watch it means we will see more of it because it is so cheap to produce. If a few million people get their jollies watching it then who am I to say they can't?

Censorship is such a darn slippery slope. I think we over-react too heavily already. I'm of the opinion that a noisy minority from both conservative and the liberal sides have far too much control over what is acceptable to broadcast. The rules implemented to molify both sides have become vague, contradictary and sometimes un-enforceable and add unnecessarily to the cost of entertainment and the technology that supports it.

To prove that some lines are controlled by the public all you have to do is look at the OJ scenario. People just didn't want that and the network responded. So in some regard we do have a say in what is acceptable.

So, I beg you guys to quit watching that crap :D
</rant>

EDIT: Oh yeah I forgot an important part. People who think that the police have been immune to media/government/business influence until these new types of cop shows have their heads in the sand.

Yesterday’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.

I am glad to see such thoughtful reactions to the CJR piece, which, I admit, I posted with quite some reservations.

As someone with a journalistic background, to some degree...

I watch "Predator", too. Once you stumble onto Chris Hansen making some poor "Internet pervert" into a national laughingstock, it's hard to turn away.

But I certainly track with a lot of the issues CJR brings up. It's a line I would not cross, frankly, as a journalist. And it is basically done because it gets NBC big ratings.

The only thing that makes me feel that I don't have to take a shower after watching "Predator": All of these men crossed a line by getting up out of their seats, away from their computers, and getting in a car to drive to meet a purported underage girl/boy. It's not easy to sympathize with them with that knowledge in mind.

But yes...there is a bit of "luring" and flirting on the part of the PJ folks that would get some of these people "going"...and makes them not true "predators", really, but just misguided idiots.

Critic’s Notebook
Boston Globe’s Matthew Gilbert’s online chat
Here is this week’s online exchange with the Boston Globe TV Critic Matthew Gilbert and boston.com users:

Matthew_Gilbert: Hi friends. Welcome.

m: I, for one, would love to see Amy Poehler on 30 rock. She's the only good thing about SNL these days...

Matthew_Gilbert: I agree, M. Amy rocks. I kinda hope she finds her own vehicle. I still laugh to myself at her Nancy Grace impression.

Matthew_Gilbert: By the way, 30 Rock has gotten pretty good, despite its Amylessness.

jmac: Hi Matt, Any good news on CSI. GG is leaving tonight for a few weeks. Anything w/ ss and gg like a goodby kiss and when is he coming back?

Matthew_Gilbert: Bye bye GG. I don't expect a kiss with SS. He's too uptight and skittish. I think choosing Liev Schrieber (sp?) to replace William Petersen during his leave is an interesting choice...

joan: As a frustrated viewer who put s in time watching serial shows that get cancelled like Day Break and Smith, I may not commit to any new serials in the future. Do you see the TV audience avoiding these shows?

Matthew_Gilbert: Attachment fear? Joan, life will hurt you. But if you close yourself off to it, you will never have the chance to experience joy. Signed, Dr. Matty.

MDChief: hey matthew -- I'm assuming there are shows you just can't find time to review. So how do you and your editor decide what gets coverage and what doesn't?

Matthew_Gilbert: MDChief: We flip coins. No seriously, we kinda try to gauge what to review based on our interest, advance buzz, intrinsic value, etc. It's a muddy process, but I think we generally choose well. Is there something you feel we've missed?

baystate: Saw your article today, and liked it. Wondering if you'll do more critics notebook stuff in the future, instead of straight reviews

Matthew_Gilbert: Thanks baystate. I like doing critic's notebook stuff. It's fun to gather together ideas.

MDChief: No, not necessary. But I've always wondered how that process works -- with movies, with music, with TV. Is there anything YOU felt you missed?

Matthew_Gilbert: Yes, MD. I missed Battlestar Gallactica. Fortunately, my colleages Joanna Weiss and Suzanne Ryan are fans, so they have taken up the slack. I probably have one or two other Shame Shows, but not many -- I watch me a lot o' tube.

DavidMaplethorpe: Hi MG, wondering if you have an opinion on the future of reality TV? Still live and kicking? Or, as I regularly pray, dying quickly?

Matthew_Gilbert: My prognosis in the case of reality-itis is: A long life. Amaerican Idol, Survivor, the niche vanity projects on VH1 -- they are here for a while. Audiences still tune in, if not as avidly as they did a few years ago, and the shows are still cheap and easy to make. Sorry, my friend.

ki: in yr opinion, did that trump/rosie thing help or hurt their respective careers?

Matthew_Gilbert: Helped, of course. Donald put himself back in the limelight, which may help the ratings for the new season of The Apprentice, which begins Sunday. And Rosie continued to shake things up and not be boring -- always a plus in the celebrity world (unless you're Michael Richards).

MDChief: You watch a lot of tube, eh? Be honest: Ever purchased a product from an infomercial?

Matthew_Gilbert: OK, you busted me. I did order a Melrose Place T-shirt back in the 1990s, but it was a gift, I swear.

Matthew_Gilbert: Shame spiral...

Fiddy: do you watch Nashville Star? How does it stack up against the other big reality music shows?

Matthew_Gilbert: I watched a quarter of an episode once, and was not impressed. Doesn't have the crackle and snap of Idol. Maybe I'm just not country enough. Indeed, I thought Carrie Underwood was a bad choice.

D_Wayne_Johnson_2: Any word on when the Deadwood movies will come out? That's been my favorite show for the past two years, Ian Macshane and this year, Gerald Macraney are both tremendous. I really think Macshane gets overlooked for some reason when the award nominations come out.

Matthew_Gilbert: No word yet. A rumor got out that the movies may never happen, since David Milch is so busy making his new HBO series, John from Cincinnati. But who knows... I agree on McShane. Maybe his character is too dark and curse ridden? I remember when Khandi Alexander was ignored by awards shows for her performance as a junkie in "The Corner." It was a testament to the power of her work, that she so effectively turned people off. Maybe McShane is in the same category. (He did get an Emmy nom last year, though, didn't he?).

david: Any word on that new gig with Nate, from six feet under? Any good?

Matthew_Gilbert: Peter Krause's new miniseries already aired on Sci Fi. Called "The Lost Room," it was a lost effort as far as I was concerned.

Kansas: I know this may be a bit out of your field of expertise, but do you know how hockey does on the tube these days? Seems like it's all football and baseball, and that -- TNT excluded -- everything bball and hockey has gone to the dogs.

Matthew_Gilbert: Hokey. That's the one with the big orange ball, right?

sloop: Hi Matthew, these are the other people whose writing on television I enjoy: John Doyle-Globe & Mail, Heather Havrilesky-Salon, John Leonard-New York. I usually check out the reviews in the LA Times and Hollywood Reporter as well. Are there any writers I'm not hip to who you find insightful? (You are the best in the biz by the way.)

Matthew_Gilbert: Sloop. What a pal. Thanks. Yeah, I like Tim Goodman at the SF Examiner. He's passionate and smart. Also, I think Virginia Heffernan has done some strong work for the NY Times. Oh yeah, and James Poniewozik (sp??) in Time. He's very smart.

gilbert_clone: How would you rate Katie Couric's performance thus far?

Matthew_Gilbert: gilbert clone? Do I need to take out a virtual restraining order? Oh, poor Katie. She just seems to be in the wrong place. We know her and her silly-sweet side too well to buy the gravitas.
Peter: What do you see as the future of TV in the web age? Big question, but a good one, no?

Matthew_Gilbert: I'll answer you, Peter, but first I need to investigate whether or not God exists.

hennri: What ever happened to that Louie TK sitcom on HBO? Was it killed? Isn't he local?

Matthew_Gilbert: DITW. That's Dead in the Water, Hen. I kinda sorta hated that show, but it did have a small group of fans. So I am sorry for your loss, etc. Btw, look up a piece Neil Swidey did on Louie in the Globe Magazine a year or two ago. It was really good.

sloop: Nova's black hole episode pretty much nailed the coffin on god for me.

Matthew_Gilbert: Maybe the ghost whisperer can bring Him back for you.

sloop: James Walcott nailed the Couric thing in the current V. Fair

Matthew_Gilbert: I'll have to check it out. I don't buy Vanity Fair for the pictures.

smosh: I am really bummed the Nine dropped off. I had saved up a few episodes on the DVR, read good reviews, and started watching. And then, poof! arg.

Matthew_Gilbert: Yeah, it didn't fly. Too bad -- it was excellent. Partly, I think, it was just too heavy to air after Lost. Brainfry city.

sloop: I can't remember if you reviewed "Life on Mars?" I loved it. Your take?

Matthew_Gilbert: I didn't review it, but a reader (you?) urged me to watch. And so I checked out the premiere, and it just didn't catch me. I like the lead actor -- he was in Dr. Who and Casanova and that BBC gangster-musical series -- but the time warp premiere just irritated me. You know David E. Kelley (of Ally McBeal and Boston Legal) is remaking Life on Mars for American TV?

Matthew_Gilbert: Time-warp theme, I mean...

greys_writer: can I regain my mojo?

Matthew_Gilbert: I doubt it. The mojo wasn't durable enough. Find a job on Shonda's next series..
.
tootoo: Did you like Dexter?

Matthew_Gilbert: No, I didn't like it. I LOVED it. If you haven't seen it, wait for the DVD release.

sloop: David E. Smelly in my household.

Matthew_Gilbert: Now now. We are adults. Even if Smelly isn't.

shaz: I watched only the pilot of the Nine. It felt like they knew something I didn't and Ihad to wait all season to find out. I can't wait though for 24 to come back. The promos have me anxious for more

Matthew_Gilbert: Yes, I hear you. I think a lot of potential viewers of "The Nine" felt similarly and didn't want to wait. Lost already strains our patience. On 24 -- have you seen the promo photos of Jack for the new season? With his matted hair and beard, he looks like a recently hung dictator did when he was captured... 24! So bold!

shaz: What did you think about Barbara Walters having to apologize for Rosie on The View yesterday? I couldn't believe what I was watching!

Matthew_Gilbert: The View women are in their glory since Rosie showed up. Barbara loves playing the dignified lady, perhaps to make up for interviewing criminals and turning newsmagazines into stunt shows.

jack: Did you consider any specific "Lost" episodes for your top 10 list?

Matthew_Gilbert: Yes, I did. I don't know. I couldn't come up with one episode that blew me away, although I think the show is consistently well done (if a little adrift right now).

sloop: Now that Knights has started are there any unaired programs of interest left?

Matthew_Gilbert: There always are, sloop. That's TV. Showtime has "The Tudors" up its sleeve for april. It's about King Henry VIII, with Jonathan Ryys. I love that time period. Also, an NBC show called Raines could be interesting. It arrives in march, starring Jeff Goldblum as a detective who sees dead people. Sounds stupid, but I head through the grapevine that it's not bad. Of course, the grapevine is famously undependable. Also, Rob Corddry from The Daily Show has a sitcom called The Winner due on Fox. It will probably suck, but I do love Corddry and have my fingers crossed.

shaz: I heard 24 is having a few appearances by the slimyPresident and the first lady. They were most of the reason season 5 was so good. My Tivo already gave away a hint about Season 6 by mentining Presindet Wayne Palmer! It's my only complaint bout

Matthew_Gilbert: Yeah, Tivo does that. It's annoying, for sure. The President and Mrs. will definitely be back, and Wayne is president. Also, James Cromwell is on board as Jack's father.

Matthew_Gilbert: Thanks for showing up, friends. See you in a couple of weeks. MG

http://chats.boston.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?redirCnt=2&nav=auditorium&webtag=bc-mattgilbert

Critic’s Notebook
New Year Brings New TV Shows
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic

Once, new shows started in the fall and then in January. But the TV landscape is so fluid now that new shows stop and start any time.

With more than a half-dozen of the new network shows canceled - and two more late-season shows already gone ("Daybreak" and "3 Lbs."), there's room for a number of new titles as the year starts.

Most of them, as it happens, are comedies and reality shows, both of which were underrepresented in the fall schedules.

January also brings the return of two of the most anticipated shows on network TV for their sixth seasons - the drama "24" and the reality hit "American Idol." Both will revive the hopes of Fox, a network that had been seriously lagging in the ratings since the fall.

And some dramas will end long mid-season breaks with trumpeted returns. "Lost," for one, returns Feb. 7. "Prison Break" is back Jan. 22.

The final nine episodes of "The Sopranos" won't start until April on HBO. But the award-winning and influential mob drama will be available on something other than premium cable when A&E begins running the first season of "The Sopranos" (with a few snips for language, nudity and violence) on Wednesday.That's also the day when the first season of another acclaimed HBO drama, "The Wire," begins showing on BET.

But dozens of new and returning shows are preparing for premieres this month on cable.

Here's what to look for:

New network shows

"Knights of Prosperity" (ABC, premiered Wednesday, 9 p.m.). Bumped from a fall start to allow it to be better noticed, the critically hailed comedy stars Donal Logue as the head of a group of working-class guys aiming to rob Mick Jagger, who occasionally appears.

"In Case of Emergency" (ABC, premiered Wednesday, 9:30 p.m.). Old high school colleagues unexpectedly run into each other at low moments in their lives in this comedy, starring David Arquette, Greg Germann and Jonathan Silverman.

"Grease: You're the One That I Want" (NBC, starts Sunday, 8 p.m.). A reality competition aiming to find leads for an upcoming production of "Grease," as voted on by viewers.

"Armed & Famous" (CBS, Wednesday, 8 p.m.). The reality series follows celebrities - including Erik Estrada and LaToya Jackson - who train to become cops in Muncie, Ind.

"Rules of Engagement" (CBS, Feb. 5, 9:30 p.m.). Follows contemporary relationships through the eyes of an engaged couple, a long-married couple and a single guy. With Patrick Warburton and David Spade.

Returning Shows

"Beauty and the Geek" (CW, started Wednesday, 8 p.m.). There's no end to the beautiful, brainless women and dorky but brainy guys to pair up for the third season of the reality series.

"According to Jim" (ABC, started Wednesday, 8:30 p.m.). After celebrating its 100th episode last year, one of the long-running fat-dad sitcoms, led by Jim Belushi, returns for its sixth season.

"The Apprentice" (NBC, Sunday, 9:30 p.m.). The Donald moves the competition west to Beverly Hills, where the winning team stays in a mansion and the losers in tents.

"24" (Fox, Jan. 14, 8 p.m.). Jack Bauer is returned from China to save the U.S. from a series of national disasters.

"Crossing Jordan" (NBC, Jan. 14, 10 p.m.). The Boston based forensic crime drama starring Jill Hennessy returns for its sixth season.

"American Idol" (Fox, Jan. 16 and Jan. 17). It's the sixth season, too, for TV's most popular reality show.

"King of the Hill" (Fox, Jan. 28, 8:30 p.m.). The cartoon series, starting its 11th season, gets a better time slot, immediately after "The Simpsons."

On Cable

"High Maintenance 90120" (E!, started Monday, 10 p.m.). Maids and butlers for the Beverly Hills rich are followed in this reality series, which got big ratings in its premiere.

"Wildfire" (ABC Family, started Monday, 8 p.m.). The drama about a young woman making her way at a horse farm returns for a third season.

"Dirt" (FX, started Tuesday, 10 p.m.). Courteney Cox stars as a ruthless publisher of a celebrity tabloid in the new drama.

"The L Word" (Showtime, starts Sunday, 10 p.m.). There's never a lack of drama in the series about a group of impossibly glamorous lesbians in Los Angeles, starting its fourth season.

"I'm With Rolling Stone" (MTV, Sunday, 10 p.m.). The new reality series follows interns at the magazine, one of whom will land a more permanent job.

"Hogan Knows Best" (VH1, 10 p.m. Sunday). The reality series following the family of the wrestling star starts its third season.

"Shooting Sizemore" (VH1, 10 p.m., Sunday). Tom Sizemore, the troubled actor with a drug problem, tries to clean up in the "Breaking Bonaduce"-like reality series.

"I Love New York" (VH1, Monday, 9 p.m.). The perennial runner-up in Flavor Flav's "Flavor of Love" finally gets a prize: her own dating show.

"Lincoln Heights" (ABC Family, Monday, 7 p.m.). New drama about an inner-city policeman who moves his family into his tough old neighborhood.

"Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show" (VH1, Monday, 10 p.m.). A reality competition show about white rappers vying for a crown, hosted by MC Serch and Prince Paul.

"The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" (Oxygen, Wednesday, 10 p.m.). The outspoken original supermodel auditions for new models.

"Tease" (Oxygen, Wednesday, 9 p.m.). Lisa Renna hosts this hairstyling showdown reality series.

"Extras" (HBO, Jan. 14, 10 p.m.). The Ricky Gervais comedy about a lowly actor turned BBC sitcom producer enters its second season.

"Rome" (HBO, Jan. 14, 9 p.m.). The second and final season of the lavish series begins with blood still flowing from last season's Ceasar-killing finale.

"The Hills" (MTV, Jan. 15, 10 p.m.). The post-high-school lives of the original "Laguna Beach" cast continues to be closely followed.

"Dancelife" (MTV, Jan. 15, 10:30 p.m.). Jennifer Lopez returns to series TV for the first time since she was a Fly Girl on "In Living Color," hosting her own dance competition.

"My Super Sweet 16" (MTV, Jan. 15, 9 p.m.). A fourth season begins for the showcase of spoiled teens and their extravagant birthday parties.

"The Real Housewives of Orange County" (Bravo, Jan. 16, 10 p.m.). It's the second season to follow privileged California women.

"The Naked Trucker & T Bone Show" (Comedy Central, Jan. 17, 10:30 p.m.). New series starring the oddball comedy team of Dave Allen and David Koechner, who play an ill-clad trucker and a hitchhiker with many opinions, together on the road.

"Psych" (USA, Jan. 19, 10 p.m.). A second season begins for the wise guy who pretends to be a psychic to help the cops starring James Roday and Dule Hill.

"The Dresden Files" (Sci Fi, Jan. 21, 9 p.m.) is a new series about a private detective (Paul Blackthorne) with special powers, based on the novels of Jim Butcher.

"Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi, Jan. 21, 10 p.m.). The highly-regarded revival takes its third season to a new night.

"Engaged & Underage" (MTV, Jan. 22, 9:30 p.m.). A new documentary series follows young couples planning their big day.

"Pros vs. Joes" (Spike, Jan. 25, 10 p.m.). More amateurs are matched with pro athletes in a series of competitions for the show's second season.

"Road Rules" (MTV, 9 p.m., Jan. 30) Starting its 14th season, the competition is one of TV's longest running reality shows.

"Bam's Unholy Union" (MTV, 9:30 p.m., Jan. 30). The "Viva La Bam" star plans his typically raucous wedding.

"Two-A-Days" (MTV, Jan. 30, 10 p.m.). A second season for the reality show that follows a high school football team.

"Wrestling Society X" (MTV, Jan. 30, 10:30 p.m.). A new wrestling series from the network once devoted to music.

"The Sarah Silverman Program" (Comedy Central, Feb. 4, 10 p.m.). The wicked comic behind the concert film "Jesus is Magic" finally gets her own series.

http://www.ctnow.com/tv/hce-midseason.artjan04,0,2934346,print.story?coll=hce-headlines-tv-top

TV Review
'L' is for lusty & lesbian
But also for less credible
By David Bianculli, New York Daily News - January 6, 2007

"The L Word" - Sunday night at 10 on Showtime
Rating - Two-and-a-Half Stars (Out of Four)

When "The L Word" began four seasons ago on Showtime, one of the central conceits of Ilene Chaiken's comedy-drama about the West Hollywood lesbian community was a chart compiled obsessively by journalist Alice (Leisha Hailey), tracing all the interlocking comings and goings of the women she knew.

For the new season, which begins Sunday night at 10, the chart remains part of the mix, but now it's a fancy Web site, with people adding to it like a MySpace site, and with conquests charted and measured like solar systems and planets.

For example, Shane (Katherine Moennig), the human catnip of this group, is claimed by 963 different sexual partners - and a few episodes into this season, a new star is discovered, a woman named Papi (Janina Gavankar) whose conquests are into four digits. Alice, no less obsessive than before sets out to find her.

Meanwhile, Alice becomes the object of obsession herself, when a middle-aged married woman with children - played by Cybill Shepherd - fixates on Alice as her first lesbian lover.

Obsession is a common theme throughout the first six episodes of the new season. Temptation is another, and, if theres a third, it's infidelity. Whatever romantic relationships were established in previous seasons are either gone now or are being severely tested.

By this time, so is the credibility of the overall narrative. Mia Kirshner's Jenny, a writer, becomes so obsessed by a bad review that she sets out on a complex and unhinged plan for revenge. (For my own safety, I make a clear distinction between Jenny the character and Kirshner the actress, who remains ridiculously alluring, even as the woman she plays on "The L Word" becomes more and more shrill and abrasive.)

The joys of "The L Word," these days, are found less frequently, and in some unexpected moments and subplots. Bette (Jennifer Beals) remains the central heart of "The L Word," but this year her romantic interests, from both an artist (Marlee Matlin) and a teaching assistant (Jessica Capshaw), seem almost arbitrary.

The scenes between Hailey and Shepherd, as Alice and her aggressive older fling, are sparklingly funny, and Moennig, as Shane, manages to bring the most credible drama to the show this season. In one scene, she makes a strong impact merely by gazing at a children's drawing.

Her story this season, like those of most other characters, is all over the place, introducing obstacles and relationships almost from nowhere. Moennig makes it work - but if "The L Word" itself were charted as a celestial Web site map, it'd be a dangerously unstable universe.

The cast is beautiful, and the sex is plentiful - but when the characters calm down, they, like the series, seem to have little idea where they're headed

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/486095p-409237c.html

TV Review
Dis-'Grease'
NBC's Search for Danny and Sandy Hits a Low Note
By Adam Buckman, New York Post - January 6, 2007

"Grease: You're The One That I Want" - Sunday night at 8 on NBC
Rating - Two Stars (Out of Four)

All of these talent- search shows are beginning to look the same.

Take this "Grease" series premiering Sunday night on NBC.

Formally titled "Grease: You're the One That I Want" (after one of the songs from the musical), it will likely attract the same kind of starry-eyed viewer who watches "American Idol" (although the number of them who will watch "Grease" will likely be far fewer).

It's not as if the producers of "You're the One That I Want" aren't making every effort to lure in the "Idol" fan by shamelessly borrowing (or perhaps stealing) from it.

"You're the One That I Want" is a talent contest aimed supposedly at casting a pair of promising amateurs in the lead roles of a planned new Broadway production of "Grease" - that of greaser Danny Zuko and "good girl" Sandy Olsson, played by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the 1978 movie.

In tomorrow night's premiere, we get to see auditions, both good and bad, in Los Angeles and Chicago, out of which a chosen few will be selected to advance to "Grease Academy."

That's where in future weeks they will be schooled in the performance arts as they vie for the prize parts.

Like "Idol," there are three judges, including a snooty Brit - theatrical producer David Ian - who assumes the Simon Cowell role.

Also like "Idol," the contestants fit a handful of stereotypes.

There's the over-confident pretty boy who is certain he'll be chosen but who cannot sing a note, and the perky waitress for whom this audition is her one and only chance to become a star.

On this "Grease" show - which must have the highest proportion of cocktail waitresses of any TV talent show - some of the working gals make it and some don't.

And whether they're chosen or not, the tears flow.

Then there's the stereotype of the plucky fat girl - two of them in tomorrow's show - who can really belt it out.

Although it's a foregone conclusion that neither will land the role of Sandy, at least the chubbettes don't shed any tears.

That's more than I can say about some of the male contestants on this show, who blubber as if their lives had ended.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01062007/tv/dis_grease_tv_adam_buckman.htm

CES 2007
Verizon to Announce Plan for TV Shows on Cellphones
By Laura M. Holson, The New York Times - January 6, 2007

Verizon Wireless is expected to announce on Sunday that it will offer full-length programming to its cellular subscribers from several major television networks, according to people apprised of the deal.

The service, which should be in operation by the end of March, will consist of eight channels and will include popular shows from NBC, CBS, Fox and MTV, they said. ESPN is reportedly also in negotiations to offer programs, which will be offered for the cellphone screen soon after they appear on television.

What is significant is that the programs will be among the first full-length television shows to be offered to cellular subscribers in the United States. In Europe, where mobile phone technology is more advanced, such programming is more widely available.

It will also make the mobile phone more competitive with devices like the iPod from Apple Computer. In 2005, Apple announced that it would offer shows from the Walt Disney Company’s ABC network for sale through its iTunes Store. Other entertainment companies quickly followed suit.

Media companies will receive a fee based on consumer subscriptions. A spokesman for Verizon Wireless could not be reached for comment on Friday evening.

In the deal, Verizon is joining with MediaFLO U.S.A., a subsidiary of Qualcomm, which has created technology to transmit high-resolution video through its own dedicated network. MediaFLO’s quality rivals European and Asian standards, media executives say.

Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm have been partners for some time; they first announced an agreement to work together in 2005. MediaFLO was reported by those apprised of the Verizon deal to be in talks to offer television shows through other wireless phone companies as well.

Samsung and LG are two phone makers whose equipment is compatible with the MediaFLO network.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/technology/06phone.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

TV Notebook
Hopelessly devoted to 'Grease'
In a reality show twist, the public will pick the cast for the latest incarnation of this beloved rock musical
By Frank Lovece, Newsday - January 7, 2007

'Grease" is the word? Hey, no, daddy-o: It's more like "phenomenon" is the word.

Jim Jacobs' and Warren Casey's tart tale of good girl Sandy Dumbrowski and bad boy Danny Zuko of all-American Rydell High ran eight years (1972-80) and garnered seven Tony Award nominations, and the 1994-98 edition became Broadway's fourth longest-running musical revival. The 1978 movie was that year's second-highest grosser, right behind the blockbuster "Superman" - spawning a sequel and landing at No. 20 on the American Film Institute's list of the 25 "Greatest Movie Musicals."

"Grease" is the reality

The latest product: the reality show "Grease: You're the One That I Want," premiering on NBC Sunday at 8 p.m. with a 90-minute opener before setting into its regular 8-9 p.m. slot next week. A sort of "American Idol 1959," it's a videotaped open audition to cast the lead roles in the new Broadway revival that's scheduled to begin rehearsals on or about April 1 and open in June.

Like "Idol," the show features three judges: revival director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall (who won last year's Tony and Drama Desk awards for best choreographer for "The Pajama Game"); British theater producer David Ian, who produced "Grease" for London's West End revival and is a producer of the upcoming Broadway version; and the youthfully energetic Jacobs. (Co-creator Casey died of complications from AIDS in Chicago at age 53, in 1988.) "Access Hollywood's" Billy Bush hosts.

"This isn't an amateur contest," Marshall insists. "It's an open call."

Given the cost of mounting a Broadway show, they're hedging their bets: In mid-September, before the New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles auditions taped, Jay Binder Casting held what are called Equity Principal Auditions, under the auspices of the theater union Equity. "If there was somebody they saw" whom they would recommend, Marshall says, then those performers "had to come to the TV audition."

Whether such Equity actors or the equivalent of a football-tryout walk-on gets one of the lead roles, the judges say the stars will each have a one-year contract for the standard eight shows a week. What if they looked good on paper but don't have that mysterious, "who knows what it is" star quality needed to carry a show? If sales lagged, would the producers just close it after a week?

"It's our job to make sure they're ready and make sure they can deliver," Marshall says. Echoes Ian, a bit nervously, "We've got to get it right."

There's precedent, at least: The 2006 BBC show "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" found a star for Ian's and Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End revival of "The Sound of Music." Winner Connie Fisher, a 23-year-old theater-academy graduate who was telemarketing when she went on the TV show, has been playing the lead role of Maria von Trapp for three months so far.

You can't mess it up

Jacobs, the easygoing optimist among the judges, concedes that Ian's phrase "'we've got to get it right' is absolutely right. But you do have what are called understudies. Hopefully it's gonna work. I must say, without trying to pat myself on the back, I have seen productions of 'Grease' where you say to yourself, 'Omigod, this wouldn't last a day' - community-theater things or whatnot - but people still love this show. In many senses of the word, it's almost indestructible."

The first three episodes are taped, with the Los Angeles and Chicago auditions in the premiere, the New York auditions in show two and the third episode devoted to the "Grease Academy," a week of training for the semifinal 24 who will be winnowed down to the last 12. The remaining half-dozen episodes, scheduled to run through March 3, are the live, viewer-vote eliminations.

Barry Bostwick, the original Broadway show's Danny Zuko, came to a post-academy showcase the producers held in Chicago, Marshall says. Olivia Newton-John, the movie's Sandy, guest-stars in the first two TV episodes. Whether Adrienne Barbeau (who scooped up a Theatre World Award and a Tony nomination as bad girl Rizzo), Carole Demas, the original Sandy (also known to New Yorkers as co-star of the long-running WPIX kids' show "The Magic Garden") or revival Rizzos (Rosie O'Donnell, Linda Blair, Deborah Gibson, Sheena Easton, Joely Fisher, Jasmine Guy, Maureen McCormick or Lucy Lawless, among others), will show up is undecided.

Jacobs, for one, thinks it would be "wonderful to bring back people who were in the movie or in the Broadway and touring companies. I would love to see a show down the line where we see them, not as judges, but certainly there in the audience, maybe reminiscing."

But don't expect "Knots Landing" diva Donna Mills, who has long claimed to be the inspiration for Sandy.

"No," says Jacobs simply, suppressing a chuckle. "Donna Mills - real name Donna Miller - was a year or two older than me. She was actually the grammar-school girlfriend for a short while of my cousin, who was the older brother of the person that Danny Zuko was based on. But she did indeed go to Taft High School and to Garvey Grammar School, and is from my neighborhood. Donna Miller is well-known to all of us."

And if the reality show works as well as the judges hope, the new Sandy and Danny will likewise become well-known to us, too.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-ffpop5038742jan07,0,5797142.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

TV Review
The Donald's got game
The all-new edition of The Apprentice kicks off tomorrow night in La-La-land
By Bill Brioux, Toronto Sun - January 6, 2007

"You're fired!"

The Donald and his tired, iconic phrase returns tomorrow night in an all-new edition of The Apprentice. The 90-minute opener kicks off tomorrow night at 9:30 on NBC and Global.

You can tell it is getting close because Donald Trump has been lashing out like a wounded bear, flailing for publicity like Britney Spears at Happy Hour.

First he rushed to defend Miss America, getting all moral and uppity and grandly giving the poor kid a second chance. Then he starts bad mouthing arch-enemy Rosie O'Donnell, hurling insults and making threats to anyone within recording distance. Just the other day, he cut a cheque for ten grand to that New York subway hero who dove onto the tracks. The Donald knows a good media buy when he sees one.

He also knows The Apprentice isn't the show it used to be. It was already on the decline in the fall of 2005 when Martha Stewart's Apprentice imploded on impact. The most recent edition of The Apprentice, the fourth edition, finished the 2005-06 season No. 38 among 215 shows, with an average U.S. weekly audience of 11.01 million -- about half the number of people who watched when it premiered in 2004.

In order to crank it up a bit, The Donald has made some changes. First, he canned his Fred and Ethel assistants, real-estate codger George Ross and cool blonde Carolyn Kepcher, replacing them with his bronzed but bland progeny, Ivanka and Don Jr. Hey, didn't he learn anything from when Martha snuck her icy daughter on her show?

Next, Captain Comb-Over has moved his show to La-La-land, setting up shop in Hollywood this edition. There are still 18 enterprising contestants, but this time they'll be scrambling all over Southern California instead of Manhattan. Good luck hailing a cab.

Trump also has added a tricked-out Big Brother house to the reality series, bunking each week's winning team of wannabe billionaires in a luxurious mansion (the losers get to sleep out back in tents and are forced to use port-a-potties, making them feel like most other actors in Hollywood).

Another new wrinkle: The winning project manager will continue in that role each week until their team loses and will even help advise Trump on who stays and who goes. Once they lose, however, they will be mocked and hung, with the whole thing recorded on a cellphone. That Mark Burnett, where does he get these ideas?

Fun, too, will be watching to see if Trump's industrially-lacquered comb-over can repel the deadly ultra violet rays pounding down from the golden coast.

As entertaining as all of this is sure to be (and I bet you can tell I'm into it), it's probably not gonna be half as much fun as playing GSN's new Rosie Vs. Trump game. Simply go to gsn.com and click on "Rosie vs Trump." You can make them punch and kick each other, using Rosie's "Tongue Lasher" or The Donald's "Killer Comb-over" to score points. Watch as they hurl real insults ("Snake oil salesman!" shouts Rosie; "Loser!' Low life!" barks The Donald) while Barbara Walters and Miss America cheer from their corners. Every time Rosie kicks Donald, watch as wads of money go flying. It is good cartoon fun, just like in real life, where these two behave like bad Batman villains at the best of times.

MULLALLY GAGGING: After five months of brutal ratings, syndicated daytime talker The Megan Mullally show has been cancelled, the final new telecast will air Jan. 26 on CH. Geraldo Rivera's little seen Geraldo Rivera At Large also has been canned, if anybody cares. And former Saved By The Bell babe Tiffani Thiessen has been added to the cast of What About Brian as a sexy and manipulative businesswoman. There's your Apprentice model, girls.

http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Television/2007/01/06/3196192-sun.html

TV Notebook
"The O.C." heads to that gigantic gated community in the sky
By Melanie McFarland, Seattle Post-Intelligencer - January 3, 2007

Oh. Mah. Gawd.

In yet another example of the fleeting popularity of pop culture phenomena, Fox announced that it was pulling "The O.C." off life support. No more gigs at The Bait Shop. No more Julie Cooper sluttery. No more wondering where all the minorities are hiding!

This is the part where we're supposed to say, "How ever will we go on?" But that's the problem, isn't it? Life's been humming along merrily without "The O.C." for so many of us, we forgot that it was still on the air. That moved Fox to spread the word on Wednesday that it was finally putting its so-three-seasons ago drama out of its misery on Feb. 22, when the finale will air at 9 on KCPQ/13.

Seth, Summer, Ryan and the late, troubled Marissa were once the hottest things going on television, fashion and indie music tastemakers. Now, they serve to remind us that the only thing more pathetic than an aging hipster is a teen soap turned geezer. Cancellation wasn't exactly a surprise here; Fox only ordered 16 episodes this season and sent it on a suicide run against "CSI" and "Grey's Anatomy" when it finally premiered in November.

Not even the prospect of seeing Ryan get bludgeoned in an underground fight club was enough to tickle our fancy. Only 4 million people bothered showing up this season.

But let's not make this solely about kicking a television show's corpse. Why not list the positives bound to come out of this cancellation?

--The proliferation of the cast's faces on magazine covers will, at last, come to a merciful halt. Once those shoe and bag campaigns find a new flavor of the month to photograph, we have reason to hope against hope that Mischa Barton won't just disappear when she turns sideways.

-- Adam Brody will be free to pursue more films, finally putting him on the road to becoming the next John Cusack.

-- Ditto for Rachel Bilson, who hasn't been doing much besides this series, and now has a part in an upcoming Doug Liman film. Liman, an executive producer on the series, is currently busy shooting the pilot for a television version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith."

-- Finally, the end of "The O.C." means there's more room for all that high-quality Fox programming waiting in the wings....oh, wait.

Au revoir, m'dears. And, um, we'll "O.C." you in rerun-land! Ha! Ha!...oh lordy, this midseason is killing me already.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/archives/110135.asp

CES 2007
Hitachi Makes Video Storage Breakthrough
By Glen Dickson, Broadcasting & Cable - January 5, 2007

Hitachi says it has developed a hard disk drive that can store a terabyte of data, a significant development for future digital set-tops with digital video recording capability. A terabyte could store about 125 hours of high-definition television using MPEG-2 compression at 18 megabits per second (Mbps) or almost 250 hours of HD programming using advanced MPEG-4 compression (at 9 Mbps).

Hitachi will preview its new drive technology at the CES show and start selling it in a retail product, the Deskstar 7K1000, aimed at gaming enthusiasts and high-performance PC applications. It will begin shipping to retail customers in the first quarter of 2007 at a suggested retail price of $399 (USD), or 40 cents per gigabyte (GB).

Hitachi will then release a professional version, the CinemaStar version 1TB hard drive, aimed at digital video recorder applications. That drive will be marketed to set-top manufacturers. Hitachi says it has also developed new software technology for DVR set-tops that manages the mix of high-definition video streaming and best-effort file operations, such as electronic program guides or background IPTV downloads, in order to most efficiently use disk space and extend the life of the hard drive.

“The industry’s first one-terabyte hard drive represents a milestone that is 50 years in the making, and it reasserts the hard drive’s leadership as the highest-capacity, lowest-cost storage technology,” said Shinjiro Iwata, chief marketing officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, in a statement.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6404745.html?display=Breaking+News

CES 2007
A Cool Gadget Here, an A-List Chieftain There
By Richard Siklos, The New York Times - January 7, 2007

With the end of the holidays comes a fresh start and new resolve to lead a loftier, healthier, simpler life. Maybe it’s time to tend the garden, take up the harpsichord or read Proust. Then, before you know it, everyone in the media business hops on planes to Las Vegas and swarms the Consumer Electronics Show, which starts today.

More than the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys or the endless investment bank conferences and guru gatherings where media honchos strut, C.E.S., as the event is known, has quickly emerged in the last few years as the Super Bowl of cluster-huddles. Over the next few days, 150,000 people will jam convention center floors in the Nevada desert.

Sure, most of the people darting around the endless rows of display booths are either representatives of electronics, computer or software companies that are showing off their wares, or are buyers from retail chains trying to figure out what the must-have gizmo will be next Christmas.

But for the first time this year, the Consumer Electronics Association, host for the palaver, has tallied the number of media industry — or “content,” as they put it — attendees: about 10,000. The media chieftains Leslie Moonves of CBS and Robert A. Iger of the Walt Disney Company will occupy two of five slots for industry keynote speeches, which are increasingly seen as symbolically important for showing everyone how brilliant and tech-savvy one’s company is and how glorious its future is shaping up to be.

Last year, the keynote speakers included Sir Howard Stringer of Sony, Terry S. Semel of Yahoo and Larry Page of Google, accompanied on stage by the likes of Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, Robin Williams and Dan Brown, author of “The Da Vinci Code.” Peter A. Chernin of the News Corporation was the featured speaker at a big dinner the electronics association held for dignitaries.

In other words, this is the chance for media biggies to show that they know their Bluetooth from their Blu-Ray, their OutKast from their Comcast.

But there are deeper tensions in the hospitality suites as the corporate titans combine and recombine themselves in various consortiums and partnerships with gadget makers and Web giants with hopes of getting a jump on the next guy.

Every time I’ve been to Las Vegas, at C.E.S. or otherwise, I have marveled at the incongruity amid the theme park architecture, pulsing lights and thumping music — and at how many glum faces there are in the crowds and at the casino tables. There’s a lot more losing going on than winning.

The question this year is: Which technologies can Hollywood throw its resources behind to generate the next wave of profits? After all, DVD growth has slowed, radio is struggling to find new revenues, the music industry continues to grasp for footing and the television business is on the brink of reinvention.

Last year, Americans spent $150 billion on all manner of devices needed to play, watch, communicate and learn. And so it is no accident that the technology and engineering branch of the Emmy Awards will hand out its awards at C.E.S. for the first time, and the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is host for a Grammy party on Monday night.

Gary Shapiro, the president of the Consumer Electronics Association, points out that the trade floor will include a “legal downloading area” and tells me that Dan Glickman, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, will be there as his “special guest.”

It was not ever thus. The first C.E.S., held in the summer of 1967 in New York City, attracted a crowd roughly one-tenth the size of this year’s and featured various symposiums and seminars and, according to the C.E.S. Web site, an “all industry” banquet with an “all-inclusive price” of $10 per person.

The first solid-state TV was introduced at that debut show, while the 110 exhibitors — compared with more than 2,500 today — showcased the latest in transistor radios, stereos and small-screen black-and-white TVs.

C.E.S. didn’t fully begin to draw the media crowd — the movie and television producers and the music executives — until the DVD was introduced a decade ago and digital technology took hold. Then, of course, the Internet ushered in a whole new category of products and Web applications like file-sharing that at first blush posed more of an immediate threat than a benefit to existing business models.

Another boost for C.E.S.’s profile came when its main rival in the realm of what Mr. Shapiro calls “converging industries,” the computer trade show Comdex, sputtered out in 2003.

Even five years ago, the media industry was largely at odds with the consumer electronics folks, who in turn were dueling with the computer and software people whose products were increasingly competing for household dominance. Hollywood executives sent emissaries to poke around C.E.S. and to report on the latest things to worry about.

Mr. Shapiro, who spends the rest of his year lobbying for the electronics association, noted that Mr. Iger’s keynote performance would be a milestone because his legendary predecessor, Michael D. Eisner, was a staunch opponent of the electronics industry on a number of lobbying fronts.

“I started my career fighting Disney on new technologies including the VCR in the 1970s and 1980s,” Mr. Shapiro recalled. “When Robert Iger came on, it was like a 180-degree switch and I can’t tell you how happy I am. Instead of fighting them in Washington, we’re working with them.”

Mr. Iger’s speech is noteworthy in another respect: given the arrival a year ago of Steven P. Jobs, the Apple Computer founder, on the board of Disney — where he is also the largest individual shareholder — closer alliances between Disney’s content and Apple’s iPods and other gadgets have been forged.

Yet Apple is the one company that pointedly sits out C.E.S. in favor of its own clambake, Macworld, which this year is even running at the same time as C.E.S., but up in San Francisco. It’s not exactly Nixon coming to China, but Mr. Iger’s appearance in Las Vegas shows that he is taking the temperature of the times and shrewdly keeping his options open.

AND so this week his company, Viacom and Time Warner are just a few of the media businesses expected to announce new ventures during the convention, including the new Total HD videodisc from Warner Brothers. That product is meant to bring détente between warring manufacturers of high-definition DVD players by creating a disc that will work in both machines.

The general rule may still be that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But what happens at C.E.S. will shape the media battleground for the year ahead. Maybe tending the garden can wait until next year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/business/yourmoney/07frenzy.html?ref=business

CES 2007
CEA Touts HD Set Sales
By Glen Dickson, Broadcasting & Cable - January 6, 2007

The Consumer Electronics Association predicts that sales of flat-panel HDTV sets will continue their strong growth in 2007 after a groundbreaking holiday shopping season in 2006.

The trade group forecasts 2007 shipments of 19 million flat-panel displays, including plasma and LCD models. Overall, display technologies will account for $22 billion of CEA's projected total consumer electronics revenues of $155 billion in 2007. The overall figure would be a seven percent improvement over total consumer electronics sales of $145 billion in 2006.

"The TV market is setting all-time revenue records," says Todd Thibodeaux, CEA's senior vice president of industry relations. "CRT-based sets are giving way to flat panel displays. The successful ongoing transition to digital television is driving demand in this market space."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6404774.html

Please check the previous page (#667) for lots of recently-added posts. Tons of reviews for The Apprentice: L.A., The L Word and Grease: You're The One That I Want as well as recent news from the Sinclar/Mediacom feud and an interesting pseudo-ethics discussion about the Dateline NBC: To Catch A Predator series.

HDTV Notebook
HDTV sales finally break out with holiday discounts
Watch for falling prices
By Jennifer Netherby, Variety - January 5, 2007

A retail price war set off the day after Thanksgiving shifted the television landscape during the holiday season, putting high-definition TVs within reach of a lot more consumers and spurring wide-scale adoption earlier than most analysts expected.

It's now estimated that one-third of U.S. households, roughly 35 million, have HDTVs according to research firm the Envisioneering Group. That's up from the roughly 26 million that had them before the holidays began.

The quick uptake of discounted digital TVs -- many of which have been sold at cost -- has hurt the bottom lines of retailers.

For consumers and peddlers of next-gen game consoles and movie-players at CES who have built their technologies around hi-def adoption, it's been a boon.

"In a sentence, (hi-def) panels are being sold very close to cost," says Envisioneering Group analyst Richard Doherty. "The discounting this season has been in every consumer's favor even though it is hurting Best Buy and Circuit City and every other retailer's bottom line."

The average price of an HDTV set fell to $1,043 during the holidays, and is expected to slip to $800 this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Assn. Low-cost leader Wal-Mart slashed prices on some flat-panel TVs to under $500.

Those prices proved too good for consumers to pass up.

CEA predicted the industry would sell 19.7 million digital TVs in 2006, but the org and analysts like Doherty believe those numbers are too pessimistic given what happened in the fourth quarter, when retailers held to deep discounting on TVs to draw consumers into stores.

"A good chunk of it has been the Black Friday madness that started where panels sold under cost," Doherty says. "Those price points have stuck around longer than anyone had imagined."

The fiercely competitive pricing came at a cost. Best Buy and Circuit City, the nation's two largest electronics retailers, both missed analyst expectations in their third-quarter earnings, reported in mid-December. Circuit City posted a sharp loss for the three months ending in November, which the retailer blamed on low HDTV pricing. Even so, the retailer said it had no plans to back off as it tried to gain market share.

The cut-rate pricing is better news for makers of hi-def add-ons. "It's all very good for both (hi-def disc platforms) HD DVD and Blu-ray and the two (game) consoles that work with HDTV," Doherty says. Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 support high- definition graphics.

Doherty notes that when both hi-def DVD formats debuted last summer, HDTVs were in one out of five homes. While an HDTV purchase doesn't automatically translate to an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player purchase, gadget makers hope that once consumers get used to watching a high-definition picture, they'll search for more upgraded content.

"There's still a heightened sense of emergency for people who own HDTVs frustrated by the content available to them," says Frank Roshinski, VP video merchandising G.M. for Tweeter Electronics.

So far, manufacturers and retailers have been able to keep up with demand on TVs. But the brisk sales might have caught some off guard. Because of equipment shortages, for example, some DirecTV subscribers have been told they have to wait over a month to have their satellite TV service upgraded to HD.

And Doherty says there may be some TV shortages in January when sales pick up around the Super Bowl. Until the new models arrive in stores in April, it could be difficult to find a digital set, he says.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956845.html?categoryid=2438&cs=1

I have been wondering something for awhile. Instead of only offering cancelled shows for download in streaming form online why don't they also air the remaining episodes late at night? After midnight. That way the people who invested time in the show could catch the final episodes in HD and the networks wouldn't have to worry about ratings.

Another thing I have been curious about is reruns being shown in SD. On Saturdays CBS sometimes airs episodes of CSI at 11:30pm. I have never seen these shows offered in HD. Does it cost more to broadcast these reruns in HD or are they just being lazy?

The networks have late-night programming they would have to replace. And, they think, very few people would record the shows at those times.

As for the late-night network repeats of CSI (and other programs) -- those shows are the syndicated versions of the network shows. I am not sure if the HD versions have even been sold to the stations.

Annd stations are not required by the FCC to broadcast their HD (technically digital) signals 24/7. In fact, as I recall the current FCC regulations, only during prime time are they now required to provide a digital signal. So when they don't have to use the extra transmitter, they save on their electric bills.

Next weekend's NFL Playoff schedule has been announced. You'll find it in the HD Football listings at the top of the first post in the thread.

The Rock, believe it or not overnight hours are still valuable time slots in which TV stations (even the network affiliates after the network late night talk shows are over) can make money by scheduling a second run of a popular daytime show (like Oprah or Jerry Springer), syndicated shows, etc. You can bet the now-cancelled Megan Mulally show will be downgraded and dumped into some deep-into-the-night times around the country (2:05AM, 3:35AM, etc.) but that's because even in the dead of night the TV station showing it is still making a business decision of fulfilling a contract. Whenever CBS News interrupts a daytme soap opera to carry a Presidential News Conference, for example, the network's affiliates (especially the owned and operated stations) air the pre-empted soap in the overnight hours. A little crawl text in the CBS daytime shows warns audiences of the overnight scheduling. This works because soap fans are a passionate and numerous bunch that need the ongoing plot clear for them to continue to tune in.

No such audience loyalty and fanaticism (at least in sufficient numbers) accompanies the cancelled shows you think the networks should run at night. With shows like Kidnapped or Day Break there is no upside to showing them late at night or on network TV at all after their cancellation. Pleasing a handful of viewers isn't financially feasible for a network to overhaul its (and its affiliates) overnight hours. These cancelled shows are an expensive albatross that, if lucky, will make some of its expensive cost back via DVD sales or repeats on a niche' cable channel (like ABC's Nightstalker limited run on Sci-Fi). Even then that's quality-dependent. Not every show is a Firefly or Ben Stiller Show which achieves more fame and notoriety after its death than during its network run. BTW, those 11:30pm weekend repeats of CSI in the West Coast are syndicated repeats that the networks have no control over. Except for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy I am not aware of any syndicated series that are in HD. Because the syndication market has all sorts of affiliated stations (many in small markets with ancient technology) a nationwide network of HD distributed syndie programming isn't likely to materialize for a few years. Sorry! :(

HDTV Notebook
HEADS UP: “Rome” Season 1 replay starting Jan 7

DSperber notes in another thread that HBO is repeating the entire first season of “Rome” leading up to next Sunday’s start of season two. Here is his post:

If you want to re-watch (or watch for the first time) Season 1 of "Rome", HBO is having a 1-week replay of the complete Season 1 throughout the week starting this Sunday 1/7, leading up to the debut of Season 2 which begins anew on Sunday 1/14.

For your information (times Eastern/Pacific):

Sunday 1/7: 8PM #1, 9PM #2, 10PM #3
Monday 1/8: 8PM #4
Tuesday 1/9: 8PM #5
Wed 1/10: 8PM #6, 9PM #7
Thurs 1/11: 9PM #8, 10PM #9
Fri 1/12: 8PM #10, 9PM #11
Sun 1/14: 8PM #12

Then Sunday 1/14 at 9PM is episode #13 (i.e. the first episode of the new second season).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9296796&&#post9296796

The Business of TV
Mediacom on Sinclair: No Response
By Linda Moss & David Cohen Multi Channel News 1/6/2007

Mediacom Communications late Saturday reported no progress in its retransmission-consent dispute with Sinclair Broadcast Group.

“Having heard nothing from Sinclair, we reached out again at 1:30 p.m. [Saturday] afternoon with another request to enter into binding arbitration and a new proposal,” Mediacom executive vice president of operations John Pascarelli said in a prepared statement. “Sinclair rejected our latest offer and again informed us that they were unprepared to enter into arbitration and did not expect to make a decision until after the weekend.”

He added, "Sinclair seems to have no concern for the impact this dispute is having on consumers. While we are giving out free antennas to customers, Sinclair continues to ignore them and disregard the recommendation made in the [Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau’s] order. This is further evidence of Sinclair’s lack of concern for these markets, as publicly stated by their CEO."

Mediacom senior VP and general counsel Joseph Young added, "In a matter of a few hours, any competent lawyer should be able to come up with a list of conditions with respect to binding arbitration. Anyone taking longer is just stalling."

Mediacom announced late Friday night that refused to extend the cable operator’s right to carry its stations and ordered their removal as of midnight.

Earlier Friday, Mediacom said it planned to appeal to the full FCC with hopes of keeping those outlets from going dark.

During a conference call Friday morning, Mediacom officials also said they were still hoping that Sinclair would finally agree to their request that their ongoing retransmission-consent dispute be submitted to binding arbitration and that the stations stay on in the interim.

However, in the late-Friday announcement, Pascarelli said, “We are certainly dismayed with Sinclair’s inability to commit to our offer of binding arbitration made yesterday -- a solution that was strongly encouraged in the recent order by the FCC’s Media Bureau. Contrary to their statement today that Sinclair had not heard back from Mediacom, further discussions regarding arbitration could not take place this afternoon because according to Barry Faber, Sinclair’s VP and general counsel, Sinclair’s CEO, David Smith, was not available to approve such discussions.”

Pascarelli added, “Because our interim agreement already provides Sinclair with cash compensation, they have nothing to lose by agreeing to continued carriage while the details of the arbitration process are worked out. By ignoring the bureau’s clear encouragement to avoid a disruption in service to consumers, it appears to us that Sinclair is continuing to show its lack of concern for the public interest.”

He concluded, “In light of Sinclair’s decision to pull its stations, we will take this opportunity to provide our customers with quality family entertainment from a variety of our programming partners on the channels previously occupied by the Sinclair stations.”

In his remarks earlier Friday, Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said his company would appeal a ruling Thursday by the FCC’s Media Bureau rejecting its claim that Sinclair was not negotiating in good faith.

Mediacom will seek a ruling on its complaint by the full FCC, according to Commisso.

“Hopefully, [FCC] chairman [Kevin] Martin will provide expedited treatment for our appeal so any disruptions to consumers will be minimized,” Commisso said, adding that the FCC Media Bureau “has ruled badly.”

Mediacom’s current retransmission-consent extension with Sinclair expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. At that time, the cable company will lose the right to carry 22 Sinclair stations -- affiliates of Fox, The CW, My Network TV and ABC -- in 12 states.

The total number of Mediacom subscribers who could be affected is 700,000. But the number of Mediacom subscribers who will lose stations affiliated with the major networks, such as Fox, is only about 500,000, according to officials at the company.

“That number [700,000] is dramatically reduced because we’ve been able -- as we’ve done in Iowa City -- to import some Big Four-affiliated programming stations, as permitted by law,” Commisso said.

During the early Friday call, Iowa State Sen. Jeff Angelo (R-District 48) complained about comments Sinclair officials have made about their willingness to sacrifice their stations in Mediacom markets to eventually secure $100 million in retransmission-consent fees.

“As a representative of a large area of Mediacom customers, this is basically economic terrorism and it’s not in the public interest,” Angelo said.

Sinclair couldn’t be reached for comment.

Mediacom extended three new proposals to Sinclair this week, according to Commisso, and each was rejected.

Those new proposals were that Mediacom would pay Sinclair: a weighted-average price that reflects what direct-broadcast satellite, cable and phone companies are paying for retransmission of the broadcaster’s stations; a weighted-average price based on the pacts Sinclair just reached with McLeodUSA and is finalizing with Time Warner Cable; and per-subscriber, per-month price that reflected an increase from Mediacom’s prior offers.

Sinclair turned down those proposals Thursday and “proceeded on increasing their obnoxious demands once they became aware that the Media Bureau was going to rule in their favor,” Commisso said.

Commisso claimed that the FCC Media Bureau’s ruling, as it stands, basically means that broadcasters will be able to extract about $5 billion annually in retransmission-consent fees -- a cost that will be passed on to consumers and raise cable rates.

“The egregious demands by Sinclair and other broadcasters will force, for sure, retransmission consent to become a lightning rod for Congress,” he added.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6404660.html?display=Breaking+News

Technology Notebook
CES taps TV's inner geek
NATPE's nice, but tech turmoil brings many tube toppers to Vegas in January
By JOSEF ADALIAN Variety January 7, 2007

Traditionally, at the start of a new year, TV toppers have girded themselves for the North American Television Program Executives convention, held each January in Las Vegas.

But these days, with the digital revolution transforming their business, top TV execs are venturing into the desert a week or so earlier.

Once the domain of gadget geeks, the Consumer Electronics Show has evolved into a must-see confab for small screen execs and talent.

In fact, the event has morphed into a bit of a glamour event, with Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Hanks making appearances last year.

In an era of video iPods, TiVo and Slingboxes, tube denizens want to make sure they're in sync with the manufacturers of consumer tech.

"Every single media company realizes that the success or failure of our businesses will be determined by how well we adapt to what's happening with new media and technology," says CBS Corp. supremo Leslie Moonves. "If you're not totally aware of what's happening in technology and the new kinds of delivery systems, you're going to go the way of the dinosaurs."

Returning to CES this year, Moonves is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech Tuesday, while Disney's Bob Iger will speak to delegates today. If history is any guide, these speeches will probably make news.

Last year, for example, Moonves used CES to announce the Eye's partnership with Google Video to sell series online.

"The audience at CES is one we want to speak to," Moonves says. "The dollars that are available on digital (platforms) are going to grow substantially."

News Corp.'s Peter Chernin also made headlines last year by announcing plans to shorten the window between theatrical and homevideo releases of films. Fox and DirecTV also unveiled a new on-demand service to let consumers pay to watch shows before they debuted on TV.

Chernin will be back at the conference this year, even though he's not scheduled to make a formal presentation.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956849.html?categoryid=2438&cs=1

The Business of TV
DirecTV and Cable Fight Over MLB "Extra Innings" Deal
By R. Thomas Umstead Multi Channel News 1/8/2007

Cable operators are hoping not to strike out on a renewal of Major League Baseball’s out-of-market game package prior to opening day in April.

Video-on-demand purveyor In Demand is in talks to renew cable’s deal to distribute the “MLB Extra Innings” package, even as the league is discussing an exclusive distribution arrangement with DirecTV Inc., similar to the direct-broadcast satellite service’s deal with the National Football League for its “NFL Sunday Ticket.”

Cable operators have been offering the $170 MLB Extra Innings package — which offers as many as 900 games a year — since 2001. Initially, DBS leader DirecTV held the exclusive rights to that content.

But cable executives with knowledge of the deal say the DirecTV is making a major push to again secure exclusive rights to the package, in an effort to give it more of a sports-content advantage over cable and satellite archrival Dish Network. Neither DirecTV nor MLB officials could be reached for comment.

In Demand officials would only say that the company is in negotiations with MLB, declining to elaborate.

While the baseball pact is important to cable from a competitive standpoint, it’s not hitting home runs in the subscriber arena.

Kagan Associates estimates that Extra Innings generated 280,000 subscribers across both cable and satellite services in 2005. That pales by comparison to the 600,000 subscribers netted by the National Basketball Association’s “NBA League Pass” package and the nearly 2 million scored by Sunday Ticket during the same time period, according to Kagan.

Further, the package is dwarfed by the 1.3 million subscribers that baseball generated in 2005 for its $79.95 MLB.TV subscription broadband service, according to New York Magazine. The package includes live games, as well as extensive highlights and classic contests. Sports-programming consultant Lee Berke believes that the emergence of the broadband package could allow MLB to take DirecTV’s exclusive package without alienating cable subscribers.

“[MLB.TV] has become so widely distributed in its own right that it’s become a balancing act — the leagues are looking at various platform and the dollars they get, and trying to figure out whether exclusivity or multiple distributors makes sense,” he said. “My guess is that if DirecTV comes up with enough money, then baseball may say, 'We’re doing so well with MLB.TV maybe it’s worth it to explore being exclusive with DirecTV.’ ”

Cable does not receive any cut of the revenue from MLB.TV, but the industry benefits because its high-speed Internet access facilitates customer viewing and ultimately satisfaction with the broadband package.

Next up on cable’s out-of-market docket: the National Hockey League’s “NHL Center Ice” package, which expires after the 2006-07 season.

An NHL spokesman would only say that it has begun discussions on potential renewals with current partners.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6404687.html?display=Top+Stories

Ok. Thanks for the info guys. I guess those things do make sense. They probably do make more money from running an infomercial than they would from ad revenue during a cancelled HD program. In the end its always about the money. Always the money. I guess I should just be happy they offer the episodes online even if the quality is lackluster.

Reminder
Television Critics Association Winter Tour (and the CES)

This year’s TCA Winter Tour officially begins Tuesday morning in Pasadena CA.

Last year’s event featured the news of the demise of “The West Wing”, The CW and UPN, along with the announcement of the CW.

There will be many, many news items of note coming from the TCA, and you’ll keep abreast of all of them simply by visiting this thread from Tuesday through the final session on January 20th.

We will also be posting many items from the annueal Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There will be many announcements regarding the future of HDTV, as well as new equipment you will wnat to hear about. You'll read all about it this week here!

The Cable TV Poll

I haven't forgotten. Promise.

I am counting the ballots cast in the recent Favorite Cable TV Show poll. I am now sifting through hundreds of PMs and will post the results sometime Sunday.

Annd stations are not required by the FCC to broadcast their HD (technically digital) signals 24/7. In fact, as I recall the current FCC regulations, only during prime time are they now required to provide a digital signal. So when they don't have to use the extra transmitter, they save on their electric bills.

In 2002, that was true that digital stations had to mainatin a minimum operational day of prime time but over the years the duration of required digital operation has been extented until now digital stations are required to maintain the same minimum operational hours as analog, 6am to 10pm. Of course no one anymore ends their broadcast day at 10pm but that has been the rule for decades for broadcast radio and television stations and now digital as well.

Thanks for the info, foxeng.

But is there any requirement about the lamount of power used to broadcast the digital signal? It seems that a good part of the time some stations in LA use miminal power levels. (But that just could be a problem with my own setup.)

Critic’s Notebook
Young CW makes brand stand
Network hopes to forge identity with fresh fare
By Michael Schneider Variety.com January 7, 2007

The CW canvas is still blank.

But a year after CBS and Warner Bros. announced they were shutting down the WB and UPN and relaunching the two as a "new" fifth network, entertainment prexy Dawn Ostroff and her team are breaking out the paint brushes.

As pilot season begins, a portrait of what the CW is all about (family dramas? teen comedies? sexy reality shows?) should emerge.

"They need what everybody needs -- a hit show," says one studio topper. "But what's more, they need a noisy show: something that will get them a lot of attention where people who don't know that the CW exists will seek it out."

So far, that means quirky young-adult drama -- especially those for femmes.

The Green net has just ordered its first pilot, a Warner Bros. TV entry based on the "Gossip Girl" series of books. Josh Schwartz, whose "The OC" would have felt right at home on either the WB or UPN, is behind the pilot, along with fellow "OC" exec producer Stephanie Savage.

"It's absolutely one of the most popular books among the young, hip audience these days," says Ostroff, who believes "Gossip Girl" hits the CW's 18-34 target. "And we wanted to develop something about the New York lifestyle social scene, which is always cutting-edge."

Schwartz says the books speak to the type of audience the CW is trying to attract.

"We heard what they wanted to do with the network, and this felt like the perfect project to get involved with," he says. "I love the original heyday of the WB, and the CW has an opportunity to recapture that spirit."

But "Gossip Girl" reps just one style of show Ostroff is developing (along with drama chief Thom Sherman and comedy topper Kim Fleary).

Given the success of returning UPN fave "America's Next Top Model" -- as well as last week's strong premiere of WB returnee "Beauty and the Geek" -- reality could play a larger role at the net.

And the Green web, under the direction of CBS alternative topper Ghen Maynard, will look to build on this reality momentum with its first homegrown reality entry, "The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll."

Back to the scripted side: Ostroff, Sherman and Fleary cast a wide net in their search for the first crop of CW shows, including a drama set in a dance studio, from "Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman; "Wild at Heart," a family drama in the vein of "Daktari," shot in South Africa; an FBI-set relationship project from Adam Mazer and Ben Silverman; an action hour from "Veronica Mars" scribe Diane Ruggiero; a comedy from Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos based on their own lives; and a comedy-drama from newcomers Ben and Dan Newmark set in a Hollywood apartment complex.

The CW also is re-developing the D.C.-set drama "Capitol City" from Rod Lurie.

"It's really a gamut -- procedurals, sci-fi, light drama," Ostroff says. "It's all about having choices, so we can pick a few from column A and a few from column B. Then we'll see what our scheduling needs will be. Like any network, you develop a lot of different kinds of projects. It's such a big puzzle."

Ostroff says the CW aggressively looked outside the usual development pipeline in an attempt to find new voices for the net. That's how they found the Newmark brothers, who originally shot their own pilot and screened it at a rented theater.

She also looked at more books than usual this year -- particularly "chick lit," she says (hence the "Gossip Girl" deal).

The goal: to create a CW brand that's more than just "that merged WB-UPN network."

"Although UPN and the WB were targeting a young demo, the young audience has already changed so much since those networks first started," Ostroff says. "Whatever we do has to be relevant to this young audience. We want to get new shows on the air and start to build the brand and the identity."

It's a "big mountain to climb," says the studio exec. "And it will take more than a couple of seasons to find that identity.

"Everybody forgets," the studio exec adds, "that the WB started out as a post-Fox kind of network" before embracing family fare, then sexy "Dawson's Creek"-style shows.

The CW deliberately held back on aggressively pushing a whole new personality this season. Given the short amount of time between last January's announcement and its September launch, the nascent netlet relied on refugees from the WB and UPN ("Gilmore Girls" and "America's Next Top Model") to make it through the fall.

"No one can underestimate how hard it is to start a new company and get your sea legs," Ostroff says.

That smoothed the transition from two nets to one, and also helped the CW attract an aud on par with the Frog net's farewell season. But shows like "Smallville" and "Veronica Mars" hardly gave viewers an idea of what the CW was all about.

And many of those leftover shows were already long in the tooth -- sending a message that the new net wasn't so new.

As a result, few network toppers have more on the line in May, when the nets announce their fall skeds, than Ostroff.

For other network chiefs, what they greenlight and what they toss will define their tenure. For Ostroff, the dramas and comedies she orders will help define an entire new network.

"All of these questions will go away after we have a couple of seasons under our belt and it becomes clear that we'll be known for a couple of new shows," she says.

There's also something liberating about developing pilots without having to worry whether they fit an existing brand.

"I expect that we'll click into something in the next year," Ostroff adds. "This network will resonate and speak to the audience we're targeting in a meaningful way."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956835&categoryid=14

The Business of TV
Media Deals Hit Record Last Year
By Peter Lauria, New York Post - January 7, 2007

A record number of transactions led to the most lucrative year in media deal-making since 2000, according to a report to be released tomorrow by boutique investment bank DeSilva & Phillips.

A total of $20.5 billion in media deals - led by the $11.1 billion purchase of VNU, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Nielsen Media Research - were consummated in 2006, an increase of 242 percent over 2005.

The media industry hasn't had a bigger year by dollar volume since 2000. Of course, that year was heavily skewed by AOL's $100 billion purchase of Time Warner.

The number of deals conducted in 2006 - 151 - trumped the previous record of 124 set in 2004 by an astounding 22 percent.

"[Last year] turned out to be not only merely strong, but also a year of extraordinary deal-making in both quality and quantity," the report noted.

Consumer magazine deals accounted for 33 percent of the total, led by the $2.4 billion purchase of The Reader's Digest Association by Ripplewood Holdings.

Other notable deals on the Top 15 list for 2006 include: Wenner Media's $300 million acquisition of Disney's 50 percent stake in US Weekly, and Forbes Media sale of a 40 percent stake to Elevation Partners, the private-equity firm with U2 frontman Bono as a partner, for $275 million.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01072007/business/media_deals_hit_record_last_year_business_peter_lauria.htm

Mid-Season Preview
Tune in tomorrow
Viewing for the next few months is not all 'Lost'
By Marisa Guthrie, New York Daily News - January 7, 2007

Network executives like to say no one knows what will be a hit. And with the money spent on intricate market research, you could be excused for suspecting that it's just a preemptive attempt at backside-covering.

So television executives are going out on few limbs in the second half of the season. Fox will again get a much-needed influx of viewers with the event premieres of "24" (Jan. 14 and 15, 8 to 10 each night) and "American Idol" (Jan. 16 and 17, 8 to 10 each night). "Idol," the No. 1 show on TV, remains one of the few programs the entire family can sit down in front of.

Yet viewers of all ages have more control than ever over what they watch and when, thanks to the mainstreaming of DVR. The new technology means the networks have been forced to rethink their old technologically averse attitude. (NBC has struck a deal with YouTube, and many broadcast and cable networks have made their series available free online.)

The jury is still out on the fall finale phenomenon. ABC gave viewers a "fall finale" of "Lost" in November to make room for the ill-fated "Day Break" and to avoid the reruns - which now seem to alienate fans more than ever. But in doing so, have they cut off Ben's nose to spite the Others? Time - and viewer defection - will tell when the island mystery returns Feb. 7 at 10 p.m.

NBC's "Heroes" and CBS' "Jericho" were also swept up in the fall finale frenzy. They return Jan. 22 and Feb. 21, respectively. These were also the only new serialized shows to connect with viewers last year - so don't look for too many high-concept dramas to debut in '07.

The one exception is NBC's "The Black Donnellys," an organized crime drama about Hell's Kitchen capos-in-the-making. The series was created by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, who co-wrote "Crash," the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Picture and Screenplay. The series, which shoots in New York, is a gripping portrait of West Side organized crime in the '70s and '80s, and it's unlike anything on broadcast television, more like a TV version of "Goodfellas" than an echo of "The Sopranos." ("Donnellys" is tentatively scheduled for a March premiere, right around the time HBO's modern mob opera begins its final descent.)

And while we're on "The Sopranos": There were an unusually large number of weak episodes last year. Let's hope the last nine installments - scheduled to begin in April - are an appropriately pitched swan song.

Cable will continue to deliver some of the best series on television, with new seasons of HBO's "Entourage," "Big Love," "Rome" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"; Showtime's "The L Word" (featuring some fabulous turns by Marlee Matlin and Cybill Shepherd), "Weeds" and "Dexter"; and FX's "Rescue Me" and "The Shield."

As for the worst new series of midseason, however, those appear on broadcast television, and prove the network executives' banal cliche about predicting hits.

CBS' "Rules of Engagement" (Feb. 5) features Patrick Warburton, Oliver Hudson and David Spade as three men in different stages of relationships, if not maturity. But Fox's "The Winner" (early March) is really the bigger failure, due to the tragic waste of its usually funny cast, including Lenny Clarke and Rob Corddry (formerly of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart"), who stars as a goofy 32-year-old loser still living with his parents (Hmm, "Get a Life," anyone?). And, since the show is set in 1994, we're treated to clips of the O.J. Simpson scandal for the sake of historical context. And that's one of the highlights.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/485994p-409162c.html

TV Review
'Soulful' Lincoln Hits New 'Heights'
By Adam Buckman, New York Post - January 7, 2007

LINCOLN HEIGHTS

Monday, 7 p.m., ABC Family

Finally, someone's making a family drama for television that actually stands for something.

That someone is a producer/writer named Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, who is an executive producer (along with Kevin Hooks) of "Lincoln Heights," premiering this week on ABC Family.

A native of Detroit who was educated at Spelman College and Columbia (where she received a masters in film directing), McGhee-Anderson has been involved for many years in producing and writing for TV shows and TV movies with "urban" (or black) themes - "Soul Food," "South Central," "Any Day Now," "Educating Matt Waters" (starring Montel Williams), even "227" and "Benson."

Her latest is this new, original drama about a middle-class African-American family in L.A.

Dad Eddie Sutton (Russell Hornsby) is a uniformed member of the Los Angeles Police Department and mom Jenn (Nicki Micheaux) is a registered nurse.

They have three kids - younger teens Tay (Mishon Ratliff) and Lizzie (Rhyon Brown) and older teen Cassie (Erica Hubbard).

As the series opens, they're all living in a cramped apartment until the LAPD inaugurates an incentive program aimed at persuading its patrolmen to actually live in the precincts they patrol.

Under the program, the department will buy and pay for the renovation of a large, old home within the city limits. The catch is: The homes available are in sketchy neighborhoods.

One such neighborhood is Lincoln Heights, where patrolman Eddie Sutton decides to move his family. It's a pretty rough area (their renovated home was just recently the neighborhood crack den), but it is also where Eddie grew up, and he dreams of helping to fix the neighborhood's problems.

While the premise might sound sappy, the show isn't. The problems in "Lincoln Heights" - poverty, drugs, crime, gang rule - are not going to be solved overnight.

In fact, in the first two episodes, Officer Sutton gets in hot water with community activists after fatally shooting a well-liked neighborhood youth (who just happened to be participating in a botched grocery-store robbery).

The primary reason the show works is because of its casting. Anchored by Hornsby and Michaeux (who sharp-eyed viewers will remember as a tough undercover cop on "The Shield"), this is a made-for-TV family that really feels like one - a rarity for TV drama.

It is also rare for such a finely made TV show to come along this early in the new year.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01072007/tv/soulful_lincoln_hits_the_heights_tv_adam_buckman.htm

The Week Ahead in TV
Watch this!
By Amy Amatangelo, Boston Herald - January 7, 2007

If loving Boston Rob is wrong, I don’t want to be right. The omnipresent reality star is back in “Rob and Amber: Against the Odds,” premiering Thursday at 8 p.m. on Fox Reality. In the 10-episode series, the “Survivor” and “Amazing Race” alums head to Las Vegas, where Rob pursues his dream of becoming a professional poker player.

Tonight January 7

The greatest reality show in the world (according to Donald Trump, anyway) is back. After giving viewers a chance to actually miss the show, “The Apprentice” returns for a sixth season at 9:30 p.m. on WHDH (Ch. 7). The Donald promises he has many surprises in store this season, but two things are certain: Rosie O’Donnell won’t be making a guest appearance, and Trump’s bad hairstyle isn’t going anywhere.

The lovely ladies of “The L Word” return for a fourth season at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Cybill Shepherd guests as Bette’s (Jennifer Beals) new boss while Marlee Matlin plays Bette’s new love interest. The show will tackle such hot-button issues as abortion rights and the war in Iraq, but fret not, boys, there still will be plenty of girl-on-girl action.

Tomorrow January 8

Just when you thought reality TV had hit rock bottom comes “I Love New York” (premiering at 9 p.m. on VH1). Now the volatile woman whom Flavor Flav rejected twice is back with her own series. Twenty men compete for Tiffany Pollard’s affection.

ABC Family starts the new year off right with its new drama “Lincoln Heights,” at 7 p.m. Russell Hornsby stars as a police officer who moves his family to the inner city when an incentive program provides him with the opportunity to own a home.

Tuesday January 9

ABC’s “Boston Legal” returns from its winter nap with a new episode at 10 p.m. on WCVB (Ch. 5). Alan and Denny head to New Orleans to defend a doctor accused of euthanizing patients during Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, Denise considers dating hot new attorney Jeffery Coho (Craig Bierko). The women of ABC dramas so need to sign up for a dating service and stop dating the men they work with.

Former “ER” doc Eriq LaSalle directs his former “ER” girlfriend Michael Michele in this episode of NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (at 10 p.m. on WHDH, Ch. 7). Michele and Blair Underwood play a couple stuck in a vicious custody battle over their daughter.

Wednesday Januray 10

Bada bing! Listen up, paisans. “The Sopranos” comes to A & E at 9 p.m. Relive the mobster drama from the beginning, just with slightly less nudity and fewer bad words. If you never had HBO, here’s your chance to find out what all the fuss is about.

Will this be more like “Dancing With the Stars” or “Celebrity Duets”? Only time will tell. La Toya Jackson, Erik Estrada and Jack Osbourne are among the celebrities who train to be police officers in Muncie, Ind., in CBS’ “Armed & Famous” at 8 p.m. on WBZ (Ch. 4). Where is David Hasselhoff when you need him?

Thursday January 11

Tori, Tori, Tori has done it again. After being tabloid fodder for months, Tori Spelling guests as Daily Planet gossip columnist Linda Lake on the CW’s “Smallville” at 8 p.m. on WLVI [website] (Ch. 56).

Jewel and Cowboy Troy host “Nashville Star,” which returns for a fifth season with a 75-minute episode at 10 p.m. on USA Network. Ten finalists compete for a recording contract from Warner Music Group. Based on name alone, I’m rooting for 18-year-old RickieJoleen.

Friday January 12

If you missed some of your favorite ABC dramas this week, fret not. ABC repeats “Grey’s Anatomy” at 8 p.m. and “Brothers & Sisters” at 9 on WCVB (Ch. 5). On “Grey’s,” Jeff Perry returns as Meredith’s estranged father.

Could this be the next “High School Musical”? Musical alum Corbin Blue and Keke Palmer (“Akeelah and the Bee”) star in “Jump In!”, premiering at 8 p.m. on the Disney Channel.

Saturday January 13

You can catch up on “Psych” before its second-season premiere next Friday with an all-day marathon beginning at 12:30 p.m. on USA Network. If you don’t have cable, NBC gives “Psych” a special airing at 9 p.m. on WHDH.

Emeril tells viewers how to make every kind of pizza, from standard cheese to elegant cornmeal crusted with prosciutto, in “Emeril Live: Plenty of Pizza,” at 8 p.m. on the Food Network. It’s times like this that I wish the Food Network had a taste-test option.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=175701

TV Review
'The Apprentice' has its work cut out for it in L.A.
Can Trump's show regain its blockbuster status with a shift to the West Coast?
By Martin Miller, Los Angeles Times - January 7, 2007

Relocating from his show's New York base for the first time, Donald Trump free associates in tonight's opening episode about the new home for the sixth season of "The Apprentice," Los Angeles.

L.A. is sex, movies and cars, Trump tells his 18 would-be protégés — another stellar collection of Harvard grads, real estate developers and Internet entrepreneurs, who are largely beautiful, sycophantic and backbiting. None of the aspiring Donalds argue with their new boss' take on the city picked to renew interest in the slumping franchise.

Notably, the quintessential New Yorker left television off his top three City of Angels list — though, clearly, a forceful case could have been made that sex and cars are better represented in other American cities. And given his penchant for bluntness, it's somewhat surprising that smog, traffic and earthquakes didn't crack his list either.

Maybe if his show regains its blockbuster status, the feat would remind The Donald to at least mention the medium that has probably made him as famous as his real estate or his hair. But even with the West Coast bling and glare, the show faces an uphill struggle to regain its former ratings glory.

In its first-season finale, "The Apprentice" drew an audience of about 28 million. In steady decline since then, the show attracted just over 11 million viewers with its Season 5 finale in June.

But any time Trump is in the game, it's hard to count out the captain of industry and self-promotion. Just in time for this season's inaugural show, Trump came out from under his hair to free associate — in this instance with Rosie O'Donnell. Some descriptors for the co-host of "The View" that struck Trump were "fat," "loser" and "disgusting."

In a media blitz of the entertainment news outlets, Trump blasted O'Donnell for claiming he'd gone bankrupt, was worth millions, not billions, and had somehow been bailed out of trouble by his father's considerable fortune. Trump's wealth, which he won't divulge, is a touchy subject.

"I'm going to sue Rosie, and it's going to be fun," Trump told a news crew, adding: "Rosie is very lucky to have her girlfriend and she better be careful or I'll send one of my friends over to pick up her girlfriend."

That's the way The Donald rolls.

The public Trump-O'Donnell spat is meant to crank up the buzz around the show, which after changing nights for the third time, could use it. Tonight's 90-minute episode begins at 9:30, but thereafter the show will return to its usual time slot at 9 p.m.

The show's new time on Sundays pits it against the formidable "Desperate Housewives," which like "The Apprentice" scores some of its best ratings in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

As ever, Trump, in a phone interview, remained confident. "I'm not worried about the 'Housewives,' " he said. "Our audience is young, smart kids of great ambition. We'll be fine."

Trump admitted his show was hurt by "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," which aired in fall 2005. The Stewart spinoff performed poorly in the ratings and was not renewed, though network officials maintained it was intended only as a one-season installment anyway.

"I was never in favor of Martha, but being the wonderful team player I am, I said, 'OK,' " said Trump. "People were so angry that such a piece of garbage would get the name of 'The Apprentice.' That show was a real disaster."

If Trump's feud with O'Donnell brings viewers into the tent, his show's new twists are meant to keep them there. As if the carrot of a job with Trump weren't enough, the show has a new stick with which to beat its contestants — sleeping in tents.

A team loss in one of Trump's appointed sales tasks means being banished to the backyard, where the losers must use outdoor showers, portable toilets and tents. Meanwhile, the winning team enjoys the luxury of a mansion off Mulholland Drive.

"It's so brutal," said Trump. "They are lying out there in the grass, then it rains. It gets real sloppy. Let me tell you after five weeks, it's disgusting and you really want to get into the mansion."

Far from the backyard muck will be Trump's children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, who will again be employed by their father. Both Trump progeny attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and will make appearances in the dreaded board room where they'll advise their dad when to say, "You're fired."

But don't get too attached to L.A., said Trump. The show will relocate again, probably to Miami, Las Vegas or Chicago — cities that are rumored to hold their own with L.A., at least in the sex and cars department.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/cl-ca-apprentice7jan07,1,1460540.story?coll=la-entnews-tv

I had never heard of this new cable channel until I stumbled upon this article. Anybody ever heard of ReelzChannel before? :confused:

TV Notebook
New cable TV channel aims to reel in film fans
By Meg James, Los Angeles Times - January 6, 2007

What better place to launch a cable channel with the lofty ambition of being the authority on movies than in the industry's own backyard? From its headquarters at the bustling Los Angeles Center Studios downtown, the new ReelzChannel resides in a complex where countless commercials, TV shows and movies are shot every year.

Hubbard Media Group, a pioneer of satellite television, is placing a big bet that the channel, which began airing in late September, will have one of those feel-good Hollywood endings.

But that may require some pixie dust, considering that the channel already has burned through more than $25 million during six years of gestation and in gearing up for its launch.

"This has been a very expensive, high-risk venture, but we're committed to it," said Stanley E. Hubbard, chairman of Hubbard Media, the privately held Minnesota company behind ReelzChannel. "We are prepared to continue to fund losses for another year, perhaps more."

Launching a channel today requires patience and deep pockets. Studies have found that most people watch only about a dozen or so channels on a regular basis even if they have access to more than 100. As a result, cable operators are devoting bandwidth today to phone and Internet access services, high-definition television and video-on-demand rather than to adding to their well-stocked lineup of channels.

"It's a tough, tough world out there," said Derek Baine, cable analyst for Monterey, Calif.-based Kagan Research. "And this is not one of those rinky-dink, no-capital start-ups. It just shows how difficult it is these days to get cable carriage."

No one should understand these dynamics better than the Hubbard family, which has been in the broadcasting business for more than 80 years and made a fortune from its investment, alongside General Motors Corp., in DirecTV. The leading satellite TV provider is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which recently agreed to sell it to the cable enterprise controlled by John Malone.

The Hubbards sold their interest to DirecTV in 1999 for $1.6 billion and have since been dabbling in the content side of the business. In August, the family teamed up with a group of investors, including movie moguls Harvey and Bob Weinstein, to buy Ovation, a tiny cable channel devoted to the arts. The new owners are gambling that the network could attract an affluent audience that advertisers would pay a premium to reach.

The ReelzChannel, on the drawing board since September 1999, was a bet that emerging digital technologies would change movie-viewing habits as consumers embraced the conveniences of Internet download and video-on-demand services to watch movies at home.

What could be more alluring to a cable operator trying to get traction for such offerings than a channel that delivered in-depth news and reviews about movies and DVD releases? ReelzChannel and its Web site were designed to help steer viewers to movies playing in local theaters or on TV.

The challenge for the Hubbards was convincing distributors that ReelzChannel was economically compelling.

"Right from the get-go we knew that we would have to come up with a different approach," said Gary Thorne, ReelzChannel's president and chief operating officer.

The solution? Reelz would sacrifice a key source of revenue -- one that helps underwrite channels, especially in the early years, before it turned a profit.

To entice cable operators, Hubbard decided to forgo the monthly subscription fees content suppliers typically charge distributors to license their channels. Instead, Reelz would rely solely on advertising sales.

When ReelzChannel went live in late September it was available in 28 million homes, making it one of the largest debuts ever for a cable channel. Most new channels start out with about half that number of subscribers.

The Hubbards had the advantage of a long-standing deal with DirecTV that gave them access to a channel slot on the satellite service. That gave Reelz about 15 million subscribers even before it went on the air -- leverage it used in negotiating with DirecTV's satellite and cable competitors. Hammering out distribution agreements with cable operators such as Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp., however, took years, delaying the channel's launch.

Despite its impressive reach today, ReelzChannel has a ways to go before it reaches the 40 million subscribers that advertisers generally require before they take a channel seriously. The channel's goal is to be in 45 million homes by the end of 2007.

Eventually, the channel would make sense for such big buyers of ad time as Hollywood movie studios, automakers and fashion marketers -- essentially any business that caters to so-called early adopters eager to be on the leading edge of a trend.

"For some advertisers, ReelzChannel could be a very effective buy," said Scott Haugenes, a senior vice president at ad buying firm Initiative. "If they can come up with some compelling content and exclusives, then the advertisers will follow in a major way. If they are able to reach the real movie lover, then they can become the ESPN SportsCenter' of the movie world."

But that's a big if. Some longtime television executives privately question whether there is a big enough audience to support such a specific niche, particularly in a media environment already littered with channels and syndicated shows about celebrities and Hollywood.

ReelzChannel executives say their channel will offer more in-depth movie news and reviews, and behind-the-scenes shows about the art of making movies.

"We are going to go beneath the veneer," said Rod Perth, president of television for ReelzChannel. "Both the channel and Web site are customized to become the authority about everything about movies. And we can help studios by generating that early buzz."

One of the channel's marquee shows is "The Directors," a series celebrating notable film directors. It also signed up critic Leonard Maltin to host "The Secret's Out," a show that trumpets overlooked movies.

"We will continue to develop better and better programming, grow distribution rapidly and continue to attract advertisers to allow us to get to profitability," said Perth.

In March, ReelzChannel had just seven employees. Now there are more than 200.

"ReelzChannel is going to be to movie lovers what the Food Network is to food," Hubbard predicted. "Years ago, when the Food Network first launched, people asked: How's that going to work? People aren't going to sit around and watch cooking shows all day.' But that channel has been a huge success."

A movie network could be too, if the Hubbards are patient and don't roll the credits too soon.

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/0106reelz0106.html

The Cable TV Poll

I haven't forgotten. Promise.

Good, because I was getting some 2000 flashbacks going there for a moment! ;)

TV Review
Nothing new in 'Lincoln Heights'
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - January 7, 2007

The history of prime-time television is littered with the carcasses of failed family dramas and ratings-starved African-American dramas. So give ABC Family credit for trying to combine the two in "Lincoln Heights" (7 p.m. Monday), an earnest drama about an African-American family that moves into an undesirable neighborhood.

The show's focus is squarely on Eddie Sutton (Russell Hornsby, "Playmakers"), a dedicated Los Angeles police officer who moves his wife, Jenn (Nicki Micheaux), and family into the inner city neighborhood that he patrols and that he grew up in. That would be the Lincoln Heights of the title.

Their new home is a former crack house that they got for a steal at auction. After four months of work, they move from their cramped apartment into this spacious new abode and then troubles start. Some neighbors look askance at having a cop in the neighborhood, and the Sutton children don't have an easy time at school.

Tay (Mishon Ratliff) gets his lunch money stolen, Lizzie (Rhyon Brown) can't get any time playing on her new basketball team and Cassie (Erica Hubbard) begins to fall for the hunky white guy (Robert Adamson) in one of her classes.

And then things go poorly for dad on the job.

This is where "Lincoln Heights" gets a bit schizophrenic. I was surprised by the initial outcome of Eddie's work troubles, though the eventual, final outcome is too easy of a resolution. Still, it's more compelling than the kids' stories: Getting your lunch money stolen is pretty "Leave It To Beaver," even if mom's high-tech solution to the problem is not.

"Lincoln Heights" is an unremarkable family drama, but it showcases some likable performances from Hornsby and Micheaux. It's not a bad show by any stretch, but it's by no means revolutionary.

In the past, networks have tried dramas with African-American leads, and though they sometimes succeed on premium cable (Showtime's "Sleeper Cell" recently aired its second season, "Soul Food" ran for multiple years while "Barbershop" lasted just one season), just as often they flop on the broadcast networks.

CBS gave it a shot with Steven Bochco's "City of Angels" in 2000, and despite tons of media coverage viewers ignored the show. Fox also tried with "413 Hope Street" in 1997 to no avail.

"Lincoln Heights" is probably most similar to CBS's "Under One Roof," a 1995 family drama starring James Earl Jones that lasted just a half-dozen weeks.

If "Lincoln Heights" fails to attract an audience, it won't be the first family show on the network to go belly up. The decidedly caucasian "Three Moons Over Milford" was also rejected by ABC Family viewers last summer.

The ABC Family audience seems to prefer shows that concentrate on teen characters, particularly if they're involved in romantic entanglements. That's certainly been the formula for the ABC Family hit "Wildfire" (8 p.m. Monday) as well as "Falcon Beach" and "Kyle XY," which both return in the summer.

"Lincoln Heights" lacks those key ingredients -- their absence could be the show's fatal flaw.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07007/751527-237.stm

If you're working your way through past seasons of 24 on DVD to catch-up with the upcoming Season 6 premiere you will want to skip this post about what the writer considers '24's' most thrilling moments. If you've been a fan of the show since the beginning then feel free to relive the memories. Me? I copy-pasted this article without reading it because '24' will probably be one of the first TV series I'll watch on DVD when I finally purchase my first HDTV set sometime in... the future! :(

TV Notebook
Bauer Back with a Vengeance
Ten Moments to Live -Or Die- By
By Stephen Lynch, New York Post - January 7, 2007

For all its "Perils of Pauline" moments, the "no, Mr. President, I'm a patriot!" speeches, the amnesia, the cougars, the "bomb/virus/assassination is going to happen today," "24" is, above all else, a rarity on television: A tragedy.

At the end of the day, it won't be sunshine and lollipops for Jack Bauer, played with arresting intensity and melancholy by Kiefer Sutherland. If there's a terrorist threat, America won't come away unscathed. If you have a favorite character, chances are they're gonna die.

And that's what keeps fans riveted into a sixth "day," which starts next Monday, Jan. 14. Unpredictable and unconventional, "24" is the kind of show where major characters get killed in the opening minutes of a particular day, the vice president will be a member of Al Qaeda, and Chloe - sweet, pain-in-the-butt Chloe - will get knifed in the server room. If these Top 10 moments from "24" are any clue, that'll be just the start:

• 1. Don't you forget about me... (Day 1: 11:58 p.m.)
In one instant, the death of Jack's wife Teri (Leslie Hope) cemented the fact that "24" was a different kind of drama. In the final minutes of the first "day," all seemed right. Evil Serb warlord dead, traitor captured, presidential candidate safe. Yet Teri, having unwittingly uncovered the plans of the double agent Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke), was still missing. Jack searches for her frantically, only to find her dead, murdered by Nina, in one of the Counter Terrorist Unit's computer rooms. As he cradled her in his arms, the clock ticked down - and for the first time, it was silent. It was a daring way to end the first, and perhaps only, season of the show (at the time, "24" was nearly canceled). But it gave Jack emotional resonance for the rest of the season, and made him wish he could suffer a little amnesia.

• 2. Ka-boom! (Day 2: 10:58 p.m.)
If the hero of "24" was played by Bruce Willis, chances are the terrorist-controlled nuclear bomb of Day 2 would have defused at the last minute, the red LED numbers stopped at 0:01. But this is the tortured (and torturing) world of Kiefer, where you knew the damn thing was gonna go off. Radiation-ravaged Mason (Xander Berkeley), a lovable jerk of a CTU boss, pilots the bomb into the middle of the Mojave, saving Los Angeles, but as President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) watches the sky light up outside Air Force One, you're chilled by how terrifying this would be in the real world.

• 3. Is he in good hands? (Day 5: 7:02 a.m.)

OK, you know the writers were stroking cats with evil glee over this one. Not two minutes into Day 5, after surviving the Serb assassins of Day 1, his Lady MacBeth-esque wife (Penny Johnson Jerald), a virus that scarred his hand, a coup by the military and an endless parade of crooked officials, President Palmer was shot through the neck by a sniper. No silent clock, no few minutes warm up, just a wound not even Allstate could cover. He couldn't go down like that, can he? Hell, yes.

• 4. Revenge of the nerd (Day 4: 1:59 a.m.)

Computer tech whiz Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) can get you blueprints for any compromised power plant, hack into any terrorist's laptop, even set up a communication link with a stolen stealth fighter - but she won't be happy about doing it. The world's most prickly IT expert's finest moment, though, occurred when she was dispatched to the home of an evildoer who was trying to hijack a missile. An assassin trapped Chloe in an SUV, firing into the bulletproof glass and T-boning the vehicle to dislodge her. Finally, she freed an assault rifle from the backseat, got out and unloaded into the hitman's car. Geeks everywhere found an unlikely hero.

• 5. Serb your enthusiasm (Day 1: 10:59 p.m.)

Sure, it made no sense. If Nina Myers was really evil, why didn't she do more to foil Jack earlier in the day? Why would she (inadvertently) tip off Teri Bauer that she was hitching a ride with a bad guy? Wouldn't she be clued in? No matter. As she called the evil Drazens in the final moments of the second to last hour, "Yelena" (as the Serbs call her) pulls out the "24" twist to end all twists. Nina was so good she became the show's boogie man, popping up again in Day 2 and Day 3. Her demise was squandered, but in that first minute, she was pure eeevil hotness.

• 6. Have you tried the Home Depot? (Day 2: 8:50 a.m.)
Jack Bauer, disheveled, pissed off at the world for the death of his wife, was called back into service to track down a nuclear bomb. A convicted child molester is CTU's only connection to the terrorists. Will Jack torture him? Do his raspy "who do you work for?" speech? Fat chance. In a perfect "I haven't got time for this" moment, Jack shot the guy in the chest.

"24" makes you feel so dirty, doesn't it? You loath Guantanamo, believe in the Geneva Conventions, yet you squeal with delicious shock as Jack, looking for a peace offering to the terrorists, eyed the dead body and muttered, "I'm going to need a hacksaw."

• 7. Knee'd to know (Day 5: 5:56 p.m.)

Just when you thought Jack couldn't surprise you (performing electro-torture using wires from a lamp; letting his girlfriend's ex husband die on a table), he still managed to pull out a few stops. Turns out a former CTU agent, Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller) was helping some Middle Eastern party planners. Jack went to his house and held Henderson and his wife (JoBeth Williams) at gunpoint. "I won't talk Jack," Henderson offered. So Jack . . . shot his wife in the leg. And even after that, RoboCop still wouldn't talk. That marriage is going to need some serious counseling.

• 8. Inn-fection (Day 3: 5:53 a.m.)
Let's face it, "24" fans, the second half of Day 2 (after the bomb went off) and the first half of Day 3 (after they completely dropped the whole Palmer assassination story and spent hours kicking around in Mexico) pretty much blew. But things turned around dramatically once the deadly virus everyone was chasing was released in a Los Angeles hotel. Guests riot, Hazmat scrambled and all CTU could do was watch from the other side of a glass lobby as people started to die. In one of the series' most touching moments, agent Michelle Dressler (Reiko Aylesworth) called her husband Tony (Carlos Bernard) from inside the hotel and begged him to hand out suicide tablets to the infected. "I'm talking about common decency," she said. Let's talk about being horrified.

• 9. Oh, snap, girlfriend! (Day 4: 10:40 a.m.)
Shohreh Aghdashloo burned a hole through Day 4, playing red-hot evil Middle Eastern mama Dina Araz, the den mother of a sleeper cell terrorist family. Just to hear her hiss her son's name, Behroooooz, would raise the hairs on our necks. But nothing beat when she told her son to kill his clueless girlfriend, Debbie, who had glimpsed the bunker where terrorists were holding the Secretary of Defense. Behrooz, of course, was too scared to use the gun, but not to worry: Dina had already poisoned the girl's tea. As Debbie slowly asphyxiated on the carpet, Dina glided down the staircase, spitting at her son, "I am so disappointed in you." Chills!

• 10. Shanghai'd! (Day 5: 6:55 a.m.)
The most satisfying ending since Day 1. After Jack faked his death at the end of Day 4 to escape Chinese agents, the writers cannily kept that plot off stage for all of Day 5. But just when it seemed like things would end happily (evil president arrested, disaster averted, traitor dead), Jack was kidnapped by the Chinese ("Did you think we'd forget?") and smuggled out of the country on a freighter. This is where we left off and we can't wait to see what happens next.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01072007/tv/bauer_back_with_a_vengeance_tv_stephen_lynch.htm

Thanks for the info, foxeng.

But is there any requirement about the lamount of power used to broadcast the digital signal? It seems that a good part of the time some stations in LA use miminal power levels. (But that just could be a problem with my own setup.)


In 1999 the big 4 in the Top 30 Markets were to be at full power. In 2005 the big 4 in the Top 100 were to be at full power and in 2006 the rest of the stations were to be at full power. As of October 2006, 470 stations (out of 1722 total digital stations) were listed as operating with STA's with the rest operating with either Licensed Facilities or Program Test Authorization awaiting the FCC to issue them Licensed Facilities status.

These are the stations on the FCC list in California that are still operating with STAs:

ARCATA KAEF
BARSTOW KHIZ
CERES KBSV
CHICO KHSL
COTATI KRCB
EL CENTRO KECY
EL CENTRO KVYE
EUREKA KBVU
EUREKA KEET
FORT BRAGG KUNO
MERCED KNSO
MONTEREY KSMS
NAVATO KTLN
ONTARIO KFTR
OXNARD KBEH
PALM SPRINGS KESQ
PARADISE KCVU
REDDING KIXE
REDDING KRCR
SACRAMENTO KMAX
SAN BERNARDINO KVCR
SAN LUIS OBISPO KSBY
SANTA BARBARA KEYT

Here is the URL for the complete list:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/files/dtvstas.html

TV Notebook
In CBS' mix, crime still pays best
Sturdy network eyes prize
By Rick Kissell Variety.com January 7, 2007

For all of its success over the past six seasons, CBS has been unable to grab the industry's brass ring. But this could be its year.

Once an afterthought when it came to the key demo races, the Eye web -- the runaway leader in overall viewership -- has become much more competitive in the categories that matter most.

Net has done a good job of shedding its "geezer" tag, but its core aud remains adults 35-64. Still, it attracts enough of the 35-49 segment to make it a force in the 18-49 category that advertisers crave.

CBS is tied with ABC for the 18-49 lead at midseason, and although it lacks a real watercooler skein, its lineup is about as solid as can be.

And CBS has an ace up its sleeve with the Super Bowl, which will give it the

lead in early February. Whether it holds on may depend on how well its new shows perform and what tweaks rivals ABC and Fox make down the stretch.

Here's a closer look at CBS:

What sizzled: It hasn't been the best year for Eye rookies, but small-town post-apocalypse drama "Jericho" has performed pretty well in Wednesday's leadoff hour, improving on the performance of comedies in the hour a year ago.

It's also the lone serialized CBS drama, as the net looks to diversify beyond its deep stable of crime procedurals. As such, it has generated more Internet buzz than just about any CBS show.

Another rookie with promise is Thursday legal/ crime drama "Shark," which has held on to a respectable chunk of its "CSI" lead-in. The Eye would like to see "Shark" grow in coming months, but its consistent early performance rightfully earned it a full-season order.

Where the net has excelled most is in its sophomore class.

"Criminal Minds," "Ghost Whisperer" and "Close to Home" are all up over their frosh campaigns of a year ago, and second-year laffer "How I Met Your Mother" is gaining buzz.

Also getting traction has been Sunday, where the relocated trio of "The Amazing Race," "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace" has lifted the net by nearly 10% year-to-year.

Overall, CBS has six of television's top 20 programs among adults 18-49, including all three editions of "CSI," reality vet "Survivor" and the top-rated sitcom in "Two and a Half Men."

What fizzled: Net tried to take its crime success a step further with the serialized skein "Smith," but the Ray Liotta-fronted heist drama failed to excite viewers from the outset. It was gone within a month of its September premiere.

Its replacement, the medical drama "3 Lbs.," also lasted only a few weeks, as Tuesday at 10 remains one of the few vexing hours for the net.

And while it's not fair to place "The Class" in this category, the net clearly was hoping the comedy from the creators of "Friends" and "Mad About You" would click with young auds. It has performed OK, but needs to pick it up a notch to earn a sophomore season.

What's ahead: Net has high hopes for David Spade laffer "Rules of Engagement," which would seem to be a better match with the oft-bawdy "Two and a Half Men" than current slot occupant "Old Christine." It won't be easy going up against the second half-hour of hit dramas "24" and "Heroes," but expect a big promo push during the Super Bowl.

Then there's the unscripted "Armed & Famous," in which familiar faces (including Erik Estrada and Latoya Jackson) undergo training to become cops in Indiana. Yes, CBS has found a way to do a crime reality series.

It's a shot at something different, but it doesn't figure to pay off in the Nielsens.

Also ahead is the series finale for unsung vet laffer "King of Queens," which should provide a ratings spark in May.

Looking beyond this season, net could use a relationship skein or anything where people -- and not the process -- drive the storytelling. CBS has been hitting the same note when it comes to dramas, and auds eventually will tire of all crime, all the time.

Biggest question marks: It will be interesting to see how the net's unscripted staples -- "Survivor" and "Amazing Race" -- fare in their second editions of the season. "Survivor" remains a slot winner but is increasingly vulnerable, while the all-star edition of "Race" will face additional reality competition on Sundays from NBC's "Grease."

Wednesday also could be key, both to see how "Jericho" returns after a lengthy layoff, and how current 10 o'clock leader "CSI: NY" is affected by the arrival of ABC's "Lost" in its new timeslot.

Bottom line: It's not flashy, but CBS is sturdy -- and it has as good a shot at winning the demo title as anyone.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956837.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

TV Notebook
Court TV hikes tariff
Cable fees low despite record year

By John Dempsey Variety.com January 7, 2007

NEW YORK -- Those gavels keep pounding out a delirious rhythm.

Court TV will pocket a record $175 million in ad revenues for 2006 as the network luxuriates in the glow of its best Nielsen year ever.

Its popular veteran shows like "Forensic Files" and "Body of Evidence" continue to chalk up renewals, and newer series such as "Most Shocking" and "Murder by the Book" racked up enough viewers to make November a happy sweep month for Court TV in the Nielsens.

The net's daytime legal diva Nancy Grace has become such a scourge to the accused and their lawyers that CNN Headline News (a sibling of Court TV) now showcases Grace in an additional primetime slot each weeknight.

But so far, Court TV hasn't yet translated all of this good news into meaningful dollar figures from cable operators and satellite distributors.

In the Nielsens for 2006, Court TV's audience climbed by 8% from last year (to an average of 925,000), good for 22nd place among all ad-supported cable networks. (Some of that ratings growth comes from the jump in Court TV subscribers: In the last five years, 20 million more customers have picked up the network, swelling its total to 87.7 million.)

But cable operators and satellite distributors pay the network an average monthly fee of only 11¢ a subscriber, according to Kagan Research. (Court TV's competitors do a lot better: Discovery gets 25¢, A&E 22¢ and National Geographic Channel 20¢.)

Many cable ops are still paying license fees to Court TV based on the network's strategy in the '90s of transmitting real-life trials both live in daytime and in edited form in primetime, a recipe for low ratings.

When Court TV tried to extract more money from EchoStar during negotiations for a new contract late last month, the satcaster called the demands unreasonable. And Court TV vanished from EchoStar on Jan. 1.

The unreasonable party is EchoStar, says Andy Heller, president of domestic distribution for Turner Broadcasting, which owns Court TV. The network deserves a rate hike, per Heller, who says it's not getting justly compensated for the robust volume of original series it puts into production every year.

Kagan says Court TV ponied up $110 million for programming last year, just about all of it for original primetime series and live daytime coverage of ongoing trials. Projected spending for 2007 is $120 million.

Big push in originals

"We generate a tremendous amount of original content every year," says Marc Juris, general manager of programming and marketing for Court TV. He says he'll give the go-ahead to at least 20 returning primetime series for another cycle of production. At last count, he adds, there are 14 shows in development for 2007.

Almost fanatical about originals, Juris is not big on reruns; the only repeat Court TV schedules is "Cops," a hardy perennial that the network's viewers can't get enough of. The theatrical movies Court TV runs frequently on Thursdays (titles include "A Few Good Men," "In the Line of Fire," "The Pelican Brief" and "Analyze This") "are there only to get people into the Court TV tent who might not normally watch us," Juris says.

"High-stakes, real-life drama" is the way Juris describes the kind of programming he favors in primetime.

And he loves a wide variety of formats, including "Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege & Justice," about homicides among the rich and famous; "Psychic Detectives" and "Haunting Evidence," with paranormal crimesolvers; "Most Shocking," for outrageous, eye-popping crimes caught on video; "Suburban Secrets," for murders in the land of desperate housewives; and "Murder by the Book," which follows well-known novelists such as James Ellroy and Michael Connelly as they investigate cases they drew on for their fiction.

But Court TV roams across too much of the programming range for cable-operator execs such as Peter Smith, senior VP of programming and product development for Millennium Digital Media, the St. Louis-based cable op.

"I'm just not sure what Court TV stands for any more," Smith says. He adds he'll be surprised if EchoStar loses customers to cable or DirecTV because they're grief-stricken over the disappearance from the dial of Court TV.

But the network's audience is growing, and one coming series that could turn into a prime guilty pleasure, says Juris, is "Till Death Do Us Part," hosted by John Waters. Although based on real-life marriages that ended up in spousal murder, the show is scripted.

"Waters will lay on the irony," says Juris, "and help to feed our natural fascination" with newlywed bliss that ends up curdling over time into disaffection so deep that murder seems the only way out.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956834.html?categoryid=14&cs=1