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Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Slippery slide for NBC's 'Grease' finale
Once promising reality show ends with 1.9 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer March 26, 2007
“Grease: You’re the One That I Want” had a promising debut in January, thanks to its unique concept. It invited viewers to vote on who would win the starring role on the Broadway revival of “Grease.”
But in the weeks since, the show took a major tumble. Last night at 8 p.m. the season finale averaged a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, even to the previous week and down 58 percent from a 4.3 for its premiere.
“Grease” actually looked like a solid show in the early going, but increased broadcast competition and a surprisingly dull group of contestants likely did it in.
“Grease” was flattened by football in late January and early February, as the buildup to the National Football League’s Super Bowl sapped any momentum for the show. ABC’s hit Sunday lineup and Fox’s solid comedies also likely hurt the show, as did CBS’s NCAA basketball the past two weeks, which kept viewers watching the network after the games ended.
The show did actually see a big boost in its second half hour, going from a 1.6 to a 2.3, but that only brought it even to last week’s rating.
CBS finished first among 18-49s on a slow Sunday night, averaging a 3.6 rating and a 10 share. Fox was second at 2.8/8, ABC third at 2.6/7, NBC fourth at 2.1/6, Univision fifth at 1.3/4 and CW sixth at 0.7/2.
Ratings for CBS are approximate as overnights measure timeslot data and not actual program data, and basketball bled over two timeslots.
At 7 p.m. CBS began the night in the lead with a 4.0 average for NCAA basketball runover and the start of “60Minutes.” ABC was second with a 2.3 for “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Fox third with a 1.4 for an hour of “The War at Home” and NBC fourth with a 1.2 for “Dateline.” Univision was fifth that hour with a 0.9 for “Hora Pico” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for a repeat of “Pussycat Dolls Present: Search for the Next Doll.”
ABC took the lead at 8 p.m. with a 4.2 for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” followed by CBS with a 3.2 for “60 Minutes” and the beginning of “The Amazing Race.” Fox was third with a 3.1 average for ‘The Simpsons” (3.3) and “King of the Hill” (2.8), NBC fourth with a 1.9 for “Grease,” Univision fifth with the first of three hours of “Bailando por la Boda de Mis Suenos” and CW sixth with a 0.5 for a repeat of “7th Heaven.”
Fox took over at 9 p.m., leading with a 3.8 average for “Family Guy” (4.2) and “American Dad” (3.3). CBS was second with a 3.4 for the end of “Race” and the start of “Cold Case,” with NBC third with a 2.7 for a “Deal or No Deal” rerun, ABC fourth with a 2.2 for a repeat of “Desperate Housewives,” Univision fifth with a 1.5 for its second hour of “Bailando” and CW sixth with a 0.8 for a repeat of “America’s Next Top Model.”
At 10 p.m. CBS regained the lead with a 3.7 for the end of “Cold Case” and the beginning of “Without a Trace,” with NBC second with a 2.7 for “The Apprentice,” ABC third with a 1.7 for a repeat of “Brothers & Sisters” and Univision fourth with a 1.6 for the last hour of “Bailando.”
Among households, CBS led the night with an 8.2 average rating and a 14 share. ABC was second at 4.9/8, NBC third at 4.7/8, Fox fourth at 3.5/6, Univision fifth at 1.6/3 and CW sixth at 1.1/2.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_11036.asp
dad1153
03-26-07, 01:13 PM
I guess tonight I'm going to have to make time to watch the last three "Battlestar Galactica" episodes (including last night's season finale) from the DVR. It's no fun coming to this thread with your hands covering your eyes to try to avoid any spoiler headlines/replies. Feels weird! :rolleyes:
TV Notebook
TV Guide Exclusive: Grey's Welcomes Back Denny... Again!
By Michael Ausiello TV Guide
”Grey's Anatomy” is keeping Jeffrey Dean Morgan almost as busy in death as it did in life. The actor — who braved shark-infested waters in February when he gave Meredith a purgatorial pep talk — is returning on April 12 to headline the show's latest recap special. During a telephone chat last week, Morgan explained how this won't be your standard clip show, disagreed that Grey's jumped the shark when Meredith went to heaven, set the record straight about the status of his rumored-to-be-dead war-correspondents drama with Shonda Rhimes, and offered a few choice words about his big Supernatural comeback (the operative word being "few").
Michael Ausiello: How will this clip show be different?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: They're going to use me as an on-camera host. They've never done anything like that before. Usually it's all voice-over. That'll be interesting. I haven't seen a script yet, so I'm kind of on pins and needles myself.
Michael Ausiello: Rumor has it the Grey's spin-off killed your war-correspondents drama. True?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I got a phone call from Shonda the day before the Grey's spin-off was announced telling me that it does not affect my show whatsoever. As far as I know, we're going into production this summer for a mid-season replacement next year. The idea would be to do six or 13 episodes. I know everybody's saying it's on the back burner or dying a slow, painful death, but I don't think that's the case. Until I hear differently, we're moving forward with it. I haven't heard differently, and believe me, I've checked. I make sure that no one's forgetting about me over here.
Michael Ausiello: Looking back, how do you think Denny's February-sweeps return turned out?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Shonda called me and said, "Would you be willing to come back?" And I, of course, said, "Yeah," hung up the phone and "How?" became an immediate question. And I don't think even she knew exactly how that was going to play itself out. I got the script about a week before I went out there to shoot it, and even then I was like, "Is this going to work?" It's kind of a big jump from what they normally do, but I thought it was pulled off beautifully. I was really excited to do Denny again. I thought we put him to bed last year, so any chance I get to play him I'm a happy guy.
Michael Ausiello: What do you say to fans who think the show jumped the shark?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I don't know if the show's jumpin' the shark if 30 million people are still tuning in to watch it. You're going to always have your detractors, but the point is, it's the No. 1 show on TV. I laugh off those comments. It's a good show, the writing is spectacular, and it's so well acted. I don't think it's jumping the shark. Fonzie is not putting on the shorts and waterskiing at this point. [Laughs]
Michael Ausiello: I loved the final scene with Denny and Izzie brushing past each other. What was it like shooting it?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: It was very bittersweet. When I originally was told I was coming back, I assumed I'd be with Katherine. I didn't see the Meredith thing coming at all. So when I finally saw Katie that day and we did that scene, it was very bittersweet, because we spent so much time together. It was sad. That scene was such a cool scene to do, and the way [the director] shot it, it turned out beautifully. It was great. I wished Denny and Izzie could have reconnected more than that, but I thought that was so powerful and such a good way to end that story line. It was well worth it.
Michael Ausiello: So the story is over?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I can only assume. I can't see Denny coming back again. He walked into the white light, for god's sake. I hope he's not in purgatory in that hospital forever. I can't imagine. But you never know. Sweeps week, something could change. [Laughs]
Michael Ausiello: A lot has transpired behind the scenes since the last time you were on the set. Was the mood more tense?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: The week I was there, we had a great time. It was a lot of fun seeing everybody again. There was a lot of excitement happening at that time. Patrick was just about to have his kids; the show just won the SAG award and the Golden Globe. It was pretty upbeat when I was around. I didn't see any goofiness happening.
Michael Ausiello: What can you tell me about your return to Supernatural?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I can't confirm nor deny.
Michael Ausiello: C'mon, we know you're coming back.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I've been instructed to dummy up on Supernatural. I can't say anything about that. Warner Bros. gave me specific directions: "Don't say squat!" They know you, I guess, Mike.
http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800011479
The Business of Television
NCTC Weighs In on Liberty-DirecTV
By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 3/26/2007
News Corp. shouldn’t be allowed to “escape” its obligation to abide by binding arbitration for its regional sports networks after it divests its ownership in DirecTV, the National Cable Television Cooperative told federal regulators.
The NCTC told the Federal Communications Commission it should continue to enforce certain restraints -- including submitting to arbitration for some programming disputes -- it imposed on News Corp. back in 2003 in approving its acquisition of a major stake in DirecTV.
The NCTC made its remarks in a nine-page filing Friday on Liberty Media’s proposed $11 billion purchase of News Corp’s 39% stake in DirecTV. Comments to the FCC on the pending acquisition were due by Friday.
The NCTC -- a buying co-op for small and midsized cable companies -- is in the midst of an arbitration proceeding with News Corp.’s Fox Cable Networks over how much its members will have to pay to carry seven FSN services.
The NCTC said in its FCC filing, “It would be patently unfair and contrary to the public interest for the commission’s approval of the News Corp./Liberty transactions to have the effect of terminating or otherwise interrupting any arbitration proceeding commenced under the News Corp./DirecTV order.”
As one of the conditions of News Corp. buying its stake in DirecTV, distributors can submit carriage disputes regarding News Corp.-affiliated sports networks and its TV stations to arbitration. Those conditions also said small cable companies can designate a bargaining agent to negotiate with News Corp. on their behalf.
According to the NCTC, those conditions should “continue to apply for their entire scheduled term, at minimum, to those networks or stations that are the subject of an arbitration proceeding at the time the News Corp./Liberty transactions close.”
Under the conditions set in 2003 by the FCC on News Corp., the company can’t withhold its cable networks from distributors at least until October 2007, and arbitration can be used to settle carriage disputes regarding regional sports channels and TV stations until January 2010.
Fox Cable couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.
The NCTC is in arbitration on behalf of 30 of its members regarding carriage deals for FSN Florida, FSN North, FSN Northwest, FSN Ohio, SportsSouth, FSN South and FSN Southwest.
The co-op filed for arbitration in January after nearly two years of trying to negotiate a master carriage deal with Fox for its regional sports channels.
As part of the Liberty-DirecTV deal, Liberty will also get News Corp.’s interests in three regional sports channels: FSN Rocky Mountain, FSN Pittsburgh and FSN Northwest.
In their application for ownership transfer, News Corp. and Liberty said those three sports networks will continue to be bound by the conditions set when News Corp. acquired its DirecTV stake.
But that acknowledgement “begs the question of whether the commission’s approval of the News Corp./Liberty transaction will permit News Corp. to escape the application of the News Corp./DirecTV order conditions to its other affiliated programming services,” the NCTC said in its filing Friday.
The pending arbitration proceeding only involves one of the regional sports channels, FSN Northwest, “that News Corp. and Liberty have conceded will remain subject to the News Corp./DirecTV order conditions,” the NCTC pointed out.
The NCTC also expressed concern that News Corp. will use its DirecTV divestiture “as the basis of evading the application of the other programming-related conditions imposed” by the FCC regarding nonsports News Corp.-affiliated cable networks, such as FX and National Geographic Channel.
The NCTC in its filing said that “there is the potential risk that DirecTV and News Corp.-owned programming services entered into, or will enter into, ‘sweetheart’ deals that serve as part of the actual consideration for the transactions between News Corp. and Liberty.”
To guard against that, the NCTC asked that the FCC “rule that the News Corp./DirecTV order conditions will apply to News Corp.-affiliated programming that entered into or modified its affiliation agreement with DirecTV during the period beginning four months prior to the announcement of News Corp.’s acquisition of DirecTV and ending four months after the closing” of the transaction.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6427693.html?display=Breaking+News
TV Notebook
“SNL” Scores Ratings Touchdown With Manning
By John Consoli MediaWeek March 26, 2007
The Peyton Manning-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 24 earned the show’s highest household rating in more than 10 months in the metered markets, averaging a 5.9 rating and 15 share.
In the Indianapolis market, where Manning plays for the NFL Colts, the show averaged a 23.0 rating and 49 share, four times SNL’s average in the market during the recent February sweeps.
Manning also drew heavy ratings in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he played his college ball. In that market, the show averaged a 10.4 rating, 23 share.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003562761
VisionOn
03-26-07, 02:01 PM
TV Notebook
“SNL” Scores Ratings Touchdown With Manning
By John Consoli MediaWeek March 26, 2007
The Peyton Manning-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 24 earned the show’s highest household rating in more than 10 months in the metered markets, averaging a 5.9 rating and 15 share.
I have to say I was impressed with him. He obviously made an effort to learn the material and he didn't have any trouble making a fool of himself. I thought he was funnier than some of the showbiz guests they've had on.
I have to say I was impressed with him. He obviously made an effort to learn the material and he didn't have any trouble making a fool of himself. I thought he was funnier than some of the showbiz guests they've had on.
The bit with him 'mentoring' the kids was pretty hilarious.
dad1153
03-26-07, 02:37 PM
My favorite "SNL" bits with Manning were the locker room pep-talk/dance skit and the "Maraka" TV Funhouse cartoon. The sheer idiocy of the dance combined with the old "Casino Royale" music (which made a few of the other cast members visibly crack-up on camera) and the sight of Peyton getting jiggy with it was classic "SNL" of old. The parody of "Dora the Explorer" was hilarious because the writers/animators refused to take the easy road of having a gross or bloody cartoon (which everybody expected) and insteaed kept hammering the idiocy of the show's signature "talking to the kids like idiots" hook. My favorite question 'Maraka' asked the kids: "do you know why my father left me?" LOL! :D
TV Q&A
Ask Matt (from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com)
Matt answers your questions about “Friday Night Lights”, “Lost”, “Veronica Mars” ,and “Studio 60”
By Matt Roush: TVGuide.com TV Critic Monday, March 26, 2007
Question: Do you know if anyone has thought of putting Friday Night Lights in the Monday 10 pm/ET slot on a permanent basis? If you look at the ratings, the idea seems pretty sound. On the one night that Friday Night Lights took over the slot, it improved on the audience that Studio 60 had the week before (getting 520,000 more viewers) and had 330,000 more viewers (on the average) than The Black Donnellys' premiere just a few weeks ago. More to the point, the show seems to be demographically compatible with Heroes. Plus, it would allow NBC to make an attempt at roping in Sunday Night Football viewers from the night before. I mean, I'm certainly not an expert, but giving Friday Night Lights a shot at the time slot next year (if it comes back) seems like a no-brainer to me.— Tom C.
Matt Roush: Clearly, NBC thought about it (ergo the one-time tryout), then rethought it. I'm betting NBC still wants to position Friday Night Lights as more of a family drama and would air it earlier than 10 pm in Year 2 (and I'm becoming more and more confident there will be a Year 2). I also have to think that NBC must be trying to develop something for the fall that will take even more advantage of the powerful Heroes lead-in. Much as I love Friday Night Lights, I can't see NBC squandering the Heroes momentum on it, though I agree it is more compatible than what has aired there this season. The next question presents another hurdle for your football argument.
Question: Regarding Studio 60: While I thank NBC for giving it such promotion before and during the early season, they basically screwed the show by running it on Mondays at 10. They had to know that many in the initial audience would be coming from The West Wing and that it would be competing directly with Monday Night Football in half of the country. I think that if it had another day/time, the ratings would have been 70-100 percent higher. I recall the sharp drop in The West Wing's ratings during the final season when it was moved to Sunday at 8 pm/ET, in competition with ESPN's Sunday Night Football. What are the chances that NBC would effectively apologize for that time slot by renewing Studio 60?— Ian
Matt Roush: The Monday time slot may not have been ideal — if you recall, NBC's initial plan was to air Studio 60 on Thursdays as the lead-in to ER, until ABC surprised everyone with the Grey's Anatomy move. But NBC did the show a favor by not jerking it around (until the recent hiatus, of course), letting it stay where people knew to find it. There are precious few nights when it wouldn't run into CSI competition, even on Wednesdays, where maybe the show could have tapped into a residual Aaron Sorkin vibe from the glory days when The West Wing commanded a large audience on that night. I never really considered football to be the problem here. Studio 60 had enough crossover appeal with women that it shouldn't have been a problem. (CBS does pretty well on the night, and did even when ABC had the football franchise on Mondays.) Referring back to the top question, Friday Night Lights seems unlikely to move to Mondays because of the head-to-head with football. But not as unlikely as NBC giving Studio 60 a second season. With this show, it's not just a ratings problem. It's pretty widely perceived (although not by its fans) that the show has some insurmountable creative problems, which a new time period isn't likely to help.
Question: Does ABC plan on ever finishing the run of a new sitcom? Last year, they gave Emily's Reasons Why Not a one-night trial, along with the returning Jake in Progress. They also pulled Crumbs after five episodes, after it averaged 7.5 million viewers on Tuesdays. That's much better than any of ABC's comedies have averaged this season, besides Dancing with the Stars-fueled Help Me Help You, which was pulled with four episodes left to air. Then, the network pulled Big Day with only one episode left to air, The Knights of Prosperity with four episodes left, In Case of Emergency with two episodes left and Notes from the Underbelly, which will only air seven of its 13 episodes. Do you think this shows an overall lack of confidence in new sitcoms?— Ann H.
Matt Roush: Whew. You're certainly paying a lot more attention to that wasteland than I am. In most cases (though not for Knights of Prosperity, which deserved better), for ABC to take these shows off the air early is kind of like a mercy killing. The fact that few of these shows make it all the way to the end of their designed run is insulting for fans, I'm sure, but it's a clear sign that the network is experiencing a serious comedy drought. Look at ABC's announcement last week of its early pickups. Of 14 series that are definite to return next season, none are half-hour comedies. Not even stalwarts like According to Jim and George Lopez are safe at this point.
Question: When news of Lost's falling ratings first began, I simply ignored it. But now that the show seems to be hitting series-low numbers every week, I'm starting to get worried. Any theories as to why this is happening? I think the show has been fantastic since returning from break, with episodes that have ramped up the action on the island while also providing a few of those answers the fans crave. Is it possible that the success of Heroes, which obviously moves at a much faster pace and prides itself on answering questions, has skewed how fans look at Lost? Also, I see this dip in Lost's ratings as a double-edged sword. On the positive side, slipping ratings may mean that ABC will allow the creators to end the show when they please and not drag it out past its natural lifespan. On the negative side, I'm afraid ABC may start to meddle with the show's creative direction in order to woo back fans, which almost never bodes well. How worried should I be?— Donnie W.
Matt Roush: I wouldn't lose sleep over it. I've addressed the slipping ratings a lot lately, and still contend that the show is settling into a ratings groove much more in line with what expectations should be for something this bizarre. It's still popular enough, and still gets plenty of media buzz. The show's just not the megahit it was when people were first blown away by it (before many started getting frustrated, which is only natural). I'm with you that if Lost's decline allows the creators to end it on their own terms, that will be a positive. With this particular show, I don't see ABC meddling and dictating the direction of story lines. Where would they start? I have to think ABC realizes many former Lost fans have ditched for good, and what's left is still a choice audience. Getting in the way on a production like this is an invitation for much worse disaster.
Question: Why do you keep picking on all-star seasons of reality shows? Yes, Survivor wasn't great, but Big Brother was a different story. I thought it offered a lot of great comedy with a semi-terrific ending. However, I think Amazing Race is different, because it's a race, and not a claustrophobic living space or a secluded island. Amazing Race All-Stars is delivering the kind of great stories that previous Races have had in the past. I love the fact that Charla and Mirna are proving to be great bumbling villains, that Dustin and Kandice are allowed to get along with the other teams and that Romber got their asses kicked. The Amazing Race is not like other reality shows where scheming and plotting get you far. It's all about travel, adventure and determination. So don't go harping on this season just because it's all-stars. Take the time to revel and enjoy the scenery, the competition and the great personal stories of the contestants, because that's what makes this show great.— James
Matt Roush: You're using the same arguments I've made over the years to explain why The Amazing Race has always been and will probably always be my favorite reality show. But I'm going to reprint what I wrote in a recent Dispatch on the show, celebrating the ouster of Rob and Amber: "Much of the pleasure of The Amazing Race any season is in making new acquaintances along the way while experiencing astonishing new locations. When the traveling companions are this familiar, it takes some of the joy out of the ride." That said, I have enjoyed the last few episodes, with the wild reversals of Rob and Amber going from first to worst and Charla and Mirna doing exactly the opposite. Even in an all-stars edition, the race is unpredictable, and as always (except in the all-U.S. family edition, which was truly boring), the visuals are spectacular. I just don't think that this particular show needs to stoop to recycling past stars as a gimmick. And really, putting Big Brother in this category? You must be joking.
Question: The recent discussion about a potential fast-forward for Veronica Mars got me thinking about how shows have a hard time making the leap from a high-school setting to a college setting. Beverly Hills, 90210 and Dawson's Creek took creative nosedives once the gangs left high school. Buffy's college years were such a struggle that she had to die before the show got interesting again. Saved by the Bell: The College Years? Well, who cares, really. But, in fact, we rarely see any shows set in higher education at all. I can only think of two recent examples: Undeclared and Felicity. Undeclared was just OK but lacked the heart of Judd Apatow's true gem, Freaks and Geeks. Felicity is the one example of a show that made the genre work. Why do you think this is?— Kelly C.
Matt Roush: I can't believe you left out The Bedford Diaries, one of the last (and worst) duds in the WB's short history. Shows fail for all kinds of reasons, but generally, when a show moves its characters to college after we've come to know them in high school, there may already be a burnout factor in play, a sense that the best years already are past. (In real life, at least mine, it's the opposite: Life began at college.) The reason Felicity worked was that, besides the wonderful writing and brilliant casting, college was the starting point, not the midpoint, in our relationship with these characters. And besides, the show was more of a romance about college than a serious or even a comic look at college life.
Question: It seems almost certain that Veronica Mars will meet its end this season, and probably not with a nice ending like Everwood had. I was wondering, even though it's not at the magic 100 episodes yet, could Veronica Mars possibly find success in syndication? That's a tough thing to do with a show that began on UPN and was up against House, Lost and American Idol most of its life. Syndication, I think, is the best way to see any good show — I did it for Seinfeld, Friends, Will & Grace, Buffy, Angel and The X-Files. It allowed me to be hooked for months at a time, with a new episode every day saved nicely on my TiVo to watch whenever I wanted. At 7 pm/ET as a lead-in to prime time, Veronica Mars could find itself a much larger audience. I also wanted to know what you thought about a CBS pilot I read about a month ago that made everyone I know who saw Angel laugh. It's supposed to be about a vampire who runs a private investigation firm. However, it's being developed by one of the people behind Veronica Mars and could probably work.— Kate K.
Matt Roush: I won't comment on pilots I haven't seen, except to say vampires and characters brought back from the dead appear to be quite the thing this development season. Let's wait to see if they actually get on the air first. As for Veronica Mars' afterlife, I think it's most likely to live on in some cable network's lineup (Lifetime, WE, Oxygen, something geared toward young women). That may be what you mean by syndication, which when I paid more attention to that marketplace used to be more about selling to independent stations than to cable. Dramas are much less popular in that arena these days, so no matter how long Veronica Mars runs, I don't see much potential for it there. But where the show will really thrive is on DVD.
Question: As a person who has been in and around the TV industry as long as you have, I am hoping that you might be able to shed some light on the issue of what drives a network to renew shows that aren't huge hits but smaller cult and/or critical favorites, such as Friday Night Lights, Supernatural, Veronica Mars and The Class. Is it really just ratings and demographics, or do other factors such as merchandise and future marketability go into the thought process as well? Also, do you foresee a change in the current (and in my opinion, antiquated) ratings system in light of the onslaught of TiVos and other DVR systems?— Chris
Matt Roush: Wow, you make me sound like a graybeard. (Maybe if I grow one, I'll be one.) I'll duck the larger ratings question. I really can't say where audience measurement is heading, but for now, we seem stuck with this system. On the renewal issue, when a network takes a chance on a marginal performer, it often says more about the network than it does the show. For the CW, shows like Supernatural and Veronica are very targeted for special audiences on specific nights, and their overall numbers can be misleading. (The fact that Supernatural goes up against two of the biggest hits of recent years cannot be lost on CW executives.) For NBC to take a risk with Friday Night Lights is in keeping with the rebuilding of a network that wants to be able to use quality as one of its yardsticks. It worked with The Office and might yet with 30 Rock as well. Without the acclaim, these shows would already be dead. The Class is in a much more tenuous situation. It got decent reviews but little real buzz. Its numbers were neither great nor terrible. Its fate really depends on what else CBS has on its comedy bench for next season, and whether the network sees more upside in it than in The New Adventures of Old Christine, which is also struggling in its earlier time slot (no thanks to landing there just as Daylight Savings began its early onset). The fact that The Class is much less likely to be a contender at the Emmys (where Julia Louis-Dreyfus has already won) probably won't help. Neither will the success of Rules of Engagement, which is a slam-dunk for renewal at this point.
Question: I know it's a little early for Emmy talk, but I was so horrified by Lost's snub last year that I can't stop thinking about it. What do you think Lost's chances are at this year's Emmys? I think Elizabeth Mitchell, Henry Ian Cusick and Michael Emerson all have a good chance, as well as the show in the drama category. Also, I heard last year's snub was due to the producers' submitting episodes poorer in quality, such as "Man of Science, Man of Faith," to the nomination panel. I hope the Emmy voters correct last year's grievous wrongdoing and nominate Lost this year. What do you think?— John
Matt Roush: I think I admire your faith in the show and in Emmy voters. Frankly, I'd be shocked if the Emmys reverse course to show much if any love toward a show whose reputation took several hits this year: in the ratings and in media coverage over that ill-conceived opening "pod" of episodes. I agree that Elizabeth Mitchell in particular has shone this season, but given the richness and variety of TV drama these days, I can't help but think Lost's breakthrough freshman season (when it won best drama) is going to be its sole trip to the big party. I'd love to be wrong, but I think (speaking in island terms) that ship may have sailed for good.
Question: Last week's Lost delivered what I thought was the best episode of the season. I literally screamed at that pivotal scene with Locke and his dad — well, actually at the last two scenes between them. Also, wasn't it a master class of acting between Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn? The scenes with Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly were quite impressive as well. Whenever people gripe about Lost, I always point out the writing, acting and production values. They are a notch above most of the TV shows out there. Plus, predictability is never a claim you can throw at Lost. Who knows where it's going? I am sure Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse do, and I will happily go along for the ride.— Marc
Matt Roush: Or, as Dennis B. wrote in to gush, "After the last couple of episodes of Lost, can we put to rest the reports of its demise?" I'd be happy to. After so much bad-mouthing about the show since the third season began, I'm happy to report that all of the mail I got (at least by week's end) in the wake of last week's sensational Locke-centric episode was positive. The show is back on its game, even if it's a game that many former fans seem less willing to play. For me, Lost has always been more about the characters than about the mysteries. But when an episode combines the two elements as thrillingly as this one, then it really is hard to beat. Or to beat up on, although I'm sure there are some who will try.
http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Columnists/Ask-Matt/Default.aspx#01fnl
Washington Notebook
MLB-EI Senate Hearing
Senate Commerce Committee Hearing Set For Tuesday, March 27, 10 AM ET
Exclusive Sports Programming: Examining Competition and Consumer Choice
Witnesses
Opening Remarks
• Rob Jacobson
President and Chief Executive Officer
iN DEMAND Networks
• Stephen F. Ross
Professor of Law
The Dickinson School of Law, The Pennsylvania State University
• Robert DuPuy
President and Chief Operating Officer
Major League Baseball
• Chase Carey
Chief Executive Officer
DIRECTV Group, Inc.
• Carl Vogel
President & Vice Chairman
EchoStar Satellite L.L.C.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1838
Critic’s Notebook
I watched so you don't have to:
A kiss-and-tell report on the 'Dirt' finale with Jen and Courteney
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher” March 26, 2007
This is one of those days that I take a bullet for the team: I’ve watched the “Dirt” finale.
It’s more accurate to say I forced myself to watch the finale of the dreadful FX drama starring Courteney Cox as a tabloid editor, which airs 9 p.m. Tuesday. (Spoilers ahead. If you care.)
I sort of had to screen the finale, because people (OK, maybe just a few people) will be wondering about the much-advertised kiss between Cox’s character, Lucy Spiller, and a rival magazine editor played by Cox’s old “Friends” castmate, Jennifer Aniston.
So, here’s the full report on the kiss: In the scene that precedes it, Spiller and Tina Harrod (Aniston) have lunch in Spiller’s office. Spiller’s job as editor of the celebrity rag DirtNow is in jeopardy and she thinks Harrod is angling for it. A lesbian encounter in their past is mentioned – it emerged earlier in this painfully drawn-out episode that they worked together long ago – but Spiller brushes off Harrod’s string of flirtatious remarks.
As they walk out of Spiller’s office, Harrod kisses Spiller goodbye. On the lips, for a few seconds. No tongue. And since the kiss is in full view of the DirtNow staff, there’s really no passion to it.
That would pretty much describe the show itself, which makes viewers wait until more than 30 minutes have passed to show this not-hot kiss.
Did I mention that this episode features not one but two ghostly visions speaking portentious Latin in the opening minutes? See, whatever happens between Aniston and Cox, you won’t really be too sorry if you miss this finale, will you?
I’ve actually forced myself to watch “Dirt” a few times in the last few weeks. I wrote a negative review of the show after viewing the first three episodes – I found the show made the juicy world of tabloids into a dreadfully pretentious, mind-numbing bore – but I kept giving it a chance.
Why? What was I thinking? If anything, “Dirt” got more painful over time. Each episode was grindingly interminable, and featured ridiculous dream sequences, courtesy of Spiller’s photographer pal, Don Konkey, who’s schizophrenic, and far too many scenes of Courteney Cox’s character having sex with her dolt of a movie-star boyfriend, Holt. Er, no thanks.
The “stars” of Spiller’s version of Hollywood were whiny, pathetic messes, and Spiller herself was cold, ruthless and boring – but not in an interesting way. And the attempts to warm up Spiller by having her demonstrate her love for Konkey were inadequate, at best. “Dirt” not only failed to have some fun with the world of celebrity gossip, but the show was also a frustrating waste of an opportunity to create a compelling female anti-hero. One day, someone will do that, I hope. “Dirt” sure didn’t.
But it wasn’t just the terrifyingly cold Spiller that was the problem. There was not a single reason to invest in any of these characters. It takes sensational storytelling to make you care about people with the morals of pond scum. This was not that show.
I’m racking my brain to think of something nice to say about this show: Oh, I found two nice things! I hated it marginally less than I hated “October Road.” And Spiller’s wardrobe was fierce.
But seriously, if anything can be salvaged from this mess, I hope that Ian Hart, who played Konkey, will get better gigs despite this debacle. He truly did yeoman’s work in his role as the anguished shutterbug, and was really the only marginally tolerable thing about “Dirt.”
Sadly, Aniston’s guest appearance didn’t jazz things up much. If anything, the “Dirt” finale came off as an extended ego-festival, with Jen’s character constantly commenting on how great Courteney's character was, how “gorgeous” Spiller was, what a great mom Spiller would make (what?!). Every other word out of Harrod’s mouth was “sweetie” and “honey.”
“You’ve got a really big heart and I wish you’d let it show a little more,” Harrod told Spiller over lunch.
Harrod must have spotted something I missed.
Oh, by the way, the finale ends on a cliffhanger, of course. If I cared, I’d spoil it for you and tell you what happened. But sorry, like this series, I’ve run out of gas.
http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/
Washington Notebook
MLB-EI Senate Hearing
Senate Commerce Committee Hearing Set For Tuesday, March 27, 10 AM ET
A spokesperson for the Senate Commerce Committee says she expects that the hearing will be streamed live on the Committee's website but "lately some of our hearings have been getting bumped."
A C-SPAN spokesperson says Tuesday's schedule has not yet been finalized, but will be by early evening ET.
The Business of Television
EchoStar: Beware Liberty-DirecTV
By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 3/262007
EchoStar Communications warned federal regulators to be wary about John Malone’s plan to re-establish Liberty Media’s “market power,” in terms of programming clout, by purchasing News Corp.’s stake in DirecTV, the nation’s largest direct-broadcast satellite provider.
EchoStar, the No. 2 DBS company, filed a petition last Friday asking the Federal Communications Commission to deny approval of Liberty’s $11 billion purchase of News Corp.’s 39% ownership of DirecTV unless there are commitments “to ensure that consumers and the programming market are not adversely affected.”
In its 34-page FCC filing, EchoStar cited the kind of tactics it alleged Liberty was able to engage in the past in when it benefited from an association with another distribution outlet -- namely Malone’s then-cable company, Tele-Communications Inc.
EchoStar claimed that “it is well-established that TCI and Liberty operated ruthlessly in acquiring and creating programming and in its treatment of unaffiliated MVPDs [multichannel-video-programming distributors] and programmers.”
In its filing, EchoStar charged that programmer Liberty and its sister companies have “determined that [the] additional ‘distribution muscle’ of DirecTV’s national platform is critical to its efforts to expand and enhance its programming assets.”
The net result of the Liberty-DirecTV transaction “is that Liberty will rejoin the ranks of vertically integrated major media conglomerates [including News Corp.] that can dictate the terms and conditions of programming -- e.g. higher price and less choice -- to MVPDs and consumers.”
Liberty, which couldn’t be reached for comment Monday, has ownership in programming services such as Discovery Networks, Starz Entertainment, QVC, GSN and Hallmark Channel. It will also get News Corp.’s stakes in three regional sports channels as a result of its acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s piece of DirecTV, a powerful platform with 16 million subscribers.
At one point, when Malone still owned TCI, Liberty had stakes in a far broader range of networks, such as Court TV and E! Entertainment Television.
In its filing, EchoStar said, “A comprehensive list of TCI/Liberty’s excesses and abuses with respect to programming would be extensive,” including their attempt “to force increased programming costs on MVPDs by agreeing to ‘egregiously generous’ carriage terms for affiliated programmers.”
EchoStar also alleged that TCI/Liberty forced “prospective networks to alter their formats to avoid conflicting with TCI/Liberty-affiliated programming.”
The FCC imposed various conditions on News Corp. in 2003 in exchange for approving the media giant’s purchase of a stake in DirecTV. EchoStar asked that the FCC tweak those strictures so that they would be specifically tailored to Liberty taking News Corp.’s DirecTV stake.
For example, one of the 2003 conditions was that a distributor could take a dispute with a News Corp. regional sports network to arbitration. EchoStar argued that this arbitration right “should apply to any Liberty-affiliated RSN, including after-acquired or new RSNs.” Liberty’s attempt to “limit the condition to the three RSNs included in this transaction should be rejected,” EchoStar said in its filing.
EchoStar also maintained that program-access protections should apply to DirecTV-affiliated programming. “Efforts to limit the reach of those protections to a subset of Liberty’s holdings [Liberty Media] should be denied,” EchoStar said in its filing, adding that program-access protections should provide for third-party arbitration for all Liberty programming.
DirecTV should also be prevented from acquiring any additional exclusive programming rights.
“It is apparent that Liberty will capitalize on its reintegration with a MVPD and either acquire or create new programming, hence creating more vertical integration,” EchoStar said in its papers.
The American Cable Association also filed comments Friday with the FCC on the proposed Liberty-DirecTV deal. The ACA asked that the FCC impose several conditions on the deal, including ensuring that program access and nondiscrimination conditions cover Discovery’s networks.
And the National Cable Television Cooperative said News Corp. shouldn’t be allowed to “escape” its obligation to abide by binding arbitration for its regional sports networks after it divests its ownership in DirecTV.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6427946.html?display=Breaking+News
Critic’s Notebook
The Mr. Television Column:
Show Tuneups
By Marc Berman MediaWeek March 26, 2007
With about eight weeks left before we end the traditional TV season, I have some suggestions on how some of my favorite—and not so favorite—shows should wrap up. While some of this advice comes at the risk of repeating myself (that's what Virgos do, we obsess about every-
thing and repeat ourselves constantly), I feel it is worth saying again.
First, let's acknowledge that ABC's Lost is, well, lost. So here's what it needs to do: Give viewers some definitive answers. Tell us who "the Others" are, where the Dharma Initiative originated and, once and for all, explain to us why the lives of these survivors intertwined before the crash. While I am not asking for all the mysteries to be solved, if I don't get some sense of resolution this season, I won't be back.
Let me issue another stern warning to ABC: Do not break up the Lost season again. If you can't have enough episodes ready by the fall, then do what Fox does with American Idol and 24 and hold off until midseason. I would rather wait than have the rug pulled out from under me again.
Speaking of American Idol, which could use a few good male singers this season, it's time for the silly insults between Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest to stop. It's not funny, it's insulting to the gay community and it detracts from the show. As for Paula talking back to bad-boy Simon: You go, girl! It's time that nasty Brit was put in his place. In fact, I have a word of advice to any potential contestants next season: You have a mouth; use it if Simon critiques how you look. Simon is a judge of a music competition, not Mr. Blackwell.
Another show that remains in the top 10 (despite losing steam) is ABC's Desperate Housewives, which I am happy to report has found its way again creatively this season. To keep the show on track, end the monotonous flirtation between Susan (the overrated Teri Hatcher) and Mike (James Denton), who have absolutely no chemistry together; keep spicy Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) in the center of the story lines; and send Lynette (Felicity Huffman) back into the real working world. What the heck is she doing working at a pizza place?
While you certainly cannot deny the successful relocation of former Desperate Housewives lead-out Grey's Anatomy to Thursday, the still apparently must-see medical drama (the appeal of which I admit I don't understand) is treading in dangerous waters. That's because it is overexposed. The minute this show loses its grip creatively—and, trust me, it will—the press will pounce on it. My advice is for these stars to learn how to get along. Isaiah-gate is old news, and Katherine Heigl (Izzie) in the middle of a contract dispute reminds me of the whole Suzanne Somers fracas on Three's Company. Unlike Somers, though, she's not as important to this show and would not be missed.
As long as we're talking about Grey's Anatomy, note to Ellen Pompeo (Meredith): Get some acting lessons! Her sickening sweetness is enough to make a diabetic go into a coma.
No show right now is hotter than surprise Fox sensation Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, which I am still not sure is the real deal long-term. So, to keep the interest intact, take a break this summer, make sure the show only airs one time per week when it returns next season and increase the pace between questions. Like Deal or No Deal, the constant explaining of the rules is grating.
Also annoying these days is a show I used to never miss, The CW's 7th Heaven. With the introduction of the lisping orphan T-Bone, who came to live with the Camdens, the whole season seems like a bad rash. So, how about taking a page from Dallas and have the Reverend wake up and explain he had a really bad dream? Go back to the original series-ender last May when Mary, Lucy and Matt's wife were all pregnant with twins, and leave it at that.
As for the sorry state of the sitcom, it won't get any better until the networks—ABC, in particular—stop putting on inane nonsense like Big Day, Help Me Help You and In Case of Emergency. These shows did not connect with the TV audience because the humor often went over the heads of the typical TV viewer. Zany characters and zany situations can be fun, but creativity for creativity's sake never works.
As I have said for years, I don't care if the premise is generic. If it's funny, I'll watch. And so will other viewers, I bet.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/departments/columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003562500
Critic’s Notebook
We wait, whine as the wizards of TV wonder what to keep
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Television Critic Monday, March 26, 2007
Whatever March Madness we had in TV Land is over. After a rush of shows that included two duds ("The Wedding Bells," "October Road"), one mediocre offering ("Raines"), two very promising entries ("Andy Barker, P.I." and "This American Life") and one truly great newcomer ("The Riches"), we are now closing out the month with March Doldrums.
Or maybe just a breather before April brings us "The Tudors" on Showtime, "The Shield" on FX and "The Sopranos" and "Entourage" on HBO. Call it what you want, but suddenly we're bored. Yes, one dull week and already we're whining. But with some serious machinations ahead -- in April, the networks are finalizing what they'll keep, kill and order for next year at the "upfronts" a month later -- this seems like the perfect lull in the storm to contemplate "What We've Learned So Far."
So, in no particular order, here's a list:
• The best pilots turned out to be mediocre -- or worse -- shows. Remember getting excited for "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and "The Nine"? Seems kind of silly now.
• Serial drama glut -- bad for TV.
• Always put a bet on the dark horse: "Heroes."
• People opted for light ("Ugly Betty," "Men in Trees") over dark ("Vanished," "Smith," "Kidnapped," etc.).
• Some shows that start with promise can easily go sideways: "Jericho."
• There actually was a market for an adult drama that likes big emotions without getting too soapy: "Brothers & Sisters."
• You can have a hit but not find any of your friends who are watching it: "Brothers & Sisters."
• The best intentions can go bad in a real hurry: Trying to limit the number of reruns on "Lost" by pulling it off after a handful of episodes. Nothing like a momentum killer.
• Replacing a serialized drama with another serialized drama is annoying: "Day Break." But not as annoying as having no rules about how your show works: "Day Break."
• Winner, Most Annoying Trend After Serialized Drama Glut: Pulling serialized shows before they finished telling a complicated story. As in "Vanished," "Kidnapped," "Day Break," "Smith," "Runaway," "The Nine," "Six Degrees."
• Biggest network lie of the season: "We'll finish telling the story somehow."
• "Hi, I'm sorry, what was your name again?": "3 lbs.," "Big Day," "Help Me Help You," "Twenty Good Years," "The Game."
• Whoops, we were yawning -- whatever happened to: most of Fox's lineup and "Shark" and "Justice" and "Six Degrees."
• What the hell? From decent to brilliant almost overnight: "30 Rock."
• Not funny then, not funny now: "The Class," "Twenty Good Years," " 'Til Death," "Happy Hour," "The Game," "In Case of Emergency," "The Winner."
• Good shows still looking for an audience: "Friday Night Lights," "Veronica Mars," "Knights of Prosperity," "Andy Barker, P.I." "Everybody Hates Chris."
• A good idea on paper. Not so much on TV: "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Smith," "The Nine," "Jericho," "3 lbs.," "The Black Donnellys."
• Sadly, gone too early: "Kidnapped," "Knights of Prosperity."
• Sometimes networks are kinder than you think they'll be: "Friday Night Lights."
• When big ratings from a few shows hide the rest of your ineptitude: Fox.
• Thanks, freshmen, for making this job easier: "The Riches," "Dexter," "This American Life," "Andy Barker, P.I.," "The Sarah Silverman Program," "30 Rock," "Knights of Prosperity," "Heroes."
• Here's to a bigger order of episodes next year: "Battlestar Galactica," "Andy Barker, P.I.," "This American Life," "Weeds," "The Sarah Silverman Program."
• Nice late rally: "Lost." Next year, start in January. "Dirt," much better by the fifth episode.
• Going out too soon: "Rome," "Deadwood."
• Other sad endings, but probably the right time: "Prime Suspect."
• A lot more in the tank: "Sopranos," "Extras," "King of the Hill," "Slings & Arrows."
• Always there when we need you: HBO, FX, Showtime, BBC America.
• Mostly there when we need you: ABC, NBC.
• There because you're so steady, but we probably don't respect you as much as we should: CBS.
• Not there: Fox.
• Still the best we've ever seen: "The Wire."
• Another season of still not caring: "American Idol."
• One day we'll wake up and this will all be a dead fad: makeover reality shows.
• One reality show we're going to pay more attention to: "Project Runway."
• One reality show that has lost us for two versions in a row now: "Survivor."
• Still not listening: To whatever Rosie says on "The View."
• Until further notice, another TV truism: Sitcoms are not dead. But they are nowhere near as good as their dramatic counterparts.
Well, that's "What We Know So Far." In a couple of weeks, we'll know if Showtime has yet another hit, whether "The Shield" maintains its greatness and whether one of the landmark series in all of television will go out with a bang.
In the meantime, maybe we could watch "Maisy" until April comes.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/26/DDGFHOQO381.DTL&type=printable
TV Sports
Theismann Dropped From Monday Night Crew
New Lineup Announced for ESPNs Monday Night Football: Tirico, Jaworski and Kornheiser
(ESPN News Release)
Sports televisions signature series, ESPNs Monday Night Football, will kick off its 38th season with a new line-up when longtime ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski joins Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser in the booth, and sideline reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya.
Jaworski will occupy the analyst role previously held by Joe Theismann, who has been offered a prominent football analyst role with ESPN.
This new lineup will enhance our presentation of Monday Night Football, our most important property, said Norby Williamson, executive vice president, studio and remote production, ESPN. Ron has covered the NFL from many different perspectives, and he is totally tied into the issues and trends from around the league.
We appreciate the work Joe has done for 19 years and continue to talk with him about another high-profile football role with ESPN.
Jaworskis passion for football and his knowledge of all things NFL have made him a fan favorite on ESPNs Sunday NFL Countdown and other studio shows. Following a 17-year NFL career (1973-89), most notably as quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jaworski joined ESPN in 1990. He has worked in various capacities sideline reporter, game-site reporter, host and as both a studio and game analyst. He was a fixture on ESPNs NFL studio programs last season, including Sunday NFL Countdown, NFL PrimeTime and NFL Match-Up, a show he will continue to do. Jaworski has also appeared as a weekly Five Good Minutes guest on Monday editions of Pardon the Interruption with Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon and worked as an analyst during the San Diego Chargers-Oakland Raiders game as part of ESPNs 2006 season-opening NFL doubleheader. He continues to be a major contributor to ESPNs annual NFL Draft coverage.
Jaworskis studio responsibilities will now be spread amongst ESPNs deep lineup of NFL analysts, including Emmitt Smith, who will join both Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown, and Bill Parcells, who will appear on ESPNs Monday studio shows.
VisionOn
03-26-07, 05:37 PM
Critic’s Notebook
We wait, whine as the wizards of TV wonder what to keep
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Television Critic Monday, March 26, 2007
• Always there when we need you: HBO, FX, Showtime, BBC America.
Why do the critics keep applauding Sho when they introduced one of the most abhorrent practices on network TV to premium channels. That of running ads over the actual programming. Not to mention that when they aren't showing one of the few worthy series they have, their programming lineup is a barren wasteland.
Do critics sit down and watch channels, or are they all reliant on screener DVDs for episodes these days?
Apart from that, a good read. :D
In the vast majority of cases, critics see their shows on screener DVDs, so complaints about how channels intrude upon the programming -- or how commercial breaks are so upsetting -- are pretty much foreign to them.
In addition, the critics usually get to see several episodes at once, which again -- at least in my opinion -- can change their perception of how a show may be viewed by the audience.
TV Sports
Theismann Dropped From Monday Night Crew
New Lineup Announced for ESPNs Monday Night Football: Tirico, Jaworski and Kornheiser
(ESPN News Release)
Sports televisions signature series, ESPNs Monday Night Football, will kick off its 38th season with a new line-up when longtime ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski joins Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser in the booth, and sideline reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya.
Jaworski will occupy the analyst role previously held by Joe Theismann, who has been offered a prominent football analyst role with ESPN.
Good upgrade....Theismann needed to go.
Critic’s Notebook
`King's' demise reflects state of TV comedy
By Phil Rosenthal Chicago Tribune Media Columnist
On a Culver City, Calif., soundstage this month, Kevin James and the rest of "The King of Queens" crew taped the final episode of their nearly nine-year CBS run.
The episode is set to air this spring and, like the finales in recent years of "Friends," "Frasier" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," it will cause some to reflect on the health of the half-hour sitcom.
They will talk about how the networks increasingly have had trouble developing comedies with mass appeal for the last decade or so. They might point out that, as funny as newcomers "The Office," "30 Rock" and "How I Met Your Mother" are, the only sitcom in Nielsen Media Research's prime-time top 20 in overall viewership for this season is CBS' "Two and a Half Men." And, while averaging around 15 million viewers at No. 16, "Men" is already slipping with Monday's return of ABC's hit "Dancing with the Stars."When "Everybody Loves Raymond" was ending its CBS run in 2005 as TV's top-rated comedy, series creator Phil Rosenthal--known in this columnist's home as The Other Phil Rosenthal--was asked so often about whether his show's exit from prime time spelled the end of sitcoms, he developed a stock response: "I say yes. In fact, I think it's going to be the end of laughing anywhere. And after that, smiling will soon go, too."
The Other Phil Rosenthal then would give his serious answer, that television is cyclical and once another hit comedy comes along, everyone will say, "Oh, look, comedy is back."
He wasn't worried.
But then why should he? According to a study released last week by media buyer Magna Global, "Everybody Loves Raymond" remains television's No. 1 comedy, even almost two years removed from its network run, by virtue of being tops in both syndication and on cable, to say nothing of DVD sales and rentals.
In fact, only one of the study's 10 most popular shows on TV was still airing on a network: "King of Queens."
It seems we're watching more comedy even as we're watching less on the networks, partly because there's so much more comedy available to us. Fourteen years ago, when the Nielsen prime-time top 10 included six sitcoms--"Roseanne," "Home Improvement," "Murphy Brown," "Coach," "Cheers" and "Full House"--there were less than one-third the number of comedy hours available to TV viewers than there are today, between the broadcast networks, syndication and ad-supported cable.
Never mind that the number of sitcoms on network TV, which peaked with 50 at the start of the 2003-04 season, was only 24 at the start of this season last fall.
Part of the problem is obvious to any veteran viewer: Most of the new shows don't compare well to the old favorites.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Emmy-winning work in CBS' "The New Adventures of Old Christine" is OK, but it pales in comparison to her Emmy-winning work in "Seinfeld," which still runs several times daily on cable and over the air.
Sarah Chalke is a lot more noticeable on NBC's "Scrubs" than she was during her four seasons as Becky Conner on "Roseanne," but a lot fewer people are seeing her on "Scrubs."
Brad Garrett's new Fox sitcom "'Til Death" has gotten a huge boost of late, thanks to its "American Idol" lead-in. But even then, it's not doing as well as the far funnier "Raymond."
Just last week, the networks showed advertisers their development slates, the herd from which they'll cull the new shows for next fall's schedules, set to be unveiled in May.
Who knows? Maybe we'll find something among the newbies we like even better than Chuckles the Clown's accidental death on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," or the Thanksgiving turkey drop on "WKRP in Cincinnati" or that episode of "Gilligan's Island" where they almost get off the island.
As for "King of Queens," even as it leaves CBS, its reruns air twice each weekday on TBS cable and a dozen times a week on Chicago's WCIU-Ch. 26. It's tough to miss something that really isn't going away.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0703250061mar25,0,3238870.column
Critic’s Notebook
We wait, whine as the wizards of TV wonder what to keep
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Television Critic Monday, March 26, 2007
• Biggest network lie of the season: "We'll finish telling the story somehow."
Ain't that the truth, bet we never heard that statement from a network exec ever again.
Why do the critics keep applauding Sho when they introduced one of the most abhorrent practices on network TV to premium channels. That of running ads over the actual programming. Not to mention that when they aren't showing one of the few worthy series they have, their programming lineup is a barren wasteland.
Do critics sit down and watch channels, or are they all reliant on screener DVDs for episodes these days?
Apart from that, a good read. :D
I can't help but think this disgusting practice of Showtime's is somehow related to Les Moonves' overseer position of Showtime now.
TV Notebook
Fave shows just a click away
Don't bother picking up your remote control. Your favorite shows are online, convenient, free
By Doug Elfman Chicago Sun-Times Television Critic
It's becoming easier and easier to watch TV without a TV. If you miss an episode of "Lost," you can go to ABC.com to watch not only the most recent episode, but also six others posted there. They're free to watch, unlike shows on $2-an-episode iTunes.
You can't download every TV series online. Fox doesn't post "American Idol," "The Simpsons" or "Family Guy" on MySpace.com/Fox. But you can see 13 other shows there, from "24" to "Bones" and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"
NBC.com serves up 13 series, including every episode of "Heroes." At ABC.com, you can prowl 12 series. CBS.com streams 19.
Certain series aren't online because the studios that film them have yet to sign a contract with TV networks. ("Criminal Minds" would be on CBS.com if CBS owned the show, or if CBS could reach an agreement with owner Paramount.)
An upside to surfing shows: Online, they aren't bundled with as many commercials as on TV. And you can pause, rewind and fast-forward with ease.
A downside: The CW posts most of its series, but CWTV.com's online video player pauses roughly for my Mac and ruins the experience. Same deal with ComedyCentral.com.
There's another catch. To handle the size of videos, you need a good and fairly new PC or Mac. My year-old laptop at home streams fine; my decade-old Mac at the office won't even think about running this stuff. Your computer also needs to be equipped with viewing software, which can be downloaded free through the network sites.
Here's what was online as of last week:
ABC.COM
• "According to Jim": Four episodes
• "Brothers & Sisters": 16 episodes
• "Dancing With the Stars": One episode
• "Desperate Housewives": Four episodes
• "Day Break": 12 episodes including the season finale
• "Grey's Anatomy": Four episodes
• "Knights of Prosperity": Nine episodes
• "Lost": Seven episodes
• "Men in Trees": Two episodes
• "Six Degrees": Four episodes
• "Ugly Betty": Six episodes
• "What About Brian?": 17 episodes
BONUS VIDEO ONLINE
• Behind the scenes at "General Hospital" and other soaps.
• Brief clips of "The View," "Good Morning America," "World News," "Primetime," "Nightline," "This Week" and "20/20."
• Snippets of late-night and primetime series.
NBC.COM
• "30 Rock": Five episodes
• "Andy Barker, P.I.": Six episodes, and most haven't aired on TV yet
• "The Apprentice": Eight episodes
• "The Black Donnellys": Four episodes, plus a fifth with cast and crew commentary, DVD-style
• "Friday Night Lights": 18 episodes
• "Heroes": 18 episodes
• "Las Vegas": 17 episodes from this season, plus all of last season
• "Medium": Two episodes
• "My Name is Earl": One episode
• "Passions": Five episodes
• "Raines": One episode
• "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip": Four episodes
BONUS VIDEO ONLINE
• Tina Fey answers viewers' questions on video.
• Jay Leno shows off his bike.
• Jim Gaffigan does the animated "Pale Force" with Conan O'Brien.
CBS.COM
• "48 Hours Mystery": Three episodes
• "Armed & Famous": Four episodes
• "As the World Turns": One episode
• "CBS Evening News": Five episodes
• "The Class": One episode
• "CSI": Four episodes
• "CSI: Miami": Three episodes
• "CSI: New York": Four episodes.
• "Face the Nation": One episode
• "How I Met Your Mother": Four episodes
• "Jericho": 16 episodes
• "NCIS": Four episodes
• "The New Adventures of Old Christine": Six episodes
• "Numb3rs": Four episodes
• "Rules of Engagement": Six episodes
• "Shark": One episode
• "Survivor: Fiji": Five episodes
• "The Unit": One episode
BONUS VIDEO ONLINE
• Exclusives like "Animate This!"
• Super Bowl commercials.
• Loads of fan-friendly clips, interviews and recaps of "various daytime, prime-time and late night shows, plus behind-the-scenes looks at "The Price Is Right," "Survivor" and other series.
• Extras focusing on the Grammys and a Victoria's Secret event.
• Recaps of Letterman's top 10 lists, monologues and other highlights.
MYSPACE.COM/FOX
(only the most recent of each)
• "24"
• "American Dad"
• "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"
• "Bones"
• "The Loop"
• "The O.C."
• "Prison Break"
• "Standoff"
• "Talkshow with Spike Feresten"
• "'Til Death"
• "Vanished"
• "The War at Home"
• "The Winner"
BONUS VIDEO ONLINE
Not much, unless you go to AmericanIdol.com to watch selected recaps.
CWTV.COM
• "All of Us": Four episodes
• "America's Next Top Model": Two episodes
• "Everybody Hates Chris": Four episodes
• "The Game": Five episodes
• "Girlfriends": Four episodes
• "One Tree Hill": Two episodes
• "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for a New Doll": One episode
• "Supernatural": Four episodes
• "Veronica Mars": Two episodes
BONUS VIDEO ONLINE
• "Top Model" outtakes
• Outtakes from director and creator commentaries for "Everybody Hates Chris" and other shows.
COMEDYCENTRAL.COM Plenty of episodes online, but (at least on my Mac) the media player jumps and pauses too much to enjoy them.
ESPN.COM: Extensive video clips of interviews, commentaries and game recaps. But it can be choppy video.
FXNETWORKS.COM: No FX episodes online.
HBO.COM: No episodes online, although, Bill Maher's "Overtime" episodes keep his "Real Time" guests on the set to chat and answer viewers' real-time questions at length.
MTV.COM: Full episodes of most original shows are not online but are available through iTunes. "The Andy Milonakis Show" begins its third season on MTV2 April 27, yet the entire new season is already buyable at iTunes ($10 for the season; $2 per episode; first episode free).
PBS.ORG: No episodes online.
SHO.COM: No episodes online.
TBS.COM: Has the full seasons of "My Boys" and "10 Items or Less," but only for Windows-equipped PC users.
TNT.TV: Nothing online -- not even "The Closer."
(http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/elfman/311763,SHO-Sunday-elf25.article)
Technology Notebook
Shapiro Cites DTV "Fear-mongering"
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable 3/26/2007
Suggesting there was some"fear-mongering" about the transition to digital, Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro said on Monday that "consumers do not demand these [digital-to-analog converter] boxes as much as some people think they will."
Speaking after a CEA forum in Washington on the DTV transition, Shapiro said the transition "will be uncomfortable and different, but that if we do our jobs right most consumers will know what their options are."
During a forum panel on the transition, Shapiro said there was more alarmist talk than was justified given that there had been transitions before. However, he likened this one more to that between the horse and buggy and the car--more complicated than the transition from black and white television to color.
"Less than 15% of homes will really be shut out totally," by the February 2009 transition to digital, he said, "and of those, some of them want to be shut out," he said. "There is fear-mongering going on, and frankly, it has become a poltiical issue. Democrats are saying the Republicans didn't give enough money and the Democrats now are saying 'oh, we need more money.' "
National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow said he thought the difference between this and other transitions was that it was a government-mandated flash-cut to the new technology, which could require a pretty large education campaign to get right.
Unlike others who have complained about the lack of funding for a DTV education campaign--Congress set aside $5 million--Shapiro says CEA won't take hat in hand and hit up Congress for more. "We don't have a position whether there is enough money," Shapiro said. "We will not ask for additional money. Now, some of our companies may have positions individually. We aren't going to oppose others asking, but we are not going to take a position, though my members could overrule me."
John Lawson, president of the Association of Public Television Stations who was on the DTV panel with Shapiro, had no trouble asking for more money. He called the $5 million grossly inadequate. PBS had asked for $86 million. He said he didn't think he had been fear-mongering. "We've been consistent from day one. We think the government needs to do its part as a major stakeholder in the success of the transition and invest a little bit more in outreach."
"We are exploring some options with the Hill," said Lawson. "But it would be something less than $86 million." A Republican-controlled Congress set aside the $5 million. Democrats now controlling the Commerce committees in both Houses have been talking about getting more money for the campaign.
Marcellus Alexander, executive VP for the National Association of Broadcasters, said consumers could start looking for the joint-industry DTV education PSA's to begin around Jan. 1, 2008. That is when the government is required to start taking applications for up to two, $40 coupons per TV household, each of which can be used toward the purchase of a $60 analog-to-DTV converter box.
Echoing a suggestion made to an NAB conference by FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, Alexander said it might be too early to start the PSA campaign now. "We believe that if we started today with the public service announcements, people have a lot of other things on their minds now, the war in Iraq, gas prices."
Starting in January has its challenges as well given the presidential campaigns. "There is an election that will take up a lot of inventory, and we're looking at different ways to reach that audience despite that demand."
Alexander said he had to respectfully disagree with Shapiro by saying he "didn't see fear-mongering going on" in terms of how many sets are analog-only. Shapiro said the number is not large and getting smaller all the time. "The numbers [of sets that could be disenfranchises] are a little bit different from Gary. We don't want as an industry to lose any viewers," Shapiro said.
Both Alexander and Lawson said grassroots campaigns through groups like the NAACP and others most affected by the transition would begin before that.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6427969
Washington Notebook
Extra Innings Beanball War Moves to Capitol Hill
By Mike Reynolds [B]MultiChannel News 3/26/2007
It may not be the 1927 New York Yankees lineup of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs, Tony Lazzeri and Bob Meusel, but there will be another Murderer’s Row of sorts gathering on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
In Demand president Rob Jacobson, DirecTV president Chase Carey, EchoStar Communications chairman Charlie Ergen, Major League Baseball president and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy and Penn State Law professor Stephen Ross will appear before a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing to discuss the league’s $700 million, seven-year deal with DirecTV for the out-of-market Extra Innings package and MLB’s linear network, scheduled to launch in 2009.
The hearing comes just four days before the March 31 deadline MLB set for cable and EchoStar’s Dish Network to match DirecTV’s offer.
In Demand said its pitch last Wednesday to baseball for the package satisfied the league's demands, matching DirecTV's price for the package and guaranteed distribution through In Demand's three owners -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications -- of the league's upstart Baseball Channel to as many subscribers as DirecTV would provide the channel at launch.
But MLB immediately rejected the offer, saying in a prepared statement that it “falls short of nearly all of the material conditions.
That sets the showdown for a potential beanball affair at the Senate hearing, which was called after several lawmakers questioned whether baseball's exclusive deal with DirecTV was anti-consumer, particularly since cable has offered the package since 2001. The cable industry generated around 200,000 buys from the package last year.
http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6427983
Washington Notebook
MLB-EI Hearings: Who’ll be Testifying
Here is some background information on the five men who will be testifying Tuesday before the full Senate Commerce Committee which will be looking into the MLB-Extra Innings contract.
(Information is from company websites, except for Charlie Ergen's bio, which is from Forbes.com.)
Rob Jacobson, President iN Demand
Rob Jacobson is presently President & Chief Executive Officer of iN DEMAND Networks.
Rob joined the company in 1999 as Senior Vice President Programming/Business Development and through a series of successive promotions rose to Executive Vice President, to Chief Operating Officer and in May 2004 to President & CEO.
Throughout his career, Rob has consistently demonstrated innovation in the sports and entertainment business and is widely recognized for the creation and development of sustained product differentiators for both cable and satellite.
While at iN DEMAND, he created the Sports iN DEMAND umbrella and under it launched NBA LEAGUE PASS, NHL CENTER ICE and MLB EXTRA INNINGS. Moreover, Rob gave American television viewers their first taste of interactive television programming with the launch of the Emmy Award-winning NASCAR IN CAR.
His latest innovation is the launch of INHD and INHD2, now cable’s fastest growing all-HD networks, which feature a mix of professional and college sports and general entertainment programming. Over the past few years, Rob also has guided the company’s transition to VOD, which has become one of cable’s most significant product differentiators.
Prior to joining iN DEMAND, Mr. Jacobson was the head of DirecTV’s East Coast programming office and is recognized for the creation and development of Mega March Madness in conjunction with CBS Sports. Jacobson was also responsible for the DirecTV Multi-Cam Racing Series and Ivy League Friday Nights.
Mr. Jacobson joined DirecTV from Fox/Liberty Networks where he was Vice President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing. Prior to that he served as Vice President, Programming and Business Affairs for American Sky Broadcasting, L.L.C. IN DEMAND Networks is owned by Comcast Cable Communications, Cox Communications, Inc. and Time Warner Entertainment – Advance/Newhouse Partnership.
Steve A. Ross Penn State University Professor of Law
Education: J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California – Berkeley; A.B., University of California – Berkeley
Professor Stephen Ross, one of the nation’s leading sports law and antitrust scholars, joined the Penn State Dickinson faculty from the University of Illinois College of Law.
After graduation from the University of California Boalt Hall School of Law, where he was associate editor of the California Law Review, Professor Ross held a variety of positions leading up to his career in teaching. He spent several years in Washington, D.C., as an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, clerked for Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and served as minority counsel for the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. Senate.
Professor Ross is the author of the casebook Principles of Antitrust Law and has published various pieces involving U.S. and Canadian antitrust and competition policies, domestic and international sports antitrust issues, and statutory interpretation, as well as comparative Canadian law.
His expert testimony and advice on antitrust issues in the sports arena has been sought by various governmental entities in the U.S. and Canada over the years. Additionally, he has served as pro bono counsel to the Consumer Federation of America on sports antitrust litigation.
Professor Ross is a senior fellow of the American Antitrust Institute and an active participant in the America Bar Association’s Section on Antitrust Law.
Robert A. DuPuy MLB President & Chief Operating Officer
Robert A. DuPuy was named the President and Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball on March 7, 2002. As President and Chief Operating Officer of Major League Baseball, he is responsible for all phases of baseball's Central Offices, including licensing, sponsorship, international, broadcasting, publishing, marketing, public relations, government relations, baseball operations, legal affairs, finance, baseball's internet operations and the labor relations committee.
DuPuy has been involved in most of Major League Baseball's legal issues since 1989, when he was brought in as outside legal counsel. He negotiated the settlement of the collusion grievance in 1990, and served as the principal outside counsel to the Commissioner and the Executive Council from 1992 until 1998, when Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig hired him as the MLB Executive Vice President of Administration and Chief Legal Officer.
In that capacity, DuPuy oversaw the consolidation of the American and National Leagues into the Central Offices, the consolidation of MLB's office in Washington, D.C., and the formation MLBAM (Major League Baseball Advanced Media) as its initial Chief Executive Officer.
DuPuy, who grew up in Branford, Conn., received an A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1968 and a J.D. from Cornell in 1973. There, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Law Review. He saw military service with the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970 and served a year in Vietnam in the 504th Military Police Battalion, where he received the Army Commendation Medal for his service.
After receiving his law degree, DuPuy joined Foley and Lardner, one of the nation's largest law firms, in 1973, becoming a partner in 1980. He has served as a member of that firm's Management Committee, and as Chairman of the firm's Professional Standards Committee. He is a long-time member and Past-Chairman of the State Bar of Wisconsin's Professional Ethics Committee. He has taught legal ethics and professional responsibility at Northwestern Law School, the University of Wisconsin Law School, and Marquette University Law School, and has served as a long-time faculty member of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.
Charles Ergen, EchoStar CEO
University of Tennessee Knoxville, Bachelor of Arts / Science; Wake Forest University, Master of Business Administration
Founder of satellite-TV service EchoStar picked up a number of satellite channels from Dolan family's moneylosing Voom venture, part of long-term HDTV expansion plans.
Strong growth last year in customers (325,000 new in first quarter), but company still lags behind rival DirecTV (505,000 new users). Former Frito-Lay financial analyst started selling C-band satellite dishes 1980. Today EchoStar broadcasts to more than 15 million subscribers, surpassing Time Warner as third-largest pay-TV distributor.
Chase Carey DirecTV President and Chief Executive Officer
Carey has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of DirecTVsince December 22, 2003.
He served as Co-Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation from 1996 until 2002 and as a director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sky Global Networks, Inc. from 2001 until 2002.
Before that, he was a director of Fox Entertainment Group, Inc. ("Fox Entertainment") from 1992 until 2002 and served as Co-Chief Operating Officer from 1998 until 2002.
Carey was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Television from 1994 until 2000. Mr. Carey was a director of News America Incorporated ("News America") from 1998 until 2002, President and Chief Operating Officer from 1998 until 2002 and Executive Vice President from 1996 to 1998.
He also served as a director of NDS Group, Inc. ("NDS") from 1996 until 2002 and a director of Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. ("Gemstar-TV Guide") from 2000 until 2002.
VisionOn
03-26-07, 06:58 PM
I can't help but think this disgusting practice of Showtime's is somehow related to Les Moonves' overseer position of Showtime now.
in my mind I have no doubt. Too many things happened to Sho's lineup and attitude since he took over for it not to be his doing.
VisionOn
03-26-07, 07:02 PM
TV Notebook
Fave shows just a click away
Don't bother picking up your remote control. Your favorite shows are online, convenient, free
By Doug Elfman Chicago Sun-Times Television Critic
There's another catch. To handle the size of videos, you need a good and fairly new PC or Mac. My year-old laptop at home streams fine; my decade-old Mac at the office won't even think about running this stuff.
That's the catch? Can you really expect a 10 year old computer to be running video streams without some upgrades? :rolleyes:
The real catch is that a lot of streamed content on default settings is the size of a postage stamp!
This is the phone number of MLB. Ask for the Commissioners Office. They will listen to your concerns if you are polite and respectful. It may be too late but "Never give up, don't ever give up"
212-931-7800
The internet stuff has been available for little over a year. It has been improving and will get much better very quickly.
rustycruiser
03-26-07, 07:24 PM
That's the catch? Can you really expect a 10 year old computer to be running video streams without some upgrades? :rolleyes:
The real catch is that a lot of streamed content on default settings is the size of a postage stamp!
Agreed. If the official online content was of a decent size and resolution, I would watch it and the attached ads. But due to the subpar quality, I get illegal torrents.
Critic’s Notebook
It's springtime, and the reruns are in bloom
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News
In the spring, one television writer's thoughts turn to perennial topics:
The Deadly Repeat.
The past couple of weeks, my e-mail box has been filled with complaints from readers about the number of repeats on network TV. No surprise there, since rerun discontent is an annual spring event, like opening day of the baseball season.
Still, here's a quick recap on why March and April are loaded with reruns: Most network dramas produce 22 episodes; most half-hour sitcoms make 24. Those episodes have to be spread out over a season that runs 36 weeks, from mid-September to late May.
That means shows have to go into reruns (or be pre-empted) for 12 to 14 weeks each season. Since the networks want to load up with fresh episodes at certain times of the season - the start, the so-called rating "sweeps" periods and the end - that pushes the bulk of the oldies into the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday period and the months of March and April.
It's been that way for a long time, and while some shows have bent the original-repeat pattern - Fox's "24," for instance, runs 24 straight episodes starting in January - the networks have yet to find an alternative.
The Dreaded Bubble.
Running a close second to rerun complaints: Is my favorite show (fill in the blank) coming back next season?
For many series, including several that debuted with high hopes in the fall, it's too late: They've already disappeared from the schedule. The absolutely final decisions about shows that are on the so-called "bubble" - they might be back, might not - won't be made until early May, just before the networks announce their fall lineups.
The list of bubble shows was reduced last week when ABC renewed "Boston Legal" and "Men In Trees," and Fox announced it would bring back "Prison Break." But that still leaves a reasonably large number of series in some jeopardy, including "Friday Night Lights" and "30 Rock" on NBC, Fox's "'Til Death," the CW's "Gilmore Girls" and "Veronica Mars," and all of ABC's sitcoms.
This year, though, the network to pay attention to is CBS, which has network TV's most stable and most-watched schedule. It has some obvious bubble series - "Close to Home," "The Class" - but there are rumors that the network may spring some surprises and ax a few shows that are considered moderate hits. The idea is to clear room for new shows that might generate more buzz - something CBS hasn't had, despite its success, in several years.
The Summer Shows.
E-mail topic No. 3: When is my favorite summertime show (fill in the blank) coming back?
I could be flip and say, "In the summertime." That's not very satisfying, but the fact is that return dates for most notable post-Memorial Day series haven't been announced and won't be for a while.
However, rest assured that TNT's "The Closer" and HBO's "Big Love" will be back in mid- to late June with FX's "Rescue Me" and (probably) "Nip/Tuck," USA's "Dead Zone" and "The 4400" and Showtime's "Weeds" - all of which get asked about repeatedly - surfacing in July and August. One fave that won't be around this summer: HBO's "Deadwood" - which may never return. However, "Deadwood" creator David Milch's new "John From Cincinnati" debuts on the premium cable channel on June10.
Remote controls
"House" (9:07 p.m. Tuesday, Fox) finally is back with a new episode, with friends-with-benefits Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer) finding time to play doctor outside the hospital. But do note the strange start time of 9:07. The good folks at Fox apparently decided it would be a giggle to take a bite out of the audience for "Dancing With the Stars" (which airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday) by running "American Idol" seven minutes long. What a bunch of kidders.
And while we're on "Idol," yes, folks, it's pretty outrageous that Stephanie Edwards has been voted off while Sanjaya Malakar - who sounds like he's being kicked in a sensitive body part every time he sings - is still around. But good singers have gotten the boot on "Idol" while lame ones stayed around before (Remember Jennifer Hudson? Or Tamayra Gray?). It's not unprecedented. Remain calm.
Speaking of "Friends" with benefits: FX's "Dirt" finishes up its first (and possibly only) season Tuesday (starting at 10) with the much-ballyhooed episode guest-starring Jennifer Aniston as a rival to tabloid editor Lucy Spiller (Courteney Cox). The ex-"Friends" stars reportedly do a little lip-lock, which ought to do wonders for the ratings.
http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5522527&siteId=568
This is the phone number of MLB. Ask for the Commissioners Office. They will listen to your concerns if you are polite and respectful. It may be too late but "Never give up, don't ever give up"
212-931-7800
Of course, calls to those running In Demand, Dish, Comcast Time Warner and/or Cox might be in order, too.
grittree
03-26-07, 08:38 PM
Echoing a suggestion made to an NAB conference by FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, Alexander said it might be too early to start the PSA campaign now. "We believe that if we started today with the public service announcements, people have a lot of other things on their minds now, the war in Iraq, gas prices."
That has to be the most idiotic statement of 2007.
I wonder how these guys managed to get to the conference, what with their minds so tied up thinking about the war and gas prices.
Davinleeds
03-26-07, 08:45 PM
TV Notebook
Fave shows just a click away
Don't bother picking up your remote control. Your favorite shows are online, convenient, free
By Doug Elfman Chicago Sun-Times Television Critic
(http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/elfman/311763,SHO-Sunday-elf25.article)
Watched (some) Battlestar on SciFi.
Other options:http://www.findinternettv.com/
http://www.joost.com/
DoubleDAZ
03-26-07, 09:31 PM
Before I got my HDTV this was as close to watching an animal documentary as I came: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s85uQ45fP0 (pause it and then scroll until it reaches 2:40 min. into the clip... trust me, its worth the hassle). :DI don't know whether to sympathize or empathize. :)
Passings
Michel Grilikhes, 83,
TV executive, Emmy winner
By Variety
TV exec and stage show developer Michel (Mike) Grilikhes died March 9 in Culver City of kidney failure. He was 83.
A native of New York, he attended Yale U. and had a 20 year career in the U.S. Marines. After working in the film unit for the Marines, he started in show business as managing director of Town Hall Theater in Sturbridge, Mass., then joined Universal Pictures in New York and became production manager on "Mr. Universe," starring Jack Carson and Bert Lahr.
Grilikhes joined CBS Television, where he worked as production exec and producer/director on shows such as "Studio One" and "G.E. Theater." He won an Emmy for producing "Playhouse 90" and served as program exec for shows including "Route 66," "Dobie Gillis" and "Dennis the Menace."
His writing credits include the screenplay for United Artists' "Duel at Diablo," a two part episode of "Bonanza" and "The Golden Men" for Qualis Productions.
He produced several live arena shows such as "The Wizard Of Oz," "Disney On Parade" and "Peter Pan," the latter two grossing more than $60 million.
Grilikhes and his wife of 47 years, actress Laraine Day, were active in the development of Oahu's Polynesian Cultural Center. He also produced several touring Polynesian-themed shows.
He was a member of the Writers Guild of America and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Grilikhes is survived by his wife; two daughters; a son; a stepson; a stepdaughter; several grandchildren and two sisters.
Donations may be made to SHARE, Inc. P.O. Box 1342, Beverly Hills, CA 90213.
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117961844&categoryid=14
TV Sports
Is MLB's TV deal about greed or fans?
Senator Kerry Says Deal "doesn't violate any laws"
By Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune March 26, 2007
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Last weekend, with Major League Baseball's latest summons to Washington fast approaching, Bud Selig wasn't holed up with lawyers preparing for Tuesday's hearing on the Extra Innings cable television controversy.
No, Selig was doing what he loves to do. He was in Arizona, watching Cactus League games and spending some relaxed private time with the owners who have given him an unprecedented level of support.
He swung by press boxes to make himself accessible to reporters, a habit that dates to his years running the Milwaukee Brewers.
Selig talked about labor peace, competitive balance and the growing anticipation of Opening Day. He proclaimed this, for seemingly the thousandth time, "the golden era" of baseball, and he didn't complain once about the contracts given Alfonso Soriano and Gil Meche or the growing salaries in general.
He did allude to revenue.
"I was talking to [Kansas City Royals owner] David Glass earlier, and he was saying that revenues [for MLB] were at $1.2 billion when he bought the team," Selig said. "I remember meetings when we talked about how we could get it to $2 billion. Now we'll be at $5.5 billion and growing. It's unbelievable."
Selig is right. It is unbelievable.
Only a little more than a decade after owners and players wiped out the World Series because they couldn't agree on how to divide the pie, it has grown to a size no one would have predicted.
Ticket prices have soared, the integrity of once-sacred records has been compromised by steroids and human growth hormone, World Series games have routinely ended after school children were in bed, and yet Selig has steered MLB into an era of unprecedented prosperity.
Now we'll see if Selig and whoever replaces him in 2009—Andy MacPhail, Bob DuPuy or someone else—can handle success.
The awarding of MLB's out-of-town television package to satellite TV (DirecTV) after years of making it available as a premium feature on digital cable raises the question of greed.
MLB accepted a seven-year, $700 million deal with DirecTV seemingly without considering that it had in effect taken access to the game away from potentially millions of its most passionate fans—specifically, the transplants who have moved away from their hometowns but still live and die with their teams.
Only after a public outcry did MLB offer the cable companies a chance to continue to carry the Extra Innings package.
The terms it offered were deemed unacceptable by iN Demand and Dish Network. The validity of that counteroffer is at the heart of Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, called by Sens. John Kerry and Arlen Specter.
DuPuy, MLB's chief operating officer, says there's nothing nefarious about the deal.
"Our hope is that iN Demand and Dish opt in and that all fans have an opportunity to receive the Extra Innings package," DuPuy told the Associated Press. "This is not about iN Demand or Dish not being able to match the DirecTV offer; it is about their willingness to do so.
"This was a negotiation at arm's length over several months. DirecTV set the market. It is up to the other bidders to meet it."
DirecTV not only paid to carry the games but also agreed to another key element in the MLB negotiations: a dedicated, 12-months-a-year, 24-hours-a-day channel for MLB, as the NFL has had in place for 31/2 years. In its belated counteroffer to cable companies, MLB stipulated that they would also have to give it an all-baseball channel.
In a conference call Monday, Kerry told reporters that terms of the DirecTV deal do not violate laws but could prompt legislators to review baseball's antitrust exemption. He said he's looking out for Boston Red Sox fans who live across the country and don't have DirecTV.
"The people I represent in Massachusetts, New England, have a passion for the Red Sox," Kerry said. "We've lost jobs in recent years. We've seen a lot of folks go to Arizona, New Mexico, but they still follow the Red Sox. People retire, but they'd like to be able to continue to follow their team."
Kerry said he doesn't believe Congress can or would impose legislation to affect the situation but believes the hearing will force MLB to answer questions that will show whether its offer for the cable companies to match the DirecTV deal was legitimate or made only for appearance' sake.
"That's the purpose of the hearing," Kerry said. "Fans are pretty discerning. I think they'll have a terrific ability to say, 'Well, that's a crock or this isn't,' and kind of get a read on it."
While MLB says most of the people unhappy about the DirecTV deal have the ability to switch to add a satellite dish and switch to that carrier, most would regard it as a major change.
The only other way to view out-of-market games would be on the Internet through a subscription service sold by MLB.com, which is owned by MLB.
The good news for baseball is that so many people still care so much about its product. It's up to Selig to make sure that MLB doesn't alienate its most passionate fans.
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-070326rogers,1,5776791,print.column?coll=cs-cubs-headlines
Programming note:
C-SPAN/C-SPAN2 will not be covering the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the MLB-EI/DirecTV deal because both the House and the Senate will be in session at the same time.
Nonetheless, keep checking in here throughout the morning and I'll keep you updated with what is going on.
TV Sports
Theismann miffed by removal from “'MNF'”
By Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Joe Theismann, bumped out of the ESPN "Monday Night Football" booth and replaced by Ron Jaworski, said Monday the move "came out of the blue" and he has "no earthly idea" why it was made.
ESPN executive vice president Norby Williamson, in announcing the change Monday, said Theismann had done nothing wrong, but it was felt that replacing him with Jaworski would enhance the telecasts.
Williamson said ESPN hoped to retain Theismann by offering him another prominent football commentating job. Williamson would not specify what job, but Theismann later said by phone it was the Saturday night college football package with Brent Musburger. Kirk Herbstreit and Bob Davie worked with Musburger last season.
Theismann, who has been a pro football commentator at ESPN since 1988, was informed of the change on Friday. Jaworski was told the day before.
For Theismann last season, one of the biggest changes was working with newcomer Tony Kornheiser, the Washington Post columnist and co-host of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption."
Almost immediately, media critics pointed to a lack of chemistry between the two men, particularly early in the season, but Williamson on Monday dismissed that complaint.
"I thought Joe and Tony got along very well, and I thought the dialogue was good and conversational," he said. "Now I think we're going to build on last year. We had a fantastic first year. I was happy with the booth and I think we're in a position now of continuing to move it forward and build on it."
Theismann's agent, Sandy Montag, said he was convinced there would be interest in Theismann from other networks. But, Montag said, Theismann is under contract to ESPN and would have to be released from it to go elsewhere.
A spokesman for NFL Network said all the announcers there are locked up, indicating there was no room to add Theismann. That could be a problem at other networks as well.
Theismann conceded the college football offer from ESPN is intriguing.
"I love college football," he said, "but not as much as I love the NFL."
Kornheiser on Monday said he and Theismann "had a nice phone conversation, in which Joe was very gracious." Kornheiser said he suggested to the former Washington Redskins quarterback that he look into doing something with Notre Dame.
Theismann was a standout quarterback at Notre Dame and runner-up to Stanford's Jim Plunkett for the 1970 Heisman Trophy.
Jaworski, a former Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, has been at the network since 1990 and is not untested. ESPN opened last season with a Monday night doubleheader, and Jaworski teamed with Dick Vermeil and play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler on the secondary game, San Diego at Oakland.
Although Jaworski is probably better known as an ESPN studio analyst, it may be more noteworthy that he has been friends with Kornheiser for a long time and has appeared on "Pardon the Interruption" frequently. The two men clearly get along well.
Jaworski called his new job "the pinnacle of sports broadcasting," and of reaching that pinnacle, he said, "If you keep sawing wood you eventually break through."
He said he had not yet talked with Theismann but that he would. He called Theismann a good friend.
"That's what makes this a little bittersweet," Jaworski said.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-theismann27mar27,1,4853438,print.story?coll=la-headlines-sports
humdinger70
03-27-07, 02:55 AM
Let Theismann be miffed...
Let's be honest. A lot of people (including many not at ESPN) thought that Theismann was lousy and detracted from the game. Jaworski will be missed on the pre-game shows, but he'll be an attribute in the booth.
TV Sports
Sen. Kerry talks 'Extra Innings'”
By Tim Lemke Washington Times
Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation tomorrow plan to question officials from Major League Baseball and DirecTV over their potentially exclusive deal involving the league's "Extra Innings" package of out-of-market games.
Senator John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, arranged a quick and noisy conference call Monday with reporters, in which he said that he feared the league was shutting out non-DirecTV subscribers in the name of profit.
"It's an attempt to corner the market and limit fans," he said. "And I'm concerned about that."
MLB and DirecTV announced a deal involving Extra Innings earlier this month, and the league gave until March 31 for other cable and satellite companies to match the terms.
Kerry said he was concerned that Extra Innings would end up exclusively on DirecTV, possibly shutting out millions of people who had previously received the service through their cable company or Dish Network.
Extra Innings allows fans to watch games involving teams located outside their home markets, allowing a Boston native living in Phoenix, for instance, to watch Red Sox games.
"I think people should be able to get [the games] of their team," Kerry said. "Red Sox Nation is affected. I've heard from people who feel the same way about fans of the Cardinals and Cubs. Access to our national pastime and sporting contests is an important part of the fabric of American life."
Kerry acknowledged that an exclusive deal between MLB and DirecTV is "probably legal," but he wanted to ensure that other cable and satellite providers had a reasonable and fair chance to match DirecTV's terms.
Kerry earlier this month asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the deal, and the FCC said it would look into the matter. But Kerry said he has not heard from the FCC since that initial correspondence.
MLB President Bob DuPuy is scheduled to testify along with DirecTV CEO Chase Carey, Echostar President Carl Vogel, inDemand President Rob Jacobson and Penn State law professor Stephen Ross.
http://www.washtimes.com/blogs/storyview.php?StoryID=20070326-015315-3373r&TopicsID=sportsbiz
steverobertson
03-27-07, 06:59 AM
Let Theismann be miffed...
Let's be honest. A lot of people (including many not at ESPN) thought that Theismann was lousy and detracted from the game. Jaworski will be missed on the pre-game shows, but he'll be an attribute in the booth.
I agree with you I was never a Theismann fan he just never shuts up
WilliamR
03-27-07, 08:16 AM