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fredfa

03-17-05, 02:12 AM

Slim Showtime is starving for a breakthrough
By Gary Levin USA TODAY
Showtime hoped Fat Actress would be the hit it needed to shake the image of an also-ran pay-cable network. But fat jokes can wear thin: When the show premiered last week, a modest 924,000 viewers tuned in. This week, the audience for Monday's second episode (10 p.m. ET/PT) plunged to 295,000, though a repeat an hour later drew 405,000.

Fat Actress is the first project to fully bear the imprint of Showtime president Robert Greenblatt. Like other recent efforts — psychiatrist drama Huff, which premiered last November, and the current second season of lesbian-themed The L Word (Sundays 10 p.m. ET/PT) — it came up short in the ratings, one measure of validation for the channel's $12-a-month price tag.

"What I hope is my show can help take comedy to some of the same stratosphere that HBO has," Alley says. Until now, she says, "I thought Showtime was (only) a place where I could see some good movies" she had missed in theaters.

Shows in the works
Among upcoming Showtime projects:

Reefer Madness (April 16), a musical version of the 1938 cult propaganda film starring Alan Cumming, Neve Campbell and Ana Gasteyer.
Our Fathers (May 21), a movie about the Boston archdiocese's molestation scandal, with Ted Danson, Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy.
Weeds (June 13), a comedy series starring Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban mom turned pot dealer.
The Cell (August), a drama series about an undercover FBI agent (Michael Ealy, Their Eyes Were Watching God) who infiltrates a terrorist cell.
Barbershop (fall), a comedy series based on the film.
Brotherhood (2006), a one-hour drama series about brothers in Providence: One is in the Mob, the other is a legislator.

Says Greenblatt, who joined the network in mid-2003: "I look at this as a small but significant turning point. People have been saying to me for months, 'I've heard about this show everywhere.' Certainly nothing (at Showtime) has had this much attention."

Showtime, in fact, has had attention deficit disorder. It struggles to increase its modest base of 13 million subscribers, half of HBO's reach, with shifting programming strategies. Launched nationally in 1978, it earned early interest with movies, boxing and soft-core porn. It then began pumping out as many as two dozen original movies a year in the late 1990s.

Five years ago, it courted niche audiences — well represented among subscribers — with dramas Soul Food, Resurrection Boulevard and Queer as Folk. Now the channel will focus on mainstream series amid a sharp cutback in original movies. "They're looking for edgy, contemporary material, not just another movie," says director Dan Curtis, whose Our Fathers movie is the only program yet to air from the previous Showtime regime.

"I'm trying to do things that are really bold and attention-getting," Greenblatt says, in a climate in which "almost every cable network has one or two (original) shows, at least. It's really hard to jump out of the pack."
Huff, a ratings dud, did achieve a Showtime first: a Golden Globe nomination in series acting (for supporting player Oliver Platt). "That may seem paltry compared to the great HBO, but my view is you build things one step at a time," Greenblatt says.

Says Kagan Research analyst Deana Myers: "They haven't come up with a runaway hit, their Sopranos or Sex and the City, but that's exactly what they need," because of its ripple effect. "If you can bring in syndication revenue and DVD revenue, it can be huge."

Myers says Showtime spent just 30% of its $500 million programming budget on original films and series last year. HBO devoted nearly half its $1.3 billion outlay to original fare.

"I would love to say one show can turn it around, but I'm not that much of an optimist," Greenblatt says. "Over time, when we have a handful of those shows, maybe people will say, 'I've got to get Showtime.' And subscriptions will start growing."

rogo

03-17-05, 02:24 AM

Jimmy Smits is obligated contractually to remain with the show if his character "wins". So is Alan Alda.

It's not like either is working a tremendous amount these days and would even want to pass up the chance to be the fictional president of the United States.

Ken H

03-17-05, 03:09 AM

Originally posted by rogo

It's not like either is working a tremendous amount these days and would even want to pass up the chance to be the fictional president of the United States. Sounds like me.....

fredfa

03-17-05, 03:15 AM

They will especially enjoy hanging around, rogo, if either Smits or Alda can help West Wing regain some of its ratings luster. I suspect there is more of a chance of that with Smits than with the Alda character.
(Although it might be fun to see how West Wing writers and staff react to a Republican President.)
I think the election campaign will continue through the first 6-8 weeks of next season, which will then, for the remainder of the year, have twin arcs:
a) the new administration , and
b) how the now ex-President Bartlett handles returning to private life.

I can't get my hands on all the specific numbers, but we should remember that, since its Sept 22, 1999 debut, West Wing has never been blessed with a great lead-in:

1999--Dateline NBC (West Wing tie for 24th for the season, 9.1 rating)
2000--Titans/Ed (West Wing tie for 11th for the season, 11.6 rating)
2001--Ed (West Wing 8th for the season, 11.4 rating)
2002--Ed (West Wing 21st for the season, 9.0 rating)
2003--Ed (West Wing 26th for the season)
2004--LAX (now American Dreams) (West Wing currently 36th for the season)

Nonetheless, over the years West Wing has managed good numbers in some demographics, and often spectacular ratings among the highest-income viewers.

foxeng

03-17-05, 07:28 AM

Originally posted by fredfa
Reefer Madness (April 16), a musical version of the 1938 cult propaganda film starring Alan Cumming, Neve Campbell and Ana Gasteyer.
Our Fathers (May 21), a movie about the Boston archdiocese's molestation scandal, with Ted Danson, Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy.
Weeds (June 13), a comedy series starring Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban mom turned pot dealer.
The Cell (August), a drama series about an undercover FBI agent (Michael Ealy, Their Eyes Were Watching God) who infiltrates a terrorist cell.
Barbershop (fall), a comedy series based on the film.
Brotherhood (2006), a one-hour drama series about brothers in Providence: One is in the Mob, the other is a legislator.[/B]

And Viacom wonders why no one watches? The answer to HBO? This programming isn't, IMHO.

I did sign up for SHO just for Fat Actress. I think it is funny, but as soon as it is gone, I am gone. Nothing else on it I want to watch.

JoeInNVa

03-17-05, 08:42 AM

Comcast and sinclair sign an agreement.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050316/phw022_3.html

George Thompson

03-17-05, 09:14 AM

Viacom May Split In Two
Would Split Company Into Separate Units

Mar 16, 2005 7:26 pm US/Eastern
NEW YORK (AP) Frustrated with a languishing stock price, media conglomerate Viacom Inc. announced late Wednesday that it is considering a plan to split into two companies to allow investors to value its businesses separately.

A breakup of the New York-based media company, whose properties include CBS, MTV, VH1, the Paramount movie studio and this Web site, would also solve the question of who would succeed Sumner Redstone as CEO.

Confirming a report on The Wall Street Journal's Web site, Viacom said late Wednesday it was exploring a plan that would split up into two separate entities: One anchored by its fast-growing cable networks such as MTV, led by longtime MTV chief Tom Freston; and another built around the broadcast television businesses run by CBS head Les Moonves.

Freston and Moonves have been contending for the top job at Viacom since last June, when chief operating officer Mel Karmazin left in a power struggle and triggered the two-way race.

Under the breakup plan being considered, the broadcast television company would also include Viacom's radio businesses, which remain profitable but have fallen out of favor with investors due to poor growth prospects and increasing competition from portable music players like Apple Computer Inc.'s iPods.

Viacom's stock has been languishing below $40 since April 2004 as investors remained frustrated that the high-growth businesses like MTV remained tied to slower-growth properties like radio, outdoor advertising and theme parks.

Viacom's shares jumped after news of the possible breakup hit the market, ending up $2.71 or 7.9 percent at $37.00 on the New York Stock Exchange. In after-hours trading the shares gained $1.41 to $38.41.

Last fall Viacom also separated itself from Blockbuster Inc., its video rental unit that had also fallen out of favor with investors due to heavy competition from cheap DVD sales from Wal-Mart Stores and DVD rent-by-mail services.

fredfa

03-17-05, 11:13 AM

Wednesday’s prime-time ratings (and MediaWeek’s ratings guru Marc Berman’s comments) have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

George Thompson

03-17-05, 11:21 AM

NBC TO AIR SHOW ON END OF DAYS; LOOKING FOR A RATINGS MIRACLE, THE NETWORK TURNS TO THE BIBLE FOR INSPIRATION.
By Scott Collins, Los Angeles Times, 3/16/2005

When it comes to high dramatic stakes, it's tough to beat the plot of NBC's upcoming drama "Revelations."

Inspired by the New Testament's Book of Revelation, the show is about a Harvard professor, played by Bill Pullman, who teams with a nun to try to stop what they believe is the beginning of Armageddon. That's not a premise commonly tackled on "The West Wing" or "ER," but NBC executives are praying that "Revelations," which will run for six episodes starting April 13, can connect with the same audience that turned Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' apocalyptic "Left Behind" series into bestsellers, and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" into a box office smash.

Why is NBC -- historically a network focused on snagging affluent young professionals in big cities, often with randy comedies such as "Friends" and "Will & Grace" -- getting religion? Simply put, it needs a programming miracle. The network's ratings have fallen 14% this season -- more than any competitor -- among the young adults whom advertisers pay premium rates to reach.

Ranked No. 1 among young adults last season, NBC is trailing in fourth place now. That could have a big effect on the network's bottom line later this spring, when it starts selling advance advertising spots for the 2005-06 season. On Thursday NBC executives will give advertisers a sneak peek at some potential new fall shows.

But NBC is taking a big risk by bringing explicit and often controversial biblical themes into prime time, when past hits in the genre -- such as "Highway to Heaven," "Touched by an Angel" and "7th Heaven" -- remained upbeat and ecumenical. The fear of offending some viewers has made networks leery of approaching religious subjects, except for tradition-minded biblical epics, such as CBS' high-rated "Jesus" miniseries in 2000.

"Highway to Heaven," which ran on NBC from 1984-89, starred the late Michael Landon as an angel who returned to earth to help people in trouble, but the series took pains to keep its spirituality broad-based and uplifting. And even shows with general spiritual themes are hardly a sure thing: witness CBS' "Joan of Arcadia," about a girl who talks with God; the show's ratings have plummeted 20% in this, its second season.

"Revelations' " approach to religion is much more specific -- and therefore dicier. That may help explain why NBC executives aren't exactly thumping Bibles in their marketing of the show. For instance, the first episode includes an intense scene in which a hospitalized girl speaks in tongues, traditionally a touchstone for charismatic Christians.

"Ultimately, this is a fictional thriller," NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly explained in an interview, and made it clear that he welcomed the comparison to "The Da Vinci Code."

Although the network, borrowing a page from "Passion's" guerrilla marketing campaign, is screening the first episode to build word of mouth, the outreach isn't aimed at the evangelical Christians and other red-state churchgoers one might expect.

Tuesday night NBC screened the first episode of the series for about 3,000 people in nine cities, paying special attention to "students attending major universities and colleges who are studying philosophy, political science, religion, film and television," according to a news release. Reilly says the series is for everyone, not just observant Christians: "If we target to specific groups, we're crossing over [to become] something we don't want to be."

As it happens, the writer of "Revelations" has irked churchgoers before with his flamboyant interpretations of biblical prophecy. David Seltzer wrote "The Omen," the 1976 hit thriller about a couple who unwittingly adopt the spawn of Satan; the plot, not to mention the movie's allusions to the Bible and its often-gory visuals (including graphic hanging and decapitation scenes) made "The Omen" the subject of intense debate in religious circles.

"I am no scholar, but I am a fascinated student" of Revelation and apocalyptic religion, said Seltzer, who returned last weekend from Europe -- where "Revelations" is being filmed -- to help promote the series.

Seltzer began mapping out "Revelations" after receiving a phone call from veteran producer Gavin Polone ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), whose company Pariah is producing the program. Polone had a vague idea for a series about Armageddon, and Seltzer grew intrigued.

"I think it's clear the world is on a bubble," the writer said, referring to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mideast conflict and ecological disasters. "Particularly as you look at the news of the day, I think we see there is such a thing possible as the end of days."

Seltzer sees the age-old conflict between faith and doubt as driving the show, although he added: "It's an entertainment, for sure."

The Book of Revelation's grim end-of-the-world prophecies are coursing through pop culture largely thanks to the LaHaye-Jenkins books, and NBC is hardly the first to invoke the Bible on behalf of a popcorn thriller.

A similar approach won "Da Vinci Code" legions of ardent fans -- and more than a few intractable critics. Characters in the book, which has sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide and has a film version starring Tom Hanks currently in pre-production, assert that the Catholic Church has engaged in a centuries-long cover-up to conceal the truth that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children.

On Monday an Italian newspaper published an interview with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a high-ranking church official, who blasted Brown's novel for "gross and absurd manipulations." (Seltzer said he hasn't read "Da Vinci Code," although he added: "I don't think that's a bad thing to be compared to.")

In a similar vein, some are already attacking "Revelations" for what they believe is a distortion of Scripture. Fred Schmidt, a religious scholar at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, says the series offers a "minority view" that treats cataclysmic present-day events as evidence of the coming apocalypse foretold in Revelation. Schmidt, who hasn't screened the series but is relying on plot summaries that have appeared in the media, worries viewers "will take what they see on a fictionalized TV show and see that as the truth about the book."

Schmidt believes that many fundamentalist Christians, in particular, will be offended by the show because the main characters are trying to ward off Armageddon; many fundamentalists, Schmidt said, welcome Armageddon because it will mean Christ has returned to earth.

Seltzer scoffed at such criticism. "He hasn't seen the show and he's mistaken [on] practically every aspect of this," he said.

"There's nothing that renders the Book of Revelation in the way that he describes."

NBC is expecting some sort of backlash -- which of course might conceivably even help ratings. "Some people who are religious are willing to go with a liberal interpretation of something for entertainment's sake," Reilly said. "Other fundamentalist interpreters are not as forgiving."

Of course, the ultimate fate of "Revelations" will depend on acceptance by millions of viewers.

NBC is programming the show in the 9 p.m. Wednesday spot, partly as a way to avoid running repeats of "The West Wing" (encores of the White House drama draw disappointing ratings, Reilly said). If "Revelations" delivers strong numbers as a limited "event series," NBC says it is likely to pick up more episodes next season.

"People want their theology in small doses," said Robert J. Thompson, director for the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. A series about Armageddon may be "hard to watch week after week."

On the other hand, the creators of "Revelations" are willing to give NBC points just for tackling the subject matter. When asked about his relations with the network, Seltzer sounded a note of gratitude.

"I have to say, they were very courageous in picking it up," he said.

fredfa

03-17-05, 11:43 AM

Kelley revisits 'Boston' revisions
Producer 'never figured out' ABC's actions,
but says Super Bowl 2004 may have figured in
By Barbara A. Serrano Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 17, 2005

David E. Kelley, creator and executive producer of ABC's dramedy "Boston Legal," says he "never figured out" what was behind the network's request that he cut all references to Fox News Channel in last Sunday's episode but that he thinks it may have something to do with Janet Jackson's breast-baring incident at last year's Super Bowl.

"That was the first time in 18 years I've ever had a network squelch an idea," Kelley said Tuesday night. "This was the first time that we really got the feeling that the network just did not want us to tell the story."

Kelley's remarks, made during a Museum of Television & Radio tribute to the series in Los Angeles, were his first public comments about his run-in with ABC's standards and practices office over a "Boston Legal" episode called "Let Sales Ring." In it, Alan Shore (played by James Spader) goes to court to challenge a high school principal who has blocked student access to a cable news network because of its conservative bent on the news. In the original script, Kelley identified it as Fox News Channel, but ABC ordered him to remove such references.

At first, he said, ABC executives told him they didn't want direct references to Fox because the cable network is connected to Fox's broadcast network, which is a competitor of ABC. Kelley said he was told, " 'We don't want to give them any publicity, good or bad.' "

But then, Kelley said, they came back and said ABC didn't want Fox in the script because "we just don't want to speak ill of a competitor."

In the end, he told the audience, he and other producers "just never figured out what was going on. I would be dishonest if I didn't say we all took a deep breath and said this is just" a result of the Jackson "breast incident" last year. After the appearance, Kelley did not expand on his remarks and declined to comment further.

The FCC received more than a half-million complaints and slapped CBS with a $550,000 fine for its telecast of Jackson's performance on the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, in which most of her right breast was briefly exposed. Since then networks have been more skittish about potentially offensive material that might draw complaints and fines.

ABC had no comment Wednesday on Kelley's remarks. But the network had said earlier that its request to remove mention of Fox was based on its desire to abide by a long-standing policy "not to use real people or actual events."

A former attorney who created such hit shows as "The Practice," "Ally McBeal" and "Picket Fences," Kelley said that until ABC's request about "Boston Legal," he had never felt constrained by network TV.

Even after the script change, he managed to tweak network executives through the character of Shore. At one point in the episode, Shore tells a fellow attorney, "I don't know which newscast you've been watching recently but the First Amendment is losing its luster lately. Some networks are even censoring their scripted dramas."

HDTVChallenged

03-17-05, 11:52 AM

Originally posted by foxeng
And Viacom wonders why no one watches? The answer to HBO? This programming isn't, IMHO.

(Sci)Fridays use to be Showtime night ... a list of the dearly departed

Outer Limits (redux)
Poltergist: The Legacy
Stargate
Jeremiah
Dead Like Me

PS: The reuse of the "Dead Like Me" Waffle Haus set on Stargate: SG-1 last week was brilliant ;) :D

PPS: Huff is actually good (for adults), I hope it sticks around.

keenan

03-17-05, 12:37 PM

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
(

PS: The reuse of the "Dead Like Me" Waffle Haus set on Stargate: SG-1 last week was brilliant ;) :D

PPS: Huff is actually good (for adults), I hope it sticks around.

Huff and Dead Like Me are/were great TV, but currently there is no reason to keep SHO until Huff comes back, and Dead Like Me is history...

leesweet

03-17-05, 12:38 PM

Thanks for the comments on my questions!

West Wing: I'd bet on Smits. His character has been on a ton more than Alda's, which may be why the poll says what it did. It would be interesting to see a new administration transition into the White House, but that would mean a mostly new cast, no? You don't keep the same Communications Director, Press Secretary/Chief of Staff, etc., when changing administrations and parties!

Of course, one or two of the current ones are with the 'Smits' campaign...

American Dreams: Eden didn't show the navel? I thought that was the point of that midriff-baring costume in the first place. Sheesh, another urban legend (that I remembered! :) ) shot down.

(Yep: from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Dream_of_Jeannie

In most episodes Barbara Eden wore little more than her revealing "Jeannie" costume but despite the fact that she was allowed to be depicted living in a house with a man to whom she was not married, censors of the day would not allow Eden's navel to be seen. The makers of the series were also presented with the challenge of filming around Eden's real life pregnancy, without writing it into the Jeannie storyline.)

keenan

03-17-05, 12:44 PM

Originally posted by fredfa
Kelley revisits 'Boston' revisions

Even with the revisions, only someone living in a cave would not realize who they were talking about, even the term "fair and balanced" was used, so IMO, the revisions actually worked out for the best, the point was driven home without any mention of Fox. Great episode.

HDTVChallenged

03-17-05, 12:44 PM

Originally posted by keenan
Huff and Dead Like Me are/were great TV, but currently there is no reason to keep SHO until Huff comes back, and Dead Like Me is history...

Yep ... with a new, so-called "revenue neutral" state tax about to be applied to my satellite bill, I'm looking at stuff to cut. At the moment, Showtime (on D*) is safe simply because it's available in HD - Cinemax OTOH, will probably go along with one of my extra recievers.

fredfa

03-17-05, 01:35 PM

foxeng: I was going to sign up for Fat Actress.
I thought the first episode was very funny -- and Showtime was free that weekend.
Then I read the DVD will be out in late May, so I didn't bother signing up.
We did have it for years, but about two years ago we started keeping a diary on what we watched and Showtime rarely got a mention.
So out it went, and, to be honest, it hasn't been missed.

fredfa

03-17-05, 02:15 PM

TV Guide: Are These Shows In Trouble?
TV Guide’s Stephen Battaglio, in the current issue, lists these show as programs which “might get the axe”.

ABC
8 Simple Rules
Less Than Perfect
Rodney

CBS
Joan of Arcadia
JAG

Fox
Bernie Mac

NBC
Third Watch
Medical Investigation
American Dreams

UPN
Kevin Hill

WB
Jack & Bobby
Steve Harvey’s Big Time Challenge

fredfa

03-17-05, 02:28 PM

The Wire Renewed
It was touch-and-go there for a while, but sources have told TV Guide that HBO has renewed its acclaimed police drama The Wire for a fourth season. New episodes probably won't start airing until early '06, so you've got plenty of time to Netflix the DVDs.

AFH

03-17-05, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by fredfa
The Wire Renewed
It was touch-and-go there for a while, but sources have told TV Guide that HBO has renewed its acclaimed police drama The Wire for a fourth season. New episodes probably won't start airing until early '06, so you've got plenty of time to Netflix the DVDs.

This is greatttttt!

keenan

03-17-05, 02:55 PM

fredfa

03-17-05, 03:00 PM

More American Dreams Defections
It has been reported for weeks that American Dreams star Gail O’Grady has signed on for a new pilot for next season. Now TV Guide’s Stephen Battaglio reports two other cast members have signed with other shows. Will Estes (JJ Prior) and Rachel Boston (Elizabeth “Beth” Mason-Prior) have reportedly signed on for jobs with new shows “rather than wait for cancellation”.

fredfa

03-17-05, 03:17 PM

NBC renews four shows, gives ER an added season
By Jim Finkle Broadcasting & Cable

NBC has renewed prime-time shows The West Wing, Las Vegas, Crossing Jordan and Friends spin-off Joey for next season. It has also extended its commitment to ER through 2008.

That was the message to advertisers Thursday from NBC's new entertainment president, Kevin Reilly. The renewal news came in a program-development meeting with ad folks on the set of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in Los Angeles.

While Reilly renewed those shows, he also conceded it was also about finding some new hits. "We can do better," said Reilly. "I am acutely aware that we need the next generation of hits." This past February sweeps is the first time NBC placed last in a sweeps period since national people meters were introduced in 1987. Just a year ago, NBC claimed first prize in the February race, thanks to Friends and Frasier.

fredfa

03-17-05, 03:58 PM

From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Thursday March 17th, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
On the Air Tonight: Primetime Programming Options

Thursday 3/17/05

ABC:
Jake in Progress (four episodes - two originals followed by two repeats) HD
Primetime Live

CBS:
NCAA Division I Men's College Basketball Tournament

No. 2 Wake Forest (26-5) vs. No. 15 Chattanooga (20-10) 7:10 PM ET HD
No. 7 West Virginia (21-10) vs. No. 10 Creighton (23-10) 9:40 PM ET HD
No. 3 Gonzaga (25-4) vs. No. 14 Winthrop (27-5) 7:25 PM ET HD
No. 6 Texas Tech (20-10) vs. No. 11 UCLA (18-10) 9:55 PM ET HD

NBC:
Will & Grace (originalHD and repeat SD)
The Apprentice 3
ER (R) HD

Fox:
The O.C. HD
Point Pleasant HD

UPN:
WWE Smackdown!

WB:
Jeff Foxworthy: The Early Daze
The Starlet (R)

bgall

03-17-05, 03:59 PM

Will and Grace new episode is HD, repeat is SD

FSugino

03-17-05, 04:00 PM

keenan

03-17-05, 04:07 PM

Originally posted by FSugino
Now if they just shoot/broadcast the new episodes in HD...

That would probably be far too expensive, I think we're lucky in just getting it renewed...

fredfa

03-17-05, 05:43 PM

We noted last week in this thread that David Hill reportedly would be moving to DirecTV.
Now comes official word:
Hill Named DirecTV Entertainment President
By Steve Donohue & David Cohen Multichannel.com 3/17
DirecTV Inc. said Thursday that David Hill has been named president of its new DirecTV Entertainment group. Hill had been chairman and CEO of Fox Sports. He will continue to serve as chairman of the programmer in a non-executive role, with his primary responsibility being at DirecTV.

After Mitch Stern’s surprise resignation last week from the CEO post at DirecTV, rumors began to surface that Hill would play a role at the direct-broadcast satellite provider. But Hill’s new position at the company -- which makes him responsible for all programming, including third-party programming and original content, plus the development and marketing of programming packages -- is broader than some observers had expected.

Hill will also be charged with developing and expanding DirecTV’s advertising-sales operations, in addition to other new revenue opportunities, DirecTV said.

DirecTV Entertainment is one of three new operating groups created by CEO Chase Carey “as part of a new, more streamlined organization that will focus on DirecTV's core businesses and continue to build on its leadership position in the pay television industry,” the company said in a release.

The direct-broadcast satellite provider also named presidents for the other two new operating groups, DirecTV Sales and Service and DirecTV Latin America and New Enterprises.

“David is a true innovator and an enormously talented executive who has distinguished himself with his creativity and originality in the television industry," Carey said of Hill in a prepared statement. “His proven capabilities, vision and experience, which transcends sports television, will be vital in taking DirecTV to the next level.”

fredfa

03-17-05, 05:58 PM

In its press release today announcing the renewal of “The West Wing”, NBC gave some of the reasoning it used to bring the show back for a seventh season:

“…'The West Wing' delivers the highest concentrations of upscale viewers for any primetime series on any broadcast network in such key categories as adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 living in homes with incomes of $100,000 and more. This season, "The West Wing" is averaging a 3.4 rating, 8 share among adults 18-49 and 11.4 million viewers overall….”

fredfa

03-17-05, 06:52 PM

HBO RENEWS THE WIRE, WITH FOURTH SEASON TO AIR IN 2006

(HBO Press Release)
LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2005 - The critically acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning HBO drama series THE WIRE has been renewed for a fourth season, it was announced today by Carolyn Strauss, president, HBO Entertainment. The 12-episode fourth season will begin shooting in late 2005, with debut set for 2006.

"THE WIRE just keeps getting better, so we're delighted that David Simon and his team will be returning for another provocative season," said Strauss. "We share the critics' enthusiasm for this unique and challenging series, and eagerly await the new episodes."

Created by David Simon, THE WIRE wrapped its third season last December. The first season looked at the national drug war through the microcosm of a West Baltimore housing project, and the second season focused on a longshoremen's union and its struggle to survive. In its third season, the drama developed its portrait of a fictional Baltimore by exploring the place of the political leadership in addressing a city's problems.

With the Barksdale investigation concluded, the fourth season of THE WIRE will expand its focus to include a look at the role of the educational system in an urban environment.

The third season of THE WIRE generated wide critical praise. It was named the best series of 2004 by Entertainment Weekly, which called the show "the smartest, deepest and most resonant drama on TV." The New York Times observed that the series is "one of the smartest, most ambitious shows on television." TV Guide hailed THE WIRE as "smart and subtle, yet also brutally powerful," while New York Newsday declared THE WIRE "the greatest dramatic series ever produced for television," and Daily Variety called it "brilliant" and "meticulously written, superbly acted."

foxeng

03-17-05, 08:43 PM

Originally posted by fredfa
foxeng: I was going to sign up for Fat Actress.
I thought the first episode was very funny -- and Showtime was free that weekend.
Then I read the DVD will be out in late May, so I didn't bother signing up.
We did have it for years, but about two years ago we started keeping a diary on what we watched and Showtime rarely got a mention.
So out it went, and, to be honest, it hasn't been missed.

I had it when I had cable and then cut it loose a couple years before I cut cable loose. Yeah, I thought it was funny. I don't know if the general public gets all of the "Hollywood Humor" but it has been the first thing in forever that I even wanted to watch on SHO. I did watch some of the L Word, but I guess I came in too late to really get into it. I personally try not to judge people with their sexual preference so I was looking for other things in it and I just didn't see it. Once FA is gone, I am cutting it off again. In the week I have had it, FA is the only thing I have watched. I did see the Super Size Me before the premiere, but I hadn't signed up for it then so that doesn't count!

keenan

03-17-05, 10:26 PM

When Huff returns you might want to give it a look as well, it's pretty LA-centric but IMO, it's very good TV..

fredfa

03-18-05, 12:43 AM

Some Upcoming TV Show DVD Releases
Here is a schedule of announced DVD release dates for some TV program favorites.
March 22:
Doogie Howser, M.D.: Season One
Kojak: Season One
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries: Season One
March 29:
Murder She Wrote: Season One
April 4:
The Greatest American Hero: Season Two
The West Wing: The Complete Fourth Season
April 12:
The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete First Season
All in the Family: The Complete Fourth Season
April 19:
Dynasty: Season One
That 70s Show: Season Two
April 26:
Highway to Heaven: Season One
The Waltons: Season Two
May 3:
Naked City: Set One
Everybody Loves Raymond Seasons One – Three
Star Trek: Enterprise: The Complete First Season
Touched by an Angel: The Complete Second Season
May 10:
Have Gun Will Travel: Season Two
Joan of Arcadia: Season One
May 17:
Cheers: Season Five
Scrubs: Season One
Six Feet Under: Season Three
May 24:
Baa Baa Black Sheep: Volume One
Dick Van Dyke Show: Complete Series
May 31:
Moonlighting: Seasons One and Two

bgooch

03-18-05, 04:29 AM

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/business/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000845947

March 18, 2005

By Diane Mermigas

CHICAGO -- After a decade of mergers and acquisitions, the corporate restructuring that is well under way at top media conglomerates won't be the same for all players.

Unlike Viacom, which Wednesday confirmed its interest in splitting the company in two, Time Warner has not openly declared its deconsolidation that is set to occur this year with the public spinoff of its cable systems as part of its anticipated purchase of Adelphia Communications. If current efforts fail to reposition America Online as a major Internet portal and broadband cable offering, it likely will be sold, which would return Time Warner to a pure entertainment play, company sources concede.

An expected joint acquisition of Adelphia by Time Warner and Comcast Corp. for about $1.7 billion will be the catalyst for Time Warner's downsizing, which actually began last year with the sale of smaller noncore assets and its music operations.

A reverse initial public offering of most of Time Warner's cable systems as part of its proposed acquisition of Adelphia would create a consolidated $48 billion cable entity with about 13.7 million subscribers, generating $4.1 billion in annual earnings on nearly $11 billion in revenue and $6 billion in debt, according to Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen.

The rest of Time Warner, including AOL and Warner Bros., would have an enterprise value of about $67 billion and about $7 billion in annual earnings without the cable properties' current 35% bottom-line contribution.

As 84% owner of the new cable entity, Time Warner could use the new stock to do more deals, the first of which will be to buy out rival Comcast's 21% stake in its cable systems valued at $6.7 billion, which could be paid in a combination of cash, debt and stock.

Time Warner Cable also will move quickly to acquire Cablevision Systems, a $9 billion enterprise that recently has been vexed by a series of troubled deals and strife among members of the controlling Dolan family.

"The timing and circumstances could not be better," a high-level source close to the situation said. "Time (Warner)'s restructuring will come together this year."

Time Warner is just one example of big-media restructuring that was afoot before Viacom conceded it likely will split itself into a high-growth entity comprising the MTV cable networks and Paramount Pictures (that will trade at twice Viacom's current multiple) and a slower-growing entity including CBS, TV and radio stations; outdoor; and Paramount's television-related operations (that will trade slightly above Viacom's current multiple). Viacom likely will complete the sale of its theme parks and buy back more of its stock by year's end, sources said.

High-level executives at both companies concede Time Warner and Viacom could have achieved many of their existing cross-media synergies without engaging in the expensive acquisitions of the 1990s, which were driven by the belief that ownership was necessary to achieve higher value. Cable system and network acquisitions are among the only acquisitions that have delivered sustained growth to big-media firms.

Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone said in an interview that existing synergies will be sustained by long-term agreements between the newly formed companies.

For instance, MTV could continue to negotiate retransmission rights for CBS, Paramount TV could continue to distribute Paramount films in overseas television markets and Paramount films would continue to distribute Paramount Television's DVDs.

"We had to change our strategy in response to a changing media world," said Redstone, who has spent a lifetime as an astute entrepreneur assembling a $60 billion company media behemoth. "CBS was a good deal when we bought it. Radio was growing 27%, and our stock went to $70. Our stock is half that now, so we need a bold move that other media companies will have to look at. This gives us an opportunity to please our investors and some strategic advantages we wouldn't otherwise have."

The same likely will be true for Time Warner, which initially lost $200 billion in value acquiring AOL and since has removed it from its corporate moniker and reduced it to an operating unit. Even before its transformation is complete, AOL is expected to deliver 20% growth in earnings margins and generate about $1.9 billion in profits on $8.8 billion in revenue -- a good argument not to sell the unit, Time Warner executives say.

But even with many core businesses booming, Time Warner stock, which is valued as a cable company, declined more than 30% the past three years and made up only 11% of that value the past year. Time Warner stock closed up 3% to $18.60 on Thursday on breakup speculation.

Viacom, whose stagnating stock price lost 25% of its value in the past three years despite the spinoff of its Blockbuster operations, traded as high as $39 on Thursday. Most entertainment and media stocks have yielded slow to no growth the past three years despite the consolidation frenzy, while such pure-play stocks as Pixar and DreamWorks Animation have soared.

But do not expect the Walt Disney Co., Sony Corp., NBC Universal or News Corp. to deconsolidate any time soon, high-level industry executives say.

As Disney looks to maximize shareholder value, that more likely will result in individual asset sales like radio rather than a major restructuring.

Analysts suggest that it also could potentially spin off its ESPN properties or theme parks, which would create more of a pure-play Disney-branded business to trade publicly. But none of that is imminent or high on the to-do list of Disney's incoming CEO, Robert Iger.

"We like the might that all of these media assets provide," Iger said last year, and that appears to be his continuing mantra.

Disney, whose stock has been rising steadily, still considers itself one of the better-integrated media companies and has been adept at leveraging all of its assets in negotiations with distributors.

Howard Stringer, who last week was elevated to CEO of all of Sony Corp., has said his mandate is to realize long-promised synergy between its hardware and software operations to maximize its share of a booming interactive economy. "We've got to get the relationship between content and devices seamlessly managed to prepare for the truly digital revolution," he said in a recent interview.

But as chairman of Sony Corp. of America, Stringer has said a potential spinoff of Sony's lucrative U.S.-based film and music assets in the right kinds of market might be worth considering to more fully recognize and leverage their value. Experts say he now is in a position to do that.

As NBC Universal continues its integration while generating an estimated annual $3.6 billion in operating profit on more than $15 billion in revenue, the lucrative subsidiary is fodder for an eventual spinoff by corporate parent General Electric. GE is one of the multinational conglomerates under pressure to deleverage.

However, high-level industry executives say there are potential pitfalls to the kinds of breakup Viacom is pursuing.

For instance, a smaller Disney-branded entity -- comprising the ABC TV network and stations, Disney studios and cable networks like ESPN -- would be an easier, more affordable takeover target for the likes of Comcast.

"That's the risk involved. If you get smaller, you are bigger, easier prey," one high-level media executive said.

Among the big players, only News Corp. is pursuing the opposite strategy. It is in the process of bringing its publicly traded Fox Entertainment Group back into its corporate fold before it has to design a tax-efficient plan to use cash, stock and assets to buy back the $9 billion in News Corp. shares held by John Malone's Liberty Media, which also is deconsolidating. Assets could include smaller Fox television stations outside of major markets, which play handily into Fox's pricey NFL broadcast rights.

That possibility, like the spinoff of Viacom's broadcast properties into a "value"-driven entity, is raising a red flag for broadcasters.

While broadcast network-affiliated TV station groups are generating healthy free cash flow today that will be used for share buybacks and dividends to appease shareholders, they are likely to run into the same death dirge now plaguing radio station groups, which were free-cash-flow generators a few years ago. Any advertising-dependent media entity will be hard-pressed to attract investors in a digital broadband world where double-digit growth is assured for entities with multiple revenue streams and an interactive game plan.

fredfa

03-18-05, 11:19 AM

Thursday’s prime-time ratings – with some surprisingly mediocre NCAA Basketball Tournament numbers -- (and MediaWeek’s ratings guru Marc Berman’s comments) have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

fredfa

03-18-05, 11:57 AM

(Whatever Charlie Ergen wants to do with Dish, whatever the dueling Dolans figure out as VOOM's future, all those guys, plus cable executives, should not be sleeping so well any more.
Fox's David Hill is a guy who has idea after idea and whose whole career has been breaking the mold. If Rupert says to him, as apparently he has, "go spruce up DirecTV and make its programming irresisistable" those competitors -- in my opinion at least -- are in deep, deep trouble.)

Fox Executive Assigned to Give DirecTV a Lift
David Hill's goal at a new entertainment unit is to jazz up the satellite TV firm's content.
By Meg James Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 18, 2005

Rupert Murdoch on Thursday tapped his longtime go-to guy, David Hill, to become president of the newly created DirecTV Entertainment group, with a goal of jazzing up the satellite television giant's offerings.

One of sports' most influential executives, Hill will remain chairman of the Fox Sports Television Group but will give up day-to-day management duties. News Corp. owns Fox and is DirecTV's largest shareholder.

The 58-year-old Hill will join El Segundo-based DirecTV Group Inc. on April 11 and report to DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey.

Known for his quick wit, Hill, who helped create Fox Sports and assisted fellow Australian Murdoch in launching Britain's first satellite TV station, described his marching orders as: "Get down there and do it."

"When the boss tells you to sit down, you don't waste your time looking for a chair," Hill said.

At Fox Sports, Hill earned a reputation for innovation. He instituted such flourishes as fixed scoreboards at the bottom of the screen, the yellow first-down line in professional football and "Catcher Cam" for Major League Baseball games. He also is credited with developing NASCAR's popularity as a television sport.

At DirecTV, Hill's challenge will be to revamp a clunky program guide, develop shows that are exclusive and create interactive offerings. DirecTV has nearly 14 million subscribers.

"I've got a zillion ideas, but it's a matter of sitting down and figuring out what works," Hill said.

His appointment signals the priority that Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp., is placing on building DirecTV. Sources said the media mogul was frustrated that executives running the service had not been developing programming options quickly. That led to the abrupt resignation of DirecTV President Mitchell Stern this month.

Hill's appointment had been expected.

Naming Hill was part of a larger reorganization that also saw John Suranyi, executive vice president of customer satisfaction, shifted to run a new sales and service group. Meanwhile, Bruce Churchill, president of DirecTV Latin America, was given the additional responsibility of heading the new enterprises division. Suranyi and Churchill also report to Carey.

Creating a separate DirecTV entertainment unit under Hill makes sense, said longtime media analyst Larry Gerbrandt.

"The company wins by generating potential ad revenues as well as getting an exclusive marketing hook that could help drive subscribers," Gerbrandt said.

This isn't the first time that Hill has worked in satellite TV. In 1988, he helped Murdoch launch Sky Television in Britain, and when it merged with British Sky Broadcasting in 1990, Hill became the head of BSkyB Sports Channel and created Sky Sports.

Hill, who started out in 1964 as a newspaper copy boy and police reporter for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, joined Fox in the United States in 1993. He has also dabbled in entertainment. For nearly two years, from 1997 to 1999, he was chairman of Fox Broadcasting Co., overseeing programming for the network. He became chairman of Fox Sports in 1999.

Now, Hill said he planned to augment DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package, which has about 2 million subscribers. He also is contemplating more shows about the action surrounding a NASCAR race, "the behind the scenes stuff that you never see." His continued presence with Fox Sports will allow him to integrate more of Fox's offerings into DirecTV, the company said.

Although it would probably take about two years to develop enough programming to sustain a DirecTV entertainment channel, Hill said his goal was to create one as respected and innovative as Time Warner Inc.'s HBO.

"If we get this right, it's going to be a hoot," Hill said. "We will be pushing back the boundaries of television."

keenan

03-18-05, 12:48 PM

Originally posted by fredfa

Fox Executive Assigned to Give DirecTV a Lift
David Hill's goal at a new entertainment unit is to jazz up the satellite TV firm's content.
By Meg James Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 18, 2005

Although it would probably take about two years to develop enough programming to sustain a DirecTV entertainment channel, Hill said his goal was to create one as respected and innovative as Time Warner Inc.'s HBO.

This guy sounds really ambitious, things are looking pretty interesting for DirecTV.

fredfa

03-18-05, 12:52 PM

Over the last decade, David Hill has been the architect of the Fox NFL, MLB and NASCAR programming. (OK, and the NHL, too.)
But he is amazing, and to say he thinks outside the box doesn't begin to give him the credit he deserves.
He also has the total trust of Rupert, so he will be able to get things done quickly, without going through any committee processes.

dline

03-18-05, 01:39 PM

Originally posted by fredfa
Kelley revisits 'Boston' revisions
Producer 'never figured out' ABC's actions,
but says Super Bowl 2004 may have figured in
By Barbara A. Serrano Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 17, 2005

David E. Kelley, creator and executive producer of ABC's dramedy "Boston Legal," says he "never figured out" what was behind the network's request that he cut all references to Fox News Channel in last Sunday's episode but that he thinks it may have something to do with Janet Jackson's breast-baring incident at last year's Super Bowl.

"That was the first time in 18 years I've ever had a network squelch an idea," Kelley said Tuesday night. "This was the first time that we really got the feeling that the network just did not want us to tell the story."

That's interesting. I just thought it was strange because 20th Television produces the show. Obviously we knew what news channel they were getting at, and I thought the show was pretty fair and balanced.

ABC had no comment Wednesday on Kelley's remarks. But the network had said earlier that its request to remove mention of Fox was based on its desire to abide by a long-standing policy "not to use real people or actual events."

Also interesting, considering that whenever the lawyers are depicted watching TV, they're watching a station identified as WCVB, Channel 5 -- ABC's actual affiliate in Boston.

fredfa

03-18-05, 05:56 PM

Tim Goodman often has provacative thoughts about TV. Here is his latest column:

Some lessons the networks never learn
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Friday, March 18, 2005
An older gentleman was talking recently about how he watched television. He turned it on when he felt like watching something. Then he flipped around the channels, found a show that looked interesting, and watched. It was a stroke of good fortune, he said, when he'd sit down at some later date to eat dinner, turn on the TV and find the same show he saw -- and liked -- before.

Unfortunately for most people, the act of watching television isn't that Zen. We are purveyors of what the industry calls "appointment television." We know that "CSI" is on Thursdays at 9 p.m., that "The Simpsons" is on Sundays at 8 p.m., just as we knew "Friends" was on Thursdays at 8 p.m., and on back through history -- a lesson in appointment making that became exponentially more difficult as cable channels proliferated.

What has the television industry done to show its appreciation for training viewers to be diligent? Made things tougher, for starters. And ignored its own hard-and-fast rules. For annoyed viewers, look no further than those die-hard followers of ABC's "Desperate Housewives." They have turned the freshman drama (along with ABC's other series, "Lost") into the breakout hit of the current TV season and, along the way, resurrected fourth place ABC into a contender. But right at this minute, millions of those viewers are extremely displeased by what appears to be never-ending reruns, or complete Sundays without the series at all, rerun or not.

They are confused. And annoyed. On Sunday, when "Desperate Housewives" offers up yet another rerun, you can imagine the frustration. After all, the last original episode aired on Feb. 20.

Part of the problem is that networks have never done a very good job of teaching viewers that a TV season runs from September to May, and is often 36 weeks in length. The standard number of shows per series is 22. That leaves 14 weeks of reruns, so that your hit -- "Desperate Housewives" among the biggest -- can stretch into the critical May sweeps period.

Sometimes a network gets around the rerun problem by stacking series. That is, one series will begin in September and run through January. Then a bigger hit -- say "24" or "Alias" -- will start in January and be able, in theory, to run repeat-free through May.

However well this benefits the viewer, it ultimately costs the network. See, all the money is made in reruns. It's like a cash-back program. Networks like cash. And reruns. But they also know that a viewer is fickle. Though "Desperate Housewives" will certainly hold its audience over the lean weeks of repeats, others won't. Fans will become frustrated and, gasp, not make their appointment.

Scheduling is one of those gigantic industry blind spots. Those who engage in it like to believe they understand the wishes, motives and tendencies of viewers, but history has proven this to be a grand lie of the mind. The most accepted theories of scheduling have more to do with tried-and- allegedly-true industry beliefs or archaic reasoning than they do with the actual needs of real people.

How else do you explain the dreaded "sneak preview" of a TV show -- a maddeningly common practice. A network will take a new series, introduce it on a day and at a time when it believes the most people will watch, then shift it to its regular slot, often a different time and a wholly different day. And they expect people to play this shell game?

Often a network will pull a struggling series from the all-important "sweeps" period. Why? Easy. Nobody's watching, relatively speaking. And if nobody watches during sweeps, that's cash money being burned. On the other hand, a struggling series -- say, "Arrested Development" on Fox -- needs all the viewers (and support) it can get. Pulling it off the schedule for three or four weeks only gives people a convenient reason to forget.

Result -- cancellation.

Now, television has been in business for a very long time. More than 50 years, right? And even though in that time viewing habits have changed, many of the givens have not. Such as: Hide a show from viewers, and if they can't find it, they will not watch. Not exactly science, but a lesson almost never learned. The goal of scheduling should at least include this tenet: Make it easy. Same day every week, same time every week.

Along the way, a network might think about not "pre-empting" a series or rerunning it too many weeks in a row. And advance notice -- you can never have too much of that. Instead of taking out yet another ad for a lousy series like "Jake In Progress," maybe ABC would better use its money on an ad that said, " 'Desperate Housewives' will return with all new episodes ON THIS DATE."

NBC, a network that used to understand the business as well or better than anyone, has lately fallen into such confusing disrepair that we're lucky it can actually send a signal. It was the latest abuser of scheduling bylaws when it premiered Mark Burnett's terrific new reality series about boxers, "The Contender," over three nights in one week.

It started Monday, March 7, at 9:30. Then a second episode aired Thursday, March 10, at 10, and finally a third on Sunday, March 13, at 8. How can anyone keep track? I get paid for this and I love the series but still managed to miss Sunday's episode.

This idea of trolling for viewers almost never works. The networks call it "sampling," an idea that you can hook different audiences over the span of a week and then carry them all to the "regular time period," which, in case of "The Contender," will be Sundays at 8 p.m.

The problem with that is simple, and borne out by the numbers. None of the three nights of "The Contender" were impressive, but by Sunday the series had lost nearly 2 million viewers.

So NBC took one of its best (and most costly) series, blew the promotion, wasted opportunities and left itself with a show that will have to struggle by word of mouth and hope to survive. Ultimately, NBC knocked itself out. Networks will tell you there's really no proven way to fix the system. But to viewers who just want something good to watch, that sounds like a desperate excuse.

fredfa

03-18-05, 06:01 PM

More on “The Wire” renewal from its “hometown” newspaper
Show gets in under 'The Wire'
HBO renews drama filmed in Baltimore

By David Zurawik Baltimore Sun Television Critic March 18, 2005

After three months in limbo, HBO's urban drama The Wire was renewed yesterday for a fourth season - one that promises a hard-hitting look inside Baltimore's troubled school system.

"This is basically going to be the beginning of a new arc," executive producer David Simon said yesterday. "The thing that we tried to convince HBO was that there was more to be said about the American city. It's gratifying to have the opportunity to continue to explore this urban universe that we created."

That universe has been an economic boon to Baltimore. The decision by the premium cable channel will save 125 jobs in the local film industry while pumping $17.5 million into the Maryland economy next year.

HBO's decision and the Hollywood money it will bring to Baltimore promise needed relief for a Maryland entertainment industry suffering one of its longest dry spells. Maryland has been without a major film or TV production since The Wire ended production on Season 3 last fall.

"We've been keeping our fingers crossed for three months, and this is just great, great news, because The Wire has such a huge economic impact for the city and the state," Jack Gerbes, director of the Maryland Film Office, said yesterday. "Things have been tremendously slow since September, so this renewal by HBO is going to put food on a lot of tables and pay a lot of bills in Maryland."

The backstage drama as to whether HBO would renew The Wire centered on ratings and creative direction. The complex and demanding Peabody Award-winning series - which premiered in June 2002 with a season that focused on a West Baltimore public housing complex as a window onto the nation's war on drugs - was never a ratings hit.

Its audience peaked at 4.3 million in June 2003 at the start of Season 2 - which examined Baltimore's port as a microcosm of working-class America - when it followed Sex and the City on Sunday. Even then, it was losing about 3 million viewers from the lead-in provided by Sex.

But HBO operates on an economic model radically different from network TV. Instead of trying to attract a mass audience that can be sold to advertisers, a premium cable channel makes money by getting viewers to subscribe for a fee beyond the basic cable bill. Thus, a series can be profitable on HBO with a smaller audience than on network TV - if the series is prestigious or unique enough that viewers will pay extra for it.

Simon has given HBO such a series. In December, Entertainment Weekly picked The Wire as the best show on television.

Loss of viewers

Still, the slump in viewers for The Wire from 3 million per episode in 2003 to about 1.9 million in 2004 left the series on the razor's edge of cancellation - despite mitigating factors. After airing during the summer in its first two seasons, The Wire in September was placed in head-to-head competition with the new fall season on network TV.

Furthermore, the drama found itself in one of the most competitive time periods - Sundays at 9 p.m. opposite National Football League games on ESPN and the ABC hit series Desperate Housewives.

Perhaps most important, Nielsen Media Research changed the way it measured cable audiences in 2004. Previously, cable series that had multiple showings during the week were given credit for all those audiences in the weekly rating. Starting last year, only the audience that watched the first airing of an episode was counted. All of HBO's dramas - from Deadwood to Six Feet Under - have shown audience loss under the new system.

"We never felt like we really lost all those viewers," Simon said yesterday. "But what we experienced the last few months is something all productions go through all the time in the real world of TV: Every renewal is an open question, and you have to sell yourself all over again."

It was especially true at the end of this year, because a three-season story arc involving the Barksdale drug operation came to an end with a major character, Stringer Bell (Idris Elba), killed and another, Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), in jail.

"To be fair to HBO," Simon said, "they were watching the Barksdale story line come to an end, and they were saying, 'OK, what are you guys going to do now?' ... And, so, the last three months was a process of us pitching the new arc and saying the next couple of seasons would go in a different direction.

"While we only got the order for one season, the feeling is that if we execute well on Season 4, we'll be back for another."

Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO, said yesterday that it was the power of Simon's writing that ultimately won another season for the series: "As always happens with David, he works extremely hard constructing a story. Last weekend, he presented us with a really potent, complex and interesting story for the fourth season, and we all looked at it and said, 'There's just no way we can say no to this. It's just too good.'"

Season 4, which will start production in the summer and air in early 2006, will open with the municipal election involving Councilman Thomas Carcetti (Aidan Gillen), but the overarching theme will be education.

"Some of our story will be framed in terms of the public school system and the children enrolled there," Simon said. "In the same way that reform was a theme throughout Season 3 for a variety of characters in a variety of worlds, education will be the theme not just in the context of the school system, but in the political world, in the drug world and the police world."

Frustrating wait

Simon declined to discuss cast changes. Under the terms of the actors' contracts, the writers and producers have 10 days from the time of renewal to decide who will return and who won't.

"It's been frustrating," Simon said of the uncertainty. "HBO has in the past been a unique little cocoon for writer-producers - providing a certain comfort level for shows that were critically and creatively viable. Well, that cocoon kind of got popped open and a little bit of cold air came in, and it got uncomfortable for a while. ... But now it's sealed up again and warm and cozy."

fredfa

03-18-05, 06:15 PM

'CSI' Effect or Just Flimsy Evidence? The Jury Is Out

The Blake case raises the issue of whether forensic shows influence how much proof is needed
By Andrew Blankstein and Jean Guccione Los Angeles Times Staff Writers March 18, 2005

After listening to testimony for three months in a Van Nuys courtroom, mail carrier Lorie Moore thought her duty as a juror was clear: She would vote to convict Robert Blake for the murder of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

But when a first vote was taken within 90 minutes of starting deliberations, Moore realized hers was not the majority opinion. She was one of only two jurors who thought Blake was guilty. One other juror was undecided.

By the end of the first week, Moore said in an interview Thursday, she and the other early skeptics were mostly in agreement with the majority, having decided that the evidence presented hadn't proved the prosecution's case.

One factor that may have played into that perception, experts suggest, was an increasing desire on the part of juries for the kind of certainty shown on television programs such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," in which crimes are solved conclusively in less than an hour.

Across the country, prosecutors say juries are demanding more from them. In the Blake case, jurors said Thursday that they wanted more-convincing evidence, such as conclusive gunshot residue on Blake's hands, or a fingerprint on the murder weapon, or more precision from casual eyewitnesses about Blake's actions around the time Bakley was shot to death in a parked car in Studio City.

"There is no doubt that there's increasing expectation by jurors of [the evidence] they're going to see," said Joshua Marquis, an Oregon prosecutor and member of the board of directors of the National District Attorneys Assn. "Prosecutors across the country are very concerned about this."

Marquis found it disturbing that Blake jurors "seemed very dismissive of circumstantial evidence," he said. "Well, guess what? In most cases … you don't have physical evidence."

There is "an expectation that people from the crime labs will have super technology" to resolve a case," said Barry Scheck, president of the National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the O.J. Simpson defense team.

Nevertheless, Scheck said he thinks the "CSI effect" wasn't a factor in the Blake case. "There was an absence of evidence," he said.

Cecilia Maldonado was among the majority of jurors who felt from the beginning that the state had not proved its case. The 45-year-old Granada Hills legal secretary said she would have liked more of the kind of evidence she has seen in the cases on "CSI."

"I just expected so much more," she said, acknowledging that such television crime shows did create "a higher expectation" for her.

Blake, 71, was accused of fatally shooting his wife May 4, 2001, near Vitello's restaurant. He also was charged with soliciting two Hollywood stuntmen to kill her — both admitted former drug users whom jurors said they did not believe.

Blake's defense attorney, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, said he purposely picked jurors who would not be turned off by scientific experts testifying about particles of gunshot residue and the way blood spatters. He said he wanted jurors "who were interested in science because I knew [the prosecution] did sloppy scientific work."

"In the past, if you talked about that kind of evidence, their eyes would kind of glaze over," said Schwartzbach. "But that's not as true now, because of shows like 'CSI.' "

Potential Blake jurors were asked, "How often do you watch TV programs that show real-life or dramatized police activities (for example, 'Cops' and '911,' 'Law & Order,' 'CSI')?" Half the jurors ultimately selected said they watched such shows regularly. Two said they watched them "rarely." The answers of the others were not made public, at their request.

Once the jurors began deliberating, they examined the evidence in a detective-like fashion. "We went over every piece of evidence and broke down every witness," said Tim Donis, 28, a city employee from Northridge.

The jurors built their own timeline for the night of the slaying in an attempt to reach agreement. One holdout wanted to inform the judge early in the deliberations that they were deadlocked on the murder charge, but the others prevailed and they pressed on.

The initially skeptical Moore said she was finally swayed by the testimony of Rebecca Markham and her husband, Andrew Percival, who said they saw Blake walking alone from the direction of the restaurant in the minutes before the 911 call was made reporting that Bakley was injured.

Ironically, those witnesses were called by the prosecution.

Their testimony "gives credence to the possibility that he went back to get his gun," said juror Charles "Chuck" Safko. Moore agreed.

Moore said she was also convinced that Blake's alibi — that he returned to the restaurant where he and Bakley had eaten dinner to retrieve a handgun at the time Bakley was shot — was reasonable. The gun he said he retrieved was not used in the crime; the murder weapon was found in an industrial trash bin nearby.

Moore said she was also convinced by arguments that investigators failed to link Blake to the murder weapon, a World War II-era handgun, through forensic evidence, such as gunshot residue or fingerprints, and the fact that Blake did not have blood on his clothing.

"There was not enough evidence," said Moore, 43, of Granada Hills. "I had reasonable doubt."

On March 11, a week after deliberations began, foreman Thomas Nicholson, 66, a retired machinist from Santa Clarita, signed the verdict form finding Blake not guilty of murder.

Jurors then turned to the two remaining charges, that Blake solicited Gary McLarty and Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton, two former stuntmen, to kill his wife.

Jurors could not agree on whether to believe Hambleton, who admitted using methamphetamine and lying at the preliminary hearing about his drug use. At first, he denied that Blake solicited him, then he changed his story.

"With Hambleton, it's hard to discern what he told the truth about and what he lied about," said juror Roberto Emerick, 30, a musician from Mission Hills.

Frustrated by their inability to reach consensus, they turned their attention to McLarty. Within hours Monday, the jury voted 12 to 0 to acquit Blake on the second solicitation charge involving McLarty.

"That one went real fast," said Safko, 50, a Winnetka truck driver.

Jurors believed the testimony of McLarty's adult son, Cole, over that of the father. Cole McLarty testified that his father told him Blake offered him $10,000 to beat up a stalker.

Turning back to the Hambleton issue, one juror, whom others declined to identify, still believed that Blake had solicited him to kill Bakley.

When that juror offered to vote with the majority to end the deliberations, the others refused.

"We told [the juror] don't change your mind because of us," Maldonado said.

They deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of acquittal on the Hambleton charge. The judge then dismissed the count "in the interest of justice."

fredfa

03-18-05, 06:28 PM

ABC still expected to drop 'MNF'
By Rudy Martzke USA TODAY
As NFL officials head to Maui in Hawaii for league meetings beginning Sunday, TV consultants Neal Pilson and Kevin O'Malley and IMG's Barry Frank said Thursday that they expect ABC to drop its negotiation rights to Monday Night Football, which remains among the 10 highest-rated shows but has been losing money for the network. This final season of the current NFL contract will be ABC's 36th with MNF.
But ABC Sports and ESPN president George Bodenheimer, who could be a candidate for the No. 2 post at Disney to new CEO Bob Iger, said in a statement, "The discussions with the NFL for both ESPN and ABC continue."

keenan

03-18-05, 06:51 PM

Fred, you're on a roll lately...great thread..thanks..:)

fredfa

03-18-05, 07:15 PM

Is "Bernie Mac" Done?
Word from thefutoncritic.com is that Fox is wrapping up this season of Bernie Mac on April 8 after just 16 episodes.
The year got off to a late start with Mac hospitalized for many weeks, and the ratings have been poor all season.
In the most recent weekly ratings the show (with a pair of airings) tied for 82nd (5.58 million viewers) and was 84th (5.50 million viewers).

bgall

03-18-05, 08:37 PM

Bernie Mac done for the season or done for good :(

dline

03-18-05, 08:55 PM

More indecency news ...

Looks like the FCC Enforcement Bureau is letting CNN off the hook for an "F-bomb" incident during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Complaints came in after a live mic caught an event staffer swearing when the balloon drop malfunctioned.

As with Nip/Tuck, the EB said indecency laws don't apply to cable ... yet.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-717A1.pdf

f44

03-18-05, 10:11 PM

fredfa:

Living With Fran 8:30 PM ET Fridays starting April 8 8:30 PM ET (Special second episode that night also at 9:30 PM

- The parentheses need to be closed, and Living With Fran is an HD show (although the show's first episode at 8:30pm ET is not listed in The WB's press release as HD, the second episode is).

fredfa

03-18-05, 10:17 PM

Kirstie Alley in New Career as 'Fat Actress'
By Claudia Parsons

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "Fat Actress" isn't a label many people in Hollywood would embrace, but former "Cheers" star Kirstie Alley is reveling in it.

She even enjoyed seeing what she admits is a very unflattering shot of her ample rear end on a 100-foot (33-meter) movie screen at the premiere party for her new sitcom "Fat Actress," which debuted this month on the Showtime cable TV network.

"We were explaining to a guest of ours it was on this huge wide screen and then midsentence I was, 'Oh my God'," Alley said in an interview the day after the premiere. "I was a little apprehensive, thinking it's going to be 100 feet wide."

Alley plays herself in the show, an overweight and out-of-work actress. The first episode opens with her wailing hysterically on the floor of her bathroom having realized that the reason she can't get a job is her size.
"My message wasn't, 'Oh wow, don't I look beautiful even though I'm hefty.' That's not what I was trying to accomplish," Alley said. "I was trying to accomplish somebody pathetically realizing that they're really fat."

There are no punches pulled in the show, which was unscripted beyond a detailed outline of the plot. The actors improvise, apparently trying to outdo each other in how politically incorrect they can be.

In one scene Alley has a meeting with the president of NBC Universal Television Group, Jeff Zucker, who plays himself, to discuss a new sitcom. Zucker is visibly shocked at her size and, when she leaves the room, calls her agent to complain about it.

"I don't think it's an attack on Hollywood," she said. "It's a comment on how if any woman walks into any interview overweight they would be all nicey nice and when she left they would go, 'Oh my God, she's so fat.' It's not exclusive to Hollywood."

FAT MEN WITH SKINNY WIVES

In another scene Alley is shouting down the phone to her agent about the injustice of a system where men have no pressure to be thin and stars like James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" positively thrive on it.

"I know very, very few actresses who are not called in to be reprimanded about their weight," Alley said in the interview. "And that can't be true of men because if you just turn on the TV ... most men are fat."

"Apparently it's a prerequisite ... to having a sitcom. Men have to be fat and their wives have to be 20 years younger and skinny." Alley said when she was starring in "Cheers" and later "Veronica's Closet," she was constantly under pressure if she gained any weight.

"I think on 'Veronica's Closet" I started at around 140 (pounds) and got up to 160 on and off, and still at 5-(foot)-8 that's not tubby-go-lardy," she said. But she added: "It doesn't make me angry. We create our own lives." She said she is just as likely to laugh at a fat person, or animal, as anybody else.

"It does denote laziness. To me, I was lazy. I got lazy and complacent like a big fat deer," said the actress who has now signed a contract with diet guru Jenny Craig to promote the diet plan which she says has so far helped her lose 20 pounds. Under the terms of the deal Alley declined to say how much she weighs now. At age 54 and with two children, she is larger than most of her peers in show business but hardly out of the ordinary in a country where obesity is a growing problem.

Even as she strives to slim down, Alley says she is baffled by the preoccupation with looks and the body in society. "I think it needs to be made fun of. You can't be preachy and have them learn, so you have to do it in a way that you have them laugh," she said. "Is it the worst problem in the world that I need to lose 50 pounds? I don't think so."

The first season of "Fat Actress" features guest stars such as John Travolta and Kid Rock. Showtime has signed a deal with Yahoo to stream it to viewers on the Internet.

"You can't do fat jokes forever but you can certainly do them for seven shows," Alley said, promising more plot twists in the second season after she has lost weight. "I become completely promiscuous and become so in love with myself, and of course that's setting myself up for another big fall."

fredfa

03-19-05, 01:02 AM

Car Makers, Still A Driving Force in TV
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Sunday, March 20, 2005; Page N09

So why does the television season start in September? Sure, at the end of the summer, viewing levels begin to rise as night comes earlier and the crisp weather sends us indoors. On the other hand, maybe thoughts turn to television in September because that's when the TV season has started since before some of us were born.

But really, why September? That's easy: cars.

It's the time of year when automobile manufacturers used to launch their new car lines, says David Poltrack, CBS executive vice president for research and planning.

In the early days of TV, auto manufacturers were the No. 1 advertisers, though tobacco companies were also big. "It was," he explains, "the time the advertisers wanted to focus on."

Car companies are still the top advertisers on the networks today, though their launches are more spread out in the calendar year, he says. Plus, back in those early days, car companies sponsored, and even produced, a lot of TV programming. When "The Ed Sullivan Show" (originally called "Toast of the Town") debuted in 1948, it was sponsored by Lincoln-Mercury; nearly a decade later, the theme song for "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show" was "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet."

"They put these shows on when they wanted to put them on," Poltrack says.

fredfa

03-19-05, 01:02 AM

Thanks f44

fredfa

03-19-05, 12:50 PM

Friday’s prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

fredfa

03-20-05, 01:10 AM

Sports in HD Sunday, March 20, 2005
(All times Eastern)
NCAA Connecticut - North Carolina State CBS 12:10 PM
NASCAR Golden Corral 500 – Atlanta Fox 12:30 PM
NCAA Florida - Villanova CBS 2:15 PM
NCAA Michigan State - Vermont CBS 2:40 PM
NCAA Georgia Tech - Louisville CBS 4:45 PM

adb

03-20-05, 10:23 AM

Certainly is a nice line up for today.

fredfa

03-20-05, 10:54 AM

and then tonight there is: :)

CBS dangles shark bait
Network pumps out disaster pix in bid for younger demo
By JOSEF ADALIAN Variety.com

Critics be damned: CBS, the home of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, is turning to killer sharks and man-eating locusts in a bid to woo younger auds to its Sunday movie franchise. No, really.

In the wake of huge ratings for last fall's B-movie masterpiece "Category Six: Day of Destruction," Eye execs have decided a healthy dose of popcorn may be just the ticket to fight off those damn "Desperate Housewives."

Weepers like Keri Russell starrer "Ordinary Days" remain a big part of the net's longform future. Indeed, CBS recently renewed its association with Hallmark through 2008. But the traditional tear-jerkers are now sharing a timeslot with high-concept fare.

This week brings the babes-in-bikinis bacchanal "Spring Break Shark Attack," in which former "OC" hottie Shannon Lucio has to fend off bloodthirsty sea creatures while wearing next to nothing. And next month brings the title-says-it-all pic "Locusts," featuring Lucy Lawless as a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture scientist fighting a deadly breed of bioengineered critters swarming both coasts.

"We wanted to shake it up," says Bela Bajaria, the Eye's head of movies and minis. "We wanted to be more competitive on Sunday night and try something different." Eye's popcorn pic strategy first started taking shape following the unexpected success of NBC's 2004 earthquake mini "10.5." That led to a greenlight for "Category 6," and when that resonated with viewers, too, CBS execs figured they were on to something.

"There's an audience for this kind of movie that's perhaps not being served by features," says CBS Entertainment prexy Nina Tassler. Indeed, other than "Day After Tomorrow" and "The Core," the film studios haven't been churning out disaster pics like they used to.

Even cablers like TBS, TNT and USA -- once known for populist fare like "Atomic Twister" -- have moved away from popcorn pics in favor of more upscale fare.

"We sensed there was an opportunity there," Tassler says.

Eye execs are understandably sensitive to suggestions they're dumbing down one of the net's longest-running franchises.

"You can still have a good script with a high concept," Tassler argues. "It can still be well executed," she says.
"There's a mandate that these have to be fun, but they also have to be good movies," Bajaria says. "The quality and the production values have to be there."

Net has launched an unusually large promo campaign for a pic not even airing during a sweeps frame, even going so far as to arrange a deal with corporate cousin MTV under which the movie will serve as an official sponsor of the cabler's annual spring break festivities.

Extensive on-air promotion during the net's NCAA coverage was meant to woo young men, while street teams hit Times Square to hand out "Shark Attack" beer coolers and inflatable sharks.

CBS isn't the only net that's latched on to the B-movie trend. NBC, which kicked off the latest round of disaster dramas with "10.5," is working on several similar projects. It even snatched up a Robert Halmi-produced remake of "The Poseidon Affair" that had been headed for the Hallmark Channel.

Peacock cable entertainment and cross-platform strategy prexy Jeff Gaspin says popcorn pics offer auds "safe mayhem."

"You get to experience these awful things, but you're in your home and you know you're going to be OK," he says. "It's like a roller-coaster."

CBS is still planning just a few roller-coaster rides per season -- though if "Shark Attack" and "Locusts" both do well with viewers, that could always change.

"The goal is always to get ratings, get good reviews and to win awards," Bajaria says. "That's the goal. But not every movie is going to be that. At some point, it's about what the audience wants."

fredfa

03-20-05, 10:58 AM

Tonight's CBS shark movie inspired one of the funniest reviews in a while from Variety's Brian Lowry:

(Variety.com Review of “Spring Break: Shark Attack”)
(Movie -- CBS, March 20, 9 p.m.)
Filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, by von Zerneck-Sertner Films. Executive producers, Frank von Zerneck, Robert M. Sertner, JJ Jamieson, David Wicht; co-executive producer, Randy Sutter; producers, Peter Sadowski, Leslie Belzberg; co-producer, Ted Babcock; director, Paul Shapiro; writer, James LaRosa.

Cast
Danielle - Shannon Lucio
Shane - Riley Smith
J.T. - Justin Baldoni
Karen - Bianca Lishansky
Alicia - Genevieve Howard
Charlie - Wayne Thornley
Mary - Kathy Baker
Joel Gately - Bryan Brown

By BRIAN LOWRY variety.com

Tapping into the spirit of Roger Corman and maybe even Ed Wood, this blatantly exploitative little exercise -- positioned as it is in the midst of CBS' NCAA tournament coverage -- is so cheesy, it's almost hard not to admire. From the first sight of cardboard fins slowly cleaving through the water (swim faster, guys!), it's clear the budget went mostly into suntan lotion. The only problem, in fact, is that the producers don't quite go far enough, interrupting the skin show and reverse fish buffet with too much plot, an environmental message and even (ick) some romance.

With the kind of title normally reserved for Troma Films or CBS' sister cabler Showtime after midnight, "Spring Break" uses the traditional horror staple of comely coeds and splashes of gore, as well as the enduring maxim that wanton sexuality leads to certain death.

The plot hinges on Danielle ("The OC's" Shannon Lucio) disobeying her overprotective parents and flitting down to meet friends at spring break in Florida (actually South Africa). Soon enough, she begins a flirtation with local kid Shane (Riley Smith), who operates fishing excursions along with his mom (Kathy Baker). Conveniently, Danielle also has a marine biologist brother (Wayne Thornley) working on an antishark system and two friends who look like they're participating in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic tour.

Proving again that it's not nice to fool with Mother Nature, an artificial reef designed to boost tourism has apparently contributed to making the sharks behave strangely, along with the shenanigans of a local businessman (Bryan Brown). For some reason, no one appears to notice that drunken college students keep disappearing until the climactic sequence, which might as well be called "Jaws: Less Than 2-D."

Baker and Brown total about four minutes of screen time while the kids endeavor to save the day when not seducing each other. Still, director Paul Shapiro and writer James LaRosa deliver something of a cheat, what with the ecological poppycock and class-driven "Dirty Dancing" riff. Don't bait guys with sex and violence and try to feed them Merchant Ivory stuff, dude.

Fortunately, the hilariously bad special effects save the day, as bodies disappear into volcanic eruptions of reddish water. "This can't be real," Danielle mutters at one point, proving that she has a future as a TV critic as well as a lingerie model.

At the very least, CBS deserves some credit for playing around with the Sunday movie franchise, which can only deliver so many melodramas and Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptations in a season -- and certainly not after a day of NCAA hoops. Granted, a steady diet of "Spring Break" wouldn't be good for anyone, but as the sharks discover, an occasional serving of oily coeds makes for a refreshing snack.

slocko

03-20-05, 11:12 AM

Too bad I'm not 15 anymore. This movie would have been great for me back then :)

bgall

03-20-05, 11:57 AM

skipped saturday fred? How many people turned in to see the first installment of remaining LAX episodes?

fredfa

03-20-05, 12:03 PM

bgall: the numbers aren't out yet - should be soon, and I'll post them.

fredfa

03-20-05, 12:04 PM

More on the apparently hypnotically awful CBS shark movie...this time from Tom Shales of The Washington Post.

Tom Shales Review: Cue the Shark Music and Prepare to Be Scared
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer
What could make an aging, even ailing, television critic arise from his sick bed -- indeed, a bed not just sick but infected -- and crawl couchward to screen a television show? It would have to be some bold new departure in video storytelling, surely, or perhaps a tasteful new British serial adapted from a quaint old 19th-century novel?

No. The answer is much simpler. Four little words: "Spring Break Shark Attack."

Now there's a true dream title, the kind of thing you might expect to pop up on Cinemax in the wee hours or USA Network in prime time -- or maybe in a DVD catalogue under direct-to-video losers. But bless its old heart, the CBS Television Network is responsible for "SBSA" and has even made it the Sunday night movie, at 9 on Channel 9. No one will mistake it for a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" movie.

As trash-happy and ridiculous as it sounds, the movie isn't just another load of tired old beach bunk. For one thing, the scary parts really are scary, enough so that little kids should be sent to their rooms -- where, presumably, they can watch the less menacing aquatic antics of "SpongeBob SquarePants."

As for the rest of us, we get the requisite and appealing display of teenies in bikinis as a rather small but photogenic crowd gathers for the annual collegiate rite, a sanitized version of spring break as annually covered by MTV (owned, like CBS, by Viacom) but with gushing blood more in the vein, so to speak, of CBS's "CSI" shows.

When a partly eaten shark victim washes up onshore, for example, he really looks like a partly eaten shark victim, not the scrubbed-up visual euphemism of TV times gone by. Is this progress? Well -- kinda?

At the center of the story is the fair, dumb Danielle (Shannon Lucio of "The O.C."), who ignores her parents' warnings about spring break -- "Those boys are sharks!" Dad declares -- and dashes off to join her shapely peers on the shaky pier. Director Paul Shapiro fills the screen with local color -- bimbos and hunk-lunks in full romp -- plus a rude dude with a video camera trying to make his own "Girls Gone Wild" video.

We know this lad is perverse when we see one of his tapes. Just as the young woman in the viewfinder strips off her top, the boy turns the camera on himself for a reaction shot. Somehow one feels he has something to learn about show business, even at that lowly level.

The first shark attacks are largely implied, but they become more graphic as the film proceeds. Poor Kathy Baker and Bryan Brown are the main adult actors in the picture, and in all their scenes they tend to be just in the way. Brown plays the requisite greedy businessman who thinks an artificial reef built off the shore of this small Florida town will result in a greater influx of tourist dollars. Instead, as one might guess, it results in a massive influx of blood-hungry sharks, all of them looking for human bones to nosh on and human hair to floss with.

Director Shapiro includes the shark POV shot immortalized in "Jaws," looking up from underwater at a girl's legs bobbing like hors d'oeuvres on strings. Later, as a young woman on the pier dangles her toesies in the water, the movie delivers the first of several "yipe"-worthy shocks.

As things are really heating up in the second half, Danielle is at sea with pals ("Going out on the water is going to be so much fun," she had said -- poor, foolish child!). Suddenly, she looks through the binoculars into the distance and, astounded, gasps, "Oh, my God!"

Your critic, he doesn't mind telling you, was on the edge of the couch by now and couldn't wait for that spine-tingling next shot in which we'd see what she saw. But what the critic saw was this: "CGI" superimposed over the ocean. That meant the appropriate special effects weren't finished yet, so the poor critic didn't get to see a swarm of computer-animated sharks approaching from the distance.

Good Lord, am I going to have to watch this thing again? Oh well, duty calls.

Even without all the details sketched in, the movie still works on its own frankly silly, fitfully gripping level. When Danielle says, "This can't be happening," viewers could well be tempted to add, "And it isn't." But this is the kind of film that does not require complete suspension of disbelief. All it requires, really, is two hours to kill and a harmless lust for artificial blood.

fredfa

03-20-05, 12:21 PM

From Marc Berman’s Programming Insider column Friday March 18th, 2005 at Mediaweek.com)
Tonight’s Network Programming: Sunday 3/20/05

ABC:
America's Funniest Home Videos (R)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (R)
Desperate Housewives (R)
Boston Legal

CBS:
60 Minutes
Cold Case HD
Made-for: Spring Break Shark Attack HD

NBC:
Dateline
The Contender
Law & Order: Criminal Intent HD
Crossing Jordan HD

Fox:
King of the Hill
Malcolm in the Middle HD
The Simpsons
Arrested Development HD
The Simpsons (R)
Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show

WB:
Charmed (two repeats)
Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge (R)

fredfa

03-20-05, 12:51 PM

Saturday’s prime-time ratings have been posted at the top of Latest News, the first item in this thread.

f44

03-20-05, 04:20 PM

fredfa,

For tonight's programming, Malcolm in the Middle is in HD.

fredfa

03-20-05, 05:13 PM

Thanks f44, change made.

bgall

03-20-05, 07:16 PM

So is shark attack gonna be HD. The cbs site says yes, but our discussion about it got moved to the non-hd forum.

fredfa

03-20-05, 07:18 PM

It has been announced as being in HD for some weeks now.

bgall

03-20-05, 09:04 PM

yup it's HD, although it just started and already too much story :D

Ken H

03-20-05, 09:49 PM

Originally posted by bgall
So is shark attack gonna be HD. The cbs site says yes, but our discussion about it got moved to the non-hd forum. That was me who moved it, sorry, I didn't know it was in HD.

fredfa

03-20-05, 10:40 PM

Ken H - always a most stand up guy!
(And who helped nurture this particular thread from the start, even though it sometimes veers away from a strict discussion of HD only TV programming.)

fredfa

03-21-05, 01:41 AM

Networks Desperately Seeking Sitcoms
Big 4 Seeking the Divine Comedy
By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com March 21, 2005

The long, arduous search for the next hit network sitcom is still on. At the March network development meetings last week in Los Angeles, senior programming executives and sales staff rolled out the first glimpses of their 2005-06 development slates for advertisers and their buyers. Across all networks, the message couldn't have been more clear: Despite years of failure and millions of dollars spent on unsuccessful development, the industry is still hunting for a breakout prime-time comedy.

Four networks-Fox, ABC, The WB and NBC-made presentations for ad buyers last week, while CBS and UPN are scheduled to make similar presentations this week in New York. Though NBC's presentation was open to the press, the other three networks closed their meetings to the outside world. But conversations with some attendees gave a glimpse into what the networks have in mind for their audiences and, even more important to the bottom line, for their advertising clients.

"Everyone wants to address the fact that comedy has not had any traction in the last several years," said Stacey Lynn Koerner, executive VP and director of global research integration for Initiative Media. "Even those networks that aren't focusing predominantly on comedy are addressing the issue."

Ms. Koerner said it is too soon to tell whether the networks are on to something funny this year, since most comedy pilots have not even finished the casting process yet, let alone completed production. But with so many people focused on creating a hit, something should eventually give.

"Whenever anyone is spending a lot of energy trying to investigate an idea from multiple angles, you're bound to find something that works," she said.

Both Fox and NBC spent time promoting comedies that are scheduled to launch this season. On Tuesday Fox showed a clip of "Stacked" and brought out star Pamela Anderson to promote the sitcom, which stars Ms. Anderson as a woman with a penchant for bad boys but works in a bookstore to meet a different class of men.

On Thursday on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" set, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly showed clips of his network's version of the BBC hit "The Office." Mr. Reilly, sitting in host Jay Leno's chair, chatted with "Office" series regular Steve Carell, who so got into the comedic spirit of things he unbuttoned his shirt twice to show the assembled ad sales community his recently shaved chest.

John Rash, senior VP of broadcast negotiations for Campbell Mithun, said the hunt for the new hit comedy goes beyond a single network securing a new series success.

"There is universal acknowledgement that the industry, let alone individual networks, are in need of a seminal sitcom in order to reverse their declining fortunes," he said. "The degree of exploration is more advanced than it has been in previous years, which should be encouraging for audiences and advertisers."

For The WB, which held its meeting last Wednesday afternoon on the Warner Bros. lot and had a cocktail reception afterward on the set of "Gilmore Girls," the emphasis on comedies came in the form of creative auspices. The network not only had comedy pilot stars including Rebecca Romijn and Camryn Manheim come out and personally talk about their respective projects but also presented high-profile producers-"Will & Grace's" Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, "Friends"' Marta Kauffman-who in the past wouldn't necessarily have been considered WB material.

In addition, The WB showed extended footage from its reality-comedy hybrid "Nobody's Watching."
Fred Dubin, managing partner of entertainment marketing and promotions for Mediaedge:cia, was pleased to see so many established producers on board.

"The auspices they have working on their shows seem to be very, very strong," he said of The WB. "They bring people with very good track records."

For Fox, part of the message to advertisers was that the network is staying the course with its "52-week season" strategy, and will launch more new shows this summer.

"We think this works," said Jon Nesvig, president of sales for Fox. "We had a couple of rough spots last year [fall 2004], but we have a better chance for success in the fall."

Mr. Nesvig said this summer, which will not include Olympics coverage on rival NBC, makes it easier for the network to get some traction on its to-be-determined summer premieres.

"Now we'll be able to premiere in August and September and hopefully get more scripted assets going after baseball," he said.

Besides "Stacked," Mr. Nesvig said the network showed footage from a number of drama pilots, including "Reunion," which in one season will profile 20 years in the lives of six high school friends. Fox also had video interviews with pilot stars including Ashley Williams, who plays the title role in the drama "Amy Coyne."

"We did a fair amount of production," Mr. Nesvig said, pointing out that there was more than just a speech from the network's Entertainment President Gail Berman. "If a lot of our best customers are going to pay their own dime to come out here, we should put on a show for them."

For ABC, which presented Wednesday morning, a more low-key approach was pursued, with President of Sales and Marketing Mike Shaw in a Q&A on ABC's development with the network's Entertainment President Stephen McPherson. ABC showed clips from two upcoming reality series, which Mr. Rash said fit with the network's existing "wish fulfillment reality brand."

One of the reality series, "Miracles," features a man with Tourette's syndrome who was so racked with tics he was unable to hold his infant son. The show then sent the man a team of experts and therapists that revealed a new procedure that might help him. By the end of the segment the procedure is completed successfully and the man is no longer exhibiting the behavior.

The second series, "Welcome to the Neighborhood," pits five families against one another in a competition for a new home.