The release of the Saturday overnights has been delayed -- you'll get them when I do.

I'm on pins and needles in breathless anticipation! :rolleyes:

The Business of TV
Broadcast will find a way to let the F-bombs fall
By Andrew Wallenstein, The Hollywood Reporter - January 7, 2007

For the majority of the country unwilling to cough up hundreds of dollars in premium-cable subscription fees or multiseason DVD purchases, this is a terrific week. Two of HBO's reigning masterpieces, "The Sopranos" and "The Wire," start their off-network syndication runs Monday on A&E and BET, respectively.

But there is a catch for newcomers to these series: Both will be edited for language, nudity and violence. Basic cable has stricter content standards than premium cable, so if "Sopranos" fans were looking forward to strippers without pasties at the Bada Bing, their disappointment with A&E will be profound.

However, after taking an advance glimpse at A&E's edit of "Sopranos," I have to say it proves that a few judicious snips to a series can be made without entirely snuffing its profane soul. It's not the same "Sopranos" -- some of the substitutions for the F-bomb are about as seamless as the English-language dubbing in a ninja movie -- but it isn't all that different, either.

HBO's bustling syndication business is strange when you think back to NBC chairman Bob Wright famously griping in 2001 that the R-rated stylings of "Sopranos" posed a competitive problem. Could he ever have anticipated premium cable would grow its business by cleaning up its content?

And perhaps even more improbably, NBC's own "Saturday Night Live" recently pointed the way for broadcasters to boost their bottom line by shifting in the opposite direction.

But first consider premium cable, which would have presumably pressed its natural advantage with the most envelope-pushing programming possible. And there always will be some of that -- the woolly Western "Deadwood" may be HBO's hardest syndication sale.

But ever since "Sex and the City" worked wonders for TBS, it seems as if the generation of premium programming that followed it has been less graphic. Cut a few gratuitous nude scenes, and "Entourage" is practically tailor-made for Spike TV or Comedy Central. As provocative as the polygamist premise is on "Big Love," it still is essentially a family drama that TNT or USA could make its own.

Fellow premium cabler Showtime seems just as well poised to turn its latest batch of original programs into syndicated winners. "Dexter" and "Sleeper Cell" are about a serial killer and a terrorist group, respectively, but with minimal editing, even these shows could work on broadcast. There isn't any gore on display on "Dexter" that you haven't already seen on "CSI," and "Sleeper" is tackling similar territory to another CBS staple, "The Unit."

Also consider that premium cable practically created the optimal conditions for its aftermarket by prompting basic cable and broadcast to get more risque in order to capture HBO-style sizzle. For example, FX may have well shot past HBO and Showtime on the edge-o-meter with its new drama "Dirt," a seamy series featuring love scenes between star Courteney Cox and her vibrator.

How quaint it now seems that the series that made Cox famous, NBC's "Friends," was once considered among TV's raciest. The peacock recently reset that bar with the Dec. 16 "SNL" sketch dubbed "Dick in a Box," a faux music video featuring actors singing of gift-wrapping their own genitalia. While the word "dick" was bleeped 16 times, an uncensored version was released online, where it generated millions of streams.

I'm convinced that "Box" is a sign of things to come. Which broadcaster will be the first to charge viewers a nominal fee to access more graphic versions of favorite shows on unregulated digital platforms such as online or VOD? Think of what Steven Bochco could do with his next primetime effort: a tasteful sex scene without those strategically arrayed shadows or profanity-laced dialogue complete with F-bombs.

Shifting content standards has always been a defensive maneuver in the TV industry. Watch how the broadcasters, like cable before them, treat it as an opportunity.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/columns/tv_reporter/e3i5b2bddf1415bc8d717f5aca5beecfbe4

TV Notebook
The FX Effect
By J. Max Robbins, Broadcasting & Cable - January 8, 2007

I wasn't surprised when the new FX series Dirt opened big last week, averaging 3.7 million viewers. The Courteney Cox vehicle about the editrix of a sleazy gossip mag, her schizoid ace-paparazzi pal and the sex-and-drug–addled stars they live to humiliate was in the same edgy wheelhouse as FX stalwarts The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck. It's yet more proof that the basic-cable network is HBO with commercials.

Back in 2002, when The Shield premiered, naysayers predicted FX would fail by wading into programming waters that were strictly the province of premium cable. Maybe HBO could reinvigorate itself with original, transgressive stuff like Oz and The Sopranos, they said. But an ad-supported network couldn't build a brand on basic cable with a violent, morally ambiguous cop drama, no matter how well-produced.

The show, of course, was a hit, as were most of the FX series that followed. Just as HBO series The Wire, Sex and the City and Six Feet Under raised the bar for its pay-cable competitor Showtime, currently in the midst of a creative upswing, FX has changed the game for networks beholden to Madison Avenue.

Not everyone is pushing boundaries of taste and convention the way it does, but FX's success has been an essential catalyst for the resurgence of drama on TV in much the same way MTV and Comedy Central have laid the groundwork for innovation in reality and comedy.

It's unlikely that the current flowering of scripted series on cable—from the conventional on USA, TNT and TBS to the more original on IFC and Sci Fi—would've happened if FX hadn't rolled the dice.

The FX effect has been felt at the broadcast networks, too. Fox, the home of hit doc drama House, is run by Peter Liguori, who put the FX blueprint in place. NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly worked hand-in-glove with Liguori, developing FX's first generation of hit dramas, before helping the Peacock return to its blue-chip roots with shows like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. No doubt, ABC's comeback in the drama arena in recent years owes something to the example set by FX.

And there's no question FX knows how to market, spending between $8 million and $10 million to open its marquee dramas. Beyond TV spots and traditional ad buys in daily newspapers, FX touted Dirt in the very publications the series satirizes, from Star and National Enquirer to US Weekly and In Touch.

Celebrity-obsessed Websites like Gawker, PopSugar and PerezHilton.com were also used in the campaign.

Sure, you can spend money smartly to get viewers to sample, but folks won't stick around if a series doesn't have the goods. Dirt does. Despite a shaky start, the show begins to jell by Episode 3.

But even if Dirt should fade, FX won't lose its standing as an It network. The darkly funny sitcom Lucky, the Iraq war drama Over There and the short-run series Thief may have resonated more with critics than with viewers, but all were noble ventures that upheld the FX brand.

Under current boss John Landgraf, production and ratings have remained strong on FX's veteran series. And the network has series slated to premiere this year, including The Riches, with British comic Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as married con artists, and a high-concept legal drama (described as Wall Street meets The Firm) starring Shield alumnus Glenn Close.

All promise to deliver to what viewers have come to expect from FX. And that's a good thing.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6404768.html

(Repeating and clarifying HD program times)
HDTV Notebook
HEADS UP: “Rome” Season 1 replay starting TONIGHT!!

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):

PLEASE NOTE: Unless your cable or satellite system carries HBO HD west, the HD broadcast times are ET only.)

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

TV Review
'Idol' Meets 'Grease' And the Audience Is the Biggest Loser
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer

Confoundingly, the quality of network television seems to be going in two directions at once: The best shows, at least the weekly dramas, get better, while the worst shows keep drooping deeper.

NBC, apparently determined to out-sink and under-stoop all rivals, dips yet more deeply tomorrow night with "Grease: You're the One That I Want," a cheaply made and shriekingly tedious imitation of Fox's phenomenon "American Idol."

"Access Hollywood's" Billy Bush, more madly enamored of himself than ever, co-hosts the show in full-preen mode, and he is still explaining the complicated rules as the 90-minute premiere finally draws to a close. Simply put, though, the premise is that producers of a forthcoming Broadway revival of "Grease," the musical about '50s high-school punks, are going to cast the male and female leads with unknowns -- discoveries chosen in a talent competition carefully modeled on "American Idol" nearly every step of the way.

That mimicry includes having a snippy twit with a British accent as one member of a three-judge panel. His name is David Ian, and he refers to himself as a "dumb Brit" -- and who are we to argue? The panel also consists of producer Kathleen Marshall, who brings a tiny touch of class to the proceedings, and Jim Jacobs, credited with helping to create the original musical play -- although most "Grease" references here involve not the play but the film, with clips of it scattered throughout the show to remind us how the songs are supposed to sound.

The movie, of course, starred Olivia Newton-John, who taped a few sound bites for use in this series, and John Travolta, who is much too big a star to bother. He and his representatives should get credit for having the sense to steer clear.

As for the allegedly creative Jacobs, his contributions include such witticisms as "Cut to the chase" and "About as exciting as watching paint dry." Where does he dream up such snappy remarks? At least when, on behalf of the judges, he says, "We're falling asleep here," members of the viewing audience can empathize.

Bush narrates and narrates and narrates. He has more lines than Clark Gable in "Gone With the Wind." Every occurrence, every turn of events has to be underscored with hyperbolic emphasis. At the outset, Bush insists we're about to witness "the biggest open casting call in history," in which "thousands will audition for the chance of a lifetime."

After roughly 10 minutes of windy and padded prologue, the competition finally begins -- poor soul following pool soul on a small stage singing "Hopelessly Devoted to You" hopelessly. If these were really auditions, wouldn't there at least be a pianist to accompany them? Most people sound fairly terrible singing a cappella, but then that, of course, is what NBC wants -- a large supply of ghastly and clueless losers to embarrass themselves in the interest of provoking easy laughter.

Those auditioning for the ingenue role of Sandy include at least two women who border on morbid obesity. They can't really think they have a chance to be cast as the romantic lead, so they're going along with the gag and grabbing their 15 minutes any way they can. A woman named Robin, who has a face like Tiny Tim, informs the judges that she can type 100 words a minute and knows how to "potty-train" parrots. Let's see Olivia Newton-John match that!

After what seems like hours of singing and dancing auditions for the part of the female lead, an army of young men in black T-shirts and slicked-back dark hair goes through similar motions in the hopes of landing the Travolta part. One man, who becomes tearful when he recalls how his brother longed to play the part, says he is auditioning in his late brother's name. With pointless cruelty, the judges kick him out, even though he's no worse than contestants of whom they blunderingly approve.

Nobody really wins anything. The taped proceedings, edited into a kind of visual hangover, are only a small part of the process. Those who are given nods of approval get nothing grander than a trip to "Grease Academy," where they will rehearse and practice and provide more free talent for NBC to exploit. Thus instead of being told "You're going to Hollywood," as on "American Idol," contestants hear one or another judge say the considerably less imposing "You're the one that we want -- to go to Grease Academy."

Eventually the number of hopefuls will be reduced to 12 , NBC says, and then, on Jan. 26, viewers can see the first of six live episodes with still more competition -- and perhaps still more choruses of "Hopelessly Devoted to You," leading up to the night when, in "American Idol" style, viewers can phone in votes for their favorites. If there are any viewers left.

What a lot of trouble to go to, and how phony it all seems as it plods its ugly way along. If a contestant is eliminated and has the good sense to get weepy, in rushes Bush with a camera crew so he can be taped consoling the performer in the wings. "American Idol" has spawned sufficient imitations so that people entering the contest know how to behave in ways that will maximize their camera time, never mind the so-called competition.

To call this "reality television" is truly stretching the term to the outer limit of meaninglessness. To call it "good television" would be to risk being struck by lightning. Ian, who is producing the new "Grease" revival, says he dreads the possibility of picking up a trade paper and reading "what a stupid idea" it was "to do the casting on a television show."

That's not something to be dreaded, Mr. Ian. That's about the only way to give this travesty a happy ending.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010502221_pf.html

The 2006 Cable TV Poll
Your Favorite Cable Shows

Thanks to all of you who voted -- I was stunned that so many hundreds of ballots came via PM. All told, more than 600 votes were cast.

1 Battlestar Galactica SciFi
2 Dexter Showtime
3 Deadwood HBO
4 Big Love HBO
5 The Closer TNT
6 Entourage HBO
7 Dr. Who SciFi
8 The Sopranos HBO
9 Monk USA
10 Brotherhood Showtime
11 Stargate Atlantis SciFi
12 South Park Comedy Central
13 Colbert Report Comedy Central
14 The Shield FX
15 Rome HBO
16 Rescue Me FX
17 The 4400 USA
18 Around The Horn ESPN
20 The Wire HBO
19 Weeds HBO
21 Psych USA
22 Firefly SciFi
23 Eureka SciFi
24 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia FX
25 Curb Your Enthusiasm HBO
26 Dead Zone USA
28 Dog The Bounty Hunter A&E
27 The Daily Show Comedy Central
29 Nip/Tuck FX
30 Inside the NFL HBO
31 Fox News Watch F N C
33 Midsomer Murders Biography
32 NFL Sunday Countdown ESPN
34 CSI Spike
35 The O’Reilly Factor FNC
36 Stargate SG1 SciFi
37 Myth Busters Discovery
38 Laguna Beach MTV
38 Law & Order: SVU USA
38 Waking The Dead BBC America
41 Pardon The Interruption ESPN
42 30 Days FX
43 Larry King Live C N N
44 Good Eats Food Network
45 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Adult Swim
45 Drawn Together Comedy Central
45 Hannity & Colmes FNC
48 10 Items or Less TBS
48 Countdown MSNBC
49 Daytime GSN Lime-Up GSN
49 Lucky Louie HBO
49 Robot Chicken Cartoon
49 Situation Room CNN
49 Subterranean MTV2
54 Flip This House A&E
54 Iron Chef America Food Network
56 Dirty Jobs Discovery
56 Flip That House Discovery
56 How Its Made Science Channel
56 Inuyasha Cartoon
56 Real Time HBO
61 Rides Discovery
61 Three Sheets INHD/Mojo
63 Extreme Engineering Discovery
63 My Boys TBS
63 The Lost Room SciFi
63 Thief FX

The 2006 Cable TV Poll
Favorite Guilty Pleasures
1 Daily Show
2 Driving Force
3 Monk
4 Big Love
4 Entourage
6 My Life On The D List
6 Around The Horn
8 ECW
9 Fox News Watch
9 Little People, Big World
11 South Park
12 10 Items or Less
12 Degrassi
14 House Hunters
14 Iron Chef America
14 Match Game
14 My Bare Lady
14 Pardon The Interruption
14 South of Nowhere
14 The Newlywed Game
21 My Boys
21 Real World
21 Rome
21 World Poker Tour
21 What Not To Wear

The 2006 Cable TV Poll
Favorite Shows By Network
1 HBO
2 SciFi
3 Showtime
4 USA
5 Comedy Central
6 FX
7 TNT
8 ESPN
9 Fox News Channel
10 A&E
11 Biography
12 Spike
13 MTV2
14 BBC America
15 CNN
16 Fod
17 Cartoon Network
18 Adult Swim
18 TBS
20 MSNBC
21 GSN
22 Science Channel
23 INHD/Mojo

So Fred, any chance Battlestar Galactica or Dexter (if the season is repeated chronologically) can be added to your season pass? Can your loyal readers/posters all be wrong? :D Happy to see that even on a slow year The Sopranos is still regarded high-enough to rank #8, although the likes of Deadwood and Big Love ranked higher. Funny how Sci-Fi ranks second only to HBO in the favorite networks poll on the strength of BG's popularity (don't think the Stargate shows and Dr. Who could compare).

I am interested in perhaps exploring BG. Maybe in the dry period after the February sweep.

On the other hand, I watched the first several episodes of Dexter and found the show just wasn't for me.

I hope my personal likes and dislikes do not have any major effect on the thread. I try to post items of interest to those who enjoy TV -- and especially HD -- whether I happen to enjoy the shows or not. For example, I realize many here are big NFL fans, so I kept the NFL HD schedule updated all season.

Judged by the cable poll, many readers have very diffrerent tastes from mine. Which, of course, is just fine with me.

So Fred, any chance Battlestar Galactica or Dexter (if the season is repeated chronologically) can be added to your season pass? Can your loyal readers/posters all be wrong? :D Happy to see that even on a slow year The Sopranos is still regarded high-enough to rank #8, although the likes of Deadwood and Big Love ranked higher. Funny how Sci-Fi ranks second only to HBO in the favorite networks poll on the strength of BG's popularity (don't think the Stargate shows and Dr. Who could compare).

Speaking of Stargate, I'm surprised that Atlantis was #11, yet SG-1 was all the way down at #36.

I was surprised by a lot of the results, rebkell.

But I just count them.

I am interested in perhaps exploring BG. Maybe in the dry period after the February sweep.

Just say the word and I'll let you borrow my DVD Box Sets of the first two seasons (and you can catch-up on Season 3 when UHD starts repeating it). :)

BTW, entry #35 in the results post should be called The O'Reilly FACTOR, not 'The O'Reilly Report' (which is the name Bill's show had when it premiered on Fox News Channel back in '96)

Based on the early polling of both Dexter and BG, I decided to watch both during my two week vacation. I enjoyed both, especially BG. I blew through the miniseries, seasoon 1, 2, and 2.5 in three days and am chomping at the bit waiting for Season 3 of BG to start on UHD.

BG really is a fantastic show.

Fred, how close was it. Did BG win by a pretty decent margin?

Finally, 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.

Seven of the Top 10 cable shows on the poll were in HD (but only nine out of the Top 20 were HD) and all of them were from either HBO or Showtime. TNT's The Closer was the only HD show in the Top 20 not from either of the pay cable channels. Glad to know that even on an HD-biased website/forum the quality of the content (i.e.Battlestar Galactica's #1 placement in the poll) trumps the appeal of the sharp and very pretty pictures. :o

Fred, how close was it. Did BG win by a pretty decent margin?


Yes, by about a 13-10 margin, rusty (117-73 in first place votes). Deadwood actually had more first-place votes than Dexter, but finished pretty far back in third.

Next weekend's HD NFL schedule has been updated in the first post of this thread.

Finally, 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.

The big winner on Saturday was said to be Dallas at Philadelphia on NBC. That game was tonight (Sunday) on Fox. NBC had Dallas/Sea last night.

Hey, Marc is a TV guy, not a sports expert...I'll always cut him some slack.

But thanks for telling me about the error, MnGuy -- I've edited the Saturday ratings post to make it accurate.

CES 2007
Peace in DVD formats? A $1,200 player
LG introduces DVD player that supports competing formats ... an end to Blu-ray, HD war?
CNNMoney.com - January 7, 2007

South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. Sunday introduced a single DVD player that supports both next-generation, high-definition DVD formats, offering a solution in an escalating war between Blu-ray and HD DVD.

At a news conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG said its Super Multi Blu Player would be available in early February in the United States for about $1,200. A computer drive would be available in the first quarter for about the same price.

"Most of the consumers felt they are confused ... reluctant to buy the (separate HD DVD or Blu-ray) player," said Michael Ahn, head of LG's North American operations. "Growth was much slower than it could be and that is a concern in the industry. We recognized the consumer needed something more."

He said the combination player could handle the interactive features of Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray format, which includes looking at menus while a movie is playing.

For HD DVD, a format backed by a group led by Toshiba Corp., LG's machine can play the movies and has a simple menu, but it does not support all the interactive features included on an HD DVD disk.

"For most consumers this product will be the most useful and attractive product," Ahn said.

The consumer electronics and entertainment industries hope the high-definition formats, which provide better picture quality and more capacity, will jump-start the slowing $24-billion-a-year market for watching movies at home.

But the competing formats have been blamed for hindering sales of high-definition movies and players, with consumers recalling the bruising war between Sony's Betamax videotape and JVC's VHS version, which ultimately triumphed. JVC is owned by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. Ahn, in a later interview with Reuters, said LG did not generate ill will among its partners in the Blu-ray camp, suggesting that in an industry dependent on innovation it was inevitable someone would create such a device.

"They expected it, because technology is evolving always," he said, adding that he believes another company was also working on a combination DVD player.

LG (Charts) does not plan to offer personal computer makers the option of building the combination DVD player drive into their machines, and would sell it only as an LG-branded drive.

LG, also a leading maker of air conditioners, refrigerators and mobile phones, since 2003 has invested heavily in consumer electronics in the United States and positioned itself as a premium brand.

Ahn said he expects LG this year to improve its 10 percent market share for U.S. plasma TV sales. Longer term, he said lower costs would make large-size plasma TVs -- 50-70 inches -- standard for U.S. living rooms.

He also said as the category grows, falling prices and tighter profits may push some players out of the flat-panel TV market, but he predicted LG's ability to manufacture both LCD and plasma screens would strengthen his company's position.

At CES, LG also showcased a 100-inch high definition LCD TV, which it said was the biggest on the market. The TV is not being mass produced, however, and therefore has no price yet.

"I think that just a few companies can survive and become major players," he said. "As we have both (LCD and plasma) panels in-house, this makes us more competitive and flexible. We will become a major player step by step."

http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/07/technology/bc.electronics.lg.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007010721

A couple questions about the CW.

I have noticed that on a very frequent basis shows that are suppose to be offered in HD are offered instead in SD. This wouldn't be a problem if it happened a couple times a year but this seems to happen all the time. Is this a problem with all of The CW or is this a local issue with KTLA?

Second. Why is it that SD programs on The CW are stretched and almost hit the edges of my widescreen HDTV? Are they doing this in an attempt to try and fool the viewer into thinking they are viewing HD content?

Also. Are there any plans to change the logo. It is easily one of the worst OTA stations around. It comes way to far into the middle of the screen. They don't seem to adjust for SD or HD content. Truly horrible.

AVS Forum
3 5 0, 0 0 0 ! ! !

Congratulations to David Bott and Alan Gouger.

Another 50,000 new members have joined just in the last two months, bruinging the new AVS Forum membership to an amazing 350,000+!

A couple questions about the CW.

I have noticed that on a very frequent basis shows that are suppose to be offered in HD are offered instead in SD. This wouldn't be a problem if it happened a couple times a year but this seems to happen all the time. Is this a problem with all of The CW or is this a local issue with KTLA?

Second. Why is it that SD programs on The CW are stretched and almost hit the edges of my widescreen HDTV? Are they doing this in an attempt to try and fool the viewer into thinking they are viewing HD content?

Also. Are there any plans to change the logo. It is easily one of the worst OTA stations around. It comes way to far into the middle of the screen. They don't seem to adjust for SD or HD content. Truly horrible.

Except for the logo, those are all local issues. The CW does not stretch SD, your local station (KTLA) is doing it.

AVS Forum
3 5 0, 0 0 0 ! ! !

Another 50,000 new members have joined just in the last two months, bruinging the new AVS Forum membership to an amazing 350,000+!

So that explains why the site sometimes is so darn slow and/or inaccesible! :rolleyes:

TV Notebook
'The Sopranos' to say ciao, but how?
Contra Costa Times - January 8, 2007

How will it all end? That question figures to be on the lips of millions of TV viewers this spring as we prepare to bid farewell to "The Sopranos" at long last.

Will Tony (James Gandolfini) wind up sleeping with the fishes? What's in store for Carmela (Edie Falco) and the kids? And who among our Jersey goons will be left standing once the dust settles?

The final eight episodes of a piecemeal Season 6 were supposed to launch on HBO this month, but were pushed back to April to allow Gandolfini to recover from knee surgery. Thus, 10 months will have passed since the first half of the season concluded.

Of course, lengthy delays are old hat for "Sopranos" fans, and we've learned that it's a fool's errand to attempt to predict what creator David Chase has planned. His plot-wielding tendencies, after all, are almost as difficult to predict as Uncle Junior's mental lapses.

All the uncertainty figures to make these the most eagerly anticipated episodes of the year. To get us primed, HBO will re-air episodes from the first half of Season 6 beginning next Monday.

Here are a few more television projects coming in 2007:

"The Black Donnellys" -- Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning writer of "Crash," co-created this drama series that follows the exploits of four young working-class Irish brothers involved in organized crime. March, NBC.

"The War" -- Ken Burns confronts the World War II experience by focusing on four American cities that were transformed by the event. It's another epic documentary -- clocking in at around 15 hours. Fall, PBS.

"On the Lot" -- Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg are behind this reality series that invites viewers into the filmmaking process. It follows 16 competing wannabe directors. Spring, Fox.

"John From Cincinnati" -- Writer-producer David Milch wowed us with "Deadwood," so expectations are high for this new series, which follows a wealthy Ohio native who moves to California and lives with a whacked-out family of ex-surfers. Summer, HBO.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07008/752051-237.stm

The Business of TV
'The OC’: A Fast Start, a Faster Finish
By Edward Wyatt, The New York Times - January 6, 2007

The end was in sight for “The OC” by at least last summer, according to Josh Schwartz, the wunderkind creator of the show that, with its glamorous locations, beautiful actors and hip soundtrack, defined new trends for music, fashion, celebrity and, of course, television.

After a stunning debut on Fox in 2003, in which the series drew nearly 10 million viewers each week and a particularly high number of adults between the ages of 18 and 34, according to Nielsen Media Research, the show’s ratings fell in each of the last two seasons.

It entered the fourth season without its most recognizable face, the pouty rich girl played by Mischa Barton, who was killed off at the end of the previous season. Fox, meanwhile, demonstrated its lack of confidence by leaving “The OC” in its 9 p.m. Thursday time slot to face off against “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI.”

Fox ordered only 16 episodes, down from more than 20 in each of the first three seasons, and its budget for promoting the show’s return, Mr. Schwartz said, made clear that hopes for the series this year were not high.

“We tried to be realistic about it,” Mr. Schwartz said. “Few shows get to have their last season be their best. So if this was going to be the last season, we wanted to write the show we wanted to do and the show the fans wanted to see. It was creatively liberating.”

Fox, for its part, declined to address its reasons for ending “The OC.” No network executives were quoted in the news release, issued on Wednesday, announcing that this season would be the show’s last, and a spokesman for the network said Friday that no one would comment for this article.

When “The OC” had its premiere, it was quickly compared to “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Dawson’s Creek” and other series that drew raves for their chronicles of teenage angst. But while “90210” lasted 10 seasons, “The OC” will not even make it to the 100-episode milestone, considered a benchmark for profitable syndication.

It did, however, influence the culture. Orange County’s Newport Beach community became a tourist destination for young fans. At least two reality-based television series drew on the fame of “The OC”: “Laguna Beach,” an MTV series that billed itself as “the real Orange County,” and “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” a Bravo reality show that follows a gaggle of women from their tennis lessons to Botox sessions.

Thanks to its heavy use of mood music from emerging rock and alternative-music groups, “The OC” became known as a showcase for new bands, and it produced a half-dozen soundtrack albums featuring groups like Death Cab for Cutie and vocalists like Imogen Heap.

For all of its focus on good-looking rich kids, the show was also about adults, winning praise for developing parental characters with their own storylines and concerns. The show also created what were arguably the first Jewish heartthrobs on television: Sandy Cohen, played by Peter Gallagher, a public defender married to a wealthy gentile developer; and his son, Seth Cohen, played by Adam Brody, who dealt with his mixed religious heritage by promoting the family’s adoption of Chrismukkah as its winter holiday celebration.

Reviewing the show’s second-season premiere, Virginia Heffernan, a New York Times television critic, wrote: “In tone, diction, fashion and music, Mr. Schwartz knows just how to keep it credible with its swooning fans. But he is also mindful of the strict rituals that define television drama, and his discipline in tightening the world he has created — rather than giving in to impatience and blowing it apart — is admirable.”

In the end, however, the weakness of “The OC” might have been that it was too much the product of one person, conceptually, if not in practice. Just 26 when Fox agreed to broadcast the show, Mr. Schwartz was the youngest person in network television history to create and produce his own one-hour series.

He worked furiously, writing or revising every episode of the first season and several in the first part of the second year. After that, he cut back, and while other longtime collaborators like Stephanie Savage continued to work closely on the show, many fans expressed the opinion that the second and third seasons did not match the originality of the first.

Mr. Schwartz disputes that. “I really believe in my colleagues,” he said, citing his particularly close association with Ms. Savage and Robert De Laurentiis, a show-business veteran who has served as an executive producer since the first season.

In fact, Mr. Schwartz will be producing a new series with Ms. Savage. The CW network has signed the pair for “Gossip Girl,” an hourlong teenage drama set in New York City and based on the book series of the same name. NBC, too, has signed Mr. Schwartz for a series, a dark comedy-drama titled “Chuck,” which Mr. Schwartz has developed with Chris Fedak.

For now, Mr. Schwartz, who grew up in Providence, R.I., not on the California coast, said he was focused on “delivering the most satisfying finale we can” for “The OC.” The remaining episodes will feature an unexpected pregnancy and more of the show’s familiar love-triangle tussles. All of which could work to raise the size of the audience from the fewer than four million who have tuned in for each episode this season, according to Nielsen. But it is unlikely that the series will win any reprieve from what, for such early promise, could be viewed as an early death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/arts/television/06josh.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin

CES 2007
Sony Introduces Internet TV System
By Glen Dickson, Broadcasting & Cable - January 7, 2007

Sony's big news at CES is a way to seamlessly bring Internet video content from providers like AOL and Yahoo! onto its big-screen HDTV sets.

The new product, called the Bravia Internet Video Link, is a small modem-sized module that will attach to the back of Sony's latest Bravia LCD high-definition sets and allow them to display Internet video without hooking the TV up to a PC or an external "media adapter" device.

A user will simply plug an Ethernet cable from a high-speed data modem into the module on one side, and then connect the module to the Bravia set via a standard HDMI link. The module will then be smart enough to grab streaming Internet video content, including high-definition content where available, and display it on the Sony set.

Internet portals AOL and Yahoo! are both supporting the Bravia Internet Video Link, which will become available this summer, and executives from both companies attended Sony's CES event to demonstrate the technology.

"They are the first of our vital partners in this initiative," says Sony Electronics President and Chief Operating Officer Stan Glasgow.

Content will also come from Internet video site Grouper, now part of Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as Sony Pictures itself and Sony BMG; RSS feeds can also be used to generate user-customized features such as local traffic and weather channels.

AOL executive vice president Kevin Conroy helped demonstrate concert footage of the rock band Coldplay streaming from the AOL service and being played on a Sony Bravia display.

"This partnership with Sony represents a phenomenal opportunity to extend AOL content to platforms beyond the PC, and allow consumers to experience content anytime, anywhere," says Conroy.

The service will be free to consumers, as the ad-supported content should benefit from the exposure, says Nick Colsey, Sony's director of product planning for televisions.

A major feature of the Bravia Internet Video Link, says Colsey, is that it will use Sony's Xross Media Bar (XMB), an icon-based user interface, to allow viewers to simply browse Internet content by using a TV remote. Sony will constantly update the module via the Internet connection so that the TV will be able to find the streaming content, which Colsey says will be optimized by programming partners for big-screen viewing.

Sony did demonstrate high-definition content being streamed to the module, but executives admit that broadband speeds would have to improve significantly before HD over the Internet becomes reality. Whether viewers who have spent thousands on a big-screen HDTV will want to use it to watch streaming standard-def video remains to be seen, of course. AOL's content looked pretty good in the demo, while the picture quality of a user-generated Grouper video was relatively poor.

Randall Waynick, SVP of marketing for Sony's home products division, says the appeal of the Internet Video module is based more on convenience than image resolution.

"It's not just quality, it's about having access," he says.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6404799.html?display=Breaking+News

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2007-01-08-blackout-usat_x.htm?csp=34

Broadcast dispute could lead to higher cable fees
Posted 1/8/2007 12:44 AM ET

By David Lieberman, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — A battle is underway which, no matter how it's resolved, could set a precedent affecting nearly all cable subscribers.
Sinclair Broadcast Group over the weekend yanked 22 of its TV stations off Mediacom Communications cable systems that reach 700,000 subscribers.

If the standoff continues, those cable customers could miss network TV shows including American Idol, CSI and Desperate Housewives while the companies squabble about how much cash cable systems should pay to retransmit a station's free over-the-air signals.

After years of getting no cash, Sinclair is asking for "no more than 50 cents" per subscriber a month for each station Mediacom carries on cable in a market, says Sinclair general counsel Barry Faber. That's about what many operators pay for CNN and USA Network.

"If you ask people, 'What do you think they pay more for: your Fox station or Animal Planet?' — I've never heard anybody say Animal Planet," Faber says.

But Mediacom says that Sinclair is playing economic hardball to set benchmarks for station compensation that, if applied throughout the cable industry, could raise cable prices by up to $6 billion a year.

"It will have a dramatic effect," says Mediacom CEO Rocco Commisso. "If the No. 4 or 5 station gets away with getting paid, what happens to the No. 1 or 2?"

Until recently, cable operators won the right to carry ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC stations by agreeing to carry their parent companies' cable channels such as Disney's ESPN2 or NBC Universal's MSNBC.

Broadcasters didn't have much leverage. Cable was a virtual monopoly. That started to change a few years ago, when satellite companies DirecTV and Dish Network deployed technology to offer local stations. They agreed to pay stations to retransmit their signals. Now Verizon, which is building a rival fiber-optic TV service, has agreed to pay cash.

While many cable operators, including Mediacom, accept that they'll have to pay for broadcast TV, they say that the stations now have the upper hand with control in their market of a national network's shows.

Unlike satellite services, which can charge extra for local channels, federal law requires cable to offer the stations in their cheapest package.

CES 2007
Home video spending records another decline
By Mike Snider, USA Today - January 8, 2007

LAS VEGAS — The love affair between consumers and DVD stayed strong in 2006 but not strong enough to prevent a second year of decline in overall home video spending as VHS withered.

DVD rentals rose strongly from 2005's $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion, while DVD sales inched up from $16.3 billion in 2005 to $16.6 billion last year, according to figures due today from the Digital Entertainment Group, an industry trade group.

Overall, $24.2 billion was spent on DVD and VHS, lower than in 2004 ($24.5 billion) and 2005 ($24.3 billion). VHS accounted for just $100 million in spending last year; as recently as 2004, VHS spending topped $3 billion.

The flattening of DVD sales and growth in disc rentals suggests "there is some limit to how many video programs consumers are willing to buy," says Tom Adams of Adams Media Research, a Carmel, Calif.-based research firm. "That limit went up dramatically over the past eight years from (what had been) about $6 billion in 1996 before DVD came along. There was huge growth in the amount people were willing to spend buying video content."

Since DVD arrived in 1997, more than 200 million players have been purchased in the USA, and about 88 million homes have at least one. Last year, consumers bought 33 million DVD players.

"With VHS all but diminished," says DEG executive director Amy Jo Smith, "DVD and high-definition packaged media will coexist with emerging forms of digital entertainment."

But Adams expects that with new formats not mass-market ready, home video spending will remain flat this year. "There's just too few homes with the ability to download movies or have a high-definition playback device," he says. "It's going to take a few years for millions of homes to get there."

Studios' hopes that movie lovers would embrace new super-sharp discs have been hampered by dueling formats. Sony and most studios support Blu-ray Disc; Universal is putting out its films only on the competing HD DVD format. Warner and Paramount release films on both.

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show, Warner plans to announce a Total HD disc that holds Blu-ray and HD DVD versions of movies on one disc and plays in either player. And LG Electronics will display a player that handles both formats.

If the electronics industry could resolve the format war, home video growth could spike again, Adams says. "That is the best shot studios have at reasonable growth rates going forward," he says. "Thirty million homes have (an HD TV) with not much to play on it."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/2007-01-07-home-video-decline_x.htm

TV Review
Able ‘Lincoln’: ABC Family drama exhibits amazing grace
By Amy Amatangelo, Boston Herald - January 8, 2007

“Lincoln Heights.” Tonight at 7 on ABC Family. Grade: B+

A good family drama is hard to find.

These days, TV shows are enthralled with hip heroes, hidden mysteries and hot doctors. So “Lincoln Heights,” premiering tonight at 7 on ABC Family, is a refreshing surprise.

In the one-hour series, L.A. police officer Eddie Sutton (Russell Hornsby) takes advantage of a police department home-ownership incentive and moves his family back into the inner city, where he grew up.

His wife, Jenn (Nicki Micheaux), and children, Cassie (Erica Hubbard), Tay (Mison Ratliff) and Lizzie (Rhyon Brown), are less than thrilled to leave their middle-class neighborhood. “You lost your mind,” his wife tells him. His police partner, Kevin (Michael Reilly Burke), doesn’t understand why Eddie would even consider the move. “Even with all the incentives they’re throwing at us, does the department really believe they can get some schmuck to move into this dump?” Kevin wonders.

At their new schools, Tay has his lunch money stolen. Lizzie is benched on the basketball team. And Cassie is ostracized because her father is a cop. Their new neighbors aren’t happy about the Sutton family’s arrival - shortly after they move in, their home is ransacked. “Folks around here see the police as more dangerous than the Ebola virus,” one man tells Eddie. When Eddie tries to reach out to a local gang member, he is told, “You could be George Washington Martin Luther Bush. But here, you’re in my yard.”

With its solid acting, particularly from the compelling Hornsby, “Lincoln Heights” plays on several levels. Eddie is mired in department politics and quickly finds himself the subject of an internal investigation. His police partner is subtly racist - an issue it seems the show might explore more in later episodes. Eddie’s decision to move strains his marriage. And, like any good family drama, “Lincoln Heights” already has a solid teen romance in the works. Cassie immediately finds herself drawn to the reserved and dreamy Charles (Robert Adamson).

To the show’s credit, “Lincoln Heights” quickly proves it won’t take the easy storytelling road. The pilot episode concludes with a shocking death, which emphasizes that problems won’t be easily resolved at the end of every hour.

“Lincoln Heights” also has the distinction of being the only prime-time TV series focused on an African-American family. But this show could be about any family. If only all TV shows could tackle weighty subject matters with such grace.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=175855

TV Notebook
How ‘Ugly Betty’ Changed on the Flight From Bogotá
By Larry Rohter, The New York Times - January 7, 2007

RIO DE JANEIRO -- So North Americans are finally getting a taste of something Latin Americans have long enjoyed: the guilty pleasures of the telenovela. “Ugly Betty,” a weekly series adapted from a wildly successful Colombian serial, has been one of the surprise successes this fall season for ABC, helping to set off a brief burst of enthusiasm for bringing even more — and purer — examples of the form to American living rooms.

Like any other genre of popular art, the telenovela has its own codes, tropes, and customs, and while “Ugly Betty” obeys many of those conventions, it slides past others to accommodate American viewers.

So it may be worth a close look at “Ugly Betty” and how the series changed as it migrated from Bogotá to Hollywood, if only for a hint at what audiences in the two Americas have in common — and don’t.

“Ugly Betty” tells the story of an awkward, fashion-clueless young woman from a Mexican immigrant family living in Queens who stumbles into a job at a fashion magazine in Manhattan and manages to survive her many pratfalls through decency, luck and folk wisdom passed on by her family.

In the Colombian “I Am Ugly Betty,” Betty worked at a design house rather than a magazine, and in her move to Queens, she changed nationality and acquired a social world with a lot more ethnic, racial and linguistic diversity. In Colombia, she turned from ugly duckling to swan and won the heart of her rich boss. It isn’t clear whether she can do that in New York. Still, one quality wasn’t lost:

“You can’t look at ‘Ugly Betty’ as being just about a charming little misfit, and how, by extension, Latinos in the United States are also misfits,” said Claudia Milian, a professor of Latin American literature and culture at Duke. “You can’t simply say this is an entertainment, because inevitably there is a message and a political reality, too.”

First of all, a disclaimer: a telenovela is not just a soap opera and “Ugly Betty” is not, strictly speaking, a telenovela. The classic form runs for a fixed period, usually five or six days a week for six months or so, with a beginning and happy ending. “Ugly Betty” has no such arc in sight.

Nevertheless, it is faithful to the telenovela’s essence: While the main narrative normally focuses on family or sexual conflicts and betrayals, usually there is a subtext dealing with a social or political problem.

Although the telenovela never preaches, no issue is off limits if addressed artfully and obliquely enough. Telenovelas in Colombia have touched on that country’s civil war, and Argentina’s most popular series last year evoked the issue of the “disappeared” — opponents of military rule in the 1970’s who were arrested and never heard from again. In Brazil, plots have involved land reform, corruption and human cloning.

“It is not the function of the telenovela to discuss social issues,” said Aguinaldo Silva, the author of some of Brazil’s most successful telenovelas. “Journalism does that. A serial wants to be entertaining. But that does not prevent you from addressing those themes. It just has to be in the context of the plot, or else the spectator won’t want to listen to what you are saying.”

“Ugly Betty,” whose title character is played by America Ferrera, juxtaposes the wholesome girl from Queens with the snobbery and infighting of the rich and shallow in Manhattan. With that, the producers have assured the necessary froth and intrigue. But the story line also seems meant to make a viewer ponder issues like immigration, social mobility, ethics in the workplace and the place of Latinos in American society.

The template for the modern telenovela developed in Cuba and descended from “El Derecho de Nacer,” or “The Right to Be Born,” a radio series by Félix B. Caignet that was a hit from its first broadcast on April 1, 1948. Mr. Caignet said it was his intention to “speak in metaphors” about social themes. “What I did was to take advantage of popular emotion to sow something moral, something good,” he wrote.

“El Derecho de Nacer” implicitly raised questions about racism by having its affluent but illegitimate white protagonist disowned by his authoritarian grandfather and raised by his loving black nanny.

These days, in a region that is famous for social stratification, the gap between rich and poor — and the dream of magically overcoming it through hard work or marriage — is far and away the favorite topic.

“The use of class, high and low, with the poor rising to become rich, has always existed in the novela, and has always proven successful,” said João Daniel Filho, Brazil’s most famous novela director. “That’s been true since the time when Victor Hugo, Dickens and Dostoyevsky were writing serials.”

Most telenovelas also contain a camp element — a quality that allows Latin American sophisticates to wink at bad lighting or preposterous plot developments as they watch novelas with their maids. Main characters tend to be broadly drawn archetypes acted in an over-the-top style, with the good guys and bad guys clearly signaled.

Silvio Horta, a Cuban-American raised in Miami who is an executive producer of “Ugly Betty,” freely acknowledges incorporating what he calls “that cheesy element” into the import. Asked about the scheming villain in “Ugly Betty” played by Vanessa Williams, he cited a 1980’s Mexican telenovela, “Cradle of Wolves,” in which the villainess wore a black eye patch. “It’s all very Cruella De Vil and Cinderella,” he said.

Not that the creators of “Ugly Betty” always stuck to the standard playbook. One notable difference is the absence in Betty Suarez’s family of a mother figure; her father is the anchor of her family.

“In the Latin American telenovela, the poor family usually has a loving, nurturing mother” who stoically absorbs all of life’s adversities, Ms. Milian said. “That matriarchal aspect is missing in ‘Ugly Betty,’ perhaps because that kind of passivity just wouldn’t fly with an American viewership.”

For a time last year, American networks seemed eager to produce true telenovelas. That enthusiasm seems to have waned.

But South American veterans of the telenovela industry suggest the genre may have a North American future, after all. The growing income gap in the United States reminds them of their own societies, they say, and it may assure an appetite for feel-good stories about social mobility.

“Betty opens a pathway, because it gives us an idea of what kind of stories will go down well” with American audiences, said Jayme Monjardim, a telenovela director here. “It’s going to be a slow process, because you don’t have a culture up there of watching novelas day in and day out. But this is something we know how to do very well, and when we find out how to translate our sentiments, well, then just watch out.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/weekinreview/07rohter.html?ref=television

TV Review
Family has the blues in 'Lincoln Heights'
By David Kronke, Los Angeles Daily News - January 8, 2007

Our rating: Two-and-a-Half Stars (Out of Four)
What: An idealistic L.A. cop moves his family from a cramped apartment into a large home in the troubled neighborhood he polices.
Where: ABC Family.
When: 7 p.m. tonight.
In a nutshell: Earnest but likable.

"Lincoln Heights" is sort of ABC Family's answer to HBO's "The Wire," with all the attendant positives and negatives such a description implies.

While it aspires to present an earnest depiction of inner-city life, it's likewise hamstrung by its need to serve its target audience. "The Wire" treats its audience as intelligent adults; "Lincoln Heights" can't quite afford to do that.

Russell Hornsby is immensely likable as Eddie Sutton, an idealistic L.A. police officer who moves his family back into the tough neighborhood he grew up in as part of an incentive program for cops to live in the areas they patrol.

"It's not Disneyland," he concedes of the neighborhood, and indeed, his kids are bullied and taunted at school and their home is broken into. Still, Eddie's wife Jenn (Nicki Micheaux) remains supportive, and the neighbors begin to warm to his presence, sort of, though one tells him, "Folks around here see the police as more dangerous than the Ebola virus."

But before the drama behind that tension can be played out, the show's writers jump the gun and have Eddie shoot and kill a young thug during a convenience-store holdup/hostage situation involving his daughter. Then they up the ante with an Al Sharpton-type condemning Eddie and the police force rabidly engaging in a witch hunt, even though he shot the man in self-defense.

If that's how the police department treats its cops who move into bad neighborhoods, one doesn't see much of a future for the project.

And anyway, the storyline seriously distracts from the show's intentions; it's an OK plot, but should've been saved for later in the series rather than dominating its first episodes.

http://www.dailynews.com/tv/ci_4967475

(International) TV Notebook
The British Like to Control TV With Their DVRs, Too
By Eric Pfanner, The New York Times - January 8, 2007

LONDON — An announcement from British Sky Broadcasting last week that it had sold more than two million digital video recorders demonstrated the international appeal of a technology that wrests control of television schedules out of the hands of broadcasters and into the homes of viewers.

With digital recorders in more than 20 percent of households that subscribe to Sky, the leading British pay-television company, penetration rates in Britain are comparable to those of pay-TV companies in the United States. While Britain is far ahead of the rest of Europe and other parts of the world in adoption of DVRs, other markets could start to catch up as broadcasters study the results of how Sky develops and markets the technology, which it calls Sky Plus.

“Sky Plus is one of the most interesting, innovative and aggressive DVR rollouts, certainly in Europe, but probably outside Europe as well,” said Ian Fogg, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research in London.

Sky sold about 700,000 digital recorders last year as SkyPlus, introduced in 2001 as a £399 (about $770) premium device, evolved into a £99 ($191) mass-market product. The company’s stated goal — putting the new boxes into a quarter of its 8.3 million households by 2009 — should be passed this year, said Robert Fraser, a spokesman for Sky.

Like other DVRs, Sky Plus allows users to record television shows at a touch of a button, using an electronic programming guide. During playback, viewers can easily fast-forward through commercials, a feature that alarms advertisers and broadcasters that derive the bulk of their revenue from advertising.

Sky said an analysis of audience habits showed that just 12.2 percent of viewing in Sky Plus homes was “time-shifted.” But channels that show movies or entertainment, rather than news or sports, are more heavily affected. Between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., when British broadcasters generally schedule their most popular dramas, 22 percent of shows were time-shifted, as viewers watched them later or recorded a second program as they watched their first choice immediately. Sky has tried to reassure advertisers, saying that while DVR users might skip some ads (it did not specify what percentage), they end up watching more television over all — 2 hours and 26 minutes of television a day, compared with 2 hours and 7 minutes for Sky subscribers without the DVR — increasing their exposure to commercial messages. While Sky, whose largest shareholder is the News Corporation, generates much of its revenue from subscriptions, it also makes money from advertising, so it has to be careful not to appear to overplay the benefit of skipping ads, analysts say.

Many satellite and cable companies initially were reluctant to embrace DVRs, worried about offending the ad-financed broadcasters whose channels they transmit. That left independent providers like TiVo in the United States to develop the DVR market.

TiVo has had a hard time gaining a foothold outside the United States, however, and its growth has disappointed investors of late. Analysts say this is partly because many consumers have concluded that the DVRs that come with many cable and satellite subscriptions, while less function-rich than TiVo, are good enough.

In Europe, growth in DVRs has been relatively slow, though they are making inroads in Italy, where Sky Italia, another satellite broadcaster in the empire of Rupert Murdoch, is the dominant pay-TV provider.

As digital recorders spread into more homes, television companies are adding features. Sky, for instance, said recently that it would add video-on-demand for Sky Plus customers, helping it to compete with new television-like offerings from broadband providers like BT, the former British telecommunications monopoly. Mr. Fraser said Sky was also looking at ways to send advertising directly to DVRs, possibly through a partnership it recently signed with Google.

Some analysts said DVR providers ought to think twice about forcing advertising on subscribers who are attracted by the ability to avoid commercials. And they may want to think twice about cramming too many functions into set-top boxes.

One of the prime attractions of Sky Plus, particularly for customers who never could figure out how to program their videocassette recorders, has been its ease of use, said Carl Gressum, senior analyst at Ovum, a telecommunications consultancy.

“The lesson of Sky Plus has been, if you want to introduce a new technology, keep it simple,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/technology/08dvr.html

CES 2007
Verizon, networks get hitched
Showbiz a major presence at CES
By Ben Fritz, Variety - January 7, 2007

LAS VEGAS -- Broadcast television is coming to cell phones.

In a major step for the fledgling mobile video space, Verizon Wireless on Sunday at the Consumer Electronics Show unveiled a new service that will stream full-length TV programs to cell phones from partners including CBS, NBC, Fox and MTV Networks.

V Cast Mobile TV will launch in select major markets by the end of the quarter.

According to network sources, Verizon's two major competitors, Cingular and Sprint, are working on similar offerings. By the end of the year, all three major cell providers should be providing full-length TV programs to their subscribers.

Previously, cell providers have offered only shortform video, news and sports.

The mobile vid biz has been slow to take off in the U.S., and it remains to be seen whether consumers will be interested half-hour or hour-long shows on their phones.

V Cast Mobile TV will initially launch with eight channels: CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN, MSNBC, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. Due to network limitations, shows will not be available on demand. Instead, each net will program its own cellular channel.

CBS wireless topper Cyriac Roeding said his network will offer entertainment and news programs during "primetime for cell phones," which is typically during the day.

MTV networks senior VP of wireless media Greg Clayman said his three channels would experiment with different lineups, including, in some cases, simulcasting.

As with Internet streaming, broadcast nets will only be able to offer shows they own unless they reach a deal with their respective partner studios.

All nets plan to experiment with advertising.

V Cast Mobile TV will initially be available on two types of phones; users will pay a multisubscription fee that Verizon has not yet announced.

As for the general CES preparations, a record 11,000-plus professionals from the entertainment industry are registered to attend the show, where they'll not only be courted by a slew of technology companies looking to get their hands on premium content but take centerstage for the first time themselves.

In a first for the annual tech confab, two of the five keynote slots will be taken by big-media execs -- Disney topper Robert Iger and CBS prexy Leslie Moonves -- who will talk about their companies' increasing focus on broadband content. Iger is expected to unveil significant upgrades to the Disney.com Web site and discuss the Mouse's overall strategy online.

Even tech execs will, more than ever, talk about their partnerships with Hollywood as content increasingly goes digital. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, for instance, unveiled partnerships with Fox Sports, Nickelodeon, Starz and Showtime as part of his opening keynote Sunday night, centered on the new Windows Vista operating system.

CES won't be the only confab this week where tech and entertainment are meeting. At Apple's annual MacWorld event, which always takes place at the same time as CES, Steve Jobs is expected to provide more details on iTV, a new Apple product debuting this winter that will stream video content from a PC onto a TV.

In addition, numerous Apple watchers expect it to debut a new "iPhone" that plays songs downloaded from iTunes onto a cell phone. Its previous attempt at the market, the Rokr phone made by Motorola and sold by Cingular, has been a flop.

However, despite dogged attempts to sign up more studios, Jobs is not expected to unveil many more partnerships to sell movies via iTunes. Since launching pics on iTunes in September with content from Disney, in which Jobs is the largest individual shareholder, Apple hasn't signed up any more studios for the service, primarily because Apple wants to pay wholesale prices lower than DVDs. Sources at most studios confirmed they are not yet close to signing with Apple, though one or two remain possibilities.

Topics expected to be hot at CES this year include devices and software to watch digital content at home and on the go; increasing availability of premium content on the Web; the dueling high-definition DVD formats and attempts to end the divide; and new technology allowing consumers to burn secure DVDs at home and in stores.

Gates was to unveil Sunday the long-in-development Windows Vista operating system upgrade, dedicated in large part to showcasing digital content while also attempting to allay studios' concerns over piracy. Most consumer versions of the software, which goes on sale Jan. 30, feature Windows Media Center, which is designed to be connected to a TV screen and mix broadcast and broadband content.

Upgrades to the software will allow users to watch high-def TV through a cable connection to the computer and allow networks to design Media Center-specific experiences that can be watched on a TV and PC and used with a remote control.

Fox Sports, for instance, has designed an intricate feature allowing users to keep track of numerous games at once. Nickelodeon is putting its TurboNick broadband service, featuring ad-supported clips and full-length episodes of its shows, onto Media Center for the first time as part of the Vista launch. Showtime will sell downloads of its programs via Media Center on Vista for $1.99, similar to its offering on iTunes. Starz is adding its Vongo broadband service, which lets users watch movies on the premium channel for a $9.99 monthly subscription fee.

Microsoft already is working with numerous other networks and broadband content services to enhance their Web offerings for Vista Media Center. While 30 million consumers worldwide have bought PCs with earlier versions of the software, not many have yet connected it to their TVs to make it the center of their digital experience. Microsoft is hoping the upgrades will lead more buyers to do so, giving it an advantage over competitors like Apple, Sony, cable operators and telcos, all of whom want to control the digital living room.

Warner Bros. topper Barry Meyer will appear at an event sponsored by his studio on Tuesday to showcase "True HD," a new type of DVD offered by WB that will feature Blu-ray and HD DVD versions of movies on one disc in an attempt to end the split between the two high-def DVD formats. Consumer confusion over the two, which are backed by different studios, is a key factor limiting widespread adoption.

LG Electronics, meanwhile, is taking the opposite approach to the problem by showing a DVD player at the show that will play both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

Though entertainment has had a significant and growing presence at CES for the past few years, show organizers have aggressively gone after Hollywood professionals this year, as the manufacturers who display at the show increasingly need the approval and interest of the entertainment industry for their digital media products.

"Our exhibitors have urged us to reach out to the entertainment community, and we made a big effort to do that this year with our keynoters and our attendees," said Jason Oxman, VP of communications for the Consumer Electronics Assn., which organizes CES. "There has really been a momentous shift away from devices to the content and services enabled by them."

In addition, the technology and engineering Emmys will be held for the first time at CES tonight.

Based on registrations, the expected 11,000 attendees from the entertainment industry rep the fastest-growing industry group to attend the show. Last year, 150,000 people came to CES.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956879.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1

From TV producer/creator to inventor? Rick Rosner's done it all! :rolleyes:

CES 2007
Satellite Television in a Portable Box
By Lorne Manly, The New York Times - January 8, 2007

Rick Rosner is a self-described television junkie.

Not only he is the creator and producer of many television series, most notably “CHiPs” and “The New Hollywood Squares,” he feels an overpowering need to surround himself with television everywhere he may be. Fourteen television sets jostle for space in Mr. Rosner’s penthouse condominium in Marina Del Rey.

When more than a decade ago he moved into his previous home, in Coldwater Canyon, only to learn he could not pick up a cable signal, he dispatched a production assistant to Phoenix to get something not yet available on the West Coast: DirecTV. On location shoots he would lug one of his DirecTV set-top boxes along and then rent or buy a satellite dish and attach it to his balcony railing with duct tape.

That hassle got him thinking: What if there were a portable satellite dish, which folds up like a piece of luggage, and could be used for camping and tailgate parties or in dorm rooms? And that’s how a longtime television producer turned into an inventor.

The result of his obsessive handiwork will be on display today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, when DirecTV will unveil the Sat-Go, a mobile satellite and television system weighing about 25 pounds that will sell for $1,000 to $1,300. DirecTV hopes that the Sat-Go will help differentiate the company from its cable-television competition and attract a different type of customer when the product goes on sale this spring.

“I love to try different things,” the 65-year-old Mr. Rosner said when asked to explain the moonlighting. “That’s sort of the story of my life.”

Mr. Rosner’s affection for all things television began as a child, when shows like “Captain Video and His Video Rangers” and “The Howdy Doody Show” captivated him, and working as a page at NBC during college cemented that connection. When he dropped out of veterinary school at Cornell University after six weeks, he moved to New York and reclaimed his post at NBC before getting a job at “Candid Camera” and becoming a television producer.

The walls of his condominium are crammed with pictures of people he’s worked with and for over the years, like Mike Douglas, Regis Philbin, John Davidson and Joan Rivers. But even while involved in the television business, his enthusiasms took him in different directions.

When on one episode of “The Steve Allen Show” the host was made to scuba dive, an emergency rescue unit came in to school Mr. Allen, and Mr. Rosner struck up a friendship with the visitors. That led him to taking a course at the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department. One night, he and his partner were parked at a Winchell’s doughnut shop in Los Angeles when two California highway patrolmen, complete with darkened helmet visor and shiny boots, pulled up behind them. But that intimidating sight melted when the two took off their helmets and sunglasses.

“Right there, it hit me,” said Mr. Rosner over a lunch of shrimp cocktail and Caesar salad at a dockside restaurant near his condominium. “That’s a TV series. Two guys racing around the L.A. freeway system. Two good guys doing a job.”

“He incorporates parts of his life into his business,” said Michael Gelman, executive producer of “Live With Regis and Kelly,” who became friends with Mr. Rosner when he worked on “The New Hollywood Squares” more than 20 years ago.

A similar connection explains the genesis of Sat-Go. After getting his inspiration for Sat-Go during an early morning walk in Vancouver, he hooked up with David Kuether, a friend who was an engineer at DirecTV, and the two set out to build a mobile satellite TV.

Mr. Rosner then called in a favor from another friend, his former art director on “The New Hollywood Squares” who is now the head of “The Tonight Show’s” prop shop. They built a prototype — “it looked like a big sewing machine,” he said — and then tried to persuade DirecTV to build and sell it.

At first, they were greeted with a decided lack of interest. But the head of the set-top box division sent Mr. Rosner and his contraption to see Eric Shanks, executive vice president of DirecTV Entertainment. Luckily for Mr. Rosner, Mr. Shanks was a “CHiPs” fanatic and jumped at the chance to meet its creator. “It’s my second-favorite show,” he said. (“The A-Team” is No. 1.)

DirecTV will be selling Sat-Go in places it has never been before, like Cabela’s, the hunting, fishing and camping store, and advertising in unfamiliar publications, like RV magazine. Although the modest first-run of production (about 10,000) makes Sat-Go an expensive toy, that price should come down, and the monthly subscription fee of $4.99 is the same as adding a box, according to Mr. Shanks.

Mr. Rosner has continued to be involved in every aspect of the Sat-Go’s development, particularly its design. Mr. Rosner and DirecTV executives both knew they wanted it to look like a high-end piece of luggage, one that could come from the likes of Louis Vuitton. But the color never satisfied. After the fifth or six try with the manufacturer, Mr. Rosner arrived one day with a carton full of Hershey dark chocolate bars — the hue reminded him of an early Bentley from Rolls-Royce — and announced this was the color the SAT-Go casing should be.

“It just looked so rich,” said Mr. Rosner, who this late December day in a chilly Southern California was wearing a chocolate brown slacks with a chocolate brown Sat-Go sweater. “It said money.”

Mr. Rosner’s nearly constant presence — in the past year and half he estimated that he dropped by DirecTV’s headquarters in El Segundo two or three times a week — could be unnerving to SatGo’s development team, so much so that the head of engineering called Mr. Shanks to complain that Mr. Rosner was distracting him. But Mr. Rosner has a history of barreling through obstacles and getting what he desires.

“Rick has always been a champion of the what-if scenario of television,” said Harry Friedman, executive producer of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” and a friend of Mr. Rosner’s since they worked together on “The New Hollywood Squares.” Mr. Rosner was the first to take game shows out on the road, plopping “The New Hollywood Squares” down in New York’s Radio City Music Hall and on the beach in the Bahamas. Now that the Sat-Go is a reality, Mr. Rosner can turn his attention to his next big entertainment project, a feature film based on “CHiPs.” Wilmer Valderrama (“That 70s Show,” “Fast Food Nation”) will play Officer Frank “Ponch” Poncherello, the Erik Estrada role, and Warner Brothers expects to shoot the picture this year.

But Mr. Rosner is not done with DirecTV; he is helping the company develop different Sat-Go offshoots. The Sat-Go Pro will come in a hardened plastic case and be marketed to users like FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Sat-Go Light will be about half the weight. And Mr. Rosner wants DirecTV to build a version with a digital video-recorder, too.

“I am the biggest DirecTV fan in the world,” he said. “No one appreciates that company more than me.” And Mr. Rosner wants to make sure no one will ever have to go without television again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/technology/08satellite.html?ref=technology

CES 2007
A high-def hug for DVD rivals?
Warner Bros., LG unveiling products that merge Blu-ray, HD DVD
By Ben Fritz, Variety - January 7, 2007

Will the Cold War among hi-def DVD formats thaw at the Consumer Electronics Show this week?

After a launch year that saw very slow pick-up for the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, two separate approaches to ending the split between them are expected to be unveiled at the CES confab in Las Vegas:

-Warner Bros. will debut a format it calls "True HD" that features both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies on one disc. Theoretically, it allows consumers not to have to worry whether they have the right kind of player when buying a hi-def DVD.

-LG Electronics, and possibly other manufacturers, will show new DVD players that read discs in both formats. Though it will likely debut at $1,000, it should appeal to high-end consumers who have avoided buying a hi-def DVD player for fear they'll end up with the 21st century version of a Betamax machine.

Thus far, the biggest driver of hi-def DVD adoption has been Sony's Playstation 3, which comes standard with a Blu-ray drive, and Microsoft's Xbox 360, which offers an HD DVD attachment for just $200.

Neither looks likely to change their technology to play both formats.

Similarly, Blu-ray backers like Sony and Disney and HD DVD backer Universal don't seem too interested in Warner's hybrid format.

So while both solutions have the potential to end consumer consternation over the competing formats, they may in the short run be one more confusing option for hi-def adopters to sort through.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956801.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1

CES 2007
HD DVD backers see big 2007 ahead
By Richard Lawler, Endgadget.com - January 8, 2007

The North American HD DVD Promotional Group took advantage of its press event to spread the good news about HD DVD, noting that over 300 additional HD DVD titles should be arriving in 2007. As of January 5th, the group estimates there were more than 175,000 HD DVD players sold in America, with an annualized attach rate of 28 movies per player. The group projects sales will reach 2.5 million players by the end of this year and more than $600 million worth of movie revenues. HD DVD buyers can look forward to more HDi enhanced titles, now featuring internet features that were demoed at the event, as well as more players hitting the market from manufacturers like Lite-On, Alco, Alpine, Meridian and Onkyo. Look for the trend of combo releases to continue, as the format's backers see it as a viable way of introducing current DVD owners to the format and building a library prior to upgrading. With Sony already hitting 1 million PS3s shipped and HD via IPTV picking up steam HD DVD surely has its work cut out for it in 2007 but with a slew of reference quality releases and enhanced hardware offerings they expect to hit all their goals.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/01/08/hd-dvd-backers-see-big-2007-ahead/

TV Review
In the Old Neighborhood: Old Problems, New Life
By Virginia Heffernan, The New York Times - January 8, 2007

Imagine trying to make a PG-rated “Wire.” That’s the tall order assumed by the producers of “Lincoln Heights,” an ABC Family drama about a middle-class black family moving into a former crack house.

Being on ABC Family ties the show’s hands: no obscenity, nudity, sex, gore or crudeness. Mean streets on a family channel are likely to translate to stick-ups and shouting matches, the latter-day equivalent of stealing hubcaps, which used to be name-checked when kids needed a lesson about hoodlums and peer pressure.

ABC Family, after all, was started by Pat Robertson in 1977. And although television’s foster kid has morphed through the years from CBN Cable to the Family Channel to Fox Family to ABC Family, it’s still obliged by Mr. Robertson’s post-CBN stipulation to keep “Family” in its name and show his “700 Club” twice each weekday: new episodes in the morning, reruns at night. For the cohesiveness, the sensibility of the tough-looking “Lincoln Heights” has to work somehow with church and family.

It’s a minor marvel, then, that this show isn’t a complete wreck. The pop morality play you might expect fails early on to assert itself, and the clean language doesn’t seem artificial.

Screenwriters have become so adept at writing around speech codes that they are able to win authenticity for characters without four letter words; on “Lincoln Heights,” Tay Sutton (Mishon Ratliff), a small but rangy boy, makes his entrance commenting on his sister’s breasts. It’s an innocuous line, but it’s delivered brother to sister, which gives it fair shock value. He needn’t say an unwholesome thing for the rest of the episode, and we still buy him as a tough-enough kid.

The same is true with Tay’s mother, Jenn Sutton (Nicki Micheaux), who doesn’t have to do evil, dress recklessly or set a bad example. She’s already real in how little she wants to move to the ghetto with her husband, Eddie (Russell Hornsby), to prove a point about revitalization. (Eddie, a cop, grew up in Lincoln Heights; he’s hoping to help make it safe by moving his family there.) Jenn agrees to go with him to the onetime crack house — she even buys him a book on renovation — but fights him every inch of the way.

As do his children, for the most part, who have to adjust to a more dangerous school. The daughters, Cassie (Erica Hubbard) and Lizzie (Rhyon Brown), seem to be set up as catnip for the “One Tree Hill” “OC” types in the audience. And they succeed, especially Cassie, who is ready for her Teen Vogue close-up. She even keeps a diary on the “Lincoln Heights” Web site (abcfamily.go.com/lincolnheights) and by Episode 2 has found a controversial but telegenic boyfriend, Charles (Robert Adamson), who looks like a teen-show prototype, acquired straight from the factory. He’s perfect.

In short “Lincoln Heights” is lightweight for HBO fans. But its police drama elements — especially once real violence surfaces, and Eddie gets into serious ethical and departmental trouble — may confound viewers who like its “Cosby Show” factor. “Lincoln Heights” determinedly tries to maintain a balance, and refuses to drop the fluffy stuff or the cops-and-robbers stuff. That’s impressive, and if there are any families left who watch television together, maybe they really will enjoy “Lincoln Heights.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/arts/television/08linc.html?ref=television

AVS Forum gets a mention in this Hollywood Reporter story about CES 2007! :)

CES 2007
Web chatter on rise as CES looms
Microsoft most-discussed brand; HD DVD, Blu-Ray also draws
By Alex Woodson, The Hollywood Reporter - January 8, 2007

NEW YORK -- In the run-up to this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a 20% increase in CES-related discussion has registered on newsgroups, blogs and message boards compared with the same frame a year ago, according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

Microsoft, led by its new Zune, is the most-talked-about brand in the online conversations surrounding CES, with Web discussions devoted to the company up 4.5% from a year ago. In addition to Zune, other Microsoft products ranking in the top 10 for buzz volume include Windows Vista and Xbox 360. Apple, which does not present at CES, is the second-most-talked-about brand in discussions surrounding the conference. BuzzMetrics credits the discussion to the strong market for iPod accessories and Apple's Macworld conference, which takes place at the same time as CES and is seen by consumers as a competitor to the Las Vegas showcase.

Sony is the third-most-talked-about brand, but that company's buzz is down from last year, mainly because its new PlayStation 3 debuted last year at CES.

The most popular discussions surrounding CES center on the home theater/video category, which accounts for 35% of all consumer-generated media posts, BuzzMetrics said, with HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats leading the discussion. High-definition multimedia interface, the format that connects PCs to HD displays, is the most-talked-about technology, accounting for 9% of CES buzz this year.

Leading the discussion are such technology blogs as Engadget, Gizmodo and TechCrunch, which highlight new products that will be showcased at CES.

"Blogs continue to penetrate and shape the public conversation about consumer electronics, including major events like CES," said Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer at Nielsen BuzzMetrics. "Our research finds that such buzz can greatly impact consumer purchase behavior and the success or failure of new product launches."

The site that generated the most CES buzz is www.avsforum.com, which facilitates conversations about home entertainment, video and gaming. In anticipation of Blu-ray news at the conference, discussion on forum.blu-ray.com also has seen an increase, up 2% compared with a year ago.

As consumers see a limited amount of discussions regarding satellite radio and gaming at this year's CES, sites devoted to that technologies, including www.nintendo.com, www.ps3forums.com and www.satelliteguys.com, are down compared with a year ago. Gaming, however, still remains the second most-talked about category in CES-related conversations.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i5b2bddf1415bc8d7c3f4b2d8f0af67bb

Yesterday’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
Bowls Hit Ratings Pay Dirt
By John Consoli MediaWeek January 8, 2007

The skeptics predicted the bowl season was going to be a boring glut of college football—32 postseason bowl games in 21 days from Dec. 19 through Jan. 8—resulting in viewer apathy and lack of tune-in. It turned out instead to be a rather desirable cornucopia of live action TV that viewers embraced, much to the pleasure of the advertisers who bought up the commercial time.

Sixteen bowl games on ESPN cumulatively produced a household ratings hike of 9 percent over last season’s comparable games, with the Alamo Bowl, in which Texas defeated Iowa, 26-24, drawing 5.5 million viewers, the most to ever watch a college bowl game on ESPN.

The Rose Bowl game on ABC, in which USC bested Michigan, 32-18, produced a 13.9 household rating, up 12 percent from the Rose Bowl two years ago between Texas and Michigan, and up 7 percent from last year’s Fiesta Bowl, which aired in the comparable time period. Last year’s Rose Bowl was the national championship game between Texas and USC, and aired on another day and time period, so an even comparison cannot be made.

On Fox, the Sugar Bowl matchup in which LSU thumped Notre Dame, 41-14, scored a 9.3, up 3 percent from the 2006 Sugar Bowl.

Fox did have a few ratings disappointments in its Bowl Championship Series games, with the Orange Bowl producing a 7.0 rating, down 43 percent from a 12.3 last year. The Fiesta Bowl’s 8.4 was down 35 percent from a 12.9 last year. But this year’s Orange Bowl had two smaller schools on the national level, Louisville and Wake Forest, and the Fiesta Bowl, which produced an exciting 43-42 final score, had Oklahoma losing to tiny Boise State.

Fox is expecting to get a more solid rating in the Jan. 8 national championship game when Ohio State and Florida square off, and although it is not expected to top last year’s championship game (Rose Bowl) rating of 21.7, it likely will still be the top-rated prime-time program of the coming week.

While most BCS advertisers bought packages on Fox for all four Bowl Championship Series games, remaining scatter ads for the championship game were selling for $800,000 per 30-second spot. Even with some down ratings, media buyers were happy. “As everything else on television gets easier to watch at a person’s leisure with DVRs and VOD, live sports continues to hold up and even grow very nicely,” said Ray Warren, CEO of Carat USA. One of Warren’s clients, Papa John’s pizza, was a first-time sponsor of the PapaJohn’s.com Bowl which ran on ESPN2. “We had clients in the bowl games all over the place and they all seem to be happy with the [ratings] results,” he said.

Steve Sternberg, executive vp of audience analysis for media agency Magna Global USA, said there is a very simple answer to why viewers embraced the bowl telecasts this season. “People just like football,” he said.

And Carat’s Warren added, “With all the repeats of scripted programming on television at this time of year, many people want to watch something fresh and live, and college football fills the bill. It is family-friendly, advertiser-friendly and has viewer interest from around the country.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003528491

The Sunday Fast National Nielsen ratings have been delayed. They'll be available shortly.

fredfa,

I saw this post on mediabistro.com last Thursday and wondered if you have the full list?

The 2006 cable primetime ranker is out, and Fox News Channel is the only cable news in the top 20. FNC is #8, behind Nick at Nite and ahead of FX. The channel averaged 1,404,000 viewers in primetime in 2006.

CNN came in #26, averaging 752,000 primetime viewers. MSNBC is ranked #35, averaging 382,000 viewers.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/2006_s_fnc_8_on_all_of_cable_50554.asp

Thanks,

On the other hand….
TV Sports
Tonight's the big game, except for Fox
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 8, 2007

There have been weeks of buildup for tonight’s highly anticipated college football national championship game between Florida and Ohio State. But judging by the disappointing ratings thus far for the Bowl Championship Series, new BCS carrier Fox just might sink to record lows for its bowl finale.

Through the first three BCS games, Fox’s household ratings are down 28 percent compared with last year’s bowls on ABC. The Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls have averaged a cumulative 24.7 household rating, down from last year’s 34.2.

Among adults 18-49, ratings are down 22 percent, from a 17.8 to a 13.9.

No game so far has topped 15 million viewers. That may mean Fox will fall below 2002’s BCS title game record low of 21.6 million viewers for Miami vs. Nebraska.

Last year was an exceptionally strong one for the early BCS games, what with a triple overtime game between legendary coaches Joe Paterno at Penn State and Bobby Bowden at Florida State and a matchup of two of college’s most popular teams, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Even so, the year-to-year dip has been quite sharp. Fox finished behind NBC in adults 18-49 on Orange Bowl night, a year after ABC won every night of its BCS coverage handily. And all three bowls posted some of their lower ratings of the past decade.

There are several factors hurting the numbers, all of which could affect tonight’s finale, which kicks off at 8:15 p.m.

The first is competition. Fox not only faced the premieres of broadcast shows like the CW’s “Beauty and the Geek,” which set series highs among some key demographics, and ABC’s “The Knights of Prosperity,” it was likely hurt by cable as well.

FX’s “Dirt” debuted opposite Tuesday’s Orange Bowl, drawing a solid 3.7 million total viewers and 2.4 million 18-49s. The Orange Bowl, by contrast, drew 10.7 million viewers. Monday’s Fiesta Bowl aired opposite strong premieres for E!’s “High Maintenance 90210,” ABC Family’s “Wildfire” and MTV’s “Next.”

And tonight the competition is even tougher. Last year the broadcast networks mostly aired repeats against the BCS title game. Tonight, ABC and CBS have entirely original lineups, while NBC airs a new “Deal or No Deal” to lead off the night.

On cable, ABC Family and VH1 have three shows premiering between them, and Lifetime has the heavily promoted movie “To Be Fat Like Me” and the new reality show “Gay, Straight or Taken.”

Another problem for Fox has been little excitement for the games. BCS participants Louisville, Boise State and Wake Forest simply draw lower ratings than traditional powerhouses like Nebraska, Penn State and Florida State, none of which made the BCS this year.

While Ohio State and Florida are both popular teams, the controversy surrounding one-loss Florida’s selection will not help ratings.

In the eight BCS championship games thus far, the games that have done the best paired undefeated squads like last year’s record matchup between USC and Texas, the most-watched finale since the BCS began.

Finally, the switch from longtime carrier ABC to Fox may have hurt the BCS most of all. Fox doesn’t air regular-season college football games, and thus did not have a great platform to promote the postseason games.

And the network tends to see lower ratings compared with the Big Three when it carries events shared by all the broadcasters, such as the Emmys and Super Bowl, due to distribution, shorter primetime window for promotion, and the relative youth of the 20-year-old fourth network.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/printer_9375.asp

TV Sports
A media buyer's primer on Super Bowl
With just four weeks to go the hype is upon us
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 8, 2007

At this time every year, two things inevitably happen. We see a huge post-holiday spike in traffic to online diet sites, and we hear the annual round of predictions about the Super Bowl begin.

What’s perhaps much more interesting is not how many people will watch the big game--85 million, give or take 5 million--or how much ad prices will rise (figure $100,000 per year or so) but how the game works as an ad vehicle.

So here’s a quick look at what media buyers need to know about the Super Bowl.

According to media buyers who spoke with Media Life, the average 30-second spot for the Feb. 4 game on CBS is a record $2.6 million, or 4 percent more than last year’s $2.5 million on ABC.

Roughly 80 percent of the inventory has already been sold, much of it in package deals that moved at last spring’s upfront. Those who buy in the final weeks usually receive price cuts, as do advertisers who buy multiple ads, but advertisers always pay a premium to have their ads run during the desirable first-half slots.

That’s when viewers are still engaged, the game is usually still close, and the halftime beer run has not yet been made.

“The pricing is greater, significantly greater, for spots that run in the first half of the game than spots that run in the second half or pre- or postgame,” says one buyer. “If you run outside the premium areas, you’re going to get a better rate.”

The debate has raged for years over whether the ad buy is worth it. In 1999 and 2000, when money was flowing into the dot.coms, it became a trendy buy, with nearly $50 million spent over those two years by startup companies. Now very few dot.com advertisers remain, this year most notably CareerBuilder and GoDaddy.

Some companies think the exposure of a Super Bowl ad is worth blowing nearly their entire ad budget. In 2005, Diamond of California bought a spot for $2.4 million to promote its fledgling Emerald Nuts brand, representing a quarter of the previous year’s ad budget, according to a report from ad buying agency Carat. But it worked, as the company credits the ad for sales of the snack food rising 56 percent that year.

Indeed, movies promoted during the Super Bowl generally achieve double the opening weekend and final box office numbers as non-Super Bowl advertised movies, according to Carat.

The Super Bowl audience is an attentive one. An Ipsos-ASI study a few years back found that 46 percent of Super Bowl viewers claimed to have watched every ad in the game, compared with levels under 15 percent for several other sporting events.

What’s more, nearly 90 percent could name at least one advertiser in the game, double the level for other sporting events.

There’s always much talk about Super Bowl viewership, which over the past decade has ranged from a high of 90.7 million last year to a low of 83.7 million in 1998. But in these days of increasingly fractured TV viewing, even a Super Bowl featuring a dull matchup between small-market teams will still draw an incredibly large audience.

Last year’s game more than doubled the number of total viewers for the season finale of “American Idol.” Seven of the top 10 most-watched shows in history are Super Bowls, and the game has been the most-watched TV show of the season for 11 straight years.

Beer, movies and automobiles have been the leading advertising categories since 2000. Media buyers say that will hold true again this year, with Anheuser-Busch the top advertiser once again.

Expect lots of promos for “CSI” and the like this year. The last time CBS carried the Super Bowl, it set a record with 27 promos for its own shows. Up until 1999, networks rarely inserted such non-paid commercial minutes in the game.

Finally, one mythbuster. It’s long been held that the Academy Awards are the Super Bowl for women, but that’s incorrect. The Super Bowl actually draws more female viewers than the Oscars, according to an analysis done by Horizon Media in 2005, and by a large margin.

That year the Super Bowl drew 19.3 million women 18-49 compared with 12.1 million for the Oscars in that demo.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9360.asp

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.

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Not so Rosie: 'Apprentice' hits new low
Debut of Trump reality shows earns 5.7 in households
By Toni Fitzgerald medialifemagazine Jan 8, 2007

Donald Trump’s much-publicized tiff with “View” co-host Rosie O’Donnell failed to pump ratings for the sixth-season premiere of “The Apprentice” last night. The show nearly equaled last spring’s series-low bow among adults 18-49, and it sank to its worst-ever premiere among households, according to Media Life records.

“Apprentice” averaged a 4.1 rating among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, 0.1 better than last year’s season five premiere. It drew a 5.7 among households, down half a point, or 8 percent, from last year.

The 90-minute premiere, which began at 9:30 p.m., built in every half hour in 18-49s but did lose 20 percent of its lead-in, the new show “Grease: You’re the One That I Want,” sinking from the latter’s 4.5 at 9 p.m. to a 3.6 at 9:30 p.m.

“Apprentice” has declined in every season since its 2004 premiere, when it was an instant hit on Thursday night. NBC even held it off the schedule last fall, hoping to build anticipation for the show in a way that has worked for other reality programs like “American Idol” and “The Bachelor.”

But even against the last half of a weaker-than-usual episode of ABC’s hit show “Desperate Housewives” last night, “Apprentice” showed little of its old spark. It finished behind ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters” in 18-49s at 10 p.m. and was third behind that and CBS’s “Without a Trace” in total viewers.

The media-savvy Trump had tried to spur ratings with a recent PR blitz over his feud with O’Donnell, which began last month.

Meanwhile, “Grease” had a solid debut, growing in each half hour.

Fox was first for the night among 18-49s with a 7.0 average rating and a 16 share. ABC was second at 4.8/11, NBC third at 3.8/9, CBS fourth at 2.9/7, Univision fifth at 1.2/3 and CW sixth at 0.9/2.

As a reminder, fast nationals measure timeslot data and not actual program data. Thus Fox’s ratings for its live NFL wild card coverage will adjust when final ratings are out tomorrow.

NFL football runover helped Fox to a first place finish during the 7 p.m. hour, as the network averaged an 11.0 rating for the end of the game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. NBC was second that hour with a 2.8 for “Deal or No Deal,” ABC third with a 2.4 for “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and CBS fourth with a 1.9 for “60 Minutes.” CW was fifth with a 1.0 for an hour of “Reba” and Univision sixth with a 0.9 for the awards pre-show “Noche de Estrellas.”

At 8 p.m. Fox led again, this time with a 5.4 average for “The Simpsons” (6.2) and “American Dad” (4.7). ABC was second with a 5.1 for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” NBC third with a 4.3 for the first hour of the premiere of “Grease” and CBS fourth with a 2.5 for a repeat of “Cold Case.” Univision jumped to fifth that hour with a 1.3 for the first hour of “Premios Furia Musical 2007,” with CW falling to sixth with a 0.9 for a repeat of “Beauty & the Geek.”

ABC took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 7.3 rating for “Desperate Housewives.” Fox dropped to sixth with a 4.6 average for an hour of “Family Guy” repeats, with NBC third with a 4.0 for the last 30 minutes of “Grease” (4.5) and the first half hour of the season premiere of “Apprentice” (3.6). CBS came in fourth with a 3.5 for “Cold Case,” Univision fifth with a 1.4 for “Premios Furia Musical 2007” and CW sixth with a 0.8 for another “Beauty & the Geek” rerun.

At 10 p.m. ABC remained on top with a 4.6 for “Sisters.” NBC moved to second with a 4.3 for the last hour of “Apprentice,” with CBS third with a 3.7 for “Without a Trace” and Univision fourth with a 1.1 for “Premios Furia Musical 2007.”

Fox finished first for the night among households, averaging a 9.9 rating and a 15 share. CBS was second at 8.2/12, ABC third at 8.0/12, NBC fourth at 6.2/10, CW fifth at 1.6/2 and Univision sixth at 1.5/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9387.asp

Technology Notebook
Comcast Offers TiVo Features for DVR Service
By Anthony Crupi Media Week Jan. 8, 2007

Nearly two years after announcing their plans to collaborate, Comcast and TiVo are ready to begin offering the cable operator’s digital subscribers a full menu of TiVo functionality.

In an announcement made Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Comcast said that TiVo software can now be implemented into Comcast’s existing digital set-top boxes for an additional monthly fee. The software upload will not require a truck roll.

Although Comcast already offers its digital subs DVR service, as TiVo adherents are quick to testify, generic DVR does not offer nearly as many features as does TiVo, which among other wrinkles has bolstered its service with an online scheduling application and a mobile viewing option.

The companies joined forces March 2005, but only began testing the service toward the latter part of last year.

For TiVo, the Comcast integration––the company has a similar deal in place with Cox Communications––is one of many steps taken by then-vice chairman Tom Rogers to try and stave off the company’s dissolution. (Rogers, the former NBC executive vp and president of NBC Cable, ascended to the post of president and CEO of TiVo on July 1, 2005.)

Although TiVo was one of the first movers in the DVR space, having launched back in 1997, the company has struggled to compete with cable’s less expensive DVR offerings.

At last count, TiVo has about 4.4 million subscribers, although more than 60 percent of those are DirecTV customers. While TiVo and DirecTV last spring extended their maintenance contract for three years, the DBS company no longer markets TiVo, as it is developing a proprietary DVR product with corporate sibling NDS.

All told, there are about 16 million DVR deployed nationwide.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003528862

The Business of Television
Comcast Lands in Sinclair’s Jungle
By Linda Moss & Ted Hearn MultiChannel News 1/8/2007

Comcast subscribers became the latest TV viewers to face the prospect of losing feeds of CBS, NBC and Fox stations supplied by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Under the gun, Comcast Friday began notifying a small number of subscribers that they could lose access to analog feeds of Sinclair stations within 30 days. At issue: paying cash to Sinclair in order to retransmit signals of its stations’ broadcasts.

"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,” Comcast executive vice president David Cohen said in a prepared statement.

Sinclair VP and general counsel Barry Faber said, “We’ve barely begun negotiations with Comcast,” and it was too early to declare that the two companies were involved in a dispute.

Even so, Comcast became the third MSO to balk at paying cash to Sinclair for carriage of its stations.

About 700,000 subscribers belonging to Mediacom Communications, based in Middletown, N.Y., lost access to Sinclair signals at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest MSO, is also facing the prospect of losing access to Sinclair signals, but on New Year’s Eve, it worked out an extension of its current retransmission deal through Friday, Jan. 12.

Sinclair and Time Warner agreed to extend their expiring contract so that they could continue to work out terms regarding stations in markets where the cable company purchased systems last year from now-defunct Adelphia Communications.

That negotiation involves systems with roughly 1 million subscribers, concentrated in New York in towns such as Buffalo and Syracuse, as well as in Ohio and Maine.

In the case of Comcast, about 3 million subscribers could lose their Sinclair signals March 1 if the two companies have not resolved their differences. The markets involved include Pittsburgh; Baltimore; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Richmond, Va.; and Tampa, Fla.

Under Federal Communications Commission rules, Comcast can’t drop Sinclair’s stations in February, when viewership is measured for the purpose of determining advertising rates. Comcast subscribers who are considered out-of-market are not covered by the FCC prohibition, however, causing Comcast to initiate the notification process last Friday.

“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,” Cohen said.

Faber said Sinclair has been working to finalize its deal with Time Warner, “so Comcast hasn’t quite risen on my radar screen yet.”

The country’s largest cable company said it is refusing to pay Sinclair cash in exchange for a carriage agreement. Under federal law, TV stations may demand cash for carriage but cable operators are not required to agree. Both, however, must bargain in good faith.

In the three disputes, Sinclair could be hit hardest by not coming to terms with Comcast. According to one party knowledgeable about the negotiations, the Sinclair stations involved in the Comcast pact represent about one-third of the broadcaster’s revenue.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6405168.html?display=Breaking+News

TV Q&A
Ask Matt
(from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic Monday, January 8, 2007

Question: I have a question about the comedies that NBC runs on Thursday nights. To me, it seems that The Office is probably the most "franchise-worthy" sitcom NBC has. Why doesn't the network run it in the 9 pm/ET slot, instead of the still-good-but-never-that-popular Scrubs? It seems to get the most buzz, has decent guest stars, has the Jim-and-Pam plot that gets people going, and stars Steve Carell, who has pretty good name recognition. Do you think NBC is afraid of wasting a power player against Grey's Anatomy? — Bridges

Matt Roush: The problem with NBC's comedies on Thursday, good as each one is individually (and collectively they're great, as I acknowledged in my recent year-end top-10 list), is that none of them are exactly self-starters. My Name Is Earl is the possible exception, being such a broad slapstick comedy. Despite its acclaim and its slowly growing following, The Office is still probably better off in a hammock position following Earl than if it were asked to kick off a new hour of programming, especially against megahits like Grey's and CSI.

I respect NBC for what it's doing on Thursdays by airing these four distinctive single-camera comedies in a two-hour block, but realistically, I suggest we enjoy it while it lasts. Because eventually, something's going to give on this night. Should NBC ever develop another traditional comedy with sophisticated juice (as in, a multicamera sitcom filmed on a soundstage with audience laughter, with the classic potential of a Friends, Frasier or Will & Grace), I bet that's the show the network would try to use to bolster this lineup's commercial appeal.

Question: As an avid reader of your column and a TV addict myself, I would love your opinion on how the various award committees could better handle the "dramedy"/comedy issues that have really been prevalent over the past few years. It seems unfair to put sitcoms such as The Office and My Name Is Earl in the same category as dramedies such as Desperate Housewives or even Ugly Betty. I know it's not a new problem (I imagine shows such as M*A*S*H had a similar issue), but I was a wee little one back then and don't really know how that all played out.— Kath

Matt Roush: This isn't a new issue, but it's getting messier as the lines continue to blur among hourlong dramedies and half-hour single-camera shows that sometimes feel as dramatic as they are comedic. I've never felt it's a good idea to add categories to the already saturated awards shows, because where do you stop? Do you create a separate category for hourlong comedies (are there enough even to fill a category?), or do you separate the single-camera comedies (exemplified by HBO hits like Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage, but lately equaled by the NBC Thursday comedies) from the more traditional sitcoms filmed on soundstages with laugh tracks?

When they're all lumped together, there will always be those who claim their type of show is at a disadvantage: the traditional sitcoms outpaced by the edgier, trendier, single-camera comedy, or the half-hour show upstaged by the more sophisticated, stylized, hourlong hits. To me, it's like any other genre of TV: There's good, bad and mediocre work being done in the half-hour, hour, single-camera and traditional formats. Let the best of them fight it out, not split the difference with new niche categories that could make a win less significant.

Question: Over and over we hear that the sitcom is dead and gone, but I tend to disagree. Even when Seinfeld and Friends were in their prime, the landscape wasn't as full of comedy hoots as it is today. For every Seinfeld we had three Veronica Closets, and for every Friends we had four Thunder Alleys. Today, we have How I Met Your Mother (why it isn't a Friends-style smash I don't know), The New Adventures of Old Christine (the most consistent and witty of the traditional sitcoms running today), Two and a Half Men (I personally despise), 30 Rock (god bless Alec Baldwin), Scrubs, My Name Is Earl, The (vastly improving) Class and the best sitcom since Seinfeld: The Office. Could it be that the problem does not lie in the networks but rather with the American public's expectation that they should have glaring laugh tracks (with the exceptions of Two and a Half Men and The Class) hammer home the times they should laugh. I am an unproduced writer and have a pilot being pitched — "Hi, Margaret Cho!" — and it would be in front of an audience, no less. My agent and I think the problem is that the audience doesn't know how to take these clever shows for what they are: hilarious! [Cue laugh track] Your thoughts?— Michael K.

Matt Roush: : If you're serious about writing for television, it's a good idea not to think of the people you're writing as total idiots. The fact that many of today's best comedies aren't Seinfeld-size hits has a lot to do with the way the industry has evolved, not because people have to be told via laugh track what's funny. Truth is, many millions of people prefer comedy that has a certain comfort level, which includes being filmed in the traditional style with broader jokes and physical humor. (See, for instance, The King of Queens, when CBS lets you.) This is not always a bad thing, although the trend nowadays is to favor mostly those with an edgier, more discomforting style. To address your larger issue, I'd agree that comedy is far from dead, but as a genre that once flourished and dominated the schedule, it is endangered at a time when the earliest hours of prime time are being crowded out by cheaper, mass-produced reality concepts (Deal or No Deal) and when prime-time drama is at its ascendancy. The fact that you can list a number of terrific comedies without even referencing HBO or Showtime is a sign that there's hope for TV comedy's present and future. Will it ever get back to where it was? That's the question.

Question: Do you know anything about the recent speculation that ER will leave on a cliff-hanger while NBC promotes a new show in its place, only to return a couple of months later to finish the season? The show has done great so far this season, and I think there are a number of different routes the writers could take with Kovac and Forest Whitaker's character. On another note, I've also heard that next year might be its final season. Does NBC just feel it's time to put this one to bed? I honestly think that ER has held its own against great shows like Grey's Anatomy, and I don't see what NBC could put in its place!— John

Matt Roush: : A clarification: the initial plan was for ER to pull a Lost vanishing act midway through the season, making room for a mid-season tryout. That plan was jettisoned when ER came on strong this season, in part thanks to John Stamos' arrival (and, perhaps, the Forest Whitaker-vs-Luka subplot). I imagine ER will run straight through the season, with minimal repeats, and if NBC ends up using ER's time period to try out a new show, it will be after ER's season is over.

As for ER's future, I think you're right that the show is contractually set for a season beyond this (its 14th!), but after that, who knows? If it bows out then, it won't be because NBC is shoving it out the door. You're right that the network, in its current state, would have a hard time replacing it with anything nearly as popular (at least in first-run episodes). But there's going to come a time when this notoriously expensive show is going to be considered a liability by its studio (Warner Bros.) if not by the network, and economics will shutter its door — as has happened to many real urban hospitals in recent times. I'd just as soon not speculate as to when that will happen in the case of County General.

Question: I'm under the impression that you must not really care for NCIS since you didn't defend it a couple of weeks ago when someone said something negative about it. I think this is one of the funniest, most interesting shows on TV. It has an excellent mix of suspense and humor. The characters are awesome, and all the actors do a great job. Hands down, it is one of the best shows on TV.— Tyler

Matt Roush: Glad you like it. One of the best shows? I'm not so sure. One of the most popular? No question. I can't imagine a situation where I would either defend or deplore NCIS. On the occasions when I watch, I totally get why it's a success, and that has much to do with its sense of humor and colorful cast of characters. (I'd much rather watch it than that show that rhymes with "Seminal Blinds.") NCIS is just a bit too formulaic to draw me in every week. (If I had to pick a Tuesday show on CBS to watch, I'd go with The Unit, which at least surprises me once in a while.) If people lash out at a show like NCIS because its popularity threatens more fragile and ambitious series like Friday Night Lights, I'm not going to stop them. But I wouldn't go out of my way to encourage them, either. Live and let live.

Question: My question has to do with the Emmys and reality TV: After two seasons of either awful (Family Edition) or dull Amazing Races, and the conclusion of one of the best Survivors in recent memory (how great was it to see four really likable and honorable people pull off a come-from-behind win and just be happy for one another?), can the reality-TV granddaddy finally pull off a win? Or do the Emmy voters not even watch those programs and just continue to award Amazing Race out of inertia and habit?— Mike S.

Matt Roush: Sorry, I'll have to disagree with you on that one. The last Race may have had an anticlimactic finish, but watching the teams race through new locales in the Far East this season was a lot more thrilling than watching tribes squabble on what looked like the exact same tropical beach as those from the last few years. (That said, I enjoyed the way the last Survivor ended as well.) This category is one of the few cases where I don't mind repeat wins year after year. Especially after a season like the one that just ended, Race once again proved that no show in its category can match it for visual splendor, ambition and even entertainment value. If Survivor were ever to win, I'd be at peace with it, because without Survivor, we never would have had Race to begin with. But if Race were to win again, I wouldn't chalk it up to viewer inertia. The Amazing Race still blows many of us away.

Question: : I'm a fan of all the Law & Order shows, but I am a bit surprised that they're all still on the air. Aren't they expensive to produce, since all three are done on location in New York? And while I think SVU is probably the best of the three, I think the original has been looking tired for a few seasons now. Is this franchise still making money for the network?— Lianne

Matt Roush: It must be, not just for NBC but for the studio (Universal) that is now part of the corporate family. Law & Order's luster has faded quite a bit, no doubt due at least in part to its overexposure on cable (and on nights when NBC drops it into the schedule to fill holes). But these series are still reliable draws, and the series have been running long enough that they've probably figured out ways to work economically, even on the streets of Manhattan. Also, when talking about the Law & Order "brand," you can't underestimate the importance of ego here, by which I mean Dick Wolf's interest in keeping the mother ship alive so it can break all dramatic-series records. Given what has happened to the original series, both in terms of casting and recent scheduling (banished to Fridays this season), it should have been canceled by now. But clearly, that's not in the cards, at least not imminently.

Question: It seems to me that there are more and more shows making it into network prime time within the regular television season that don't make it past six weeks. Are you aware of a plan by any of the Big Four to greenlight projects for shorter seasonal runs, much like HBO and Showtime do? With a shorter schedule, a series would be able to focus on its arc, and increase its effect on the viewer. For most shows, it would decrease the need for "filler." (You must admit that even the best of the best on network television, now and again, will screech to a halt while trying to disguise the fact that that show is simply treading water.) For an on-network example, look no further than Twin Peaks. As a mid-season replacement, that show had only seven hours to involve us in the mystery and make us love or hate each of the many characters, all while asking us one of the most important pop-culture questions of the '90s: "Who killed Laura Palmer?"— Bradley N.

Matt Roush: Yes, and look what happened when Twin Peaks returned the season after as a regular series: disaster. The problem this season is that the networks are struggling to launch even limited series, like Day Break, which was only intended to air between November and February while Lost was off, and still didn't even make it to the end of that shortened run. We're in a transitional period now where some series look like they'd be better off scheduled as miniseries, and they flop. And even those that are billed with limited duration are flopping, frustrating many viewers along the way. I'm curious to see how the networks respond in the next development season.

One way to go, following your example, might be to schedule several limited-run series in a single slot (not unlike the "mystery wheel" concept that NBC used with success in the '70s). We're on a very painful learning curve right now when it comes to a certain type of TV drama, and until the networks or the viewers warm up to the notion of the return of the miniseries (in which case something like Day Break could have aired over a single week instead of asking us to come back for weekly chapters), I have a feeling we're going to experience a lot more misses than hits.

Question: Where are the Day Break episodes on ABC.com? I was a loyal fan of the show and I was looking forward to finding out about Detective Hopper's day. I can't believe that they canceled such a great show.— Tara

Matt Roush: Oh, I believe it. But you're not the only one to wonder why ABC.com hasn't put on any completed, unseen episodes. Maybe the holidays are to blame, except that if Day Break had been a hit, the network would have been running original episodes all through the holiday weeks. I've put this question out to ABC, and if I get an answer, I'll share it. But while I empathize with those who want to follow a show like this to its premature end, I'm beginning to rethink the wisdom of the networks continuing these defunct shows online.

I get an awful lot of unhappy mail from those who aren't pleased with their online viewing experiences, what with technical glitches and a lingering sense that even when they watch the remaining episodes, there's still not always a true feeling of closure. The grim fact is that these are canceled shows we're talking about, and extending their life only online feeds a sense of denial among those who'd rather not face the fact their new favorite show isn't going to be around any longer. My suggestion: move on.

Question: A recent question brought up the connection between production companies and their close ties to the networks as the reasoning behind renewing or promoting some shows over others. Do you think this might work in Veronica Mars' favor, considering it is produced by Warner Bros., which is co-owner of the CW?— Galen S.

Matt Roush: Can't hurt. The real goal here is for the studio to make some of its money back on the backend, with sales in syndication (for a show like this, more likely to cable). Doing whatever it takes to eke out another season or two is in the corporate interest of both the network and studio. Still, that's no guarantee of a show's longevity.

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

TV Notebook
Television Critics Association Winter Tour Coverage

This year’s TCA Winter Tour officially begins Tuesday morning in Pasadena CA.

Tuesday will be a cable network day. Among those making presentations will be A&E, Turner, The Hallmark Channel, FX and the Fox Cable Networks.

Keep checking in here for all the news tomorrow and through the end of the TCA Winter Tour on January 20th.

Washington Notebook
Supreme Court Won't Hear DISH Distant Nets Case
(The Evening Bridge)

Today, the U.S.. Supreme Court announced it won't hear an EchoStar appeal aimed at lifting a federal court order that bars the satellite TV company from providing distant network signals to DISH Network customers. The company was ordered to shut down its distant network signal service in December after lengthy court battles with broadcasters. The shut down is estimated to have impacted some 900,000 customers.

The Business of Television
Mediacom-Sinclair Rages On
By Mike Farrell, MultiChannel News - January 8, 2007

The retransmission-consent battle between Mediacom Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group refuses to die, with the cable operator filing an appeal with the Federal Communications Commission Monday that it hopes will force the broadcaster back to the bargaining table.

The dispute between Mediacom and Sinclair -- which owns and operates 22 television stations in Mediacom markets -- has been going on for more than one month. Sinclair officially pulled its signals from Mediacom systems Jan. 6 at 12:01 a.m.

At the heart of the dispute is Sinclair’s insistence that Mediacom pay cash for retransmission consent, estimated by some analysts to be about 50 cents per subscriber, per month. The Sinclair stations cover an area including about 700,000 Mediacom subscribers in 12 states and are affiliates of ABC, Fox, MyNetwork TV and The CW.

The number of subscribers who lost major network affiliates like Fox is about 500,000, according to company officials. The bulk of those subscribers are in Mediacom’s Iowa market.

In a conference call Monday, Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said the MSO attempted to continue negotiations last Friday with Sinclair, only to be told that the broadcaster did not expect to make a decision until the end of the weekend.

Mediacom again reached out to Sinclair later Saturday with another proposal -- this one a weighted-average price reflecting what other operators (McLeodUSA, Time Warner Cable and Comcast) are paying the broadcaster -- only to be rebuffed again.

Mediacom also claimed that it has tried to get Sinclair to submit to binding arbitration in order to settle the dispute, but Sinclair has refused to do so.

In its FCC filing Monday, Mediacom said the commission erred on about 10 accounts in its ruling last week that determined that Sinclair was negotiating in good faith, including that the complaint should have been acted on by the full commission instead of the commission’s Media Bureau; that the ruling did not take into account prices Mediacom is paying other networks; that the bureau did not take into consideration Sinclair’s bounty payment agreement with DirecTV, where the broadcaster would pay the direct-broadcast satellite company for every Mediacom customer it signed up, as evidence that Sinclair was engaging in discriminatory practices; and that the bureau erred in stating that it did not have the authority to force binding arbitration.

During the conference call, Mediacom executive vice president of operations John Pascarelli urged the operator’s Iowa subscribers to contact state and national legislators to force Sinclair to negotiate.

“You reaching out to your senators and letting them know how you feel can go a long way,” Pascarelli said. “Don’t just sit back and think that this is a Mediacom fight.”

Commisso would not say how many subscribers Mediacom has lost in Iowa as a result of the dispute. He did admit that some customers were lost, although he said those numbers were not material.

Mediacom also handed out “thousands” of antennas to allow customers to receive the Sinclair stations over the air. While a report in Sunday’s Des Moines Register said Mediacom had run out of antennas to distribute, Pascarelli said on the call that “plenty more will be showing up in the next two days.”

Pascarelli added that Mediacom is making moves to avoid an exodus of customers intent on watching tonight’s college-football Bowl Championship Series championship game (Ohio State vs. University of Florida) on Fox. He said Mediacom is hosting football parties in several different locations for customers to watch the game, particularly in the Des Moines and Champaign-Springfield, Ill., areas.

The Iowa Cable & Telecommunications Association also threw in its support of Mediacom in the Sinclair battle, asking that state’s government to investigate the Sinclair dispute and proposing that the Iowa General Assembly enact legislation that would prevent any programmer -- cable or broadcast -- from “discriminating against Iowans.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6405576.html?display=Breaking+News

CES Notebook
NFL Network Ponders Digital Carriage
By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld MultiChannel News 1/8/2007

Las Vegas -- NFL Network will consider strategies for its second year of operation that include some forms of distribution on digital-cable tiers, a top network executive said Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show here.

“We need to find a business model that works for all parties involved,” said Adam Shaw, senior vice president of distribution at NFL Network, in comments made after a panel entitled “Television 2.0.”

Two options Shaw said the network will consider are: 100% basic distribution during the football season and digital carriage off-season; and 100% basic distribution in markets that have National Football League teams, with digital carriage in other markets.

Cable operators such as Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems -- the two largest operators in the New York area -- have balked at delivering the network to all of their basic subscribers.

The network only telecasts eight games per season, and it is believed to be asking for 70 cents per month, per subscriber for its all-NFL, all-the-time programming, which puts it among the highest-cost networks vying for basic carriage.

Shaw said NFL Network will also look at beefing up the kinds of “enhanced services” it can provide to make its programming more attractive to cable operators and their viewing customers.

These could include an interactive feed of statistics and scores that viewers could access while watching; “instant” video clips; and add-ons, such as a library of video clips organized by NFL player that can be fed to viewers who play in fantasy-football leagues.

NFL Network achieved distribution to approximately 40 million basic-cable households in its first season, where it had hoped to get 70 million or more homes.

Shaw said negotiations to gain broader distribution for the network’s second season will kick off in two weeks, he said. That’s when he says he is set to sit down for lunch with Time Warner Cable’s new programming negotiator, executive VP of programming Melinda Witmer.

Time Warner was “perfectly reasonable,” Shaw said, when the network negotiated carriage in late December of a college-football bowl game involving Rutgers University of New Jersey, for which NFL Network held the rights.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6405419

CES Notebook
DirecTV Details HD Expansion
By Glen Dickson Broadcasting & Cable 1/8/2007

DirecTV is on track to launch over 100 channels of HD programming this year, president and CEO Chase Carey announced at the CES show in Las Vegas.

The satellite operator already has agreements for 70 hi-def channels, including sports networks YES and NFL Network; major cable networks CNN, USA, The Weather Channel, TBS and Food Network; and all premium movie channels. DirecTV already provides most broadcast network programming in hi-def by carrying local broadcast signals.

“Really, it’s all the channels you watch today in standard-def,” says Carey.

DirecTV said it will expand its selection of on-demand programming using broadband connections to its set-top, and gave more color on its plans to offer multiple camera views during NASCAR coverage this season. It also announced that it will start a new professional sports league for video gaming, which it will broadcast regularly on its “DirecTV 101” service.

“It will be the best players in the world playing on franchise teams,” says Steven Roberts, VP and GM of DirecTV Games. “The players will make salaries, and compete for over $1 million in prizes. And there will be general managers paid to manage the teams, just like other professional sports.”

DirecTV also officially unveiled a new portable DirecTV combination receiver/display system called “Sat-to-Go,” which will allow subscribers to view DirecTV programming while traveling. The 25-pound unit is slightly bigger than a briefcase and includes a DirecTV antenna along with a built-in display and receiver unit that can be removed from the Sat-to-Go unit and used as an extra TV in the household.

The unit is actually the brainchild of television producer and long-time DirecTV subscriber Rick Rosner, who approached DirecTV with his idea and licensed the technology to them. The units, which are being made in South Korea, will be pitched to DirecTV’s “best customers” beginning this spring, says Eric Shanks, EVP of DirecTV Entertainment.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6405434.html?display=Breaking+News

Repeating.....

TV Notebook
Television Critics Association Winter Tour Coverage

This year’s TCA Winter Tour officially begins Tuesday morning in Pasadena CA.

Tuesday will be a cable network day. Among those making presentations will be A&E, Turner, The Hallmark Channel, FX and the Fox Cable Networks.

Keep checking in here for all the news tomorrow and through the end of the TCA Winter Tour on January

CES Notebook
EchoStar not ruling out DirecTV merger
The Hollywood Reporter - January 9, 2007

Satellite TV operator EchoStar Communications Corp. has not ruled out merger talks with larger rival DirecTV, but plans to wait for Liberty Media to gain control of DirecTV, EchoStar Chief Executive Charlie Ergen said Monday.

"There's a merger on the table; facetiously, it's not us," Ergen told the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, referring to Liberty Media Holding Corp.'s acquisition of control of the top U.S. satellite TV operator from News Corp.

"It will take all of 2007 to get done. We'll see what it looks like after that," he said.

Ergen said previous attempts to merge with DirecTV Group Inc. had distracted EchoStar from focusing on its operations strategy.

He pointed to potential areas where the two rivals could work together, saying they could share satellites at a time when television services aim to deliver more high-definition channels to subscribers.

At a press conference, EchoStar also said it plans to offer subscribers free high-definition digital video recorders. Subscribers will need to pay an additional $20 to get access to a package of high-definition channels.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i1c5a3d24ccc0c11bc988f86db332341a

Um, what just happened?

You got punk'ed Marcus! :D

D'oh!

i currently have direct tv AND cable(brighthouse). i just bought a pio 507cmx and want to know HD quality and quantity---cable vs satellite, especially SPORTS programming. i want to eliminate one, and keep whichever is best. also, can you get internet connection over satellite?? phone?? which is a better "deal"??let me know what you think. thanx!!

TV Notebook:
Networks prepare for presidential debates
MSNBC to air first round of 2008 campaign
By Michael Learmonth Variety.com

MSNBC will carry the first televised presidential debate of the 2008 race when Democratic hopefuls square off in South Carolina on April 26.

Debate, scheduled nearly six months earlier than the first debate of the 2004 presidential race, stretches the campaign 18 months before Election Day in 2008.

An NBC News personality, likely Brian Williams, will both moderate and anchor the debate, which will air in primetime and be streamed on MSNBC.com. Network will announce the moderator and other details later.

Republicans aren't waiting much longer to get their first debate under their belts. Fox News Channel will air the GOP's first televised debate, also in South Carolina, on May 15 at the Kroger Center in the state capital of Columbia.

With its diverse electorate and early primary, South Carolina is emerging as a key battleground state for both parties. South Carolina holds the third presidential primary on the schedule, after Iowa and New Hampshire.

As it stands, there are only three declared candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.

The heavy-hitters, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.), have not yet declared their intentions.

The Democratic debate will be held on the campus of South Carolina State U., a historically black college with a significant past in the civil rights movement.

Three were killed and 27 injured in 1968 when the South Carolina Highway Patrol fired on demonstrators against segregation, an event known as the Orangeburg Massacre.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117956924&categoryid=14

i currently have direct tv AND cable(brighthouse). i just bought a pio 507cmx and want to know HD quality and quantity---cable vs satellite, especially SPORTS programming. i want to eliminate one, and keep whichever is best. also, can you get internet connection over satellite?? phone?? which is a better "deal"??let me know what you think. thanx!!


jerrold--where do you live?

And there are many, many opinions about what is "best". It all depends on what you enjoy watching, if you can tell the difference between true HD and "HD Lite" and a lot of other factors.

You'll probably get better answers in your local area HD thread.

You can find it here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

"I don't think I can do this anymore...I'm out."
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

That's Jack Bauer talking in "24," not me. But it certainly echoes my recent post about a New Year's resolution to cut way, way down on the blogging (or at the very least, make them shorter, as a lot of readers have suggested in the comments). So this will be short.

I watched the first four hours of "24." My review will run Wednesday in The Chronicle. I'll tell you this - it's still one of the best sitcoms on television. I watched with some neighbors and we laughed long and hard at a lot of stuff. That said, it's a ridiculously over-the-top thrill ride and a lot of fun.

Too much fun, as it turns out. After watching the first hour, I knew immediately I couldn't deconstruct the show on the blog like I did last year. Why? There's just an insane amount of material to mock. My arms would fall off. It would take two hours of stopping, starting and laughing with the TiVo to properly deconstruct 45 minutes of "24." What I might do instead is make a "24" post that references one or two of the THOUSANDS of hilarious/cool moments. And you can run from there. You know, using the "subnet" of course.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

TV Notebook:
Bob Woodruff News
As posted by Rich Heldenfels of the Akron Beacon-Journal in his blog

From ABC today:

In his first on-air reporting since being severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq last January, ABC News Anchor Bob Woodruff will tell the incredible story of his severe wounding and amazing but painstaking recovery over the past year. Through interviews with the ABC News team and soldiers with him on that fateful patrol, as well as the military and civilian medical teams who saved his life, we learn about Woodruff’s journey from the battlefield in Iraq to Germany and finally home to the United States.

“To Iraq and back: Bob Woodruff Reports” will air on Tuesday, February 27th at 10:00 PM ET on the ABC Television Network.

In this special primetime documentary, Woodruff’s wife Lee will talk for the first time about the gravity of her husband’s medical condition and the impact on their family.

As part of the special, the Woodruffs return to Bethesda Naval Hospital for the first time since his six-week stay there to visit the doctors, nurses and staff that cared for Bob. From Bethesda, Woodruff reports on the stories of brave young soldiers and Marines who are learning to carry on despite life-altering injuries.

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

The Business of Television
Mediacom-Sinclair Rages On
By Mike Farrell 1/8/2007 MultiChannel News

The retransmission-consent battle between Mediacom Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group refuses to die, with the cable operator filing an appeal with the Federal Communications Commission Monday that it hopes will force the broadcaster back to the bargaining table.

The dispute between Mediacom and Sinclair -- which owns and operates 22 television stations in Mediacom markets -- has been going on for more than one month. Sinclair officially pulled its signals from Mediacom systems Jan. 6 at 12:01 a.m.

At the heart of the dispute is Sinclair’s insistence that Mediacom pay cash for retransmission consent, estimated by some analysts to be about 50 cents per subscriber, per month. The Sinclair stations cover an area including about 700,000 Mediacom subscribers in 12 states and are affiliates of ABC, Fox, MyNetwork TV and The CW.

The number of subscribers who lost major network affiliates like Fox is about 500,000, according to company officials. The bulk of those subscribers are in Mediacom’s Iowa market.

In a conference call Monday, Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said the MSO attempted to continue negotiations last Friday with Sinclair, only to be told that the broadcaster did not expect to make a decision until the end of the weekend.

Mediacom again reached out to Sinclair later Saturday with another proposal -- this one a weighted-average price reflecting what other operators (McLeodUSA, Time Warner Cable and Comcast) are paying the broadcaster -- only to be rebuffed again.

Mediacom also claimed that it has tried to get Sinclair to submit to binding arbitration in order to settle the dispute, but Sinclair has refused to do so.

In its FCC filing Monday, Mediacom said the commission erred on about 10 accounts in its ruling last week that determined that Sinclair was negotiating in good faith, including that the complaint should have been acted on by the full commission instead of the commission’s Media Bureau; that the ruling did not take into account prices Mediacom is paying other networks; that the bureau did not take into consideration Sinclair’s bounty payment agreement with DirecTV, where the broadcaster would pay the direct-broadcast satellite company for every Mediacom customer it signed up, as evidence that Sinclair was engaging in discriminatory practices; and that the bureau erred in stating that it did not have the authority to force binding arbitration.

During the conference call, Mediacom executive vice president of operations John Pascarelli urged the operator’s Iowa subscribers to contact state and national legislators to force Sinclair to negotiate.

“You reaching out to your senators and letting them know how you feel can go a long way,” Pascarelli said. “Don’t just sit back and think that this is a Mediacom fight.”

Commisso would not say how many subscribers Mediacom has lost in Iowa as a result of the dispute. He did admit that some customers were lost, although he said those numbers were not material.

Mediacom also handed out “thousands” of antennas to allow customers to receive the Sinclair stations over the air. While a report in Sunday’s Des Moines Register said Mediacom had run out of antennas to distribute, Pascarelli said on the call that “plenty more will be showing up in the next two days.”

Pascarelli added that Mediacom is making moves to avoid an exodus of customers intent on watching tonight’s college-football Bowl Championship Series championship game (Ohio State vs. University of Florida) on Fox. He said Mediacom is hosting football parties in several different locations for customers to watch the game, particularly in the Des Moines and Champaign-Springfield, Ill., areas.

The Iowa Cable & Telecommunications Association also threw in its support of Mediacom in the Sinclair battle, asking that state’s government to investigate the Sinclair dispute and proposing that the Iowa General Assembly enact legislation that would prevent any programmer -- cable or broadcast -- from “discriminating against Iowans.”

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6405576.html?display=Breaking+News

CES Notebook
EchoStar not ruling out DirecTV merger

At a press conference, EchoStar also said it plans to offer subscribers free high-definition digital video recorders. Subscribers will need to pay an additional $20 to get access to a package of high-definition channels.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i1c5a3d24ccc0c11bc988f86db332341a

Yeah, that's free. Thanks Charlie.

You weren't supposed to notice, Dave!

"I don't think I can do this anymore...I'm out."
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle in his TV blog “The Bastard Machine”

That's Jack Bauer talking in "24," not me. But it certainly echoes my recent post about a New Year's resolution to cut way, way down on the blogging (or at the very least, make them shorter, as a lot of readers have suggested in the comments). So this will be short.

I watched the first four hours of "24." My review will run Wednesday in The Chronicle. I'll tell you this - it's still one of the best sitcoms on television. I watched with some neighbors and we laughed long and hard at a lot of stuff. That said, it's a ridiculously over-the-top thrill ride and a lot of fun.

Too much fun, as it turns out. After watching the first hour, I knew immediately I couldn't deconstruct the show on the blog like I did last year. Why? There's just an insane amount of material to mock. My arms would fall off. It would take two hours of stopping, starting and laughing with the TiVo to properly deconstruct 45 minutes of "24." What I might do instead is make a "24" post that references one or two of the THOUSANDS of hilarious/cool moments. And you can run from there. You know, using the "subnet" of course.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=24

Wow, a published opinion that berates 24 for the over-the-top laughfest it's become. I can't tell you how many people have tried to bite off my head for saying that Season 5 was some of the most laughable garbage on television last year.

I would've tuned out, but 24's kind of like a horrific train derailment. When it goes from bad to worse, the only thing you can't do is look away.

The show has really become a parody of itself. The first season was genuinely good television. The second season was decent, and there was a bit of a revival at the end of the third season, but somewhere between the third and the fourth season the cast and crew just lost their edge, and Season 5 was absolutely a joke.

It's still entertaining, to be sure, but it's entertaining kind of like My Super Sweet 16 and not like, say, House. The commercials previewing Season 6 have been some of the most hilariously awful stuff I've ever seen. I think it's mostly that ridiculous beard that just sets the stage for unintentional comedy.

[from article by Mike Farrell] The Sinclair stations cover an area including about 700,000 Mediacom subscribers in 12 states and are affiliates of ABC, Fox, MyNetwork TV and The CW.

WTWC, the NBC affiliate in Tallahassee, FL, is also owned by Sinclair and had previously been carried by Mediacom systems in the south Georgia portions of the Tally DMA.

TV Notebook:
Add 'sur' to reality TV, and you're closer to the truth
By Peter Ames Carlin The Oregonian Monday, January 08, 2007

Even the networks don't call it reality anymore.

All those real-people-doing-real-things shows. Your "American Idol" and "Deal or No Deal," your "The Bachelor" and on and on, are known in the industry by the far vaguer term "alternative programming."

An even more accurate term might be "alternative reality."

As the latest wave of talent contests, celebrity biographies and normal-folks-doing-totally-abnormal-stuff hits our TVs, the distinction between conventional reality and the video kind seems particularly vivid.

The presence of a camera (and assorted producers, camera operators and post-production editors) doesn't distort real life so much as suspend it entirely. No one is normal when they know they're being watched. Suddenly every word, gesture and nearly invisible wince exists as a part of a narrative arc. Which has been crafted entirely to suit the purposes of a public whose appetite for conflict and drama is nearly as profound as its impatience.

Thus, the doomed comic John Belushi's life boils down to his final, gloomy day. The real life of big-city rock journalists plays out as a six-way contest for a job at Rolling Stone. The talent, drive and training that go into a life on the stage is recast as a sing-and-dance-off for a role in a revival of the musical "Grease." And the tangled skeins of desire, delight and shame hit the Playboy Channel as a chirpy portrait of one photographer's quest for, as he puts it, naked, happy girls.

In theory, all of these TV shows are meant to give viewers an insiders' perspective into the lives, desires and limitations of their subjects. Actually, they tell us a lot more about the expectations and limitations of the TV industry.

Consider the Biography Channel's "Final 24," a six-part series devoted entirely to describing the final hours of certain gothically dead celebrities. The first episode, about the 1982 death of comic actor and notorious drug enthusiast John Belushi, featured recent interviews with his widow Judy and frequent co-star and pal, Dan Aykroyd, among other intimates. But the insights they offer, along with what appears to be a huge array of personal snapshots, are corrupted by the hokily staged dramatizations of Belushi's final hours.

Don't even ask about the smarmy British narrator, who speaks almost entirely in tabloid cliches. Belushi, he declares, was "Hollywood royalty." Also "a comic genius with a fatal flaw." And just in case you forgot the governing idea behind the show, each segment begins with a "24"-style ticking clock, and a recounting of exactly how many hours our doomed star will be breathing.

It's all about the body, you see, every moment leading inexorably to the archival footage of the corpse being rolled off to the morgue.

Bodies also feature prominently in the Playboy Channel's "Happy Naked Girls," which focuses on Andrew Einhorn, a New York photographer determined to persuade as many ordinary women as possible to take off their clothes and pose for his camera. And they do!

"It's good to be me!" Einhorn enthuses at one point. Yet he also faces constant rejection (no surprise there), plus the disapproval of his mother, who fears that her son is a pornographer. Einhorn, who has published several books of his nude lady photos, fancies himself more as an artist. True enough, his portraits tend more toward visual elegance than out-and-out prurience. There's a huge difference between Einhorn and that odious "Girls Gone Wild" guy.

But for all of Einhorn's protestations, and for all of the Playboy Channel's proclamations that "Happy Naked Girls" is part of a new, smarter, hipper and less sleazy future, the show spends far more time on the women's bodies than it does on the moral/philosophical/intellectual questions underscoring their decisions to reveal themselves to Einhorn's incessantly clicking lens. The "happy" part is what's interesting. But Playboy TV, and possibly Einhorn, are way more interested in the "naked."

Similarly, MTV's "I'm With Rolling Stone," which tracks the exploits of six college-age interns spending a summer as reporters for the famed pop-culture journal, plays less like an insider look at the magazine than as a rock 'n' roll version of "The Apprentice," with grizzled founder/editor Jann Wenner sitting in for Donald Trump.

The interns come from a variety of backgrounds and ethnic imprints. Not all of them are experienced journalists; the most handsome of them, an Australian oarsman and beer enthusiast, seems to have been chosen more for his looks, while others are juxtaposed for maximum conflict. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone Executive Editor Joe Levy, the most prominent authority figure (and also, full disclosure, a friend of mine), reminds the gang that they're all competing for the one semi-permanent job that awaits at the end of the summer.

Peeks at future episodes reveal the usual array of trials, traumas and triumphs. "You're blowing it!" Levy snaps at someone. "That was great writing, and you know it," he purrs to someone else.

But trust me on this, the TV version of Levy, so stern and chill, has none of the wit or charm of the guy I've known since 1988. So maybe he's changed in the last few years and actually grown into the distant, vaguely Mephistopholean version of himself that shows up on reality TV. More likely, he's exactly the same guy I've always known. And it's sur-reality TV making him look different.

http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/living/1168041398104480.xml&coll=7

TV Notebook:
TV future is more, a lot more
In 2007, expect more online streaming. More digital video downloads. More video on cellphones. More TV downloaded to home computers
By Eric Deggans St. Petersburg Times January 8, 2007

Most experts agree on what the future holds for TV in 2007.

More.

More online streaming. More digital video downloads. More video on cellphones, iPods and digital video recorders such as TiVo. More TV downloaded to home computers.

But even as big names convene this week at consumer electronics conventions in Las Vegas and San Francisco, the question preoccupying everyone is the search for modern TV's "killer app."

Short for killer application, the phrase is geek-speak for a program so popular, it transforms the technology. Think email and the Internet, Web sites and the World Wide Web, iPods and digital audio.

So what's the killer app that will galvanize couch potatoes, most of whom now just want to aim the remote at the biggest set they can afford?

Ty Ahmad-Taylor, an expert on consumer attitudes in cable TV, said it has to help consumers navigate the explosion of program choices and present advertising they are specifically interested in.

"No offense to Ford, but I should never see a Ford F-150 commercial, because I'm never going to buy one," he said. "So you have to have a better sense of what people are watching and consuming and then give it to them."

Which explains why Verizon on Sunday unveiled plans for a new, interactive media guide for its FIOS TV service allowing users to search through their own digital pictures and music, on demand services, currently broadcast programming, and digital video recorder content. Planned for initial rollout in New Jersey and deployment in the Tampa Bay area later this year, the guide also will provide users with recommendations to guide program choices.

It's the kind to product needed to reach a marketplace increasingly divided into two camps: moderately tech-savvy people who are using technology to shift when and where they watch programs, and the vast majority of people who still watch television conventionally.

As digital media proliferates, you can expect to see more content made specifically for different platforms - Lost episodes just for cellphones, for example - as big media companies get a better sense of what works, said Joakim Baage, director of content and business development for the industry Web site Digital Media Wire.

Another product to watch: Apple Corp's buzzed-about iTV, which would allow a viewer to wirelessly display on a TV screen video downloaded to a home computer or streamed over the Internet.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to talk about iTV today during his keynote speech at the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco.

Though devices such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 already allow users to play video from a home computer on television, fans theorize Apple can meld the hip cachet of its massively popular iPod with a user-friendly TV device. With more TV networks putting entire episodes online, iTV could offer instant access to hit shows such as Desperate Housewives and Heroes anytime.

"It completes your media circle," said Nick Starr, an analyst for a Pinellas County commercial bakery who maintains a Web site devoted to media technology. "If I can have my laptop sitting next to me and wirelessly watch a movie on TV while still browsing the Internet ... that would be amazing."

Others say the last thing people want is another box sitting on their TVs.

"People already have a cable TV set-top box, a TiVo, a DVD player - no more boxes," said Steve Safran, managing editor of the Lost Remote industry blog. "Anything that comes out and complicates matters is doomed to failure; anything that simplifies TV is a big hit."

The traditional problem with melding computers and television has been that watching TV is a passive experience while using a computer is more active.

Safran is betting that cable companies - which already offer video-on-demand services and TiVo-style digital video recorders - will offer access to video downloads and online video streams inside one set-top box. He also expects to see TVs with built-in capability to surf the Internet and download programming emerge in 2007. The result: media middlemen - local TV stations broadcasting network programming, for instance - may become increasingly irrelevant.

"The TV industry's reaction to any new technology is to deny it, then sue it, then accept it, implement it and claim they invented it," Safran said, laughing. "TV stations need to adjust their information so it can be micropersonalized."

But what if the killer app uniting TV and the online universe is choice itself?

"Part of this ... is not forcing people to watch TV in ways they don't want to watch it," said Staci D. Kramer, executive editor of the digital media business Web site paidcontent.org. "Perhaps the killer app is ... just allowing you to do anything you want. (Because) for every person who wants to create their own way of doing things ... there are 1,000 people who just want to turn on their TV and they want it to work."

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/08/news_pf/Business/TV_future_is_more__a_.shtml

TV Notebook:
'24' reflects post-Sept. 11 mind-set
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Monday, January 8, 2007

Television is this country's shared experience and that is unquestionably its most noble attribute. We watch together -- whether it's shocking news like the attacks of Sept. 11, a soap like "Grey's Anatomy" or a powerhouse reality franchise such as "American Idol."

What we watch also influences or even changes us, sometimes in imperceptible ways. That's the reason so many people wondered aloud if we, as a country, might be open to a female president -- Hilary Clinton? Condoleezza Rice? -- when ABC first posited Geena Davis as "Commander In Chief" in September 2005. Though it provoked discourse (the Nancy Pelosi chatter pales in comparison), not enough viewers cared to watch after a strong start, which was at least partly ABC's fault in the handling of the show.

What Davis failed to match on "Commander In Chief" was the discussion the fictional African American president, David Palmer, started when he was running the country on "24." A lot of ink was spilled on that topic with comparisons -- at the time -- reaching out to Colin Powell. (Dennis Haysbert's Palmer character was later assassinated, out of office, on "24"). In his stead, a devious Nixon-like traitor was installed and "24" made news more for its seemingly endless endorsement of torture for the good of the state than for having television's first black president.

But as the implausible but thrillingly addictive "24" gears up for Season 6 on Sunday, no doubt this discourse will heat up again. Why? Because now, two fictional years later, David Palmer's younger brother, Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside) is President of the United States of America. He's young, captivating and confident. Barack Obama anyone?

As potential presidential candidates begin to emerge, "24" could become a natural talking point and cultural reference. But it brings up this notion of whether television series, like political trial balloons, can ready the populace for change, soften up the collective conscience to accept an idea it has not acted on, truly, in the history of the country.

It's an intriguing notion and gets a comic tinge when you go beyond the notion that this is mere television (the milieu of mindless entertainment) and then factor in that the series in question is "24" (aggressively unbelievable but wonderfully engaging), instead of, say, "The West Wing," which ultimately had more gravitas and closed its run by electing the country's first Latino president, Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits).

But that was the end of "The West Wing" as a series, by choice. We never got to see how Santos would perform as president and how the country -- OK, the fictional country -- would react to a minority in the White House or what issues Santos might have faced.

However, "24" should get a lot of credit for not using the race card. Not only has it had the first black president, now it presents the second without even blinking (or commenting, so far, on the Kennedyesque nature of the Palmer family). The non-issue represents a subterranean hipness to "24" that rarely gets mentioned as everyone ponders how superhero character Jack Bauer not only saves Los Angeles and, in turn, the country year after year, but how he does it in 24 hours without ever eating or going to the bathroom.

It's easy to dismiss "24" and the minority president issue as a case of a non-political series choosing action (everything blows up on "24" and the pace is incessant) over making a statement. But that conveniently ignores the fact that "24" has, in the prior two seasons, become surprisingly political, just not about the color of the president. The issues on "24" have been about terrorism first and torture as a necessity to protect national security second (much of Jack Bauer's most brutal -- and efficient -- uses of torture on suspected terrorists played out under the banner headlines of Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and secret torture camps.

If "24" is fantasy fodder and wildly implausible, at least it nailed that issue -- and kept at it.

As Season 6 begins and the Obama comparisons start to creep in as expected, here's a thought -- ignore them. Honestly, the black president thing is not only old news, it's not even the most compellingly political element to "24." (Besides, the United States that Wayne Palmer has inherited is suffering ceaseless terrorist attacks on its own soil -- Obama's handlers won't want him connected to that nightmarish scenario no matter if it's a fictional TV series or not. You can imagine the Internet conspiracies already -- "If we elect a black man, our cities will turn into suicide bombing magnets and all hell will break loose!")

No, instead of conjecture about a minority president, perhaps viewers should look to "24" and wonder why it has become the ultimate embodiment of our collective fear of terrorism. "24" helped spawn a slew of television plots that fixated on the enemy without becoming the enemy within. No series has ever tackled our post-Sept. 11 state of mind more aggressively than "24," though you won't find much argument that the series goes about this in a wholly unbelievable, borderline ludicrous fashion that, in the end, says our answer to the Middle Eastern bogeyman is a real life superhero named Jack Bauer (cape not included).

You'll get no argument here that the overwhelming weakness of "24" is, well, its stupidity. The only way for thinking people to enjoy the series is to unplug their brain and let television be television. But "24," which premiered less than two months after the attacks of Sept. 11, has always been the leader in promoting the notion that Americans are not safe, that an imminent attack is a relentless threat.

In this way, "24" has tapped what could be our deepest fear -- it has always hinted at something beyond suicide bombers in the marketplace and short of some kind of nuclear apocalypse. But is that fear outdated now? Six years on, are we as jittery about a jihad on our shores as we once were?

Probably not. And that's why in this coming season, "24" significantly changes the assumptions of what life could be like. No more almosts. No more limited casualties of a thwarted attack. From the get-go in Season 6, the idea is that the United States is suffering terrorist attacks in all of its major (and not so major) cities. We are a country living in fear as the news shows explosion after explosion.

Along the way, "24" ramps up its politics by presenting a terrorism-fueled abuse of the Constitution and civil rights in a way that even strident liberals couldn't imagine in a kind of Rumsfeldian run-amok nightmare. It's a scary fairy tale.

So the question, perhaps, shouldn't be whether or not Americans can envision a black or female president (or both), but whether we are consciously or unconsciously still post-Sept. 11 petrified. Is a pre-apocalyptic domestic terrorism threat really scary anymore?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/08/DDG3SND9CA1.DTL&type=printable

You may have heard that A&E (regular and HD) will be showing edited-for-TV repeats of The Sopranos starting this Wednesday. But what original shows does A&E have in the pipeline to replace their current slate?

TV Notebook
A&E hopes crime pays off with ratings
Cabler goes for the bad guys
By John Dempsey, Variety - January 8, 2007

A&E is getting back into scripted series for the first time in more than five years, heralding a batch of projects centered on catching and prosecuting bad guys.
"Crime and punishment are the most powerful subjects for TV series, and A&E now has the platform to promote and schedule new shows," said Bob DeBitetto, executive VP and general manager of A&E.

The platform DeBitetto is referring to is A&E's successful reruns of "CSI: Miami" every weeknight at 8 and midnight, and the network's Wednesday premiere of a double weekly run of "The Sopranos" repeats.

A&E won't have its first original series ready to bow until 2008, he said, but the network will surround that show's debut with the most exploitable episodes of "CSI: Miami" and "The Sopranos" to give the newcomer its best shot at getting sampled by viewers.

The six shows in development are:

• "Dry River": a crime drama focusing on a wealthy community on the Texas border that faces a conflict between the local sheriff and his son, a federal agent newly assigned to the town. Joel Silver is exec producer for Warner Horizon TV. Michael Frost Beckner ("Spy Game") is the writer.

• "The Hunt": a cop show dealing with a former LAPD police officer caught up in the Rampart scandal who's trying to clear his name. It's from Jennifer Klein and her Apartment 3B Prods. Sheldon Turner ("The Longest Yard") is the writer.

• "Y3": which follows the exploits of a former criminal who sees the light and, while temping at a local precinct, secretly dons an NYPD uniform to solve cases before the regular cops can. Dan Therriault is the writer and co-executive producer with Gary Randall, for Fox TV Studios.

• "Johnny the Great": a character study of an out-of-control defense attorney whose personal life is dysfunctional and most of whose clients are untrustworthy. Billy Finkelstein wrote the script.

• "Untitled NYPD Anti-Terrorist Project": which zeroes in on a secret unit based in New York that tracks down terrorist cells throughout the U.S. Bruce McKenna ("Band of Brothers") is the writer and co-exec producer with Andrew Tannenbaum ("The Bourne Identity") and Jason Hoffs ("Meet the Parents"), for Fox TV Studios.

• "Untitled Steven Bochco Project": a departure from the other projects in that it deals not with criminal law, but with a divorce-law practice run by a happily married couple. It'll feature both drama and black comedy. Bochco is exec producer, and the writer is Jonathan Abrahams ("Wildfire").

One common denominator of these projects, DeBitetto said, is that "all of the episodes will be self-contained, like 'Law & Order' and 'CSI.' We're staying away from serialized, soap opera-type shows."

There's a good reason for this strategy: Serialized shows tend to do poorly in repeats.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956939.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Looks like NBC didn't learn from its first attempt at cloning the formula of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2005's Three Wishes) and is trying again. Good luck! :rolleyes:

TV Notebook
Six hours for 60 seconds — and a shot at millions
Hopefuls line up at a casting call in Houston for a new NBC reality show that'll pass out cash
By Alexis Grant, Houston Chronicle - January 8, 2007

One man wanted butt implants. Another hoped to renovate a house for his disabled son. A designer looked to launch a new line of scented panties. And a doctor hoped to develop a uterus-transplant procedure.

All shared one goal: to be chosen for NBC's new reality show, tentatively called Fortune. When the show airs, possibly in the spring, five multimillionaires will give money to a dozen or so people.

More than 1,000 hopefuls lined the halls of the downtown Marriott on Sunday, waiting up to six hours to deliver a 60-second pitch on how they would spend thousands, even millions, of dollars if selected.

Angel Prioleau, 33, said she needed $1 million to produce and sell scented panties she recently designed. Her mom, Miriam Williams, asked for $3 million to buy a house and send her godchildren to college.

Elton Doskocil wanted just $12,000 to repair an old house for his 50-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. Doskocil and his wife spent most of their savings to buy the place, he said, and don't have the money to make it wheelchair-accessible. "We want something for him to live in after we're gone," said Doskocil, 70. "This would be a real godsend."

Participants pitched their ideas to casting producer Kalen Gorman, who videotaped each request.

"We want the stories that are going to make you cry. We want the stories that are going to make you laugh," said Gorman.

Hopefuls will learn their fate no sooner than four weeks from now, Gorman said. The show's millionaires, whose names have not been released, will have the final say on who gets the money.

NBC also has held or is planning to hold casting calls in New Orleans; Lexington, Ky.; St. Louis; New York; Detroit and Los Angeles.

Several of those in line said they came along to support a friend or spouse, but came up with their own ideas during the long wait.

"I know money can't buy happiness," Chris Magill, 48, said after asking for $250,000 to pay off his family's debt. But being debt-free would make his life much less stressful, he said. "I'd like to know how that feels."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/4453614.html

TV Notebook
Pay attention if you want to see hints about the medium's future
By Rick Kushman, Sacramento Bee - January 8, 2007

This has been a complicated season for the TV industry. The broadcast networks -- your ABCs, CBSs, NBCs and Foxes -- produced more high-quality television than they have in years.

It seemed like they were headed for banner ratings. And that's what they got. In some ways.

Ratings for the big TV dogs have dropped only a couple of percentage points so far this season, but in this new digital era, when entertainment choices are a click away on every kind of equipment in the house except the power drill, a small loss is a victory.

Ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce digital democracy, in which anyone can be a commentator, filmmaker or critic, and everyone has a circus of entertainment choices a click, dial or button push away.

Not all those choices are good, and most of the homemade films and commentaries reek of homemade-ness, but what is happening is that rather than people going to a handful of places for information and entertainment, they're spreading their attention around the planet.

And it's not just TV. Newspapers, book publishers and the music and film industries are all scrambling to find new ways to connect to people (translation: customers), which then produces more new ways for those people to entertain themselves. Circulation, ratings, the box office and all kinds of sales are down -- for the big boys. Instead, viewers, readers, moviegoers and others are spending their time, and their money, across that digital globe.

The TV industry has reacted a bunch of ways, by offering shows on demand, on the Web, on iPods and cell phones, and eventually, maybe, even on those power drills, which sounds a little dangerous.

And the networks and studios stepped up the quality -- mostly -- but seemed to make one critical mistake. Nearly half the new dramas this fall were serialized in some form.

The idea was to make appointment TV that people had to watch every week -- and right when the shows actually aired -- so they wouldn't miss anything or risk having surprises spoiled. The nets were thinking about hits such as "Lost" and "24."

But most of the new serials flopped or are struggling. Part of the problem is that people already watch "Lost" and "24," not to mention the can't-miss-a-week reality hits such as "Dancing With the Stars," and they don't have room in their lives, or at least in their TV nights, for new relationships.

Now it's January, and another wave of shows is about to appear, including a new season of "24" (on Sunday) and the uber-hit "American Idol" (on Jan. 16). The TV industry needs to adjust -- to the digital bleeding, the struggles of some quality shows, the general rejection of serials, to the need to find new hits.

But how it does won't be simple. Some of the cable networks are doing what's been working, only more. FX continues to produce new, different dramas. Bravo is running with "Project Runway" and "Top Chef"-style shows. Comedy Central is pumping out quirky half-hours.

The broadcast nets are moving more carefully. CBS and ABC are generally happy with their lineups and are adding just a few new shows through the spring. Fox has "24" and "Idol" riding to the rescue. NBC has a good set of quality shows, if not quality ratings, and hopes they'll catch on. CW is doing decently with younger women viewers but is still working to establish a larger identity.

All of this confusion, all of the new and returning shows heading our way, makes this a very good time to take a look at TV. And, semicoincidentally, that works out well because, starting today, broadcast and cable programmers, producers and stars will be meeting in Pasadena with TV critics from around North America to promote new and returning shows and dissect what's gone right and wrong this season.

It's mostly a series of press conferences -- running network by network, show by show -- mixed with various forms of mingling, ranging from breakfast and lunch to full-on parties.

If you pay attention, you can learn a lot about where TV is going and how the television industry, and much of Hollywood, is dealing with this new digital era and that circus of choices. Even if you don't pay attention, there's a lot to learn because it's two weeks of TV immersion 24/7, although paying attention is always, you know, good.

So for the next couple weeks, I'll keep you posted on what gets said and who's doing new things and old things, and, hopefully, we'll all come away with a sense of what TV is going to look like in the swiftly approaching future. I just need to pay attention.

http://www.sacbee.com/127/story/104386.html

TV Sports
Broadcast Copes With Early Rout
By Richard Sandomir, The New York Times - January 9, 2007

Fox Sports’s first year of carrying Bowl Championship Series games has hardly been the happy collegiate football tortilla chip bash it intended when it acquired a four-year package of the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar Bowls, and the newly added national championship game, for $320 million.

All three of its games last week rated below a 10.0, with the nadir the 7.0 for the Orange Bowl, the lowest ever for a B.C.S. bowl. The cumulative average of 38.8 million viewers is down 27 percent from last year when ABC televised all three of the games Fox now has, and the Rose Bowl.

The only bright spot so far has been the Rose Bowl, still an ABC property, which attracted 24 million viewers (9.6 million better than Fox’s best performing bowl, the Sugar), still good despite a drop from 35.6 million last year when Vince Young led Texas to the national championship.

Fox has been hampered by an Orange Bowl with two teams, Wake Forest and Louisville, that were not well known; a Fiesta Bowl in which Boise State, another small-market school, beat Oklahoma in a sensational game that attracted only 13.7 million viewers; and a national championship pairing in which neither team had a player as familiar as Young or Southern California’s Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart were last year.

And then Florida jumped to an astonishing 34-14 lead over Ohio State in the first half of last night’s national title game.

That was not a propitious scenario to keep viewers watching.

Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis and Barry Alvarez were back for Fox, a week after calling the Fiesta Bowl.

It was clear throughout the first half that Davis could have handled the analytic load by himself. Davis, who is on loan from TBS, digested the plays quickly and offered fast, smart, pointed commentary. He consistently tried to bring Alvarez into the mix, but Alvarez sounded nervous and tentative, providing usually obvious analyses. He was consistently outdone by Davis.

As Florida lined up at the Ohio State 1-yard line with 23 seconds left in the second quarter, Alvarez said that if the Buckeyes “can stop them right here, they can probably get a field goal.” Davis ignored that banality to suggest, correctly, that the Gators might run a pass option play, which Tim Tebow did, tossing a 1-yard touchdown to Andre Caldwell.

Davis showed a talent for one-liners worth jotting down.

“The Florida offense comes at you from enough angles to buckle your high school trigonometry teacher,” he said before kickoff.

He later suggested that the fast-moving Florida offense had caused the Ohio State defense to slow down its reaction time.

“Cloudy minds equal slow feet,” he said rather memorably.

After Florida moved to a 14-7 lead, Davis said that the crispness of the Gators’ play was so different from their jittery pregame warm-ups. Alvarez then pretty much repeated the observation.

Meanwhile, Alvarez was prone to saying things like “it’s important for the Ohio State offense to stay on the field,” after Florida extended its lead to 21-7. Well, of course, that’s true, but did it require saying?

Alvarez, the former Wisconsin coach and still its athletics director, saw the seams in the Ohio State zone defense that Florida’s starting quarterback, Chris Leak, was able to exploit. But Davis zeroed in better, describing how the Gators were isolating their receivers against the Buckeyes’ linebackers.

Alvarez was also prone to referring to a couple of players by their numbers instead of their names, a failing of neophytes to the TV booth.

To his credit, Alvarez did suggest that Ohio State should rush three men, in order to tighten coverage by the linebackers and secondary, and the Buckeyes shortly after made the switch.

Brennaman demonstrated his improvement from the Fiesta Bowl, where he was very good, but occasionally indulged in clichés. And in his second bowl game in a week, he again showed that he can control his voice, letting it rise and fall, depending on the play. He also kept both analysts in play, but he should only have needed to summon Davis, not the former coach.

A particularly jarring moment occurred at halftime when on-line polling revealed that a blocked punt run back for a touchdown by Auburn was voted by fans the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Year.

This just months after an investigation by The New York Times found that Auburn athletes had received unusually high grades in directed-reading courses, in what might be called the Grade-Changing Move of the Year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/sports/ncaafootball/09sandomir.html

TV Notebook
'Lights' an inspiring beacon of teen's struggle
By David Hinckley, New York Daily News - January 9, 2007

Scott Porter's portrayal of paraplegic Jason Street isn't the only reason NBC's underwatched "Friday Night Lights" is TV's best new show this season. But it's a good one because Jason's story becomes more haunted, and haunting, each week.

There isn't a drop of sentimentality or condescension in director Peter Berg's view of Street, a high-school kid who had it all, broke his neck and now has to sort out what he has left.

He was the star quarterback on a football team in a town where football is oxygen and water. Notre Dame was recruiting him. He was dating the prettiest girl in town. He was easygoing and at ease with the world. Nobody begrudged him his gifts.

Now, without the use of his legs, he isn't the quarterback anymore. He's a kid who spends a lot of time alone, getting dressed and watching other people do what he used to do - yet at the same time pushing obsessively to find out how much he still can do. He's frustrated, he's not beaten.

Occasionally, there are flashpoints, like the night his best friend, Tim, and his girlfriend, Lyla, sprung him for a bonfire at the beach, just the three of them, like in the old days. They laughed, they joked. Then they brought him back to the dark, empty hospital and when he glanced out the window to watch them leave, he realized that since his accident, they'd fallen into each other's arms.

That's part of Jason's life now, absorbing changes, and much of the show's power comes from the way it rolls them out one at a time, the way life does.

Because of that, even Tim and Lyla's betrayal isn't a bolt of evil. It's a bad situation without bad guys, just kids who followed the wrong instinct, like all of us do at some point in high school.

Not that this helps Jason, who has since been venting his fury in direct and oblique ways.

Last week, when he couldn't find his "Nevermind" CD, he exploded at his mother: "I'm crippled and I want to listen to Nirvana!"

She didn't get it, which was part of the point. The scene, like the music, got it just right.

The post-accident Jason often has a different face. He snaps, he isn't nice all the time. But there's no moment when we aren't rooting for him. In fact, we root for all the main characters, every one of them. We understand why they're jerks sometimes. We want them to grow out of that skin and shed it.

Because he's young, Jason doesn't evoke the godfather of physically disabled TV characters, Raymond Burr's detective "Ironside." Jason's singular, in fact, though he's not unrelated to disabled characters on shows from "Facts of Life," "Highway to Heaven" and "T.J. Hooker" up to "Malcolm in the Middle," "Ed" and "Birds of Prey."

These characters have usually been portrayed with respect. But rarely has a director poked as deeply as Berg pokes into Jason, and together he and Porter have created a character who lingers after the show ends.

Unfortunately, NBC seems to schedule "Friday Night Lights" by using a dartboard. It's now moved to Wednesday, still at the misguided hour of 8 p.m. and still well worth finding.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/486849p-409900c.html

TV Notebook
Marathons, 'The Stare' and a Tim Gunn petition
Maureen Ryan's Chicago Tribune "The Watcher" Blog - January 9, 2007

Here are a few blog bits before I leave for Los Angeles Tuesday, where I'll be at the TCA press tour. I should have another post of bits and pieces on "24" some time Tuesday, and press tour entries should begin on Wednesday or thereabouts.

* There are a couple of good marathons coming up soon. Starting 11:30 a.m. Saturday, USA Network is re-running the seven episode of "Psych," in anticipation of that show's return on Jan. 19. Starting 7 a.m. Monday, Sci Fi is rerunning the first half of the current season of "Battlestar Galactica," in anticipation of that show's return on Jan. 21.

* Ken Levine is a comedy writer and director who's toiled in the television industry for many years ("M*A*S*H," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Frasier," etc) , and thanks to a priceless sendup of Aaron Sorkin dialogue he posted a couple of months ago, I became aware of his entertaining blog. There are many recent posts worth checking out on his site, among them a fanciful and funny rumination on what would happen if Jack Bauer and Dr. House joined forces with the cast of "Lost," and his explanation of The Stare, a condition by which TV writers look down the barrel of the second half of the season and become very, very afraid. Good stuff (http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/10/if-aaron-sorkin-wrote-show-about.html).

* Blogging Project Runway has started a petition to have Tim Gunn host "Saturday Night Live" some time this year (http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/timgunnsnl). I think it's a fab idea, and I hope the suits at NBC (which is owned by the same company as Bravo, after all) can make it work.

* Many "Day Break" viewers have written to me or left comments here (http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/12/day_break_downe.html) -- they want to know why the unaired episodes of the show have not yet been put online, and why ABC removed the first six episodes of the show from its site and even disappeared the "Day Break" page from the network's site. I still don't have any answers, but at the Television Critics Association press tour, which I'll be attending from Jan. 9-21, I hope to get some from ABC executives.

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

Maureen has also posted a spoiler-laden Battlestar Galactica converstaion with show creators Ron Moore and David Eick about the second half of season 3 and rumors about potential character demises. Read/click at your own risk, but we've decided not to post it in the thread to avoid spoiling the fun: http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2007/01/something_profo.html#more

TV Notebook:
Big syndie thing: Dearth of celebrities
Sydicators will not be pitching big-name talkers us
By Toni Fitzgerald medialifemagazine Jan 9, 2007

Over the past four years, loads of celebrities have launched talk shows only to see them fizzle quickly. Programs hosted by Jane Pauley, Sharon Osbourne, Tony Danza and most recently “Will & Grace” star Megan Mullally lasted two seasons or less.

Perhaps syndicators are finally learning their lesson about famous bellyflops. Next week, for the first time in years, there will be no celebrities pitching talk shows at the National Association of Television Programming Executives conference next week.

That’s one of several key developments in syndication that media people need to keep an eye in 2007.

Big names often result in strong initial sampling, but it’s getting people to tune in after the first week that’s been the challenge.

That lesson of past celebrity flops seems to be that no matter how big the name, the show won’t work unless it plays to the strength of that celebrity.

That’s why Rachael Ray and Ellen DeGeneres, comfortable and relatable talkers, have thrived and Pauley and Osbourne, who often seemed cold and disinterested, bombed.

“A recognizable name doesn’t necessarily guarantee success,” says Bill Carroll, vice president and director of programming at Katz Television Group. “Where you have success is when you have a recognizable name and a product that plays to that individual’s strengths, thus the audience’s expectations are met.”

It’s possible this will not be a long-term trend but merely a one-year glitch. The only names rumored to be in the running for 2007 shows were minor celebrities like Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey’s best buddy, and Food Network host Paula Deen. If bigger names become available next year, a syndicator may bite.

Another possibility is that the market is becoming oversaturated by celebrity radio shows, which give stars a platform to present their viewers but don’t require the time commitment or interviewing skills of TV.

Whoopi Goldberg, Alexis Stewart, James Carville and Al Franken, just to name a few, already have radio programs.

“I think even the people who represent big names are a little bit more reticent to get out there in the fray,” Carroll says. “Being successful in one arena doesn’t guarantee you can host a talk show.”

Here are some other things to watch for in syndication in 2007:

Additional weekday drama strips

This fall “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” will become the first Monday-Friday one-hour drama strip in years. Most dramas are sold as weekend-only plays, such as “CSI” and “Alias.”

Many dramas already run daily weekday repeats on cable. But if “CI” proves successful, Carroll predicts that we’ll see more dramas being sold this way.

“We could be going back to the days when dramatic hours were part of the mix on a Monday-Friday basis,” he says.

More non-broadcast programs entering syndication

Canada’s “DeGrassi: The Next Generation,” Tyler Perry’s first-run syndication “House of Payne” and several Comedy Central series are available this fall. In addition, Warner Bros. is reportedly mulling a syndicated spinoff of its successful celebrity gossip site TMZ.com.

In part, the reason for this is that there’s not a great deal of demand for any upcoming off-network properties. “Two and a Half Men” is the strongest comedy available, and buyers aren’t all that excited about the show. Fading but still-powerful “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” pull by far the best off-network ratings.

Yet more court shows

Even though ratings for the genre were down or flat during November sweeps, syndicators remain high on judge shows. They often have a bigger audience than bottom-tier talk shows, and they’re cheap to produce.

Sony Pictures’ “Judge David Young” is one of the only new shows confirmed for NATPE. Also in the works is “Celebrity Court” from CBS Television Distribution Group.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9390.asp

TV Sports
Despite rookie status, Fox hits the ground running
By Michael Hiestand USA Today Jan. 9, 2007

Fox's coverage of Monday's Bowl Championship Series title game was meat 'n' taters: There were no obvious glitches but also no memorable commentary.

Fox had to hope underdog Florida kept things close, but the Gators overachieved — likely causing a late-game viewer drop-off in the last gasp of college football's long bowl march.

Said Fox's Thom Brennaman with Florida leading 41-14 with more than 10 minutes to play: "Put this game on ice."

Ouch. That's admirable candor. But he might as well have reminded viewers how early they'd have to get up in the morning.

Fox set up its first-ever college football title game with the usual pregame banter.

Fox, which doesn't carry regular-season college football and had to cobble together an on-air lineup for the four BCS games it inherited from ABC this season, at least had a little spice in the pregame exchanges between Eddie George and Emmitt Smith.

The pair, both aspiring broadcasters, offered up little gibes — Ohio State alumnus George gave Florida alum Smith an Ohio State sweater, and Smith kidded, "Can I sit on it?" (Fox later showed George cheering on the Ohio State sideline.)

Not hilarious. But Fox at least offered up a fairly painless opening — like when analyst Jimmy Johnson kidded the hairless Smith, one of his former players with the Dallas Cowboys, "You wish you had my head of hair, I promise you that!" — to a game that, in the minutes before kickoff, really didn't need any more pregame analysis and prognostication.

Still, Fox could have interrupted the banter to have somebody say something about the two teams jumping around and facing each other at midfield before the game — at least Fox cameras caught it.

And Fox deserves some credit for something incredibly basic that has been lost over the years as college football has generally been treated as yet more TV sports tonnage: Fox actually showed a bit of both schools' bands marching on the field before the game.

Personal prejudice: I'd just as soon see swiveling tubas instead of yet more yak from pregame analysts about questions about the secondary or pass rush.

Game analysts Charles Davis, who calls college football for TBS, and TV rookie Barry Alvarez, the ex-Wisconsin coach who is now the school's athletics director, made it clear that Fox should have used NFL analysts Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long — terrific on Fox's Sugar Bowl — as the announcers on college football's biggest game.

Forget about Alvarez's potential conflict of interest in calling a team from his conference. He just doesn't seem like a TV entertainer, which may show he has common sense.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bowls/2007-01-09-hiestand-fox_x.htm

TV Sports
Despite rookie status, Fox hits the ground running
Saluting the media notables who died in 2006
By Michael Hiestand USA Today Jan. 9, 2007

Uhhh??!! :confused:

Critic’s Notebook
Dumb And Desperate
by Marc Berman MediaWeek

One week into the New Year, and I already have a potential pick for my next list of annual TV Turkeys. It's Armed and Famous, a new reality series on CBS that transforms D-list celebrities looking to stay in the limelight into police officers patrolling the sleepy streets of Muncie, Ind. It premieres on Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. The new reality series will follow toothy Erik Estrada (who should know a thing or two about catching the bad guys after his stint on the cheesy CHiPS), a slimmed down Jack Osbourne, kooky La Toya Jackson, Jackass star Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña and wrestling champion Trish Stratus as they go through a vigorous training regimen to become reserve police officers in the Muncie Police Department. After training, they are partnered with veteran officers and put on night patrol, responding to emergency calls, helping victims and making arrests.

No, folks, I am not making this up. Armed and Famous is a real show that will feature La Toya Jackson and other has-beens arresting people. Can you imagine the reaction of the person being arrested? The under-40 crowd will probably think they are being "punk'd" by Ashton Kutcher. The 40-plus demo will expect wooden Peter Funt (Alan's son) to jump out screaming, "Smile—you're on Candid Camera!"

Honestly, I am appalled. Why would CBS stoop this low, particularly in the high-HUT level month of January? I expect this kind of drivel from Fox and Mike Darnell (who dreamed up such dreck as The Littlest Groom and Temptation Island), not from the network with arguably the strongest scripted schedule.

I'm surprised CBS even had the courage (or was it stupidity?) to send out advance copies to the press. All I can say is: Oy! Maybe one of these "celebrities" should arrest the network executive who approved this project. Sometimes, you have to scratch your head and wonder why. Why do the networks gut the airwaves with this garbage when we are knee-deep in a scripted sitcom drought? Did CBS think this was a nonscripted "comedy?" Even if this did do well (Listen, anything is possible: Do you remember season one of Fox's idiotic Joe Millionaire?), there is no back-end in off-network syndication.

Don't get me wrong. I am a fan of nonscripted programming, and that goes back to my early childhood years when I was glued to the set (as if I ever did anything else) watching Alan Funt trick people on Candid Camera. I love Survivor (and that includes the recent uneventful Cook Islands edition), never miss Big Brother during its summer run, have been known to shed a tear during Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and can't wait to check out The Donald in his upcoming Los Angeles-based edition of The Apprentice. Heck, I even still pine for that classic Fox fiasco The Swan, where the homely women were transformed into what looked like men in drag. That was so bad, it was good. In other words, I understand the value of peppering a schedule with nonscripted shows. But there needs to be a limit. And giving Surreal Life castoff Estrada (who should enter the witness protection program—we actually hear him passing gas) another shot in Armed and Famous just sounds dumb and desperate.

Sadly, this leads me to believe that Armed and Famous is the first of many new, and bad, reality shows in 2007.

So, here is what I propose to the networks. Just say "no." Even if you are in search of a temporary occupant—like CBS is while Jericho is taking a breather—concentrate on shows that have more staying power. Focus on providing the type of well-rounded entertainment that will be beneficial in the long run. Armed and Famous will be more trouble than it is worth because TV critics like me will be armed with more ammunition. Instead of trying to shock the audience with over-the-top premises, think of ways to give viewers a familiar scenario; for instance, save Estrada for something like The Battle of the Aging Network Stars. That would be fun, wouldn't it?

This week will also feature the return of Fox's Emmy-winning 24, which opens with a two-hour installment on Sunday Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. If you can't get enough of 24, one night later it's another two-hour installment of nonstop action. While not every time period can be populated with shows of this caliber, it does tell you that the networks have what it takes to do good, quality productions.

So, do yourself a favor, and don't even bother with Armed and Dangerous. And then, maybe the network won't bother, either.

http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/98010991/m/15510862

Yesterday’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.

Any word on whether The Loop will be returning this season? It was listed as part of the Fox Winter/Spring lineup before Fredfa took down the original lists. I don't see it on his excel/pdf sheet.

So far Fox just says season 2 premieres in 2007.

I suspect we'll learn more during the TCA Winter Tour.

Fox makes its presentation on January 20th -- the last day of the Tour.

TV Notebook:
'Today' decides to celebrate its 55th, in modest fashion
By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

Today's 55th-anniversary celebration this week wasn't a unanimous decision within NBC.

"Some felt we should wait until the 60th," Today boss Jim Bell acknowledges. "I think once you hit 50, you're on solid ground with zeroes and fives to look back. I don't think anybody would consider 15 or 35."

At first, Today was going to pull out all the stops, as it did for the show's 50th. Then cooler heads prevailed.

"It's more a tip of the cap than a standing ovation," Bell says. "It's not really over the top. We're not patting ourselves on the back for the whole show."

Of course not. When you've got an 11-year winning streak, who needs prolific pats? (Well, except for the big wet kiss to coanchor Matt Lauer Friday for his 10th anniversary.)

"We're a little bit in uncharted waters," Bell says. "How many programs have to face this kind of dilemma? As dilemmas go, it's one everybody should have."

Each day for a portion of the 8 a.m. hour, the Today set will be replaced by a computer-generated virtual set representing a different decade.

It began yesterday with Meredith Vieira and Lauer on a '50s-era set that included some real pieces from the time. (Today launched Jan. 14, 1952, with Dave Garroway.) Today, it's the '60s, followed by the '70s tomorrow, the '80s Thursday, and the '90s Friday.

Former anchors Bryant Gumbel, Jane Pauley, Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs all taped tributes to air this week. Nothing from Katie Couric, but the CBS anchor did one for Lauer's lovefest.

As for the timing of this week's festivities, on the heels of Lauer's, Bell labels it "just a wonderful, happy coincidence."

P.S. Pop quiz: 50 is gold, 60 is diamond. What's the 55th anniversary?

"Denim?" asks Bell. "Tin? Crystal?"

None of the above, Jimbo. Try emerald.

Woodruff reports

In his first on-air report since being severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq last January, ABC anchor Bob Woodruff will recount his ordeal Feb. 27 in an hour-long special.

Through interviews with the ABC News team and soldiers who were with him on patrol, as well as with the military and civilian medical teams who saved his life, Woodruff will trace his journey from the battlefield in Iraq to Germany and finally home to the U.S.

As part of "To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports," Woodruff and his wife, Lee, will return to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda for the first time since his six-week stay there. He'll report on young soldiers learning to carry on despite life-altering injuries.

Short stuff

Rocker Dave Matthews will pop up on Fox's House in March as a musical savant who begins to suffer seizures. Matthews' "Some Devil" was heard in an episode of House in '05... . Rob Lowe's role as conservative Sen. Robert McCallister will continue through the season on ABC's Brothers & Sisters. Originally, he was to have guest-starred in just a few episodes... . Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines: MSNBC will carry exclusive live coverage of the South Carolina Democratic Party's presidential debate April 26 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The event also will be streamed live on MSNBC.com.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//16414174.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

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.

(You’ll find most CES coverage in several excellent threads dedicated to the CES. But occasionally, we’ll post something here, too.)
Technology Notebook
Hi-def rivals in CES war of words
By Thomas K. Arnold The Hollywood Reporter Jan 9, 2007

LAS VEGAS -- Supporters of the two rival next-generation disc formats are slugging it out this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, with HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc predicting victory in the quest for a unified high-definition standard.

HD DVD is banking its prediction of success in large part on the arrival this year of low-priced players from China and other Asian countries. The Blu-ray camp, meanwhile, believes the PlayStation 3 rollout, together with overwhelming studio and consumer electronics support, will boost software sales to such a degree that HD DVD will have no choice but to throw in the towel.

"Game over," quipped Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment president Bob Chapek, a leading Blu-ray supporter.

Both camps held lavish news events at CES. At the HD DVD event Sunday, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group said that as of Friday, more than 175,000 HD DVD players had been sold in North America. That figure includes computers with HD DVD drives as well as Xbox 360 game consoles with the HD DVD add-on.

Toshiba, which so far is the only consumer electronics manufacturer to produce dedicated set-top HD DVD players, said it will ship this spring a new 1080p unit, the $599 HD-A20, that will offer consumers the highest resolution possible. Toshiba also said it has developed a triple-layer 51GB disc that can hold up to seven hours of high-definition content. The new disc is seen as a reaction to Blu-ray's dual-layer 50GB disc.

But the HD DVD camp's real trump card, backers said, will be the arrival this year of "competitively priced" HD DVD players from such companies as Alco, Jiangkui/ED Digital, Lite-On, Shinco, Meridian and Onkyo. They cite the flood of cheap DVD players retailing for $99 or less as a key factor in bringing DVD to the masses.

"With the addition of new consumer electronics companies to HD DVD, we're predicting more than 2.5 million units in the market by the end of 2007," said Yoshihide Fujii, president and CEO of Toshiba's Digital Media Network Co. "This growing level of manufacturer support is a clear result of HD DVD winning over enthusiasts and movie lovers alike."

On the software side, more than 300 HD DVD titles are in the market, with an additional 300 planned for this year. Based on a yearly attach rate of 28 movies per player and an installed based of 2.5 million players by year's end, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group estimates 2007 movie sales to exceed $600 million, more than 40 times the 2006 tally.

"HD DVD is a well-recognized brand name, and it's the best way for consumers to make the transition from DVD into the high-definition world," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and chairman of the North American HD DVD Promotional Group. "HD DVD has the most reasonably priced players and drives on the market and the highest-quality picture and sound possible, and our hardware sales and attach rates are high. By the holidays, we'll have more than 600 movies available globally and offer an advanced level of Internet connectivity to drive HD DVD sales."

Still, HD DVD is facing an uphill fight. While the format is supported by three of the six major studios, of those three, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video also are releasing titles in the Blu-ray format. Universal is the lone studio to release titles exclusively in HD DVD.

The Blu-ray camp took full advantage of these shortcomings at its news event Monday, distributing a 28-page mock newspaper with a front-page headline that declared, "Blu-ray Victory Inevitable." The newspaper included a study from British research firm Understanding & Solutions that projects Blu-ray's market share will climb to 79% this year and 84% in 2008 even if HD DVD "sticks around."

That prediction is based on the overwhelming studio and consumer electronics support for the format as well as the Trojan horse effect of PlayStation 3. Although only 400,000 units of the next-generation video game console were shipped at launch, within weeks of the PS3's November debut Blu-ray software sales began to outpace HD DVD software sales, according to proprietary research compiled by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

"Blu-ray sales performance surpassed HD DVD for the first time the week of Dec. 24 and did so by an impressive 20%," said Mike Dunn, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment worldwide president. He said by the end of the first quarter of this year, "our research shows Blu-ray outselling HD DVD by a 3.5-to-1 ratio."

In a Sony survey of PlayStation 3 owners, 80% said they plan to buy more Blu-ray movies (PS3 players came bundled with Sony Pictures' "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"), while 75% said they plan on using their new game console as their primary movie-viewing device.

With the console's installed base in the U.S. expected to soar, Understanding & Solutions sees 4.5 million households with PS3s this year and 14.6 million in 2008.

"I really believe the format war is in its final phase," Dunn said.

Blu-ray studios predict combined Blu-ray software sales of 40 million-70 million units this year, generating as much as $1.5 billion in consumer spending. Annual attach rates have been as high as 30 discs per player. On the hardware front, with more electronics companies shipping Blu-ray players, Understanding & Solutions sees the high-def player market in the U.S. reaching 8.5 million units this year and 24 million units by 2008.

Both camps announced significant software titles in the pipeline. Among the high-profile titles headed for HD DVD this year is Oscar contender "Babel" and the "Star Trek" TV series from Paramount and "Happy Feet," the "Harry Potter" films and the "Matrix" trilogy from Warner.

Dozens of heavy hitters are bound for Blu-ray. Buena Vista will release 20 titles on Blu-ray in the first half of the year and will put some of its biggest movies on the higher-capacity 50GB discs, including "Chicken Little" (March 20), both "Pirates of the Caribbean" films (May) and "Cars" (in the summer).

Fox said that 40 Blu-ray titles -- from Fox and MGM -- will be released in the first half of the year, including "Castaway," "The Silence of the Lambs," "Dances With Wolves," "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," "I, Robot," "Independence Day" and current boxoffice champ "A Night at the Museum," the latter headed for same-day release as the DVD.

Sony fielded the largest slate of titles, with worldwide home entertainment president David Bishop saying 90-100 titles are in the pipeline for 2007, including "Casino Royale" in March and current theatricals "The Holiday," "Rocky Balboa" and "The Pursuit of Happyness" later in the year.

WHV president Ron Sanders wouldn't commit to a firm number but said his studio will give Sony "a run for the money." The studio will release many of the same films it has planned for HD DVD, including the "Harry Potter" and "Matrix" films. "The Departed" will be released the same day as the DVD, two weeks before the Academy Awards.

PHE president Kelley Avery called the PS3 "a major driver" in pushing Blu-ray acceptance. Among the titles Paramount will release this year on Blu-ray are "Babel," "Flags of Our Fathers" and such catalog titles as "Payback" and "Face/Off."

Lionsgate, which like Buena Vista, Fox and Sony is releasing movies only on Blu-ray, has 40-50 titles in the pipeline for next year, including "Saw III," "Basic Instinct" and Season 1 of Showtime's "Weeds."

"This will be the year when Blu-ray establishes itself as the format of the future," Lionsgate president Steve Beeks said.

Responding to questions at their press event, Blu-ray studio presidents said Hollywood's film community is excited about the format and may create exclusive content and other special features that take advantage of Blu-ray's heightened interactivity.

Managed copy initiatives, in which consumers who buy a disc can get downloads playable on computers or portable devices, also are in the wings, although Warner's Ron Sanders conceded, "We're just scratching the surface, and we still don't know the ultimate playout."

"It's certainly part of our long-range plans," added Sony's Bishop.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ida90dc7b5e3c5134978a4bb3d71b69e7

Don't forget Apple Fred! Jobs just unveiled Apple TV at Macworld: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/09wire-apple.html?hp&ex=1168405200&en=f79da5361d9b7007&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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.

From the best reporter covering the HD scene…
HDTV Notebook
NBCU, Turner, CNN to Launch HD Networks
CNN HD to debut in September
By James Hibberd Television Week January 9, 2007

USA Network, Sci Fi Channel, TBS, Cartoon Network, CNN and other channels are readying to launch simulcast high-definition networks by the end of the year.

CNN announced plans to launch an HD network in September at its opening session at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour, while an NBC Universal spokesperson confirmed the company will launch a "suite of HD networks." NBCU would not set an exact time table. A Turner spokesperson also confirmed HD networks for TBS and Cartoon Network.

The news comes a day after DirecTV's announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it has HD carriage agreements with 60 cable networks. DirecTV cited USA, Sci Fi, FX, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS and several other channels among the brands with agreements. The satellite provider plans to launch 100 HD channels by the end of the year as part of its strategy to expand its HD offerings.

Though all major cable networks are eventually expected to have HD simulcasts, none of the networks DirecTV cited had previously announced plans to launch HD networks.

CNN announced its plans Tuesday morning at its panel. Spokespeople for NBC Universal and Turner confirmed plans to launch their HD networks shortly after. A spokesman for Fox Cable Networks Group representing FX had not yet returned a call.

The confirmations represent the largest number of networks to commit to HD upgrades all at once. DirecTV's launching of two new satellites in 2007, combined with the satellite service's push for more HD content, has been a tipping point for a host of major networks previously biding their time before taking the plunge to HD.

The moves will dramatically expand the number of HD viewing options for consumers, who have long griped about the scarcity of HD content.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11336

Some people are always way ahead of the story...

(From March 28, 2005)

Swanni Predicts: CNN to Launch HDTV Channel in 2005
The cable news network is working behind the scenes on production and make-up changes.
By Phillip Swann at tvpredictions.com

Washington, D.C. (March 28) -- I predict that CNN will launch a High-Definition TV channel by year's end. And, if it happens, CNN will be the first cable news network to go high-def.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/cnnhdtv032805.html

Soledad O'Brien in HD. Finally an excuse to watch CNN's 'American Morning'!

A long night for the Heldenfels household….
Critic’s Notebook:
BCS, ''Mother,'' ''Men''
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal blog

Yesterday at the office, there was a festive feeling. You don't get that a lot at newspapers this day. But, since we're an Ohio newspaper, and Ohio State was in the BCS game last night, people were beginning their celebration of an expected win. Wonderful donuts in Ohio State colors.

The bride and I settled down for the game (and I recorded my two Monday comedies for later viewing). The Buckeyes' lightning strike on the opening kickoff suggested that the game wouldn't be close. And it wasn't, though not the way we expected. The bride, a big OSU fan who had been eagerly awaiting the game, was done before halftime. So was Ohio State.

I hung in until there were about eight minutes left. Florida had it sewn up at that point, but I kept waiting for more drama -- for some flash of brilliance or authority that said Ohio State was still a team to reckon with. You know, the kind of thing you see in the movies. Only this wasn't a movie. Movies may be written more predictably, but they're also done more entertainingly than real-life sports often is.

In the movies, Ohio State and Florida would have gotten a finish like Boise State's or the Dallas Cowboys' (which had eerie echoes of the ''North Dallas Forty'' movie, by the way). Or, for that matter, last year's Texas-USC championship. Instead, enh. Well, at least enh if you were a Buckeyes fan. Florida rooters can't complain how this ended at all.

Having put aside my comedies, I watched this morning. ''How I Met Your Mother's'' showpiece was, of course, the editing of Barney into ''Dirty Dancing,'' and nicely done. But far more amusing was the dialogue about splashing in the pool, and the Empire State Building riffs. Not bad, except that the actress playing Robin's sister looked scarily thin; maybe Robin should have talked less about sex and more about a balanced diet.

''Two and a Half Men,'' meanwhile, really belonged to the women. While I expected more from Sara Rue as Berta's daughter, the script didn't give her much. But what fun for Berta, and for Conchata Ferrell, a fine actress of long standing who was given more to do than crack wise. (She could handle plenty more. Go and see what she does with a small scene in ''Network,'' for starters.) And then came Holland Taylor, who makes every line -- no matter how outrageous -- sound perfectly in keeping with her character. Very good show.

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

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Final BCS bowl off from high last year
Early ratings down by 16 percent in households
By Toni Fitzgerald medialifemagazine Jan 9, 2007

Last night’s Bowl Championship Series title game had a lot going against it: It aired after a week of flagging BCS ratings, it turned into a blowout in the third quarter, and controversy had swirled for weeks over whether eventual 41-14 winner Florida even belonged in the game. Plus it faced a rash of new series premieres on cable.

But it overcame all that to register strong ratings last night on Fox, well down from last year’s record-setting BCS finale but not close to worst-ever territory, as Media Life had predicted.

The game earned a 19.1 Nielsen overnight household rating from 8:30 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. That was down 16 percent from last year’s 22.7 for the USC-Texas title game, which was the most-watched BCS title game ever. But it was well above the 14.7 earned by the 2005 game.

Fox throttled the competition in primetime, more than doubling runner-up CBS’s 12.5 million total viewers average for the night. Florida-Ohio State averaged 26.4 million from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., 7.5 million fewer than ABC drew for the game last year.

Among adults 18-49, Fox averaged a 9.5 in primetime, down 21 percent from last year’s (ABC) average.

As a reminder, fast nationals measure timeslot data not actual program data. Final ratings released later today will provide a more accurate picture of Fox’s performance.

Why the big tune in, when viewers usually switch channels during a blowout or fail to tune in when the game is marred by controversy? One reason may be that Ohio State is a very popular team, and fans will support the Buckeyes until the last minute hoping for an improbable victory.

Another may be that the tide has finally turned for the BCS and that, after weeks of debate over whether the BCS works, viewers are now more inclined to watch and decide for themselves rather than believe the sports pundits.

Whatever the reason, it was a strong finale after cumulative ratings for the previous bowl games had fallen double-digit percentages compared with last year.

Football boosted Fox to a comfortable first-place finish for the night among 18-49s, as the network posted a 9.5 average rating and a 22 share. CBS was a distant second at 4.2/10, ABC third at 2.8/7, NBC fourth at 2.6/6, Univision fifth at 1.6/4 and CW sixth at 0.8/2.

Fox took each hour of the night, starting with an 8.6 rating at 8 p.m. for the first hour of the Florida-Ohio State game. NBC was second with a 3.9 for “Deal or No Deal,” ABC third with a 3.3 for “Wife Swap” and CBS fourth with a 3.0 average for “How I Met Your Mother” (3.1) and “The Class” (2.9). Univision finished fifth that hour with a 2.4 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW sixth with a 0.9 average for repeats of “Everybody Hates Chris” and “All of Us.”

The 9 p.m. hour was Fox’s best, as it led again with a 10.6 rating for football. CBS took over second place that hour with a 4.4 average for “Two and a Half Men” (4.7) and “Old Christine” (4.1), with ABC third with a 3.2 for “Supernanny” and NBC fourth with a 2.1 for a repeat of “Heroes.” Univision remained fifth, though it slipped to a 1.7 for “Mundo de Fieras,” while CW stayed in sixth with a 0.7 average for repeats of “Girlfriends” and “The Game.”

Fox finished the night on top with a 9.4 for football during the 10 p.m. hour, with CBS placing second with a 5.1 for “CSI: Miami.” ABC was third with a 2.0 for “What About Brian,” NBC fourth with a 1.8 for another “Heroes” rerun and Univision fifth with a 1.5 for “Cristina.”

Among households, Fox led the night with a 16.0 average rating and a 24 share. CBS came in second at 8.3/12, with NBC third at 5.2/8, ABC fourth at 4.7, Univision fifth at 2.4/4 and CW sixth at 1.4/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9418.asp

Soledad O'Brien in HD. Finally an excuse to watch CNN's 'American Morning'!

But then there is the offset: Larry King and Wolf Blitzer in HD.

Television Critic Winter Tour Notebook
"The Wire'' and "Heroes'' top critics poll
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Ah, here we are back on The Tour. For newcomers, that's the Television Critics Association semiannual press tour -- a couple of weeks of press conferences, parties, set visits and all things television. Kind of a gathering of the tribes, to use a concept from back in the 1960s.

I'll have reports from here (this tour is being held at the ever-lovely Ritz Carlton Hotel in should be interesting with sessions on "Lost,'' "24,'' "Studio 60,'' "Heroes'' and other shows that are being dissected and (in some cases) dissed by writers and viewers.

But let's start with a quick news note:

The closest thing there is to a national TV critics poll is the one done semiannually by TV Week, with dozens of writers from papers and online outlets (both big and small) voting on the best and worst of television.

The poll is out in this week's edition of the trade publication and, not surprisingly, HBO's "The Wire'' -- a critical fave -- topping the list. (It's the least-watched show to ever win the top spot.) But after "The Wire'' -- which I voted No. 1 -- things got interesting.

The No. 2 spot went, rather unexpectedly, to NBC's "Heroes''. I say "unexpectedly'' not to diss the series (which I like a lot) but in the sense that no one really thought it would rank that high. In fact, NBC -- equally unexpectedly -- got four series in the top 10: "Heroes'' and fellow newcomers "Friday Night Lights'' (No. 7) and "Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip'' (No. 10) plus the returning "The Office'' at No. 3.

Other new shows that made an impact: ABC's "Ugly Betty'' which came in at No. 4, tied with "Grey's Anatomy,'' and Showtime's "Dexter,'' a brilliant take on the mind of a serial killer that grabbed the No. 8 spot. The shows in the Top 10: "Lost'' at No. 6 (down from No. 1 in the last poll) and "Battlestar Galactica'' at No. 9, breaking into the top ranks for the first time.

There were also some surprises that were a bit less pleasant (perhaps in my view). "House'' dropped from No. 5 to No. 11; "Everybody Hates Chris,'' which totally vanished from the list; "The Colbert Report'' could muster only a No. 24 ranking; and "Deadwood'' (which got my No. 2 slot) slid all the way to No. 16.

As for the worst, "Happy Hour'' -- a Fox show already cancelled -- got the No. 1 slot on the bad list, closely followed by NBC's "Twenty Good Years'' (also gone) and two other Fox comedies: "'Til Death'' and "The War At Home.'' And that O.J. Simpson show that was supposed to air on Fox got the nod as the worst special -- even though it was never shown.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

If you wonder why there is so little coverage of HD in your newspaper, here could be an answer:
HDTV Notebook
Winter 2006 Critics Poll: Pundits Split on HD
Only 17 Percent Have Hi-Def, but Users Say It Changed Their Viewing Habits
By James Hibberd Television Week

Critics are supposed to be unswayed by picture quality. They watch programs at home, with friends, at work, at screenings, on displays large and small, on VHS, on DVD and via live TV. The presentation is unimportant; the play is the thing.

But then there's high definition, which increases the traditional 480 lines of resolution to 1080 and gives television programming a rich, almost liquid depth.

Only 17 percent of critics surveyed by TelevisionWeek said they have upgraded to an HD set, but many who have admit the format skews their viewing habits (though not, of course, their reviews).

"It affects my habits considerably," admitted Bruce Miller of the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal. "I'm less tolerant of shows that aren't in hi-def. Yet I'm mesmerized by a woman on PBS cutting apples."

Wrote Wayne Karrfalt of Extra Extra: "It's slowly changing my habits as I actively seek out programming that takes advantage of the format."

Sports, specifically football, was the most popular kind of HD programming among the critics. Among nonsports programming, several critics cited "Lost" as a particular favorite to view in hi-def. But a couple of critics noted that any lush background will suffice. "I do find myself tuning in to Discovery-type nature programs more often than I used to," wrote Matt Roush of TV Guide.

The habits of Kevin Dickson, from In Touch Weekly, were shifted in an unusual way. Processing an HD signal through a set-top box such as a digital video recorder can sometimes downgrade the signal. So Mr. Dickson prefers to watch his HD live via an over-the-air antenna.

"I no longer use TiVo because it looks like crap on an HD set," Mr. Dickson wrote. "So in a way I've returned to appointment viewing. But it's so beautiful I don't mind."

Some critics said HD hasn't changed their viewing but has made their work easier. "Other than reduced squinting it has not changed my habits, it just makes my viewing much more pleasurable," wrote Victor Balta of The Herald of Everett, Wash.

Among those without HD sets, a couple voiced objections to upgrading. Mike Hughes of Gannett News Service wrote: "It seems like I wouldn't be getting the typical viewer's experience."

Chase Squires with the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times wrote he's "not convinced it's something I need."

Many critics pledged to get an HD set sometime this year. But for Albany (N.Y.) Times Union columnist Mark McGuire, it seems that the battle over whether to splurge for an HD set has already been fought and lost.

"I don't want to talk about it," he wrote. "Ask my wife."

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=29169

A&E will make a presentation in a little while at the TCA Winter Tour. The Hallmark Channel follows and FX is scheduled for 4:30 Pacific Time. Tonight the Fox Cable Channels have their moment with the critics.

If only because Television Week's James Hibberd is covering the event, I am sure all will be asked about their HD plans.

(As of now, Broadcasting & Cable's Ben Grossman, also covering the event, has yet to mention the HD plans.)

From the best reporter covering the HD scene…
HDTV Notebook
NBCU, Turner, CNN to Launch HD Networks
CNN HD to debut in September
By James Hibberd Television Week January 9, 2007

USA Network, Sci Fi Channel, TBS, Cartoon Network, CNN and other channels are readying to launch simulcast high-definition networks by the end of the year.

CNN announced plans to launch an HD network in September at its opening session at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour, while an NBC Universal spokesperson confirmed the company will launch a "suite of HD networks." NBCU would not set an exact time table. A Turner spokesperson also confirmed HD networks for TBS and Cartoon Network.

The news comes a day after DirecTV's announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it has HD carriage agreements with 60 cable networks. DirecTV cited USA, Sci Fi, FX, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS and several other channels among the brands with agreements. The satellite provider plans to launch 100 HD channels by the end of the year as part of its strategy to expand its HD offerings.

Though all major cable networks are eventually expected to have HD simulcasts, none of the networks DirecTV cited had previously announced plans to launch HD networks.

CNN announced its plans Tuesday morning at its panel. Spokespeople for NBC Universal and Turner confirmed plans to launch their HD networks shortly after. A spokesman for Fox Cable Networks Group representing FX had not yet returned a call.

The confirmations represent the largest number of networks to commit to HD upgrades all at once. DirecTV's launching of two new satellites in 2007, combined with the satellite service's push for more HD content, has been a tipping point for a host of major networks previously biding their time before taking the plunge to HD.

The moves will dramatically expand the number of HD viewing options for consumers, who have long griped about the scarcity of HD content.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11336

It is funny how things get distorted.

I believe DirecTV said their "goal is to have 100 HD channels" -- not that they "will" have 100.

Only 17 percent of critics surveyed by TelevisionWeek said they have upgraded to an HD set

That's pathetic.

(With its weird list of nominees, this show should make the Golden Globes look almost respectable by comparison. But, at least CBS IS broadcasting it in HD)
Critic’s Notebook:
People! What’s Your Choice?
By Diane Holloway Austin American-Statesman in her TV blog Tuesday, January 9, 2007

“The People’s Choice Awards,” tonight at 9 ET/PT on CBS, don’t mean squat in terms of prestige or excellence. They are based on a popularity poll, which you, too, can participate in on the official People’s Web Site. You also can see the full list of nominees in music, movies and TV there.

The TV selections are pretty bare because The People acknowledge free, over-the-air TV only. No cable, so no “Wire,” “Shield” or “Nip/Tuck.”

Here are The People’s TV categories, such as they are:

Favorite New TV Drama:
“Brothers & Sisters,” “Heroes,” “Ugly Betty.”

What, no “Friday Night Lights?” Any award category that fails to mention the best new drama of the season probably should be ignored. But of the pitiful choices given, “Ugly Betty” is the likely choice.

Favorite TV Drama: “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “House”

Glaring omissions in this category include “24,” “Boston Legal,” “ER” (enjoying a renaissance this season) and “Prison Break.” Because it’s such a super-hyped show, look for “Grey’s” to take home the ugly glass prize.

Favorite New TV Comedy: “30 Rock,” “The Class,” “‘Til Death.”

Too bad this list was compiled before “The Knights of Prosperity” debuted. Look for “30 Rock” to win this one, but pickings are really slim.

Favorite TV Comedy: “The King of Queens,” “My Name Is Earl,” “Two and a Half Men”

Oh, please. No “Office?” And who keeps thinking “King of Queens” is funny? Please confess and let me set you straight. Heck, even “How I Met Your Mother” is funnier than “King of Queens.” Given the sorry choices, “Earl” should win here.

Favorite TV Comedy — Animated: “Family Guy,” “King of the Hill,” “The Simpsons”

Without cable, there’s no “South Park,” but “King of the Hill,” the brainchild of Austin’s own Mike Judge, deserves any award available for this its final season.

Favorite Competition/Reality Show: “American Idol,” “Deal or No Deal,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

Thank you, People, for totally ignoring Donald Trump. Can’t we all just ignore him? Unfortunately, The People also ignored “Amazing Race,” but at least “American Idol” would be a worthy winner.

Favorite Female TV Star: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus

The acting categories are almost too stupid to acknowledge. Three men and three women in all of TV? They’re not even divided between comedy and drama. How stupid is that? None of the three women nominated are worth considering, so I say we ignore them all. Connie Britton, coach’s down-home wife on “Friday Night Lights” should be up for and win this one.

Favorite Male TV Star: Patrick Dempsey, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland

OK, give it to Sutherland for all the hard work he does on “24,” but why isn’t James Spader (“Boston Legal”) or John Stamos (“ER”) in the mix? Stupid.

Favorite Talk Show Host: Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey

Really, People, do you care?

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/tvblog/

(You’ll find most CES coverage in several excellent threads dedicated to the CES. But occasionally, we’ll post something here, too.)
Technology Notebook
Dell Taps Cable with New PC
By Todd Spangler MultiChannel News 1/9/2007

Las Vegas -- Michael Dell, founder and chairman of computer maker Dell, announced the company’s first PC capable of receiving and recording HD cable-TV programming during his keynote speech here Tuesday morning at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

The Dell Home Media Suite -- a bundle that includes an XPS 410 desktop and 1 terabyte of disk storage -- is outfitted with a CableCARD and a digital-television tuner that let the computer function as a digital-video recorder to stream video wirelessly to other home devices.

“This enables Vista PCs to tune, pause, view and record TV right on the hard disk,” Michael Dell said.

The company expects to ship the Home Media Suite bundle in the United States after Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system becomes available, scheduled for Jan. 30. Vista supports CableCARD, a device developed by the cable industry that plugs into consumer-electronics systems to view or record programming.

Michael Dell didn’t disclose pricing for the bundle, which includes the company’s newly introduced 27-inch flat-panel monitor and a Linksys 802.11 wireless router.

“Until now, it hasn’t been very easy to watch things online from your TV, or from your TV on your PC, or to listen to your music library on your stereo,” he said. “We think we’re perfectly positioned to make digital-media consumption easier for our customers … We focus on making complex systems work together in a seamless way.”

In his keynote, Michael Dell called on service providers to turn up more bandwidth to the home to enable new digital-media services. In 2006, he noted, YouTube alone used more bandwidth than the entire Internet consumed in 2000. In the United States, broadband penetration is 44%, and of that, fiber-to-the-home represents 1%, he added.

On this front, Michael Dell gave a plug for Verizon Communications’ FiOS network, which is the largest FTTH deployment in the United States. The FiOS network could eventually provide several gigabits per second of bandwidth to an individual home.

“Real broadband requires fiber and will enable a real digital home,” he said. “I encourage the entire telecom industry to step up and make such fiber available much more broadly.”

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6405837

Cable Nielsen Notebook
Post-MNF ESPN Falls Out of Top 10
By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek January 9, 2007

The National Football League’s regular season drew to a close on New Year’s Eve, and with it went ESPN’s stranglehold on the national cable ratings race.

For the first time since the sports network began its stewardship of Monday Night Football, ESPN last week failed to contend for the top ad-supported cable spot, falling out of the top 10 with an average prime time audience of 1.05 million total viewers and a 0.9 household rating. In the week ended Jan. 7, ESPN also dropped from the top 10 among adults 18-49, 25-54 and 18-34, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

That said, the net did lay claim to the most-watched program on cable last week, as its coverage of Penn State’s 20-10 New Year’s Day upset of Tennessee in the Outback Bowl delivered just under 5.7 million viewers and 2.72 million adults 25-54.

Cable’s highest-rated network in the first week of 2007 was the non-ad-supported Disney Channel, which averaged 2.76 million total viewers and a 2.3 HH rating in prime on the strength of a brace of original programming (The Suite Life of Zach & Cody; Hannah Montana) and the umpteenth repeat of its tireless High School Musical. All told, the Mouse boasted five of the week’s top-10 most watched programs on cable, and 11 of the top 20.

Disney also finished the week tops among the core footy-pajama demos, including kids 2-11 (1.5 million) and 6-11 (1.18 million), while taking the ‘tweens as well, luring 1.04 million in the 9-14 range.

Among ad-supported nets, USA Network finished in first place with an average 2.51 million prime time viewers, while also nabbing the top numbers for delivery of adults 25-54 (1.17 million) and adults 18-49 (1.14 million). USA accounted for the week’s second- and third-place programs with its Monday night WWE Raw standby, which averaged 5.02 million viewers in its first hour and 5.1 million in its second hour.

Finishing second on the week was TNT (2.02 million), followed by sibling net TBS (1.82 million). TBS enjoyed a significant ratings win with its delivery of adults 18-34 (541,000), while coming in second among adults 25-54 (1.01 million) and adults 18-49 (1.09 million). TNT’s best demo number was in the 25-54 demo, as the net served up an average of 921,000 viewers in that category last week.

The week’s fourth place finisher was Lifetime (1.79 million), which also took second among women 25-54 with 565,000. (First went to USA with 669,000.) Lifetime also finished in the top 10 in all three core demos.

While A&E squeaked by FX for fifth place (1.66 million total viewers versus 1.64 million), FX got a huge boost from the series premiere of the Courteney Cox tabloid drama, Dirt, which hit, well, pay dirt with 3.74 million viewers Tuesday night at 10 p.m. Last week, FX fared well in the core demos, placing third among 18-49s (989,000), third among 18-34s (513,000) and fourth among 25-54s (888,000).

The increasingly younger-skewing A&E’s best demo number came from the 18-49 category, as the network boasted 834,000, good for fifth on the week.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003529841

The Business of Television
Court TV Vs. Dish Network
Who Really Has Leverage?
By Marianne Paskowski Television Week

Let's just say the holidays were interrupted for Turner Broadcasting System President of Domestic Distribution Andy Heller, who yanked Court TV off EchoStar Communications' Dish Network on New Year's Eve.

"I'm still stunned," he said last week, because in all of his 17 years sitting on both sides of the negotiation table-first at Time Warner Cable as a buyer, and for the last eight years on the sell side at Time Warner-owned TBS-he never had a "channel go dark" under his watch. And Court TV could stay that way for a while, he said.

It's especially surprising when you think of the so-called leverage that Time Warner has, given the stars in its stable of cable networks such as Turner Network Television, Turner Classic Movies and TBS. Most cable programmers, and especially the stand-alone nets, envy the clout mega-media companies have in terms of parlaying one network against another. Or in this case, using the strength of a high-profile network like TNT to lift the boat of the less popular Court TV.

But with Dish, there was no real leverage for now because none of the other, stronger TBS networks are up for renewal with the direct-broadcast satellite service and won't be for a while. "But it's a round world," said Mr. Heller, alluding, perhaps, to negotiations for renewal of TBS's more popular services that might become more difficult with Dish when they come around again.

For now, at least, all bets are off as to when Court TV will get back on Dish, which has temporarily moved the Biography Channel into its slot, touting that network as a free preview. TBS, Mr. Heller said, had offered Dish an extension. Dish executives claim TBS did not.

Whatever the case, no negotiations are under way. Here's the spat in a nutshell: Court TV wants to stay in its present berth, Dish's America's Top 60, which has 11 million subscribers. Dish wants to move the network to America's Top 120, a tier that has 3 million fewer subscribers.

According to Mr. Heller, Dish wanted to rewrite the rate card for the smaller tier. Dish spokesperson Kathie Gonzalez claimed that Turner was seeking a 70 percent rate increase to go to the less-popular tier.

Court TV is not the first to almost come to fisticuffs with Dish. Three years ago Dish dropped the Viacom networks and all CBS owned-and-operated stations. But that only lasted for several days because Dish subscribers were furious over losing local broadcast signals, recalled a former Dish employee.

Most nasty was the prolonged dispute last year between Dish and Lifetime, which resulted in that network being dark for almost six weeks. In the end, it maintained its spot in America's Top 60, but its younger sister channel, Lifetime Movie Network, got bumped to America's Top 120, with Oxygen winning the coveted slot in the more widely viewed tier.

All of this is making me wonder if major media companies, with all of their tentacles, really have any clout unless they also own TV stations in major markets. After all, at least with the case of Viacom and Dish, it was the human cry for local news and weather that put a quick end to that short-lived blackout period. Makes you wonder.

Realistically, Time Warner isn't going to go out and buy a bunch of TV stations to strengthen its so-called leverage. Short term, it's simply using its own cable airtime, telling viewers they can still get Court TV on DirecTV or by calling their local cable operators. So far, unlike Lifetime, it didn't buy costly newspaper ads declaring foul play.

Those switch-out campaign tactics rarely work. Dish heads historically have been very unlikely to switch to cable because of the initial upfront investment they made. And in this case, only the most fanatic Court TV viewers will even notice that it's not presently on Dish, and might be pleasantly surprised to see Biography there instead.

But you never know. Court TV is among the top 20 Nielsen-rated networks and is on a ratings surge, reaching its best numbers ever. And although Dish is a savvy negotiator, I would never bet against TBS's Mr. Heller. But for now, he's not showing his cards. Smart.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=31237

Last week’s updated top 10 prime-time program ratings are now toward the bottom of RATINGS NEWS -- the first post in this thread.

Could this be the so-bad-its-good-for-laughs reality show that will finally get me to watch a reality series? The way Verne Gay sees it maybe, but why is this on CBS and not VH1? :confused:

TV Review
Pseudo celebs become pseudo cops
By Verne Gay, Newsday - January 10, 2007

By name alone, one can infer that "Armed & Famous" is a particularly awful show. By concept, one can deduce that it's even worse than that. La Toya Jackson or Jack Osbourne packing a Glock 22? Need we say more?

But to watch ... ah, to watch. That's the final confirmation. "Armed & Famous" is completely, joyously, riotously abominable. This is the perfect score: a show so bad even Fox wouldn't touch it. CBS is to be commended. Shows this dreadful don't pop up every day, which means - assuming "A&F" survives - this could become a classic of sorts, reality TV's own "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

All told, this means "A&F" is actually kind of fun, as shows like this can often be. It's just hard to know when to laugh or when not to laugh. "A&F" features the formerly sort-of-famous-in-a-vague-sort-of-way, including that game old pro, Erik Estrada - "Ponch" Poncherello of "CHiPs" - and Jackson. They're joined by Osbourne, Jason "Wee Man" Acuna ("Jackass") and World Wrestling Entertainment champ Trish Stratus.

Yes, the casting is masterful, considering what "A&F" is all about. Our heroes head to Muncie, Ind. ("a world away from Hollywood," the voiceover helpfully explains), where they undergo training to become police officers. Estrada helpfully says he had "some preparation" at "CHiPs," but "that was make-believe." Jackson helpfully tells viewers she always had two career ambitions - to work at McDonald's or be a cop, while Osbourne helpfully notes that "the scariest thing I've ever seen is La Toya Jackson loading a Glock ... six feet away from me."

Our gang gets their badges and busts some criminals - or, more precisely, indigents.

It's "Reno 911" meets "Cops." Ed Wood would cherish every frame.

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/ny-etarmed5045202jan10,0,5648857.story?coll=ny-television-headlines

Television Critics' Winter Tour Notebook
CNN to Crown King in April
By Linda Haugsted MultiChannel News 1/9/2007

Pasadena, Calif. -- CNN will mark talk-show host Larry King's 50 years in television in April with a week of specials ranging from a roast to an interview of King during his program, with CBS anchor Katie Couric as his interrogator.

Bill Maher will host the roast, to be telecast during King-Sized Week starting April 16 at 9 p.m. each day. Executives said the network is negotiating with Angelina Jolie to participate in one of the evenings of the event.

King, talking with television critics meeting here for the next two weeks, noted that his contract is up in 2009, at which point he will have been at CNN for 24 years. Past that, "If they want me, I'll stay," he said, quoting a Milton Berle line, "Retire? To what?"

King reminisced about his career and opined on the state of the business. He said he disagreed with the business trend to target viewers younger than 55 years old, quipping that, as a 73-year-old man, technically, his show is unappealing to himself. If a guy is 65, has a steady job, owns a Cadillac and is looking to replace it with a Lexus or a Lincoln, "Why don't we want him?" he asked rhetorically.

CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton explained that the network's focus on 18- to 55-year-old viewers is a business decision; the network follows where the money goes, he added.

Another business decision -- to build CNN's broadband business -- has been a success, he added. Broadband users accessed 630 million videos from the network's Web site in 2006, he said, adding that each one of those was viewed with an attached commercial. More video was accessed from CNN.com than from the broadcast network sites combined, he said.

Walton also noted that CNN will launch an HD version of the network this fall. CNN already signed one distributor for the HD network, which he did not identify.

On CNN Headline News, the company will add quarterly specials in 2007, hosted by Glenn Beck. The first topic will be global warming. Beck joked that he's taking on the topic despite the advice of staffers that he will destroy his credentials as a conservative if he admits that global warming exists.

Critics took hits at the inclusion of nonjournalists such as Beck and Nancy Grace to the lineups of the all-news networks. Executives said the creation of "point-of-view" programming in primetime has been a boon to ratings.

Grace's program posted the fastest ratings growth in cable in 2005, tripling the ratings for her time period, while Beck's show posted the greatest ratings growth in 2006, said Ken Jautz, executive vice president of CNN Worldwide.

He and other executives stressed that CNN's brand is about journalism and integrity, but critics questioned whether the commentators -- especially Grace -- fit that brand definition.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6405838.html?display=Breaking+News

TV Notebook
How I Met Middle Age
James Poniewozik's Time "Tuned In" Blog - January 9, 2007

Last night on How I Met Your Mother, the five main characters reminisced about how they each lost their virginity. The capper was a fake reminiscence by Barney (Neal Patrick Harris) that lifted the details from the movie Dirty Dancing, which the show cleverly depicted by replaying the "Love Is Strange" scene from the movie, with Harris' face digitally superimposed on Patrick Swayze's body. It was a characteristic move from this deceptively conventional sitcom, which lulls you into familiarity with its five-friends-hangin'-in-a-bar setting, then throws curveballs that break with three-camera sitcom form out of nowhere.

But it was typical in another way too. In a later scene, Barney comes up with more fake deflowering stories (he's covering up the real, embarrassing story) based on plots from '80s movies: War Games, Risky Business and so on. Again, funny. But kind of weird, considering that the characters are ostensibly in their late 20s--yet they seem to have the common cultural referents of people about a decade older.

And not just in this episode. One earlier this season contained a gut-busting set piece in which Robin is discovered to have been a Canadian pop star as a teen, as revealed in a pitch-perfect parody of an '80s Tiffany/Debbie Gibson single and video. Only thing is, she would have been a teen in the '90s. The episode explained it by saying that Canada was about 10 years behind the times, but I wonder if something else isn't at work.

The natural guess would be that the writers and producers are geezers filtering their own experiences through younger characters. But the co-creators of the show are, in fact, roughly the same age as their ensemble (a shade older--just past 30). The audience, though, that's a different story. How I Met Your Mother is among a few shows that has appealed to a younger audience than the typical CBS crowd, but "younger" here is a relative term. On CBS, most likely, a sitcom like this is reaching not 20something singles, but 30something couples with kids, who vicariously relive their single days through it and appreciate a good Tiffany joke. (As VH1 proves again and again--those aging Gen-Xers, they loves them some snarky nostalgia.) It's the perfect way to make a show about young people for CBS and yet make sure it stays on the air, by appealing to over-the-hill 38-year-olds, desperately wanting to cling to their youth like... er, me.

Yes, I have become the CBS audience. You'll have to excuse me. I think I need to go take my pills now.

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

Read beyond the headline (5th and 6th paragraphs) for an ongoing twist in Dish's legal troubles about retransmitting network TV programming.

The Business of TV
Supreme Court rejects EchoStar appeal
By Brooks Boliek, The Hollywood Reporter - January 10, 2007

The U.S. Supreme Court closed the book on the long-running legal dispute between broadcasters and the nation's second-biggest satellite TV company over who it could serve with programming outside individual markets at the same time the sequel is playing in district court.

When the high court refused to hear EchoStar Communications Corp.'s appeal of a lower court order forcing the company to shut off 850,000 customers who are receiving their network TV illegally, it should have ended the legal battle. Satellite TV companies are prohibited from delivering out-of-market signals to customers who can pick up their local affiliates with an antenna.

While the court order upholds broadcasters' victory in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, another new legal fight carves something of a hollow in it.

"The Supreme Court upheld the 11th Circuit in Atlanta stands," said Wade Hargrove, an attorney representing network affiliates. "EchoStar has exhausted its appeals."

While Hargrove called the 11th Circuit's ruling a "great victory for broadcasters," he said the dispute continues. Broadcasters contend that EchoStar is still delivering the same out-of-market signals to its customers but is using the Indiana-based All-America Direct company as a front.


"It's a sham," Hargrove said. "They can't be permitted to do indirectly what the court said they couldn't do directly."

Unfortunately for Hargrove, the district court didn't see it that way, ruling that the two companies are acting legally. That decision is on appeal to the 11th Circuit.

EchoStar contends that it is out of the "distant signals market" and that independent companies are providing a means for their customers to get the TV shows to which they are entitled under law.

"EchoStar has been out of the distant network channel business since December of last year," the company said. "Our customers who used to subscribe to distant network channels have a broad variety of alternatives available to them to minimize disruption including an over-the-air antenna, lifeline cable or contacting another satellite provider such as All American Direct to see if they are eligible to qualify for distant network channels."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i768f84b30a9d2302b424ab56551b5e0e

The Business of Television
Sinclair Updates on Mediacom Retrans Spat
(The Evening Bridge)

This afternoon, executives with Sinclair Broadcast Group updated the media and Wall Street on the company's ongoing retransmission consent skirmish with Mediacom.

The broadcast giant called "unusual" a proposal floated by the Federal Communications Commission to take the companies into binding arbitration, but said it would further consider the proposal, and that "we owe them (Mediacom) an answer on arbitration," a Sinclair executive said.

Also, Sinclair executives said Mediacom's various public statements and efforts tied to its arguments about the retrans spat are "desperate" and may be an attempt to influence regulators. Mediacom dropped Sinclair stations from its lineup during the weekend after the sides couldn't reach an agreement on retransmission consent.

The Business of Television
There’s More to Sinclair Than Retrans
TVNewsday.com Jan. 9, 2007

Best known these days for his public battles with cable operators, the CEO of the nation's ninth-largest TV station group is more excited about developing a whole new business—broadcasting pay programming to viewers on the go.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group has been much in the news lately, mostly for the hard line it is taking with cable operators on retransmission consent negotiation. It wants cash, and has shown a willingness to fight on any ground—the market or the FCC—to get it. Right now, it is engaged in battles with Mediacom and Time Warner. For the latest, simply plug “Sinclair” into the TVNEWSDAY search engine.

For this edited interview with TVNEWSDAY Editor Harry A. Jessell, Sinclair’s CEO David Smith declines to talk about current retrans negotiations, but explains why he is willing to do battle and lives up to his reputation for outspokenness in commenting on other broadcasters’ limp retrans efforts.

It is also clear from this interview that retrans is not what Smith is most excited about these days. That would be the prospect of using digital TV to broadcast subscription-supported programming directly to consumers with laptops, cell phones or other portable or mobile devices.

According to the BIA Financial Network, the publicly traded Sinclair Broadcast Group in the ninth largest U.S. TV station group with 2005 revenue of $678 million. Its 39 full-power stations reached 22% of U.S. TV homes and include mostly affiliates of Fox and My Network TV.

Here, Smith also explains why he isn’t interested in buying more TV stations right now, even though the company stock has enjoyed a nice upward ride over the past quarter, and why he’s not worried about the networks’ fascination with the Internet or with the poor performance of MNT.

Why are you taking such an aggressive posture on retrans?

David Smith: I don’t really see it as an aggressive stance. I see it as nothing more than if I have content and you’d like to package it and resell it to your consumers so you can make a buck off of it, why can’t I share in that? That’s all. It’s nothing more complex than that.

My signals are valuable because everybody’s watching them. I mean that’s kind of the definition of value, isn’t it? The satellite companies have been paying a lot of us in the industry for a reasonable period of time now, and the phone companies are now gearing up.

In the neighborhood where I live in Baltimore, the phone company is saying they’re going to have everything Comcast has and they make no bones about what’s necessary for them to launch their competitive business. They recognize they have to have content and they have to have the content that everybody wants. Our dilemma as an industry is nothing more than a legacy issue. We’ve been giving it away for free for so long we don’t know how to ask for money. That’s all.

If you know cable is paying 25 cents for channel 250 that six people watch and if you know that you have a channel that has 60,000 people watching, wouldn’t you think it's worth at least 20 cents?

The cable guys argue that shouldn’t have to pay because you get to use the public airwaves for free.

David Smith: Let me just set the record straight on a couple of points. No. 1, I paid as a company billions of dollars for my television licenses. I pay annual fees to keep them. Nobody talks about that. What I do in dealing with the network, I give up inventory in those television shows in exchange for the show. I am paying for that content with my own inventory. Nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody on the cable side wants to recognize that as a cost of doing business. And, as a company, we’ve invested $150 million in equipment just to be able to do digital.

I don’t see other broadcasters being so aggressive on retrans? Why do you think that is?

David Smith: Companies like Nexstar are getting retrans. Hearst is getting retrans. LIN just announced a retrans deal yesterday. I think it was with one of the phone companies. I don’t think we’re the only ones who are doing this.

When I say retrans deals, I’m talking cable operators. Everybody is getting telco and satellite deals.

David Smith: If you get them, then it’s just a matter of time before you get everybody else.

Well, that may be true for you, but it doesn’t seem to be true for everybody else. Nexstar had some success in ’05, but other than that only you seem to be willing to battle for retrans. Does that surprise you that broadcasters aren’t more aggressive?

David Smith: It doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Why not?

David Smith: Because the broadcast industry, fundamentally, lacks leadership in certain areas. This is not meant as a negative to the guys in the business or the girls in the business, but, generally speaking, the people who run television stations don’t own them. They have no skin in the game and as a function of that, the last thing they want to do is see themselves strewn across the trades being sued in federal court, attacked in Congress, attacked in front of the FCC. Name me one general manager who’s working for a paycheck who would like to see that happen.

I’m hoping that CBS sticks to its guns and says, “We’re going to get paid because cable doesn’t have the leverage it used to have when we had all the Viacom channels.” They have every reason now to say this is what I want, and I hope they get it. Now maybe that’s the dam buster for the CBS affiliate body. I don’t know.

Everybody is watching that closely. You talk about leadership. Broadcasters are looking to [CBS CEO Les] Moonves to raise a flag that they can all rally behind.

David Smith: Well, that means they’re a bunch of sheep. They’re a bunch of followers. Why don’t they go lead?

You’ve had a big run up on your stock since October, 40% to around $11 now. Do you think that has anything to do with your retrans stand?

David Smith: No I don’t think so. I think it’s recognition by the analysts that the stock at $7 or $8 was a gift and that the relevant numbers that they need to focus on are free cash flow per share. Interestingly enough, when you go back and look at free cash flow per share in 2004 versus 2006 and compare their to the stock prices, you find that the stock should be about $18 now. Our free cash flow is just staggering. It’s so much more than it was in 2004 that it’s scary.

Well, it’s not scary. I mean we’re just running a slightly different business than we were in 2004. We continue to tell Wall Street that you shouldn’t focus on us as a broadcast company or anything else. You should just focus on what our free cash flow per share is, period, because at the end of the day all that’s relevant to the shareholders is how much money is being pushed out the door. Whether you have a TV station in Des Moines, Iowa, or Timbuctoo really isn’t important. It’s just a free cash flow analysis for us.

I read somewhere that one of the other broadcasters has said that they’re going to find other places to go spend their capital other than the broadcast business. That’s a valid notion only because at this point I kind of look at broadcasting as an industry in transition. For people who have significant balance sheet capacity, it’s time to go find other places to deploy capital that can produce significant rates of return for you.

But isn’t this the time you should be putting money into the broadcasting industry because it is, as you say, in transition? It needs capital.

David Smith: We’ve put all the money we can into it from a standpoint of infrastructure and things of that nature. We’re just waiting now for the rest of the world to catch up to us.

Explain to me how you get this cash flow growth when the top line looks so bad. If you take out the political money, your third-quarter numbers were flat to slightly down. Even with political, your revenue was up only slightly.

David Smith: Controlling cost, just controlling cost and doing what we do to run the business on a day-to-day basis. Look at our free cash flow. When you see the numbers at the end of this year, it’s conceivable we might give some guidance for 2007, which would be a rarity for us. I’m not telling you we are, but we’re giving consideration to it because there are a lot of things that are going on that we think are noteworthy.

You’re involved with Samsung in developing and testing the A-VSB DTV standard that it says would allow you and other broadcasters to broadcast programming to laptops and other portable and mobile devices. What’s your interest in all this?

David Smith: Look at it as a retrans business. The phone company, the guys who are selling the phones, will not be able to use our content unless we agree to let them use it because there are things that have to be done to it in order to make it useable on a telephone.

It’s conceivable that when you walk into a Verizon or Cingular store, the sales person goes over all the things you can get. One of them will be television and it will cost you 25 cents a month or a dollar and a half a month or whatever it happens to be.

Under that scenario, I expect we’ll reach some kind of accommodation with the phone companies whereby we’ll make our content available to them and they’ll resell it, which is generally what they do, and we’ll take our cut. They’re not originators of anything. They’re simply retransmitters, if you will, or processors and collectors of fees.

So your plan is to take a portion of your DTV signal and use it to broadcast programming for cell phones?

David Smith: I’m saying we have the capacity to do that right now. We’ve had the capacity. I told everybody that 10 years ago. Ten years ago—I remember this like it was yesterday—I pulled a cell phone out and I said, “Do you see this cell phone? We’re going to be talking to this cell phone and people are probably going to be paying for this. The only issue is what day.” Ten years later, we’re seeing the demonstration.

How close to reality is this. Is this a real, live service?

David Smith: It’s alive as soon as the phones are available and you’re going to see the first phones. It’s alive as soon as the broadcasters decide they want to make that content available to the phone companies.

And you’re confident that the technology works now. You were highly critical of the VSB standard 10 years ago?

David Smith: We were critical because 10 years ago it didn’t function and, frankly, in today’s world, it still doesn’t function the way the European standard does, not even close. In order to get even close to what the European standard does, there’s a huge sacrifice in the payload so you have to give up an enormous amount of data capacity in order to do what they do normally.

[b]You’re talking now about Samsung’s Advanced VSB. How far away is that from a real product?

David Smith: You can reach out and touch it.

But from what I understand, the Samsung standard is still a work in progress.

David Smith: I would say the standard will be a work in progress the rest of our lives. It will be a constant modification process. What I’m suggesting to you is that Samsung is way down the path in terms of putting phones on the street that are able to receive over-the-air television if we’re ready to give them the content—and that’s just an economic deal.

Do you think somebody will be offering me this service by the end of next year?

David Smith: I think it’s very conceivable, yes.

And you see this as a subscription service. Then, this is just like the service that USDTV tried to launch, except the receivers will be in your hand instead of on the set top.

David Smith: That’s exactly true. It’s going to be in your watch, it’s going to be in your phone, it’s going to be in your laptop, it’s going to be in your car, it’s going to be on your desk, it’s going to be wherever you want it to be.

Do you think this is the application for DTV?

David Smith: Oh, that I couldn’t tell you. I’m just telling you it’s one of the thousand and they’re all subscription businesses.

All subscription businesses?

David Smith: All subscription businesses, no different than what satellite is, cable is, the phone company is, the Internet is or the people that are selling Xboxes and charging kids $9 a month for the games.

So free over-the-air doesn’t have a future here.

David Smith: Oh, that is still a great business.

But you just said you were going to use your extra digital bits for pay services.

David Smith: Sure. I’ll use them for anything I can make money with.

Unlike a lot of your peers, you seem to have a clear idea about where DTV is going.

David Smith: But as frightening as this may sound, I sat on committees with people—some of the biggest names in the business—seven or eight years ago who said very matter of factly, "I have no interest in portability, I have no interest in mobility, I’m a single purpose business and I only want to talk to the piece of furniture in the corner of the house."

Sadly, there are still a lot of people who still believe that. They’re only interested in talking to large screen television sets and the notion of doing something outside that box is so foreign to them they might as well go build airplanes or something. Again, that’s not a criticism of them. It simply points to the reality that people in the broadcast business only think one thought, period. They take somebody else’s content or content they make themselves and they distribute through this thing they call over the air and that’s all they do and they make a fortune doing it, period.

I think that’s why many broadcasters like the idea of retrans. It’s a way of getting paid more for essentially doing the same old thing.

David Smith: Why don’t they go get it then? Why don’t you ask them why they don’t go get it?

Do you see yourself creating new content for the mobile marketplace?

David Smith: Absolutely yes. Well, I shouldn’t say me. I see myself partnering with people who want to use my pipeline to reach phones. I had a meeting two hours ago with a guy who came in here and said he wants to use my pipeline because he wants to talk to cell phones.

So you can do multiple streams of this and you don’t have to create every one of them?

David Smith: Absolutely. I don’t have to do anything. All I have to do is be a pass-through or, if I think that I’m smart enough to create something, I’ll create it. But I’m not that smart.

Are you interested in the Internet as a programming platform?

David Smith: I don’t think of it in terms of that as yet, but in the end it is it going to be a platform. I just can’t tell you what day that’s going to happen, but I believe it will. It will be another place for people to watch us.

In fact, I saw an interesting story on the Internet this morning about David Poltrack up at CBS. The gist of it was, the more places people have to watch television, the more they watch. There’s an interesting notion for you. So I guess that means if they can watch it on the Internet, someday that’s just another place for me to sell advertising.

If broadcasting is such a great business how come you’re not buying more TV stations?

David Smith: Cause I already got plenty.

But we just reported that there may be more stations on the block than at any other time in the past 10 years.

David Smith: No I’ll tell you why I’m not [a buyer]. It’s because I believe that everybody who’s buying stations today will be selling them in five years.

You’re talking about these private equity companies?

David Smith: Yes. You don’t think they’re buying them and holding them, do you?

No.

David Smith: No. So they’re going to buy them and sell them in five to seven years. That’s the nature of their model. So I’d rather wait to see how the technology thing evolves and once I have a view of the horizon as to what that’s going to be, then I may look at buying television stations again. Of course, I see the upside potential in retrans fees.

You were sort of the inventor of the virtual duopoly—owning one station and operating another in the same market under contract.

David Smith: We did the first duopoly in 1991 in Pittsburgh. You know what, there are still people today, there are still lawyers in Washington representing broadcasters who say, he can’t do that.

Oh, I know. I have posted stories in which they’re attacking Schurz and Granite.

David Smith: Is that a comedy? Those are the same people who are saying that nobody flew into the World Trade Center and there wasn’t a Holocaust. Nothing surprises me.

Is it important to you to have the ownership rules changed so you could purchase some of the stations that you now operate under LMAs or whatever you call them.

David Smith: I’m happy to buy them anytime the government wants to change the rules.

But it doesn’t bother you that you can’t today? It’s not a big deal to you?

David Smith: No. It doesn’t change my model.

But it’s always better to own than to rent isn’t it?

David Smith: Well, let me suggest something to you. If you don’t have to own, but you can get the economics of it, why would you own? If you can go get an apartment building and get somebody to give you all the money that comes out of it then why would you want to buy the building if you get the money for free?

Let me ask a couple of network questions. You’re a big MNT affiliate. Are you disappointed in the performance of the network?

David Smith: Yes, I am disappointed there, but it doesn’t surprise me because I remember in 1986 when the Fox network launched and everybody said they’ll be out of business in 30 days and then I said, well, let's wait and see what happens

I kind of said the same thing this time. Don’t bet against what they’re capable of doing. The fact of the matter is that after 20-something years, they’re still around as the Fox network and my sense is that they have a huge vested interest in making sure that the thing survives. Fox has billions of dollars invested in its television stations. They clearly have a bigger interest certainly than Time Warner did in the WB.

So what are they telling you? I mean what’s plan B?

David Smith: I couldn’t tell you what plan B is.You’d have to call up them and ask them, but my sense is don’t ever count them out under any circumstances.

You have 19 Fox affiliates, 10 ABC affiliates. Are you concerned by the loss of exclusivity? The ABC and Fox programming is popping up all over cable and now the Internet.

David Smith: There’s been a lot of yakking about that and, frankly, I haven’t seen the effect of it anyplace. Everybody said the world was going to come to an end and so on, but I haven’t seen any effect. I looked at the ratings. Nothing happened. The fact that you might be able to go watch some television show five days later or something on the Internet or two days later or whatever it happens to be hasn’t done anything that I can see.

Getting back to DTV for a moment. I take it that you’re a believer in HDTV, too.

David Smith: If they give it to me, I play it.

What about producing it locally?

David Smith: I think we’ll produce it to the extent that we need to in the context of news. I think the world will transition that way. Yes.

Beyond HD and beyond mobile, is there anything else that you can do with that digital signal?

David Smith: To be honest with you, I’m not smart enough to have conceived it all. All I can tell you is that when you have a pipeline that’s as big as ours, people are going to figure out how to use it to make a buck off of it and all I have to do is stand back and wait for them to call me.

If I can’t figure out how to make a buck off of it where I get a hundred cents off every dollar, I’m happy to take 50 cents off of every dollar and act as a pipeline.

http://tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/01/09/daily.4/

If this column doesn’t get some reaction, I don’t know what will….(and thanks to Dad1153 for pointing this piece out to me.)
Critic’s Notebook
Despite ups and downs, HBO sets standard
By Brian Lowry Variety January 9, 2007

IN BASEBALL TERMS, think of HBO like the New York Yankees: While it's always fashionable to badmouth them, they set the standard to which others aspire.

Contemplating HBO's place in TV's perennial pennant race seems timely, what with the pay channel occupying a larger-than-usual role in other networks' fortunes as cablers present lineups to the TV Critics Assn. this week, followed by another Golden Globes Awards where -- increased competition notwithstanding -- the Time Warner-owned network invariably garners the most nominations and, not incidentally, throws the ritziest parties.

There's no arguing HBO has felt its collar tighten somewhat, struggling to develop another hit remotely approaching the commercial appeal of "The Sopranos" or "Sex and the City" and grimacing while channels like Showtime and FX yip at its prestige-hungry heels -- the former making inroads with "Dexter" and "Weeds."

Take a step back, though, and HBO continues to deliver an enviable array of quality series, with two of the more brilliant and unsung, "Extras" and "Rome," returning Sunday. That follows, in just the past year, a season of "The Wire" that merits knighthood for show creator David Simon, "Deadwood," "Big Love," 310-area code darling "Entourage," powerful documentaries like "Baghdad ER" and "When the Levees Broke," and the glorious miniseries "Elizabeth I," all establishing HBO as a repository of much of TV's finest.

SO WHY THE ELEVATED critical carping -- the glee in dismissing a subpar year of "Sopranos" and savaging the sitcom flop "Lucky Louie"? Because past performance rightfully raised expectations, and HBO has experienced notable misfires, including "Louie," Lisa Kudrow vehicle "The Comeback," and anything that featured comic Dane Cook. It's always comforting to see the mighty brought down a peg or two.

Viewed in a larger context, however, there's at least logic behind those failures, in part because the comedy genre cries out for risk-taking given the shortage of breakthroughs.

Clearly, HBO faces pressure to restock a thinning cupboard, especially if the channel is going to peddle edited versions of "Sopranos" and "The Wire" to A&E and BET, respectively, sacrificing its exclusive claim to those signature offerings, just as "Sex and the City" has become a TBS mainstay. Moreover, flat subscriber levels make the need for fresh blood more than an academic exercise.

As with the Yankees, signs of faltering will surely yield howls from the cheap seats, and HBO must ante up for new heavy hitters to renew its winning ways. Then again, as "Rome" reminds us, such is the price of empire.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117957012&categoryid=14

The Business of TV
Sinclair Fires Back at Mediacom
By Mike Farrell MultiChannel News 1/9/2007

Sinclair Broadcast Group fired back in its long-standing retransmission-consent battle with Mediacom Communications, holding a press conference Tuesday blasting the cable operator and stating that a resolution to their dispute is not likely to come soon.

The Sinclair press conference came one day after Mediacom held its own conference call regarding its appeal of a Federal Communications Commission ruling last week that found that Sinclair was negotiating with the cable operator in good faith.

On Tuesday, Sinclair general counsel Barry Faber said the TV-station owner was holding the conference call in response to calls it received over the past few days on the matter.

“The parties do not appear to be any closer,” Faber said on the call. “This may continue for a long period of time.”

Faber also cast doubt on Mediacom’s assertion that Iowa state legislators will step in to resolve the dispute. Mediacom and the Iowa Cable & Telecommunications Association asked the Iowa General Assembly to look into the dispute and pass legislation that would prohibit any programmer from “discriminating against Iowans.”

“Mediacom, the company that is predicting that legislators will step in to help them, is the same company that incorrectly predicted that they would receive help from a federal court, which denied their motion for an injunction, and from the FCC, which also denied all of their filings,” Faber said on the call.

In a phone interview, Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said he believes the threat of legislation is worrying Sinclair. He added that Iowans are “very upset” about the dispute.

“I can’t tell you when the solution to this thing will be, because it does take two to tango,” Commisso said. “But I feel better than I did yesterday.”

Faber said Sinclair still intends to respond to Mediacom’s request for binding arbitration to settle the matter, although he did not say when the company will provide that response. But he hinted that such arbitration is unlikely.

“We’re still considering it,” Faber said. “We have reason to believe that even if we were willing to do it, the parameters under which we would be prepared to do it are different than the parameters under which Mediacom would be willing to do it … If you were selling your house, ask yourself if some buyer wanted to offer you less than you were willing to sell it for, and the buyer said ‘Let’s go find an arbitrator,’ would you really be willing to put yourself in a position where some arbitrator could force you to sell your house at a price that you didn’t think was appropriate?”

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6406043

(It might be time to start considering a TiVo Season Pass for "The View")
TV Notebook
Rosie Blows Up at “Liar” Babs
By Richard Johnson The New York Post in his Page Six column

January 9, 2007 -- THE tension between "The View" creator Barbara Walters and co-host Rosie O'Donnell, sparked by O'Donnell's feud with Donald Trump, boiled over yesterday morning when the portly comic called Walters "a [bleeping] liar."

The fight started around 8:30 a.m. when Walters, back from a two-week vacation, walked into the hair and makeup room at ABC studios and tried to hug O'Donnell, whom she hired onto the popular show.

According to spies, O'Donnell recoiled from Walters' touch and yelled, "You kept me in the newspapers this whole time!"

Both "View" producer Bill Geddie and Walters tried to calm O'Donnell. Walters told her, "I did everything I could to squash the story" - prompting Rosie to scream, "You didn't call me for 10 goddamn days, and you didn't tell me what you were going to say on television!"

O'Donnell is fuming because Trump went on Larry King two weeks ago - after she had called Trump a "snake-oil salesman" - and said Walters told him she regretted hiring O'Donnell. Trump also blasted the comic as "a horrible human being and a loser."

During her vacation, Walters issued a carefully worded statement saying, "I'm sorry there is friction between Donald and Rosie. That said, I do not regret for one moment my choice to hire Rosie O'Donnell as the moderator of 'The View.' "

After O'Donnell's outburst at Walters yesterday, Geddie jumped in and told her, "You've crossed the line." O'Donnell retorted, "Cameras are now outside of my house where my wife and kids are." She turned to Walters and said, "You went all around this and never called [Trump] a liar. You never said, 'Donald is lying.' You never called him a liar."

When Walters tried to defend herself, O'Donnell erupted, "Are you looking me in the face and denying you didn't tell him you didn't say this? You're a [bleeping] liar."

Cindi Berger, a rep for both Walters and O'Donnell said, "Whatever happened in the hair and makeup room was hardly a squabble. It's business as usual, everyone has moved on."

http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i768f84b30a9d2302b424ab56551b5e0e


I tried to get my Senators to under stand that I had waviers in hand but the weight of NAB contributions crushed me down to the ignored voter they've always seen me as.
Edited too much RE: ECHO vs Supreme Court.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
A&E creates reality version of 'Entourage'
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor in his blog “Tuned In” Jan. 9, 2007

HBO's "Entourage" follows a group of young Hollywood hot shots and A&E will air a reality show version featuring Randy Spelling (son of Aaron, brother of Tori), Sean Stewart (son of Rod) and David Weintraub (not a Hollywood scion, but a rising talent agent).

"Sons of Hollywood," premiering April 1, will follow these lads as they party hearty (Stewart, in particular, likes to be naked) and try to jump start their careers. Young Spelling found a personal tragedy caught up in the series: The death of his TV producer dad.

In a clip from the film, Weintraub counsels Stewart, the wildest of the bunch, to support Spelling when he returns to the house they shared for the duration of the show's filming.

"I'll be there for him," Stewart says. "Are we going to [the club inside the] Roosevelt Thursday night?"

Spelling said he knew his father's health was declining when he agreed to participate in the show, but he didn't think his father would pass away.

"It is real life and unfortunately we were shooting at the time and it was what I was going through," Spelling said. He was interested in the show because he said, "I wanted to do something to give people insight into who I am. I wanted to get across how I was and all the struggles of having a famous last name and coming from a famous family. It's not just getting silver spoons everywhere and having everything given to you."

Spelling acknowledged that doors open for him because of his famous last name, but once that door opens, "you almost have to prove yourself to be as good if not better than the competition because you are scrutinized for nepotism, son of a famous TV producer, the brother of Tori Spelling. It definitely comes with advantages and disadvantages."

Spelling declined to answer questions about the supposed Spelling family feud that erupted between Tori and her mother after his father's death.

"All I want to say about the rift is that Tori makes an appearance on the show a couple of times and so does my mom," Spelling said. "In terms of the family drama, I'd rather not discuss it."

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

Critic’s Notebook
Despite ups and downs, HBO sets standard
By Brian Lowry Variety January 9, 2007

IN BASEBALL TERMS, think of HBO like the New York Yankees: While it's always fashionable to badmouth them, they set the standard to which others aspire.

Contemplating HBO's place in TV's perennial pennant race seems timely, what with the pay channel occupying a larger-than-usual role in other networks' fortunes as cablers present lineups to the TV Critics Assn. this week, followed by another Golden Globes Awards where -- increased competition notwithstanding -- the Time Warner-owned network invariably garners the most nominations and, not incidentally, throws the ritziest parties.

There's no arguing HBO has felt its collar tighten somewhat, struggling to develop another hit remotely approaching the commercial appeal of "The Sopranos" or "Sex and the City" and grimacing while channels like Showtime and FX yip at its prestige-hungry heels -- the former making inroads with "Dexter" and "Weeds."

Take a step back, though, and HBO continues to deliver an enviable array of quality series, with two of the more brilliant and unsung, "Extras" and "Rome," returning Sunday. That follows, in just the past year, a season of "The Wire" that merits knighthood for show creator David Simon, "Deadwood," "Big Love," 310-area code darling "Entourage," powerful documentaries like "Baghdad ER" and "When the Levees Broke," and the glorious miniseries "Elizabeth I," all establishing HBO as a repository of much of TV's finest.

SO WHY THE ELEVATED critical carping -- the glee in dismissing a subpar year of "Sopranos" and savaging the sitcom flop "Lucky Louie"? Because past performance rightfully raised expectations, and HBO has experienced notable misfires, including "Louie," Lisa Kudrow vehicle "The Comeback," and anything that featured comic Dane Cook. It's always comforting to see the mighty brought down a peg or two.

Viewed in a larger context, however, there's at least logic behind those failures, in part because the comedy genre cries out for risk-taking given the shortage of breakthroughs.

Clearly, HBO faces pressure to restock a thinning cupboard, especially if the channel is going to peddle edited versions of "Sopranos" and "The Wire" to A&E and BET, respectively, sacrificing its exclusive claim to those signature offerings, just as "Sex and the City" has become a TBS mainstay. Moreover, flat subscriber levels make the need for fresh blood more than an academic exercise.

As with the Yankees, signs of faltering will surely yield howls from the cheap seats, and HBO must ante up for new heavy hitters to renew its winning ways. Then again, as "Rome" reminds us, such is the price of empire.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117957012&categoryid=14

You can only live off your past glories for so long, particularly in this industry in which you're only as good as your last movie/TV show/project. HBO was and is still a quality operation, but others have noticed and have also started catering to and creating quality programming. FX and Showtime have taken HBO's playbook and while they've both had their share of ratings misses (Over There, Brotherhood, etc.) the high percentage of quality shows on those networks is close to or even within HBO's shows in critical buzz. Even TNT's The Closer and a few of its mini-series (Into the West) are influenced by HBO's models for its mini-series and made-for-TV movies. Here HBO is safe. Nobody does made-for-TV movies of the quality, depth and caliber of HBO except for some acquired PBS 'Masterpiece Theater' movie.

And then there's The Sopranos and Sex & The City. These gigantic shows were both critical darlings and ratings blockbusters, and nothing HBO has come up since has come close to matching the success of these two. HBO is a victim of its own perceived inability to catch lightning in the bottle a few more times. That's the standard you set yourself up to when you've created compelling TV worlds and characters that have since been cloned without success.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
FX and Speed Channel to go HD
By James Hibberd Television Week in his “Critical Eye” blog January 9, 2007

Earlier today TVWeek broke that a host of NBC-Universal and Turner networks will launch HD channels by the end of year.

We can now add Fox Cable Network Group’s FX and Speed Channel to the list, though sources cautioned that the company might still elect to do a compilation Fox Cable network rather than individual simulcasts for non-DirecTV systems.

The news was spurred by DirecTV’s announcement yesterday at CES that they had secured distribution agreements with 60 cable networks for new HD channels.

Only problem: A bunch of the channels named had yet to announce they were going HD. Some network sources said they were caught off guard by the announcement, which essentially pushed a whole host of channels into the public HD pool before they were ready, without so much as a press release to wear.

http://blogs.tvweek.com/?cat=12

I tried to get my Senators to under stand that I had waviers in hand but the weight of NAB contributions crushed me down to the ignored voter they've always seen me as.
Edited too much RE: ECHO vs Supreme Court.


I thought Dish had handed off their DBS customers to another company, Dave. Can't you switch those waivers to the new DNS firm?

A Great, GREAT Day for HD ! !

Given all the official announcements (if you don't concede yesterday's DirecTV HD announcement to be official enough), this is one of the best HD days ever.

So far we have confirmations that CNN, SciFi, USA, TBS, FX, Speed Channel, and perhaps some other NBC-Universal channels will be adding HD capability THIS YEAR!

While much of this was expected (TBS does have a baseball package coming up, for example) to get all the official confirmations was wonderful news.

And my Time Warner cable system in NYC will probably carry none of them! :( :mad:

Critic’s Notebook
"The Class" takes action
By David Kronke Los Angeles Daily News Television Critic in his “The Mayor Of Television” blog January 9, 2007

Doesn't really look like CBS's new sitcom "The Class" will be back for a second season, so they're making a last-gasp effort to instill some enthusiasm for the show, offering live webcasts of the table read and subsequent run-through for an upcoming episode.

On Jan. 15 at 11 a.m. PST and Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. PST, you can tune into this link http://theclass.warnerbrostv.com/theclass/default.aspx and watch the cast struggle through an unfinished script. This could be kind of risky, because early drafts of some scripts can be pretty rough, and if that's the case here, people tuning in may only be persuaded to avoid the show with even more zeal.

And if you've never seen a table read before, my, it's a mighty awkward thing. Besides the cast and the writers, there's a bunch of executives and other folks gathered around to laugh way too uncomfortably loudly at all the punchlines. It might be the most appreciative, and the phoniest, audience the script will get before it's sent back for rewrites. Run-throughs can be even more pernicious, depending on how well the cast members have learned their lines.

Be thankful, however, that they're not offering you a chance to watch the actual taping online. Those things are bloated affairs cluttered with stops and starts that can last four hours or more. And not even the most avid fan would have the patience to sit through that online.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tv/

And my Time Warner cable system in NYC will probably carry none of them! :( :mad:


Take heart. They OWN a few of them....

A Great, GREAT Day for HD ! !

Given all the official announcements (if you don't concede yesterday's DirecTV HD announcement to be official enough), this is one of the best HD days ever.

So far we have confirmations that CNN, SciFi, USA, TBS, FX, Speed Channel, and perhaps some other NBC-Universal channels will be adding HD capability THIS YEAR!

While much of this was expected (TBS does have a baseball package coming up, for example) to get all the official confirmations was wonderful news.

Hopefully AVS and others have collectively raised enough stink to convince Turner not to base TBS HD on its stretch-o-vision technology but I'm not holding my breath.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Ring in the King:
CNN's Larry the Legend hits the half-century mark in broadcasting
By Ed Bark former Dallas Morning News TV critic at his website unclebarky.com January 9, 2007

PASADENA, Calif. -- And so it begins. Day One of a dozen-day TV "press tour" dawned Monday with 73-year-old Larry King still kicking and CNN planning a big blowout this April to celebrate his 50 years behind a mike.

Suspender-less in a dark suit and black mini-boots, King pronounced himself good to go for another decade or so. Or as CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton put it, "In 20 years time, when Larry retires..."

He's been doing CNN's Larry King Live since June 1985, and "some people say I look better now than I did 10 years ago," he opined. He did look pretty chipper, even if Walton pointedly referenced his age by telling TV critics, "There's no question that Larry can sit in his chair as long as he continues to perform."

King was followed by lion cub Glenn Beck of CNN's companion Headline News channel, where he's been a little sizzler since his show debuted in May. His Glenn Beck hour (6, 8 and 11 p.m. central) has jumped 65 percent in total viewers and 88 percent among advertiser-preferred 25-to-54-year-olds, says CNN. That makes the conservative but avowedly open-minded talker a hotter property at the moment than Headline's oft-lampooned Nancy Grace.

"I'm stupid enough to say what I actually feel," said Beck. "I wear it as a badge of honor that I'm not a journalist."

King has been making essentially the same declaration for years and years. Trained journalists in some ways are getting to be the mutts of the all-news cable networks. It works better, in the ratings at least, if you simply unleash yourself.

CNN's planned "King-Sized Week" (April 16-22) will include a roast hosted by Bill Maher, a 50 Years of Pop Culture special, an interview with Oprah Winfrey and King being interviewed by Katie Couric. He has definite ideas on what a good interviewer is and isn't. Make the questions short, don't overly prepare, listen intently to the answers and keep yourself at bay.

"The best way to judge an interviewer is how often does he or she say 'I'?" King said in a separate interview. "If they say 'I' a lot, they're not an interviewer. They're interested in themselves. I don't use the word 'I'. I never have all these years."

His "hands down" god of interviewers is Mike Wallace. "Mike's my favorite broadcaster. Mike's my favorite person"

King's not overly fond of USA Today, which several years back canned his weekly column via a form letter, he said

"Which was kinda cruel. They said they were looking for a different demographic and your appeal tends to skew a little older. You're writing about Frank Sinatra, and he's dead."

His CNN show now is outdrawn most nights by Fox News Channel's competing The O'Reilly Factor. Pish-tush, there's room for everybody, King said.

"They're (FNC) a brand. They represent a certain kind of thinking, and there's a place for all of it. They're pretty much an extension of the Republican Party, with some exceptions. But I don't begrudge them that."

A CNN promotional clip heralding King's arrival highlighted both his many and varied interviews, and roles as himself in 21 feature films. He'll add to that total with voiceover work in both Shrek 3 and Bee Movie with Jerry Seinfeld.

"I've never sought them out," King said. "But they're fun. They're all for the kick."

He yearns to star in his own one-man Broadway show, if only for a week. But that probably won't happen, King said.

Whatever his future holds, it won't be retirement unless he's physically or mentally infirm.

"I don't know what I would do being idle. I couldn't be idle."

Beck for his part was thrilled to be gabbing with King in a hotel "green room." Less than a year ago, he was just another radio host trying to make headway.

"It has been a wild, wild ride for me," said Beck, who professes to have found "eternal happiness" since becoming a practicing Mormon.

He'd like to see Americans "stop dividing ourselves" and disagree agreeably. One of his recent guests, the Rev. Al Sharpton, got that concept, Beck said. So they supposedly parted as friends despite being poles apart on just about every issue known to humankind.

Resembling a young Rush Limbaugh in both build and voice, Beck said he's not sure whether his show represents a "new evolution/revolution" or anything really pithy. But he's in there punching against posturers.

"The American people aren't stupid," he said. "They can spot B.S. just like that."

***So what's with Anderson Cooper continuing to sub as a co-host on Live with Regis & Kelly? Doesn't that detract from CNN's buildup of him as a dogged, serious news hound?

CNN International president Jim Walton said it's not a problem. Not in the least.

"It's a subjective thing," he told unclebarky.com. "It's our position that Anderson wanted to do it, was asked to do it. We thought it was OK. OK for people to know he's a human being."

http://www.unclebarky.com/presstour.html

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Pay attention if you want to see hints about the medium's future
By Rick KushmanSacramento Bee TV Columnist January 9, 2007

This has been a complicated season for the TV industry. The broadcast networks -- your ABCs, CBSs, NBCs and Foxes -- produced more high-quality television than they have in years.

It seemed like they were headed for banner ratings. And that's what they got. In some ways.

Ratings for the big TV dogs have dropped only a couple of percentage points so far this season, but in this new digital era, when entertainment choices are a click away on every kind of equipment in the house except the power drill, a small loss is a victory.

Ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce digital democracy, in which anyone can be a commentator, filmmaker or critic, and everyone has a circus of entertainment choices a click, dial or button push away.

Not all those choices are good, and most of the homemade films and commentaries reek of homemade-ness, but what is happening is that rather than people going to a handful of places for information and entertainment, they're spreading their attention around the planet.

And it's not just TV. Newspapers, book publishers and the music and film industries are all scrambling to find new ways to connect to people (translation: customers), which then produces more new ways for those people to entertain themselves. Circulation, ratings, the box office and all kinds of sales are down -- for the big boys. Instead, viewers, readers, moviegoers and others are spending their time, and their money, across that digital globe.

The TV industry has reacted a bunch of ways, by offering shows on demand, on the Web, on iPods and cell phones, and eventually, maybe, even on those power drills, which sounds a little dangerous.

And the networks and studios stepped up the quality -- mostly -- but seemed to make one critical mistake. Nearly half the new dramas this fall were serialized in some form.

The idea was to make appointment TV that people had to watch every week -- and right when the shows actually aired -- so they wouldn't miss anything or risk having surprises spoiled. The nets were thinking about hits such as "Lost" and "24."

But most of the new serials flopped or are struggling. Part of the problem is that people already watch "Lost" and "24," not to mention the can't-miss-a-week reality hits such as "Dancing With the Stars," and they don't have room in their lives, or at least in their TV nights, for new relationships.

Now it's January, and another wave of shows is about to appear, including a new season of "24" (on Sunday) and the uber-hit "American Idol" (on Jan. 16). The TV industry needs to adjust -- to the digital bleeding, the struggles of some quality shows, the general rejection of serials, to the need to find new hits.

But how it does won't be simple. Some of the cable networks are doing what's been working, only more. FX continues to produce new, different dramas. Bravo is running with "Project Runway" and "Top Chef"-style shows. Comedy Central is pumping out quirky half-hours.

The broadcast nets are moving more carefully. CBS and ABC are generally happy with their lineups and are adding just a few new shows through the spring. Fox has "24" and "Idol" riding to the rescue. NBC has a good set of quality shows, if not quality ratings, and hopes they'll catch on. CW is doing decently with younger women viewers but is still working to establish a larger identity.

All of this confusion, all of the new and returning shows heading our way, makes this a very good time to take a look at TV. And, semicoincidentally, that works out well because, starting today, broadcast and cable programmers, producers and stars will be meeting in Pasadena with TV critics from around North America to promote new and returning shows and dissect what's gone right and wrong this season.

It's mostly a series of press conferences -- running network by network, show by show -- mixed with various forms of mingling, ranging from breakfast and lunch to full-on parties.

If you pay attention, you can learn a lot about where TV is going and how the television industry, and much of Hollywood, is dealing with this new digital era and that circus of choices. Even if you don't pay attention, there's a lot to learn because it's two weeks of TV immersion 24/7, although paying attention is always, you know, good.

So for the next couple weeks, I'll keep you posted on what gets said and who's doing new things and old things, and, hopefully, we'll all come away with a sense of what TV is going to look like in the swiftly approaching future. I just need to pay attention.

http://www.sacbee.com/157/story/104386.html

And my Time Warner cable system in NYC will probably carry none of them! :( :mad:

Time for cable companies to get off the carpet and moved all in to switched digital video or else they will be left in the dust by satellite and the telcos.

Clearly with the internet and phone businesses they have created, television takes a back seat for most cable companies. (Just listen to any of their Wall Street presentations.)

Thankfully DBS and telcos are around to continue to prod them into providing a better television product.

Thanks for the news. SciFi, USA, TBS and FX in HD sound fantastic. Especially FX and SciFi. I don't really care about Speed or CNN. I just hope Cox OC will add these when they become available. Didn't just a day or two ago SciFi claim to have no plans to go HD? I know these people are liars but they could have at least waited a week before contradicting what they said. Still happy to see them go HD though.

SciFi clearly wasn't ready to anounce anything until the big corporate bosses gave the okay.

I suspect, as James Hibberd noted, many were caught off-guard by yesterday's DirecTV announcement.

James is the one who got them to comment today in Pasadena.

By the way, I would be surprised if NBC doesn't add CNBC to the mix of their HD "suite of channels".

They'll need all the ammunition they can muster to fight off the new Fox Business Channel as it goes after those high-income CNBC viewers.

And as long as they are at it, the might as well add MSNBC, too. At worst it will put more pressure on FNC to spend the extra money to go HD, too.

Nice article by Ed Bark on Larry King. Though he didn't mention that King did, himself, start as a radio talk show star...doing overnights on the Mutual Radio network for a LONG time. Fully half of those 50 years, as a matter of fact...

(One can only hope James Hibberd gets OT pay. He’s earned it today.)
Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
“Dirt” and Courtney Cox
FX’s “Dirt” panel is one of the most anticipated sessions of the cable tour.
By James Hibberd Television Week in his “Critical Eye” blog January 9, 2007

Not because critics are excited about the show, but because some of them disliked it so intensely and might want revenge for the three hours they spent watching the screener episodes on DVD. Thus, the chance of Q&A drama is running high.

For those who haven’t seen it, the show’s celebrity tabloid premise might have worked better as a dark comedy, but one suspects the last thing Cox wanted to do was another half-hour series post-“Friends.” While watching the first few episodes, I kept wishing the procession of strap-on sex, rampant drug use and Courteney Cox grimly pleasuring herself with a vibrator would evolve/devolve into “Showgirls”-style high camp, but it never quite did.

It’s unfortunate because FX President John Landgraf is the sort of smart/bold executive that critics pull for. His half-hour “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” manages to be the only funny original sitcom on cable. There was clearly a unique vision there for “Dirt” and, for better or worse, FX went for it full throttle.

Between panel sessions, Landgraf said he disagrees with most of the criticism of the show, and that strong reviews are not crucial anyway. Last year his Iraq war drama “Over There” received generous reviews, but not enough of an audience. Having a new series draw critical praise and high ratings is ideal, he said, but if he had to choose, at the end of the day the man wants a hit.

The “Dirt” premiere was the second highest-rated debut in FX’s history, mainly due to Cox’s star wattage, but its tough to believe the viewership will hold. Landgraf said he expects the second episode to drop in the ratings as well, and possibly the third episode as well.

One point of criticism Landgraf conceded is that “Dirt” lacks a sense of humor about itself. That was one of his notes too, he said, and starting at about the fifth episode, the show significantly improves.

“I really love the show from about midway through the season on,” he said. “Whether the audience sticks around that long, we’ll see.”

As for the rest of the year, Landgraf hasn’t yet picked up “Nip/Tuck” for a fifth season, but said he probably will, and said he’s also close to picking up the pilot of his untitled Glenn Close legal thriller for a full season.

Once the “Dirt” panel begins, Cox takes the stage in a black dress and cool demeanor. The critics are perfectly, surprisingly well behaved. Nobody mentions the reviews, though one works up the courage to ask her about San Francisco critic Tim Goodman’s blog retraction about whether Cox is masturbation worthy.

“That actually made me feel really good,” she said. “There’s nothing better than an ‘I’m sorry.’”

After the panel, critics swarm Cox to ask all the sorts of chatty, fan-like questions they were too embarrassed to ask in front of the room. One of them is, “Courteney, what’s the secret to a successful relationship?”

It’s a question that’s easy to snark at, but her answer was damn good: “As you grow, keep talking to each other, because it’s easy to grow apart.”

http://blogs.tvweek.com/?cat=12

You can keep your HD CNN's and Sci-Fi's. THIS has made my day! :D Too bad Jim Perry is too old and retired to come back and host this puppy!

TV Notebook
Twentieth Clears Show Based on 'Sale of the Century'
By Chris Pursell, TV Week - January 9, 2007

Twentieth Television has cleared the new game-show strip "Temptations" on the ten MyNetwork affilates owned by Fox.

The show is based on the concept of classic game format "Sale of the Century." Twentieth, the programming arm of the Fox Stations Group, will produce the series with "American Idol" producer FremantleMedia North America, which owns the "Century" format.

The game show, scheduled to debut in the fall, will pit three players against each other to see who can earn cash by answering a series of questions about pop culture and current events. The winning contestant is the individual with the most money.

Throughout the program, opponents are tempted to spend their money on high-end prizes at incredible bargain prices. Prizes featured on "Temptation" will be, for the first time in U.S. television history, available to viewers for discounted purchase via phone or at the program's Web site.

Among the Fox-owned stations that will carry the show are WWOR-TV in New York, KCOP-TV in Los Angeles and WPWR-TV in Chicago.

Although sold to the MyNetwork affiliate group, the series is being designed for traditional syndication timeperiods, rather than as a replacement for the telenovela formats currently being run in primetime on the network. MyNetwork executives have been discussing changes to the fledgling network's programming lineup in recent months.

"'Temptation' is an exciting game show with a proven format nearly unparalleled anywhere. It will draw in viewers with its fun games and give them the opportunity to further participate by offering the opportunity to purchase luxury prizes at significant discounts," said Paul Buccieri, president of programming of Twentieth Television, in a statement Tuesday. "We are pleased to be working on 'Temptation' with FremantleMedia North America, whose format track record speaks for itself."

The series, in its original U.S. format as "Sale of the Century," aired on NBC between 1983 and 1989, during which is consistently won its daytime time period. In the United Kingdom, the program aired on ITV1 last October, attracting an audience of nine million viewers and ranking it as the highest rated game show of the year.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11339

Sometimes I feel sorry for you, dad! :)

The Business of Television
Chernin: Online already off charts
By Georg Szalai The Hollywood Reporter Jan 10, 2007 (Paul Bond in Los Angeles contributed to this report.)

NEW YORK -- News Corp. president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin said Tuesday that he expects his company to exceed its goal of $500 million in digital revenue for the current fiscal year and that online video advertising has the potential to be "the single best (business) story" for media companies in 2007.

He also said the digital operations will be profitable for the fiscal year even when including the cost for management retention and amortization, which the company had said would have to be excluded to write black ink.

Speaking at the 17th annual Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas, Chernin said online ad rates have started to become significant at CPMs of $25-$30.

But he warned that industry watchers might overestimate the business opportunity behind user-generated content. "There is very little opportunity to monetize" user-generated videos because advertisers are not always comfortable with their content, and "there is no scarcity value," Chernin argued. "If you put an ad on a minutelong clip of someone falling off a skateboard, people can find that (video) everywhere."

He estimated that News Corp.'s MySpace online community already reaches about two-thirds to three-quarters the amount of video downloads recorded by Google Inc.'s YouTube.

TV show episodes that the conglomerate has put on MySpace and its TV stations' Web sites have garnered about 4 million downloads already with good CPMs, according to Chernin. He predicted that 2007 will mark the beginning of a big success story for broadcast networks, which finally will be able to make up for the financial drain from "the death of the rerun" through monetizing shows by putting them online a day after they first aired.

Asked about a continued dispute over whether ratings data should take into account the impact of DVRs, he predicted that for next year's upfront advertising sales season, marketers and networks might meet halfway. Rather than just looking at live ratings or live ratings plus seven days of delayed viewing, Chernin said a live-plus 2 or live-plus 3 model might be the final outcome.

Staying with TV themes, Chernin reiterated that his team is "not happy with how MyNetworkTV has been going. We are focused on making improvements," he said.

Asked about current TV ad trends, he said they are only "OK" for News Corp., as its Fox stations are seeing gains while MyNetwork affiliates are down.

He also said he expects the launch of the Fox business news channel in the latter part of 2007, with the network close to the targeted 30 million households it has set as a minimum base of reach.

Chernin also emphasized that News Corp.'s swap of its controlling stake in satellite TV giant DirecTV Group does not mean it has lost its confidence in the satellite business. "We believe enormously in satellite as a video-delivery system," he said, adding that British Sky Broadcasting in the U.K., Sky Italia in Italy and Star in India will remain important growth drivers.

Also at the Citigroup conference Tuesday:

&enspComcast Corp. chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said the first couple of weeks of day-and-date video-on-demand movie trials in two markets have brought "very encouraging buy rates." The tests in Denver and Pittsburgh involve several studios: Universal, Paramount, Fox, Lionsgate, Disney, Warner Bros. and New Line.

Roberts also called satellite TV competitor DirecTV a "terrific company" but signaled that cable operators have an advantage in the form of true video-on-demand and high-speed Internet service options.

Asked about Liberty Media CEO John Malone and what he will bring to owning DirecTV, Roberts called him "a great money- and dealmaker" but hinted that satellite TV might not be Malone's core business of expertise. "We wish him well, but not too well," Roberts said.

At the start of his appearance, Roberts joked that Chernin, the previous speaker, was moving on to "greener pastures" as News Corp. was leaving the DirecTV investment to Malone.

&enspDirecTV president and CEO Chase Carey said that Liberty management has been "quite supportive" of his team's strategies, but he has had no real chance for more in-depth talks with Liberty since its deal with News Corp. However, he signaled that he expects few major strategic changes.

Asked about a possible merger with competitor EchoStar Communications, Carey said "there are certainly synergies" but also regulatory issues to overcome. He signaled his team would at least for now remain focused on operating the DirecTV business.

&enspBlockbuster CEO John Antioco talked up the company's online Total Access product, predicting that its subscriber count will double this year to 4 million, and that he intends on making the necessary marketing investment to make that happen. He added that online revenue will come via advertising and the sales of new and used DVDs.

Antioco also told analysts that the company is searching for a "cost-effective" way to enter the digital movies-on-demand business but that Blockbuster will likely strike a "partnership agreement" rather than build a platform from scratch.

Observers have speculated Blockbuster might eventually hook up with TiVo in that business because TiVo's plans for a similar arrangement with Netflix appear to have fizzled.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i9593c11452f0e27969101f00a8c18f30

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Courteney Cox gets gratifying apology from TV critic
By David Kronke, Los Angeles Daily News - January 9, 2007

Just when it seemed that celebrity feuding had exhausted every possible manifestation, a new one has popped up: Courteney Cox vs. The San Francisco Chronicle TV critic's notion of male fantasy partners.

It began last week when, Tim Goodman, Chronicle TV critic, wrote of Cox in his review of "Dirt," "(S)he's not the type of woman that men tend to imagine in the masturbation arena."

Passing over the issue of whether writing for a newspaper that allows one to muse in print on whom they would and wouldn't indulge in some self-gratification is a good thing or a bad thing, it's a fair measure of what the show concerns itself with that a respected critic would approach it in the manner of a reviewer of pornography. At any rate, Cox appeared on "The Jimmy Kimmel" show, where the host brought up the review. Cox whimsically fumed that Goodman's words were "brutal," adding, "I mean, not one person in the whole world could imagine masturbating over me? I mean, not one?"

On his blog, Goodman retracted his original stand, admitting that Cox emanated "good old fashioned smokin' hotness" on Kimmel's show. On Tuesday, Defamer.com picked up the war of words and Goodman's subsequent retreat. And, as serendipity would have it, Cox appeared Tuesday afternoon as part of a press conference for her new show at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour, where she was able to respond to the retraction.

"That actually made me feel good," Cox confessed. "There's nothing better than someone saying I'm sorry."

Cox stars as Lucy Spiller, a ruthless editor of a pair of tabloid magazines; the series is unsparing in its depiction of both amoral journalists and hedonistic Hollywood. The actress says her friends have responded enthusiastically to the bad behavior depicted.

"The meaner, the better," Cox said, smiling. "Jennifer (Aniston) loves the show; she's asking, 'What am I going to do (on the series)?' (I'm thinking,) 'I don't know that I can put you on, Jen.' — I'm sure she would love to (play a character who takes) one of the magazines down."

http://www.dailynews.com/tv/ci_4980749

Sometimes I feel sorry for you, dad! :)

Don't cry for me Fred. One of these days I'll buy me an HDTV set, but until then my old 27" Sony Wega CRT will do just fine. Besides, having SD makes me appreciate TV more for whether its any good or not instead of just gawking at the pretty HD pictures.

Television Critics' Winter Tour Notebook
Greetings from Hollywood; what’s that smell?
By Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - January 9, 2007

OK, it’s Pasadena. But whatever — I’ve been here three hours and I’ve already exhibited Hollywood diva behavior. The problem: The very expensive soap in my lovely room at the Ritz-Carlton. It’s new this year, by Bulgari, and probably costs $15 a bar. Body wash, lotion, everything is this same scent — heavy, musky, after-shavey. The first time I washed my hands, I started sneezing. So I called Housekeeping and asked for some unscented soap. They said it would be their pleasure to bring me unscented soap. But when I came back to the room, I had a phone message saying there WAS no unscented soap and they’d have to send someone “off the property” to buy me some.

Honestly, I’d just run to Walgreen’s, except I’m miles from civilization here in the rural fringes of Pasadena. (Seriously: 40 minute walk to anywhere.) Now it’s hours later and the soap situation remains unchanged. And when I ran into Jason Gedrick (”Boomtown,” “Windfall”) coming out of the men’s room (he was; I wasn’t) and he (ahem) kissed me, he smelled like it too, so apparently the public restrooms stock the same soap.

Speaking of washing up, Courteney Cox was here this afternoon promoting “Dirt” for FX. Lousy reviews but good ratings, so FX doesn’t care so much about the reviews. I wonder how the ratings will hold up, though. The very first session I attended after I got here was for a new History Channel series called “Cities of the Underworld,” about the layers of history lurking in sewers and catacombs and the like underneath cities. The host is Eric Geller, a Lafayette High School graduate (class of ‘84).

We sat down afterward and he showed me a gas-mask holder that he got on one of his excursions for the show, which he now uses as a sort of man-purse. Inside, he had a knit Cardinals hat that he always carries and has worn all over the world. He was in Rome for Game 5 of the World Series and was watching over the Internet and kept losing the MLB feed, very frustrating. More about Eric when the series premieres in April.

Next up: A low-key Fox Cable Networks party here at the hotel, then early to bed to adjust to California time.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/entertainment-tube-talk/2007/01/greetings-from-hollywood-whats-that-smell/

Nice article by Ed Bark on Larry King. Though he didn't mention that King did, himself, start as a radio talk show star...doing overnights on the Mutual Radio network for a LONG time. Fully half of those 50 years, as a matter of fact...

Agreed. And, at least back then, he was a very very nice man. (I have heard nothing to indicate that has changed, by the way.)

I haven't spoken to him in years, but back in the Mutual days he seemed thankful whenever anyone asked him to guest on a show. Jim Bohannon holds down that all-night slot now, I think, and when I hear it it seems like a really good show. We don't get it in LA, though.

Where was Larry before Mutual (I forget)? But as I recall he started in radio in South Florida. WIOD in Miami, perhaps? He spent some time in his early years hanging out with Jackie Gleason -- which would age any young person.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Cable rushes to HD
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog

One of the more interesting announcements that CNN made today during its part of The Tour is that it will become the first cable news channel to offer a high definition feed. CNN HD will go online sometime in September.

But there has been a lot of talk here that the CNN move is just the first of a rush of cable channels to offer a HD channel as well as its regular feed. TBS and the Cartoon Network -- both parts of the same Turner family as CNN -- are expected to have HD networks later this year. In addition, it appears that NBC-Universal (which now offers a separate HD channel with a mixed bag of original shows and theatrical films) is going to be doing high def versions of both USA and the Sci Fi Channel sometime in the next few months with FX also making the jump sometime soon. (We'll find out for sure when NBC-Universal's cable operation and FX do their presentations later on The Tour.)

Now, the question is how quickly cable and satellite systems can find room for the new HD feeds. But for folks with high def sets (and the bucks to pay for additional HD channels) the viewing options could take a big jump before the end of 2007.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

Ladies and gentlemen, start your DVR's/TiVo's (especially if you're a Criminal Minds, Knights of Prosperity or CSI: NY fan)!

TV Notebook
Nets shuffle lineups for Bush speech
The Hollywood Reporter - January 10, 2007

The broadcast networks have made adjustments to their lineups on the East Coast to accommodate President Bush's Iraq war speech tonight at 9 p.m. EST. The second airings of ABC's new 9-10 p.m. comedies "The Knights of Prosperity" and "In Case of Emergency" will be pushed back to follow the speech at about 9:25 p.m.; an abbreviated edition of ABC News' "Primetime" is tentatively scheduled to air from about 10:25-11 p.m. CBS will slide the original episodes of its 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. dramas "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY," respectively, bleeding into the 11 p.m. local newscasts. After the end of the speech, NBC will join "Deal or No Deal" in progress, while Fox will air a repeat of " 'Till Death" from 9:30-10 p.m.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i9593c11452f0e2795c6302cca0bb67b4

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Grace, Or Lack Of It

By James Hibberd in Broadcasting & Cable’s “Critical Eye” blog Tuesday, January 9th, 2007

Nancy Grace is probably the only person that truly makes me truly understand 17th century witch burning.

The cable legal pundit comes across so judgmental, narrow minded and hate-filled, that I feel this almost genetic-level stirring whenever I see a clip of her CNN show, a longing to take refuge in a large group of unruly citizens, grab a torch or pitchfork, and begin shouting for kindling.

Therefore, I’m gratified when somebody at the Turner panel asks CNN President Jim Walton to justify Nancy Grace. Of course, the critic put it a nicer way … oh, wait, no he didn’t. It’s right here in the transcript: “How [do] you justify Nancy Grace?”

Walton, of course, talks about CNN’s brand standing for integrity, accuracy and class. He talks about entertainment choices, compares the network to a newspaper full of various points of view, and concludes by saying “and so we have expanded our offering across these multiple platforms.”

The critic’s follow-up: “So … to use your words, then, do you think that Nancy Grace exemplifies integrity, accuracy and class?”

And Walton, with utter sincerity, lies to every single person at TCA: “Absolutely.”

http://blogs.tvweek.com/?cat=12

Ladies and gentlemen, start your DVR's/TiVo's (especially if you're a Criminal Minds, Knights of Prosperity or CSI: NY fan)!...

Thankfully, our West Coast DVR/TiVos have a much easier life. :)

First, if you haven't visited the thread recently, please go back and read the last two or three pages. Fred, myself and others have been adding a ton of posts covering CES 2007, Macworld, the Winter Critic's Tour, the Sinclair-Mediacom fight, etc. Busy but fun time to be an HDTV and TV fan! :)


Nice article by Ed Bark on Larry King. Though he didn't mention that King did, himself, start as a radio talk show star...doing overnights on the Mutual Radio network for a LONG time. Fully half of those 50 years, as a matter of fact...

Agreed. And, at least back then, he was a very very nice man. (I have heard nothing to indicate that has changed, by the way.)

I haven't spoken to him in years, but back in the Mutual days he seemed thankful whenever anyone asked him to guest on a show. Jim Bohannon holds down that all-night slot now, I think, and when I hear it it seems like a really good show. We don't get it in LA, though.

Man, I was in High School (early 90's) when I heard Larry King's Mutual radio show in Upstate NY via some Baltimore AM station (when it came through on clear nights). I used to leave the radio on when I went to sleep, and most nights the last thing I head before drifting to sleep was that last hour of calls (1 to 2AM ET before the entire three-hour show was repeated) when Larry would take like 50-60 calls in an hour with what came across as very rude one-word answers from Larry to callers before switching to another caller. Wonder if Larry is still going to Duke Zeibert's after his CNN show is over (probably not! :p ).

Fred, Bohannon is still holding the fort on Larry's old show. Last November, on election night, King interviewed Jim live during CNN's coverage to get talk radio listener's reaction to the election results (Bohannon's listeners heard the interview live on their air). I was watching and thought it was classy (and typical old-skewing) of CNN to reunite on their air King and his then-Mutual radio substitute.

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
Ringing in the premieres
By Gary Levin USA Today

•The word on Grease. Sunday's premiere of Grease: You're the One That I Want drew a decent 11.5 million viewers, a time-slot improvement over last season's The West Wing but still ranking fourth. Also Sunday, the sixth-edition opener of Donald Trump's The Apprentice (9.1 million) marked its weakest start yet.

•ABC sitcom woes. More mediocre ratings for comedy premieres: The Knights of Prosperity (7.2 million) and In Case of Emergency (6.3 million) ranked fourth in their Wednesday time slots. Their lead-in, the sixth-season premiere of According to Jim, didn't fare much better, with two episodes snaring 7.3 million, down from 8.1 million for last season's start. After a six-week hiatus, Sunday's Desperate Housewives fell to a series-low 18.7 million.

•Geek beautiful. The third-season premiere of Beauty and the Geek averaged 4.9 million viewers on CW Wednesday, matching last January's series-high season opener on WB.

•NBC highlights. Against weaker competition, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (15.2 million) and My Name Is Earl (10 million) hit season highs, while Law & Order: Criminal Intent (13.4 million) had its best showing since November 2005. But Thursday's ER hit a series-low 10.9 million, and Friday's original Law & Order (9.8 million) trailed CBS' Numb3rs (a season-high 12.3 million).

•Football fever. NBC's Saturday NFL wild-card game (26.8 million) topped the week's programs. On the college circuit, Fox's Sugar Bowl (14.4 million) trumped its Fiesta (13.8 million) and Orange (10.7 million) Bowls.

•Clean Dirt. The premiere of FX's Dirt averaged 3.7 million viewers Tuesday, matching Nip/Tuck's July 2003 opener but trailing Rescue Me's (4.1 million) a year later.

•Other cable premieres. The fourth season of Showtime's The L Word, 359,000 viewers; MTV's I'm From Rolling Stone, 369,000; VH1's Shooting Sizemore, 718,000; Nickelodeon's Just Jordan, 2.8 million; and the third-season start of ABC Family's Wildfire, a lowest-yet 1.9 million.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-01-09-nielsens-analysis_x.htm

TV Notebook
New Serials: Now You See Them, Now You Don’t
By Edward Wyat, The New York Times - January 10, 2007

For the last several years, executives at other television networks have dreaded the annual debut of “24,” the Fox hit that, with its continuing storyline about a secret agent saving the nation unwinding from one episode to the next, is the ultimate serial drama.

This year, however, executives all over Hollywood might be glad to see “24” begin its sixth season on Sunday — if only to make viewers forget about all of their dismally failed attempts to start new serial dramas this season.

Unlike ABC’s “Lost” and a few other hits that have followed the serial format, many of the most recent successors to “24” have met a grim fate, dying quickly before most viewers could get to know anything about them.

Each of the five major broadcast networks has already canceled one new serial drama that it introduced last fall with blaring publicity and endlessly replayed promotional snippets. Come and gone in a few short weeks were several interchangeable series featuring an unexpected crime and plenty of shoot-’em-up violence: “Smith” on CBS, “Runaway” on CW, “Kidnapped” on NBC, “Vanished” on Fox and “Day Break” on ABC.

Some networks made canceled episodes available on their Web sites for a few weeks after yanking the shows from their primetime schedules, but many of those have by now disappeared as well.

Two other ABC shows, “Six Degrees” and “The Nine,” have been placed on hiatus with a promise of returning to complete their current story arcs, but little more.

All of which has left some fans of the genre wondering whether it is worth committing to untested new serials, or better to wait and see if a new series will be around for more than a few weeks.

For their part, television executives note that most new series — comedy, drama, talk show or otherwise — quickly fail. And they vow that more serials are on the way.

“All the top new shows that are working are serialized,” said Jeffrey D. Bader, an executive vice president of ABC Entertainment. As proof, he cited “Brothers & Sisters” on ABC, “Heroes” on NBC and “Jericho” on CBS this season.

“People do seem to be gravitating to these in large numbers,” Mr. Bader said. “You can’t say they’re not working because, really, they are the only thing that is working.”

Advertisers have generally responded well to serial dramas since the successful ones — like “24,” “Lost” and Fox’s “Prison Break” — attract fanatical viewers, many of whom are willing to spend hours chatting online about characters, plotlines and enduring mysteries behind the scenes.

But Brad Adgate, a senior vice president for research at Horizon Media, which helps clients choose where to advertise and when, said he believed that networks had erred in another way with serial dramas: by overestimating the reach of digital video recorders, which let viewers record shows for later playback.

Those devices are important to a show’s fans because networks usually do not repeat episodes. Missing one week, therefore, can leave a viewer bewildered about what happened to which character and when.

And though most networks now post the episodes on their own Web sites after they have been broadcast, only a small part of a show’s potential audience uses that medium to watch it.

“These shows are difficult for viewers who are not accustomed to looking at a show they missed on another platform,” like a network’s Internet site, Mr. Adgate said. He estimated that fewer than 15 percent of television viewers use TiVo or another form of digital video recorder.

One television executive admitted that, as a group, the networks might have overreached this year with serial dramas. “Clearly, the audience can only make a commitment to so many of these things,” said Craig Erwich, executive vice president for programming at Fox.

And the viewers’ commitment is the key. One problem with kidnapping and bank-robbery dramas, Mr. Erwich said, was in “trying to locate the personal stakes.” That is, if an unknown character is kidnapped in the first episode of a new series, why should the audience care, or even know what to think?

That said, Fox has several new serials in development. “We’re not out of the business, but we will be measured in how we go into it,” Mr. Erwich said. “If there is a good one, people will still watch it. But you have to have no hesitation in asking for their attention.”

Serials also suffer from the fact that networks are unlikely to repeat episodes, partly because they must be shown in sequence and a season lacks enough weeks to accommodate further showings. When ABC mixed repeats of “Lost” with new episodes last season, it angered viewers who complained about the interruptions in the storyline. As a result, this season ABC showed six episodes in October and November, then took a nearly three-month break, planning to return with new episodes from February through May.

Ratings also play a part in those decisions, Mr. Adgate said. With the ratings race unusually close this year, networks are loath to spend valuable air time rerunning a serial drama when, historically, those shows have not done well. “You can look back to ‘Dallas’ or ‘Dynasty,’ and those shows bombed during their repeat cycles,” he said.

So far, the evidence suggests that if a drama does not find an audience on broadcast television, it is unlikely to grow into an Internet hit. Many that migrated to the Web after cancellation can now be found, if at all, only on Youtube or some fan sites.

Highlights of a few episodes of NBC’s “Kidnapped” are present on the network’s Web site, NBC.com, but no full episodes. CBS, which pulled “Smith” from its broadcast schedule after three episodes, made the remaining four episodes available on its Web site, CBS.com, for a few weeks but dropped them before the end of December. (The complete seven-episode season remains available on iTunes.)

Fox, meanwhile, has kept all 13 episodes of “Vanished” online, including four that never were broadcast on television. They can be found on a secondary Fox Web site, www.myspace.com/fox.

Few if any of the canceled series are likely to be released on DVD sets, given the relatively small number of people that tuned in to the shows the first time and the attendant lack of positive buzz around them. The television studios that produced the series, rather than the networks that broadcast them, have the rights to produce the DVD sets, and studio executives say that those decisions, yet to be made, will depend on online viewership and iTunes sales.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/arts/television/10seri.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

TV Notebook:
People’s Choice Winners

Here are the winners of Tuesday night’s TV People’s Choice Awards.

Comedy: "Two and a Half Men"

Animated comedy: : "The Simpsons"

Drama: "Grey's Anatomy"

Competition/Reality show: "American Idol"

New Comedy: "The Class"

New Drama: "Heroes"

Female star: Eva Longoria

Male star: Patrick Dempsey

Talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
The TV Critics Are Back In Town:
(Everyone Pretend To Be Normal)
By Ray Richmond The Hollywood Reporter in his blog “Past Deadline” January 9, 2007

PASADENA, CA -- They speak loudly, and they carry a big stick up their...well, you know where. They are the television critics of America, and they do not suffer fools or foolish programming gladly. They don't greet you, they don't applaud, they question your every production move, they eat your food. They typically spare the women and children, but only if they aren't on a panel or otherwise in an official capacity. If you ever have the misfortune of running into them, don't meet their beady-eyed stares. It will only make them angrier.

Okay, I'm exaggerating. They won't spare the women and children, either.

It is indeed time once again for that semiannual rite known as the Television Press Tour, which kicked off this morning here at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel with something of a whimper. The nation's TV reviewers are invited to come in, watch shows, interview stars and production types and then leave two weeks later having collected a cache of broken hearts, shattered dreams and punctured egos. Some travel to Africa to chase antelope. These folk fly to Hollywood to bag 800-pound gorillas.

Actually, it's not really that way at all. The reputation these critics have for being pasty-faced, sedentary and disdainful -- while often accurate -- is entirely understandable given three key factors: 1. They are kept so busy here there's little time for sun; 2. They are so plied with high-calorie food and drink it makes exercise generally unthinkable; 3. They have been at this gig so long that the running stream of network sales pitches and propaganda serves to leave them frustrated, suspicious and impatient.

I've been at this TV critique thing since 1984 and have thus been coming to these little events for going on 23 years. The faces change, but the way the event is run remains relatively static. I am fortunate in that I'm not trapped in Pasadena without escape as are the majority of the out of town press corps. I'm local, so I can bop back and forth. That makes a massive difference in keeping my tolerance level high. I offer this as a caveat not to distance myself from the group think (I'm pretty pasty-faced and disdainful too) but to perhaps explain why I don't feel quite so beaten down as most of my veteran colleagues.

What you hear whispered (sometimes shouted) around each and every critics event is how little news there is, how crappy the shows are, how dull the interview subjects have turned out to be. The publicity-generating slog was described by San Francisco Chronicle TV critic Tim Goodman last July as a "death march with cocktails," and that pretty much seems to sum up the feelings of the majority here. It is at best a necessary evil to be endured, at worst an enervating blow to one's mental health and overall well-being.

I often join in this negative chorus. And make no mistake, I'll be taking plenty of my own shots between now and Jan. 21. But this time I feel like I have a broader and thus more positive outlook for a couple of reasons that have nothing to do with lobotomy or the ingestion of anti-depressants.

For one, I've come to the conclusion that this TV critique gig is a pretty cushy way to make a living. It really just doesn't pay to bitch about having to watch television to earn one's keep. There isn't a deep pool of sympathy there, nor should there be. Yeah, there's a lot of painful product that one must view, but then we get to write about it and make fodder of it and show the world how clever we can be riffing about something that's so dreadful. Even when we lose, we win.

It's equally tough to muster much compassion for those of us covering this press tour event. We sit with tape recorders and laptops and pens, recording, making light, firing out probing and/or condescending questions. Then we eat like there's no tomorrow, drink like fish, rub elbows with stars at parties, collect swag, hunker down in our high-end hotel room and gather respect and admiration from those who think we're cool simply by virtue of having this job. There is zero heavy lifting. We need not go down into any coal mines and risk our lives. We don't have to scrub any toilets or clean up anyone's mess. And in this job, we get to be on offense all the time (in every sense of the term).

All in all, not a bad litle deal, you know?

But I have another reason for feeling grateful just to be part of this fairly privileged club. Cathy Seipp, long a fellow critic and longer an adored friend, is very sick with lung cancer right now. The keeper of the superb blog Cathy's World http://cathyseipp.journalspace.com/ always sits beside me at these events and has regularly been my irreverent partner in crime, poking fun at those in our midst with fairly relentless abandon. She gave it her best shot today but was able to stay in Pasadena only about an hour before pain and fatigue forced Cathy to make her exit.

I fear I won't have Cathy at my side throughout much of this critics extravaganza. I'm not going to get maudlin about this, as it would only inspire her to beat me senseless. So instead I'll simply use these feelings of anguish at her condition to take a perspective inventory that I share with all critics in attendance as well as anyone who reads this blog. Any critic who's feeling resentful for having to endure this occupational speedbump should know that one of his esteemed colleagues finds it sufficiently important that she used literally every ounce of her strength to make it there, however briefly.

In Cathy's honor, I promise to be extra-probing and even a little prickly while attending the critics shindig this week and next. But I also vow to appreciate just how sweet simply showing up can be.

http://www.pastdeadline.com/

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
The Family Spelling and "Sons of Hollywood''
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog Tuesday, January 09, 2007
It just wouldn't be a TV writers' press tour without the Family Spelling.

In the days of yore, that meant the late Aaron Spelling, the prolific producer of shows from "Dynasty'' to "Melrose Place'' to "7th Heaven.'' In later years, that meant a heavy dose of daughter Tori Spelling, who somehow earned a place in the pop culture pantheon as Donna in "Beverly Hills 90210'' and hasn't really done anything since but keeps trying. And there's brother Randy, a budding actor-producer trying to achieve liftoff beyond the fame of his name (at left in photo).

Today, it was Randy's turn to carry the Spelling banner into the tour wars. He's the star of a new A&E reality series called "Sons of Hollywood'' in which he lives and parties hearty with Sean Stewart, son of Rod, and "rising talent manager'' (press release words, not mine) David Weintraub, who represents Spelling and Stewart and has known both since high school. (The show kicks off at 10 p.m. on April 1.)

Randy Spelling, who actually seems like a perfectly nice fellow, admits there's not much reality to the show. The guys really weren't living together until the show and if they tried, "After a week, it would've fell through.'' He also acknowledges his late father (a big booster of scripted drama) didn't understand or want to understand reality TV. His mother, Candy, would never do her own reality show "but she does appear on mine.''

As for why he is doing the show, Spelling says, "I wanted to get across all the challenges of having a famous last name ... a lot of things I've had to overcome in real life.'' (I think he said that with sincerity. He's not that good an actor.)

And as for the family feud that developed after his father died during the filming of the series ... well, there's only so much a guy wants to share. "All I want to say about the rift, Tori makes an appearance on the show, and so does my mom. The family drama, I'd rather not discuss it.''

Of course, he added helpfully, "besides, Tori will be here tomorrow and you can ask her.''

Yes, indeed, Tori Spelling will make her appearance on The Tour -- to promote HER new reality show, in which she and her new husband buy a bed & breakfast. The still-untitled series debuts later this year on Oxygen.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Danny DeVito comes clean
By Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic TV Critic in his Critic’s Tour blog

PASADENA, Calif. -- You wonder what it's like to be someone like Danny DeVito and know that, even though you're here to publicize the next season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (and always funny; it was one of my top 10 shows), you know eventually you're going to have to answer questions about getting tanked and appearing on The View.

So naturally, the question, when it finally came, was, "Danny, are you drunk right now?"

"Absolutely."

He appeared to be joking, though who knows? Whatever the case, he continued:

"You really see the reach of the Internet. You know, I got congratulatory calls from all over the world. It's a great thing that we're doing, putting our every breath on the Internet."

If that sounds bitter, well, I don't know, that's kind of how it sounded. On the one hand, who can blame him? On the other hand, who else can you blame? But he was a pretty good sport about the whole thing.

"I don't get upset about stuff like that," he said, and didn't, really.

As for the show, if you've never seen it, make a point to catch it when it comes back. Maybe. Just so you know the sensibilities you're dealing with, the first episode of the new season is called "The gang finds a dumpster baby." If you laughed at that, definitely tune in. If not, it's possible this isn't the show for you. But it's your loss.

Another round!

A&E, awful and entertaining

Television doesn't get more obnoxious than this.

The A&E network used to be Arts & Entertainment, but for a while now the "A" part has been missing. Sons of Hollywood, a new reality show on the network, doesn't do anything to bring it back.

The show takes a couple of famous kids -- Randy Spelling, son of Aaron, and Sean Stewart, son of Rod -- and puts them in a house with David Weintraub, a friend since childhood and a successful talent manager. We are meant to see the struggles that they go through, to see how just having a famous last name doesn't guarantee you fame (the forture part is already taken care of in their cases).

Ugh. The clips were unintenionally hilarious. One shows Stewart and Weintraub discussing Aaron Spelling's death and its effect on Randy. We'll be there for him, Sean assures, adding, "So are we going out tonight?"

During the session, Randy assured that their lives were "not just about getting silver spoons everywhere." Hmm. You wouldn't know it from listening to them.

The clips and the conversation make it seem as if they've tried to capitalize on Entourage (they deny that, saying the idea was hatched before that show hit big), but have ended up with something closer to The Simple Life. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's America's next great TV show. But I tend to doubt it.

Though it might be fun to just have cameras follow Stewart around. Asked about what kind of parent his dad was, he replied, "Growing up, he definitely taught me how to do my hair well."

Someone else asked who, besides his dad, was a big musical influence on him. "Definitely Motley Crue," he said, extolling the band's virtures. It's all about songwriting, it seems, and that's why he likes Crue.

"You've got to write from your heart," he said.

So THAT'S where Girls, Girls, Girls was written from.

http://www.azcentral.com/blogs/index.php?blog=5&blogtype=Entertainment

The New York Times Obituary
Iwao Takamoto, 81
Animation Artist Who Created Scooby-Doo
By Susan Stewart [b]The New York Times [/b[ January 10, 2007

Iwao Takamoto, the artist who created the mystery-solving Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, among many other indelible cartoon characters, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 81.

The cause was a heart attack, suffered at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was in the hospital for another ailment, said a spokesman for Warner Brothers Animation, where Mr. Takamoto was vice president of special projects.

Mr. Takamoto, who learned his trade in a Japanese-American internment camp, was hired by the Walt Disney Studios on the basis of two dime-store notebooks full of sketches. He went on to work on animated films like “Lady and the Tramp” and “101 Dalmations.” In 1973, he directed, with Charles A. Nichols, the animated film “Charlotte’s Web.”

At the Hanna-Barbera studio, Mr. Takamoto spent four decades creating television cartoons. Besides “Scooby-Doo,” he created the parasol-waving, sports car-driving Penelope Pitstop, as well as the Jetsons’ family dog Astro and Atom Ant of “The Secret Squirrel Show.”

Iwao Takamoto was born in 1925 to Japanese immigrants and graduated at 15 from Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he and his family were sent to the Manzanar Internment Camp in the California desert. He learned sketching techniques from two internees who were art directors at film studios.

After his release, Mr. Takamoto contacted Disney Studios, knowing little about the animation industry but remembering the name from his Manzanar tutors. Asked to bring in a portfolio of his work, he was perplexed. “I had no portfolio,” he told Animation Blast magazine in a 1999 interview. “I didn’t have much of an idea what a portfolio truly was.”

Mr. Takamoto spent the weekend before his interview sketching anything he could think of — “from knights to cowboys,” he said — and filled up his notebooks. The results landed him a job as an assistant illustrator at Disney, where he worked from 1947 to 1961.

Mr. Takamoto moved to the Hanna-Barbera studios in 1961. Television work was different, but he proved equally adept at it.

“When he started at Disney, on animated films, he had more time and more freedom,” said Scott Awley, who worked as a character designer for Mr. Takamoto on the 1990s series “What’s New, Scooby-Doo?” and “Krypto the Superdog.” “When you do a Saturday morning cartoon, you have to cut out every nonessential line because pencil mileage is money.”

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?,” the original Scooby-Doo series, was partly the brainchild of Fred Silverman, then the director of daytime programming at CBS. Mr. Silverman wanted a highly plotted cartoon echoing the 40s radio show “I Love a Mystery.” Mr. Takamoto drew the original sketches for four human characters and a dog (widely believed to be named after Frank Sinatra’s scat-style singing in “Strangers in the Night”).

The dog’s physiognomy was Mr. Takamoto’s contribution.

“There was a lady that bred Great Danes” at Hanna-Barbera, Mr. Takamoto said in a recent conversation with Cartoon Network Studios employees. “She showed me some pictures and talked about the important points of a Great Dane — like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such. I decided to go the opposite and give him a hump back, bowed legs, big chin and such. Even his color is wrong.”

What is right about Scooby-Doo is his fearful courage. Like the Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz,” Scooby-Doo is always terrified, but always willing to get to the bottom of the mystery of the day with his four human companions, Fred, Daphne, the brainy Velma and the perpetually famished and clueless Shaggy, Scooby-Doo’s human counterpart (originally voiced by Casey Kasem).

In various incarnations “Scooby-Doo” has been on television almost nonstop since it began in 1969 and has spawned many spinoffs, including a live-action movie featuring a computer-generated Scooby in 2002 and a sequel in 2004.

Michael Mallory, author of the book “Hanna-Barbera Cartoons,” said: “Iwao gave us Scooby-Doo. Without him it would have been a little Airedale, and the show would have lasted one season.”

Mr. Takamoto is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son, Michael; and his stepdaughter, Leslie.

Beyond inventing indelible cartoon characters, he was known in the industry as a fixer. “Iwao’s hand wasn’t always the first hand that touched a character,” Mr. Awley said, but it was almost always the last hand.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/arts/television/10takamoto.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

Ladies and gentlemen, start your DVR's/TiVo's (especially if you're a Criminal Minds, Knights of Prosperity or CSI: NY fan)!

TV Notebook
Nets shuffle lineups for Bush speech
The Hollywood Reporter - January 10, 2007

The broadcast networks have made adjustments to their lineups on the East Coast to accommodate President Bush's Iraq war speech tonight at 9 p.m. EST. The second airings of ABC's new 9-10 p.m. comedies "The Knights of Prosperity" and "In Case of Emergency" will be pushed back to follow the speech at about 9:25 p.m.; an abbreviated edition of ABC News' "Primetime" is tentatively scheduled to air from about 10:25-11 p.m. CBS will slide the original episodes of its 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. dramas "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY," respectively, bleeding into the 11 p.m. local newscasts. After the end of the speech, NBC will join "Deal or No Deal" in progress, while Fox will air a repeat of " 'Till Death" from 9:30-10 p.m.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i9593c11452f0e2795c6302cca0bb67b4

Thanks for the heads up I totally forgot about the President's speech tonight

One would think that the networks' web sites would be the best place to see what the revised schedule for tonight is.

You would be wrong. ABC & CBS make no mention of the speech in the schedule. NBC & FOX do.

One would think that the networks' web sites would be the best place to see what the revised schedule for tonight is.

You would be wrong. ABC & CBS make no mention of the speech in the schedule. NBC & FOX do.If I didn’t read Dad’s post, stating the networks schedule change, my thoughts on that would’ve been, they’re probably not carrying it.

The Business of Television
There’s More to Sinclair Than Retrans
TVNewsday.com Jan. 9, 2007

Best known these days for his public battles with cable operators, the CEO of the nation's ninth-largest TV station group is more excited about developing a whole new business—broadcasting pay programming to viewers on the go.

The Sinclair Broadcast Group has been much in the news lately, mostly for the hard line it is taking with cable operators on retransmission consent negotiation. It wants cash, and has shown a willingness to fight on any ground—the market or the FCC—to get it. Right now, it is engaged in battles with Mediacom and Time Warner. For the latest, simply plug “Sinclair” into the TVNEWSDAY search engine.


Why are you taking such an aggressive posture on retrans?

David Smith: I don’t really see it as an aggressive stance. I see it as nothing more than if I have content and you’d like to package it and resell it to your consumers so you can make a buck off of it, why can’t I share in that? That’s all. It’s nothing more complex than that.

My signals are valuable because everybody’s watching them. I mean that’s kind of the definition of value, isn’t it? The satellite companies have been paying a lot of us in the industry for a reasonable period of time now, and the phone companies are now gearing up.

In the neighborhood where I live in Baltimore, the phone company is saying they’re going to have everything Comcast has and they make no bones about what’s necessary for them to launch their competitive business. They recognize they have to have content and they have to have the content that everybody wants. Our dilemma as an industry is nothing more than a legacy issue. We’ve been giving it away for free for so long we don’t know how to ask for money. That’s all.

If you know cable is paying 25 cents for channel 250 that six people watch and if you know that you have a channel that has 60,000 people watching, wouldn’t you think it's worth at least 20 cents?

The cable guys argue that shouldn’t have to pay because you get to use the public airwaves for free.

David Smith: Let me just set the record straight on a couple of points. No. 1, I paid as a company billions of dollars for my television licenses. I pay annual fees to keep them. Nobody talks about that. What I do in dealing with the network, I give up inventory in those television shows in exchange for the show. I am paying for that content with my own inventory. Nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody on the cable side wants to recognize that as a cost of doing business. And, as a company, we’ve invested $150 million in equipment just to be able to do digital.



http://tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/01/09/daily.4/



Don't cable and sat companies transmit his channels to viewers that couldn't receive his tv signals OTA ?

So isn't he getting more ad revenue.

Don't cable and sat companies transmit his channels to viewers that couldn't receive his tv signals OTA ?

So isn't he getting more ad revenue.Hey! No logic allowed here. :)

Critic’s Notebook
Preview: “24”
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle January 10, 2007

Six seasons into Fox's nonsensical, addictive, wholly manipulative and flat-out fun "24," there's not a whole lot that can be added to the discussion. The world is full of terrorists and they hate us. Luckily, we've got Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), our unsinkable Molly Brown, our little Weeble, who has, for five seasons, saved our sorry backsides.

Having seen only the first four hours of Season 6 -- which takes up two hours on Sunday and two more on Monday -- I'll take a wild guess and say he'll do it again. Although, truth be told, Jack's a lot more beat up in Season 6. You have to cut a guy who flatlined, in a past season, a little bit of slack if he's not quite ready to answer the bell again. Jack Bauer has been to hell. Before joyously shouting, "Jack's back!" we ought to take a moment of silence for his having saved Los Angeles 28 or so times.

Exhale. OK, so Jack's back. Wheeeee.

While no big plot spoilers will be given here, some people have the audacity to suggest that nothing, even glimpses already seen in Fox's own promotions, be revealed. That's not workable or sane, and even Howard Gordon, the executive producer of "24" -- who in a letter each year begs critics not to reveal specific twists -- only asked that three surprises in the first four hours not be revealed, and his wish is granted here. However, if you're going to be a whiny baby about things, you might want to skip the next paragraph.

Season 6 begins roughly two years after we last saw Jack on a slow boat to China. Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside) is now president, following in the footsteps of his older brother, David. All hell is breaking loose in the United States as terrorists are setting off bombs in cities across the country.

The country needs Jack to help out, but probably not in a way that will appeal to Jack, who since we last saw him has been tortured relentlessly by the Chinese. (But of course he didn't break.) Jack hears President Palmer's plan for him, and he accepts.

From there, "24" follows its familiar formula of everybody panicking, getting caught in situations where "there's no other choice," having those situations go sideways in a terrible fashion and Jack needing to steal cars from innocent people, dive into hallways to avoid explosions, shout a whole lot and contact an annoyed Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) for help using the latest technology that works flawlessly while sounding super complicated.

Come on, people, this is the sixth season. You know the drill.

For the purposes of retaining some semblance of critical respectability, it should be noted yet again that "24" only works if you unplug your brain. Now firmly ensconced under "wildly implausible" in the dictionary, this is a series that's nearly as funny as it is riveting, although that equation is not necessarily intended by the creators.

That "24" could be seriously considered for Emmys and Golden Globes is incomprehensible, not to mention wrong, but that doesn't make it any less addictive and entertaining. Season 6 proves that the best part of "24" is its ability to make your pulse race as you sit slack jawed in front of the bastard machine mumbling, "They didn't just do that, did they?"

There are at least four of those moments in the first four hours, including a plot twist that is not only ill conceived and unbelievable, but will certainly annoy the bejesus out of faithful viewers. But that, in turn, helps create the "anything can happen" environment that "24" has cultivated.

If you get a few (actually, a lot of) unintended laughs as well, that's just a bonus. Given the dearth of great sitcoms these days, "24" provides a win-win. Though the plate-spinning has recently been a tad more predictable than in the stunning first season, the wily producers know how to make the thump-thump of the beating clock reverberate in your chest.

Not much changes in Season 6. A ton of money has been spent to blow things up; whiz-bang technology enables Counter Terrorist Unit agents to get the jump on a lot of very bad terrorists -- or, say, retrieve the hard drive from a computer that sits a few feet from a rogue grenade. It's all terribly ridiculous fun.

This year, "24" seems emboldened to make more of a political statement. With terrorist bombs going off across the country -- essentially turning the United States into the Middle East -- civil liberties, racial profiling and curbs on the Constitution are fodder for the writers. Unfortunately, "24" is an action series and has no sense of subtlety on these topics. If you thought the very worst episodes of "The West Wing" illustrated Aaron Sorkin's predilection for soap box lectures, wait until you hear some of the speeches in "24."

Of course, that only adds yet another easy category to the myriad "24" drinking games already out there. If Jack's daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), was unable to throw water on your enthusiasm for "24," a selection of high school debate-team riffs shouldn't curtail the giddiness, either.

Honestly, most of the shocks and twists in the first four hours are overly familiar. There may be some grumbling among diehards that the writing has become worse and the acting has entered a level of dangerous self-parody. And there's a familiarity that haunts Season 6 -- customarily abused rubes and neighbors, furtive looks among co-workers sneaking around, turncoats, Houdini tactics, etc.

If "24" is showing wear, that shouldn't be too surprising, because heading into Season 6 there already have been 120 episodes of Jack Bauer saving the day, Los Angeles and maybe even the world.

There may come a time when lopping your own head off won't be enough to suspend disbelief. But until then, buckle up.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/10/DDGTFNF6OH1.DTL&type=printable

HDTV Notebook
Duh!
CEA Says Sports Events Drive HDTV Sales
( Consumer Electronics Association News Release) January 9, 2007

Sports fans are driving the sales of high-definition televisions (HDTV) according to the second annual “Inside the Mind of the HD Sports Fan” survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®) and the Sports Video Group (SVG). The survey was unveiled at the 2007 International CES®. The International CES, the world’s largest showcase of consumer technologies, runs January 8-11, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The survey, conducted between November 27 and December 11, 2006, concluded that nearly 50 percent of sports fans purchased a HDTV for the purpose of watching a specific sporting event. Among the top sporting events driving HDTV purchases: the Super Bowl (13 percent), the Daytona 500 (7 percent), the NBA Finals (6 percent) and the college bowl games (5 percent).

“Sports fans have long been enthusiastic about HD content, but this report shows a direct correlation between sports enthusiasm and HDTV sales,” said Tim Herbert, CEA’s senior director of market research. “Twenty-nine percent of sports fans say HD programming impacts their decision to watch and 41 percent of sports fans believe that watching sports programming in HD is almost as good as attending the event live, proving they are not just enthusiasts but true HD aficionados.”

“This survey provides sports networks, advertisers and the consumer electronics industry greater insight into how HD sports influence consumer viewing and buying habits,” said Ken Kerschbaumer, SVG editorial director. “That knowledge can directly translate into more effective marketing campaigns and programming decisions that can help drive the HD transition.”

The survey also reviewed the top “favorite events” sports fans watch in HD. The list included:

• Super Bowl

• College football bowl games

• World Series

• NBA Finals

• NCAA college basketball tournament

While nearly 60 percent of HDTV owners are sports fans, HDTV continues to be quickly adopted by all consumers. In 2006, more than 13.5 million HDTV sets were shipped in the U.S. and CEA predicts that nearly 16 million HDTV sets will be shipped in 2007. This is 57 percent of the total digital television unit sales predicted for 2007. U.S. factory-to-dealer shipments of HDTV have exceeded 30 million units since inception.

Methodology
CEA’s “2006 Inside the Mind of the HD Sports Fan” survey was fielded to an online national sample of 2,631 U.S. adults during the period November 27 to December 11, 2006. Results are weighted to reflect national online demographics. There is an overall margin of error for HDTV owners of +/- 4.6 and an overall rate for HDTV future buyers of +/- 3.2. It was designed and formulated by CEA and SVG. The complete study will be available free to CEA and SVG member companies in early February 2007.

http://www.ce.org/Press/CurrentNews/press_release_detail.asp?id=11219

Ladies and gentlemen, start your DVR's/TiVo's (especially if you're a Criminal Minds, Knights of Prosperity or CSI: NY fan)!

TV Notebook
Nets shuffle lineups for Bush speech
The Hollywood Reporter - January 10, 2007

The broadcast networks have made adjustments to their lineups on the East Coast to accommodate President Bush's Iraq war speech tonight at 9 p.m. EST. The second airings of ABC's new 9-10 p.m. comedies "The Knights of Prosperity" and "In Case of Emergency" will be pushed back to follow the speech at about 9:25 p.m.; an abbreviated edition of ABC News' "Primetime" is tentatively scheduled to air from about 10:25-11 p.m. CBS will slide the original episodes of its 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. dramas "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY," respectively, bleeding into the 11 p.m. local newscasts. After the end of the speech, NBC will join "Deal or No Deal" in progress, while Fox will air a repeat of " 'Till Death" from 9:30-10 p.m.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i9593c11452f0e2795c6302cca0bb67b4


I'm hoping the above is correct, but both my Tivo and my Comcast DVR are showing "In Case of Emergency" and "Primetime" at their regular times and no "The Knights of Prosperity.

TV Sports
Only Emmitt's win outdrew Gators
By Michael Hiestand USA Today

College football's Bowl Championship Series rolled out big programming changes this year. They included adding a fifth BCS game and putting four BCS games on a network — Fox — that didn't cover regular-season college football. Also the gap between the first BCS game and the title game was stretched into a full week.

Tuesday, the final Nielsen TV ratings verdict was in: Things worked out pretty well.

But not spectacularly. Florida's win vs. Ohio State in the title game Monday showed blowouts can be big draws — if they're upsets. The game drew 17.4% of U.S. TV households. That's down 20% from the 21.7% for last year's Texas-Southern California Rose Bowl. That remains the highest-rated college football game since a Penn State-Miami (Fla.) title game in 1987 drew 25.1%.

But the Gators' win was the third highest-rated BCS game ever and the second-highest prime-time show on TV this season, trailing only the Nov. 15 show that settled the championship of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

Can Emmitt Smith make TV magic happen or what?

He won Dancing and was a featured analyst on Fox's title-game coverage Monday. Maybe the CBS Evening News should replace Katie Couric with the ex-Dallas Cowboy.

And if the Buckeyes had staged a comeback Monday — ratings peaked at 19.2% and then started sagging about the time the Gators went up 34-14 in the first half — the game's rating could have really gained altitude. An Ohio State comeback, Fox Sports senior vice president Bill Wanger says, would have been worth "maybe two (ratings) points" — a factor that perhaps added to the pressure Buckeyes players already felt.

The BCS title game wasn't the highest-rated football game this season. The New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles NFL playoff game Sunday on Fox drew 18.2%, and upcoming NFL playoff action will get ratings that will dwarf the BCS'.

The 11.1% average rating for the five BCS games, including the USC-Michigan Rose Bowl on ABC, was down 21% from last year. But it was also about even with the 2005 BCS average game rating. And that isn't bad, considering that the 7% of U.S. households drawn by the Orange Bowl's Louisville-Wake Forest matchup produced the lowest BCS rating ever.

Given that Fox had only one close game — Boise State's wild Fiesta Bowl win — things could have been worse. Wanger offers more enthusiasm: "We're thrilled at these numbers."

Vroommm: ESPN picks an actual Mensa member to host ESPN2's NASCAR Now, which makes its debut Feb. 5 as ESPN's first daily news show devoted to NASCAR. Erik Kuselias, an ESPN Radio host and Mensa member — and that wasn't an oxymoron joke — gets his first full-time TV job as the host of NASCAR Now, part of new gas-guzzling programming on tap as ESPN/ABC returns this year to NASCAR race coverage.

But ESPN has no monopoly on car-related creativity. The Speed channel's Unique Whips series kicks off a new season Feb. 21 with an episode on multitalented Pamela Anderson turning her Airstream trailer into a "Lovestream" — complete with a vibrating bed, ceiling mirrors and shag carpeting. And we're invited inside!

Says Speed programmer Robert Ecker: "We've certainly hit a new plateau." Or at a new something that rhymes with plateau.

Around the dial: Benny Parsons, given a new TNT contract as a NASCAR analyst after what appear to be successful treatments for lung cancer, remains in intensive care in Charlotte's Carolinas Medical Center, where he's been since Dec. 26. … NBC, whose NHL coverage returns Saturday, will use its studio announcers for a pregame show at nbcsports.com — just as it used its on-air Notre Dame announcers for online pregame shows. … Timed to Muhammad Ali turning 65 on Jan. 17, ESPN Classic next week devotes 52 hours of programming to Ali, including replays of some of his big fights.

Global TV: The British marketing company Initiative, whose 2006 ViewerTrack rankings try to measure world TV sports audiences, projects 603 million people watched at least part of the France-Italy World Cup soccer final — predictably making it the world's most-watched event last year.

The 2006 Torino Winter Olympics opening ceremony (watched by 249 million people) and Brazilian Grand Prix (154 million) have at least this much in common: Each drew more total viewers worldwide than last year's Super Bowl (151 million).

Which is good because, while there are Super Bowls every year, you don't get many chances to see skaters whizzing around wearing backpacks shooting actual flames, a sight included in Torino's opening show.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2007-01-09-hiestand-bcs_x.htm

TV Sports
BCS title game does well on TV
By Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times January 10, 2007

Even though Monday night's Bowl Championship Series title game was decided by halftime, the "fast national" rating was a solid 17.4 with a 27 share of the audience, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Nielsen estimates that all or part of the game — in which Florida beat Ohio State, 41-14 — was seen by more than 58.4 million viewers in the U.S., with an average audience at any one time of 28.7 million. The only higher prime-time rating this season was a 17.8 for ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" on Nov. 15.

The highest-rated and most-watched program this season during any part of the day was Sunday's wild-card game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles on Fox, getting an 18.2 national rating and averaging 29.7 million viewers.

The rating for the BCS title game was higher than expected, given the lopsided score and how ratings for Fox's three other BCS bowl games had been down.

The Orange Bowl's 7.0 was the lowest of the 37 BCS bowl games that have been played since 1998. Even Boise State's 43-42 victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl got only an 8.4 rating.

Fox Sports Chairman David Hill on Tuesday called the championship game's rating "fantastic" and noted that the fans there didn't give up. Apparently, neither did television viewers.

Asked if the last-second drama of the Fiesta Bowl might have been a factor in holding Monday's audience, he said, "You can't dismiss it."

Hill and Fox Sports President Ed Goren plan to talk with BCS officials about ways to improve the setup. This is the first year of a four-year deal for Fox. Asked what suggestions he has, Hill said, "Shortening the halftime." Ideally, Fox would also get the Rose Bowl, he said. But ESPN-ABC has it through 2014.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-bcsfox10jan10,1,1678974.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports

Yesterday’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.

Cable Nielsen Notebook
Speed Channel, where things go faster
Though still small, the network is up 10 percent
By Toni Fitzgerald medialifemagazine Jan 10, 2007

The cable networks that have experienced the most growth over the past few years are specialists, such as the Food Network, G4 and HGTV.

Among them, perhaps none has a clearer niche than Speed Channel, the network targeted to people, men mostly, who like things that go fast. With an increased focus on young-skewing lifestyle and car enthusiast programming over the past 18 months, Speed recorded its best-ever year in 2006.

The network averaged 247,000 viewers in primetime, up 10 percent versus last year. In total day it rose 14 percent, to 128,000, according to Nielsen data. That’s still barely among the top 50 networks for basic cable, but it was the fourth straight year of growth for Speed, and that’s rare no matter what the network’s size. (It's currently available in 69.5 million households.)

Speed saw its strongest growth among the young men it increasingly targets. Ratings among men 18-34 rose 45 percent while men 18-49 were up 17 percent. Its median age fell from 48.6 two years ago to 46.5.

“We’ve had a lot of success scheduling our Tuesdays and Wednesday nights with automotive lifestyle programming that appeals to a younger audience,” says Paul Duong, Speed vice president of scheduling and research.

One of those shows is “Unique Whips,” which just ended its second season on those nights. The show follows Will Castro, a Long Island body shop customizer who retools the luxury cars of stars like Jennifer Lopez, Busta Rhymes, Carmelo Anthony and Eminem.

Speed has tried to lure a young-skewing audience by making the show available on iTunes and setting up a MySpace page for it.

“Whips” averaged a 0.51 in men 18-34, up 55 percent from the previous year.

Wednesday’s reality racing series “PINKS,” entering its third year and now the network’s most-watched show, and Tuesday’s motorcycle showcase “Superbikes,” which just finished its first season, also helped lower the network’s median age.

“PINKS” averaged a 0.7 rating in men 18-34, up 141 percent over the previous year, while “Superbikes” averaged a 0.2, up 67 percent over the show it replaced, “2 Wheel Tuesday.”

What’s perhaps most interesting, in a year when NASCAR ratings finally slipped, is that Speed’s NASCAR pre-race coverage “NASCAR Race Day” actually rose 29 percent in men 18-34 over its old prerace show, indicating better awareness of the show among racing fans.

Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended Jan. 7, 2007:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s):

USA
TBS
FX
TNT
A&E

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers):

USA
TNT
TBSC
Lifetime
A&E

Top movie (18-49s):
FX’s “Spiderman 2” (Tuesday, 7 p.m.) 1.61 million

Top sporting event (total viewers):
ESPN’s “Tennessee/Penn State” (Monday, 10:59 a.m.) 5.70 million

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s:
USA’s “WWE Entertainment” (Monday, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.)
ESPN’s “Tennessee/Penn State” (Monday, 10:59 a.m.)
FX’s “Dirt” (Tuesday, 10 p.m.)

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9421.asp

(Sorry I missed this last night.)
The Business of Television
EchoStar Makes Price Pitch
By Glen Dickson Broadcasting & Cable

While DirecTV used CES to proclaim that it will be ready to deliver over 100 channels of HDTV this year, satellite competitor EchoStar, which already offers 30 hi-def channels, announced aggressive new pricing strategies in an attempt to gain market share.

EchoStar unveiled a bundled package for new subscribers called the DishDVR Advantage Package that gives customers 200 channels of programming, including local channels, and a dual-tuner DVR standard definition receiver for $49.99 per month.

The offer, which is available Feb. 1, also includes an 18-month protection plan with technical support, free equipment replacement and free installation when a customer moves. According to EchoStar president and COO Carl Vogel, that package represents a 7% savings over buying these items individually.

"We think we represent the best price/value economics in the industry," said Vogel at a press conference Monday.

EchoStar is also going to give its flagship ViP622 high-definition DVR away for free (in conjunction with program package commitments, of course) as part of its "Digital Home Advantage Program." The ViP622 boxes use MPEG-4 compression to receive EchoStar's HD broadcast and include an ATSC tuner to give viewers the option of receiving local DTV broadcasts over the air.

They currently offer over 300 gigabytes of storage and will include 500 gigabytes of storage later this year, allowing EchoStar to preload the boxes with more premium movies and allowing customers to record more HD content.

Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies, notes that the EchoStar DVR will pump programming to two sets simultaneously and requires less wiring for HD installation than competitor DirecTV. He also says that the ViP622 has a USB slot to allow customers to attach external storage devices.

Another feature is that ViP622s come with a "HomePlug" Ethernet adapter that can hook to a PC network and plug into a standard electrical outlet. With the PVR plugged into another standard electrical outlet in another room, a home's existing electrical wiring can serve as the network connection between a broadband connection and the PVR.

EchoStar Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen was also on hand to take questions, though in a posture consistent with his absence from EchoStar's Q3 earnings call, he claimed to no longer be that familiar with EchoStar's day-to-day operations.

"I just came here to see what we're doing too," the ever-gregarious Ergen joked. "I don't do much with EchoStar on a day-to-day basis anymore; this is probably the last time I'll talk to the press all year."

Ergen then proceeded to adroitly answer questions and offer opinions on every aspect of EchoStar's business, including the company's refusal to pay higher fees to carry Time Warner's Court TV network---"Our customers are ecstatic their basic rate is not going up this year"---and its ongoing patent legislation with DVR-maker TiVo---"We believe the TiVo litigation is behind us, and we came out on the right side of that."

Ergen also threw cold water on speculation that EchoStar would once again attempt to merge with DirecTV now that Liberty is taking control of the company from News Corp., saying that instead he was looking to take advantage of DirecTV being distracted by dealing with the regulatory issues that come with closing the deal.

"I think we merged with them two or three times before, and it always set us back a little bit, because we had to go to Washington instead of running the business," Ergen said. "I'm happy they have to go to Washington now."

Addressing John Malone's suggestion in Broadcasting & Cable that DirecTV and EchoStar could potentially partner by sharing satellite resources or developing a common platform to deliver local high-definition signals, Ergen said some cooperation on technical resources could happen in the future, such as sharing transmission backhauls or co-investing in backup satellites. Moreover, he said that Liberty's takeover of DirecTV was a shot in the arm for the DBS industry in general, which has faced criticism from Wall Street that it can't compete with cable's bundle of video, voice and data services.

"Obviously, Dr. Malone is getting back into the business, and that says a lot about getting into the satellite business," said Ergen. "He's giving up a real good asset in News Corp. stock, and that says a lot about the
prospects of this business."

With such theoretically bullish prospects for DBS ahead, some analysts at CES were surprised at the level of price-cutting that EchoStar is undertaking. Steve Mather, Steve Mather, VP of equity research with
investment bank Sanders Morris Harris, figures that Ergen has looked at the competitive landscape and sees cable pushing the bundle and DirecTV touting tons of HD channels. Price thus becomes the "open white space" where EchoStar can play.

"He's being very aggressive, but price is the biggest weapon in his arsenal, and he's going to get subs," says Mather. "It's a big land-grab."

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6406127

CES Technology Notebook
HD Displays: Smaller Prices, Bigger Features
(Broadcasting & Cable HD Newsletter)

High-definition display technologies like plasma and LCD are slugging it out at the CES show in Las Vegas.

Sharp scored a major blow for LCD with the introduction of a new 108-inch LCD Aquos panel that will be shipping this summer, proving that the common perception that plasmas rule in larger screen sizes is, at least for now, a falsehood.

Samsung added to the argument with the roll out of a 70-inch display on Sunday afternoon while Sony added an 82-inch Bravia LCD HDTV set to its lineup.

The larger LCD displays are the latest salvo in the battle between LCD and plasma technologies. Plasmas have traditionally dominated sales of displays larger than 50 inches while LCD panels have dominated in the 42-inch and smaller market.

In an effort to help plasmas continue that domination, LG Electronics slashed the price of its flagship 71-inch plasma display by 80% from last year’s introductory price.

At $14,999.95 it’s still not going to be a simple purchase for most Americans but it’s indicative of the impact increased manufacturing capacities and consumer demand have on the entire product line.

It appears that 1080p resolution is the new standard. LG Electronics offered up nine new LCD and three new plasma displays that are 1080p capable. LG also added three plasma monitors with built-in HD DVRs capable of storing up to 13 hours of HD video.

In terms of new display technology Pioneer introduced a completely new approach to plasma design with a new panel, color filter and ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) that it says will change the plasma performance landscape.

“We determined it was not good enough to just add another layer to existing technology,” says Ken Shioda, general manager of product planning for displays at Pioneer Corporation.

By re-engineering Pioneer’s plasma technology from the ground up Shioda says the company made a quantum leap in all areas that impact the viewer experience. Black levels, for example, reduce the minimum luminance level by 80% while a new filter minimizes the impact of ambient light, one of the biggest problems facing plasma displays.

“It looks equally good in both light and dark rooms,” says Shioda. “And it exceeds both LCD and even SED in all conditions.” Expect the new sets to be available this summer.

Philips also took a step forward in technology with the Perfect Pixel HD engine. “It has the processing power and accuracy to handle 1080p,” says Stewart Muller, Philips CE North America president. “If the processing isn’t good enough any problems before will be magnified even more with more pixels.”

Philips also cut the refresh speed of its LCD panels down to 4 ms with the introduction of Clear LCD technology. Muller says the move greatly improves motion sharpness. Sharp also nailed down a 4 ms refresh delay for its D92 series of LCD panels that also has a 15,000:1 contrast ratio.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=nocclamp&articleid=CA6338302

Critic’s Notebook
Sanitized 'Sopranos'
Tony and the boys clean up too nice
(Tonight at 9 ET on A&E) The series begins its run with episodes re-edited to fit basic cable standards.
By Alan Sepinwall Newark Star-Ledger Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Christopher Moltisanti has had it. He's watched Tony Soprano let Uncle Junior run roughshod over him and his whole crew, found his friend Brendan shot dead by Junior's goons, and Tony doesn't seem willing to fight back. Christopher's at a boiling point, and he's going to use the strongest language possible to describe the situation to Tony:

"Your freakin' uncle's spittin' on your head!"

Welcome to "The Sopranos" on A&E, where the Bada-Bing girls dance in their underwear, where Paulie Walnuts uses phrases like "weirdo jerk," where AJ will presumably complain about the lack of freakin' ziti.

It's an awkward, often unintentionally hilarious transition away from the freedom of pay cable, and one that changes the overall meaning of the series.

Basic cable isn't technically limited by FCC content standards (yet), but advertisers are involved, as are rabid watchdog groups like the Parents Television Council, so significant changes have to be made to Tony's world. FX dramas like "The Shield" and "Nip/Tuck" are the closest basic cable has come to HBO-style use of language and nudity, and "The Sopranos" seems to have been recut with those shows in mind.

The only curse word that seems 100 percent off-limits is the one that begins with an F, most often replaced by "freakin'," but also, depending on context, by "damn," "really" and, in one instance, "Nuts!" References to bodily functions and certain sex acts are right out, hence Christopher's use of "spittin'" or a later use of "cockroach" as a heinous insult.

For all the talk of David Chase filming alternate takes for syndication purposes, what we have here is some very obvious dubbing. The technology has improved since the days when John Belushi would randomly develop a Southern accent during Channel 11's broadcasts of "The Blues Brothers," so it sounds like Michael Imperioli or James Gandolfini saying the new lines. But the words rarely match up with the actors' lips, and the volume fluctuates wildly. Often entire chunks of sentences will be made louder to minimize the insertion of one or two words, so you'll hear Tony tell Artie, "I am sick of hearing ABOUT YOUR DAMN RESTAURANT! SHUT UP ABOUT IT, YOU FREAKIN' JERK!"

In the two first season episodes A&E sent out for comparison purposes, there's one scene that was clearly redone, with the Bing dancers shaking it while wearing fairly conservative body stockings. But every other shot of sex and nudity in the two episodes gets cut out entirely or reframed; instead of seeing a woman straddling and grinding on Silvio, you get a very tight close-up of Sil's face.

The violence seems the same in both versions, though the show didn't get really bloody until season three. How will they show the rape? Or Tracee the stripper's death?

The larger problem is how, in trying to make the show more palatable to advertisers, the edits make the characters more palatable.

"The Sopranos" is supposed to be an ugly show about ugly people, people who use the F-word as punctuation, who spend hours on end gawking at sad-eyed naked women with huge fake breasts, who treat anyone running counter to their interests like garbage to be disposed of in a Barone Sanitation truck.

Show Tony at the Bing with the dancers either clothed or absent (as they are in several recut scenes), and he's not as much of a sleaze. Water down Christopher's language and he's not as much of a Neanderthal.

Getting back to Tracee, there's a scene in the back room at the Bing where Ralphie goes out of his way to degrade her -- it's the one involving him, Tracee and a cop -- and it's shown so plainly as to leave zero doubt about Ralphie's uselessness as a human being. There is simply no way A&E can show that scene as is, and without it in its original form, Ralphie seems much less of a monster.

"Sex and the City" fans have already witnessed how syndication transformed it into a show about three single women and their one older friend who occasionally pops by for brunch. Bravo has been airing a watered-down version of "Six Feet Under" for the last few weeks, and tonight also marks the arrival of "The Wire" on BET.

(Attempts to get a copy of a bowdlerized "Wire" episode -- specifically the one containing the famous scene where two cops survey a crime scene uttering nothing but variants of the F-word -- were unsuccessful. Are they going to play it silently, or will we hear "Darn! Golly! Wow!"?)

I make fun of the "It's not TV, it's HBO" slogan on a regular basis, especially when HBO executives insist on acting like their network counterparts. But words have meaning, images have meaning. There's a reason these shows wound up on HBO, and why they seem so wrong attempting to look and sound like regular TV.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/sepinwall/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1168407910312240.xml&coll=1

While DirecTV used CES to proclaim that it will be ready to deliver over 100 channels of HDTV this year, satellite competitor EchoStar, which already offers 30 hi-def channels, announced aggressive new pricing strategies in an attempt to gain market share.

2007 is setting up as a very good year for the TV watching consumer. More channels, move providers with the Telcos getting in the game, and now a possible price war.

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.

2007 is setting up as a very good year for the TV watching consumer. More channels, move providers with the Telcos getting in the game, and now a possible price war.

I agree. It should be a fun HD year!

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Wednesday’s Events

To keep you informed, today the TCA Winter Tour features presentations by the Discovery Networks, Oxygen, TV One, the National Geographic Channel, BBC America, and Disney/ABC Cable.

(Sorry I missed this last night.)
The Business of Television
EchoStar Makes Price Pitch
By Glen Dickson Broadcasting & Cable

While DirecTV used CES to proclaim that it will be ready to deliver over 100 channels of HDTV this year, satellite competitor EchoStar, which already offers 30 hi-def channels, announced aggressive new pricing strategies in an attempt to gain market share.

HHHMM. Is that code for "don't expect any new HD channels from us for a while?"

Probably, foxeng.

But perhaps the pricing will help keep DirecTV from raising its prices too much later in the year.

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Booty: 'People's Choice' wins for CBS
Bless the buzz over 'Pirates of the Caribbean'
By Toni Fitzgerald medialifemagazine Jan 10, 2007

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” was 2006’s biggest box office hit, and its success is carrying into 2007 as well. With “Pirates” winning four "People’s Choice" awards, including three for star Johnny Depp, the awards show posted a solid ratings increase over last year.

The two-hour Golden Globes pre-cursor averaged a 7.6 household rating and 3.6 among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights. That was up 13 percent in households over last year’s 6.7 and a 6 percent increase in 18-49s over last year’s 3.4.

Though the "People’s Choice Awards" finished second in both the 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. hour, it did so against stronger competition than last year, as Fox’s hit “House” was up an impressive 28 percent over the same night last year.

The public gets to vote on the "People’s Choice Awards," and an impressive array of stars show up to accept the prizes. In addition to Depp, last night Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Jennifer Aniston, Charlie Sheen and more were on hand to pick up awards.

The reason for the awards show’s jump seems to be in large part the continued allure of “Pirates.” As evidenced by the rise in households, the movie has been especially popular with families. The campiness of Depp’s performance appeals to parents, and kids love anything to do with pirates.

The movie didn’t receive great reviews from critics, but it has had an effect on pop culture, driving everything from increases in pirate Halloween costumes to award show ratings.

Meanwhile, “House” was all Fox needed to finish first last night among 18-49s, as back-to-back episodes lifted the network to a dominant 5.5 rating and a 14 share. NBC finished second at 3.8/10, CBS third at 3.3/9, ABC fourth at 2.1/6, Univision fifth at 1.7/5 and CW sixth at 0.8/2.

At 8 p.m. Fox led with a 3.7 rating for a repeat of “House.” NBC was second with a 3.0 for “Dateline,” CBS third with a 2.9 for an “NCIS” rerun and ABC fourth with a 2.6 for a repeat of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Univision was fifth that hour with a 2.5 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW sixth with a 1.1 for a repeat of “Gilmore Girls.”

Fox stayed on top with “House” again at 9 p.m., this time with a 7.3 for an original episode. CBS moved to second that hour with a 3.8 for the first hour of the awards, with NBC third with a 3.5 for “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and Univision fourth with a 1.7 for “Mundo de Fieras.” ABC dropped to fifth with a 1.5 average for an hour of “Big Day” and CW remained sixth with a 0.6 for a repeat of “Veronica Mars.”

With Fox gone at 10 p.m., NBC led with a 5.0 rating for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” CBS was second with a 3.3 for the second hour of the awards, ABC third with a 2.4 for “Boston Legal” and Univision fourth with a 1.1 for the behind-the-scenes special “Lo que No Vio de ‘Premios Furia Musical.’”

NBC finished first on a competitive night among households, leading with an 8.2 average rating and a 13 share. Fox was a close second at 8.0/12, CBS third at 7.7/12, ABC fourth at 4.6/7, Univision fifth at 2.2/3 and CW sixth at 1.4/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9446.asp

TV Notebook:
Barbara Walters Disses Trump,
Declares Feuding Over
By Michele Greppi Television Week January 10, 2007

Barbara Walters called feud-frenzied Donald Trump "that poor, pathetic man" on "The View," high-fived Mr. Trump's feud foe, Rosie O'Donnell, and declared the ABC daytime show is "moving on."

For the ever-dignified and nonjudgmental Ms. Walters, who has interviewed recovering celebrities, international despots, assorted criminals and political dignitaries, the opening conversation of Wednesday's show ranks as a personally historic moment: The first time she has ever spoken ill of anyone, much less a long-time friend, on TV.

Mr. Trump lobbed the latest verbal grenades Tuesday in the month-old feud. The fight started with the outspoken Ms. O'Donnell's reaction to Mr. Trump's decision to give hard-partying Miss USA Tara Conner a trip to rehab and a second chance to fill out the remaining two months of her reign.

He Tuesday faxed a venomous letter to Ms. O'Donnell (and press outlets) in which he said Ms. Walters had told him that working with Ms. O'Donnell is "like living in hell" and that Ms. O'Donnell "won't be here long" on "The View."

Mr. Trump appeared on Tuesday's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" but only recapped the feud, saying he had promised "Late Night" producers he would not talk about Ms. O'Donnell.

Ms. Walters has more than once denied that she regrets having hired Ms. O'Donnell. However, the New York tabloids Tuesday carried juicy stories about a confrontation in "The View" makeup room Monday, when Ms. O'Donnell heatedly accused Ms. Walters of being a liar and not having been emphatic enough in her defense.

On Wednesday's "Live With Regis and Kelly," Regis Philbin said, "Where's the U.N. when you need it?"

Ms. O'Donnell started "The View" with a no-name-needed comment: "Well, he's at it again. What can you say about that guy?"

Ms. Walters replied: "That poor, pathetic man."

Ms. O'Donnell cheered "Yes!" The studio audience burst into wild applause and approving hoots.

"He just can't let go," Ms. Walters said.

"And I'm happy to say his show ['The Apprentice'] tanked," Ms. O'Donnell.

Mr. Trump is not the only one in this feud who can't let go.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11343

Cable TV Notebook
Fox's Hannity Draws 1.05 Mil. in Debut
Media Week January 10, 2007

The debut of Fox News Channel fixture Sean Hannity’s Sunday evening showcase drew a sizable audience in its 9 p.m. time slot, delivering 1.05 million viewers and 302,000 adults 25-54.

The one-hour premiere of Hannity’s America beat out the competition by a significant margin, more than doubling CNN’s audience––the first hour of a two-hour CNN Presents special drew 518,000 total viewers and 125,000 adults 25-54 in the 9 p.m. slot Sunday night––and eclipsing the viewership at MSNBC (454,000), Headline News (327,000) and CNBC (299,000).

Compared to FNC’s average audience in the time slot throughout Dec. 2006, Hannity’s America was up 65 percent in total viewers and another 66 percent in the core demo, according to Nielsen Media Research data. In a sense, Hannity beat himself Sunday night; in the first three weeks of December, FNC ran repeats of Hannity & Colmes in the 9 p.m. slot.

Hannity will continue co-hosting Hannity & Colmes, cable’s second highest-rated program. He’ll also remain at the mic for his daily ABC Radio Networks show.

While Hannity’s conservative leanings are tempered by his liberal co-star in his regular gig, as a solo artist he was allowed a freer hand. In what is expected to be a recurring feature of the Sunday show, Hannity named actor Sean Penn the “Enemy of the State” for the week of Jan. 8., slamming Penn for his views on the Bush administration.

The premiere also included a “hot seat” interview with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and a lighter segment with The View co-anchor Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003530545

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Why there's more Nancy Grace-less in our future
By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic his TV Guy blog January 10, 2007

CNN came to the television critics' winter tour to celebrate Larry King, but Nancy Grace threw a wrench in the good times. Several critics wanted to know how CNN justified Grace's show on CNN Headline News.

Quick answer: ratings. In television, it's almost always about ratings.

Two years ago, Headline News in prime changed "to personalities that are provocative with a point of view," said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide. "I think that Nancy fits in very, very well."

Walton compared the CNN lineup to the offerings in a newspaper, which contains straight news, entertainment, business, sports and commentary.

He defended Grace as fitting a CNN brand that, he said, is based on integrity, accuracy and class.

"You can choose to not agree with her point of view or what she's saying," Walton said. "I'm not judge and jury, nor am I the morals police."

No, that's Nancy. Grace is judge and jury on her show, which makes her a frequent target for satire. Her overbearing style quickly becomes tiresome.

But CNN noted that her ratings have tripled since her show started two years ago. So she can do pretty much whatever she wants.

I guess along with the ratings, CNN wanted some content balance: along with the steady Larry King, the classy Christiane Amanpour and all the terrific reporters, the network wanted a bit of Grace shrillness. CNN will keep defending her, but let's face it: She is hurting the brand.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2007/01/more_on_nancy_g.html

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Party Report #1: More Cow Ball
By James Hibberd Television Week in the “Critical Eye” blog Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

FX employees have a saying: “Fox without the ‘o’ is Fox without the dough.” Seems the same holds true for the rest of their parent company’s cable suite, which put on a modest party for the first night of TCA on the cramped terrace.

Of the Fox Cable Networks Group, National Geographic Channel’s portion of the buffet spread had the most theme fun, offering food items inspired by their “Taboo” series—including bull testicles, deep-fried chicken feet and chocolate-covered worms (though, admittedly, there’s something sort of aggressive about that too, I’m picturing a network president shouting, “TV critics!? Screw ‘em, let them eat balls and worms”).

Nat Geo also brought out The Dog Whisperer, who, in turn, brought a dog to demonstrate his canine communication skills on. This seems like a cheat, as it’s his dog, and he presumably already knows what the dog is thinking.

FX was sparsely represented, with Courteney Cox a no-show (“she wasn’t feeling well”).

Fox Reality was the most awkward member of the party, with general manager and COO David Lyle giving a speech while critics attacked the buffet dinner and open bar (something a network president attempts at every Press Tour, and never quite works). Fox Reality also brought some guests such as the immortal Rob and Amber and Kennedy (surprisingly striking in a red dress and looking somehow younger than she did back in her MTV days, also helpful with giving hallway party directions).

But Fox Reality also has a new series, “The Academy,” following a group of law enforcement recruits, and therefore, invited a half-dozen Academy trainers from the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department.

Now really, a network shouldn’t need a blogger to point this out, but a cluster of imposing, stern-faced uniformed cops doesn’t liven up a party, ever.

Fox Reality also planned to have the officers stage marching drills at the event, which would have been awesome to behold: Weary, hungry critics trying to get to the chicken tenders while police officers scream at them. At the last minute, wiser Fox Cable heads vetoed the idea.

http://blogs.tvweek.com/?cat=12

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Cable Kicks Off Critics Tour
By Linda Haugsted MultiChannel News 1/10/2007

The twice-yearly meeting of the Television Critic’s Association has begun, two weeks of back-to-back press conferences cleaved only by writing breaks and high-fat meals three times a day. Cable benefits as being the first stop on the tour: even with all that food, and comfy beds at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pasadena, Calif., critics become cranky with the networks that are scheduled last on the tour. Multichannel News reporters will be covering all the news during the four days devoted to cable networks, filing dispatches as the overloaded wireless network will allow.

King of the Boards?
Larry King, Broadway star? The talk show king actually has aspirations beyond his cable fiefdom, though he conceeds it’s unlikely to happen. He’d love to do a one-man show on Broadway, but only for a week. It’s that time constraint that would doom any attempt to make his dream come true, he noted, for a show could never make back its investment in that short a time, and he wouldn’t want to take more time off his CNN gig, he told television critics at their meeting this week in Pasadena, Ca.

Why the show?

“I love to make people laugh,” he explained.

He’d also like to take a shot at acting. Although he’s been in 21 feature films, he’s always played himself (unless you count Shrek II, which featured King as the voice of a very masculine barmaid). He’ll be an animated version of himself in an upcoming feature starring Jerry Seinfeld titled Bee Season, King said, as Larry B. King, host of a bee talk show.

His favorite movie gig was the Billy Crystal-scripted America's Sweetheart, where he was uncharacteristically mean to Catherine Zeta Jones. King couldn't remember a time when he’d actually “lost it” on CNN with a guest; the last time he fought on the air with a guest dates back to his radio days, he said, and the target was the late Gov. George Wallace. King related that the politician swaggered into the stations and noted there were no blacks working at the station. King retorted, “They own the station, and they’re at lunch."

The interview devolved into bickering from there, he said.

A questioner noted that King went to high school (Lafayette High School, Brooklyn) with Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, yet hasn’t gotten him on his show for an interview. King noted that Koufax is a very private person, but added he’d love to get Koufax on his show. However, Larry King Live rarely books sports personalities of any stripe. On the vast majority of nights, the show is telecast in competition with a live sporting event, and viewers are more likely to watch the event than an interview, he explained.

Weather Watchers Watched
Though they don’t get the buzz of say, sitcom stars, on-air meteorologists told MCN they do get their share of star moments, when viewers recognize them on the street.

Dr. Steve Lyons said his fan base is strongest in Florida, the Carolinas, Mississippi, Alabama and coastal Texas. You know, hurricane country.

Viewers recognize him on the street and thank him for his work, he said. ”I’ve never gotten anything but positive comments,” he said.

His oddest moment of recognition may have come Jan. 8 in Pasadena. He was up the street from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where the critics are meeting. He was dressed casually, rather than in his suit and tie he wears on the air, and was ordering lunch in a taco joint.

Another patron told him he looked like the younger brother of a guy on The Weather Channel. Chalk it up to the aging effects of a suit and tie, we guess.

“That’s the funniest comment I’ve ever gotten,” he said.

But the public reaction changes according to the stories the meteorologists cover, said Lyons and Paul Goodloe. Jim Cantore (who wasn’t at the TCA meeting) is noted for some of the hairy weather events he’s covered, including Hurricane Katrina from Louisiana.

Due to his past assignments, “No one likes to see him coming,” the other meteorologists joke, since some think his presences means bad weather is ahead.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6406378.html?display=Breaking+News

Critic’s Notebook
Ed Bradley's office a sanctuary for those missing him
By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist January 10, 2007

Two months after Ed Bradley's unexpected death, his 60 Minutes colleagues are finding solace in his untouched office.

"It's very comforting," says correspondent Steve Kroft. "It feels like he's still here. In some ways, it almost feels like he's off shooting a story."

Bradley, known as Butch in his old West Philadelphia neighborhood, died Nov. 9 of complications from leukemia. He was 65. A very private man, Bradley had kept his illness a secret to virtually everyone at CBS.

"It's good to walk into Ed's office and just remember him," says 60 executive producer Jeff Fager. "There is something of him still in there. It helps some people to see the office as it was."

Bradley's space was always seen as a refuge, with its muted lighting and abundant greenery. You knew he was in town when you heard his beloved jazz playing softly in the background.

With 60 real estate at a premium, the office won't stay unoccupied indefinitely, of course. Bradley won't be replaced as a correspondent, however, until next season, according to Fager.

"It's like trying to replace Lou Gehrig. It's impossible. Ed was a superstar who died too young. He left us before anybody expected it. It was a shock to the broadcast. He was a huge figure here."

Kroft, 61, in his 18th season with 60, is now dean of the correspondents' corps. That means his face replaces Bradley's as the first up in the show's introduction. ("I'm Steve Kroft.")

It's a seniority thing. Closest full-timer to Kroft is Lesley Stahl, 65, who began in 1991. Fun fact: Stahl was the last full-time correspondent to join the newsmagazine.

Being lead-off hitter "is an honor," Kroft says. "It's not something I would have wanted to happen under these circumstances, though. Nobody expected Ed to die. It was not on anybody's radar, including people who knew he was sick. We wish he were still here."

Kroft, nicknamed "Kid" when he broke into the lineup in '89, "is as good as it gets," in Fager's unbiased view. "He's one of the best reporters and best writers who ever worked in broadcast journalism. If you look at the body of his work, he doesn't do clunkers. He only does good stories."

CNN golden boy Anderson Cooper, 39, in his first season as a 60 contributor, is high on Fager's wish list as a possible Bradley replacement. (Cooper will do four to five pieces for 60 this season.)

Odds are slim. Cooper's locked in at CNN for almost two more years.

Fager labels the silver-haired Cooper "a terrific talent. I can't say now he's the guy who will get the next full-time job, but he sure could. He's got so much to offer... . I would seriously consider him."

Consider, sure. But smart money says Fager will name a person of color to succeed Bradley, the first - and only - African American correspondent in the august broadcast's 39-year history.

"We definitely have our eye out for a minority correspondent," Fager says. "It's important that our correspondents represent a cross section of America. That's important in journalism, as in all walks of life."

Clash of the titans. TiVo alert: Faux pundit Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central and real pundit Bill O'Reilly of Fox News Channel will appear on each other's respective shows Jan. 18.

In what the always-understated Comedy Central describes as a "mega monumental moment," Colbert will venture into the "No Spin Zone" of his idol at 8 p.m. It's the debut shot for Colbert on FNC's The O'Reilly Factor.

That evening at 11:30, "Papa Bear" O'Reilly (that's Colbert's love name for Bill) will visit "Colbert Nation" for his first visit to Comedy Central's The Colbert Report.

"It is an honor to speak face to face with a broadcasting legend, and I feel the same way about Mr. O'Reilly," Colbert said in a statement yesterday.

Et tu, Bill?

"I'm really looking forward to speaking to a man who owes his entire career to me!"

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//16422786.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

TV Review
“Armed & Famous”
(CBS, Wed. Jan. 10 8 PM ET/PT)
By Brian Lowry Variety

In surreality TV, the right casting can occasionally wring surprising mileage out of a hokey concept, which is a fair description of CBS' latest addition to the "Marginal celebrities will do just about anything for attention" genre. Wedding "The Surreal Life" to "Cops," CBS' transformation of five mismatched "stars" into Muncie, Ind., patrolmen sounds idiotic on its face, but the resulting hour actually delivers moments of warmth and humor, as well as its share of idiocy. If nothing else, it won't end the world before "Jericho" returns to do so with a bit more panache.

Of course, given CBS' fondness for cop dramas, it's perhaps no surprise the network's reality offerings would eventually join "48 Hours" by tilting in that direction. Too bad there wasn't enough time to train the central quintet to ID trace blood and semen evidence, but maybe next time.

"CHiPs" star Erik Estrada, La Toya Jackson, former wrestler Trish Stratus, "The Osbournes" heir Jack Osbourne and "Jackass" punching bag Jason "Wee-Man" Acuna undergo training in police procedure during the first half-hour, forging unlikely bonds while learning to shoot and handcuff potential perps.

"You're more of a guy than I am," Jack marvels to the muscular Trish after they both experience being Tasered.

Acuna, foremost, brings just the right touch of sardonic wit to the proceedings, marveling over seeing Jackson in this setting and busting a gut when Estrada breaks wind during a hand-to-hand combat training. "Ponch just farted!" he bellows, which, for the "Jackass" crowd, by itself should qualify this as must-see TV.

A bit too quickly, the pseudo-crime fighters are graduated and each paired with a legitimate cop to roam Muncie's kind-of-boring streets, dealing with drunk drivers, domestic disturbances and a family overwrought by a house fire. In the best sequence, an elderly, near-toothless woman accused of peddling drugs becomes positively giddy over Estrada arresting her, yakking at him (and calling him "Ponch") all the way to the station.

Then again, she's to be forgiven: Life, in this case, really is imitating art.

Once the "Cops" motif kicks in, the program loses some momentum, and the series works best when the faux police make like Acuna and resist the temptation to take themselves too seriously.

CBS will run the show twice during its premiere week, and it's hard to foresee this hour doing much beyond killing time till the regular troops arrive -- which, come to think of it, mirrors the show's basic conceit. Still, if "Armed & Famous" draws even passable ratings, CBS could have a real utility player on its hands: After all, no network has access to more actors with experience playing cops and robbers.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_review&reviewid=VE1117932412&categoryid=32

TV Notebook:
“Housewives” Hits the Road to Avoid Pregnant Pause
By Mary Murphy A TV Guide EXCLUSIVE

Marcia Cross, who is expecting twins in April, was put on immediate bed rest last week for the remainder of her pregnancy, TV Guide has learned.

The doctor's orders sent Desperate Housewives producers scrambling to wrap up Bree's current story line, ultimately deciding that if Cross can't come to the shoot, then the shoot will come to Cross. At the end of this week, they will move the production of the show to the actress' West Los Angeles home for two days.

(Cross — whose TV alter ego isn’t pregnant — had only planned on taping two more shows after the Feb. 11 episode because it was becoming too difficult to hide her growing bump.)

While Cross is resting upstairs in bed, the Housewives team will be downstairs transforming the home she moved into just months ago into a likeness of Bree's orderly abode. "They are painting the walls, moving in props and furniture from the set...," says a source from the set. "They're basically making Marcia's house into Bree's."

To read more about this story, pick up the Jan. 22 issue of TV Guide magazine.

http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=700016225

TV Review
'Armed' celebs are a bust
(As cops, they're not very arresting
By David Hinckley The New York Daily News

"Armed & Famous" (Wednesday 8 PM ET/PT, CBS) raises the question - okay, not a very urgent question - of whether a mediocre show deserves credit for not being as awful as it could have been.

All you need to know about this show, really, you can figure out from a rundown of the cast: one-time "CHiPS" hunk Erik Estrada, loose cannon LaToya Jackson, former WWE wrestler Trish Stratus, Jack Osbourne of "The Osbournes" and Jason (Wee Man) Acuna, best known for asinine stunts on the "Jackass" series.

The premise is to take this Fab Five and put them on the Muncie, Ind., police force, where they will do real police work with real police officers.

That should make the citizens of Muncie sleep like babies tonight, eh?

Truth is, the purpose of the whole exercise is never clear, because the odds it will rejuvenate any careers are about the same as the odds it will make Muncie safer.

So we watch, presumably, in the hope that something tense, awful, funny or appalling will happen while they're making their rounds, which essentially means this: The success of "Armed & Famous" hinges on some crack addict, small-time second-story man, deadbeat dad, drunk driver or two-bit trailer park fugitive creating high television drama.

The odds are pretty long there, too, and while it might happen somewhere in the series, it sure doesn't happen in the opener, which packs all the excitement one imagines can be found at, say, the Muncie Fire Department's all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast.

A scene of Jackson calling her father, for instance, seems to exist solely because it gives the show a second-hand cell-phone reference to brother Michael, which tells you the producers will take any infusion of celebrity they can find.

And sure, it's mildly amusing to get Michael's name anywhere into a cop show, given his own recent experiences with the legal system.

Just not that amusing.

It's also possible to spend a few minutes speculating on how much plastic surgery LaToya has undergone. But soon enough she and her fellow celebrity cops pile into police cars for some form of law enforcement work, and while they may be temps, it's not "Jackass" or the Osbournes while they're out there. It's routine stuff. Necessary, solid, not all that telegenic.

No, the entertainment here lies on the periphery, like when the training officer tells Jackson, "You can't sing or dance your way out of this one."

Exactly what can she sing or dance her way out of?

The good news is the show doesn't insult the real cops. That's about it.

So keep moving, folks. Not much to see here.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/487193p-410205c.html

TV Review
Armed' semi-celebs hit the streets
By Doug Elfman Chicago Sun-Times Television Critic January 10, 2007

The new cheap thrill on TV is "Armed and Famous." Five barely-celebrities train to become cops in Muncie, Ind. Do you feel safer with the streets patrolled by La Toya Jackson, Erik Estrada, Jack (son of Ozzy) Osbourne, Jason "Wee Man" Acuna from "Jackass" and wrestler Trish Stratus?

I thought all those people were dead. Or Canadian.

Alas, they are alive and stupid, or at least they're shown to be both. If Americans love to laugh at dumb things celebrities say and do on TV, then as morons go, these five are prime suspects.

In tonight's debut, La Toya phones her brother Jackie and tries to convince him she can be a "police": "Why can't you see me being a police?" She then washes clothes in a Laundromat for the first time in her life, attempting to insert a dollar bill into a slot made for quarters.

Estrada gets electrically shocked during training: "One of my testicles has enlarged from gettin' zapped by a Taser."

As for Osborne, he comments on the deformed hands of a fight victim as being "like crab hands."

Osborne says he's happy to be doing something serious, because he used to be a lazy, overweight, drug addict. I like how he calls himself "overweight" instead of "fat," yet he's fine with calling himself "lazy" and a "drug addict." Of those three things, "fat" is the bad guy?

A narrator claims these "real celebrity cops" will train under "real police standards" and face "real criminals" committing "real crimes."

In related news, La Toya Jackson has no "real nose" anymore.

That narrator also boasts how these fallen stars will be treated exactly like other cadets.

Except they're followed by cameras for CBS. And they drive up to the police station in a stretch limo that parks on the sidewalk. And dozens of townies give them a standing ovation at their graduation ceremony. And they pose for pictures with suspects.

I doubt the celebrities completed thorough training. Don't cops train for, like, two years? I would prefer to know if this is correct, but "Armed and Famous" doesn't inspire enough care in me to research it.

It is impressive that Estrada can differentiate drugs. On a bust, he eyes stuff and proclaims it to be "crack cocaine, obviously." Obviously? Really? I don't think I could tell the difference between crack and coke and Conan O'Brien if I saw a bag of whiteness.

There is one remarkable exchange. A non-famous cop looks at a family huddled in the winter cold after a Christmas tree burned down their house. He says, "Their worst day, our everyday." But he's a real cop, not a "real celebrity cop," so I don't know his name.

If you are an alien who watches our TV from outer space, you're probably confused as to why we humans watch shows like "Armed and Famous," or for that matter "American Idol" and "Being Bobby Brown." The answer is simple.

Reality TV is pacifying America as our nation endures an Age of Exhaustion. Collectively, we don't take anything seriously. Nothing. Nada. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah. We can't. We're beat down.

These TV shows demonstrate how we have metamorphosed into a capricious species, a k a "fat, lazy drug addicts." We are so bored with everything, so spoiled, so overworked, so overextended, so calloused by our lying and hypocritical role models, we flounder for cheap thrills.

Hence, "Armed and Famous." It is another sign society has moved far beyond self-satire on a daily basis. Nothing has nailed this observation better than Wonkette.com did last year: After a zillionth political/religious leader scandal broke, it accurately proclaimed, "Irony Died of Exhaustion."

Or maybe "real celebrity cops" shot irony to death. La Toya does aim a gun like a pro. (Feel safer yet?)

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/elfman/203786,CST-FTR-elf10.article

I suspect that is more than enough reviews of "Armed and Famous".

TV Notebook:
Golden Globes Wish List
by Matt Roush TV Guide January 10, 2007

It's time to get this year's awards party started — and what better occasion than the 64th Golden Globe Awards, (Monday, January 15 on NBC) that rare event when movie and TV stars get to rub glamorous shoulders. With that in mind, here's a wish list of how the major TV categories ought to go:

Drama: 24
Comedy: The Office
Drama actress: The Sopranos' Edie Falco
Drama actor: Dexter's Michael C. Hall
Comedy actress: Ugly Betty's America Ferrera
Comedy actor: The Office's Steve Carell
Supporting actress: Grey's Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl
Supporting actor: Heroes’ Masi Oka
Miniseries/TV-movie: Elizabeth I
Miniseries/TV-movie actress: Elizabeth I’s Helen Mirren (also nominated for Prime Suspect: The Final Act)
Miniseries/TV-movie actor: Robert Duvall, Broken Trail

http://www.tvguide.com/Magazine/Breaking-News/

TV Notebook:
SCHEDULE REMINDER

If you live in the eastern or central time zones and are recording something tonight in prime time, remember that President Bush’s Iraq speech will be broadcast by the four major networks starting at 9 PM ET.

West coast viewers will not be effected.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Notes
By Ellen Gray Philadelphia Daily News in her press tour blog January 10, 2007

TORI, TORI, TORI

Tori Spelling, innkeeper.

If that sounded a little unbelievable when Oxygen first announced plans for a "reality" series about Spelling and husband Dean McDermott sinking her inheritance into a bed-and-breakfast, it didn't sound any less so today, as the pair talked about "Tori & Dean Inn Love."

The couple, who conceived the idea while staying in a B&B during a film shoot -- "it smelled of pee," noted McDermott -- may not be quite as hands-on as some of their competitors.

Though McDermott promises to be up for breakfast, Spelling's promising nothing.

"I'm more into happy hours and hors d'oeuvres," she said.

Plus, "I'm not cleaning toilets."

Whether or not she's making beds is still unclear -- McDermott's talking housecleaning help coming in twice a week, but you'd think guests would expect more regular service, right?

Right now, the couple's getting ready to close on an inn somewhere in the wine country near Temecula, Calif., into which they're planning to sink what Oxygen's describing as Spelling's $800,000 inheritance (she indicated the total might be a bit smaller, after all was said and done).

And they're ignoring the "reality" show jinx that's separated so many couples before them. "We'll be the exception," promised McDermott.

"I want to be the new Trump. Trumpess," declared Spelling, no doubt forgetting that the Donald's on his third marriage.

The show's scheduled to debut March 21, which is about when Spelling and McDermott's child is also expected to put in an appearance.

"B&B's were good for us, because we conceived," she said, officially crossing the line into Too Much Information and endearing herself to every blogger in the room.

For the record, this is, according to Spelling, her first "reality" show, not her second, VH1's "So NoTORIous" having been a scripted series, after all.

And of course she was asked about the infamous rift with her mother, Candy, widow of Aaron Spelling.

And of course she had nothing much to say about it.

"You probably know as best as I do," she said. "I wish things were different."

TAKING A LONGER 'VIEW'

Lisa Ling's here to talk about her ultra-serious new Oxygen series, "Who Cares About Girls?" but you know there's no way she's getting out of here without a question (or six) about "The View," the estrogen-fueled gabfest that's turned into a soap opera in recent months.

Any regrets about leaving?

"Not these days," quips Ling, grinning.

The grin gradually fades as the "View" questions pile up, and though Ling acknowledges she's as much of a pop-culture junkie as anyone, she's also "astounded that people really care" about the goings-on there.

Given that the show she's hosting -- which debuts March 25 -- focuses on such risks to girls as being sold into prostitution, you could see where the Rosie-Trump wars might not be at the tip-top of her consciousness.

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD

If you've noticed that the Courteney Cox of FX's "Dirt" is a little curvier than the Courteney Cox we saw in some seasons of "Friends," you're not alone.

Cox noticed, too.

The actress formerly known as Monica Geller Bing, who now plays the editor of a supermarket tabloid, was asked about the most preposterous story she'd ever read about herself and offered up one that might only seem preposterous in retrospect.

"There was a period there when I was on 'Friends' when I was really thin, really thin. And
I thought I looked great. In retrospect, not so good. But I did not have anorexia. And that was just -- they kept writing about it. And it wasn't great...it's just kind of bad for kids across America to think that people on the show that they look up to has" such a condition, she said.

http://blogs.phillynews.com/dailynews/ellengray/

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
'Babylon 5' returns
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor in his blog “Tuned In” January 10, 2007

The latest "Babylon 5" adventure, "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales -- Voices in the Dark," won't air on TV -- at least not right away -- but will instead by released as a direct-to-DVD movie in late July, timed to coincide, promotionally, with the annual Comic-Con in San Diego.

Bruce Boxleitner returns as Interstellar Alliance President John Sheridan, who returns to Babylon 5 for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Alliance. The only other returning series regulars in this first of the proposed series of "Lost Tales" DVD movies are Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), now a Colonel and still commanding "Babylon 5," and Galen (Peter Woodward). A third story featuring Michael Garibaldi (Mike Doyle) was dropped due to time constraints on the production but may be used in a future installment. J. Michael Straczynski, the series creator, returned to write and direct this production, which was filmed on virtual sets in Vancouver.

"We had two old pieces," Boxleitner said after a panel for an upcoming Hallmark Channel film he stars in. "Two Star Furies they found somewhere on a back lot and dusted them off.

"In one way it was a great reunion, and in one way, it felt like we had never shut down production. It's a great script. Joe is one of the finest television writers I've ever worked with and he gave me material I haven't seen the likes of since the show, really juicy stuff to delve into -- aspects of Sheridan we had not played before."

Sheridan will be more of an elder statesmen, Boxleitner said. "He's a man who's more likely to weigh things instead of being so action-oriented. We used to joke he was John 'Nuke Em' Sheridan. He's much wiser now and more seasoned."

Some things stayed the same, much to Boxleitner's delight: "They found the original wardrobe and I proudly say I still fit."

Boxleitner said the company that produces visual effects for Sci Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" will do the FX for this new "Babylon 5" production.

"The ships, the station, they'll all be recognizable but new. There are some additions and some of the original ships will have things added to them just like we do nowadays, new weaponry, things like that," Boxleitner said.

The film will also include mentions of the whereabouts of characters that will never be seen again because the actors who played them have died, Richard Biggs (he played Dr. Franklin) and Andreas Katsulas (G'Kar).

"The way Joe handled the loss of those [actors] who are no longer with us, how he did it, I thank him so much," Boxleitner said. "Their characters' futures are revealed and I get to do it in a very loving way. They're still around. It's a way to give a nod to Andreas and Richard, an homage to them."

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

Obituary
Yvonne De Carlo , 84

The Associated Press reports that Yvonne De Carlo, best known for her role as "Lily Munster" on the 1964-1966 CBS television series The Munsters, died Monday of natural causes. Here is her biography from wikipedia.

Early life

DeCarlo, the daughter of an ambitious but unsuccessful aspiring actress, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. De Carlo sang in the choir of St Paul's Anglican Church in Vancouver and was taken to Hollywood by her mother at the age of fifteen. She was "Miss Venice Beach" (1938). Unable to find work, they returned to Canada until 1940, when they once again traveled to Hollywood. De Carlo supported herself working in a chorus while trying to find film work. She made her first film appearance in 1941, but could only find bit parts for the next few years. She was a Paramount starlet but the studio apparently signed her mainly for her slight resemblance to Dorothy Lamour as it was common back then for studios to sign lookalikes to their major stars and have them at the studio lest any star get the idea that they couldn't be replaced.

Film career

Her break came in 1945 playing the title role in Salome, Where She Danced. Though not a critical success it was a box office favorite and De Carlo was hailed as an up and coming star. In 1947 she played her first leading role in Slave Girl and then in 1949 had her biggest success. As the female lead opposite Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross, De Carlo played a femme fatale, and her career began to ascend. The 1957 Band of Angels featured her opposite Clark Gable in a civil war story, along with Sidney Poitier and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

For the next several years, she was constantly working although many of the films failed to advance her career.

Cast in The Ten Commandments (1956) in a leading role (as Zipporah, Moses' wife), De Carlo was part of a major hit. The film was a huge success and De Carlo was among those to be praised for her restrained work.

The Munsters

However, her most famous role that led her to pop culture legacy is of Lily Munster in the cult television series The Munsters (1964 - 1966), which allowed DeCarlo to demonstrate a comic flair that her films had failed to utilize.

Other entertainment activities

DeCarlo performed on Broadway, notably in the role of Carlotta Campion, introducing the song "I'm Still Here" in the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, of which show she was the last lead female performer to die (having been predeceased by Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Fifi D'Orsay, Ethel B. Colt and Ethel Shutta).

Possessed of a powerful contralto voice, DeCarlo released an LP of standards called Yvonne DeCarlo Sings in 1957. She sang and played the harp on at least one episode of The Munsters.

She also received recognition for her work in various low-budget horror movies, such as The Power, The Seven Minutes, House of Shadows, Sorority House Murders, Cellar Dweller, Mirror, Mirror, Blazing Stewardesses, and American Gothic.

De Carlo worked steadily in both film and television, playing her most recent role in the television production of The Barefoot Executive (1995).

Personal life

She was married to the late stuntman, Bob Morgan, from 1955 to 1968 when they divorced; they had 2 sons, and Morgan had a daughter, Bari, from a previous marriage. De Carlo is a naturalized citizen of the United States. In her autobiography, published in 1987, she listed 22 lovers, including Aly Khan, Billy Wilder, Burt Lancaster, Howard Hughes, Robert Stack and Robert Taylor.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Yvonne De Carlo was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6124 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 6715 Hollywood Blvd. for her contribution to television.

Last career appearance and later life

The Power (1968) kept her before the eye of the movie going public. Yvonne's last big screen appearance was in 1993.

Her son Michael died in 1997 and she had a stroke in 1998.

According to her former Munsters co-star Butch Patrick, who appeared on the September 25, 2006 edition of the Howard Stern Show, Yvonne De Carlo was then a resident of the Motion Picture & Television Fund's Retirement Home in Woodland Hills, CA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_De_Carlo

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
'Ocean's Deadliest' finishes strong for Steve Irwin
By Robert Bianco USA Today January 10, 2007

PASDENA, Calif. — If nature teaches us anything, it's that life goes on.

The accidental death of Animal Planet star Steve Irwin while filming the documentary Ocean's Deadliest obviously cast a pall over production — but it did not stop production. The film has been completed, and Irwin's last film will premiere Jan. 21 (8 ET/PT). Irwin's co-host, Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of Jacques Cousteau, takes over sole responsibility as on-air host and narrator.

"It was difficult for all of us," says Cousteau. "But we all felt a positive responsibility to finish it as best we could as a tribute to Steve."

Most of the filming was completed at the time of Irwin's death, which will be referred to in the film but not be shown or dwelt on. There will be no tiger sharks, the animal the filmmakers were looking for in Australia when Irwin was killed. ("The stingray wasn't even one of the animals in the show," says Cousteau.) But otherwise, Cousteau says, they had "pretty much everything we planned on filming, so the film was pretty much intact."

Even so, Cousteau wasn't sure at the time whether Ocean's would ever be finished or seen. "We didn't know exactly what was going to happen right afterwards, obviously. We took that day to decompress and spend a little bit of time out of the press and away from people. But when we talked about it … I was prepared for the question and I was willing to do it, as long as the rest of the crew did it and everybody came together and made it happen."

In the end, he says, what mattered most was getting across the conservationist message Irwin had wanted the film to convey — that all these animals, though they may be dangerous in certain ways, have an important role to play in the environment

"The true deadly creature in the oceans is mankind. That's the powerful message in the film, with an empowering conclusion that we can all make positive choices, we can all make a positive impact and make a positive difference on the future. That was Steve and certainly my message. We finished strong on that, and felt we had to for Steve's sake."

Cousteau's next major project for Animal Planet is Spring Watch USA, a six-week series the network plans to film just prior to broadcast each week that will capture the changes spring brings to animals in the United States. The plan is to introduce us to some of the natural neighbors we usually overlook.

"I know (Steve) would have been excited about it, because it gives people a chance to see these animals and their lives unfold in real time and in context, which you usually don't get to see," says Cousteau. "You'll be able to see the personalities of these little animals unfold, and the trials and tribulations of life. It will be an emotive and exciting experience."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-01-10-presstour-irwin_x.htm

HDTV Notebook:
Discovery to Launch New HD Series
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/10/2007 4:59:00 PM

Discovery Channel will roll out it 11-part high definition series, Planet Earth, beginning on Sunday, March 25.

From the team behind the natural series, Blue Planet, the series focuses on animals and nature and was compiled from the work of more than 70 camera operators who spent over 2,000 days in more than 2000 locations.

Discovery is touting the series, hosted by Sigourney Weaver, as featuring advanced filmmaking methods such as Cineflex heligimble, a stabilization system using a powerful lens attached to a helicopter.

Discovery will air three minutes of behind-the scenes footage after each episode, and will make additional content available online.

The show is produced by the BBC and series producer Alastair Fothergill. Bank of America is on board as presenting sponsor.

Discovery also said Tuesday it will air a special night about living with cancer featuring Lance Armstrong and Ted Koppel on April 29. Koppel’s next long-form special on national security issues, The Long War, will premiere on Discovery March 11.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6406636

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Big dog in TV land
By Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - January 9, 2007

So, I did not share a deep-fried calf testicle with Danny DeVito. That would have made a great Tube Talk item. But Danny was having none of it, and neither was I. In fact, I didn’t see anyone sample the offerings on the “Taboo” table (a National Geographic series) at the Fox Cable party. Actually, the spoonful of “calf fries” was the least disgusting of the bunch, which included (urp!) chicken feet in a champagne flute. Danny was also drinking water, not Limoncello. His tipsy appearance on “The View” made him understandably reluctant to show up on YouTube again anytime soon. He was at the party for the FX series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

Fox Cable Networks is an odd family group. In addition to FX and Fox News Channel (didn’t see anyone from that), there’s National Geo and Fox Reality Channel. Charter is the last cable system without Fox Reality, but publicists don’t hold out much hope that we’ll get it soon. (”Get Dish,” one advised.) That means we won’t be able to see Rob and Amber Mariano as the live in Vegas and he learns to be a professional poker player. People kept trying to get them to give away whether they’re on “Amazing Race” all-stars, but they were cagey. I think it’s yes.

I congratulated Lisa Ling, who used to be on “The View” and now does news documentaries for National Geo, on her engagement to a doctor, announced by Barbara Walters. Then I was sneaking out for an early bedtime when I ran into the real star of the party in the hall.

Daddy, the big pit bull who’s the leader of “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Millan’s pack, was in the hall, lying at Cesar’s feet. Normally, I automatically pet all dogs, but in this case I asked and was told sure, I could pet him. So I sat down on the floor next to him and the huge puppy — his head is as big as a Thanksgiving turkey! — rolled over and let me rub his tummy. Then he scooted to me and put his head in my lap. I asked Cesar about bias against pit bulls, and he said, “It’s not the dog.” He’s right, of course. Daddy is as sweet as any dog I’ve ever met.

Next up: Discovery Channel is first thing Wednesday, but at 10:30 I’m off for a private set visit to “The Office” courtesy of St. Louisan Phyllis Smith.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/entertainment-tube-talk/2007/01/big-dog-in-tv-land/

Attention Canadian fans of Ray Liotta's Smith (all 4 of you)!

TV Notebook
Cancelled TV series Smith lives on the Net
By Bill Harris, Toronto Sun - January 10, 2007

Even cancelled TV shows aren't really cancelled anymore, thanks to the Internet.

CTV announced yesterday that all seven episodes of the Ray Liotta drama Smith, which was axed by host network CBS last fall after only three episodoes had aired, will be made available on the CTV Broadband Network.

The first episode currently is available at CTV.ca (click on "The CTV Broadband Network"). During the next six weeks, subsequent episodes will be made available at noon on Thursdays, starting tomorrow with episode No. 2.

In addition, on Feb. 15 (coinciding with the release of the seventh and final episode), CTV will release four 10-minute audio-based stories (podcasts) created by the producers for the purpose of wrapping up any unfinished storylines.

Smith debuted in September and was a top-20 program in Canada. However, for some reason it didn't catch on south of the border and CBS yanked it with alarming haste, leaving four episodes in the can.

The doomed series, which also stars Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker and Amy Smart, delves into the world of big-money robberies, where Bobby Stevens (Liotta) finds himself leading a double life as both a 9-to-5 family man and the leader of a band of thieves.

Smith episodes will be available exclusively to Canadians who have broadband access through a Canadian-based internet service provider.

http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Television/2007/01/10/3276758-sun.html

Obituary
Yvonne De Carlo , 84

The Associated Press reports that Yvonne De Carlo, best known for her role as "Lily Munster" on the 1964-1966 CBS television series The Munsters, died Monday of natural causes. Here is her biography from wikipedia.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_De_Carlo

No matter her history, she'll always be Lily. Good job Yvonne!

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
'Babylon 5' returns
By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor in his blog “Tuned In” January 10, 2007

The latest "Babylon 5" adventure, "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales -- Voices in the Dark," won't air on TV -- at least not right away -- but will instead by released as a direct-to-DVD movie in late July, timed to coincide, promotionally, with the annual Comic-Con in San Diego.


They're still around. It's a way to give a nod to Andreas and Richard, an homage to them."

http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/tunedin/
I knew about Andreas but didn't about Biggs. Will be watching Amazon.

TV Notebook
iAmDisappointed
James Poniewozik's Time "Tuned In" Blog - January 10, 2007

The Apple announcement of its iPhone came today, and was characteristically heralded by TV news with the fanfare reserved for terror alerts and cellphone video of dead dictators or live celebrities. (I'll leave it to my pal Lev Grossman to explain the details, but apparently you can speak to people on it, even if they are not physically in the room with you. This is a game-changer, folks.)

I'm continually impressed with Apple's ability to generate free advertising disguised as news. As CNN interrupted its newscast to report the announcement of Steve Jobs' amazing distance-talking machine, a tech reporter declared that "When [Apple] introduces a new technology, it's not only stylish, it's also easy to use... not just lifestyle but life-changing for a lot of people." When Apple has news to announce, reporters have a way of turning into iPorters.

Overshadowed by the iPhone was the newly announced Apple TV, which, roughly described, is an attractive white box that zaps video from your TV to your computer. I'm not sure if this quite qualifies as a revolution, though if it will allow me to see Monkey Washing a Cat as it was meant to be seen, so much the better.

Unfortunately, though, it marked another year in which Apple has not gotten into the DVR business, as I and other videophiles have hoped. The plausible explanation is that TiVo already has the glamor product in the field, and Apple doesn't like to enter markets where it can't be the coolest. On the other hand, as Lev writes, Apple likes to fix products that are broken--which certainly describes the non-TiVo DVRs from cable companies more consumers are using--and even TiVophiles like myself are perpetually worried that the company may not be long for this world.

I'm sure there are ways of jerryrigging Apple TV into a pseudo TiVo device as some have done with the Mac Mini; but most people buy Apple for plug-and-play convenience, not to become hobbyists. Here's hoping that after the phone, Steve Jobs sets his eye on the next household appliance that needs fixing.

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

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Lisa Ling's View
By Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic TV Critic in his Critic’s Tour blog

PASADENA, Calif. -- You may be remember that, back in the day, before she did serious documentaries and investigative pieces, Lisa Ling was one of the co-hosts of The View.

This was in the early days, before it became a vehicle for snit fits between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump (with Barbara Walters thrown in for good measure) and the favorite spot for drunken, diminutive actors to promote their latest films.

So is she sorry that she left?

"Not these days," she said.

I must say, Ling was a good sport about repeated questionings about The View, despite being here to talk about two ultra-serious installments of Who Cares About Girls, a series of Oxygen network documentaries, one about daughters of women in prison, the other about child prostitution in Southeast Asia. She had nothing but good things to say about The View, saying she was appreciative for the opportunity and that she thought the show was "empowering." (I would have said, "annoying," but that's just me.)

Yet we're a persistent lot. Someone asked why she thought The View kept making headlines.

"I actually have no idea," she said. "You know, I'm confounded by that question. Yet I'm asked that question every day. I'm really astounded that people really care. I really am. I have to be frank."

Hey, please, do be. That's why we're here.

Tori doesn't spill on Spelling feud

Tuesday, Randy Spelling appeared on a panel for a reality show for A&E.

Since Randy is not one of your more-famous Spellings, he was naturally asked a question or two about his better-known sister, Tori -- specifically, if she and her mom had healed the rift between them (you can read a little about it here and here, and can find plenty more on the Internet).

He said he'd rather not discuss it, but since Tori would be here Wednesday, we could just ask her ourselves.

So we did. Sadly, if you were thinking that this might be the forum in which she opened up about things and gave us all the inside scoop, you are going to be mightily disappointed.

"You probably know as best as I do," Spelling, here to promote an Oxygen reality show she and her husband are starring in, said. "Unfortunately I wish things were different, but they are pretty much what they are at the moment."

Well, that explains THAT. Kind of.

Tori turned out to be far less off-putting than her brother and his pals; in fact, she was pretty darn charming, making self-effacing jokes about herself and her life. When someone asked whether the show she and her husband, Dean McDermott, are starring in, called Tori & Dean: Inn Love (they buy a bed-and-breakfast), was following in the footsteps of MTV's Newlyweds, in which Jessica Simpson's IQ was revealed to all the world, she said, "I know what tuna is."

Big laughs. The fact that no explanation was necessary, that everyone knew she was referring to Simpson's wondering whether Chicken of the Sea was chicken or fish, is kind of pathetic in a big-scheme-of-things way, saying something about culture and celebrity and the importance we place upon it, but that's another post.

Besides, we do watch television for a living.

http://www.azcentral.com/blogs/index.php?blog=5&blogtype=Entertainment

TV Review
Series sheds light on mystery of China
By Chuck Barney, Contra Costa Times - January 10, 2007

Boasting a population more than four times that of the United States, China is rapidly taking its place among the world's dominant powers. Still, the nation and its people remain largely shrouded in mystery.

Filmmaker Jonathan Lewis was determined to cut through the murk and gather some clues. His quest led to "China From the Inside," a fascinatingly intimate documentary series premiering Wednesday night on PBS.

"It's so important that we get to know these people," Lewis said in a phone interview. "And we need to know them not as strangers, or enemies, or as a billion inscrutable worker ants - but as human beings."

"China From the Inside," which unfolds in two-hour segments over two nights, is a good start. A national PBS series that was co-produced by San Francisco's KQED and Britain's Granada Productions, it treks across half the provinces of China and takes viewers into courts, prisons, orphanages, party meetings and rural and metropolitan homes. Along the way, it sheds considerable light on a country of 1.3 billion people that is undergoing astonishing growth while facing daunting obstacles.

Over 14 months of filming, Lewis and his crew sought to get a strong sense of where China has been and where it is going. That wasn't always easy to accomplish in a country where information is tightly controlled by the Communist Party. "The government was very, very fussy about what approach we were taking and what we wanted to do," he recalled. "From the start, we didn't want to be rude and critical, but clear-eyed and fair.

"Obviously, at times, they had a propaganda agenda in mind. But even if you twisted my arm and got me drunk, that stuff wouldn't get through."

Going into the project, Lewis wanted to interview not only the powerful, but the powerless. And he had concerns that he would meet a lot of reticent citizens, afraid to speak their minds. But he was pleasantly surprised to find just the opposite.

"Of course, we did come across cautious people who gave us bland and uninteresting interviews that went straight to the cutting-room floor," he said. "But we had a lot of passionate people who were eager to talk to us and speak out freely. I was surprised by the degree of openness we found."

He was also surprised to find a number of remarkable contrasts as he traveled from bustling cities to bucolic rural villages.

"One day, you'd see a massive airport being built in a city you've never heard of and the next day, you'd come across a man plowing his field with a water buffalo," he said. "It's amazing to see how these ancient and modern worlds coexist."

"China From the Inside" opens with an hour that examines how the Communist Party, which has been beset by rampant corruption, manages to maintain control over the country's vast citizenry. Part 2 looks at how long-repressed Chinese women are beginning to fight for their rights.

Next week, the series concludes with segments that sift through the environmental concerns stemming from China's rapid industrialization and provide a look at the country's issues with religious worship. "It's a hell of a journey," Lewis said. "And it's an important and timely one, too."

http://www.azcentral.com/ent/tv/articles/0110chinainside0110.html

[from article by Chris Pursell]

The series, in its original U.S. format as "Sale of the Century," aired on NBC between 1983 and 1989, during which is consistently won its daytime time period. In the United Kingdom, the program aired on ITV1 last October, attracting an audience of nine million viewers and ranking it as the highest rated game show of the year.

Fascinating to hear about a new take on an old favorite quiz show; too bad it may be a while, if at all, before my MNTV station (WSWG-DT2, owned by Gray Communications) picks it up.

I should also mention that there was a much earlier version of "Sale of the Century" on NBC during the early and mid-1970's, with Joe Garagiola as the host. It was one of my favorite game shows growing up.

Washington Notebook
No Set-Top Waiver for Comcast
By Ted Hearn [b]MultiChannel News1/10/2007 6:53:00 PM

Las Vegas -- Comcast's quest to avoid deploying only CableCARD-enabled set-top boxes died Wednesday at the Federal Communications Commission after chairman Kevin Martin said he opposed granting any more "blanket" waivers.

Martin said he supported limited waivers for small cable operators having set-top-acquisition problems and for other operators with plans to reclaim all analog bandwidth within two years.

"I think the commission should be saying no to some of the largest carriers. Comcast has a waiver in front of us where they are asking just for a further delay without any kind of a date certain on when they will be able to develop downloadable security. I think it's time for us to move forward," Martin said here at the 40th International Consumer Electronics Show.

Just hours after Martin spoke, the commission rejected Comcast's waiver but issued modified waivers to Cablevision Systems and small MSO Bend Cable Communications.

Comcast wanted a waiver for inexpensive set-tops that wouldn't rely on the external CableCARD to house signal-security technology. The company argued that its integrated box would save consumers millions of dollars as the nation's largest cable operator endeavors to transition millions of analog subscribers to an all-digital platform.

"We are very disappointed in this regrettable FCC Media Bureau decision," Comcast executive vice president David Cohen said in a prepared statement. "This amounts to an FCC tax of hundreds of millions of dollars on consumers with no countervailing benefits. We will seek full commission review immediately.”

At some point, Comcast can take the FCC to court, but assistance from Congress would, if availing, probably happen a lot faster.

Under FCC rules, Comcast must rely on CableCARD set-tops starting July 1, 2007. Martin told reporters downloadable signal security could be used in lieu of CableCARDs.

Paul Gallant, a former FCC Media Bureau official who is now a media analyst with Stanford Washington Research Group, said the FCC's ruling was "clearly a loss for big cable. Their ability to deploy low-cost set-tops is important to their long-term strategy to go all-digital."

He added that although the ruling wouldn't derail cable's effort to reclaim analog-channel capacity, "it does raise the cost of doing that."

Martin, who sat on Comcast's request for several months, said Congress ordered the FCC to promote consumer choice in the acquisition of set-tops and digital TVs that plug directly into any cable system without a set-top. He suggested that forcing cable operators to rely on CableCARDs would achieve both goals.

"I think [denying waivers] will allow for more innovation on the consumer-electronics side, and that's what consumers want and that's what Congress expected," Martin said in a sitdown discussion with Consumer Electronics Association president Gary Shapiro. "We've got a series of waivers that are in front of us. I think the commission shouldn't just provide blanket waivers to the whole industry at this point for further delay of rule that was really adopted back in 1998."

Martin said small cable operators having problems securing CableCARD boxes merited waivers, as did cable operators planning to go all-digital before local TV stations had to on Feb. 17, 2009.

"I do think the commission should be sympathetic to some of the burdens we might end up placing on some of the small cable operators," he added.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6406655.html?display=Breaking+News

Critic's Notebook
A night of Colbert and O'Reilly
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News in his blog Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The much-discussed crossover involving Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor'' and Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report'' is going to happen.

The two cable channels have announced that Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert will trade appearances on their respective shows the night of Jan. 18 -- which should make some for real giggles. "The Colbert Report'' is, of course, a faux news show that sends up right-wing pundits, while "The O'Reilly Factor'' (the top-rated show in all of cable news) just seems like a faux news show (well, to liberals anyway.)

It sounds as if both men are going into the cross-over with the right attitude. In a statement, Colbert said it was going to be "an honor to speak face-to-face with a broadcasting legend -- and I feel the same way about Mr. O'Reilly.'' Meanwhile, O'Reilly allowed that he was "looking forward to speaking to the man who owes his entire career to me.''

And that's the truthiness.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/charlie_mccollum/index.html

Fascinating to hear about a new take on an old favorite ["$ale of the Century"] quiz show; too bad it may be a while, if at all, before my MNTV station (WSWG-DT2, owned by Gray Communications) picks it up.

Actually if you re-read the story it says that only the owned & operated MyNetwork stations (the Newscorp-owned one's that aren't Fox affiliated) have acquired the rights to the show. Maybe MyNetwork affiliates will get the show offered to them first, but "Temptation" will be syndicated to whichever station in your market is willing to pony up the most money for it. It doesn't have to be a MyNetwork affiliate.

I should also mention that there was a much earlier version of "Sale of the Century" on NBC during the early and mid-1970's, with Joe Garagiola as the host. It was one of my favorite game shows growing up.

Actually Jack Kelly was the original host of "$ale..." (Garagiola replaced him later in the run): http://www.answers.com/topic/sale-of-the-century-1.

TV Notebook:
Oprah links stars, ABC
Roberts, Kidman will interview past winners
By Josef Adalian Variety.com January 10, 2007

Oprah and Oscar are hooking up on ABC.

Alphabet has inked a deal with Oprah Winfrey to host her first pre-Oscar interview special. But unlike ABC's perennial Barbara Walters pre-Oscar bash, Winfrey won't be doing the chatting.

Instead, Winfrey has asked three Academy Award-winning thesps -- Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and Jamie Foxx -- to interview an Oscar winner they admire. Roberts will speak to George Clooney, Kidman will interview Russell Crowe and Foxx will chat up Sidney Poitier.

Spec is set to air Feb. 22 at 10 p.m., immediately following a new episode of "Grey's Anatomy" and three days before the Feb. 25 Oscarcast.

Winfrey's Harpo Prods. is producing the hour, with Winfrey as exec producer. Project reps the latest Winfrey coup for ABC; net bought two unscripted series from Harpo last month (Daily Variety, Dec. 15).

Walters is still set to host her annual Oscar-night special, which will air just before the broadcast in most of the country (and right after the kudocast for auds on the West Coast). Net has not yet said which celebs Walters will interview.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117957106&categoryid=1982

Actually if you re-read the story it says that only the owned & operated MyNetwork stations (the Newscorp-owned one's that aren't Fox affiliated) have acquired the rights to the show.

For the last several years, 20th Television has used FOX O & O's to try out new shows to see if they really worked before putting them out for syndication. One example was Texas Justice. My station ran it for 13 weeks in the winter months before it was released nationally in the fall and then we reran the same 13 weeks in the fall with added shows afterwards. They did the same thing with Good Day Live running it in several O & O markets (not mine) before releasing it nationally. The new FOX morning show "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliette" that is debuting next week is also on an O & O roll out as well but I think they want to sell it in syndication as soon as they can.

TV Notebook:
'Trees' gets a big transplant on ABC
The ascending Anne Heche series slides from quiet Fridays to the Thursday hot spot after “Grey's Anatomy”
By Kate Aurthur Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 10, 2007

VANCOUVER, CANADA — The diminutive Anne Heche rules over the rainy Vancouver set of "Men in Trees" by the sheer speed of her movements, darting across the soundstage, chatting with the crew and drinking Red Bull, which she did not appear to need. And when she sat for an interview in her trailer, this declaration sounded like one word: "I had a dream, and my dream was to move after 'Grey's Anatomy.' "

After an unpredictable fall season in network television, Heche's show has indeed moved, at least for the time being, into the spot after "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC's Thursday schedule, completing a trifecta of "Hey, Ladies!" television serials that begins with "Ugly Betty" at 8 p.m. The change came after "Men in Trees" — in which Heche plays Marin Frist, a life coach and writer who moves to a tiny Alaska town after her fiancé breaks her heart — shored up a loyal viewership on ABC's barren Friday nights.

This week's episode will be the first real test of the show's potential success on Thursdays at 10 p.m. because its previous two outings there occurred in the repeat-laden holiday doldrums. "Men in Trees" is booked to appear after "Grey's Anatomy" through January: If it retains a good portion of the tremendously popular hospital soap opera's audience, it is likely to stay there.

Jenny Bicks, the former "Sex and the City" writer who created "Men in Trees" and is the executive producer who runs the show, is anxious about the move to the most profitable, and therefore the most pressure-filled, night of prime-time television. "I felt like there was an audience on Friday nights that wasn't being utilized," Bicks said on a recent afternoon in her Hollywood office. "You always want to be the one that's rewarded, given this plum spot, but at the same time, I was aware of what it would mean in terms of the exposure."

Bicks sighed. "My third grade report card: 'Jenny worries too much.' "

In a television season when new series like "Smith" and "The Nine" looked like action films, "Men in Trees' " simplicity — lost woman goes to Alaska, finds self — was somehow more puzzling than those intricate crime dramas. It seemed like a Meg Ryan romantic comedy movie from the '90s, or "Sex and the City" set in Alaska, or "Northern Exposure" with a female lead. But none of those descriptions sounded exciting, nor did they lend themselves to splashy marketing campaigns, and "Men in Trees" was largely overlooked by the press.

Bicks thought its under-the-radar status could work to the show's advantage. As she watched elaborately plotted network series parade by, Bicks said: "I guess I felt like, 'I'm glad I don't have a serialized drama.' I don't know the first thing about that."

As for Heche, she was confident in Bicks, she said. "You get in Jenny's presence and you want to participate in a hopeful atmosphere." The actress picked up steam and continued in her Katharine Hepburn-inflected voice: "We wanted entertainment! We wanted people to laugh! We're in a chaotic, sad, complicated world. How do we exist as human beings in that, and how do we help each other in that, is what this show is about."

Stephen McPherson, the entertainment president of ABC, said that he thought "Men in Trees" derived its strength from its "really romantic, wish-fulfillment" plot: Marin goes from a frenzied, ambitious New York City life to a bucolic, cozy one, where she is surrounded by warm new friends and a brooding, sort-of-unavailable love interest, Jack (James Tupper). "We feel like that's been missing from television, and that's why 'Grey's Anatomy' has popped," McPherson said in a phone interview.

McPherson took note of "Men in Trees' " promise during the fall, when it generated a disproportionate amount of interest at ABC's audience phone line, a service in which operators field calls about the network's shows. He said that questions and comments about "Men in Trees" made it the third most called-about series, behind only "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost," and ahead of ABC's other hits. "What we started to see was the reality that these fans were really dedicated and that it was kind of bubbling up as a sleeper on Fridays," McPherson said.

Peter Roth, the president of Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces "Men in Trees," also called the show a sleeper. Warner Bros. has had a tough season with its new shows: "The Nine," "Smith," "Happy Hour" and "Justice" have disappeared from the networks' schedules, and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "The Class" have underperformed in comparison to the high expectations projected onto them.

"Those suffered, to some degree, by virtue of the spotlight," Roth said. "Now we have this quiet show, 'Men in Trees,' which is doing beautifully, thank you very much."

Roth has been working with Heche for four years; he signed her to a development deal after what he called "a very memorable meeting." She did stints on two Warner Bros. series, "Everwood" and "Nip/Tuck," and starred in a comedy pilot for the studio that was not picked up. "She's better in a drama," Roth said. "She has a sense of humor, and that comes out, and she's playful. But I think she's best served in a role just like this."

Of course, Heche has had a rocky path as a celebrity, and as a person, which she chronicled in her 2002 memoir, "Call Me Crazy." Did the baggage Heche carries from, for example, her public meltdown and subsequent hospitalization in 2000, make McPherson hesitant to cast her?

"No question," he said. "When her name was first brought up, that was the first thing that came to mind. She absolutely had no ego about it and wanted to read for the part. And, you know, she's brilliant."

McPherson added: "It's not like she did anything bad to people. She didn't do anything horrible, she just went astray."

Or, as Heche put it: "I have fallen flat on my face in front of the entire planet. And everybody watched."

Heche said her past troubles not only helped her play Marin, but she thought viewers believed in the character more because she'd been so forthcoming about her ups and downs. "People can watch Marin fall flat on her face, have a positive attitude, be joyous about her experience — as difficult as it is — and think she's going to come out a winner in the end. Why do they trust that? Because they watched me do it."

Bicks said that the show has found its way as she and the other writers have calmed the Marin character down. "Now that she's a part of this world more, she's less the New York girl spinning out of control, and she's more the girl that's warmer and relaxed."

They've also developed that world — the Elmo, Alaska, ensemble — so that the other characters don't merely serve as foils for Heche's Marin. And they've added Justine Bateman as Jack's former girlfriend — the one that got away but has now come back — to heighten the stakes of the Marin-Jack relationship, which provides the spine of the show.

Keeping the two characters apart, as the "Sex and the City" writers did for years with Carrie and Big, is "a challenge," Bicks said. "They have such amazing chemistry. That's been the best thing about the show."

(For his part, the Nova Scotia-born Tupper, who is simply happy to have an acting job — he was doing carpentry a year ago — said he is mystified that he has become a sex symbol. Will it affect his life? "Maybe I'll get invited to parties? I don't know," he said with a laugh.)

Of course, all of the tinkering, Bicks pointed out, took place in the low-impact confines of Friday night. "We were able to learn our show in private," she said. "We didn't have to put it out there in the first episode."

But Heche is undauntedly enthusiastic about the larger platform of Thursdays. "We are trying to entertain in a way that nobody else is doing. So why not have a shot at another spot?"

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-trees10jan10,1,2409108,print.story

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Wacky Start to TCA
Tom Umstead's Multichannel News Blog - January 10, 2007

What do the Space Shuttle Challenger, the Stradivarius Violin, Hurricane Katrina and The 1982 New England Patriots-Miami Dolphins “snow plow” National Football League playoff game have in common? They’re all one of The Weather Channel’s upcoming special The 100 Biggest Weather Moments. Huh?

The network gave writers an early glimpse at some of the finalists for its five-day countdown series, but several of those entries had critics scratching their heads over what criteria the network used to come up with its list.

Kaye Zusmann, vice president of programming for the Weather Channel explained that more than 125 metorologists at the Weather Channel picked the 100 events using a combination of factors ranging from the economic and cultural impact of such events to their ramifications on technology, geopolitical and climate.

“It either had to be something like you saw with the Challenger where you can tie it to a precise moment in time, or it had to be something that started and the ripple effect years, decades, centuries and generations later could all be traced back to that one point in time, she said. "I think everyone is going to be really surprised.”

• From ‘90210’ to Oxygen

Look out cable … another Spelling will hit the reality airwaves. Aspiring actor Randy Spelling will look to follow on the heels of his So NoTORIous sister Tori – who has her own TCA appearance on Wednesday to tout yet another self-starred reality show for Oxygen -- in the new A&E original series Sons Of Hollywood. The skein showcases the life of the son of television producer Aaron Spelling as well as that of Rod Stewart’s offspring Sean Stewart as they look to step out from the “imposing shadows” of their parents and forge their own identities.

When asked by a critic what it is about the Spelling children wanting to live their lives out on television, Spelling simply replied “I guess it’s the genes … we were born with the same.”

Spelling did say that the show covers how he dealt with his father’s Aaron Spelling’s untimely death last June. “I didn’t go into gory details about everything, but it is real life. And unfortunately we were shooting at that time, and that was what I was going through,” he said.

• DeVito Was ‘Absolutely’ Drunk

You knew someone would ask. It was only a matter of time before a critic asked Always Sunny In Philadelphia star Danny DeVito if he was drunk while on stage during FX’s TCA presentation of its irreverent comedy show. Of course the reference is to DeVito’s alleged drunken appearance on ABC’s The View last month that turned into a big hit on video sharing website YouTube.

And without hesitation, DeVito answered the question with a resolute “absolutely!” which drew laughs from TV critics in attendance. In regards to The View appearance, DeVito explained that he was “kind of tired” after being up pretty late the night before his infamous View stint, but said he took all the jokes and criticisms in stride. “I don’t get upset about stuff like that,” he said.

• Cox Doesn’t Share Too Much Dirt

New FX series Dirt certainly doesn’t mind trashing the public and private missteps of celebrities within the show’s fictional tabloid magazine – that is, unless it hits too close to home for Dirt star Courtney Cox. Cox said during the show’s TCA presentation that she’s personally nixed several show storylines that too closely resembled situations that some of her real-life celebrity friends have faced. “There are times that I’ll call up [show producers] and say ‘guys, I really know that person’,” she said. “Not that it’s the person but it sounds too much like someone that could possibly take that the wrong way.”

When asked who are some of the people that the show had to go slow on, Cox said she’d think about it and would try to share one with the writers if she could … we’re still waiting for her response.

http://www.multichannel.com/blog/1800000180/post/1190006319.html

Actually Jack Kelly was the original host of "$ale..." (Garagiola replaced him later in the run).

Thanks for clearing it up, dad. I guess my memory of TV-watching as a tiny tot (which is about how old I was when the show first ran) was about as fuzzy as analog OTA reception with a bad antenna. ;)

I guess my memory of TV-watching as a tiny tot (which is about how old I was when the show first ran) was about as fuzzy as analog OTA reception with a bad antenna. ;)

Then here's a daytime TV flashback circa 1974: http://www.tvparty.com/games.html (scroll down). :o

2007 is setting up as a very good year for the TV watching consumer. More channels, move providers with the Telcos getting in the game, and now a possible price war.

Price war, only for new customers, we older customers are going to be paying higher rates. The worst thing about Dish is that I have to subscribe to the top pkg to get ESPNU, they seem to conveniently leave it out of their sport's pack and only include it on their priciest package.

Obituary
Yvonne De Carlo , 84
Munsters' mom also co-starred in “Ten Commandments”
By Variety Staff

Yvonne De Carlo, the beautiful star who played Moses' wife in "The Ten Commandments'' but achieved her greatest popularity on TV's slapstick comedy "The Munsters,'' died Monday in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 84.

De Carlo, whose shapely figure helped launch her career in B-movie desert adventures and Westerns, rose to more important roles in the 1950s. Later, she had a key role in a landmark Broadway musical, Stephen Sondheim's "Follies.''

But for TV viewers, she will always be known as Lily Munster in the 1964-1966 horror movie spoof "The Munsters.''

The vampire-like Lily presided over the faux scary household and was a rock for her gentle but often bumbling husband, Herman, who was played by 6-foot-5-inch character actor Fred Gwynne (decked out as the Frankenstein monster).

The series lasted only two years, but it had a long life in syndication and resulted in two feature movies, "Munster Go Home!'' in 1966 and 1981's "The Munsters' Revenge.''

"I think she will best remembered as the definitive Lily Munster. She was the vampire mom to millions of baby boomers. In that sense, she's iconic,'' said her friend, TV producer Kevin Burns.

De Carlo was able to sustain a long career by repeatedly reinventing herself. A longtime student of voice, she sang opera at the Hollywood Bowl. When movie roles became scarce, she ventured into stage musicals.

Her greatest stage triumph came on Broadway in 1971 with "Follies,'' which won the 1972 Tony award for best original musical score. She belted Sondheim's showstopping number, "I'm Still Here,'' a former star's defiant recounting of the highs and lows of her life and career.

Over the years, De Carlo augmented her stardom by shrewd use of publicity. Gossip columnists reported her dates with famous men. In her 1987 book, "Yvonne: An Autobiography,'' she listed 22 of her lovers, who included Howard Hughes, Burt Lancaster, Robert Stack, Robert Taylor, Billy Wilder, Aly Khan and an Iranian prince.

The Canadian-born De Carlo began her career with a parade of bit parts in films of the early 1940s, then emerged as a star in 1945 with "Salome -- Where She Danced,'' a routine movie about a dancer from Vienna who becomes a spy in the wild West.

She recalled her entrance in the film: "I came through these beaded curtains, wearing a Japanese kimono and a Japanese headpiece, and then performed a Siamese dance. Nobody seemed to know quite why.''

Universal Pictures exploited her slightly exotic looks and a shape that looked ideal in a harem dress in such "sex-and-sand'' programmers as "Song of Scheherazade,'' "Slave Girl,'' "Casbah'' and "Desert Hawk.''

The studio also employed her to add zest to Westerns, usually as a dance hall girl or a gun-toting sharpshooter. Among the titles: "Frontier Gal,'' "Black Bart'' (as Lola Montez), "River Lady,'' "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass'' (as Calamity Jane) and "The Gal Who Took the West.''

In 1956 she veered from her former image when Cecil B. DeMille chose her to play Sephora, wife to Charlton Heston's Moses in "The Ten Commandments.'' The following year she co-starred with Clark Gable and Sidney Poitier in "Band of Angels'' as Gable's upper-class sweetheart who learns of her black forebears.

Born Peggy Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia, she grew up poor without a father. She took dancing lessons and then worked in night clubs and local theaters. She continued dancing in clubs when she and her mother moved to Los Angeles.

Paramount Pictures signed her to a contract in 1942, and she adopted her middle name and her mother's middle name. Dropped by Paramount after 20 minor roles, she landed at Universal, which cast her as the B-picture version of the studio's sultry star Maria Montez.

In 1955, De Carlo married stuntman Bob Morgan, and the marriage produced two sons, Bruce and Michael, as well as much-publicized separations and reconciliations. They later divorced.

In her late years, De Carlo lived in semi-retirement near Solvang, north of Santa Barbara. Her son Michael died in 1997, and she suffered a stroke the following year.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957090.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Critic’s Notebook
“24”
A different Jack Bauer returns for a sixth non-stop day
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” January 10, 2007

Jack Bauer has uttered a lot of memorable sentences during the past five seasons of “24,” most of them ending in exclamation points: “Now!”; “It’s our only option!”; “I need you to trust me!”; and of course, “Tell me what I need to know!”

Here’s one sentence that fans of the show, which returns with its sixth season premiere 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday on WFLD-Ch. 32, probably never thought Bauer would utter: “I don’t know how to do this anymore.”

Whaaaat?! Bauer is supposed to be a modern-day, post-9/11 superhero. The fact that “24” spins our darkest nightmares about terrorism and national (in)security has always been mitigated by the notion that Bauer, the best operative Los Angeles’ Counter Terrorism Unit has ever had, would be on hand to save the day. He’d rescue us from the big, bad, scary things that lurked in the dark.

But this season, the show’s writers appear determined to flip that notion around. What if it’s Jack who needs rescuing? Emotional rescue, that is.

You see, a different Jack Bauer returns from China, where he’d been taken at the end of last season. This Jack, who returns to the U.S. as part of a plan to end a wave of terrorist attacks, is not only scarred over nearly every inch of his body after two years in Chinese custody, his spirit appears to be broken as well.

Jack, ever the dutiful agent, ends up participating in a series of operations intended to stop the relentless attacks. “I’ll do my best, sir,” he tells the desperate president, Wayne Palmer (D.B. Woodside), but Jack’s heart is not really in it. Far from taking anything away from the pulse-pounding show, thanks to Kiefer Sutherland’s magnetic performance, Bauer’s subtle psychological anguish may be the most interesting surprise of “24’s” new season.

As for the rest of the cast, the wily ex-president, Charles Logan, and his twitchy wife, Martha, are missed, as are many of Jack’s late, lamented CTU colleagues, but no doubt that aspect of the show will become more engrossing as the crises pile up (especially because Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart, who played the Logans to such sensational effect last season, will return in the middle of the season).

A story line about a hostage situation and several of Jack’s narrow escapes feel familiar, if not recycled, but “24’s” writers are so expert at taut pacing that such déjà vu moments slip by fairly painlessly.

In any case, “24’s” secret weapon — the thing that makes the show’s fan positively antsy for Monday nights — is in the fact that the show isn’t just an action thriller: There are many other layers to get lost in.

There’s the tense workplace drama at CTU, where, this season, Chloe O’Brian (the delightful Mary Lynn Rajskub) is trying to rein in her snarky ex-husband, Morris (Carlo Rota). He’s now part of the CTU staff and feuding constantly with his boss, returning analyst Milo Pressman (Eric Balfour).

Then there’s also the fact that this addictive thriller provides one of the most cogent public discussions of newsworthy topics more frequently discussed in weighty opinion pieces and in Page 1 stories.

As the nation reels from the wave of bombings, one presidential aide, Tom Lennox (Peter MacNicol), advocates setting up detention centers for Arab-Americans, while security adviser Karen Hayes pointedly remarks that such measures are designed to make people feel safer, as opposed to actually making them safer.

In Hayes’ view, Lennox “treats the Constitution like a list of suggestions,” while Lennox dismisses her arguments by telling her that “security has its price. Just get used to it.”

Whatever side you come down on in that discussion, there’s no doubt that “24” provides a vivid backdrop for what could be an op-ed page debate. It’s hard to say what’s more frightening, scenes of the show’s fictional terrorists killing hundreds of Americans in seemingly unstoppable attacks, or the sight of men not charged with any crimes shuffling in long, defeated lines at a detention center — in the heart of Washington, D.C., no less.

“24” is pop-culture entertainment, but it’s also a reminder that it’s a scary, brutal, confusing and complicated world out there. As Jack Bauer says of one of the president’s decisions, “I’m glad that’s a call I didn’t have to make.”

But after six seasons of chasing bad guys, Jack’s living in his own gray area. To stem the tide of attacks, he ends up working with a former terrorist (well played by Alexander Siddig of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”), and he has to make yet more heartbreaking judgments that make him feel less than human. This season, Jack begins to wonder if the price he’s paying for his actions is just too much.

And as the jaw-dropping end of the first four hours of another very bad day approaches, it’s not difficult to see why.

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

Critic’s Notebook
The ‘Friends’ of ‘Dirt’
By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic in his “TV Eye” blog January 10, 2007

Two weeks into its run and Courteney Cox’s celebrity friends are clamoring to take part in her dark drama about the tabloids, “Dirt.”

“All my friends that are in this business think it’s fantastic and love it and are addicted,” she told reporters on the first day of the TV critics press tour Tuesday. Among them is a fellow ex-member of her former sitcom “Friends,” who herself is a major target of tabloids, Jennifer Aniston.

“Jennifer loves the show,” Cox says. “She’s already going, ‘What am I going to do?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know if we can put you on, Jen.’ ”

Unlike other shows set in Hollywood, from “Entourage” to “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which uses stars playing themselves to add authenticity, “Dirt” will avoid that, according to executive producer Joel Fields.

“We’ve created a fictional world, so we felt like we didn’t want to do anything up front that would create confusion there.”

But it’s not as if the show will avoid guest stars. Wayne Brady, Paul Reubens, Vincent Gallo, Lukas Haas have been signed to appear. But other than reality stars Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry playing themselves in the sixth episode, Fields said, “we’re keeping the world as the world that it is.”

Still, Cox says she discussed a possible role for Aniston when the two of them recently vacationed together. Cox said she asked her “would you want to play yourself or should we write some fantastic character for you, or maybe you can take Dirt down.”

Having revenge against tabloids that have been relentless to her could be appealing to Aniston, whose breakups with Brad Pitt and Vince Vaughan have been cover fodder, Cox. “I’m sure she would love to take one of the magazines down,” Cox says. “We will come up with something good if it happens.”

Cox says she was drawn to play Lucy Spiller, the ruthless editor of the tabloid Dirt in the series, partly because it was so different from her long stint on “Friends.”

“I wouldn’t have done anything that was like Monica, just because, first of all, I did it for 10 years and I’m older now. And this just seemed to fit.”

And she insists she’s more drawn to the characterization in the show, which she also helps produce, rather than trying to exact her own vengeance on tabloids and paparazzi.

“Most of the time I don’t mind having my picture taken,” says Cox, who stopped to pose for photographers on her way into the session at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. But there were times when it got to be too much.

“I was really upset when I was being chased and kind of surrounded when I was pregnant with Coco. To me that was just too far.”

And after her daughter was born, the two of them stopped going to the beach together just because “there are just so much paparazzi hiding out in the sand” ruining “a special private moment you have with kids.”

“Dirt” runs Tuesdays on FX.

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2007/01/the_friends_of_.html

Where was Larry before Mutual (I forget)? But as I recall he started in radio in South Florida. WIOD in Miami, perhaps? He spent some time in his early years hanging out with Jackie Gleason -- which would age any young person.

I believe he went to Mutual straight out of WIOD.

Right around when he started on CNN, Larry's radio show moved from overnights to 3-6 PM afternoon drive (ET), which was a big, big mistake. That's when "Jimbo" took over the overnight show...which as you say, he still does today, only in the 10 PM-1 AM ET time slot. Our local FM talk station carries him as its only live syndicated show.

I hear stories about people in "the business", and I've never heard bad stuff about Larry.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Tori and Dean are 'Inn Love'
By Robert Bianco USA Today January 10, 2007

PASADENA, Calif. — Another day, another Spelling.

Tuesday, it was Randy with a reality show for A&E. Wednesday, it's Tori and her newlywed husband Dean McDermott for their reality show on Oxygen, Tori & Dean: Inn Love.

Premiering in March, the six-episode Inn Love follows Tori and McDermott as they use her $800,000 inheritance to open a bed & breakfast in Southern California. There's even a subplot: They're preparing for the birth of their first child. And all on camera.

What is it about the Spellings that make them want to live their lives on TV? "I can't speak on behalf of my brother," Spelling told journalists at TV's semiannual press gathering, "but my life is a reality, basically. It's out in the media every day. So I figured instead of going by what they write, why not put the truth out there and ourselves out there, and at the same time open a successful business."

It's hard enough, of course, to launch a marriage, a business or a family (she's due in late March), let alone do them all at once. Many people might be afraid to add the pressures of TV into the bargain, particularly when so many of the couples who have done so have ended up uncoupled.

"I hadn't broken the news to Dean," says the very pregnant, frequently giggly and unexpectedly engaging Spelling, "and he didn't know that none of the other couples had made it that had done a reality show together."

Adds McDermott, "We're going to be the exception, not the rule."

Even beyond the marriage issues, running a B&B does seem like an odd transition for Spelling. After all, she grew up in a 100-room house ("140-room. No, I'm kidding.") where she was far more used to being served than serving.

"I was born into that lifestyle, but it's never been a part of who I am. I've never really felt very comfortable with people waiting on me at all," she says. "I like to entertain. I like to do for other people and prepare and I love to cook. I'm excited to serve other people."

Though they're not giving up their careers, the couple does plan to run the business themselves, and hopes to build it into a chain. They'll be hands on owners, at least to a point: "I don't clean toilets," says Spelling. "You have to draw the line somewhere. … And breakfast. I'm usually not up early enough. I'm more into happy hour and hors d'oeuvres."

Guests need not fear: McDermott will take care of breakfast.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-01-10-press-tour-spelling_x.htm

CES 2007 Notebooks
On Display, the Video Frontier
New York Times - January 11, 2007

Splayed across hundreds of flat-panel L.C.D. TVs in the booths of Samsung, Sharp, Sony and other manufacturers at the Consumer Electronics Show here are gorgeous images of roses, New Zealand mountains and still lifes of red peppers.

It’s not that electronics executives are simply nature lovers. Liquid-crystal-display sets simply have a tougher time than plasma TVs in showing moving images without blurring the picture. The virtually motionless outdoor scenes look better than a smeared Ferrari racing across the screen.

Yet several companies said this week that problems long bedeviling L.C.D. TVs — motion blur, weak contrast, and limited color reproduction — had been solved. In other words, their L.C.D. sets finally produce a picture as good as plasma’s.

To eliminate blur, all the major manufacturers have doubled the frame rate of some L.C.D. models to 120 frames per second.

Toshiba has incorporated proprietary technologies to widen the color palette and to help create true blacks rather than muddy grays. Sharp has reduced image smearing by cutting its panels’ pixel response time to four milliseconds, and increased the contrast. Similarly, Samsung’s L.C.D. models now turn the backlight off in the dark parts of a scene to increase the black level.

New display technologies, however, may make these enhancements moot. Sony is showing a 27-inch 10-millimeter-thick prototype TV using O.L.E.D.’s, or organic light-emitting diodes. The picture quality is extraordinary: bright, sharp, with deep colors. If Sony can make O.L.E.D. sets economically, it could mean the end of L.C.D.

In the meantime, do the L.C.D. picture enhancement technologies actually enhance the picture? At times, yes. Sharp’s top-of-the-line new models looked excellent, with strong color rendition, deep contrast and no apparent problems handling motion. But the image on one of Toshiba’s new sets blurred in the corners, which a company representative attributed to transmission issues.

Whatever the technology claims, it’s still worth looking for yourself.

ERIC A. TAUB
____________________________________________________________ _____

TiVo’s New Tack

TiVo is a company that many adore — especially those who like an underdog. In 1997 it popularized the digital video recorder, or DVR, which lets you pause live TV and fast-forward through the ads. A decade later, it is floundering in the face of generic copycats and the reluctance of many cable and satellite customers to have a second box.

But there was hope for TiVo fans at C.E.S. After nearly a year of development, the company announced that it had finished tailoring its famously user-friendly service for the set-top boxes of the cable giant Comcast — the fruits of a partnership announced last spring.

This year, Comcast customers will be offered the ability to download TiVo onto their existing box (no visit necessary from the cable guy). A monthly fee has not been announced, but a Comcast representative said it would offer TiVo as a premium alternative to its current generic DVR, which it leases for $11.95 a month.

The news could not come at a better time for TiVo. It announced a similar deal with Cox last August, and TiVo’s chief executive, Tom Rogers, said the company was in “deep discussions” with other cable operators. But “a lot of people weren’t sure technically that this could be done,” Mr. Rogers said, and getting TiVo to work on a cable company’s equipment “was a real piece of engineering magic.”

TiVo does not yet have clear skies ahead. Of its 4.4 million subscribers, 2.9 million signed up through DirecTV, in a partnership canceled before the News Corporation agreed to sell DirecTV to Liberty Media.

Last fall, TiVo also began selling a box compatible with high-definition video. But it sells for $799 and appeals only to enthusiasts. To live up to the hopes of its fans, TiVo’s future lies in the land of cable.

BRAD STONE
____________________________________________________________ _____

Phone as Projector

At the trade show that introduced the VCR and DVD, the perennial question on the show floor always seems to be, “What’s next?”

Alexander Tokman, president and chief executive of Microvision, a light-scanning technology company based in Redmond, Wash., thinks he may have the answer: a projector that turns cellphone video into a big picture.

Mr. Tokman said his new chip-size color laser projection displays are intended to be embedded in mobile devices so they can project images on flat surfaces. A demonstration showed a prototype in a mock cellphone beaming clear video images on a screen about the size of a standard laptop computer’s.

Microvision executives said the projector, which does not use a lens, projects images by scanning them top to bottom and back and forth faster than the eye can detect. It is also capable of “infinite focus,” meaning the images stay in focus at any distance, even on curved and uneven surfaces. This, Mr. Tokman said, also helps the projector to display large images without their becoming pixilated.

He said the projector “can eliminate the bottleneck” that limits the appeal of games and video content that is increasingly migrating to cellphones and other mobile devices.

The company plans to release the technology first as a stand-alone accessory for mobile devices later this year, said Matt Nichols, a company spokesman.

By 2008, he said, Microvision hopes to see the projectors embedded in leading cellphones.

One thing not on display was any estimate of what consumers might expect to pay.

MICHEL MARRIOTT
____________________________________________________________ _____

Honest, It Works

An immutable law of technology is that no demonstration of a new technology, especially when witnessed by the news media, will go smoothly.

Samsung Electronics was reminded of that during a demonstration of a new system of sending television to portable video devices. Samsung planned to display its A-VSB technology — it stands for Advanced Vestigial Sideband — in a minibus moving through the streets of Las Vegas. The audience would be held captive.

In the back of the minibus were two television screens. One was tuned into the normal local broadcast, which the company knew would come in and out as the signal was blocked by tall hotels. The other was receiving a special A-VSB signal from a local TV station, KVMY, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting.

Samsung wanted to show how this signal, carried on a small portion of the radio spectrum used by a broadcaster, could provide a reliable picture to a moving target.

But right at the outset, the regular signal was lost.

Something was wrong, but John M. Godfrey, Samsung’s vice president for government and public affairs, shifted the subject to the kinds of new electronic devices this technology would spawn, like hand-held TVs that people could take to picnics or the ballpark.

Such devices would need only an inexpensive chip to receive the signal.

A prototype was passed around. But the picture it was displaying was different from the one on the van’s TV that was also receiving the A-VSB signal.

Then the A-VSB picture on the bigger TV on the wall of the van froze. “Folks, it was working perfectly this afternoon,” Mr. Godfrey said as the cameras rolled. “Remember, this is only a prototype.”

Suddenly, just as the ride was coming to an end, the hand-held TV and the wall TV had a picture — the same picture, as they were supposed to.

The problem had been “power interruption” back at the station, said a public relations executive along for the ride.

Mr. Godfrey proudly posed with the prototype, now working. When giving a demonstration, he advised, it helps not to pull out the plug.

DAMON DARLIN

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/technology/11show.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

TV Review
Hail to the return of HBO's 'Rome'
By Melanie McFarland, Seattle Post-Intelligencer - January 11, 2007

To evoke the glory of ancient Rome, one only need mention the name Julius Caesar, thanks in no small part to William Shakespeare's play. The Bard's work created our lasting image of what ancient Romans were: toga-clad patricians who stabbed each other to death on the floor of the Senate.

Our last glimpse of HBO's Sunday night drama "Rome" lived up to that idea yet again, with Caesar dead in a pool of his own crimson. Taking stock of the audience reaction to the series, it could have ended there. By trading majestic battlefields for the more intimate violence of stabbings in the street and pristine alabaster structures for graffiti-strewn walls, "Rome" mixed politics with odorous, grimy realism. It tried to be more "Deadwood" than "The Sopranos" in focus, although linguistically it doesn't compare.

The ratings were solid if not stellar, and the word-of-mouth poll was of the "loved it" or "hated it" variety. Nevertheless, HBO renewed "Rome" for a second and final season.

Four riveting preview episodes provide plenty of justification for that decision. Actually, viewers who saw the first season through to the end already know that.

"Rome" began as a bombastic exercise in HBO's cache -- a co-production with the BBC shot in Italy, it was frilly with expensive interior sets, opulent costumes, full-frontal nudity, and primal rutting, brutal violence and a slack plot.

Midway through the season, it transformed into a bold series about how far people will go to secure power. As often as critics counsel people to be patient with a series, this is one where they were proved right surprisingly quickly.

Getting back to Caesar on the Senate floor and everything that image entails, his murder didn't mark the end of Rome. Quite the opposite -- it touched off an era rife with conflict, backstabbing and romance, making the republic's inner circle into a snake dining on itself tail first. Knowing that makes the second season of "Rome" riper with possibility.

Caesar's body isn't even cool before the politicians and the women behind them begin angling for position. A weak and malleable Brutus (Tobias Menzies), pushed by his mother, Servilia (Lindsay Duncan), Caesar's scorned mistress, regrets taking part in the murder.

But he did it, banking on the idea that he was Caesar's heir. Mark Antony (James Purefoy), an arrogant libertine who would willingly bugger the Senate with the same casual attitude as he does the help, also counted on Caesar's favor.

However, Caesar willed his fortune to his teenage nephew, Octavian (portrayed with icy perfection by Max Pirkis), son of Caesar's viperish niece, Atia (Polly Walker), and a political prodigy.

But with the fate of the republic so tenuous, everyone's hedging their bets, from the town crier, a man fond of delivering the news with forceful dramatics, his florid descriptions bending whichever way political winds are blowing, to the influential Cicero (David Bamber).

Bamber makes his Cicero a slippery and fascinating politician who hides in the shadows until he can see where the power will settle. A sharp illustration occurs when the legendary orator writes a scathing reprisal directed toward Antony -- only to have another man read it aloud as he speeds out of town.

Indeed, such a setup finally brings out the best in an incomparable cast led by Purefoy and Walker, whose Atia of the Julii might have been ancestor to "Dynasty's" Alexis Carrington Colby -- only Atia has more style and fewer scruples.

Atia's wickedness proved amusing from the premiere, one of the few aspects of "Rome" that was perfect from the start.

The travails of soldiers Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and his oxlike companion, Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson), in contrast, appeared to be something of an afterthought, their desperate, filthy lives serving as a counterpoint to the upper classes' snide graces.

Now Vorenus' tragedy matches that of his leader. He had grown to love his wife, Niobe, only to see her commit suicide when he found out about her betrayal. His grief still fresh, Vorenus curses his children and storms off. What happens next is more devastating than you could imagine.

There's nothing as desperate as a man who loses everything, which handily plays in the favor of Antony and the rest. So once again, the ruling class is spinning out of control, and those who serve them get caught in the whirlwind. Amid the confusion, it's Pullo's turn to save Vorenus, whose grief drives him mad enough to frighten the local criminals into line. (Tony Soprano's forebear, perhaps?)

Vorenus and Pullo grant "Rome" the soul and humanity it needed to become more than another period drama revisitation, and it's satisfying to see their story lines deepen.

Even so, they remain a slim cut above being grimmer versions of Asterix and Obelix, caricatures with an unrealistic knack of being in the right places at right time to witness history. You must accept this doltish tactic to get full enjoyment out of this show because they are its heart.

Not content to rely on the viewers' bottomless fascination with silks, swords and hacked limbs, "Rome" now expands upon the idea that the women were its true shadow government. Atia and Servilia are at each other's throats, but the outside threat posed by Cleopatra looks 10 times more delicious. Atia tries to head her off early on with her forked tongue, leaning in for a friendly kiss to whisper "Die screaming, you pig-spawned trollop" through her clenched, ladylike smile. And that's as gentle as her vicious streak runs.

Atia is in the politically fortunate position of being mother to the most affluent man in the Republic and, as Antony's lover, close to the second-highest position in the land as well. Recall that Servilia appeared to defang Atia in the finale with news of Caesar's murder, promising her a slow and painful death, and you have a clue of the bonfires in the making.

Turns like this take the series further into Aaron Spelling territory than it ever was, an idea that may offend those who can't let go of the notion that HBO is supposed to be better than regular TV. But if this history tells us nothing else, it is that successful leaders value the happiness of their people. I suspect more of us will be watching "Rome" with greater expectations and a sharper hunger than before.

The premiere of "Rome" is followed by the second season of Ricky Gervais' "Extras" at 10, a comedy that began at the top of its form and continues on that level. Look for a deeper review Friday on the TV blog at seattlepi.com.

WATCH IT
"Rome," 9 p.m. Sundays, HBO

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/299139_tv11.html

Critic’s Notebook
Chinese Prison vs. Cell-Phone Hell
It’s a new day for 24, but the show seems to suffer from even more credibility issues. And is Jack Bauer feeling guilty or what?
By John Leonard, New York Magazine - January 15, 2007

24
FOX. Premieres Sunday, January 14. 8 p.m.

Twice in the first four hours of the sixth hyperkinetic season of 24, Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer expresses some doubt—about himself, his job, and maybe even his beat-the-clock counterterrorism series. Between 7 and 8 a.m., after he has allowed somebody else to torture and kill a recalcitrant source of information, Jack says, “I don’t know how to do this anymore.” An hour later, between 8 and 9 a.m., after he has shot a good man in order to save the life of a bad one more useful to him, he ups his own ante: “I can’t do this anymore.”

Of course, he does and can. But if you were Jack, you’d be cranky too. He has just spent twenty months in a Chinese prison, during which durance vile he has refused to speak or shave. When he gets off a red-eye flight from Asia to L.A. at 6 a.m., looking like a sun-crazed Sinai anchorite, he is immediately told by cell phone that the president of the United States, the younger brother of the assassinated Allstate insurance flack Dennis Haysbert, has bartered his release only to, ah, repurpose him. Jack is to be handed over to a Middle Eastern nut job with a personal grudge who has promised in return to tell the Feds where to find another Middle Eastern nut job who is believed to be responsible for terror-bombing San Antonio, Baltimore, and St. Louis. “We are asking you to sacrifice yourself,” the president sweet-talks Jack, “so this country can survive.”

Jack, having shaved, is handcuffed to a grill in a concrete drainage ditch and abandoned by his apologetic CTU boss (James Morrison), picked up and kicked around by hairy baddies with the usual accents, lashed down naked to the usual hot seat, tortured with the usual surgical instruments and electrical shock for no reason other than a kick, learns that the president and CTU have been misinformed about San Antonio and St. Louis, bites his way to freedom—part Mike Tyson, part Hannibal Lecter—and finds a cell phone, all before breakfast. Meanwhile …

However, as usual, I am honor-bound not to spoil your narrative meat by revealing any meanwhiles, even or especially when they happen to be ludicrous. To tell you in overview that season six will feature suicide bombers, laptop nuclear devices, firebombed mosques, warrantless searches and seizures, and the conversion of sports arenas into internment camps is not to make it sound any more or less credible than previous seasons of petulant druglords, Internet systems crashes, radiation sickness, heroin withdrawal, a plague virus, a traitorous president, and Chinese prisons. There isn’t a single season of 24 that could survive synopsis without the concussive distractions of split-screen boom-boom, adrenaline overdose, prurient wounding, and intravenous peekaboo.

But I am running out of ways to avoid addressing the credibility problem, which would mean spilling some actual plot beans. I’ve already written about the difference between Kiefer Sutherland, puffy-eyed, stepped-on, wasted, furious, and his father, Donald, forever unruffled and oddly gleeful in the worst of movies. I have also wondered how come, if CTU can see everything on its surveillance cameras and hear everything on its cell phones, its agents are always late anyway to the scene of the outrageous crime and why no intelligence agent on the ground ever speaks Arabic or any other anti-American language. And you’ve already noticed that in its first three seasons, 24 was in cahoots with the Bush administration in softening us up for the Patriot Act and Abu Ghraib, whereas for the next two it was having morbid second thoughts about racial profiling, secret tribunals, torture, and the inconvenient Constitution.

In the new season, Peter MacNicol leaves the physics department and his sense of humor behind on Numb3rs to take over Homeland Security for a Fox America where the Bill of Rights is for losers. No wonder Jack has doubts. Not only does he have to spend 24/7 on a cell phone with only Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) to assist him, but he may have figured out that so many people tune in each week because, eroto-sadistically, they like to see him suffer. It’s another version of Mel Gibson’s Road Warrior Passion Play.

http://nymag.com/arts/tv/reviews/26274/index.html

For those of you missed it earlier here's a pretty accurate look at how The Sopranos came across in its syndicated-for-basic-cable debut on A&E: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejiDTdwi_Qo&mode=related&search=. "See you next week!" :D

TV Notebook:
There's no place like “Rome”
By Peter Johnson USA Today

When we left our heroes on HBO's Rome, which returns Sunday (9 ET/PT) for its second season, warriors Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) find their worlds turned upside down.

Gaius Julius Caesar has been assassinated. The cool, savvy Vorenus is in a deep funk from his wife's suicide — after he learns she bore an illegitimate child he thought was his. He has lost everything dear to him. Meanwhile, hot-blooded Pullo, after impulsively killing the fiancé of the woman he loves, has married her. He's looking forward to a more stable life. British actors McKidd (Kingdom of Heaven), 33, and Stevenson (King Arthur), 42, talk to USA TODAY about Rome's second and final season.

Q: Men seem to love Rome. Why?

Stevenson: What resonates with guys is true friendship and loyalty, and that transcends the relationship you have with women. It's very important for the male psyche to have a best mate. Even if he's someone you wouldn't describe as your best buddy at the moment, he's the guy you go to when your back is against the wall. Or, if he turned up on your doorstep, you'd give him the shirt off your back.

McKidd: A lot of men respond to the fact that rarely do you see a genuine, deep male friendship portrayed this way on TV. There's usually some kind of spin. But with these two, it's a very old-fashioned, deep friendship, a love for each other that men seem to respond to.

Q: What do women think of Vorenus and Pullo?

McKidd: Initially, women said to me, "Whoa, you're kind of harsh to your wife," but as their relationship unraveled and they started to have genuine love for each other, the female reaction seemed to shift.

Stevenson: Women come up and say they love my character, although they find him a bit violent — they say it tongue-in-cheek — but the guys really connect.

Q: What's ahead for Vorenus?

McKidd: He goes through all the stages of grief and is given a new job cleaning up the streets of Rome. Essentially he becomes the leader of the underworld of Rome, a job that suits him well because of the darkness that surrounds him. That makes him quite a formidable force to be reckoned with: He doesn't have anything to lose anymore.

Q: How about Pullo?

Stevenson: Pullo starts to realize he's not the stupid oaf and he can make the call. Things are going well, but Vorenus' life is spiraling out of control, so he allows Vorenus a lot of rope — while making sure (Vorenus) doesn't hang himself.

Q: What have your characters taught you?
Stevenson: Pullo doesn't look around and think "Vorenus is a senator, maybe I should be a senator." He says, "Vorenus doesn't look too happy." He has a Zen outlook; he is where he is, and he's going to make the most of it. Actors are fraught with insecurities. We're always thinking "George Clooney's having a great career and why can't I get a movie?" It's absolutely ridiculous and pointless. What happens is, you're missing the life you have.

McKidd: Don't trust your wife's sister's husband (who cuckolded Vorenus). You never know what he might do. How's that for deep? Actually, the more Vorenus gains financially, the more he sells out his ideals. That's a good lesson for anyone: What you get through outward success isn't necessarily what you want or need.

Q: What's next for you?
Stevenson: I'm shooting my first horror movie, called Outpost. I head a team supposedly checking up on minerals and geology, but actually it's far more sinister.

McKidd: A movie about (poet) Dylan Thomas that starts in March. It's set in his later years, so I have to gain a few pounds because he dies a horrible alcoholic.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-01-10-HBO-rome_x.htm

Cable TV News Notebook:
Is MSNBC For Real?
Cable News Numbers 2006 Annuals vs. January 2007
By Reese Schonfeld in his blog Me and Ted Against The World January 10th, 2007

The big news of 2006 is the ascent of MSNBC; it’s now a real competitor in the 24-hour news race. Last year MSNBC averaged 385,000 viewers in primetime. But averaging masks true gains because MSNBC was adding viewers throughout the year and finished with far more viewers than its yearly average.

The week of January 1st MSNBC had 550,000 viewers almost 200,000 more than they had averaged last year. They’ve almost doubled their viewers since the beginning of ’06 thanks to Keith Olbermann and lately Joe Scarborough. Those numbers are almost incredible and I can’t think of any other cable network that’s had that big an upswing in that amount of time.

In total day MSNBC jumped from a 263,000 average last year to 371,000 last week -- once again, to my knowledge, unprecedented. MSNBC still has by far the lowest median age of all the news networks. But they’ve made other gains. Last week, surprises of surprises, it edged CNN in adults 25-54, the key advertising demographic. They only won by a thousand viewers and it’s probably a one week aberration but, to my knowledge, it’s the first time in the news race that it’s occurred. Total day demographics still give Fox and CNN a lead in the 25-54’s but FoxNews has lost 54,000 viewers, CNN is down 8,000 viewers and MSNBC is up 12,000. Headline News is no longer relevant.

For MSNBC it’s a magic makeover. This may be the year of major audience shift. I think that MSNBC has now become a must-buy for cable news advertisers. That alone should enable them to raise prices and make the network truly profitable.

[One caveat as too percentages: Fox and CNN have much larger audiences and percentage changes alone hide the total number of viewers gained or lost. Starting from a smaller base, MSNBC, when it adds audience, will look better in percentages than in number of homes gained. That’s why I’ve included absolute numbers in the above comparisons.]

Note: In 1979 Reese Schonfeld helped found the Cable News Network and served as its first President and Chief Executive. At CNN he originated and developed the 24 hour news concept.)

http://meandted.com/bits.htm

TV Notebook
Finally she gets noticed
Sarah Paulson shines brightly amid the star players of TV's 'Studio 60.'
By Martin Miller Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 10, 2007

Sarah Paulson explains her Golden Globe nomination this way: People like to discover things for themselves.

Though a working professional for more than a decade, the 32-year-old actress stood out among the starry cast of the TV series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" as the "not famous" one. Maybe no longer, though. The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. certainly took note of her performance as Harriet Hayes, a Christian comedian on a fictional, late-night sketch-comedy show.

"Everybody knows everyone else on the show, and they've all been wonderful on TV and in the movies, but then it's like, wait a minute, 'Who's that girl? We've never seen her before,' " said Paulson during an interview from her publicist's West Hollywood offices.

The nomination — for supporting actress in a TV role — marks a milestone for someone who has endured the kind of rejection, failed pilots and overlooked series ("Leap of Faith" in 2002, "The D.A." in 2004) that only Hollywood can dish out to its aspirants. She shares the nomination with Toni Collette ("Tsunami, The Aftermath"), Katherine Heigl ("Grey's Anatomy"), Emily Blunt ("Gideon's Daughter") and Elizabeth Perkins ("Weeds").

"It does make me feel a certain sense of affirmation," she said. "Like 'you're doing all right, kid. Maybe you're in the right profession after all.' "

"But when I look at that category," she continued. "I'll be clapping for someone else. And that's really, truly and utterly fine with me. I'm sure if I'd been nominated for 20 other awards in my life, then I'd be like, 'OK, it's time to pony up, it's time to win.' "

While "Studio 60" has been critically acclaimed by some, the Aaron Sorkin show has also been a target for barbs and scorn — something not lost on Paulson or the show's cast and crew.

But Paulson rejects the common "Studio 60" criticisms that it's too inside-baseball and lacks a consequential subject matter, like, say, "The West Wing."

"It's not the easiest thing to deal with because it's kind of your baby," said Paulson. "You feel like, 'Hey, don't pick on my kid because you don't like his shirt or you think he's not talented.' We're trying to do something here. We're trying to show the dynamics of the workplace. We're trying to show the perspective of these people who are just trying to navigate what's important to them — and they give it a lot of importance because it's their life, for God's sake."

Oddly enough in a town greased by the publicity machine, Paulson believes "Studio 60" would be faring better without such an early and heavy dose of it. She concedes any Sorkin project, or one with Matthew Perry coming off "Friends," could not avoid the spotlight, but she says the show's star quality has put too much pressure on it and on viewers.

"The engine was running so long on this baby before it ran out of the gate, I think it just overpowered people," she said. "It was like the audience was being held at gunpoint and the message was, 'You better watch the best damn show on television or else.' That's liable to turn anybody off."

While the show attracts an affluent audience, its numbers have been disappointing. Undaunted, NBC has stood behind the show and has committed to a full season.

"Hopefully we can hang on," said Paulson. "And people will be able to discover the show on their own."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-en-paulson10jan10,0,5891338,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

TV Review
Power Play
"Rome" Returns to HBO
By Tad Friend, The New Yorker - January 15, 2007

HBO has become hostage to its own success. We now expect its dramas not only to make us feel—a trick that any scriptwriter can perform by giving a tot a limp or a dog—but, rarest of joys, to make us think. The corpse-eating pigs and baroquely obscene insults on “Deadwood,” for instance, served an argument that democracy in America emerged as the by-product of ruthless men’s determination to preserve their wealth—in other words, as a cost of doing business.

With “Rome,” a co-production with the BBC which returns this Sunday for its second (and final) season, HBO seemed, at first, to wrestle with its own reputation. The show labored to shatter our preconceptions about the slow-motion civil wars that followed Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon; evidently figuring that the oratory of the Julii had been dramatized by everyone from Shakespeare to Guccione, the series’ creators opted for a grimy, Hogarthian look at everyday Italian life—“Deadwood” in tunics. Of course, you can’t prune every scenic cliché from a sword-and-sandal epic, and “Rome” had its enjoyable share of sly eunuchs, assassins’ faces webbed with blood, legionaries in their clanking baldrics and cuirasses, and lounging nobles nibbling, in turn, on a fig and a sibling. Somehow, though, the show spent more than a hundred million dollars and neglected to film the sine qua non of the genre: a monstrous battle that leaves us aghast at the waste of life and money. And Rome itself appeared to be inhabited by about thirty-eight people and four ubiquitous chickens. Granted, Cecil B. De Mille went too far the other way—but why make history’s mightiest imperium look like a farm in the Ozarks? At the same time, the series’ visual style was less revisionist than revisiting—a refrigerator soup of Hollywood’s past Lucullan feasts. A bout in the arena, featuring a chain-saw massacre’s worth of spurting limbs, was straight out of “Gladiator,” and the show’s trademark panning shot, a glide past a moaning naked couple to a slave woodenly manning a fan, was pure “Caligula.”

Yet by midseason the soft-core sex had largely fallen away, and the show found its subject: power. Not the most original take on Rome, perhaps, but one that the writers realized with increasing subtlety. The portly town crier (Ian McNeice) embodied the culture’s ingratiating hypocrisy: in a staccato manner reminiscent of Fox News, he delivered bulletins celebrating the latest battle’s victors and lambasting last week’s heroes as traitors. Those who fell, fell hard. In the seventh episode, the defeated consul Pompey, dazed and suddenly bereft of his followers, scratched out troop movements in the dirt, trying to make Caesar’s rout of his forces at Pharsalus turn out otherwise. “That’s how the Republic died,” he murmured.

The second season opens with Caesar dead on the Senate floor, and we plunge into the silky, brutal jockeying for succession. First to stake his claim is Mark Antony (James Purefoy). Antony is an ill-tempered sot, but you have to admire his balls, if only because he waves them about so in repeated nude scenes. Seeking to bully Cicero (an exquisitely diffident David Bamber), the conscience of the Senate, into proposing that he govern Gaul, Antony sits his reluctant ally down. Then he approaches, menacingly parts his tunic—and urinates onto a nearby plant.

CICERO (shrinking away): The Senate would know I was backing you only through—through fear of death.
ANTONY: Oh . . . (mock dawning comprehension) Oh, I understand. You do not want to seem cowardly. Well, tell them I bribed you.

Cicero rises to the threat like a true Roman, denouncing Antony in the Senate: “You have brought upon us war, pestilence, and destruction. You are Rome’s Helen of Troy.” Prudently, however, he has a clerk read his remarks as he flees town in search of less barbaric allies.

Once “Rome” found its subject, the show’s remaining issue—a perennial one for costume dramas—was which verbs would best summon it to life. What idiom conveys the glory that was Rome to a modern audience? As Hollywood bows to Britain on all things foreign or classy, the default model is a toga-draped Laurence Olivier or Richard Burton intoning limpid iambs. “Rome” updates that model, but not always enough. One of the show’s wealthy idlers describes Macedonia as “filthy climate, vile food, beastly people,” and the general Agrippa, having just blurted out his love to Octavia, apologizes like a stammering Hugh Grant: “Horrid imposition on my part, of course. You barely know me. Ridiculous.” Meanwhile, commoners mutter Cockney slang such as “Bollocks to ’is, we’ll be away for a bevvy.” Perfect for the BBC, perhaps, but not for the American ear.

In “Gladiator,” Russell Crowe’s Maximus was a model of concision—“At my signal, unleash hell”—and his martial, mid-Atlantic argot played handsomely. “Rome,” in its new season, absorbs that lesson and showcases its brusquest and most soldierly characters: its highborn women. The show’s pitiless gorgons campaign ceaselessly to have their men crowned or killed, whichever. The notion that the Empire ran on pillow talk and poison—the Great Woman theory of history—was also at the heart of the BBC’s 1976 “I, Claudius,” but “Rome,” with its spitting catfights, is closer in spirit to “Dynasty.” Atia (Polly Walker) is Caesar’s niece and Antony’s lover and a real piece of work; when bidding adieu to the visiting Cleopatra, she embraces her rival for Antony’s brutish affections and murmurs, “Die screaming, you pig-spawned trollop.” Atia’s nemesis is Servilia (a magnificently steely Lindsay Duncan), mother of Brutus and former lover of Caesar and of Atia’s daughter Octavia. When Servilia is kidnapped by Atia, she bears up far better than Cicero would:

ATIA: “A slow and painful death.” That’s what you promised me.
SERVILIA: That’s what you deserve.
ATIA: You think you’re so ****ing superior, don’t you?
SERVILIA: You have no idea what I think. . . . Why do you keep talking? Kill me.

The show’s actual soldiers, the short-tempered centurion Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and the companionable legionary Pullo (Ray Stevenson), are comparatively maidenly. Vorenus and Pullo are constantly getting into scrapes in which their country’s fortunes are at stake, and, like all literary warriors, they’re far happier in battle than home by the fire. Last season, the men had a sweetly clueless exchange about how to talk to women (“Pretend you’re putting a saddle on a skittish horse,” Pullo suggested), a discourse that concluded with tentative musings on the clitoris.

The new episodes find Vorenus devastated by his wife’s suicide. Believing himself accursed, he invites the gods’ full wrath by publicly smashing a statue of the goddess Concord: “I am a son of Hades! I **** Concord in her ass!” Vorenus also curses his children, but Pullo tries to reassure him that, since he didn’t sacrifice an animal, “the curse isn’t sealed.” No fowl, no harm. Still, the children vanish. (In Hollywood, all maledictions take effect; faith, of any kind, must be rewarded.) “Rome” is profligate with its curses: Mark Antony swears of Brutus and his co-conspirators, “I’m going to eat their livers!” Octavia says of Servilia, her former lover, “I’ll see her eaten by dogs.” And Servilia execrates fickle Caesar with chilling precision: “Let his penis wither, let his bones crack, let him see his legions drown in their own blood.”

This season sees rapid shifts in Rome’s ruling authority—“Long live the Republic!” the town crier calls, hedging his bets—and a deepening of the show’s understanding of where power ultimately resides. In the world view of the Republic, curses were the court of last appeal; soon, Rome’s final word will belong to its Emperor. Power is not bestowed by the gods but seized by the ambitious. And it can even be used, we are rather brutally shown, to quell the unrest caused by other ambitious men—that is, for the public good. By challenging the liberal conviction that all power corrupts, the show, despite its flaws, has finally become a drama worthy of HBO’s name.

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/television/articles/070115crte_television

The New York Times Obituary
Yvonne De Carlo , 84
Played Lily on 'The Munsters,'
By Wolfgang Saxon The New York Times January 11, 2007

Yvonne De Carlo, a dark-haired Hollywood beauty who advanced from the chorus line to play Moses’ wife in a movie epic but who achieved her greatest popularity as Lily in the CBS television sitcom “The Munsters,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. She was 84.

The cause was heart failure, said Kevin Burns, a friend and television producer. She had been living at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital, he said.

Miss De Carlo had had a prolific film career in the 1940s and ’50s when she was cast as Lily Munster, the wife of Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne), a bumbling Frankenstein’s monster with a soft heart who led a Charles Addams-flavored household peopled by the likes of an aging Count Dracula, the cigar-chomping Grandpa (Al Lewis).

The sitcom went on the air in 1964 and lasted only two seasons, but achieved a kind of pop-culture immortality in decades of reruns and movie and television spinoffs.

In her cape and robes and with a streak of white in her black hair, Miss De Carlo’s Lily was a glamorous ghoul and a kind of Bride of Frankenstein as homemaker, “dusting” her gothic mansion at 1313 Mockingbird Lane with a vacuum cleaner set on reverse. The humor mostly derived from the family’s oblivious belief that they were no different from their neighbors. It was Miss De Carlo, for example, who delivered one of the show’s signature lines: “Do you have a feeling we’re being stared at?”

She was born Peggy Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her father deserted the home, leaving her mother to make a living as a waitress. Ambition on both their parts led Peggy to study dance and dramatics and her mother to seek fame and fortune with her in California.

Peggy turned into Yvonne and took her mother’s maiden name, De Carlo, as her own. She started dancing in clubs at night and scouring the film studios for work by day. There were years of uncredited walk-ons and bit parts, like Bathing Beauty in “Harvard, Here I Come!” (1941) and Princess Wah-Tah in “The Deerslayer” (1943).

Her breakthrough came with a starring role in “Salome, Where She Danced” (1945), a Western with Rod Cameron and Walter Slezak, in which she played a European seductress. While the movie may have been forgettable, she became known as one of Hollywood’s most desirable young stars and advanced to pictures playing opposite some of the era’s most popular leading men.

Among them were Brian Donlevy and Jean Pierre Aumont in “Song of Scheherazade” (1947); Tony Martin in “Casbah” (1948); Burt Lancaster in “Criss Cross” (1949); Howard Duff in “Calamity Jane and Sam Bass” (1949) and “Flame of the Islands” (1956); Van Heflin in “Tomahawk” (1951); Joel McCrea in “The San Francisco Story” (1952); Ricardo Montalban in “Sombrero” (1953); and Rock Hudson in “Sea Devils” (1953).

One of her outstanding parts in those busy years came in the British comedy “The Captain’s Paradise” (1953). As Nita, the hotblooded other wife in Tangier, she taught a blithely bigamous English ferry captain (Alec Guinness) the flamenco, among other things.

After that, she made “Tonight’s the Night,” with David Niven and Barry Fitzgerald, and “Passion,” with Cornel Wilde, both in 1954. Three years later she starred with Clark Gable and Sidney Poitier in “Band of Angels,” after the novel by Robert Penn Warren. In 1956 it was “Raw Edge,” with Rory Calhoun, then, the same year, “Death of a Scoundrel,” with George Sanders playing the cad in question and Miss De Carlo doing, in the words of a reviewer for The New York Times, “a solid and professional job as the adoring petty thief who rises to eminence with him.”

One of her most prominent roles was as Sephora, wife to Charlton Heston’s Moses in the Cecil B. DeMille extravaganza “The Ten Commandments” (1956). “Yvonne De Carlo as the Midianite shepherdess to whom Moses is wed,” wrote Bosley Crowther in The Times, “is notably good in a severe role.”

She also appeared on Broadway in 1971 in “Follies,” the long-running musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman. She assumed the part of a fading movie star and took in audiences with her matter-of-fact presentation of Mr. Sondheim’s wistful “I’m Still Here.”

Altogether, Miss De Carlo appeared in nearly 100 films well into the 1990s, starting with uncredited roles and tapering into thrillers and sci-fi potboilers like “Silent Scream” (1980) and “American Gothic” (1988). There were also many cameo appearances, as in “Here Come the Munsters,” a 1995 television-movie reincarnation in which the Munsters invade America in search of Herman’s brother-in-law, Norman Hyde.

Miss De Carlo’s marriage to Robert Morgan, an actor and stuntman, ended in divorce. She is survived by their son Bruce Morgan and a stepdaughter, Bari Morgan. Another son, Michael, died earlier.

Many years ago Miss De Carlo’s name was linked in an off-screen romance with Howard Hughes, before he turned into a legendary recluse. Asked to reminisce about that chapter in her life by Ladies’ Home Journal in 1972, she said: “Howard taught me how to land a plane and how to take off. But he never taught me anything about flying in between. He thought that I had learned the difficult parts, and that was enough.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/arts/television/11decarlo.html?ref=television&pagewanted=print

The New York Times Obituary

TV Sports
Viewership Ranks 3rd for a B.C.S. Final
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Florida’s 41-14 rout of Ohio State in the Bowl Championship Series national title game Monday night attracted an average of 28.8 million viewers to the Fox broadcast, making it the third-most-watched college football title game since the B.C.S.’s debut in the 1998-99 season.

It was also the most-viewed program in prime time this season.

Last year, Texas’ thrilling 41-38 win over Southern California in the title game was seen by an average of 35.6 million viewers.

The rating for the Gators’ victory peaked at a 19.2 between 9:30 and 10 p.m. Eastern, then fell to a 14.9 in the final 17 minutes, from 11:30 to 11:47.

Fox’s four B.C.S. games averaged 16.6 million viewers. Including the 24 million for the Rose Bowl on ABC, the five-game B.C.S. average rose to 18.3 million. Under last year’s four-game format, the average was 22.1 million.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/sports/ncaafootball/10ratings.html?ref=media&pagewanted=print

The New York Times Obituary
Jack Winter, 64
Comedy Writer, Litigant, Frog Lover
By Campbell Robertson The New York Times January 11, 2007

A man is more than the sum of his eccentricities, but the equation for Jack Winter is particularly complicated. For someone who spent hours a day talking on the phone, had an enormous range of acquaintances and wrote a memoir (“The Answer to Everything,” self-published), he was, to many, an enigma.

Even now, after Mr. Winter’s death on Dec. 29 at 64 from a series of health complications, his friends are rather hard pressed to explain exactly what it was he did day to day.

His early achievements — heading The Harvard Lampoon, writing for “The Jackie Gleason Show,” winning a Writers Guild award for the first script he wrote, an episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” — were remarkable. But after he left a hot career in Los Angeles in his late 20s and moved back to his hometown, New York, the résumé more or less ended and the anecdotes began.

Mr. Winter lived a spartan existence in a huge, 10-room apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, which for years was nearly bare except for a piano, a couple of chairs, a bed, a television, piles of rugs and hundreds of frogs, which he collected and kept in a shower stall.

He traveled extensively, often to remote parts of Africa, and came back with stories about meeting the Pygmies and singing to hippopotamuses. But otherwise, what did he do all day?

“I never asked, but I had no idea,” said the writer Cheryl Bentsen, a longtime acquaintance.

Several friends said that his work polishing scripts, for which he would travel to Hollywood on occasion, was more than enough to pay the bills. Comedy writers and directors like Albert Brooks and Penny Marshall would sometimes bounce ideas off of Mr. Winter, and he worked a lot more than his few credits — like those on Ms. Marshall’s films “Big” and “Awakenings” — led one to believe.

Mr. Winter, an insatiable sports fan who kept a regular tennis date with the former Knicks star Earl (the Pearl) Monroe, was said by one friend to have supported himself for a year by placing bets on basketball games. Then there was his business importing and selling Turkish rugs.

But his real dream, ever since he left Los Angeles, was to write a play. Which he did, for the better part of a decade.

By 1979 Mr. Winter considered his play, “The Easy Way Out,” a comedy about an older man who tries to persuade a despairing younger woman not to kill herself, good enough to bring to the stage; he also decided that he would direct and produce it.

The play’s investors included such disparate notables as James L. Brooks, the Hollywood writer and producer, and Joseph N. Onek, the deputy counsel to President Jimmy Carter. But Mr. Winter took so long lining up his stars — first Dustin Hoffman, then Peter Falk, then Jack Nicholson — that one of the largest investors wanted out.

“It was a good play,” Ms. Marshall said. “But he was so meticulous that he wouldn’t settle for this person or the next person. It wasn’t the easy way out with him, I’ll tell you.”

Heated legal wrangling followed, and ultimately Mr. Winter was ordered to return all of the money to his investors. He had managed the money so well that they received their investment with a considerable amount of interest.

“He probably is the only one in history who returned a profit to his investors for a play that never opened,” Mr. Brooks said.

But then Mr. Winter turned on his lawyers. And from that point on, said Robert Muse, who described himself as the only lawyer who worked for Mr. Winter who was not later sued, he became “a world-class amateur litigant,” going after doctors, lawyers and colleagues.

As someone who often represented himself, Mr. Muse said, Mr. Winter did pretty well. He was a daunting intellectual sparring partner and an obdurate sermonizer on every subject. (Those who valued their peace of mind knew not to take his calls during the O. J. Simpson trial.)

Mr. Winter grew up in Queens; his father was a violinist for the NBC Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini and also played in the orchestra for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” where Jack would first be introduced to comedy writers.

He went to Harvard at 16 and studied math and philosophy, two subjects that would influence his dogmatic approach to everything from comedy to politics. His dream was to join the Lampoon, and he was quickly recruited by a group that included later-prominent names like John Berendt and Christopher Cerf.

After college he began his professional comedy-writing career, cutting his teeth on Jackie Gleason and then moving to Hollywood, where he would write for television series like “The Monkees” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and direct an episode of “The Odd Couple.” But he never liked Hollywood, once telling the film designer Anton Furst, “The excitement isn’t worth the uncertainty.”

A series of back problems slowed Mr. Winter down in the early 1990s. He was in constant pain, though he continued to make lengthy phone calls and fax around his comedic essays, a few of which showed up in publications like The New Yorker and The Wall Street Journal.

In 2001, Mr. Winter married Ekram Fadlelmola (known by her nickname, Moon), a Sudanese woman he had met in Katmandu, Nepal, in 1986 and had proposed to repeatedly. He sold his Manhattan apartment, and they bought a house in Canada, where she lived. But his health troubles intensified, said Ms. Fadlelmola, exacerbated by the 16-hour days he spent lying on his side writing his memoir. He died of lung failure after three months in a hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, she said.

“He never struck me as an eccentric person,” said Mr. Berendt, who had kept up with Mr. Winter since college. “He was a more or less conventional man who fell in love with Pygmies and frogs and went to odd places for his vacation.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/arts/11wint.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print

TV Notebook
The Rosie Watch Wednesday Edition
By Verne Gay Newsday Staff Writer in the “TV Zone” blog January 10, 2007

Oh, glory, glory, GLORY! There is a God in TV heaven, and He (or She, your choice) continues to smile down on the odd little creatures which He so impishly created. Yes, we speak of Rosie and Donald.

If you missed this morning's "The View," here's the quick re-cap:

The gang comes out, with Barbara at one end of the table, and Rosie propping up the other end: "Well," Ro bellows. "He's at it again!. How 'bout that Barbara. I'm OK. You OK? I'm OK. You Ok?"
Said Babs, and this is the direct quote: "That poor pathetic man."
Cue to wild applause, and Babs then looks down at the table, no doubt wondering, "is this what my life has come to?"
There were then high-fives all around, with some more hot air from Ro, claiming (again) that DT is "obsessed" her with and that "his show ['Apprentice'] tanked."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the glorious city of Gotham, DT is squinting furiously at a TV set and - BOOM!! - DT did what DT has suddenly become so very fond of doing. He dashed off a letter, which was quickly sent to "Extra." Herewith, the juicy stuff:

"Barbara Walters has taken the low road for the sake of her show rather than the sake of her morality. She lied with Star Jones and now she has chosen to lie again. She refused to discuss my recent letter [see: Tuesday edition, below] because she knows it is true and so does Rosie. They didn't even have the courage to mention me by name. It was sad to see Barbara read her statement off a cue card. Rosie just pushed her out like a ("pathetic") puppet. Barbara has become a sad figurehead dominated by a third-rate comedian and I now wish she had not chosen me as one of the "Ten Most Fascinating People...'"

And so on. He also rebutted Rosie's claim about the tanking, and referred to some recent "Nielson" numbers. (DT, it's spelled "Nielsen.")

OK, fans, I've got some comments here, but foremost: Shouldn't Trumpster be out building buildings or something? But there he is, studying "The View" every morning, then pounding out joyously hilarious - albeit unintentionally so - commentary to Ro and "Extra." "I now wish she had not chosen me as one of the "Ten Most Fascinating People...'"A classic line! Sure to be posted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations some day! One for the ages!

But I've got to admit, I think Trumpster's right on this one. Babs did chicken out (and did fudge the truth, long and hard, on Jones.). By not naming Trumpster, she averted any possible legal unpleasantness, because - really - she didn't technically lie: "That poor pathetic man" could have been a reference to the doorman she refused to tip over Christmas. Who knows?!

I'm still giving Ro another month. Babs has the long knives out, and not just for DT...

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

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Jonathan Storm

The Philadelphia Inquirer TV columnist is filing audio reports from the TCA Winter Tour. You can hear them here:

http://go.philly.com/stormcast.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Aaron Barnhart

And one of this thread’s very favorite TV writers, Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star, is filing podcast after podcast from Pasadena. You can access his material here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/kansascity/zDuZ

The New York Times Obituary
Jack Winter, 64
Comedy Writer, Litigant, Frog Lover
By Campbell Robertson The New York Times January 11, 2007

What a character. Sounds like the kind of guy I would have loved to hang around talking about the good ol' days! :(

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Heart-stopping, Gasp-a-second Thrill-rides R Us
David Kronke's Los Angeles Daily News Blog - January 10, 2007

Two days into the semiannual TV press tour, and there's only one show Your Mayor fiinds himself eagerly anticipating: "The State Within" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/thestatewithin/), a BBC America miniseries starring Jason Isaacs ("Brotherhood") and Sharon Gless ("Cagney & Lacey") that looks to be a complex, terrorism-fueled conspiracy thriller, a "24" for geopolitical intellectuals. It fairly dominated British critics year-end-best lists.

On the other hand, there are a fantastic number of shows I'm truly dreading, such as pretty much any celeb-reality show. Happily, there are a number of these things on Thursday's schedule of press events:

* "High Maintenence 90210," in which celebrities' "maids, assistants, chauffeurs, butlers, nannies and even dog walkers face monumental demands that most people could not handle." Yes. This is an actual show.

* "Paradise City," about Vegas wannabe's "whose lives intersect at the luxurious pools by day and behind the velvet ropes of the sizzling nightclubs by night. We follow each of the 20-something cast as try to achieve their dream, whether it's the struggle of becoming a top model, a rock star or the hottest club promoter." Bonus level of hell: Ryan Seacrest is an executive producer.

* "Man Band," in which washed-up former boy-band singers "live together for one month, create new music, a dynamic stage show and perform as a new pop group. ... With a second chance at pop-stardom, will these former teen idols be able to transform their destiny or will their egos stand in their way?" And will they find anyone who cares?

* "Adventures in Hollywood," which follows the rap group 3 Six Mafia "on their quest to establish themselves as Hollywood players. ... (T)he group tries to make the most of their fame by pursuing everything that Hollywood has to offer." Including the chance to cadge a shopping cart with which to collect recyclables?

* "Press Tour Memories," which charts TV critics as "they discover their will to live ebbing and their souls circling the drain while listening to an unending string of celebutards myopically explain why America will find their reality-show antics captivating and not simply execrable home-movies self-indulgently forced onto the small screen."

OK, I made that last one up. But if I act quickly, I'm sure I can talk A&E into greenlighting it.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tv/2007/01/heartstopping_gaspasecond_thri.html

Yesterday’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.

Lisa is way behind the curve in these items, but she is always a fun read…..
The TV Column
Udderly Ridiculous
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer January 11, 2007

Knee-deep in "cow" testicles at Winter TV Press Tour 2007. Okay, slight exaggeration -- there were only enough of them to fill a pretty tray on a table the first day of the TV confab in Pasadena, Calif. The folks from National Geographic Channel served "Deep Fried Cow Testicles" at the dinner party the first night, as well as filet of crocodile, braised chicken feet and chocolate-covered crickets.

But, setting aside the point that cows have udders, not testicles -- shouldn't National Geographic know that? -- the little tray of batter-fried balls really were the perfect metaphor for the first couple days of the press tour, during which The Reporters Who Cover Television were asked to swallow an astounding amount of bull.

Among the bigger nuggets:

• Paris Hilton is a very nice girl, according to Courteney Cox, while plugging her FX series, "Dirt."

• Rosie and Donald are both very nice people, insists Danny DeVito while hawking his FX series, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

• CNN Headline News's Cheshire-cat conservative Glenn Beck doesn't think people are stupid, Beck claims while promoting his CNN Headline News show.

• Tori Spelling -- she of the $1 million wedding (the first one) -- is perfectly suited to run a bed-and-breakfast because she never felt at home in Daddy's 100-plus-room house and is more comfortable serving others, Tori allows while discussing her new reality series for Oxygen network.

• And, saving best for last, the head of CNN Worldwide, Jim Walton, firmly believes CNN Voice of Wrath Nancy Grace stands for integrity, accuracy, class and timeliness, Walton says during a Q&A session with Larry King, who will celebrate his 50th anniversary on the air this year.

Reporters definitely choked on that one. One member of the press, giving voice to what was on everyone's mind, asked, "Just to follow, to use your words, then, you think that Nancy Grace exemplifies integrity, accuracy and class."

"Absolutely," Walton responded, adding quickly, "You can choose to not agree with her point of view or what she's saying. I'm not judge and jury, nor am I the morals police."

Nancy Grace is immoral? How did I miss that memo?

Larry King, on the other hand, was far more frank. (In fact, to date he's the frankest thing at the tour, and the press would have loved to chat with him longer, only CNN shuffled him off so reporters could hear from Headline News rant-meister Beck how proud he was not to be a journalist. The feeling was mutual, by the way.)

"How often do you interview somebody you just really don't like?" one reporter asked King.

Larry: "Often."

Another reporter asked Larry if it bothers him when he's told to get younger guests on his show -- like the cast of "24" this week -- instead of some 60-year-old newsmaker, in hopes of attracting a younger audience.

Larry: "Well, it bothers me because I'm 73 -- technically what we're saying is I don't appeal to myself."

Would he interview longtime friend Sandy Koufax on the show?

Larry: "I would do him immediately. The problem is probably the producers don't know who he is."

• • • • • • • • • • •

"Danny, are you drunk right now?"

That was a critic asking DeVito whether he was intoxicated at the Q&A session for FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

Which of course was silly. It was clear he wasn't drunk. He wasn't sitting on Rosie O'Donnell's lap, or regaling the critics with his impression of President Bush: White House Chimp.

DeVito recently made quite a splash when a video of his odd-ish appearance on "The View" to promote his flick "Deck the Halls" turned up on YouTube. During his visit with the View-ettes, DeVito, who acknowledged he'd been out late drinking with George Clooney the night before, slurred his speech as he described his amorous night with his wife at the White House in which they trashed the Lincoln Bedroom and got bleeped several times doing his Bush Chimp routine before hopping onto Rosie's lap.

At the press tour, DeVito continued to stick by his story that he was just tired that day and his strange behavior was the result of a "nap."

• • • • • • • • • • •

Tori Spelling came to the press tour to chat about her new Oxygen network reality series, "Tori & Dean: Inn Love," in which the crazy-in-love Spelling and Dean McDermott, a.k.a. Husband No. 2, run a bed-and-breakfast and have a baby, all while being "outrageously famous," as Oxygen put it.

Given the divorce rate of C-list couples who have subjected their marriage to reality-television scrutiny -- Jessica and Nick, Kathy Griffin and whatshisname come to mind -- critics wanted to know what makes them think they would survive this show.

"We're going to be the exception, not the rule," McDermott said firmly.

"Yes," added Tori.

Asked if she felt pressure to live up to Jessica Simpson's tour de force performance as Jessica Simpson on the reality series "Newlyweds," Tori said emphatically, "No, because I know what tuna is," recalling Jessica's confusion over Chicken of the Sea.

Do either of them have any experience running a bed-and-breakfast?

McDermott said he had "some restaurant experience."

Of course, you and I know every actor has "restaurant experience." It's called "waiting on tables."

"And I just have really good style, so I thought I could spruce up the B&B," Tori added.

Besides, Tori added, having an actual thought, B&Bs had been good for them because they conceived their child at one in Ottawa. Which smelled a bit like pee, McDermott noted.

And, they insist they are going to be hands-on with the running of the place, though Tori says, "I don't clean toilets," and "I'm not all about breakfast because I'm usually not up early enough, but that's how we're modernizing it. I'm more into happy hours and hors d'oeuvres."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002467_pf.html

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
What’s On Tap Thursday

Today’s schedule includes the E! Networks, ESPN, Lifetime, Starz and the MTV Networks.

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Dateline, Pasadena
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” January 10, 2007

Surveying the room Monday night at a pre-press tour mixer, I realized something momentous was rippling through our community of TV critics. “The internets,” as our President calls them, have become not just a place where we go to watch television, but to write about it as well.

A longtime Dallas newspaperman, having taken a buyout, was now a full-time TV critic on his Web site. A colleague from Phoenix walked in late: he'd been busy blogging the national championship game. Another critic and I pondered whether we now wrote more words for our online readers than for print.

The Web is changing press tour, too. Shows I will be writing about in the coming days are already screening at their networks' Web sites, in some cases whole episodes. Sites like ComedyCentral.com and Current.tv test programs online before bringing them to the tube.

And then there's this: Tuesday night, the Sundance Channel screened a premiere of the film “Four Eyes Watching,” not on the TV, not on the channel's Web site, but in an online world called Second Life, one of those video-game environments where you create semi-autobiographical models called “avatars” who chat, flirt and, in this case, sit quietly and watch a movie with other CGIs.

It may have been the first “virtual screening” in TV history, that is, if I'm even allowed to call something that never happened on TV a part of TV history. I created an avatar at Second Life, though at press time I had yet to figure out how he was going to take a notebook into the screening….

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2007/01/dateline_pasade.html#more

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Why Apple TV will change everything
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” January 10, 2007

When I began reading up on Apple's new $299 Apple TV device, which will beam high definition video from your computer to your big screen, I thought this sounded like the most game-changing device in years.

So I called on an expert, consultant Robert Arena, and in our lively conversation he confirmed that it's all that. "If you've got a good idea," said Arena, "you no longer have to figure out how you're going to get carriage on Comcast or Time Warner. That day is over."

Apple TV is out next month.

Aaron’s podcast is here:

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/files/TVBP4.mp3

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
From `Nashville' to `Rome' to Steve Irwin's last show
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News January 11, 2007

For the next couple of weeks, I'll be in lovely southern California, doing some reporting on life in TV's fast lane.

That means the regular columnizing takes a back seat, so here's a quick guide to new series, returning series and interesting episodes that will appear while I'm away. Feel free to clip and save.

• Look, I know ``American Idol'' gets all the buzz, but there's an argument to be made that the best musical competition on TV is ``Nashville Star.'' The country music series, hosted by Jewel and Cowboy Troy, returns for its fifth cycle tonight (10 p.m., USA) with contestants who not only can sing but also play instruments and often write their own songs. The competition is tough, as reflected by the fact that hot country star Miranda Lambert was on the show in 2003 -- and didn't win.

• There are some folks who were absolutely devoted to the first season of HBO's ``Rome,'' a sprawling, bloody and bawdy take on the time of Julius Caesar. While I admired the production values of the series and much of the acting (particularly Ray Stevenson and Kevin McKidd as two soldiers who serve as the focal point of the piece), that admiration didn't translate into enjoyment. I just never warmed to the series, and from what I've seen of its second season, which begins at 9 p.m. Sunday, I don't think that's going to change.

• On the other hand, I'll take as much of ``Extras,'' Ricky Gervais' brilliant comedy about life in the world of filmmaking, as HBO wants to give me. Unfortunately, the hilarious show's second season (starting 10 p.m. Sunday) is just six episodes long, the standard length of top British series. Gervais' Andy Millman, an actor somewhat delusional about both his abilities and appeal, stumbles his way through TV and film. Also back: Stephen Merchant (co-creator of ``The Office'' with Gervais) as Millman's agent and the fabulous Ashley Jensen as Maggie, his best friend. Making cameos this year: David Bowie, Ian McKellen and Daniel Radcliffe, sending up his ``Harry Potter'' persona.

• Also this Sunday: After sitting out the first half of the season, ``Crossing Jordan'' -- NBC's serviceable but hardly flashy crime drama -- finally makes its sixth season debut (10 p.m., Chs. 8, 11) as medical examiner Jordan Cavanaugh (Jill Hennessey) tries to prove that she didn't kill her former lover who got bumped off in last season's finale. I'm betting she beats the rap.

• Judy Woodruff, the long-time CNN anchor, moves over to PBS to host the new ``Generation Next: Speak Up, Be Heard'' (11 p.m. Monday, Ch. 9), which tries to get a handle of what younger Americans (ages 16 to 25) are thinking. It's pretty fascinating stuff, although there is a certain irony in the fact that almost no one in that age group watches PBS.

• ``Smallville,'' which doesn't really get the attention or respect it deserves in its sixth season, has an intriguing episode next Thursday (8 p.m., Ch. 44) as the Justice League of America makes its first appearance on the series. Well, it's a kind of Justice League with Clark Kent (Tom Welling) teaming up with Green Arrow, the Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg -- all of whom have appeared in previous episodes -- to thwart the evil doing of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum).

• I could make the obvious comment and say next Thursday's installment of ``Scrubs'' (9 p.m., Chs. 8, 11) is the best TV musical episode of a series since ``Buffy'' did ``Once More, With Feeling'' five years ago. Of course, there really haven't been any musical episodes since then, so let's just say that the quirky medical sitcom takes some fun original music from Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (``Avenue Q'') and has a grand old time putting on a show.

• Fans of the late Steve Irwin will definitely want to check out the Jan. 21 debut of the adventurer's last project, ``Ocean's Deadliest'' (8 p.m., Animal Planet). Along with Philippe Cousteau, grandson of the late oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, Irwin explores the often dangerous waters near the Great Barrier Reef. Then, at 9:30, Animal Planet presents a ``Steve Irwin Tribute,'' a memorial to Irwin, who died while filming ``Ocean's Deadliest.''

• Sci Fi really rolls the dice Jan. 21 by moving one of its top series, ``Battlestar Galactica,'' and adding a new show, ``The Dresden Files,'' to the ratings battleground of Sunday night. It's a risk, but the cable channel feels the two dramas are different enough from what else is available that they can hold their own against the competition. Based on the novels of Jim Butcher about a Chicago private detective who also happens to be a wizard, ``Dresden'' (9 p.m.) is an intriguing addition to the Sci Fi lineup with a fine lead in Paul Blackthorne (``24''). But ``Battlestar'' (10 p.m.) is something special, one of TV's top dramas even if it is science fiction. No matter when it's on, you should be watching.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/television/16434143.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Discovery Flaunts New HD Technology in “Planet Earth”
By Linda Haugsted MultiChannel News 1/10/2007

Pasadena, Calif. -- New camera technology will allow for unprecedented HD images that will make up Planet Earth,an 11-hour series on Discovery Channel that executive vice president and general manager Jane Root said will "redefine natural-history filmmaking."

During the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association Tour here, executives explained that the content was filmed in 200 locations in 67 countries. The new technology -- such as a high-tech gimbal that keeps HD cameras steady and level -- allowed film crews to shoot their animal subjects, for instance, from a height of 1,000 feet. At that distance, filmmakers still got intimate shots without impacting on the behavior of their subjects.

The presentation was prepared by some of the same producers who created the series on Mt. Everest, a work faulted by some critics who said it was so full of quick edits that viewers had to tape it in still frame to enjoy the cinematography.

But the filmmakers -- Huw Cordey, Mark Brownlow and Doug Allan, all of the BBC Natural History unit -- said this presentation would feature more lingering shots, some of up to three minutes, and an orchestral score.

Sister network TLC touted My Life as a Child.The reality series focuses on 20 children who were provided with hand-held digital cameras to capture their own lives. The subjects include an eight-year-old living with cerebral palsy, an eight-year-old writing prodigy and a 10-year-old African-American girl adopted by a Caucasian mother.

This series will launch Feb. 26.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6406644.html

The Business of TV
Web revenue to double
Seeking 50 cents plus per station in retrans talks
By Georg Szalai The Hollywood Reporter Jan 11, 2007

NEW YORK -- The CBS network has sold about 70% of its Super Bowl advertising inventory, CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves said Wednesday, predicting his firm this year will at least double its online ad revenue from making NCAA games available on the Web from last year's figure of $4.5 million.

Speaking at the annual Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas, Moonves further signaled that the CBS Radio unit is looking at using digital technology to make additional money from its content. "We are looking at time shifting" and other possibilities with potential outside partners "to monetize content," he said without providing specifics.

Overall, CBS Corp. expects to make the "bulk" of its online money from advertising, Moonves said, adding iTunes revenue amounted to less than $10 million last year.

Asked about CBS Corp.'s expected low-key move into the film space, Moonves said it is "not entirely risk free." But he promised that "the upside is far greater than the risk. A bad movie would lose us (only) a few million dollars."

He didn't provide any additional updates on the likely start or possible outside financing partners of the film effort, but observers expect it will launch this year.

Moonves also told the Citigroup crowd that CBS' TV stations had a "phenomenal" 2006 thanks in large part to extremely strong political ad trends. However, "momentum continued through year's end and into the (new year)," he told investors.

Moonves also said CBS is in retransmission consent talks with three smaller distributors, with big deals coming up in 2009 and 2010. He didn't provide further details beyond saying the company is looking for 50 cents-plus per subscriber in fees in the talks. Verizon's FiOS TV video service struck a CBS deal at these terms last year.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ifccd9970e567b0b1c536dffa0db09f4e

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
A ho-hum debut for 'Armed & Famous'
New CBS reality show pulls a 2.9 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer January 11, 2007

CBS’s new reality show “Armed & Famous” won its timeslot in its debut last night. But considering the unimpressive competition, that didn’t exactly mean too much.

“Famous” averaged a so-so 2.9 rating in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, matching last week’s average for an original “King of Queens” and repeat “Two and a Half Men” in the same 8 p.m. timeslot.

The 60-minute “Famous” also matched the timeslot average for sitcoms “Still Standing” and “Yes Dear” on the same night a year ago.

“Famous” finished ahead of ABC’s “According to Jim” and NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” both of them struggling shows. It also faced a repeat of Fox’s “Bones,” which will likely draw better or at least equal ratings to “Famous” when new episodes return.

It was neither a good nor bad showing for the reality show, which was largely dismissed by critics as an absolute mess. The show follows a handful of has-been celebrities, including Erik Estrada and Jack Osbourne, as they train to become police officers in Muncie, Ind.

Most critics excoriated CBS for even allowing the show to be filmed. But a few, including Media Life’s Andrew Lyons, found the program amusing and even endearing.

“This show about five D-list celebrities who join the Muncie, Ind., police force is far more entertaining than it has any right to be,” Lyons wrote. “[The show] mostly works, due in large part to the enthusiasm of its stars and the truly outrageous situations they face while on patrol.”

Also last night, the Big Four networks carried President Bush’s speech about Iraq, which drew a combined 29.9 million total viewers from 9 to 9:25 p.m.

“Famous” helped CBS finished first on a slow night among 18-49s, averaging a 2.9 rating and an 8 share. NBC was second at 2.7/7, ABC third at 2.5/7, Fox fourth at 2.0/5, Univision fifth at 1.8/5 and CW sixth at 1.5/4.

At 8 p.m. CBS led with a 2.9 for “Famous.” ABC was second that hour with a 2.7 average for an hour of “According to Jim,” with NBC and Fox tied for third at 2.4, NBC for “Friday Night Lights” and Fox for a repeat of “Bones.” Univision came in fifth with a 2.3 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW was sixth with a 2.0 for “Beauty and the Geek,” which matched last week’s strong premiere.

The speech threw off the networks’ schedules for the remainder of the night. NBC took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 3.2 average for the President Bush speech and a half-hour “Deal or No Deal” repeat. CBS was second with a 2.6 average for Bush and the first half of a repeat of “Criminal Minds,” ABC third with a 2.3 for Bush and “Knights of Prosperity,” and Univision and Fox tied for fourth at 1.7, Univision for Bush and the first half of “Mundo de Fieras” and Fox for Bush and a repeat "'Til Death." CW was sixth with a 1.0 for a “One Tree Hill” rerun.

At 10 p.m. CBS regained the lead with a 3.3 for the last half of “Criminal Minds” and the first half of a “CSI: NY” repeat. NBC was second with a 2.6 for a rerun of “Medium,” ABC third with a 2.4 for “In Case of Emergency” and the first half of “Primetime,” and Univision fourth with a 1.4 average for the end of “Mundo” and the first 30 minutes of “Don Francisco Presenta.”

Among households, CBS was first for the night with a 6.4 average rating and a 10 share. NBC was second at 5.4/9, ABC third at 4.6/7, Fox fourth at 3.7/6, Univision fifth at 2.2/3 and CW sixth at 2.1/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9477.asp

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.

TV Notebook
The Golden Globes, for the fun of it all
Who will win, or should win, and why
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 11, 2007

If the Academy Awards are the Super Bowl for women, then the Golden Globes are their Pro Bowl.

They’re more laid back, more fun, and fewer people care who wins. The best part about the Globes is watching the stars actually have a good time, which is enhanced by the awards ceremony’s notoriously open bar.

The free-spirited Globes, sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, aren’t for everyone. Viewership for the show, which airs Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC, has plunged to half that of the Oscars, or 18.9 million last year.

Last year NBC moved the Globes to Monday and away from its traditional Sunday night after getting slaughtered by ABC hit “Desperate Housewives.”

But the show does have a very loyal core audience, mostly women, who spend the month between when the nominations are announced and the awards are given out debating on various online hubs who deserves to win.

One of those hubs is the message boards on TheEnvelope.com, the Los Angeles Times’ popular awards show site. According to the site’s buzzmeter, which tracks predictions by award show pundits, ABC’s “Ugly Betty” is favored to win best comedy and best actress for America Ferrera, while Fox’s “24” will repeat August’s Emmy win for best drama.

Tom O’Neil, columnist for the TheEnvelope.com, talks to Media Life about who was snubbed, how the Globes made “Ally McBeal” mainstream, and what the Oscars could learn from this ceremony.

The Golden Globes are seen as the fun and fluffy forerunner to the more serious Oscars and Emmys. Do you think there are aspects of the Globes, which tend to be more unpredictable, that could be incorporated into those later ceremonies to make them, well, more fun?

Tom O’Neil Start with 750 bottles of champagne. That's how much bubbly the 1,300 Globe attendees imbibe. Never wonder again why they're all in the bathroom when their names are called as winners.

Warren Beatty once famously said, "The Oscars are business, the Globes are fun." Jack Nicholson did something at the Globes he never did at the Oscars: he mooned the audience.

Were there any surprise TV nominees for the Globes? Anyone left out who should have gotten a nomination?

Tom O’Neil Globe nominations this year are shocking, an unprecedented snub of the new fall TV season.

Usually you can count on the Globes to hail the newest hot shows and stars because voters are members of the Hollywood foreign press reporting on that new TV scene for their newspapers back in Oslo, Capetown and Tokyo.

Only “Ugly Betty” got major notice by Globe voters, though. “30 Rock,” “Dexter” and “Heroes” got one or two scattered bids. Where are noms for “Brothers and Sisters?” Globe voters usually love upscale dramas featuring Oscar champs like Sally Field slumming it on the tube.


What are the differences between Globe and Emmy nominees? Are the Globes more likely to recognize non-Emmy darlings?

Tom O’Neil The Emmys act like a snooty closed club that's hard to get into. The Globes weren't afraid to give top awards to young-skewing hip shows like “Party of Five” as best drama series or the prize as best actress to 15-year-old Claire Danes of “My So-Called Life.”

That would never happen at the Emmys. Look at poor Sarah Jessica Parker. She finally won her Emmy in the last year of “Sex and the City.” Earlier, she won practically every year at the Globes. One award is very conservative, the other very liberal.

Who do you expect the big TV winners to be?

Tom O’Neil “Ugly Betty’s” America Ferrera is the perfect Globes candidate -- the hip, buzzed-about star of the tube's hottest new comedy. She can't lose.

“Ugly Betty” will probably win best comedy, but could be usurped by the American version of “The Office.” HFPA named the British version best comedy a few years ago, so they might be tempted to go there again, this time the Yankee route.

Best drama series is toss-up between “24,” “Grey's Anatomy” and “Heroes.” My prediction: “Grey’s.” Alec Baldwin of “30 Rock” looks like a lock for comedy actor since voters love big movie stars on TV. I'd bet on “Dexter” star Michael C. Hall for best drama actor. Kyra Sedgwick of “The Closer” or Ellen Pompeo of “Grey's Anatomy” for drama actress.

What drives interest in the Globes? Are people more interested in the TV or movie aspect?

Tom O’Neil Viewers are definitely most interested in the film categories. For two reasons: First, we're a nation of film snobs, so movies get referred to as the “silver screen” while TV is dismissed as “the boob tube.” Secondly, the Globes influence the Oscars hugely. More than two-thirds of Oscar winners of best picture and lead actor and actress win the Globe first.

TV's no slouch, though. Viewers care. The Globes, for example, put “Ally McBeal” on the map. One week after it won best comedy series at the Globes, the little-watched, obscure show on Fox saw its ratings leap 40 percent.

What's harder, predicting winners for the Globes or the Emmys?

Tom O’Neil Ever since the TV academy switched from using judging panels to at-home voting, the Emmys have become harder to predict. It used to be easy because they're judged based upon specific episode submissions. Just watch the episodes and the forecast is obvious. Not anymore. Sometimes voters base their opinions on the episodes, sometimes they don't.

But getting into the quirky heads of the Hollywood Foreign Press at the Globes is always tough, too. Best advice: predict the hottest new stuff.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9451.asp

Nielsen Notebook
For Fox, 'Idol Rewind' sings of spring
Big ratings for new syndicated show bode well
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 11, 2007

With the season premiere of “American Idol” airing next Tuesday, media people are looking for any signs of whether viewers’ appetite for “Idol” has declined.

If ratings for the new syndicated show “American Idol Rewind” are such an indicator, the answer is no, definitely not. The clip job, which combines already-aired “Idol” footage with original content, is the No. 3 new syndicated program of the season, ahead of even the much-buzzed-about new talk show “Rachael Ray.”

During fourth quarter, when "Rewind” launched, it averaged a 2.7 household rating, 0.6 ahead of “Ray,” according to Nielsen data analyzed by Magna Global. It trailed only “Without a Trace” and “CSI: Miami,” like “Rewind” weekend strips with more limited airings than daily shows like “Ray.”

“Rewind” averaged a 1.7 in women 18-49, tied for second among new shows and 0.5 ahead of “Ray.” And among men 18-49, it ranked a solid No. 2, averaging a 1.3 rating.

When Tribune Entertainment and “Idol” producer FremantleMedia started selling the “Rewind” project last January, it seemed like a cheap way to capitalize on the “Idol” craze. Why would viewers tune in to watch a reality show that thrives on competitive tension when they already knew the outcome?

It turns out that many still want to relive the drama with a bit of perspective. After all, watching Kelly Clarkson’s initial audition is more fascinating now that viewers know she’s talented enough to win a Grammy. Equally fascinating: Figuring out just when season-one runner-up Justin Guarini went from charming to annoying.

Producers added previously shot but never aired footage, like the Clarkson audition, to “Rewind” and also repackaged the show to highlight the eventual finalists. In that way, it’s much different from past syndicated reality fare like “Fear Factor” or “Survivor,” which present little original content.

Tribune plans 26 episodes in this initial run, which focuses on season one. Future seasons focusing on years two through five may have more episodes, as Fox added more “Idol” air time in subsequent years as the show became more popular.

The sixth season of “Idol” debuts with a two-hour special Tuesday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

Meanwhile, in other dayparts for the week ended Dec. 31, NBC’s “Meet the Press” was the leader in Sunday morning shows with 4.21 million total viewers and a 1.1 in adults 25-54. ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” was second with 3.17 million viewers and a 1.0, followed by CBS’s “Face the Nation” with 2.97 million and a 0.8, and Fox “News Sunday” in fourth place with 1.22 million and a 0.4 among adults 25-54.

In late night, with all but ABC’s “Nightline” in repeats, NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” won the week with an average 5.1 million total viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49. “Late Show with David Letterman,” on CBS, had 3.8 million viewers and a 1.2 rating in the demo, while ABC’s “Nightline” brought in 3.6 million viewers and a 1.2 rating. In late late night, NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” had 2.3 million total viewers and a 1.0 in 18-49s, CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” had 1.9 million viewers and a 0.6, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” had 1.6 million viewers and a 0.6, and NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” had 1.4 million viewers and 0.6 among 18-49s.

In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” led with 4.8 million total viewers and a 3.7 rating and 15 share in households, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 4.06 million viewers and a 3.1/12. CBS’s “Early Show” was last with 2.69 million total viewers and a 2.0/8.

In daytime, CBS had the largest audience for daytime dramas and full daytime, 4.22 and 4.73 million respectively. The network finished second among women 18-49, with a 1.5 rating in both dramas and full daytime. ABC had the second-largest audience with 3.42 million watching its dramas and 3.52 million for full daytime, and won the key women 18-49 demo with a 1.7 rating for both dramas and full daytime. NBC had an audience of 2.91 million for both dramas and full daytime, and a 1.5 rating in women 18-49 for both.

In evening network news for the week ended Jan. 7, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” led with 10.03 million viewers and a 2.6 in 25-54s. ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” was second with 9.52 million viewers and a 2.6, while CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” came in third with 7.65 million total viewers and a 1.9 in the key demo.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_9448.asp

Television Critics Winter Tour Notebook
Discovery Flaunts New HD Technology in “Planet Earth”
By Linda Haugsted MultiChannel News 1/10/2007

Pasadena, Calif. -- New camera technology will allow for unprecedented HD images that will make up Planet Earth,an 11-hour series on Discovery Channel that executive vice president and general manager Jane Root said will "redefine natural-history filmmaking."

...

This series will launch Feb. 26.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6406644.html

I was watching this last Sunday on DiscoveryHD, and I have to say it does look fantastic. Images I have never seen before, in any definition.

Hopefully they keep the after-show segments in about the HD camera-technology, because even if regular SD viewers can't see it, the making-of elements are interesting as well.

Has it aired already? I thought it was scheduled for February 26.