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fredfa

03-30-07, 11:34 AM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt (from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com)
Matt answers your questions about “Brothers & Sisters”, “Battlestar Galactica”, “Grey's Anatomy”, “American Idol” and More
By Matt Roush: TVGuide.com TV Critic Friday, March 30, 2007

Question: I just watched Brothers & Sisters for the first time and it seemed very familiar to me. Then I realized that part of what I was responding to was that both Sally Field and Patricia Wettig, while still beautiful, looked like "real" women I could actually know in real life. I was struck by the emotion they were able to convey because they don't seem to have had any work done, which can freeze the face. Is this the beginning of a trend or just a quirk? Have others noticed it? Have executives discussed it and held focus groups about it? British television often lets people age gracefully, but we don't seem to trust that the American public will look at an older face.— Brigid

Matt Roush: I'd love this to be a trend, but it's probably more of an anomaly, given TV's general fixation on youth and most of Hollywood's refusal to age with grace. One of the best of many good things to say about Brothers & Sisters is how remarkable it is to see actresses with the chops of Sally Field and Patricia Wettig given substantial roles without having to compromise the fact that they are, shall we say, mature. I haven't a clue if this mini-breakthrough has resonated throughout corporate suites (I doubt it), and I'm not sure I want to know what focus groups have to say about anything, but I don't see a downside to what Brothers & Sisters has accomplished. You would hope the triumph of Helen Mirren in the movies and on TV in the last year would inspire the industry to work harder to give veteran actors and actresses work worthy of their experience, reputation and longevity.

Question: I want to bring up two questions about Battlestar Galactica's season finale (which in my book was totally fantastic). First, if Chief is a Cylon, does that make his child a hybrid, like Hera? Second, I thought the ending with Starbuck was so cool, but a question keeps surfacing about whether she must be a ghost since her ship blew up. Is it possible that what Apollo had seen was Starbuck actually going through a barrier or portal, and those were starbursts of some sort? I thought the finale was one of the best episodes of the season. I like that they kept the identity of the fifth Cylon a secret. The only thing that upsets me is that we have to wait until 2008 to see what happens.— Melinda R.

Matt Roush: You merely scratch the surface of the myriad questions that Battlestar Galactica's finale has raised. I'm not even going to try to speculate, as it would reveal how shamefully shallow my understanding of this show's twisted universe probably is. I can't fathom how any of the characters revealed as Cylons in the finale could actually be so, and what it means if in fact they have been that way all this time. I'm just as baffled where Starbuck's resurrection is concerned, and how she could possibly have been to Earth and back, and what it means for her to reemerge amid what appeared to be a Cylon attack. I found it all very puzzling but dazzling. I just hope that when answers are given, I'll be able to grasp what it all means. Having to wait more than half a year for the next chapters isn't likely to help, but that's the way it is.

Among the more provocative letters to come in since the BSG finale was this one from John: "I've had a day to think about the season finale of Battlestar Galactica, some of which I saw coming, some of which was a bit of a surprise. It made Season 4 a perfect opportunity to close the series. More important (to me), though, is an idea that started gnawing at me today, regarding the potential direction for Season 4. The Cylons are very god-oriented, specifically monotheistic, while the tribes are polytheistic. We now have 12 Cylon models and one messiah (Gaius Baltar). I posit that Galactica et al do find Earth, but neither modern Earth nor future Earth. It's Earth of the period near 1 AD. With Cylons as the apostles of Gaius (Jesus), there's the added possibility that one could easily act as Lazarus. Thus the Cylons beget Christianity. Apart from the fact that the controversy surrounding this might be too much for a little show on Sci Fi to bear, it seems like a plausible outcome. Obviously this topic is regarded as untouchable, but I think it would be a fascinating conclusion to an incredible series."

I think I'm glad you didn't have two days to think about it. Apparently, only God really does know where this show is heading. While some of this sounds pretty outrageous, even to me, there's no question that matters of religion and faith as they affect community is a major underlying theme behind everything Battlestar Galactica does. It's clear John is being ironic in describing Galactica as "a little show on Sci Fi," because at its best, as in the finale (which confronted the very idea of justice in this shattered civilization), it is one of the most far-reaching, ambitiously visionary series imaginable.

Question: I've just learned that Battlestar Galactica won't be returning until January, and I'm really upset about it, but not for the reason you'd expect — unlike certain Lost fans out there, I'm more than happy to wait a while for a good show. What has me worried is that Galactica is hitting that phase where viewers start to get confused about what's going on. In a show like this one that slowly unfolds over time, keeping abreast of where you are in the story is absolutely necessary, which gets difficult after three seasons or so. When a show disappears for such a long time, it runs the risk of its audience forgetting it. Basically, I'm afraid of another Farscape, so please put my mind at ease: How are Galactica's ratings? How is Sci Fi Channel planning to sustain viewer interest over the wait ahead?— David G.

Matt Roush: There's nothing about Battlestar that isn't risky, and that includes the scheduling, which often takes the form of confusing split seasons and the occasional long hiatus. I have no idea if Sci Fi will keep the show in rerun rotation during the break, and if so for how long, but at the very least, I would expect the channel will produce a special, as it has in the past, that will air before the next season premieres, to catch viewers up with what happened last and (I'm hoping for my own sake) to put into proper context revelations such as who's a Cylon and what Starbuck's destiny is. This is a show that also thrives on DVD, so once this season is available, it can be used as text for the many who might otherwise have suffered some short-term memory loss. Regardless, I don't see a repeat of the Farscape situation, at least in terms of a premature cancellation. The ratings may not be the best, but the show is still critical to the Sci Fi brand, and it's in the best interest of the channel (and its parent company, which produces the show) to keep nurturing Battlestar, at least for one more 22-hour season.

Question: I would like to react to the whole George and Izzie situation on Grey's Anatomy. I do not think that the two of them as a couple would be inappropriate. Contrary to what I've read about the subject, I think we really had it coming for a while, and something was bound to happen between the two of them. Izzie and George have been really close friends since the beginning, and I've always felt a special connection between them — and lately more than ever, with Izzie being irritating and kind of jealous about George and Callie's abrupt wedding. Even Callie figured out that special connection. Shonda Rhimes herself said in the last Grey's official podcast that she had been thinking about George and Izzie as an item since the pilot. And please stop comparing what's happening now with "Gizzie" to what happened last season between George and Meredith. The whole Mer-George thing was a total fiasco, but when you see that scene between Izzie and George in the closet, you feel that they obviously really care about each other, but they have to define the exact terms of their relationship. I think this is what we are going to see in the next episodes. Anyway, to make a long story short, I kind of like the dynamic of these two characters together, and I'm eager to see how it all plays out. Keep up the good work on your column!— Jordan

Matt Roush: Thanks, and by the way, how's the weather out on that limb? The majority consensus does seem to be against this hookup. Personally, I'm happy to go wherever this show takes us, and since both Izzie and George (especially George) expressed a proper amount of contrition the morning (and afternoon) after, I'm OK with this latest stunt, though not as sure as you that it was a good idea. Inevitable, yes. This, after all, is Grey's Anatomy, and I'm convinced that by series' end, every character will have performed some sort of sexual act with every other character on the show, regardless of sex, age, race, sexual orientation or possibly even if they're alive or dead (given the occasional detours to the afterlife). Izzie and George are best friends, something akin to soul mates, going much deeper than the George-Meredith crush that ended with such humiliation. Making it sexual also can't end well, and it already kind of hasn't. The odds of Callie never finding out are pretty slim, after all. And when that Amazon is crossed, watch out, Izzie. But am I screaming "jump the shark" (which, as most readers know by now, I almost never do) after this? By no means. Do I think the show has yet recovered from the sweeps' three-parter? Not quite. Do I think the Alex-Jane Doe story line is saving the show right now? Yes, indeed I do.

Question: I think Lost is back on its legs after a postbreak slump. The show is best when it brings the original ensemble together. Will ABC move it from the 10 pm/ET time slot? I usually record it because I work a lot of early-morning shifts. If it came on earlier and focused more on fan faves, like Sayid, Locke, Jin and Sun, then more of the original fans would return. (By the way, "The Man from Tallahassee" should be submitted for Emmy consideration. Best episode this season by far.) The show that needs to recapture some of its magic is Grey's Anatomy. I have been watching the second-season episodes on Lifetime, and that was when Shonda and Co. were on top of their game. I still love the show, but the whole George and Izzie affair was totally unexpected, the lack of Bailey is getting on my nerves, and someone please give McSteamy a story line. Poor Eric Dane at this point is no more than window dressing.— Yolanda

Matt Roush: I don't see ABC moving Lost earlier at this point. It has been well proven that it's difficult to find a show to pair with this one, and despite the drop in audience, it still draws a large concentration of ad-friendly younger viewers in the critical time slot before local news. So from the network's (and even the affiliates') point of view, this still makes the most sense, even if there is a chunk of the audience that can't stay up for it. (On the other hand, airing it too early puts it out of reach of those with busy lives and young kids, who can't settle in front of the TV until later.) I'm not sure any solution will bring back those who have drifted away. As for Grey's, I agree on one thing: more Bailey!

Question: This past fall, I saw a performance of King Lear at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, and I really didn't understand the play. These past six weeks, I have actually learned what King Lear is about while watching Slings & Arrows. The last 15 minutes of this series had me in tears. Please don't forget about Slings & Arrows when referencing season/series finales, and this year's finest shows.— Daryl

Matt Roush: Mea culpa for not bringing up Slings & Arrows in my recent roundup of last Sunday's season/series finales. A pure oversight, since I'd watched all six episodes in a single sitting several months ago and hadn't done the math to realize the finale was airing the same night as Rome, BSG, Grease!, etc. If it's any consolation, it is on my (current) short list of "best of 2007" shows, right up there with Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica, 30 Rock, post-hiatus Lost and Planet Earth.

Question: I've been watching TV for the better part of 40 years, so I have a pretty good idea of just how the TV season goes. The new season starts in September and runs through May, with all new episodes and some repeats during the holiday season. Or at least that's how it used to be. I say that because now, in February and again in March, I can't help but notice all the repeat shows that are on. I don't recall this happening before. Take Saturday Night Live as an example. They did two repeat shows, followed by two new shows, and next Saturday they are going back to another repeat. What is going on here? On a side note, NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was very entertaining, and then suddenly it's gone and replaced by The Black Donnellys. No word on what happened to Studio 60. Even the show's website didn't provide any answers. Any light you can shine on these matters would be appreciated.— Jim M.

Matt Roush: SNL has always staggered originals with repeats throughout the season, or at least has for a long time. It has been averaging around 20 episodes per season for most of its life, and this season is pretty much on track with the average. Studio 60 went on hiatus a week earlier than expected, but it was well reported that it would step away to give a mid-season tryout to The Black Donnellys (agreed, a much less promising show, though both are probably doomed at this point). As for the overall repeat situation: every year at this time, there's a collective nostalgic amnesia in which we seem to remember a time when repeats weren't a fact of TV life. I've been watching TV at least as long as Jim, and have been covering it for almost half of that, and while there once was a time when the networks programmed significantly more episodes per season than they do now, that was a very long time ago, when shows cost less to produce (even according to shifting economic scales). Since I've been on the beat, the average has been for most shows to produce somewhere between 22 to 25 episodes per season, depending on the show. Repeats are especially common in March and April, as the networks bank episodes to end the season in May. This is nothing new, although every year it seems to take a lot of people by surprise. I refuse to get bent out of shape by it. Because, selfishly, I love repeats. They gives me a chance to catch my breath — although given the flood of mid-season newbies on network and cable, there really isn't much chance even for that these days.

Someone else who misses repeats is Kelley, who writes: "What's up with the obsession of no reruns this season? It's led to one ridiculous decision after another (the Lost hiatus immediately comes to mind), and I think encourages us to forget all about the existence of a show. If something's off the air long enough, you start watching something else. Then one day you hear a show referenced and remember you used to like it."

Go, repeats!

Question: Now that the second episode of Andy Barker, P.I. has aired, I have to say that I'm absolutely loving it. I found myself laughing out loud all the way through it. Richter is absolutely brilliant, and his supporting cast is spot-on (as a secretary, I especially am loving his new "assistant"). Do you have a feel for how it's doing as far as network expectations go? (I know, I know, only two episodes have aired, but that's all it takes sometimes in this ADD world for some shows to suddenly go on hiatus.) Please tell me this little gem will be around a while.— Nancy C.

Matt Roush: Don't be too alarmed when Andy Barker disappears in just a few weeks. The spring tryout was always meant to be a short one, although it's true it hasn't exactly broken out just yet (not unlike most of the other comedies on NBC's first-rate Thursday lineup). I honestly don't have a "feel" about this show's ultimate fate. The reviews and buzz have been strong, but I don't know if it's enough for the show to force its way onto a network lineup that for now only showcases comedies one night of the week.

Question: Thanks, Matt, for another supportive article about my favorite show of the season (and hopefully many seasons to come), Friday Night Lights. As I watch the characters unfold, perhaps it is my "happy ever after" wishful thinking that somehow, some way, Jason will emerge with feeling in his legs and come back to his football glory. I realize the raw, lifelike story lines are really what make this drama stand out, so am I wrong to wish for such a miracle?— Kim

Matt Roush: Not wrong but a bit too hopeful, I think. The fact that there is no miracle cure for Jason, but that (as of this week) he appears to have found a new purpose in life, having discovered his potential for coaching (at least where Matt Saracen is concerned), is the sort of unforced uplift that makes this series so special. If he were suddenly to walk, let alone play again, we might as well be in Rocky Balboa territory. Which this show most definitely is not.

Question: Like you and all of the people I talk to, I can't explain how Sanjaya is still on American Idol after so many dreadful performances. But we really shouldn't be all that shocked, since talented people have been inexplicably voted off early in the past and less talented people have miraculously survived cut after cut after cut. Instead of voting for the person you want to move on, why doesn't American Idol change the method to voting against the person you want gone? Sure, it would make for an awkward moment after a contestant's performance when Ryan Seacrest comes up on stage, stands next to the performer and says, "If you thought he did a terrible job and you don't want to see him back next week, call or text 5704" as the contestant puts up four fingers while shaking his head no. But I think doing it this way could very well result in a more fair, representative group of deserving finalists. Your thoughts?— Yancey H.

Matt Roush: There's no explaining or excusing bad taste, or misplaced loyalty for a kid who so clearly should have been sent packing ages ago. But Idol is in most ways a very positive show, even if you don't always agree with the results. Turning it into a show where you vote against someone would cast far too negative a vibe over what is still basically a fan-driven contest. Besides, who's to say that America wouldn't get it just as wrong this way? A more intriguing notion comes courtesy of Aimee, who wrote in to alert readers to a new website: "Most people have heard of the website that encourages viewers to vote for the weakest Idol contestants. There's a new website called www.voteAGAINSTtheworst.com, which is designed to join fans together in a pattern of organized voting to eliminate the weakest contestants each week (currently Sanjaya). I have nothing against Sanjaya personally — I think he's a nice kid — but the poor thing is just way out of his league up there!"

I still think the best way to go, if you're the sort that casts votes for Idol (even I have been known to pick up the phone after a Melinda Doolittle performance), is to vote for your favorite as often as you can get through or feel like it, and see where the chips fall. But consider the word spread.

And see you again on Monday.

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

VisionOn

03-30-07, 12:04 PM

The Tudors is already available On Demand and online. I watched it last week. I don't like period drama to begin with so I was unimpressed. Even the scenery looked fairly bland. The jousting scenes gave the impression they were shot around the corner behind someone's house.

dline

03-30-07, 12:18 PM

TV Notebook
Fred Thompson's Presidential Hopes Could Put 'Law' Reruns in Lockup

By Michael D. Shear Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 30, 2007

If Fred Thompson, the onetime Tennessee senator better known to most Americans as District Attorney Arthur Branch on "Law & Order," runs for president, some fans may be in for a letdown. Television stations are expected to suspend reruns of the show if he makes a real-life bid for the White House.

Federal campaign law requires broadcasters to give all candidates equal time on the airwaves. That rule applies to entertainment programs like "Law & Order," meaning stations that run the show would be required to give other GOP candidates a like amount of prime-time exposure.

With as many as a dozen or more Republican candidates competing for the nomination, that would be prohibitively expensive...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802174_pf.htmlNo surprise there.

In the 2003-2004 season, as you may recall, Iowa's NBC affiliates refused to air an episode of Saturday Night Live because they had scheduled Al Sharpton as a guest. The episode was set to air not long before the Iowa caucuses, and Sharpton was running for the Democratic presidential nomination at the time.

JoeInNVa

03-30-07, 12:20 PM

WOW! I like that idea about BSG and Jesus...I would find that totally plausible...

dline

03-30-07, 12:38 PM

From the FCC website (and as Dave Barry used to say, I swear I am NOT making this up):

"On January 26, 2007, Kohler Co. (Kohler) filed a request for a temporary waiver of the March 1, 2007 deadline for compliance with the requirement in Part 15 of the Commission’s rules that new broadcast television receivers include the capability to receive digital television signals (DTV tuner requirement). Kohler asks that this waiver be effective until January 1, 2008. The products for which Kohler requests this temporary waiver are bathroom mirrors" [thankfully! - dline] "with an optional television receiver integrated behind the mirror. Kohler submits that granting it this waiver would not compromise the Commission’s goal of ensuring that consumers have the ability to view off-the-air DTV after the February 17, 2009 end of analog TV service. It submits that these products are specialized TV receivers intended as a bathroom accessory and consumers will most likely have a primary TV receiver in their residence which will be capable, or made capable, of receiving DTV signals. The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (“OET”) is reviewing the waiver request."

(If you think I AM making this up, you can read the full press release at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-07-1560A1.pdf .)

AFH

03-30-07, 12:53 PM

Well my wife and I have been steady watchers from the beginning, but last nights show is a perfect example of why this show is losing viewers. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with furthering the story line. It was just another stupid attempt to milk another week before teasing you again with previews of next week that appear to be about something that really matters to the viewer and advances the story line.

Do the producers and/or writers of shows really watch TV?

My point exactly. I sat in my chair watching the episode Thursday night and I was wondering why that episode was even created. It was pointless and had nothing to do with the story that we were told in the first season. I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Why are we being told a story about two people we don't care about and two people who didn't even appear on the show until late last season"? It just seems like the showrunners are trying to do everything they can to keep from telling the audience about some of the island's secrets. Hell, next week's preview doesn't look like it'll be about anything of import.

AFH

03-30-07, 01:02 PM

TV Notebook
The latest spin on 'Grey's Anatomy' spin-off
By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 30, 2007

Wanna hear a secret? No, not the Oprah/Law of Attraction kind. But the juicy, exclusive, behind-the-scenes kind, from an insider who offers insight into the much-buzzed-about "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off.

ABC and creator Shonda Rhimes have been so hush-hush about the "enhanced" two-hour "Grey's" May episode — which will introduce a new life for Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery — that during a presentation with advertisers last week, the new show's cast members were trotted on stage but were not allowed to divulge details.

So we will:

Following her disastrous romantic misfortunes, Addison (Kate Walsh) travels to Santa Monica to seek advice from her old medical school pals, Naomi (Merrin Dungey) and Jackson (Taye Diggs), whom she believes have it all: a beautiful teenage daughter, a great marriage and a highly successful health cooperative. Addison quickly learns that Jackson, also a successful TV health guru, has divorced Naomi. Addison also meets the rest of the gang at the cooperative — a widowed alternative medicine doctor, a self-doubting therapist and a male gynecologist who knows little about women — and concludes that while the personal lives of the people around her may be a mess, professionally they stand out. (Sounds like those crazy interns, right?) So she decides to leave Seattle Grace behind and join the Oceanside Wellness Group team.

Oh, if we only knew the title.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-greys30mar30,0,826576,print.story

I gotta ask why. This sounds like a disaster in the making. I think Shonda Rhimes does a good job with Grey's but this upcoming shows sounds doomed. Unless they start us off with some episodes in the summer to test out the water.

AFH

03-30-07, 01:05 PM

fredfa

03-30-07, 03:09 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
ABC's 'October Road' in another slide
Drama pulls a 3.5 in 18-49s its third outing
By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer March 30, 2007

ABC’s new drama “October Road” had two things working against it last night, and both of them led the show to its lowest ratings in the three weeks it has been on the air.

“October” posted a 3.5 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 at 10 p.m., off 28.6 percent from a 4.9 last week and down 39.7 percent from the 5.8 its premiere episode posted two weeks ago.

But last night’s episode of “October” didn’t have the benefit of an original episode of its lead-in “Grey’s Anatomy,” and it was also the first time the show has gone head-to-head with CBS's "Shark," its regular competitor in the timeslot. CBS had aired NCAA basketball in its place the previous two weeks.

The repeat of “Grey’s” at 9 p.m. earned a 3.6 overnight rating among 18-49s, off 59.1 percent from the 8.8 the show averaged over the past two weeks with originals.

Further, CBS’s “Shark” posted a 4.3 overnight rating at 10 last night, a 19.4 percent boost over the 3.6 the network averaged for the two weeks of NCAA basketball coverage.

“October” lost some of its audience as the hour wore on, posting a 3.7 rating from 10 to 10:30 p.m., then slipping 10.8 percent to a 3.3 during the last half hour.

CBS was first for the night among 18-49s with a 5.3 average rating and a 15 share. ABC was second at 3.2/9, Fox third at 2.8/8, NBC fourth at 2.3/7, Univision fifth at 1.7/5 and CW sixth at 1.0/3.

CBS was able to lead each hour over the course of the night, starting with a 4.4 rating at 8 p.m. for “Survivor.” Fox was second that hour with a 3.6 for “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?,” ABC third with a 2.4 for a repeat of “Ugly Betty” and NBC fourth with a 2.3 for an hour of “The Office” repeats. Univision was fifth with a 1.9 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW sixth with a 1.1 for a “Smallville” rerun.

At 9 p.m. CBS led again with a 7.1 for “CSI,” the night’s top-rated show in the demo. ABC moved to second with a 3.6 for a repeat of “Grey’s Anatomy,” with NBC third with a 2.5 average for another “Office” repeat and a new “Andy Barker, P.I.” (2.1), Fox fourth with a 1.9 for an hour of “Family Guy” reruns and Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Destilando Amor.” That left CW sixth with a 0.9 for a repeat of “Supernatural.”

CBS completed the nightly sweep at 10 p.m. with a 4.3 for “Shark,” followed by ABC’s 3.5 for “October Road.” NBC was third that hour with a 2.3 for another hour of “Office” repeats and Univision fourth with 1.4 for “Aqui y Ahora.”

Among households, CBS led with a 10.6 average rating and an 18 share, followed by ABC at 5.8/10, Fox at 4.7/8, NBC at 3.1/5, Univision at 2.0/3 and CW at 1.6/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_11153.asp

fredfa

03-30-07, 03:25 PM

TV Review
“The Tudors”
Henry VIII: portrait of a serial schemer
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Television Critic Friday, March 30, 2007

One historical drama, "Rome," is off the air for good just as another, "The Tudors," (10 PM ET/PT Sundays) rises on a rival network. Is this a good time to be watching TV, or what?

If viewers learned anything from "Rome" (well, other than historical dramas are often a slow build), it's that taking a few liberties with history might annoy historians, but as long as the result is compelling drama, who really suffers?

In that vein, "The Tudors" is a wonderful romp. Not only is the pilot, which airs Sunday -- the first of 10 episodes -- glossier, sexier and more triumphantly colorful than anything, say, "Masterpiece Theatre" could deliver, it's also hugely entertaining, thanks in large part to Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who just flat-out exudes sexiness and virility as the young King Henry VIII.

By documenting the early years of his reign, "The Tudors" is able to catch Henry -- given the throne at 18 -- at his most compellingly modern. Everyone knows about the fat, bearded, dangerously misogynistic Henry, but in his youthful years he was not only more physically agile and sexually adventurous (or so say the producers) but also a tad more forward thinking. Of course, a lot of events didn't go his way, and his petulance and anger would soon rise (as would his voracious appetite, one would assume) to cause woe. But woe is interesting.

Michael Hirst, the creator, executive producer and writer of "The Tudors," gained a lot of notoriety for writing the feature film "Elizabeth," starring Cate Blanchett as the young Elizabeth I. He's mining early territory here as well, and just when you think there's more style than substance, he slams back with subsequent episodes that firmly establish the heady costume-drama conceits the audience demands.

"The Tudors" doesn't shrink from telling the essential story. Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became King Henry VII at age 28 after defeating Richard III and later marrying Elizabeth of York. His rise was complicated and bloody, but his reign led to peace, and he eventually started the transition to his oldest son, Prince Arthur.

But Arthur was ill. He was engaged to Catherine of Aragon, who was the powerful daughter of Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabel. Arthur died about a year after they were married, and Catherine swore that the marriage was never consummated.

That opened the door for the king to allow his youngest son, Henry, to become engaged to Catherine. When his father dies, Henry becomes King Henry VIII and marries Catherine, but they don't produce a son. Henry's philandering and desire for a divorce are crucial to the history of England. Hirst is able, in "The Tudors," to use this royal drama as grist for his story.

Hirst seizes on the young-Henry angle, and Showtime certainly glories in the passionate (desire, anger, testosterone, etc.) tendencies of virile, not-fat Henry. With glorious, form-fitting costumes -- and the Emmy goes to designer Joan Bergin, no doubt -- the show delivers a fresh retelling of the stale Henry VIII saga, and the result is something tremendously entertaining, smart and richly detailed. Hirst lines up the major historical figures and lets them loose, much as "Rome" did.

If anything, "The Tudors" might be a quicker entry for viewers because Rhys Meyers is riveting from the moment he walks into the frame. All youthful aggression and ill-advised delegating (to Cardinal Wolsey, played by Sam Neill), he's got an eye for the ladies -- many ladies -- while shrinking from his marriage to Queen Catherine (Maria Doyle Kennedy), who was previously married to his older brother. With all the intrigue of a Shakespearean drama and all the coiled intensity of youthful power-brokering and rampant sexuality, it's hard to not like this version of Henry VIII.

Also, you'd be hard-pressed to find a TV drama anywhere in the past five years where the costumes stand out as characters in themselves. In the press material for "The Tudors," Bergin says, "Henry was the rock star of his time ... with garments cut close to the body to accentuate his physique. He was the Mick Jagger of his day." She's crafted an eye-catching array of clothes, and Rhys Meyers wears the hell out of pretty much anything he's given, as do many of the sumptuous ladies he meets.

Though Rhys Meyers dominates "The Tudors," the surrounding cast is able to make good use of Hirst's focus on a youthful court. Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn has a mesmerizing, temptress smile; Jeremy Northam as pious Sir Thomas More lends some gravitas, as does Neill. Henry Cavill and Callum Blue play Henry's almost-loyal friends. Nick Dunning plays Sir Thomas Boleyn, who pimps out his daughters for power. And Henry Czerny is the Duke of Norfolk, another actor who lends ballast to Rhys Meyers and Co.'s shirtless antics.

What makes "The Tudors" so engaging and thrilling is this sense that, in those early days, Henry was a young man with only a partial lock on the importance of being king. He wants to play -- with his friends and with the many women he eyed in his court. But just when you think this series is one fun romp, Hirsh cleverly steers it back to history and lends it enough import to keep you from thinking it's all too light, letting Rhys Meyers run with the conceit, in the process destroying the cliched depiction of fat and angry VIII making everybody miserable.

"The Tudors" seems intent on checking itself periodically, so as not to have too much froth, even though the froth evaporates the hours in no time. It's as if Hirst is worried that viewers will gorge on the costumes and the Showtime-sanctioned nudity, so he interrupts periodically to make the viewers eat their vegetables.

Well, the same thing went on in HBO's "Rome," and that ended up leaving quite an impression. And though comparisons don't do justice to either offering, there's nothing wrong in rejoicing over the fact that exactly seven days after an enormous costume drama shuts its history books, another opens. It certainly beats another crime-scene procedural.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/30/DDG3LOTLF41.DTL

fredfa

03-30-07, 03:32 PM

TV Review
“The Tudors”
Showtime's `Tudors' goes inside Henry's court
By Charlie McCollum San Jose Mercury News Television Critic

Take a bit of historical fact, put it through the blender of modern perspective, add some lush Irish scenery as garnish, a measure of hot bods and even hotter sex, a pinch of violence and a healthy dash of "Dallas," and you have the steaming stew that is "The Tudors."

The new 10-episode series, about the early days of the court of Henry VIII, is Showtime's latest effort to compete for buzz with its premium cable competitor, HBO. Indeed, from the promotion for the show, there's little doubt that Showtime is trying to position "Tudors," which debuts Sunday at 10 p.m., as a 16th-century version of "The Sopranos."

Inviting comparisons to the seminal HBO drama (which returns for its last season on April 8) is a foolhardy exercise. But taken on its own terms, "Tudors" is an enjoyable and entertaining romp through the lust and intrigue of Henry's early reign, and it zips along with considerable energy. (Henry beds a couple of ladies-in-waiting and declares war on France, all in the first few minutes of Episode One.)

What you shouldn't expect is a history lesson.

Creator Michael Hirst (who wrote "Elizabeth" starring Cate Blanchett) has used the bones of the Henry saga, but modernized the language, injected fictional characters and used opulent costumes more of the Renaissance period than the Tudor. He also plays fast and loose with the geopolitics of the day to better service his bosom-heaving drama.

This Henry - played with sensual charm and raw intensity by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, best known in this country for CBS's Elvis Presley miniseries - is a sleek, sexy monarch, quite unlike the bearded, pudgy dude we know from books.

The main characters (who have been pulled from the pages of history) are a very colorful lot, played well by some terrific actors:

There's Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (veteran scene-stealer Sam Neill), the crafty politician cleric who maneuvers to control England and take over the papacy.

While Henry eventually would have all kinds of wives and lovers, much of the attention here is focused on his first queen, the long-suffering Katherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy of "The Commitments") and the infamous Anne Boleyn (a very sly turn by Natalie Dormer of "Casanova").

Trying to provide some level of moral focus is Sir Thomas More (Jeremy Northam from "Gosford Park"), who eventually ends up replacing Wolsey as Henry's closest adviser.

There's not a lot of depth to the proceedings, and the series is at its weakest when it tries to make some Important Point. But it's a good deal of fun watching Meyers and the rest of the ensemble smartly bringing to life the deceit and internal politics of this royal chess match. "The Tudors" is a spicy soap opera, decked out in really fancy trappings.

Remote controls

With "Rome" finished and "The Sopranos" not returning until a week from Sunday, HBO fills its Sunday schedule this week with "Jerry Seinfeld: The Comedian Award" (9 p.m.), a special filmed last year at the channel's annual comedy festival. While it's billed as a tribute, the show actually is much better than that as Anderson Cooper of CNN leads Seinfeld and friends Gary Shandling, Chris Rock and Robert Klein through a very funny and often revealing discussion of the art of stand-up.

Dinner with the Walker family on "Brothers & Sisters" (10 p.m. Sunday, Ch. 7) rapidly is becoming one of TV's true delights because, like Mary's parties on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," you know something is going to go really, really wrong. This week, in the first new episode in more than a month, Nora Walker (the marvelous Sally Field) throws a dinner for her late husband's illegitimate daughter Rebecca, engagingly played by Emily VanCamp of "Everwood." You definitely should RSVP for this soiree.

A&E's latest lame reality show, "Sons of Hollywood" (10 p.m. Sunday), is a real-life "Entourage" - minus the humor and intelligence. The show focuses on Randy Spelling, son of the late Aaron Spelling (who was dying when the series was filmed); Sean Stewart, Rod's slacker kid; and David Weintraub, who isn't related to anybody but does manage the "careers" of Spelling and Stewart. The whole thing is an exercise in self-indulgence with only Randy Spelling showing any flashes of real humanity.

"Reno 911!" tried to make the move from TV to the big screen earlier this year with "Reno 911: Miami" - and bombed, justifiably, at the box office. Stretched out to feature film length, the quirky and often over-the-top Comedy Central show about a group of inept cops fell apart when its inspired lunacy simply didn't translate. (Moving the action from Reno to Miami certainly didn't help.) Happily, the comedy returns to the half-hour TV format, where it belongs, with a new season starting Sunday at 10:30 p.m., and the first few episodes are as hilarious as ever. Stick with TV, guys.

http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5545819&siteId=568

mike_somd

03-30-07, 04:38 PM

My point exactly. I sat in my chair watching the episode Thursday night and I was wondering why that episode was even created. It was pointless and had nothing to do with the story that we were told in the first season. I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Why are we being told a story about two people we don't care about and two people who didn't even appear on the show until late last season"? It just seems like the showrunners are trying to do everything they can to keep from telling the audience about some of the island's secrets. Hell, next week's preview doesn't look like it'll be about anything of import.

I liked it. It was an interesting clip show. Showing what has happend from a slightly different perspective. The ending was unexpected. Most Sci-fi shows have a clip show every now and then, and creative clip shows are nice to see.

Iteki

03-30-07, 04:41 PM

I liked it. It was an interesting clip show. Showing what has happend from a slightly different perspective. The ending was unexpected. Most Sci-fi shows have a clip show every now and then, and creative clip shows are nice to see.

This has been bandied about in the LOST forum quite a bit, opions vary.

My take:

Loved the ONE episode. Great ending.
Hated the overall Niki/Paolo story arc that has taken up screen time from characters we care about.

fredfa

03-30-07, 05:27 PM

TV Sports
iN Demand and MLB Talks on Extra Innings “Serious”
by Maury Brown bizofbaseball.com March 30, 2007

John Ourand and Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal are reporting via the Sports Business Daily that negotiations at the 11th hour between MLB and iN Demand to keep Extra Innings on cable are ongoing and “both sides are now characterizing the talks as extremely serious.”

Reportedly, MLB gives the odds of the deal occurring at 50-50 while cable representatives seem more pessimistic.

One of the key sticking points prior was matching the same number of households that DirecTV has signed on to do. iN Demand has said it will meet that provision via 80% of their digital households.

The sticking point now is the ownership equity component of The Baseball Channel. Recall that MLB has offered DirecTV a 20% ownership stake, but that is based on exclusivity. If iN Demand becomes a player, DirecTV's equity in ownership would need to be diluted.

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

fredfa

03-30-07, 05:54 PM

TV Sports
The MLB-EI dispute

I have been trying to figure out (aside from the obvious PR reasons) why Dish and iNDemand believe they should get a share equal to DirecTV’s in the Baseball Channel.

Here is what I base that on.

As reported today by Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Marc Narducci “…Last year, according to a person familiar with the figures, Extra Innings had 500,000 sales on cable and satellite, with about 180,000 from iN Demand, 50,000 from Dish Network, and 270,000 from DirecTV….”

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/20070330_On_Sports_Media___MLB_sets_cable_deal_deadline.html

Narducci’s numbers are consistent with what we have been hearing the past couple of months.

And in addition to the past track record, DirecTV is making some major additions to the package this year. It In its Super Fan package is is adding at least two new channel -- a “Game Mix” channel, where as many as eight games can be viewed at once and a “Strike Zone” channel which takes viewers to available live games to see the best plays as they happen. And DirecTV has committed to MLB to carry all available games in HD beginning with the 2008 season.

Neither Dish nor inDemand has ever spoken about having any plans to match those initiatives by DirecTV.

But the base of the dispute comes back to money: what have the providers done for MLB in the past and what does MLB think it can gain in the future.

So here are last year’s cold hard numbers.

With about 15 million subs in 2006, DirecTV outsold the inDemand consortium (with some 48 million subs) and Dish (with 14 million).

Put another way, DirecTV sold 54% of all MLB-EI subscriptions, inDemand had 36% and Dish just 10 per cent. Put it another way, per subscriber, DirecTV outsold both iNDemand and Dish by better than five to one.

Obviously DirecTV worked either worked far harder or far more successfully at marketing the MLB package than either Dish or iNDemand.

Based on that track record (and those percentages), if partial ownership of The Baseball Channel is to be granted, perhaps MLB should base the percentages on the number or percentage of MLB-EI paying subs each group delivers total in 2007 and 2008.

Or simply based the share of the 2006 sub levels, then DirecTV would get 11% of the new channel; inDemand would get 7% and Dish would get 2%.

(If MLB based the ownership formula on the percentage of subscribers each provider brings in, the DirecTV share would be far higher, the other two would get even less. And if MLB were really creative, it would have The Baseball Channel's ownership shares of the DirecTV/Dish/iNDemand 20% of the pie readjusted every three years, based on the total subs delivered by each entity over the previous three years.)

No matter how much Dish and iNDemand scream about the DirecTV’s partial ownership of the Baseball Channel, there is no way they deserve an equal share. They simply haven’t earned it.

PJO1966

03-30-07, 07:11 PM

If you watch this show in HD, you can tell right away that Patricia Wettig has had some work done but it's not on her face. I'm not saying that it's bad, she looks quite good, but it is obvious.

Sally Field has had work done as well. It's very good work, but it's there. I remember her on the cover of a magazine in the 80's and her entire face was a mass of wrinkles that are not there anymore.

123HDTV

03-30-07, 07:32 PM

Obviously DirecTV worked either worked far harder or far more successfully at marketing the MLB package than either Dish or iNDemand.

Thisis a good observation. It seemed I was always seeing a DirecTv advertisement for Extra Innings during baseball season. The vehicle they were using was the FOX weekend games. I'm sure there was some sort of sibling discount to allow them so much exposure. I also saw adverts for the package on the local FoxSportsNet.

It's easy to see how they worked far harder. However, they had an easier placement time. Probably a discounted rate I would guess.

fredfa

03-30-07, 10:21 PM

TV Notebook
Former child star in Boulder County Jail
Brian Bonsall of 'Family Ties' accused of domestic violence
By Christine Reid Boulder CO Daily Camera Friday, March 30, 2007

A former "Family Ties" child star was arrested this week on suspicion of domestic violence.

Brian Bonsall, 25, faces possible charges of felony second-degree assault and misdemeanor false imprisonment after his girlfriend told police that he poured an alcoholic drink in her face as she slept, put her in a choke hold and threw her onto a bed several times when she tried to leave.

Bonsall remains at the Boulder County Jail in lieu of a $5,000 bond and is expected to be formally charged Tuesday.

His girlfriend, Lindsay Dunavan, called police at 6:35 a.m. Wednesday to the apartment she shares with Bonsall at 2800 Balsam Ave. When officers arrived, Bonsall said he threw his girlfriend down in self-defense because she came at him with a steak knife and cut his arm and face. Dunavan, 26, denied slashing Bonsall.

Police initially arrested the couple but "un-arrested" Dunavan about an hour later, according to a police report.

Boulder police Detective Colleen Wilcox said Thursday that it became questionable whether enough probable cause existed to arrest Dunavan after further investigation, and officers were looking at Bonsall as the "prominent aggressor" in the case.

Wilcox said they are unsure how Bonsall received his injuries.

Bonsall was arrested in 2004 on suspicion of drinking and driving after police say he suddenly stopped his gray SUV near the intersection of Broadway and College Avenue as a passenger stuck his head out the window and vomited. When police asked how much Bonsall, who was driving, had been drinking, he replied, "Plenty" — half a pint of Jim Beam, the officer's report said.

His driver's license previously had been revoked for an alcohol offense in 2001.

Bonsall's arrest history also includes two allegations of failure to appear in court for underage drinking in Broomfield and Boulder counties, according to police records.

His name also appears in four other Boulder police reports involving allegations of domestic violence and assault from 2002 and 2004, but no arrests were made. Those records were not available Thursday.

Bonsall starred as Andy Keaton on "Family Ties" from 1986 to 1989 alongside Michael J. Fox and later appeared on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." He also had several movie roles in the 1990s, including "Blank Check" and "Mikey," according to TV.com.

His latest police report stated he is unemployed.

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/30/former-child-star-in-boulder-county-jail/?printer=1/

fredfa

03-31-07, 03:04 AM

The Business of Television
Networks face changing ad sales
Trends such as DVR have altered landscape
By Michael Learmonth Variety

Five weeks before the broadcast upfronts, network execs and Madison Avenue agree on one thing: This will be the most chaotic struggle for ad dollars in decades.

The good news is that networks and cable are likely to match, or even surpass, their upfront tallies of last year ($9 billion and $6.5 billion, respectively).

The bad news is, those fees are not going to be resolved quickly or easily. Such innovations as DVR have changed the equation. Do networks and ad execs count only live viewers, those within the first 24 hours, or the first week? Other ratings systems measure how closely people are paying attention to a show. Others want to count the viewers not for the show but for the commercial breaks.

Bottom line: It's likely that each major advertising deal done this year will have a vastly different set of metrics and benchmarks. Which means the wrangling over fees will be long and exhausting, and could get nasty.

For years, the upfront process was pretty simple. Nets and ad buyers would huddle for a few long days and nights to hash out time buys. And generally the networks with the best ratings ended up with the most coin.

But this year, the venerable Nielsen ratings system that has been the basis of buying TV time for 50 years is being shunted aside by a litany of new measurements. None of these new metrics is fully tested, and the risks have execs understandably nervous.

"For the first time that I know of, there is no agreement" as to what is the best way to measure audiences, says NBC Universal research prexy Alan Wurtzel. "We're going to have to go into an upfront with a number of differing metrics on the table, and we will have to figure out how to get through it."

In years past, the highest-rated network generally was first to set its rates, and other nets followed suit, with the deals wrapping up quickly. But with so many competing benchmarks, that may not be the case this year, and some are predicting talks that stretch to the start of the new season.

"Who's to say we have to have an upfront (that concludes) in June? It could be an August upfront," says Scott Haugenes, top TV negotiator for Initiative, a unit of IPG. "This is a new day and age, and we're not doing things just because that's how they've always been done."

The upside for the networks is that the money spent in the upfronts probably won't go down this year. Based on a slight decline in overall ratings and single-digit increases in ad rates, the broadcast networks as a group will likely match the $9 billion that was committed in last year's upfront.

(Cable, too, is expected to collect roughly the same amount as last year: around $6.5 billion).

Some execs point to the strong spring scatter market -- ads sold after the upfronts -- as a sign that the nets might even eke out some gains.

"I think all the networks are going to have a good story to tell," predicts the head of one conglom.

A key negotiating point that will impact just how well the nets do is how both sides agree to count viewers who watch a show via TiVo or other DVRs.

Last year, talks were drawn out when ABC, armed with hits "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy," stared down the agencies and refused to do deals until they agreed to pay for some viewers recording the shows on DVRs.

That gambit failed when CBS stepped in and started writing deals based on live viewing only, forcing ABC to step back from its position. This year, ironically, CBS Corp. topper Leslie Moonves is playing the heavy, telling a Bear Stearns conference in March that while the networks ended up on the short end last May, "That's not going to happen again this year."

One industry insider goes even further: "I don't think a single deal will be done based just on live viewing," the exec says. "It will at least be live plus two or three (days)."

There's evidence Madison Avenue is willing to give the nets compensation for DVR viewing -- especially if it occurs on the same day as the original broadcast.

"Our point of view is yes, a reasonable amount of delayed viewing should be part of the equation because, unfortunately, that is the way the business is going," says Rino Scanzoni, chairman of Mediaedge: CIA, a unit of WPP.

The bad news for nets is that, while they may make progress on the DVR debate, there are plenty of other question marks that could impact their upfront tally:

Ad eyeballs: Because of DVRs, advertisers want to switch from program to commercial ratings. While a few deals were cut on those terms last year, agencies will be demanding more such pacts that guarantee ratings for the ads, not the shows, even before Nielsen makes them available in late May.

It's generally thought that 5% of auds leave during commercials, and that is built into the system of buying and selling. But what if the commercial ratings say differently? "Even a tenth of a ratings point equates to millions of dollars," Wurtzel notes.

Even though Nielsen hasn't released commercial ratings data, networks and advertisers can use the second-by-second ratings to analyze what happens during commercials. While useful for analysis, that data isn't considered reliable to serve as a "currency" like program ratings have for 50 years.

Nonetheless, ABC sales and marketing prexy Mike Shaw says he did three deals based on commercial ratings last year, and recently said he plans to cut many more this year.

Engagement: Other advertisers want more than ratings -- they want the nets to guarantee "engagement," or whether the viewers are actually paying attention.

NBC has pushed this idea particularly hard. It's offering to guarantee a level of engagement with its shows -- and pay make-goods if those benchmarks aren't met.

"The more engaged (the) viewer is, the more likely they are to watch and recall your ad," says Alan Gould, co-CEO of research firm IAG, which NBC has enlisted to survey viewers' levels of engagement.

Supplements: Product placements and digital marketing doodads are replacing -- or supplementing -- traditional spots for many advertisers; such supplementals could comprise 5% of total spending this year.

"The networks are going to do deals on many different metrics," says Stacey Shepatin, senior VP of national broadcast at Hill Holliday.

More than ever, the upfront is also a futures market, where advertisers weigh committing cash in advance against waiting to buy later in the year in the scatter market. This past year, scatter ad rates were up 10%, punishing those advertisers who held money out of last year's upfront.

As for individual nets, ABC is again poised to lead the market because it controls the most in-demand shows for advertisers.

CBS has the strongest night-by-night sked and has commissioned a wide range of pilots to try to create a hit that isn't another crime procedural, while fourth-place NBC looks to build on its success with "Heroes."

Fox is in about the same position it was last year, with "American Idol" remaining a ratings behemoth.

The CW has thus far been a ratings disappointment. Ad buyers will probably be patient, however.

One buyer who attended the nets' pre-upfront meetings is encouraged by the projects in line for spots on the fall skeds: "It didn't look like too much copycatting. There was lot of stealing from the Brits, a lot of talk about digital. The shows have pretty unique voices," he says.

While in the end, the networks will get paid for some DVR viewing, it comes at a price. The networks are paying millions for additional data from Nielsen and for the manpower to do the analysis. At the same time that the nets are being asked for more detail, the total pot is dwindling due to ratings erosion, cable's impact and digital advertising.

In an essay that was forwarded around the sales staff at CBS, media analyst Jack Myers suggested the networks pull out of the upfronts altogether.

"The upfront as it is unfolding this year has become an unreasonable marketplace that is working against many networks' best interests," Myers wrote.

That's not too far-fetched an idea. The upfront has diminished in importance as TV advertising becomes a 12-month business. The level of marketing tie-ins, product integrations and digital deals that most advertisers expect take all year to conceive, negotiate and implement.

"It is going to become a little bit more labor-intensive," Scanzoni says, "but also a hell of a lot more interesting.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117962259.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

fredfa

03-31-07, 09:28 AM

TV Notebook
Will George Hamilton Replace Bob Barker?
By Jim Benson Broadcasting & Cable

Fremantle Media Friday declined to comment on reports circulating in Hollywood and on the gossip Website TMZ.com that George Hamilton, 67, is the front runner to replace Bob Barker, 83, as the host of CBS and Fremantle’s The Price is Right.

The gossip Website TMZ.com reported that CBS chief Les Moonves and producers find Hamilton “wonderfully charming” and “could really make the show work.”

If true, Hamilton would become only the second host in the 35-year history of television’s longest-running game show after Barker, who is set to retire in June.

A native of Memphis, Hamilton, perhaps best known for his perpetual suntan and colorful private life, began a movie career in 1952.

His TV roles included the 1980s primetime soap Dynasty and appearing as a semi-regular panelist on the 1998 revival of Match Game.

In 2003, he hosted The Family, a short-lived ABC reality series, and last year appeared on the second season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. He made it to the sixth round and has recently been seen as a commercial pitchman for Ritz Cracker and Wheat Thins.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6429865

dad1153

03-31-07, 10:11 AM

The Business of Television
Networks face changing ad sales
Trends such as DVR have altered landscape
By Michael Learmonth Variety

It's generally thought that 5% of auds leave during commercials, and that is built into the system of buying and selling. But what if the commercial ratings say differently? "Even a tenth of a ratings point equates to millions of dollars," Wurtzel notes.

Only 5% of viewers leave during commercials? Let me call BS. With the remote control now a standard part of every TV that figure should be closer to 95%. When was the last time a normal, sane human being sat in front of the set and watched 2 1/2 to 3 minutes of commercials/network promos? People always surf around during the commercial break and come back to the show they're watching (if its any good) 30 seconds to a minute before the program resumes. With DVR households that percentage is shrunk even further! Could Nielsen be feeding advertisers/networks deliberately skewed numbers from a biased sample (Nielsen households) to make the percentage of commercial skipping seem much, much lower than it should be in real life? Don't ask me what commercials appeared on last night's new Law & Order episode on NBC, but I can still recall that Lunesta sponsored last Tuesday's Law & Order: Criminal Intent from start to finish even though I fast-forwarded through the commercial breaks of both shows like a banshee. Go figure!

homcom

03-31-07, 10:21 AM

Only 5% of viewers leave during commercials? Let me call BS. With the remote control now a standard part of every TV that figure should be closer to 95%. When was the last time a normal, sane human being sat in front of the set and watched 2 1/2 to 3 minutes of commercials/network promos?
I have sat through commercial breaks before without flipping around. Usually during sporting events I use the commercial breaks to post on AVS.

CPanther95

03-31-07, 10:31 AM

fredfa

03-31-07, 10:32 AM

TV Sports
MLB-EI update

I’ll try to keep the latest news posted right here, of course. The last word, of course, (vis the respected Spots Business Daily yesterday is that talks between MLB an iNDemand were “serious” and continuing Friay. Earlier reports had said Dish was nearing a deal, but there has been no more mention of Dish in the past 24 hours or so.

But you should keep your options open. MLB.com has covered the story dryly, but fairly. But it also has been very late with updates.

I have no idea about when the websites of Dish or iNDemand will catch up with the story. ESPN has been carrying AP stores and sometimes they are timely, sometimes not.

So, if your are waiting eagerly to find out what happens with tonight’s MLB deadline for its Extra Innings package carriage by iNDemand or Dish, keep logging onto the biz of baseball during the day. It promises to have information whenever it is announced.. It has done a great job in the past two months of keeping on top of the entire messy story.

So, if you need your MLB info fix, try:

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

CPanther95

03-31-07, 10:45 AM

Even if they aren't close to actually coming to terms, I wouldn't be surprised to see MLB announce an extension just for appearances sake.

fredfa

03-31-07, 10:59 AM

Maybe even provide Dish and InDemand with the first week free, as it does to DirecTV.

But tomorrow's only game is on ESPN, so I could see the extension lasting until the first pitch Monday at 1:05 PM ET in Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit and New York.

fredfa

03-31-07, 11:48 AM

TV Notebook
CNN Analyst Jeff Greenfield to Join CBS
By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer

CBS News has again raided CNN in an effort to beef up its staff in the Katie Couric era.

Jeff Greenfield, a senior political analyst for the cable network for nine years, has agreed to join CBS as the presidential campaign gears up. CBS recently hired general assignment reporter Kelly Wallace and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg away from CNN, and has made CNN anchor Anderson Cooper a "60 Minutes contributor."

Greenfield worked as a media analyst for CBS in 1980, but he made his reputation during 14 years at ABC, where he reported for such programs as "Nightline" and "World News." The deal was confirmed by people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified discussing a personnel move that has not been made public.

"We're in discussions, and I don't believe in negotiating in the newspapers," said Robert Barnett, Greenfield's lawyer.

Those familiar with the deal say CNN made Greenfield an attractive offer but that he wanted to return to a broadcast network and work with two executives who were close colleagues at ABC. One is Rick Kaplan, who began this month as executive producer of the "CBS Evening News," and the other is Paul Friedman, now a CBS vice president.

Greenfield, who once hosted a late-night CNN show that was canceled after a brief run, has been concerned that the network has not used him more frequently, say those who know him. A onetime aide to Mayor John Lindsay and Sen. Robert Kennedy in New York who has won three Emmy awards, Greenfield was first approached by CBS News President Sean McManus early this year.

Traffic between the two networks in not entirely one way. CNN last year hired John Roberts, a high-profile anchor who had been considered a potential successor to Dan Rather before Couric got the job.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033001146.html

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

fredfa

03-31-07, 12:56 PM

Yesterday’s prime-time ratings have been posted near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

I'll add the actual viewer numbers later in the day when they become available.

kizzo

03-31-07, 02:03 PM

If that 5% is "generally accepted", it must refer to those that physically leave (bathroom, snack, etc.), not to those that are not exposed to the commercials. Even pre-DVR, I would find it difficult to believe that only 5% flipped to an alternate channel during a commercial break.

Extremely difficult...

I'm always flipping channels during commercial breaks... The only time I don't turn the channel is when I'm going to the bathroom or getting a drink. That's the only time I don't change the channel during a commercial.

5%??.. PLEASSEEE :rolleyes:

123HDTV

03-31-07, 02:17 PM

This was posted on the comcast.com website. Thanks to Lucky from Satelliteguys.us for the pointer. It looks like cable is out;

Due to a decision by Major League Baseball, Comcast, as well as many other cable operators will not be able to distribute the 2007 MLB Extra Innings out-of-market package.

If you are a current Comcast customer and subscribed to Comcast 2006 MLB Extra Innings, you should receive correspondence from Comcast no later than April 11, 2007 with an offer to help make up for the loss of MLB Extra Innings, with an opportunity to subscribe to MLB.TV. With MLB.TV you can use your computer to view all the same games you would see on TV with MLB Extra Innings.

If you do not receive notification by April 11, 2007, please call: 1-800-631-0258, and have your Comcast account number available for 2006 MLB Extra Innings subscription verification.

If you are a current Comcast customer and have subscribed to the 2007 MLB Extra Innings package, we will refund your payment in the form of a credit to your monthly bill.

In 2007, Comcast will be providing a great selection of up to 400 national, regional and local live televised baseball games, many in high-definition. We hope the combination of the MLB.TV offer and the large live televised schedule make up for the loss of MLB Extra Innings.

Again, should you need any assistance in signing up for MLB.TV after receiving your special offer in the mail, please contact: 1-800-631-0258.

http://www.comcast.com/baseball

fredfa

03-31-07, 02:26 PM

I suspect the five per cent number is way low, too.

But then the experence of folks on this forum, who have a disproportionately high precentage of DVRs and other gadgets probably means we have an awfully high number of people who don't sit still for commercials.

But as commercials get watched less and less we should all prepare for new ways the broadcast and cable netorks will extract theiur money from us.

Personally, I believe they will make some sort of VOD or direct access available -- at a cost, of course -- in the relatively near future.

By the way, ABC has just introduced a new viewer which is remarkably better than the old on-line viewer. I'm going to post a story about that from Broadcasting & Cable in a few minutes.

fredfa

03-31-07, 02:29 PM

That report was actually posted a little while ago on the biz of baseball site I linked to a bit earlier in the day.

I was busy elsewhere, sorry I missed it.

This was posted on the comcast.com website. Thanks to Lucky from Satelliteguys.us for the pointer. It looks like cable is out;

Due to a decision by Major League Baseball, Comcast, as well as many other cable operators will not be able to distribute the 2007 MLB Extra Innings out-of-market package.

If you are a current Comcast customer and subscribed to Comcast 2006 MLB Extra Innings, you should receive correspondence from Comcast no later than April 11, 2007 with an offer to help make up for the loss of MLB Extra Innings, with an opportunity to subscribe to MLB.TV. With MLB.TV you can use your computer to view all the same games you would see on TV with MLB Extra Innings.

If you do not receive notification by April 11, 2007, please call: 1-800-631-0258, and have your Comcast account number available for 2006 MLB Extra Innings subscription verification.

If you are a current Comcast customer and have subscribed to the 2007 MLB Extra Innings package, we will refund your payment in the form of a credit to your monthly bill.

In 2007, Comcast will be providing a great selection of up to 400 national, regional and local live televised baseball games, many in high-definition. We hope the combination of the MLB.TV offer and the large live televised schedule make up for the loss of MLB Extra Innings.

Again, should you need any assistance in signing up for MLB.TV after receiving your special offer in the mail, please contact: 1-800-631-0258.

http://www.comcast.com/baseball

123HDTV

03-31-07, 02:31 PM

I was busy elsewhere, sorry I missed it.

I think no apologies are needed from you sir!. :)

fredfa

03-31-07, 02:33 PM

Actually, Comcast got it wrong in its note to its MLB-EI subs. It says"...With MLB.TV you can use your computer to view all the same games you would see on TV with MLB Extra Innings...."

Not true. The mlb.com site offers far more games than are available on MLB-EI. The only games it misses, as I underdstand it, are due to blackout restrictions. Other than that, it carries everything.

In general (although there are some exceptions), MLB-EI does not retransmit OTA games.

fredfa

03-31-07, 02:47 PM

Friday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings (with total viewers) – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have now been posted near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

fredfa

03-31-07, 02:52 PM

Friday's ratings provide some interesting notes.

Just a few days after an ion(Pax) show beat out a CW program in the weekly ratings, the CW beat ABC for a full evening. Yikes.

And just a few years after ABC buried "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" by playing it as many as five times a week, the network might be making the same sort of mistake. Its repeat of "Grey's Anatomy" finished fourth last night in its time period.

Fox did OK with a rerun of "House" but perhaps might to better listen to the ratings lessons of the past -- and present.

fredfa

03-31-07, 02:54 PM

And thanks so much, 1234HDTV, for keeping us all on top of the situation!

rebkell

03-31-07, 02:55 PM

By the way, ABC has just introduced a new viewer which is remarkably better than the old on-line viewer. I'm going to post a story about that from Broadcasting & Cable in a few minutes.

Thanks Fred, just checked it out, it looks very good, full screen is sharp, I can watch that with no problems at all.

FSugino

03-31-07, 02:57 PM

I suspect the five per cent number is way low, too.

But then the experence of folks on this forum, who have a disproportionately high precentage of DVRs and other gadgets probably means we have an awfully high number of people who don't sit still for commercials.

But as commercials get watched less and less we should all prepare for new ways the broadcast and cable netorks will extract theiur money from us.
I say let them go on thinking that 5% is an accurate figure. If the industry thinks they retain 95% of their audience during commercials, it's less likely that they'll resort to extreme tactics like disabling 30-second skip and fast forward.

fredfa

03-31-07, 02:59 PM

A Simple Request….
Tomorrow is April 1

Please, Please, PLEASE!!! resist the urge we all get to post an “April Fools!” joke. Even if it is a repost of something you think is really witty.

It is not that I have no sense of humor, but sometimes people get confused. They remember something they read somewhere about some thing.

So if they are going to get confused about TV programming or HDTV or anything else we discuss here, let them get confused somewhere else.

Thanks (and have a fun April 1.)

fredfa

03-31-07, 03:15 PM

Technology Notebook
ABC.com Unveils “HD” Video Player
By Garth Johnston Broadcasting & Cable 4/2/2007

In an effort to set itself apart from the TV pack, ABC became the first broadcast network to offer a new full-screen, high-quality video player to online visitors.

ABC.com quietly relaunched its broadband player with two new display sizes: a startlingly crisp full-screen player and a “mini” 240- x 136-pixel screen. Other networks are also at work improving their players. Just as it was announcing a new online-video consortium with News Corp. and others, NBC also relaunched its broadband player, NBC Rewind, with social-networking features and a full-screen option.

But where NBC's new player and others like it employ Flash Video, the industry leader owned by Adobe Systems Inc., ABC's new player embraces the technologies of a Salt Lake City-based company called Move Networks. For Web surfers accustomed to grainy, jerky video, Move's players can show video that looks surprisingly similar to HDTV.

ABC First in Full-Screen

Move, which is partially funded by Disney's venture-capital arm, Steamboat Ventures, has allowed Fox and The CW to use its software as well. ABC is the first, however, to offer its video content in full-screen, and the difference is clear. “The quality of ABC's video is simply way better then NBC's in full-screen,” says Dan Rayburn, executive VP for online industry Website StreamingMedia.com.

Where other networks have dabbled with online video in various forms, ABC has consistently offered its content on controlled environments like its Website and on Apple's iTunes.

Other networks have tested various strategies, putting clips and full-length content on their own Websites as well as on such Websites as YouTube and MySpace.

CBS' InnerTube uses RealMedia's RealPlayer, not Flash (although CBS does put content on Flash-based YouTube). That means that, of the major networks, only NBC still uses Flash.

Founded in 2000 but incorporated last year, Move Networks says it is in discussions with all the major networks about its broadband-video technology. The company's executive team has moved fast and comes with a wealth of experience in computer technology: CEO John Edwards was formerly the executive VP of networking-systems company Novell and CEO of I-link; Move Chairman Drew Major was chief scientist at Novell and also founded Arroyo Video Systems and Edgix.

Move's method of delivering video to personal computers differs from Flash's in a few crucial ways. While Flash streams video at a constant rate using the proprietary Flash Media Server, Move Networks streams its videos at an adaptive rate off commodity components on standard HTTP servers.

This means that, when “you start watching a show on ABC or Fox,” explains Jim Ericson, VP of marketing at Move, “you'll see that the quality quickly ramps up according to your bandwidth availability and the CPU on your computer.”

As the show continues, Ericson points out, the stream is “completely adaptive to Internet congestion. So, if there is some latency in the network, we might have to shift down again to a lower-quality stream, but it makes all those changes multiple times per second.”

Its videos require a small, one-time-only download. During playback, a video can be paused, supplemented or replaced midstream with advertisements in other formats (such as Flash) before returning to the Move stream. “So we have quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to serving ads,” Ericson says.

The difference in video quality between Flash and Move depends on how the video is encoded. Flash is streamed at only one bit rate, while Move video adapts its bit rate to the network it is running on; Move proprietary software allows it to encode at multiple bit rates in one pass.

“HD streaming”

A Move video being streamed on a clear network to a fast computer can approach HD video quality (Fox refers to it as “HD streaming”), whereas a Flash video could approach that quality only if it had been encoded at a high rate in the first place. That could congest a suddenly popular site.

HD is not necessarily a game-changer. However, video on ABC.com “looks much better than it ever has,” says Mitch Oscar, executive VP of Carat Digital, “but technological challenges are easy to overcome, and the issue here will be the content.”

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6429850

dad1153

03-31-07, 05:51 PM

TV Notebook
CNN Analyst Jeff Greenfield to Join CBS
By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer

Jeff Greenfield, a senior political analyst for the cable network for nine years, has agreed to join CBS as the presidential campaign gears up.

Boy, Greenfield sure knows how to jump from one sinking ship to another (unless he gets a "60 Minutes" gig). :rolleyes:

fredfa

03-31-07, 05:53 PM

Didn't he jump from ABC to CNN a few years before Fox News started?

fredfa

03-31-07, 06:10 PM

TV Review
“The Tudors'”as they never were
Forget historical accuracy. This is King Henry VIII as re-envisioned through a 'Sopranos' mentality
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

"The Tudors," which comes bearing down Sunday on Showtime, gives us the court of Henry VIII filtered through the spirit and aesthetics of 21st century premium cable television. Even were one unaware that it was exactly the pitch originally made to screenwriter Michael Hirst (of the Cate Blanchett big-screen "Elizabeth"), the conceptual connection to "The Sopranos" is easy to work out. "Rome" and "Deadwood" will also forgivably spring to mind.

The 10-episode series is also supposed to be a new sort of portrait of the Fat Old King as a Buff Young Man, as played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers ("Bend It Like Beckham," "Velvet Goldmine"). ("Rock star of his day," and so on.) But if your big idea is that Henry VIII was an athletic, highly sexed stud muffin before he turned into the gluttonous caricature of popular imagination, that will not take you very far in and of itself — if television teaches us anything, it's that rich, good-looking young people can actually be extraordinarily tiresome. And though it starts out with a fair bit of energy, in spite of regular paroxysms of royal lust and pique, it becomes less engaging as it goes on and grows finally rather dull.

Although not quite true to the historical timeline or the real relative ages of its characters, skewing the king a little young, the series at least does not try to bite off more Henry than it can chew. (No fat suit or prosthetic wrinkles for Rhys Meyers, thankfully.) Indeed, it concerns only the first two of the famous Six Wives. When we meet him, the king has become frustrated by his lack of a male heir, which he at times ascribes to his having broken the biblical injunction against uncovering the nakedness of thy brother's wife, married as he is to his former sister-in-law. ("The Tudor dynasty gone! ... And it's my fault!") And so he sets about trying to trade in devoted old Katherine (Maria Doyle Kennedy) for new-model Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer), who, mindful of another well-known injunction — about not buying the cow when you can get the milk for free — keeps him at strategic arm's length.

There are other liberties taken, most outrageously with Henry's sister Margaret (Gabrielle Anwar), who is not only conflated with his sister Mary but married off to a deformed old Portuguese king as neither sister ever was in life; I'll not spoil the astonishing denouement of that episode.

But other Real People of History will turn over in their graves come Sunday, perhaps none more rapidly than the great liturgical composer Thomas Tallis (Joe Van Moyland), reimagined as a sort of sensitive pop star beset by 16th century groupies: "Thomas, Thomas Tallis? We just want to say we love your music. We share a room — do you want to come back with us?" (Later he is seduced into an ahistorical gay liaison by one of Henry's pals, who comes on to him, saying, "You have... such a talent.") Shakespeare took similar liberties, of course; there is nothing inherently wrong with it. If you're Shakespeare.

How much accuracy does a historical drama owe its audience anyway? I'd say it all depends on what it gives them in return — if they're sufficiently engaged, frightened, made to laugh, you can be wrong about everything. And too much concern with getting it right is, besides economically stressful to any TV series, likely to cloud a production in scholarly must and dust and distract from the more important tasks of building character and developing ideas. In the best historical films, which are not necessarily the best-looking, the spirit of the times is perceptibly present without forever announcing itself; it informs the speeches and actions without taking them over, it lives in the actors' bodies.

That is not what happens here. "The Tudors" works the edges without building up the middle — it's an empty sandwich. On the one hand its speeches are studded with factoids and philosophy, and on the other its players carry on as if they had wandered out of an episode of "Entourage," but it never offers anything like a complete character or carries through an idea; none of the scenes lasts long enough to get a good dialectic going.

For all the heavy breathing, it's dramatically dead, so that even while it offers "sympathetic" views of sometimes maligned historical figures, one never feels involved with them or their fates. Jeremy Northam ("Gosford Park") is a likable Thomas More and Sam Neill ("Jurassic Park") a not wholly unlikable Cardinal Wolsey; Kennedy is a dignified Katherine and Dormer a fetching Anne. But none really suggests a life beyond the scene he or she happens to be playing. As to the king himself, Rhys Meyers brings to the part a superhero torso and the curling lip that served him well as Elvis Presley in a TV movie a couple of years back, but gives overall what might be called an uncomplicated performance, long on quivering intensity and short on humor. He might be playing a serial killer as easily as a king.

But it is pretty to look at, and every 20 minutes or so somebody takes off clothes or has sex. ("My lord," says one of Henry's one-night stands, dropping her shift, "how like you this?") That may be all you ask of your pay-cable subscriptions; if so, this should suit you fine.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-tudors30mar30,0,168978,print.story?coll=cl-tvent-util

HDTVChallenged

03-31-07, 06:19 PM

Friday's ratings provide some interesting notes.

Just a few days after an ion(Pax) show beat out a CW program in the weekly ratings, the CW beat ABC for a full evening. Yikes.

Seems like Friday is the new Saturday in the mind of most networks. Still, it's scary to think somebody got beat by 'rasslin. :eek:

CPanther95

03-31-07, 06:21 PM

fredfa:

Only if you know off the top of your head........

I forgot to check the ratings when AI padded an extra 7 or 8 minutes to screw with Dancing with the Stars. Did it have a significant impact?

HDTVChallenged

03-31-07, 06:26 PM

I noticed as I was waiting for "House" to start, that ABC delayed the start of the second hour (live results show) by just about 6-7minutes. :D So there was no net impact wrt actual content. If there was an impact in the ratings, it was essentially meaningless

fredfa

03-31-07, 06:35 PM

I agree HDVTC.

But as Marc Berman noted, AI was down almost five million viewers or 26 per cent in the 18-49 demo.

The DWTS result show didn't seem to feel any effects of the move in the ratings.

But the "AI" erosion might be something to be watched in future weeks.

TheRatPatrol

03-31-07, 06:42 PM

DirecTV better be careful with this baseball deal, otherwise Comcast could play bad and pull all of its Comcast Sports Nets from DirecTV when their carriage agreement expires.

fredfa

03-31-07, 06:58 PM

Then DirecTV could always move E! to some non-basic tier, lose Versus, move The Golf Channel and who knows what it could or would do to Versus. And who knows what retaliation Liberty Media could take on Comcast systems?

My sense is that cable operators are far more concerned with John Malone taking over DirecTV than they were when Rupert Murdoch was attempting to gain control.

The bottom line is that both sides have lots of content the other wants. And very few cable customers cared enough about MLB-EI to actually buy it last year.

These sort of bruising battles don't usually result in any long range hard corporate feelings. Its just business.

fredfa

03-31-07, 07:37 PM

Has anyone checked out the new ABC video yet -- the one Broadcasting said is so much better?

I got an acid and angry PM from a Seattle member who says he can't even get it to work on his computers. Anyone out there have a similar experience?

CPanther95

03-31-07, 07:49 PM

Not bad. I checked out Lost, and the first scene with her running through the jungle was very taxing on fullscreen - lots of blocking. After that the quality wasn't bad.

rebkell

03-31-07, 07:50 PM

fredfa

03-31-07, 08:05 PM

Thanks rebkell, I guess my PM friend didn't see your earlier post either. :)

And thanks, CP95. I think the quality is vastly better.

rebkell

03-31-07, 08:09 PM

Thanks rebkell, I guess my PM friend didn't see your earlier post either. :)

And thanks, CP95. I think the quality is vastly better.

It seemed to work better in IE than it did in Firefox, I checked CPU usage and it was out the roof at full screen, I would suspect it's gonna be CPU and bandwidth hungry, but if they can stream that good of a video, I'll upgrade my PC.

Edit: It's also the first time I've actually seen something streamed that was better than a divx/xvid video.

DoubleDAZ

03-31-07, 08:19 PM

Says it doesn't work with Windows Vista, so they can kiss my you-know-what. :)

StuSuss

03-31-07, 08:23 PM

Hello,

For a non-commercial research project, I am looking for the following information. Do those who post ratings on this site have access to this information that they could provide to me?

What were the ratings for each of the men's college basketball games broadcast during ESPN's Championship week between Monday March 5 and Sunday March 11, both daytime games and prime time games?

How do those ratings compare with the average of regular season Saturday and Sunday afternoon college basketball telecasts on CBS?

How do those ratings compare with the weekday first round games of the NCAA tournament broadcast on CBS on Thursday March 15 and Friday March 16, both daytime games and prime time games?

Thank you.

VisionOn

03-31-07, 08:26 PM

rebkell

03-31-07, 08:29 PM

It's about time they went full screen!

And it works very smoothly. Well, in Firefox. I didn't try it in IE.

It's not exactly full screen, it still shows the progress bar and window title bar but it's a improvement.

yeah, I meant to comment on that also, it's still in a window, but the size is close enough to full screen that I have no complaints. The only complaint I have is no volume control, it has mute, but no volume adjustment, I can use the mixer controls on my PC, but most players have some type of volume control.

dad1153

03-31-07, 08:33 PM

...AI was down almost five million viewers or 26 per cent in the 18-49 demo.

The DWTS result show didn't seem to feel any effects of the move in the ratings.

But the "AI" erosion might be something to be watched in future weeks.

Let's call this AI audience erosion for what it is: The Sanjaya Effect. :D

Seems like Friday is the new Saturday in the mind of most networks. Still, it's scary to think somebody got beat by 'rasslin.

Audience erosion is so bad on Fridays that I don't think there will be enough viewership to sustain more than two networks with any degree of profitability. Currently CBS' dramas (Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, etc.) own the night with NBC's rotating shows (Las Vegas, 1 Vs. 100, Law & Order) close behind. Fox hasn't had anything good or worth raving about since it cancelled the Chuck Woolery gameshow Greed seven years ago. ABC's decision a few years back to scrap its TGIF sitcoms has come to bite it in the rear because now the networks Friday schedule has no identity or signature show before the old-skewing-but-cheap-to-produce 20/20 takes over at 10PM. Friday is not the cemetary that Saturday night is, but for the networks that aren't ranked one and two the night will either have to be programmed on the cheap or become a money loser. Heck, NBC is #2 on Friday nights and even with cuts to the "Las Vegas" budget and the success of the cheap-to-produce "1 vs. 100" the expense of "Law & Order" drags down the network's fortunes for the night into the red.

Anyone care to bet whether Six Degrees will still be on the schedule next Friday night? :(

URFloorMatt

03-31-07, 08:44 PM

Given that ABC has reestablished Saturday night in the fall with Saturday Night Football and (if I recall correctly) is looking to do NBA on Saturday nights as well, at this point Friday is ABC's "Saturday."

fredfa

03-31-07, 08:45 PM

For which, Matt, I would assume the CW is eternally thankful!

fredfa

03-31-07, 08:49 PM

Hello Stu and welcome to the thread.

I can't quickly put my hands on the ratings information you're looking for.

If you can wait until Monday, I'd try Rob Knapp, assistant managing editor, news, of Sports Business Daily. He’s at 704-973-1416 (Or let them know what you need and see if anyone there can look up the ratings figures for you.)

Or call ESPN in Bristol CT, ask for media relations and they could probably get you those numbers relatively easily.

Sorry I don't have the answers you need.

Hello,

For a non-commercial research project, I am looking for the following information. Do those who post ratings on this site have access to this information that they could provide to me?

What were the ratings for each of the men's college basketball games broadcast during ESPN's Championship week between Monday March 5 and Sunday March 11, both daytime games and prime time games?

How do those ratings compare with the average of regular season Saturday and Sunday afternoon college basketball telecasts on CBS?

How do those ratings compare with the weekday first round games of the NCAA tournament broadcast on CBS on Thursday March 15 and Friday March 16, both daytime games and prime time games?

Thank you.

fredfa

03-31-07, 08:50 PM

Says it doesn't work with Windows Vista, so they can kiss my you-know-what. :)

You are such an obnoxious early adopter, Dave! :)

fredfa

03-31-07, 08:57 PM

TV Sports
The MLB-EI dispute
Confirmation of Sat. Meetings on Extra Innings
by Maury Brown bizofbaseball.com Saturday, 31 March 2007

LATE UPDATE: Word is coming via a source close to the situation that the midnight deadline seems flexible and that the sides are still talking. Stay tuned.

I had the good fortune to work closely with Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer for a column he ran yesterday on the Extra Innings deal. Within it I mention how The Baseball Channel is a large part of MLB's long-term strategy, but beyond that, Narducci wrote:

Negotiations among MLB, Dish Network and iN Demand are continuing.

"We are trying to get everybody in," said Tim Brosnan, executive vice president of business for Major League Baseball. "That is our goal."

Mutichannel News also is backing Narducci's article by reporting:

Down to their last out, Major League Baseball and In Demand Friday were still trying to hammer out a last-minute deal for cable to distribute the league’s “MLB Extra Innings” out-of-market game package.

As further reported by Multichannel:

Meanwhile, DirecTV last week began a national marketing campaign surrounding its Extra Innings package despite uncertainty over the package’s exclusivity. The satellite company ran a full page ad in USA Today touting the package as well as a 20% discount if purchased before April 7. It was unclear at press time what other national publications the ad was scheduled to run.

As I've reported before, the deal was setup with a poison pill provision for iN Demand. The fact that iN Demand members Time Warner and Cox refused to put The NFL Network on the basic tier sets up a no-win situation for the cable consortium. How can iN Demand work a deal for Extra Innings without raising the hair on the neck of the 800-pound gorilla in the corner, the NFL?

Would it make good business sense for cable and DISH to be on-board? Absolutely.

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

rustycruiser

03-31-07, 09:36 PM

I agree with all the other comments re the new ABC viewer. A step in the right direction, great clarity, but lacking true full screen and a volume control. Great for when I am on the road in a hotel room with wireless, and want to watch a show that aired the night before.

I think x264 encoded torrents still trump it in my book. Xvid too due to the usable fullscreen.

rustycruiser

03-31-07, 09:38 PM

BTW, my viewing was on my Apple Macbook using Firefox 2.02. I had to download an update the first time, and everything has worked perfectly since then.

DoubleDAZ

03-31-07, 10:57 PM

You are such an obnoxious early adopter, Dave! :)Yeah, I know. ;) Actually, my wife decided she wanted her own notebook, so what did we do? We bought 2, with Vista. Fortunately, all the stuff I need runs on Vista, so I'll just have to wait until ABC and others update their stuff. Maybe I should email them to see what's what.

fredfa

03-31-07, 11:47 PM

TV Sports
The MLB-EI dispute
Deadline Extended for TV Negotiations
By Richard Sandomir The New York Times April 1, 2007

Major League Baseball continued to negotiate (Satur)day with cable operators and the Dish Network in an effort to persuade them to carry the Extra Innings package of out-of-market games and the fledgling MLB Channel.

M.L.B. made a seven-year, $700 million deal with DirecTV last month and gave InDemand, a cable consortium that is composed of Comcast, Time Warner and Cox, as well as Dish, DirecTV’s satellite rival, until last night to match DirecTV’s contract.

Tim Brosnan, M.L.B.’s executive vice president for business, said that the deadline would expire at the end of (Sunday.

“We continue to talk,” he said, “and we wouldn’t have extended the deadline if we didn’t think we could bring everybody in.”

If a deal cannot be reached, DirecTV will carry Extra Innings exclusively. DirecTV has agreed to make the MLB Channel available to 15 million subscribers in 2009; the league and InDemand have differed over the terms of making the network available to its digital cable subscribers.

InDemand and Dish would like a stake in the channel; for being the first to agree to carry it, DirecTV owns 20 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/sports/baseball/01directv.html?pagewanted=print

VisionOn

04-01-07, 12:45 AM

yeah, I meant to comment on that also, it's still in a window, but the size is close enough to full screen that I have no complaints. The only complaint I have is no volume control, it has mute, but no volume adjustment, I can use the mixer controls on my PC, but most players have some type of volume control.

The ABC player is actually better in IE7. Once you get past the annoying security warnings during the install procedure you can use some of IE7s new features to remove the window and progress bar.

Hitting F11 removes the window frames, and setting an IE zoom level of 108% and above knocks the progress bar off screen and allows you to center the video. With minor overscan at the sides.

The picture quality is far better than NBC and CBS, who have a video player that displays without distractions but doesn't present the image at full screen width.

fredfa

04-01-07, 09:56 AM

TV Review
“The Tudors'”
By Brian Lowry Variety

A big, bold, opulent gamble, "The Tudors" is not the great series that it might have been, but it's certainly a watchable and diverting one -- lustily combining liberal doses of bodice-ripping with medieval geopolitics. Jonathan Rhys Meyers brings virile wattage to this 10-part project as young King Henry VIII -- whose onscreen image has normally resembled Orson Welles in "Touch of Evil" -- in a narrative that meanders occasionally during its first six installments but seldom fails to entertain. Uneven casting tempers a more enthusiastic appraisal, but Showtime clearly has an attention-grabbing concept whose international appeal should justify the dice roll.

It's Showtime's frequent misfortune to operate in HBO's shadow, and "The Tudors" (whose on-air promos invite comparisons to "The Sopranos," which sounds like cruising for a bruising) faces a similar dilemma. After all, the other pay channel just wrapped up another centuries-old foray into history, "Rome," in scintillating fashion, albeit to more critical laurels than commercial bounty. Then again, as the French say, c'est la guerre.

In contrast to most depictions of an old, fat, detestable king, writer-producer Michael Hirst (who focused on Henry's daughter in "Elizabeth," starring Cate Blanchett) introduces Henry as a bright-eyed young man with washboard abs and carnal desires to match. Indeed, establishing the tone, he graphically beds a lady-in-waiting and declares war on France during the first seven minutes.

Ah, but all is not well in England. Henry is married to the older Katharine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy), who has failed to bear him a male heir. Meanwhile, his key advisor Cardinal Wolsey (Sam Neill) works to prevent war, though his motives are suspect, with the saintly Sir Thomas More (Jeremy Northam) representing the angel on Henry's shoulder, albeit one who is slowly losing his influence.

The opening episodes find Henry preoccupied with sins of the flesh, playfully jousting with his knights when he isn't finding new lasses to lasso. At the same time, nobles scheme against him, seeing the son of Henry VII -- who took the throne in battle -- as unworthy of the crown.

It's hard to tell much about Henry up to this point, and it's really not until the third and fourth installments that a coherent story begins to emerge, with the ambitious Thomas Boleyn (Nick Dunning) pimping out his commoner daughters, including the sloe-eyed Anne (Natalie Dormer), hoping to ensnare the king. The plot works, prompting Henry to press for a divorce -- an act that requiring papal dispensation -- that they might wed.

It's a rich, fascinating backdrop, which makes you wish that in the early going the story were a little stronger, the king's personality a little clearer. Despite Rhys Meyers' piercing gaze, preoccupied as he is with regal pleasures, he only comes into focus after a near-death experience that heightens his determination regarding Anne.

On the down side, Dormer's Anne is a pivotal role, and she prowls and pouts like a contestant on "America's Next Top Model" but never proves particularly convincing. The story also drifts toward camp moments once Henry's sister Margaret (Gabrielle Anwar) arrives and is forced into a political marriage, leading to a sequence of breathy encounters that seem overly influenced by perfume ads.

By contrast, Neill serves as a steadying presence -- conniving, but not necessarily evil; the gamesmanship regarding alliances with France or Spain are intriguing; and the costumes (by Joan Bergin) and sets are nothing short of ravishing.

The series begins each episode by reminding the audience regarding this oft-told story, "You only know how it ends." By merely sliding the timeline, Showtime has freshened up moldy history and should generate the kind of advance noise the pay channel covets. It's just that so far, those introductory chapters aren't quite as compelling as Henry's more-familiar epilogue.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933220.html?categoryid=32&cs=1

fredfa

04-01-07, 10:01 AM

TV Sports
Talks continue for Extra Innings
Chances appear to be increasing that cable TV will retain access to baseball's out-of-market pay package
By Larry Stewart Los Angeles Times Staff Writer April 1, 2007

Despite a baseball-imposed deadline of Saturday, negotiations regarding the Extra Innings out-of-market pay package are continuing, a spokesperson for In Demand said.

In Demand, which is negotiating on behalf of cable television, and EchoStar, the parent company for the Dish Network, are trying to retain the package. If they are unsuccessful, the package will belong to DirecTV exclusively.

According to Sports Business Daily, the discussions with Major League Baseball now include some senior-level dealmakers from Comcast to supplement In Demand's presence.

According to the publication, both sides are now characterizing the talks as extremely serious and baseball sources say chances of a deal are 50-50, although cable sources are slightly more pessimistic.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-sp-mlbtv1apr01,0,3408920,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

04-01-07, 10:42 AM

TV Behind the Scenes
Profile: Dick Wolf
A savvy businessman with an uncompromising vision, Dick Wolf laid down the 'Law' on television -- and is still reaping the benefits
By Susan Green The Hollywood Reporter

In the TV business, there are executives who write every script, sit in on every shooting day and micromanage every ratings point. Dick Wolf is not that kind of TV executive.

"On the 'Special Victims Unit' pilot, Dick came up to me and said, 'I think I've only given you one acting note in 12 years. Now, I want to give you the second one: Back off and underplay that scene,'" recalls Dann Florek, who appeared full-time on Wolf's NBC drama "Law & Order" as Capt. Don Cragen for its first three seasons (1990-92) and began reprising the role full time on the peacock network's "SVU" in 1999. "I didn't necessarily see his point right in the moment but just let it percolate. After the next take, he gave me a thumbs-up."

Two notes in 12 years could be a sign of a producer who doesn't know what to do or has lost interest in his show, but not when it comes to Wolf. Notes Sam Waterston, who has played Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on "L&O" since 1994: "If things are fine, we don't see him. He only gets involved when it's wobbly."

Fortunately, little wobbles (are rare) in the ever-expanding universe of Wolf -- who received a star Thursday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- and his team at Wolf Films. Over the past 30 years, Wolf has honed his balancing expertise as he progressed from adman to scriptwriter to show creator to executive producer. And along the way, he's come up with a very simple set of rules: First, hire the best. Second, let them do their jobs with as little interference as possible. (As he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2004, "If there are major adjustments necessary, it probably means you're looking for a new (person).") And third, shine a spotlight on your staff, trusting that everyone knows who pulls the strings in the background.

As "SVU" executive producer Neal Baer recalls, when he was hired in 2000, "Dick said, 'I'm going to throw you into the deep end to see if you sink or swim.'" The show, at the time, was on Day 4 of prep -- without a script. "Dick told me, 'I guess you'll be busy writing this weekend.'''

Wolf's combination of TV evolutionary prescience, diplomacy and producing skills has earned him one of the most powerful positions in the industry as creator/executive producer of the long-running "L&O" franchise (the 1997 Emmy-winning "mothership" show is now in its 17th season; "SVU" is in its eighth; "Criminal Intent" in its sixth) and given him the freedom to wander all over Hollywood's creative map. Yes, the franchise might have stumbled a bit when a fourth installment -- 2005's "Trial by Jury" -- was canned before the end of its first season, but Wolf can count any number of other success stories, including a best documentary short Oscar for 2003's "Twin Towers." And he's always looking to branch out, as with his upcoming HBO film "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Wolf's business acumen also has earned him an employee loyalty almost unheard-of elsewhere in the business. Many of his highest-ranking showrunners, directors and producers -- plus his publicity staff and cast members -- have worked on one or more of his productions for decades, not mere seasons. Whether with him now or currently on hiatus from the Wolf pack, producer-writers such as Rene Balcer, Walon Green and Constantine "Gus" Makris routinely pop up in show credits like members of his family.

"Why I keep coming back is I think Dick has created the best storytelling vehicle that's on television," says Michael Chernuchin, who has worked on and off with "L&O" since its inception as executive producer and showrunner. "Seventeen years ago, we started teaching America about the law. And when it's done well, nothing's better." Explains Wolf Films president Peter Jankowski, who has been involved with the brand since 1996: "I hold down the fort. Dick and I talk about union issues, scripts, budgets, and I fill the gaps. I simplify his life."

Even cast members have a hard time shaking off the "L&O" dust once they've been given the boot or left of their own accord. Florek, for one, was jettisoned from the "L&O" cast in 1992 when NBC insisted on more female cast members (as was Richard Brooks, who played Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette). Chris Noth left "L&O" in 1995 in an acrimonious dispute, then returned 10 years later to co-star in "Criminal Intent." That all three returned to their roles speaks volumes about the kind of boss that Wolf is. "Dick is a true visionary," NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker says. Echoes NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly, "Dick casts a big shadow."

That shadow was still faint in the 1980s. Early shots at producing and writing several series (usually crime-based) such as 1990's "Nasty Boys" and 1992's "Mann & Machine" (which featured S. Epatha Merkerson, who has since starred on "L&O" since Season 4 following a first-season guest appearance) proved short-lived. But one concept he began working on while still writing for "Miami Vice" had some staying power. It was an idea for a new strip series, one that would feature a half-hour of cops and a half-hour of lawyers -- an easy sell to syndication because it could be cut in half to sell like sitcoms.

Everyone loved the idea of "Law & Order," until they decided they couldn't possibly make it work. Wolf recalled in 2004 that Fox Television creator Barry Diller "bought 13 episodes in the room," then had buyer's remorse and canceled two days later. "When he bought the Universal TV ads (later on)," added Wolf, "we had lunch, and he said, 'Aren't you lucky because it never would have been on (today) if it had been on Fox. I did you a huge favor.'

I said, 'Thank you, Barry.'"Eventually, NBC's Brandon Tartikoff saw "L&O's" potential, though even he told Wolf, "You can't do this every week." Wolf told him they could and proved the show's mettle with six scripts.

"The show is Dick's stroke of genius," says Matthew Penn, one of "L&O's" executive producers and director (his father, Arthur, executive produced 12 "L&O" episodes in 2000-01). "It's an unusual combination: The prurient interest of a whodunit in the first half, then you peel back the onion skin and there's a real social, moral and legal conundrum in the second half."

Regarding the series' distinctive visual techniques, co-executive producer and editor Arthur Forney, Wolf Films postproduction head and a colleague since 1988, says, "'Law & Order' brought the hand-held camera, rough, edgy look to television, when no one else was doing that. People suggested to him that 16mm would look crummy. Dick said, 'I want it to look crummy and real.' He stuck to his guns."

Although the show had an early champion in Tartikoff, its relationship to NBC took longer to develop, particularly after advertisers pulled support when an episode featured an abortion clinic bombing.

"Everybody at NBC hated it," Wolf recalled. "Not mildly disliked it. Hated it. For the first five years, it was the chief topic of the first day of scheduling every year: What do we have to replace 'Law & Order'?"

A reconciliation came only after numbers began to rise, and that only happened after the network sold reairing rights to A&E for -- as Wolf recalled -- $159,000 per episode. "It was a very bad deal," he remembered, "that made the show."

It also got Wolf thinking about branding and keeping his show healthier on its home network by letting it out of the house more frequently. Timeshifting by audiences was just beginning to come into vogue, which meant the more often "L&O" was on, the more often it could be watched. Viewers found the show on one of A&E's numerous daily airings, then came to NBC, and ratings shot up. When "SVU" went to USA Network, Wolf noted that it was "the first time a network had ever given up a dual-window or cable run within two weeks of the original run."

That repurposing was born on the way to "L&O's" 200th episode party at Elaine's in New York. Wolf was on the phone with Diller (then at USA), telling him he had to close the deal before the party started "because every major television press person in the country is going to be at this party, and this is where you want to announce it."

Creating a show everyone wanted to kill off and supporting it in its earliest days meant Wolf was in a unique position once it became the anchor of a franchise of which NBC couldn't get enough.

Today, NBC Universal Television Studio president Angela Bromstad asserts that "L&O" is up 20% in its primetime slot over the same 2006 period; Zucker adds that more than 100 million viewers -- one in three Americans -- per month watch one of 709 episodes from the franchise shows on either the network or a cable network: TNT (for "L&O"), USA ("SVU") or Bravo ("Criminal Intent"). TNT alone paid Studios USA $250,000 per episode for the first 181 "L&Os" in 1999; the second batch jumped to $700,000 per episode, and the network retains exclusive rights to the series for 10 years once the windows opened.

TNT doesn't feel it got the raw end of the deal, either: "'Law & Order' is TV nicotine," Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin says. "Nobody helps us illuminate our TNT brand -- 'We Know Drama' -- better than Dick Wolf. As long as he keeps making 'em, we'll keep showing 'em."Suggests Reilly, "These series have become an essential part of people's lives, like doing the Sunday crossword puzzle."

Success has proved him right, but Wolf was uniquely qualified to sell his shows to the world -- he spent seven years as an advertising copywriter in New York before relocating to California and having an epiphany while reading a newspaper article about skateboarding. The resulting 1977 film, "Skateboard," was his first, but certainly not last, ripped-from-the-headlines production, an idea he would carry over to "L&O" some 10 years later. He wrote the script for the feature "School Ties" in 1981, but it took 11 years to get to the screen, and wanting to access a faster script-to-screen arc, Wolf embraced television. He compiled a resume of increasingly gritty scripts that included 1980s gigs at "Hill Street Blues" and "Miami Vice." Wolf Films launched in 1988.

"Dick has obviously figured out a magic formula that works well with the network and in basic cable repeats," notes Wolf's attorney, Cliff Gilbert-Lurie. Plus, the show hit at an opportune time, says Reilly. "Drama seemed washed up on TV (in the early 1990s)," he says. "NBC was on a downward spiral. But this show had authenticity and specificity."

And as a writer at heart -- whether it's ad copy or spare, sharp cop lingo -- Wolf insists that the writers on his shows are the real key to their success. Notes NBC Universal Television executive vp programming Charles Engel, "In his office, there's an English Tudor desk with one thing on it -- a leather sign that reads, 'It's the writing, stupid.'"

It's also the selling. Wolf acknowledges that his early days writing ad copy are why there are three "L&O" shows -- different flavors appeal to different tastes. "I learned branding from Procter & Gamble," he explained. "The one rule on brand extensions is there's no such thing as a bad brand extension except one that doesn't work. If 'SVU' had turned out to be a flop, it would have negatively affected 'Law & Order.' It's a huge risk, but a pretty good reward -- if it works."

Taking those risks is one of the reasons Wolf remains so successful. While continuing to nurture the brand that's made his name -- "Criminal Intent" scripts have been sold to French producers for $150,000 each, to be translated and culturally transformed to suit the Gallic marketplace, and the Russians aren't far behind -- Wolf doesn't shy away from projects that interest him, like his upcoming HBO film. Driving both engines takes an industry savvy few producers, whether micro- or macro-managers, can assert but which Wolf has in abundance.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ib5736d78068f1d73c3ba7975ed5e8071

fredfa

04-01-07, 10:47 AM

TV Sports
Extra Innings Watch - Opening Day
Chances appear to be increasing that cable TV will retain access to baseball's out of market package
By Maury Brown bizofbaseball.com April 1, 2007

Welcome to Opening Day 2007!

As you sit down and get ready for the season, many a fan that has moved away from their beloved team is looking for anyway that they can to catch them on television. If you're on The Biz of Baseball., it's most likely because you have done so watching Extra Innings, MLB's package that allows you to watch out-of-market games.

As we reported yesterday, MLB extended the deadline with iN Demand and EchoStar to try and see if they can work a deal to keep Extra Innings on cable and DISH Networks. If they do not work out a deal, Extra Innings will be exclusively available on DirecTV as part of a 7-year, $700 million deal.

Biz of Baseball has been tracking the negotiations extensively, so much so that we have a dedicated section of the site, just for it. Selecting the link to this article, and looking at the navigation tier to the left will show DirecTV/Extra Innings as a sub-section under Media News.

If you don't want comb through the archive, here's a recap of where we stand:

• One of the key sticking points prior was matching the same number of households that DirecTV has signed on to do. iN Demand has said it will meet that provision via 80% of their digital households.

The sticking point now is the ownership equity component of The Baseball Channel. Recall that MLB has offered DirecTV a 20% ownership stake, but that is based on exclusivity. If iN Demand becomes a player, DirecTV's equity in ownership would need to be diluted.

• EchoStar, who runs DISH Networks, appears to be in the same position, and last week it was reported by the Sports Business Daily, "EchoStar's Dish Network appears much closer than cable's InDemand to striking a deal with MLB to carry Extra Innings and the planned MLB Channel, marking a potentially significant breakthrough in the distribution logjam that has lasted for months."

Like iN Demand, they too will not work a deal without ownership equity.

MLB will continue to keep the 80% ownership in The Baseball Channel, thus negotiations are now around splitting up the 20% stake between 3 parties (DirecTV, EchoStar, and iN Demand).

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

TheRatPatrol

04-01-07, 11:02 AM

TV Sports
Extra Innings Watch - Opening Day
Chances appear to be increasing that cable TV will retain access to baseball's out of market package
By Maury Brown bizofbaseball.com April 1, 2007
If everyone is going to have access to MLBEI, thats great, but I hope that MLB asks that the package include ALL games, including those from OTA, those from cable systems that have "exclusive rights" to the games, such as Cox in San Diego, and all of the Fox and ESPN feeds as well (of course Fox and ESPN won't allow that to happen). What good is a sports package if you can't watch all the games?

fredfa

04-01-07, 11:07 AM

TheRatPatrol

04-01-07, 11:14 AM

Cox in SD won't happen -- at least for the duration of this contract (which ends in 2011).

But at least 120 Padres games will be available through the other team's RSN on MLB EI this season. That is up from about 96 last year.
Yeah unfortunately you're right about that. But what do you think will happen in 2011 when the contract expires, do you think they'll re-up with Cox and stay exclusive, re-up with Cox and allow their feed into EI, or go elsewhere, say to another channel? Thanks.

fredfa

04-01-07, 01:15 PM

As long as they are able they will stay exclusive.

Cox's Channel4SD has helped cable to have an 89 share of the San Diego market -- keeping satellite to just over 10%. That is just a third of what satellite averages nationally, and by far the lowest sat penetration of any major market.

fredfa

04-01-07, 01:23 PM

Saturday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

mikemikeb

04-01-07, 01:28 PM

dad1153

04-01-07, 01:59 PM

TV Behind the Scenes
Profile: Dick Wolf
A savvy businessman with an uncompromising vision, Dick Wolf laid down the 'Law' on television -- and is still reaping the benefits
By Susan Green The Hollywood Reporter

Today, NBC Universal Television Studio president Angela Bromstad asserts that "L&O" is up 20% in its primetime slot over the same 2006 period; Zucker adds that more than 100 million viewers -- one in three Americans -- per month watch one of 709 episodes from the franchise shows on either the network or a cable network: TNT (for "L&O"), USA ("SVU") or Bravo ("Criminal Intent"). TNT alone paid Studios USA $250,000 per episode for the first 181 "L&Os" in 1999; the second batch jumped to $700,000 per episode, and the network retains exclusive rights to the series for 10 years once the windows opened.

TNT doesn't feel it got the raw end of the deal, either: "'Law & Order' is TV nicotine," Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin says. "Nobody helps us illuminate our TNT brand -- 'We Know Drama' -- better than Dick Wolf. As long as he keeps making 'em, we'll keep showing 'em."Suggests Reilly, "These series have become an essential part of people's lives, like doing the Sunday crossword puzzle."

Isn't cute how this puff piece about Wolf and "L&O" completely overlooks the current ratings slide that two of the three shows in the franchise (the mothership and "Criminal Intent") are experiencing on NBC? Fred, the ratings for Friday have been removed from the 1st post and I didn't catch them. How did the new episode of "L&O" did last Friday night against the competition? Did it come in 3rd again or did it beat "20/20" (I won't even ask about "Numb3rs")?

The quote by TNT's Koonin about "as long as he keeps making 'em, we'll keep showing 'em" might be misleading and actually affect the future of the NBC run of "L&O." Fred, correct me if I'm wrong. I remember reading back when TNT got the rights to all the "L&O" episodes that the TNT deal covers all the episodes NBC makes up to the 2006-07 season (i.e. this one). TNT retains the rights to repeat all the "L&O" shows made between 1990 and 2007 until 2012 (the reference to the "10 years once the window opened" starts in 2002, when A&E lost the rights to the "L&O" repeats).

This is interesting because it means that, after the current season ends, NBC is free to sell all future "L&O" episodes to anyone it wants (or to TNT for a jacked-up price not covered by previous contracts, although the low ratings of the current version won't command any leverage during negotiations). I'm sure NBC-Universal would rather have "L&O" airing on its own Sleuth channel (or any NBC-U owned cable outlet) rather than on competitor TNT giving its USA Network channel a run for cable ad money. But if the current "L&O" run is dying because it costs too much to be made given its low ratings, and there's no revenue to be made by selling any 2007-08 and beyond episodes to TNT (separate contract from the current one that covers all the episodes up to May), what's the incentive for NBC to keep the mothership going besides giving Wolf his precious dream of tying Gunsmoke in seasons produced?

The quality of the current season is dreadful (my opinion, but one shared by many fans) and unlikely to improve next season. Same with the ratings. Would exclusive rights to the "newest" repeats of "L&O" (2007-08 season) in some NBC-U cable outlet starting in the Fall of '08 (not covered by the TNT deal) be a strong-enough incentive to keep the network run churning out episodes? Or does TNT's Steve Koonin mean it when he says he'll continue showing "L&O" if NBC and Wolf keeps making episodes, and extend the contract to cover episodes beyond the current season (at a price NBC feels comfortable-enough to continue subsidizing the network run's perpetually-declining viewership)?

On a personal note, I've become addicted again to "Law & Order" thanks to high definition repeats on TNT-HD. I discovered the show in 1999 on A&E, watched every episode at least five times and "burned out" on the repeats around late 2005. I continued watching the new episodes on NBC but, except for select episodes and newer repeats on TNT primetime (the last two years of Orbach and the two years of Farina), I was literally sick and tired of "L&O." But TNT-HD must have just gotten a fresh batch of HD masters from NBC-U because even the couple of "L&O" episodes with Michael Moriarty that I caught (1993) looked sharp and lacked the TNT-HD's "stretched" look for the movies. Last week at 1AM TNT-HD aired "Monster," the season finale episode for the year "L&O" won the Emmy for Best Drama. Between the gripping drama, fine acting (by everybody), excellent writing (Rene' Balcer co-wrote it) and high-definition coat of new paint I experienced the HD equivalent of a religious experience... at 1AM watching a show I've seen a million times on TNT-HD! LOL. I know there's a world of undiscovered HD shows out there (the "CSI" trilogy, "House," etc.) but so far the best HD I've experienced is with shows that I was already a fan of looking sharper and clearer than before: Conan O'Brien, "Battlestar Galactica," "The Sopranos," all three "L&O" shows, etc.

fredfa

04-01-07, 02:06 PM

I'm not a NYTimes online subscriber, so, I have to ask: is that your April Fool's joke? ;)

Man, I even had a really good one of my own typed up, about how NBC is forcing all their stations to put the MSNBC cable network on the OTA stations to advertise their (coming) HD services. I wouldn't have posted it in this thread, and it would have been my 500th post and everything. I guess that this post will have to do for the 500th post thingie, if it's even of note now.

I guess I am just very slow today, as a UCLA fan with a Gator hangover, but I am not sure I understand.

MLB is negotiating, I believe at this very moment, with Dish and iNDemand. And Tom Brosnan of MLB says the negotiatons wouldn't have been extended if MLB didn't think it could make a deal.

fredfa

04-01-07, 02:11 PM

Obituary
Herb Carneal, 83
Minnesota Twins broadcast legend
By Kelly Thesier MLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS -- One of the signature voices in Twins baseball history is now gone.

Longtime Twins radio broadcaster Herb Carneal passed away on Sunday morning at his home in Minnetonka due to congestive heart failure. Carneal was 83.

"This is a sad day for the Minnesota Twins organization and millions of baseball fans across the Upper Midwest," Twins President Dave St. Peter said. "Herb Carneal's voice was the signature element of Twins baseball for multiple generations of fans. Clearly, he was one of the most beloved figures in Minnesota sports history."

Carneal joined the Twins' broadcast booth in 1962 after spending the first five years of his career as part of the play-by-play team for the Baltimore Orioles. He was behind the microphone for all but the first of the Twins' 46 seasons in Minnesota.

Carneal had spent six weeks in the hospital this past winter battling a variety of ailments. He had been scheduled to broadcast some home games this season, although it was announced last week that he would miss Opening Day.

Upon receiving word of Carneal's death, the Twins announced that they will dedicate the 2007 season in memory of the Hall of Fame broadcaster. Carneal received the Ford C. Frick Award in 1996, the highest honor for a baseball broadcaster. He was also inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2001.

Carneal is survived by his daughter Terri and grandson Matthew. Funeral arrangements are pending and will be announced when they become available.

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/min/y2007/m04/d01/c1873533.jsp

fredfa

04-01-07, 02:45 PM

TV Review
“The Tudors'”
Buff Henry VIII Finds Minx Amid the Ermine
By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer

Henry VIII has usually been portrayed in historical movies as a tubby old glutton given to lechery and treachery. As far as tubbiness goes, it's obvious from the first scenes of "The Tudors," Showtime's new miniseries about the infamous king, that this is a Henry who's been to the gym. There's barely an ounce of blubber on him.

It's something of a revisionist view: Henry as a young man, ascending to the throne while still a teenager and romping about in bedrooms and on playing fields, having his way with a court full of 16th-century foxes. The 10-part epic, full of violence and bared skin, is history as Sidney Sheldon might have written it.

Everyone's after power when they're not after sex, as Henry -- played by the intense Jonathan Rhys Meyers -- sets the pace and the tone for the drama. Like many Showtime productions, this one seems partly inspired by hits from pay-cable front-runner HBO; "Tudors" combines "The Sopranos" and "Rome," its dysfunctional family meeting in a distant time.

Writer Michael Hirst says in production notes that he likes to contemporize history to make it more accessible to modern audiences. In Henry's court, you'll hear a conspirator saying of a political foe, "It's high time we kicked him out" -- which doesn't sound very 1520.

"Tudors" gets right down to business, opening with an assassination in Italy. The film is barely seven minutes old when Henry strips to his undies for a session in the sack with a lovely topless babe. Henry does everything lustfully, whether actual lust is involved or not. He even plays tennis lustfully, and he's so physical a king that he twice participates in jousting matches -- the second time sustaining a nasty bash in the bean.

In Part 6, Henry settles a dispute by flexing his biceps for a bout of arm wrestling; in Part 2, incensed by smirking insults, he challenges the foppish king of France to a full-blown wrestling match. The two had met to sign a Treaty of Universal Peace, but because of the outcome of the match, the treaty goes unsigned and Henry stomps back to England.

Rhys Meyers, a versatile Irish actor (he played Elvis Presley in a CBS miniseries and starred in the films "Match Point" and "Bend It Like Beckham") has a smoldering presence. He makes Henry complex and commanding, passionate in the pursuit of power, fame and sexual conquests.

Among those conquests: beautiful and cunning Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer), whom Henry wants to marry, and his mistress Elizabeth Blount (Ruta Gedmintas). That will require divorcing wife Katherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy), but Henry has to joust (not literally this time) with the pope for that to happen.

In one of Hirst's little jokes, he has Henry admiring the lovely neck of young Boleyn. Of course he'll have her dainty head chopped off later in life. In his youth, Henry's means are less drastic and his goals fairly simple: a divorce, a new wife, a male heir and, oh yes, immortality.

For the first six hours, Henry is naively compliant to crafty Cardinal Wolsey (Sam Neill), who seems to look upon Henry as a reckless whippersnapper. At times it appears that the veteran Neill looks upon Rhys Meyers's performance that way, too. Maybe it's just good acting.

While Henry's court is filled with sycophants, there are plotting detractors as well, foremost among them the Duke of Buckingham (Steven Waddington), who sneeringly calls Henry "the usurper." The only time we see much of commoners is in Part 5, when tattered and impoverished souls seek charity from Katherine at a church in Lambeth.

Composer Thomas Tallis (Joe Van Moyland) shows up in Part 1 looking like a hippie poet, pops up briefly in subsequent chapters and eventually has a surprising affair with one of Henry's attractive associates. Alas, he never writes "Greensleeves." Henry Cavill cuts a striking figure as Charles Brandon, whom Henry adores -- until Brandon runs off with Princess Margaret (gorgeous Gabrielle Anwar), eventually precipitating the big arm-wrestling match one doubts ever got waged.

The drama is not without humor, as when poor Margaret is torn from Brandon's arms and sent off to Portugal for an arranged marriage to its senile, smelly old potentate. She helps bring the marriage to a quick conclusion by smothering the geezer with a pillow. Then it's back to England and a court full of hunks-in-waiting.

Characters wear cumbersome, elaborate costumes -- costumes that call too much attention to themselves -- in an attempt to evoke the age, but somehow it seems as though Warner Bros. did it better 70 or 80 years ago. It's when the costumes are shed and tossed to the floor that "Tudors" perks up.

Do we ever feel as if we're really there, in Henry's court, half a millennium ago? Perhaps not, but a splendid cast and sumptuous production details make "The Tudors" a rollicking and resplendent show, if never a deeply affecting one.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033002329_pf.html

Demodave

04-01-07, 03:27 PM

No matter what happens, the MLB EI package needs to modify their blackout rules. In Las Vegas, a city without a major league team, we get the Dodgers and Angels via FSN West and Prime Ticket; and the Padres via Cox. Unfortunately, the Giants, Athletics and Diamondbacks also claim Las Vegas as their "local" market. This means that the EI package blacks out every game with the six teams above.

This is ridiculous!! It makes sense for Vegas to be claimed as "local" for the three southern California teams. But San Francisco and Oakland?!? They are almost 600 miles away!!

So this means that the only way baseball fans in Las Vegas can see the Giants, A's, or D-Backs is on ESPN or Fox. Everything else is blacked out; even on the EI package.

A similar situation occurs in Iowa and Hawaii.

Here is more to read up on the blackout situation:

Yahoo Sports Article 1 (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-blackouts061906&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)
Yahoo Sports Article 2 (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-blackouts071106&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

And a thread from last year:

AVS Blackout Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=698654)

GeorgeLV

04-01-07, 03:30 PM

GeorgeLV

04-01-07, 03:32 PM

While we're on the topic of baseball, I was looking at the website for INHD and it looks like they don't have any MLB games this year. Did they lose their rights to show their 3 MLB games a week?

fredfa

04-01-07, 03:37 PM

I think (in the past) as long as Comcast/Cox/TWC remained partners with MLB for the EI coverage, INHD was allowed to broadcast games.

I have heard nothing about it, but with al the acrimony over MLB-EI this year I wouldn't be surprised if that status has now been changed.

If DirecTV, for example, actually gets an "exclusive" with MLB-EI, why allow Padres and Phillies games to be broadcast by INHD?

The rules in the past apparently allowsediNHD to market the games nationally, and MLB has been cracking down on that in recent years. WTBS and WGN had to pay major hikes to keep the games on, for example.

Demodave

04-01-07, 03:50 PM

If you subscribe to the Sports Pack you get the Diamondbacks on FSN Arizona, and the A's and Giants on FSN Bay Area. You're right that there's nothing we can do about the Padres.

That's true........if you have D* (and maybe E*). But the majority with Cox are just plain out of luck.

GeorgeLV

04-01-07, 04:00 PM

That's true........if you have D* (and maybe E*). But the majority with Cox are just plain out of luck.

That's a Cox problem. They're free to negotiate with FSN Bay Area and FSN Arizona, but they never reach an agreement. (The Las Vegas Cox subscribers do get the Channel 4 San Diego games.) On the other hand, D* and E* can't even negotiate for Channel 4 San Diego because of the terrestrial RSN loophole.

harley1

04-01-07, 05:26 PM

Why do the cable companies want MLBEI anyway ?

I understand that a cable sub might want to subscribe to MLBEI, but why didn't the cable companies just blame MLB and D*.

If you take the 200,000 MLBEI subs effected and divided them up between cable companies, it can't be that many per company.

Plus fans in Phily and San Diego will not switch to D*.

They really do not want to add the MLB Network in 09.

mikemikeb

04-01-07, 05:33 PM

I guess I am just very slow today, as a UCLA fan with a Gator hangover, but I am not sure I understand.Yesterday, you ordered us not to post any April Fools jokes (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10178500#post10178500), and I didn't want to get suspended or banned for posting one, even if it was in the HDTV Programming area, seperate from the "Hot Off the Press" section. With my post today, I joked that you had to have made the MLB story up. That's why I ;)'d at you.

Recently, MLB has seemingly been so keen on raking in $$$ by trying to get exclusivity (and people to subscribe to MLB.TV), that MLB extending talks past the end of the month was so uncharacteristic of them, like it had to be a joke.

Maybe next year (it's a liittle too late for one this year), there can be a thread just for April Fools pranks.

Go OSU!

chitchatjf

04-01-07, 07:00 PM

dad1153

04-01-07, 07:45 PM

Darn it, couldn't get to post my official-looking NBC Renews 'Studio 60' for 2nd Year press release I was working on for two months. Thanks a lot Fred! :mad:

fredfa

04-01-07, 08:45 PM

TV Sports
MLB Extra Innings talks continue in extra innings
Source: No assurances, but iNDemand, Dish deal Monday?
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter April 2, 2007

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball over the weekend extended the deadline for negotiations on the Extra Innings package with both In Demand and Echostar.

MLB had originally given the two companies until Saturday, the day before the beginning of the regular season, to come to terms over the out-of-market package that both had carried until the end of last season. But that deadline was extended until Sunday and perhaps into Monday to try to work a deal out although it wasn't clear whether one would be forged with either Echostar, the parent company of Dish Network, or In Demand, which is the negotiating company for big MSOs Cox, Time Warner Cable and Comcast.

"Talks are still ongoing," a MLB spokeswoman said mid-afternoon Sunday. She declined to detail the talks further.

Another source said the parties hoped to wrap up a deal by Monday but that there were "no assurances."

MLB in early March had reached an exclusive deal with DirecTV worth a reported $700 million over seven years. MLB agreed to extend for three weeks a negotiating window with In Demand and EchoStar to match the DirecTV terms -- which would be signficantly less financially without an exclusive -- and commit to carrying The Baseball Channel in a similar amount of cable and satellite households when the channel launches in 2009.

DirecTV committed to carrying the network in about 15 million households on its basic tier; it also received an ownership stake.

The MLB-DirecTV deal hasn't escaped notice from Washington, where the FCC has asked for more information and lawmakers including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., have asked MLB and the companies to come to some sort of agreement for the good of displaced baseball fans.

Kerry got agreement last week from MLB President/COO Bob DuPuy and In Demand president Robert Jacobson for a face-to-face meeting ahead of Saturday's deadline.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3id1c3d218198539cbc254fb984436f4b0

fredfa

04-01-07, 08:53 PM

TV Sports
CBS Sports courts audiences
Game ratings up 3% from last year
By Rick Kissell Variety April 1, 2007

CBS Sports will carry some ratings momentum into tonight's NCAA men's basketball championship game after solid numbers for Saturday's semifinal action.

Nielsen metered-market overnights showed Saturday's pair of games averaged a 9.3 household rating/18 share, up 3% from last year's 9.0/17.

Defending champ Florida's victory over UCLA in primetime (8:45-11 p.m. ET) averaged a 9.5/17, up 12% from last year's comparable contest (8.5/15 for UCLA-LSU). That UCLA-LSU game averaged 13.15 million viewers in the nationals.

Earlier Saturday, Ohio State's victory over Georgetown (6-8:15 p.m. ET) netted a 9.0/19, down slightly from last year's 9.4/19 for Florida-George Mason.

When national ratings are released for Saturday primetime on Tuesday, CBS is expected to top the combined ABC-NBC-Fox demo delivery on the night.

CBS Sports' average overnight household rating/share for the tournament to date is a 6.4/13, up a tick from last year's 6.3/13 and the second best in five years. That's pretty impressive since the early start of daylight-saving time this year produced lower viewing levels than usual for the tourney's three weeks.

Tonight's championship game pits Florida against Ohio State -- the same schools that battled for the college football title game in January on Fox.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117962322&categoryid=14

fredfa

04-01-07, 08:55 PM

Ah, now I see, mike!

But I thought I pleaded, not ordered! :)

Yesterday, you ordered us not to post any April Fools jokes (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10178500#post10178500), and I didn't want to get suspended or banned for posting one, even if it was in the HDTV Programming area, seperate from the "Hot Off the Press" section. With my post today, I joked that you had to have made the MLB story up. That's why I ;)'d at you.

Recently, MLB has seemingly been so keen on raking in $$$ by trying to get exclusivity (and people to subscribe to MLB.TV), that MLB extending talks past the end of the month was so uncharacteristic of them, like it had to be a joke.

Maybe next year (it's a liittle too late for one this year), there can be a thread just for April Fools pranks.

Go OSU!

fredfa

04-02-07, 01:16 AM

TV Notebook
Network Execs Make Late-Season Debut Push for Ratings
By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek April 2, 2007

With the exception of NBC’s Heroes, the 2006-07 television season will be remembered for returning series—rather than new ones—fueling broadcasters’ schedules. But the season’s not over yet, and several networks still hope to draw audiences with upcoming premieres.

Among the shows rolling out over the next month are Fox’s action drama Drive, which launches Sunday, April 15, and then moves to its regular time slot the following night at 8 p.m. At press time, ABC was sticking with its unusual launch of sitcom Notes from the Underbelly on Thursday, April 12 at 10 p.m. Meanwhile, NBC will premiere sketch comedy show Thank God You’re Here on Monday, April 9 at 9 p.m. Hidden camera series The Real Wedding Crashers also will launch in April, but NBC has not made a decision yet on a date.

As it did with 24, Fox is launching Drive with a two-hour block on Sunday, followed on Monday with an additional hour. “Our hope is that it’s the kind of show, like 24 and Prison Break, that if you get people deep into it fast, you’ll hook them quicker than doing it one hour at a time,” said Preston Beckman, executive vp of strategic program planning for Fox.

Even before its airing, ABC already has moved Notes from the Underbelly a handful of times. After being yanked off the fall schedule, the network had planned to launch the comedy on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. But when Fox announced it would extend American Idol’s results show to an hour, ABC changed course once again.

While broadcasters rarely have aired comedies at 10 p.m., Notes’ move to Thursdays underscores a conscious strategy on the network’s part to “find a place where it won’t air against Idol,” explained Jeff Bader, senior vp at ABC Entertainment. Now, with The Great American Dream Vote canceled after only two broadcasts, sources said the network might move Notes back to Wednesdays, but at 8 p.m., still enabling it to avoid the American Idol death star.

Despite Dream Vote’s quick death, the upside of non-scripted success continues to drive broadcasters to find the next big format. Hence, NBC’s late-midseason entries are two non-scripted series.

Craig Plestis, NBC’s executive vp of reality programming, said the network’s development strategy emphasizes its desire to avoid copycatting the competition. “What we’ve found is if you’re first with a unique idea, people will come there,” he said. “Of course, it has to be a good idea.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003565793

dad1153

04-02-07, 07:38 AM

Holy s***! Last night I saw the first episode of Dexter on Showtime HD (which is repeating the entire first season at 9PM, an acknowledgement by Showtime they have nothing to go up against The Sopranos on HBO) which I didn't catch when it premiered because I didn't have Showtime or an HDTV. I am completely blown away! The performances, the characters (love Dexter's sister looking up to him for advice), the premise (which redeems the main character from being completely repulsive, ala the main characters in FX's last two new series), the setting, the HD cinematography... why the hell isn't this show on HBO? If it were they'd have a monster hit on their hands. Oh well, The Tudors is sitting in the HD DVR for latter viewing (just not in the mood for a period drama on a Sunday night). Wow, starting next week I'm watching The Sopranos while taping 'Dexter,' watching 'Dexter' while taping 'The Tudors' and then catching Planet Earth encores at 11PM on Discovery Theater... all in HD! :D Throw the DVR'ed Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Amazing Race new airings (in SD) earlier and Sunday night just became to me what Thursday and Monday night is to a lot of you guys. I'm glad I didn't read any of the spoilers for 'Dexter' while it aired because to see it for the first time is to get that 'ohh, so elusive' feeling of elation when one starts watching a really good TV show and the anticipation for next week's episode is half the fun. :)

BTW, is anyone else seriously excited about the last run of 'The Sopranos' on HBO starting on Sunday? The media frenzy has already begun with the New York Post pretty much spoiling the first two episodes in a front-page article last week (which of course I didn't read), but I just don't sense from my co-workers and others the same degree of breathless anticipation I'm feeling. Is anyone here still seriously upset over the first part of the season's 'downer' on an ending? Can HBO still get the 8 million viewer average for Tony's last stand that the show was getting for most of Season 6 last year?

pwrmetal

04-02-07, 08:53 AM

Hey dad, I too am excited to try out Dexter as I have heard great things about it. (I DVRed it last night.)

I have never been less excited for a new season of the Soprano's. I just found the first half of season 6 to be so boring for the most part. I felt that after season 3 the show has been in a slight, steady decline. I am sure things will get exciting as we get closer to the ending, and I am certainly curious to see how it will end. But, seasons 5 and 6 were pretty bitterly disappointing to me and all of my friends/family who watch it, so right now my excitement level is low.

shuttermaker

04-02-07, 09:27 AM

I think Dexter is an excellent show. We watched the first season on its original air time and watched the replay last nite while waiting for The Tudors.

The Tudors was good last nite but, the wife thinks Henry is a man - whore. :D

fredfa

04-02-07, 09:44 AM

dad, I have no idea if "The Sopranos" can be the megahit it once was for HBO. But it won't be for me.

It is always a trap to extrapolate personal feelings into anything more than what they are, but I've had it with David Chase.

I can't wait forever anymore and I have forgotten many of the subtleties and wonderful storylines which kept me glued to the show on Sunday nights.

He has taken my trust and crushed it with his endless and self indulgent delays. At its peak the show was a marvel. Now, for me at least, it is merely a curiosity.

But that is just me.

fredfa

04-02-07, 09:53 AM

Sunday’s metered market over-night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

CPanther95

04-02-07, 10:46 AM

Dexter is fantastic. HBO has no original drama series (remaining) that reaches the quality of Dexter.

fredfa

04-02-07, 10:47 AM

TV Sports
MLB Talks with Cable Continue
By Mike Reynolds MultiChannel News 4/2/2007

With four season openers (the New York Mets opened the 2007 season last night with a 6-1 drubbing of the defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals) just a little more than two hours away, Major League Baseball and In Demand continued to negotiate toward a new agreement for the out of home Extra Innings package Monday morning.

The parties have already gone into extra innings past the March 31 deadline for the pay-per-view package. A spokeswoman for In Demand said Rob Jacobson and other senior staff members continued talks on Sunday with MLB and the parties were still in engaged in discussions at presstime.

In addition to continuing to be able to offer Extra Innings, In Demand has been charged with negotiating carriage for MLB’s proposed start-up linear service, which is slated to debut in 2009.

DirecTV had reached a seven-year, $700 million exclusive deal to offer Extra Innings, as well as distribute the Baseball Channel to 15 million of its subscribers. DirecTV also holds a 20% equity stake in the fledgling network.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6429943

fredfa

04-02-07, 11:18 AM

fredfa

04-02-07, 12:21 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
“Brothers & Sisters” sinks behind a clipper
Original episode earns a 3.3 in adults 18-49
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer April 2, 2007

ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters” has already been renewed for next season, but if the show is to build on this year, it's going to need the same sort of strong lead-in it had its first season in “Desperate Housewives.”

It's not a show that can stand on its own quite yet.

That's judging by last night, when it aired after a “Desperate Housewives” clip show instead of an original episode. That led to a 3.3 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 for the 10 p.m. drama.

That was off 30 percent from the 4.7 overnight rating the show pulled for its last original, which aired on March 4. It was also off 25 percent from the 4.4 rating among 18-49s “Brothers & Sisters” has averaged this season.

"Housewives" also fell, the clip show pulling a 3.5 overnight rating among 18-49s, off 51 percent from the 7.7 final rating originals have averaged this season.

Still, ABC was able to finish first on a relatively slow Sunday night among viewers 18-49 with a 3.3 average rating and a 9 share. CBS was second at 2.8/8, Fox third at 2.6/7, NBC fourth at 2.2/6, Univision fifth at 1.4/4 and CW sixth at 0.6/2.

ABC actually led the first three hours of the night, starting with a 2.7 rating at 7 p.m. for “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” CBS was second with a 2.0 for “60 Minutes,” Fox third with a 1.7 for an hour of “The War at Home” and NBC fourth with a 1.5 for “Dateline.” That left Univision fifth with a 0.9 for “Hora Pico” and CW sixth with a 0.5 for a repeat of “One Tree Hill.”

At 8 p.m. ABC led again, this time with a 3.4 for a repeat of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Fox was second with a 3.1 for an hour of “The Simpsons,” CBS third with a 2.7 for the first of two hours of “The Amazing Race” and NBC fourth with a 2.2 for another hour of “Dateline.” Univision was fifth again with a 1.2 for the first of three hours of “Bailando por la Boda de Mis Suenos” and CW sixth with a 0.5 for “7th Heaven.”

At 9 p.m. ABC was first with its 3.5 for the “Desperate Housewives” clip show, followed by Fox with a 3.1 average for a repeat of “Family Guy” and a new “American Dad” (2.9).

CBS was third with a 3.o for the second half of “Amazing Race,” NBC fourth with a 2.8 for a “Deal or No Deal” rerun, 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.”

CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 3.5 for “Cold Case,” while ABC slipped to second with its 3.3 for “Brothers & Sisters.” NBC finished third that hour with a 2.2 for “The Apprentice” and Univision fourth with a 1.8 for the last hour of “Bailando.”

Among households, CBS was first for the night with a 6.6 average rating and an 11 share. ABC was second at 5.9/10, NBC third at 5.2/9, Fox fourth at 3.4/6, Univision fifth at 1.6/3 and CW sixth at 1.1/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_11185.asp

dad1153

04-02-07, 12:25 PM

Sunday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

From Berman's commentary: "Also in the 7 p.m. hour were two episodes (repeat and original) of Fox’s sure-to-be-axed The War at Home (Viewers: avg. 3.62 million; A18-49: 1.7/ 6), and a repeat of The CW’s One Tree Hill at a miniscule 12.35 million viewers and a 0.4/ 1 among adults 18-49."

I'm pretty sure The CW wouldn't consider 12.35 million viewers for a repeat of "One Tree Hill" miniscule if this were close to being true. See Fred, even the mighty screw up every once in a while. :D

fredfa

04-02-07, 12:52 PM

There seems to be some confusion about whether Dish is or isn't still in the talks with MLB about carring the Extra Innings package.

Scott Greczkowski over at sat guys has some pretty fine sources at Echo Star, and responding to my specific question within the last half hour he said his understanding is that Dish is still involved in the talks.

fredfa

04-02-07, 12:57 PM

Marc's typo has been corrected, dad. Here is the corrected paragraph:

"...Also in the 7 p.m. hour were two episodes (repeat and original) of Fox’s sure-to-be-axed The War at Home (Viewers: avg. 3.62 million; A18-49: 1.7/ 6), and a repeat of The CW’s One Tree Hill at a miniscule 1.23 million viewers and a 0.4/ 1 among adults 18-49...."

dad1153

04-02-07, 01:12 PM

Dexter is fantastic. HBO has no original drama series (remaining) that reaches the quality of Dexter.

The first season of Big Love was pretty good, looking forward to the next one (whenever HBO feels like airing that one). And don't discount Milch's new surfing/alien show John from Cincinatti; the man's a nut but he gave the world Deadwood so there's a method to his madness. But you're right, post-June HBO is in serious danger of being out-HBO'ed by Showtime. Who'd ever thought that could ever happen? :eek:

I have no idea if "The Sopranos" can be the megahit it once was for HBO. But it won't be for me... I've had it with David Chase.

I can't wait forever anymore and I have forgotten many of the subtleties and wonderful storylines which kept me glued to the show on Sunday nights.

He has taken my trust and crushed it with his endless and self indulgent delays. At its peak the show was a marvel. Now, for me at least, it is merely a curiosity.

Doesn't HBO share some of the blame for the delays though? Sure, Chase went 'diva' on us big time after Season 3 but HBO also wanted to drag the show long-enough to keep it running for years to keep the subscriber base from bolting (which many of them will do the Monday after "Sopranos" ends). HBO wanted to buy time to develop another mega-hit, which never happened (although some shows like Six Feet Under and Sex & The City became critical and commercial hits) because "The Sopranos" was (and in IMHO still is) on a creative/storytelling league of its own. Even freaking Showtime is airing promos for The Tudors with a pull critic's quote calling their show 'The Next Sopranos':rolleyes:.

Of course HBO couldn't come up with another "Sopranos" in the eight years they had the show on. Can you catch lightning in a bottle twice in a lifetime (let alone once)? Also remember that it wasn't until this year that all the cast members (including Gandolfini) started pulling in the big bucks. These guys had to get other movie roles and whatever to profit from their notoriety. I agree David Chase is a self-indulgent bitch but HBO allowed him (and themselves) to be pimped for the lengthy (and delay-filled) ride. They're all equally guilty of these ridiculous lengthy breaks in-between seasons as far as I'm concerned. :(

shuttermaker

04-02-07, 01:27 PM

....to keep the subscriber base from bolting (which many of them will do the Monday after "Sopranos" ends).

I will probably be part of that base.

fredfa

04-02-07, 01:29 PM

Is anyone outside of the LA area (who has the MLB-EI package) getting Dodgers-Brewers in HD on DirecTV channel 96?

There is no mention of it in the MLB-EI schedule on DirecTV's website. Nor has there been any word that Fox Sports Prime Ticket would do any Dodgers games in HD this year, although KCLA is doing all of its 50+ games in HD locally.

SirJW

04-02-07, 01:42 PM

Dodgers is on in HD on FSN Prime Ticket here in LA on FSN HD channel 413 on TWC.

fredfa

04-02-07, 01:51 PM

fredfa

04-02-07, 02:17 PM

TV Notebook
CBS Season Finales

CBS today announced the finale dates of its prime time programs.

This list is also included in post #4 of the thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4278280&&#post4278280

Thursday, May 3 SHARK –
Sunday, May 6 THE AMAZING RACE
Sunday, May 6 COLD CASE
Monday, May 7 THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE
Tuesday, May 8 THE UNIT
Wednesday, May 9 JERICHO –
Thursday, May 10 (SPECIAL NIGHT) WITHOUT A TRACE –
Friday, May 11 GHOST WHISPERER
Friday, May 11 CLOSE TO HOME –
Sunday, May 13 SURVIVOR: FIJI –
Monday, May 14 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER –
Monday, May 14 TWO AND A HALF MEN
Monday, May 14 THE KING OF QUEENS
Monday, May 14 CSI: MIAMI
Wednesday, May 16 CRIMINAL MINDS
Wednesday, May 16 CSI: NY.
Thursday, May 17 CSI
Friday, May 18 NUMB3RS
Tuesday, May 22 NCIS --

WilliamR

04-02-07, 03:08 PM

May is going to be a sad, sad month. What am I suppose to do with all my free time now?

SJKurtzke

04-02-07, 03:13 PM

TV Notebook
CBS Season Finales
Early May? Does CBS really feel that confident about summer, as new series there usually start back up in late September?

I thought networks would try and drag out the season, given the record low ratings that resulted from last summer.

URFloorMatt

04-02-07, 03:47 PM

Sure, Chase went 'diva' on us big time after Season 3 but HBO also wanted to drag the show long-enough to keep it running for years to keep the subscriber base from bolting (which many of them will do the Monday after "Sopranos" ends).

Why would they bolt when most of them have already tuned out? ;)

fredfa

04-02-07, 04:09 PM

TV Sports
MLB-EI update
MLB Talks with Cable Continue
By Mike Reynolds and Steve Donohue MultiChannel News 4/2/2007

With opening day of the Major League Baseball season underway, the league and In Demand Networks continued to negotiate a possible deal for the Extra Innings pay-per-view package late Thursday.

As of 4:25 p.m. (ET) (Mon)day, executives for the league and In Demand, which represents cable operators, were still hashing out a deal, In Demand spokeswoman Ellen Cooper said.

The parties have already gone into extra innings past the March 31 deadline for the pay-per-view package.

In addition to continuing to be able to offer Extra Innings, In Demand has been charged with negotiating carriage for MLB’s proposed start-up linear service, which is slated to debut in 2009.

DirecTV had reached a seven-year, $700 million exclusive deal to offer Extra Innings, as well as distribute the Baseball Channel to 15 million of its subscribers. DirecTV also holds a 20% equity stake in the fledgling network.

With five MLB games completed and two other games in progress as of Thursday afternoon, DirecTV remains the exclusive provider of Extra Innings this season. The package had previously been available on DirecTV rival EchoStar’s Dish Network, along with cable operators that obtained the games through In Demand.

Under pressure from Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass), MLB president and chief operating officer agreed last week to hold face-to-face talks with In Demand to negotiate a possible deal that could allow cable operators to distribute Extra Innings.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6430145.html?display=Breaking+News

rustycruiser

04-02-07, 04:13 PM

I am much more excited to see Entourage versus the Sopranos. Granted, I will still watch it (I have invested 7 years in it), but I am totally non-plussed about the return of Tony and gang. Entourage and the Wire are the only two reasons I still have HBO.

grittree

04-02-07, 04:34 PM

May is going to be a sad, sad month. What am I suppose to do with all my free time now?

That's when you start watching the serials like 24 and BSG you have squirreled away.

fredfa

04-02-07, 04:37 PM

Correct. And with so much good stuff in May, it'll probably take me until mid July to see it all. I still haven't gotten through all the shows I recorded during the February sweep.

fredfa

04-02-07, 05:08 PM

Senator Kerry today reminded baseball and cable and satellite providers that Washington still has an eye on the MLB-EI negotiations.
TV Sports
MLB-EI update
Kerry on MLB Opening Day: We're Waiting on You
(News Release from Senator John Kerry)

WASHINGTON D.C. - Sen. John Kerry issued the following statement today, Opening Day, regarding the exclusive deal between Major League Baseball (MLB) and DirecTV. This lack of closure means that thousands of fans can not view the season's first game.

"It is opening day. The baseball season has begun and we're still waiting for the business guys to get the show on the road and meet their obligation to the fans. Many fans are now denied access to their favorite team because executives haven't resolved relatively minor business differences. That is wrong. I want to see an agreement that is good for fans and consumers. The parties must push ahead with discussions and must not abandon baseball's greatest fans, who have been thrown a curveball."

http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/cfm/record.cfm?id=271742

fredfa

04-02-07, 05:18 PM

TV Sports
MLB-EI update
Cox: “Very Promising” Outlook

SOSH (Sons of Sam Horn) is a group of Red Sox fans. Well, more than fans – fanatics would fit better. At any rate, a member called Cox in Tucson this afternoon and asked about the status of MLB-EI. (Previously Cox had said there would be no EI this year.)

As posted by cheekydave on the bizofbaseball website:

“…’Just called the Commissioner's office and was told that talks were ongoing. Couldn't get an estimate on when a decision should be reached. I then called Cox here in Tucson. They've previously told me no way that they would have Extra Innings. Now they told me that things are looking very promising. Said that they were working out things such as pricing and we should know more by the end of the day or tomorrow. "

Thought this was very relevant as where the cable companies where saying NO, now at least this one is saying we are almost there.”...”

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=960&Itemid=52#jc_allComments

keenan

04-02-07, 05:22 PM

Guess who's back Tues at 10PM E/P...not HD, but it sure ought to be. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/keenanj/TheShield.jpg

GeorgeLV

04-02-07, 05:23 PM

Since when has the media reported on CSR-speak? By that standard *insert provider here* is launching *insert every channel caller inquires about* "real soon" now.

fredfa

04-02-07, 05:23 PM

Glad you are back, too, Jim!

keenan

04-02-07, 05:26 PM

Glad you are back, too, Jim!
Yes, finally started working again about 11am today. :)

fredfa

04-02-07, 05:27 PM

TV Notebook
“Prison Break” Season Finale Tonight
By Paul Droesch TV Guide April 2, 2007
(8 pmET/PT FOX)

When we left our cons last week, Michael had the money but Mahone had Linc (and wanted both the money and the boat); T-Bag was in custody (there is justice) and so was Bellick (framed again, but justice can be rough); and Sucre was in agony and still without his beloved Maricruz.

And back in Chicago, Kellerman was on the verge of doing the right thing for Sara.

How all this will play out in tonight's season finale is anybody's guess (scripts and screeners were not made available), but some sort of chase will pick up in the fall and, as Robert Knepper (T-Bag) told the TV Guide Channel, “we're going to say goodbye to some characters and say hello to some others.”

http://tvguide.com/Find-Shows-Movies/TV/Hotlist/default.aspx#PrisonBreak

SJKurtzke

04-02-07, 05:59 PM

Guess who's back Tues at 10PM E/P...not HD, but it sure ought to be. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/keenanj/TheShield.jpg
Isn't FX going HD by the end of the year?
Maybe it will launch in time for the repeat of the season to be HD. Kind of like how people wait for BSG on Universal-HD.

SirJW

04-02-07, 06:14 PM

Interesting that KCAL trumpets its HD games, and the HD designation is even included in the Dodgers online schedule, but there has been no mention of Prime Ticket HD, even though a handful of games were broadcast in HD on cable last season.

Yes frustrating The FSN HD schedule hasn't been updated since January. Note the Angels will be on FSN HD 2nite @ 6PM PST.

http://msn.foxsports.com/name/HD

pwrmetal

04-02-07, 06:19 PM

keenan

04-02-07, 06:32 PM

Isn't FX going HD by the end of the year?
Maybe it will launch in time for the repeat of the season to be HD. Kind of like how people wait for BSG on Universal-HD.
Supposed to be, but for me, "The Shield" is one of those shows that I watch as soon as I can, much like Battlestar Galactica. I believe it airs in HD on SKY in the UK.

CPanther95

04-02-07, 06:39 PM

Isn't FX going HD by the end of the year?
Maybe it will launch in time for the repeat of the season to be HD. Kind of like how people wait for BSG on Universal-HD.

I'd much rather have the channel be a simulcast channel - even if we have to wait for the next season in HD.

fredfa

04-02-07, 06:54 PM

TV Q&A
Ask Matt (from the Ask Matt column at TVGuide.com)
Matt answers your questions about “The Shield”, “Gilmore Girls”, Friday TV, “Raines” and More
By Matt Roush: TVGuide.com TV Critic Monday, April 2, 2007

Question: Do you think Forest Whitaker's Oscar win will enhance the viewership of The Shield this season? It is one of my favorite shows, and I was thrilled to hear that it would be returning again after this season. I was sorry that they killed off Lem last season. I think Kenneth Johnson played the unstable member of the Strike Team perfectly, but I understand why they had to kill him.— Mike

Matt Roush: I hope I interpreted the last part of your e-mail correctly, because killing Lem was such a great setup for the brilliant new season that kicks off this Tuesday (see my Review for more). It's so thrillingly suspenseful and dark, and while I'd like to think Forest Whitaker is a draw, it's the tension between Michael Chiklis (festering in rage over Lem's killing) and Walton Goggins (drowning in guilt and shame over having killed his buddy) that truly drives at least the first six episodes of the season. It's incredible. As for Whitaker as the Internal Affairs goon, watching him take the most desperate measures to nail Vic, including acts that might even give the crooked Vic Mackey pause, it's equally riveting. Whitaker's Oscar buzz can't hurt, but it's not like his movie was a monster hit, so I'd be surprised if that has much of an impact on the show's numbers. Getting Whitaker at all, last season and for part of this one, is a coup, no question.

Question: By now we're probably all aware of the gossip surrounding a possible Season 8 of Gilmore Girls. It sounds like Alexis Bledel is the only holdout, and Lauren Graham doesn't want to sign on without Alexis. I know you have said that Gilmore should end after this season, but let me run something by you: Have they thought about continuing on for another season with the focus shifting to another pair of Gilmore girls: Lorelai and Emily? There are definitely a season's worth of issues for them to work through, and I have always found their relationship to be much more interesting than Lorelai and Rory's. Even Rory herself mentioned in the last episode that she is worried about how Lorelai and Emily will get along without her there to bring them together and act as a buffer. So why not give the fans a chance to see exactly how the two do in this situation? I think it would be great if the show shifted gears and explored the relationship between Emily and Lorelai, and even Lorelai and her father. I don't think it would be un-Gilmore-like to take the show in this direction. It's a way to get around Alexis not wanting to stick around and perhaps a way to get Lauren back on board. Plus, Kelly Bishop rocks and deserves more airtime!— Cory G.

Matt Roush: I think it's time to let this one go, whatever Alexis decides. Still, the more Kelly Bishop the better, I always say (or I would if anyone asked), but a Gilmore Girls that skews older (the mom-grandma show) instead of younger doesn't fit the CW brand (such as it is). It's true that many of the truly memorable moments throughout the seasons have involved all three generations of Gilmores. Losing any one of them would be disastrous. But from the CW's point of view, losing the youngest would almost certainly be a deal-breaker.

Question: My husband works weekends, so we are home on Friday nights, when TV is the worst. It's so boring. Why can't the networks cater to people at home, and not just the partiers or the teens? If you've got a child at home and no babysitter, you're stuck with sorry, boring TV until they give us movies, cool sci-fi or Marvel shows. Thanks for your ear.— Jaan

Matt Roush: As someone who rarely is trapped at home with Friday TV, I sympathize with you. My suggestion (assuming you have some kind of recording device): Use the night to play back the stuff from the rest of the week that you didn't have time to get to. That's what I'd do, and that's what I tend to do on those rare occasions I'm home on a Friday. Friday is little by little turning into the next Saturday. CBS and NBC are still more or less seriously in the game that night, especially at 10 pm/ET, when Numbers squares off against the original Law & Order as well as ABC institution 20/20. And of course, Sci Fi Channel has seen the night as an opportunity for a long time. But otherwise, Friday often looks like a dumping ground for dreadful series (especially on Fox, with junk like The Wedding Bells) or burn-offs, like ABC's Six Degrees. Often, when you hear a show is scheduled for Friday, you find yourself wondering what must be wrong with it. Which is a shame, but it's a fact. And if it has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, with more viewers abandoning the night because the networks program so much inferior product there, I don't see the trend reversing.

Question: I don't know if it is just our local station or if it has become a national policy, but could you tell me why the same episode of Grey's Anatomy is shown both Thursdays and Fridays, one day after another? I think it might be better to show the new episodes on Thursday nights and older repeats on Friday nights, if they must have Grey's Anatomy two nights in a row. What idiot thought up this practice? I love the show and never miss the new episodes, but the same episode twice in one week is once too much.— Deena

Matt Roush: Simple. ABC is cratering in the ratings on Friday nights, and repeating the Grey's from the night before is an easy, cost-effective way to fill the hour. (See the above question about how the lack of ambition for Friday programming feeds the night's decline.) It's also a fact in many homes that there are only so many shows you can watch and record on overcrowded Thursdays. (On a week with no repeats, I'm watching or recording Grey's, CSI, NBC's comedies and Supernatural, and four shows is my max — at home, anyway. I'm praying Fox doesn't eventually fill that hour with anything worth watching.) So the Grey's replay gives fans a second shot at watching it before the watercooler buzz has completely died down. Maybe it's not the best use of the time slot, but given the economics and realities of Fridays, it's a practical one.

Question: Any idea when BBC America will give us Season 2 of the delightfully quirky and wonderful Life on Mars? Can you work your usual magic and find some answers?— Jon P.

Matt Roush: Happy to help. BBC America recently unveiled some of its summer plans, which include the return of Life on Mars in August. Also, as a cult alert, look for second seasons of Hex and Afterlife, as well as a fifth season of guilty pleasure Footballers Wive$, in June.

Question: I'm really enjoying Raines. Jeff Goldblum is fabulous, and the writing is fairly solid. The ratings haven't been awful, but the move to Friday night, I fear, will be the death of this show. What do you think of NBC's treatment of it? I read that the network cut down its order to six episodes early on, and now that it's getting moved to TV's deadest night, I think maybe NBC has let one slip here. Or, will the move to Fridays help Raines? Ratings aren't expected to be as high on Fridays, so maybe if the show doesn't drop too much, would it have a chance? What are the chances we'll see even the six produced episodes, or another season? I hate getting my hopes up for shows, especially mid-season shows, since many of them fail, but I just can't help it here.— Wrenn

Matt Roush: It's a long shot, to be sure, but you really never know, and the one upside for a show consigned to Fridays is that if it does any business at all, it could look like a triumph. I wouldn't read too much into Raines' shortened order. NBC has been doing cost-cutting across the board (including with long-running shows like Las Vegas), and that means scaling back plans for some of its mid-season shows. Basically, it's all a crapshoot, and while I would never give you false hope, I'd also advise you to watch and enjoy while you can.

Question: I'm sure you've heard about a pregnant Law & Order: SVU character, to be revealed on the season finale. What do you think about this? I think this is one of the best shows on television, but it might have finally jumped the shark with this. It's supposed to be a procedural, right? I understand that the personal stuff makes it different than all the other Law & Orders, but still. Is it not enough that they have the whole back-and-forth relationship with Stabler and his wife, and the strange story line with Benson going mushy for the brother she's known for all of 10 minutes? What's next?! Cragen being abducted by aliens?!— Paige

Matt Roush: Don't give them any ideas. I prefer not to prejudge here. It certainly does sound like a risk, and I'm not sure I want to watch a season with one of the SVU characters (depending on what is revealed) dealing with morning sickness as well as the moral sickness they encounter in their cases. But SVU has always been the best of these shows at juggling personal and procedural stories, so I wouldn't throw in the towel just yet. Healthy skepticism, however, is perfectly natural.

Question: Every time I see another list of pilots and potential network schedules for the fall, I see another vampire show. What's up with that? When did bloodsuckers become the flavor of the month? I tried to watch Blood Ties on Lifetime but didn't make it through the first half hour. The HBO show with Anna Paquin sounds intriguing. Do you have any early feelings about it? Only one, if that, will likely endure, right?— Daune

Matt Roush: Have you been in a bookstore lately? There's an entire industry built around series of supernatural romance novels, many involving vampires. Lifetime's dramatically anemic Blood Ties is based on one of them. I'm not surprised that the networks are trying to mine this vein (sorry) in hopes of generating some cult buzz. At last week's Sopranos screening, I talked to an HBO exec who was very high on the Alan Ball script for their vampire project. Could have been just hype, but you never know. Seems to me like HBO's the perfect place for something so out there to take flight. But first, let's see if any of the more mainstream networks even put any of these pilots on the air.

Question: Ratings and scheduling analyses, by both critics and viewers, often talk about the effect of pairing shows together (e.g., whether Studio 60 was/is a good show to follow Heroes). Is there any real evidence that such a scheduling symbiosis really exists? In this day and age of zillions of channels, multiple TV listing sources, DVDs and video recorders, I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who make TV viewing choices so passively, sitting stupefied in front of a TV set just waiting to see what comes next. It's not that hard to change a channel. It's not that hard to pick what you want to watch, regardless of what comes before or after, and it's not that hard to record a show no matter when it's on. Perhaps I'm being naive?— Tom

Matt Roush: The glut of TV is precisely why networks still have to think strategically about scheduling, even in a DVR universe (which hasn't spread to the entire viewing population, despite what you may have heard). First people have to find a show, and it helps if the newcomer airs in proximity to a hit and it isn't buried against behemoth competition. Eventually, once more people are on the other side of the DVR revolution, scheduling may matter less. But it's still a critical aspect of the network business, at least for now. And it's still a valid area for commentary to lament, for instance, when a network squanders a powerful lead-in like Grey's Anatomy on mediocrities like October Road or (come April 12) Notes from the Underbelly. People may not be wedded to watching every show in its actual time period — time-shifting has been a way of life since VCRs came into vogue — but to ignore the impact of scheduling is to be in the dark about why certain shows fail or succeed.

Question: Is their any chance that 'Til Death will be renewed for next season and possibly paired up with the new sitcom starring Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer? Since Heaton and Grammer are so well-known for the characters that they have played on other series, what are the chances that their new show will be successful? Sure, they have name recognition, and perhaps people will tune in to watch the first week. Will those viewers accept the actors in their new roles, or will they expect to see Frasier Crane and Debra Barone?— Zack

Matt Roush: Case in point regarding the previous question: 'Til Death is now looking more and more like a contender for renewal, thanks in large part to the ratings spike that occurred once it was scheduled behind the American Idol results show on Wednesdays. And given the fact that 'Til Death is something of a star vehicle, with the Brad Garrett-Joely Fisher squabbling the primary reason to tune in, it probably would be a good fit with the star-driven Grammer-Heaton Action News project, which presumably would also be a traditionally produced sitcom, with audience, laugh track, etc. There's no way to know, just because of the casting, if Action News will work or click with viewers. It can't be just because of the stars. The show also has to be funny. Stars are promotable, but how many comebacks have stalled because the show itself was a loser? We'll just have to wait and see.

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

fredfa

04-02-07, 08:10 PM

TV Notebook
“7th Heaven” series finale set for May
By Kimberly Nordyke The Hollywood Reporter April 3, 2007 (Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.)

It's a wrap for "7th Heaven."

The long-running drama, which debuted in 1996 on WB Network and now airs on the CW, will have its series finale May 13 in its regular 8 p.m. slot. The hourlong episode, titled "And Away We Go," will actually mark the second time the show was scheduled to have a series finale.

"Heaven's" 10th-season finale aired on WB in May amid much fanfare about it being the series closer, delivering its highest marks in more than two years with an episode that appeared to wrap up many loose ends in the show about a minister (Stephen Collins) and his sprawling family.

But the CW, which launched in September after the merger of WB and UPN, gave "Heaven" a last-minute renewal in May, announcing that the show would return in fall 2006 in its signature Monday 8 p.m. slot as part of the CW's inaugural lineup. In October, the network switched its Sunday and Monday lineups, moving "Heaven" to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Season-to-date, the series is averaging 3.4 million total viewers and a 1.3 rating in the network's target demo of adults 18-34.

"Heaven," whose debut on Aug. 26, 1996, marked the first-ever Monday broadcast of the then-fledging WB Network, will bow out as the longest-running family drama on television.

The series was created by Brenda Hampton, who also serves as executive producer along with Chris Olsen and Jeff Olsen. It is produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Spelling Television.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i24f58f9705c1a2881cc30423c35cc7cf

rebkell

04-02-07, 08:35 PM

VisionOn

04-02-07, 10:42 PM

Holy crap! Following up on dad's easlier post, my fiance and I just watched the first episode of Dexter and it was FANTASTIC~! Definitely lived up to all the hype I had heard about it. We are hooked. I immediately looked at SHO On Demand to see if they had it there AND THEY DON'T! ARGH! Guess we'll have to wait for every Sunday airing. :)

Hopefully if they repeat you might get to see it without onscreen ads popping up for The Tudors (or something else) every 15 minutes. Although they had no problem advertising Sleeper Cell during Dexter's premiere run so you might not be so lucky.

fredfa

04-02-07, 10:46 PM

TV Notebook

'Wedding Crashers,' 'Palms' fill in gaps [SIZE=4]
By Michael Schneider. Josef Adalian Variety

It was a Bloody Monday in TV land as the nets delivered bad news to the casts and crews of several skeins, including "The Wedding Bells," "Six Degrees," "7th Heaven" and "The Black Donnellys."

Prognosis was a bit more upbeat for some skeins, with NBC slotting "The Real Wedding Crashers" in a primo slot behind "Heroes" and the CW finally confirming a home for long-delayed drama "Hidden Palms."

First, the bad news.

"Bells," from David E. Kelley, has halted production and will air at least one more time.

Comedic drama had a rough Friday, averaging a 1.4/5 in the demo. Fox will keep "Bells" on the air this week; net had already planned to preempt it next week for a run of "White Chicks." It's unlikely "Bells" will return after that.

Seven episodes of "Bells" had been produced when the call was made on Monday to shut the show down. "Bells" had an unusual trek to the air: Kelley was called into duty and asked to rework an old ABC pilot to replace another wedding-themed show -- "The Wedding Album" -- which had originally been ordered to air but was ultimately axed.

"While we've been pleased with the show creatively, and David's writing was first-rate, the show just didn't secure the ratings we'd hoped for," a Fox spokesman said.

Also on the chopping block: ABC's "Six Degrees," which is off the air immediately.

"Six Degrees" was deep sixed after viewers completely ignored the show's return to the Alphabet web two weeks ago. Show averaged a 1.1 rating/4 share among adults 18-49 in its final airing on Friday, leading ABC to a rough fifth-place finish among the broadcast webs.

"Wife Swap" repeats will now air in the Friday 9 p.m. spot.

Then there's the case of the bouncing "Notes From the Underbelly" scheduling. Confirmed just a week ago for the juicy post-"Grey's Anatomy" slot on Thursday nights, "Underbelly" now has yet another new home: Wednesdays at 8:30, behind "According to Jim."

"Underbelly" will still premiere in the Thursday 10 p.m. spot, with back-to-back episodes on April 12. But the show will then move to its regular Wednesday slot the following week on April 18.

That's because the Alphabet web has been pleasantly surprised by "October Road," which performed well Thursday despite airing behind a "Grey's Anatomy" repeat. Rather than rock the boat, ABC will now bring "Road" back for its final two episodes on April 19 and 26.

Over at NBC, net will yank Paul Haggis-Bobby Moresco drama "The Black Donnellys" from its posh Monday-night perch in order to make room for its new reality take on "Wedding Crashers."

"Donnellys" had been slated to air most of its 13-seg run at 10 p.m. Mondays. Assuming NBC doesn't pull the plug sooner, "Donnellys" will end April 16, getting to air just eight episodes on Mondays -- with only two of those segs airing behind original episodes of "Heroes."

Drama hasn't fared well in the ratings recently. Despite a solid "Deal or No Deal" lead-in, last week's seg sank to third place in the 10 p.m. hour, losing even to the season finale of "What About Brian."

What's bad for "Donnellys" is good for "Crashers," however.

Skein, a cross between "Punk'd" and "Beauty and the Geek," will bow Monday, April 23, at 10 p.m. It will follow the premiere episode of the third installment in the first season of "Heroes."

There had been talk that "Crashers" would air Sunday nights. But Peacock execs liked early episodes of the show and decided it deserved to get a crack at the post-"Heroes" timeslot.

Katalyst Films and New Line Television are producing "Crashers."

As for "Hidden Palms," the CW had hoped to debut the mystery drama in January or March but decided to spare it from the "American Idol" machine.

Now, "Palms" will bow Wednesday, May 30, at 8 p.m. Net has eight original episodes in the can and said it has options on the cast that will allow it to return if it shows a pulse.

The CW is pairing "Palms" with three original segs of "One Tree Hill." Skein returns from hiatus May 2 at 9 p.m. and will remain in originals through mid-June.

Meanwhile, the CW has pulled the plug on "7th Heaven" -- again.

Network on Monday confirmed that the long-running drama, which outlived its original home of the WB, will not be back next season. CW execs made a similar pronouncement a year ago, then changed their minds and brought the show back for another season.

"Heaven's" death is also notable since the show is the last remaining network series to be exec produced by the late Aaron Spelling.

Skein has done respectable numbers in its new Sunday timeslot. While way down from its glory years, skein has averaged 3.4 million viewers and a 1.9 rating with women 18-34.

"Heaven" will go to TV heaven on Sunday, May 13, at 8 p.m.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117962405&categoryid=14

rebkell

04-02-07, 11:23 PM

Holy crap! Following up on dad's easlier post, my fiance and I just watched the first episode of Dexter and it was FANTASTIC~! Definitely lived up to all the hype I had heard about it. We are hooked. I immediately looked at SHO On Demand to see if they had it there AND THEY DON'T! ARGH! Guess we'll have to wait for every Sunday airing. :)

OnDemand is strange, I don't subscribe to Showtime, but I can see what is available and the first three episodes of Dexter in HD are available on our OnDemand.

Last week there was nothing available from Showtime in HD.

fredfa

04-02-07, 11:39 PM

TV Notebook
FX gets Close to legal skein
Network takes legal thriller
By Michael Schneider Variety

FX has ruled in favor of "Damages," picking up 13 episodes of the Glenn Close legal thriller.

Drama will head back to production in New York in May; cabler is targeting a late summer launch for the show, produced by Sony Pictures TV and FX Prods.

"All guns are a blazin' here in New York," said Todd A. Kessler, who created the show with Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler. "Having a series in New York City has been a dream come true for the three of us."

"Damages" reunites FX and Close, who starred in the fourth season of "The Shield."

This time out, Close plays Patty Hewes, a litigator who targets bigtime corporate execs (including a character played by Ted Danson).

Zelman described the show as "a legal thriller riding on top of a character drama," while Kessler said the show's overarching theme asks, "What price success in America?"

Show also stars Rose Byrne as a first-year associate who sees Close's character as a mentor; Tate Donovan as a partner at the law firm; and Zeljko Ivanek as the attorney for Danson's character.

"This is not like any legal show that I've ever seen," said FX prexy-general manager John Landgraf, who noted that the show doesn't enter the courtroom at all. Landgraf said the pilot, directed by Allen Coulter, will air as is, with no reshoots or changes.

Kessler lauded FX for "encouraging us to take creative risks and nurturing it," adding, "They really have fostered an environment over there for creative freedom," he said.

"There is no better combination than the right show at the right network, and we know 'Damages' is both at FX," Sony Pictures TV programming/production co-prexy Zack Van Amburg said.

FX is now eight for 10 with drama pilot pickups. Cabler execs pointed out that FX has produced only 10 drama pilots in its history and has ordered eight of them. Net will make a decision on whether to renew the Courteney Cox series "Dirt" in the coming weeks and decide on the currently airing, critically hailed entry "The Riches" later this year.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117962397&categoryid=14

fredfa

04-02-07, 11:51 PM

TV Notebook
CBS employee in town for Masters now bank holdup suspect
By Adam Folk Augutsa GA Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, April 2, 2007

Police arrested three people in connection with the robbery of the Wachovia Bank on Gordon Highway this morning, including a man police identify as a free-lance technician hired by CBS to cover the Masters Golf Tournament.

According to a statement released by the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, Michael Alan Crane, 31, of Alabama, along with Jawone Reginald Bennett, 31, and Shelby Lee Wills, 28, both of the Augusta area, are charged with robbery by intimidation.

Leslie Anne Wade, Vice President of Communications for CBS Sports, confirmed Mr. Crane's employment.

"He was hired as a free lance technician for this event," Ms. Wade said today in a telephone interview.

Police believe that the suspect entered the bank in the 1700 block of Gordon Highway at 9 a.m. and gave the teller a handwritten letter demanding money.

The note claimed the suspect had a weapon, although none was displayed, the release said.

As the robber left the bank a dye pack hidden in the money exploded in the parking lot, police said.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/cgi-bin/print_story.pl

fredfa

04-03-07, 12:20 AM

TV Notebook
Crime shows pay for ad buyers
Genre retains 95% of viewers during breaks
By Michael Learmonth Variety

The durable crime-and-punishment genre, a staple of primetime television for more than a decade, sees the highest retention of viewers during commercials, according to a study of commercial ratings by Magna Global.

Crime procedurals, like "CSI" or "Law & Order," indexed highest among all genres of programming, retaining 95% of their viewers through all commercial breaks during the hour.

Ads during crime procedurals were also the least likely to be skipped during DVR playback -- a fact that could play a role as nets decide which shows to renew.

"All of these factors give a procedural drama an advantage going forward," said CBS research prexy David Poltrack, who is in the process of rating shows to determine which will return next fall.

Magna found that audience retention during commercials doesn't necessarily correlate to ratings. Huge ratings hits like ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and Fox's "American Idol" don't retain auds during commercials as well as some lower-rated crime procedurals and comedies.

The findings are good news for CBS, which airs three versions of the "CSI" franchise plus "NCIS." Among all networks, the Eye had the highest viewer retention during commercials for both live viewing and DVR playback.

CBS loses an average of 6% of its viewers during commercial breaks in primetime; Fox, ABC and NBC lose 7%, the CW 9%. Overall, network viewers using DVRs watch only 34% of the ads.

Both broadcast and cable nets are focused more than ever on the scheduling and programming of commercial breaks this year because advertisers increasingly want guarantees based on who is watching the commercials, not the shows.

Nielsen Media Research will begin offering commercial ratings in May, but the networks and advertisers have already begun doing deals based on commercial ratings, and they will be a big component of this year's upfront sales.

Will those deals include DVR ratings? It will depend on whether the advertiser has a time-sensitive goal, such as opening a film.

Magna, a unit of Interpublic Group, said it conducted its research by taking Nielsen's minute-by-minute ratings and calculating average viewers during minutes in which commercials appeared. Because individual commercials aren't rated, Magna has no way of knowing how individual commercials performed.

The downside of the numbers is that some of TV's highest-rated shows and skeins most in demand by advertisers have comparatively lower retention rates during commercials. "American Idol" lost 7% of its aud during commercials in February, and viewers who played it back on DVRs skipped more than two-thirds of the ads.

The reality genre generally performs worse than both dramas and comedies in delivering viewers to the commercials.

The numbers indicate that some lower-rated shows have hugely dedicated auds that stick through the commercials.

ABC's "Ugly Betty" doesn't typically win its timeslot, but in February, it retained 99% of its live viewers during commercials and 63% of its time-shifted or DVR viewers.

Cable television generally loses 10% of its aud during commercials, but there are some networks that perform as well, or even better than, the broadcast nets.

Court TV, Cartoon Network, Lifetime and A&E retained 96% of their auds during commercials, two percentage points better than CBS.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117962373&categoryid=14

fredfa

04-03-07, 12:41 AM

TV Sports
MLB-EI update
No Deal Yet

Who knows what it means?

There is no announcement of a deal, yet MLB keeps saying the negotiations are continuing.

But there have been no leaks. No hints. No nothing.

And it is now more than 48 hours after the original deadline.

If you hear something definitive, be sure to post it here. I will do the same – but the more eyes and ears working the better off we all will be.

URFloorMatt

04-03-07, 01:39 AM

fredfa

04-03-07, 01:56 AM

TV Sports
Foul Ball:
Is Cable Served by Letting DBS Grab Sports?
Catherine Applefeld Olson Cable360.net April 2, 2007

Satellite’s exclusive sports deals are piling up like Tiger Woods’ wins, while cable seemingly sits on the side. And what about cable’s digital sports tiers, which seem stagnant? Or sports networks without significant carriage? Are MSOs’ heads in the game?

At the same time, Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts has called for an open debate about how cable distributes the spiraling cost of sports programming. In Washington, D.C., last fall, Roberts warned that the industry is reaching "a tipping point" in the number of sports networks being launched. He noted customers in the New York area pay close to $100 yearly for sports programming whether they watch it or not. "That’s getting to be a lot of money," he said.

And speaking of money, how about DirecTV ponying up big bucks for out-of-market deals first with the NFL, then the NCAA and now Major League Baseball? Why is cable letting that happen? Truth be told, DirecTV is unlikely to recoup the $700 million it reportedly will lay down for the MLB Extra Innings deal, many say, and cable is wise to focus on offerings like voice that serve a wider audience.

(At press time on Apr. 2, MLB and the In Demand consortium owned by Comcast, Time Warner and Cox were still locked in negotiations to keep the Extra Innings out-of-market package on cable).

As one MSO executive deadpans, although satellite’s cache of exclusives may not be great news for cable, "Life still goes on." The deals are short term (most are three to seven years) and possibly shortsighted, the executive adds.

Some see DirecTV’s spending spree as a desperate reaction to satellite’s slowdown in growth. "They’re investing too much in what is only one segment of the entire TV audience," says JupiterResearch analyst Todd Chanko.

One segment, yes, but a lucrative one. Roughly 2 million of DirecTV’s 16 million subscribers take its NFL Sunday Ticket package, according to estimates by The Carmel Group. Obviously DirecTV is betting on exclusive sports content to lure subscribers away from the competition, Carmel chairman and senior analyst Jimmy Schaeffler says.

A League Of Their Own

But sports fans, already a segmented audience, are becoming even more fragmented as professional leagues and college associations spawn networks of their own. The Big Ten Conference will splinter off a channel in August (with Fox Cable Networks) to focus on its sports (DirecTV is the only affiliate, so far). The U.S. Olympic Committee is pondering starting a network, and there’s speculation that Tiger Woods might start his own tour with the world’s best golfers. A TV deal for Tiger’s Tour or perhaps a new network attached to such a tour don’t seem to be far-fetched notions.

Then there are the line-in-the-sand situations, like NFL Network’s wrestling match with operators last season that left some football fans out in the cold. Again, the main issue was money. It was alleged on a Time Warner Cable website that between 2005 and 2006 NFL Net tripled the per-subscriber rate it sought to charge the cable operator, translating to roughly $137 million.

While there’s no crying in baseball, there’s plenty of tiering in sports. Heavyweights like ESPN are situated on expanded basic, while more specialized channels like CSTV and The Tennis Channel tend to be relegated to digital tiers, if they’re carried at all; others wind up online. CSTV scored a satellite coup in January, persuading DirecTV to upgrade it from a sports tier to expanded basic, giving it an additional 8 million subscribers.

But sports on cable is not a lost cause — far from it. Sports and cable can point to more than a few wins. Take ESPN’s Monday Night Football last season. The network’s Oct. 23 telecast of the Giants vs. Cowboys drew 16 million viewers, cable’s largest audience ever, according to Nielsen data. ESPN worked "hand in glove" with affiliates to make MNF a success in its cable debut season, says David Preschlack, ESPN SVP of affiliate sales and marketing. "We were able to create unmatched coverage for this property, and from an affiliate standpoint we reached out with lots of local ad sales promotions around our games and provided tremendous value in the affiliate community."

And nearly lost in the deluge of DBS sports deals is Turner Sports’ new, seven-year MLB pact that includes postseason coverage, a first for TBS. Plans call for TBS to begin carrying all first-round playoff games and one league championship series each season. The deal also includes an exclusive Sunday game each week beginning next season. "This exclusive was important to our cable operators, especially the postseason games," says Turner Sports president David Levy. "We’re giving them programming events to rally around, and we’ll work with them on promotions."

But carriage on basic exacts a high cost not only to MSOs but a large portion of subscribers. Last summer Comcast took heat when it launched the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (home of Washington Nationals baseball) on expanded basic and then raised rates by a reported $2 per month for its 1.6 million customers in DC area.

Which returns us to Roberts’ conundrum: Should subscribers who aren’t die-hard fans foot the bill for the most expensive content in the industry?

Cox SVP of programming Bob Wilson frames the question this way: What’s the value of the content to the consumer? "More and more we’re finding the incremental value is not worth the incremental cost," Wilson says.

One logical choice is bumping sports networks to sports tiers. But it’s no secret that without ESPN, cable sports tiers aren’t exactly big man on the digital campus. "I don’t think cable operators who are experiencing 0-10% penetration of their sports tier view it as a successful experiment. I certainly expect you’re going to see some changes," says Brian Bedol, president/CEO of CSTV.

"Sports tiers were created as a vessel for very high-priced sports networks. That never panned out," Bedol adds. "So now the sports properties that are least expensive and have the least leverage are what’s ended up on these tiers."

It warrants mention that Cox’s sports tier, packaged with "information" networks like CNNfn and the Biography Channel for an additional $5.95 per month to digital subs, is among the industry’s highest penetrated. More than half the MSO’s digital subscribers take the package, according to the company.

Cox’s approach differs from the industry norm of offering less-expensive digital tiers that house solely sports networks. But the landscape may be changing. Comcast is expected to launch a sports and entertainment package for an additional $5-$6. Details are sketchy, but it’s clear the value proposition will depend on which extracurricular networks the MSO teams with sports. With the right programming, the tier could begin paying forward by attracting valued sports and non-sports channels.

"For the industry, it’s important for MSOs to build their sports tiers and create an attractive content package for what they’re charging," Cox’s Wilson says. Better, he adds, is a business model "that encourages sports content providers to accept placement there."

http://www.cable360.net/competition/dbs/22689.html

fredfa

04-03-07, 02:00 AM

TV Sports
Sports Fans:
I Want My HDTV!
(cable360.net)

50% of people who own HD sets bought them to watch specific sporting events, according to the Consumer Electronics Assn
.
the top HD Set DRIVERS:
The Super Bowl 13%
The Daytona 500 7%
The NBA Finals 6%
College Bowl games 5%

(Source: CEA, December 2006)

http://www.cable360.net/competition/dbs/22689.html

fredfa

04-03-07, 02:03 AM

TV Sports
DirecTV Exclusive Sports Content
(cable360.net)

PACKAGE: NFL SUNDAY TICKET
Terms: DirecTV pays the NFL $700 million a year from 2006-2010
Content: Package includes up to 14 out-of-market games each week.

PACKAGE: NCAA MEGA MARCH MADNESS
Terms: DirecTV re-upped its deal with NCAA tournment rights holder CBS in February. The cost to the DBS provider was not released, but DirecTV agreed to bump CSTV from its sports tier to expanded basic.
Content: Package includes up to 37 live out-of-region games produced in standard- and hi-def by CBS during the first three rounds of the NCAA championship.

PACKAGE: MLB EXTRA INNINGS ?
Terms: DirecTV would pay a reported $700 million over seven years to Major League Baseball; the proposed exclusive deal has come under scrutiny from the FCC and the Senate. MLB says that cable and Dish Network could get Extra Innings as long as each agrees to the terms of the DirecTV deal; the matter was still being negotiated at press-time.
Content: Package would include up to 60 out-of-market games per week from the American and National Leagues. The deal also includes the yet-to-launch Baseball Channel. DirecTV has committed to carry the channel, when it launches in 2009, on its basic package in return for a 20% stake in the network.

http://www.cable360.net/competition/dbs/22689.html

fredfa

04-03-07, 02:09 AM

TV Sports
Sports Programming Roundup
(cable360.net)

From professional league coverage to ultra-niche events, there’s no shortage of sports programming available on linear television and broadband. The trick for cable operators is making sure they’re in on the games.

CSTV
Launch date: June 2002
Ownership: CBS
Management: Brian Bedol, CEO; Chris Bevilacqua, president; Stephen Greenberg, chairman
Distribution: 20 million homes
March Madness is prime viewing time for CSTV, which is stepping up its network and broadband coverage around the competition. CSTV is also expanding its general coverage of women’s basketball, volleyball, hockey and softball, and aims to add to its original programming lineup, which includes One2One Presented by TIAA-CREF and Generation NEXT.

ESPN
Launch date: September 1979
Ownership: Walt Disney Co.
Management: George Bodenheimer, president, ESPN Inc.; Edward Erhardt, president, ESPN; Sean Bratches, Disney and ESPN networks affiliate sales & marketing; Chris Driessen, EVP/CFO
Distribution: 92 million
ESPN has its foot on the gas as it moves into NASCAR coverage with plans for in-car HD cameras and more. The network is ramping up HD production not only for its full schedule of NASCAR events but also for NBA games, Major League Soccer, MLB games, National Hot Rod Assn. races, college football and NFL Monday Night Football games across ESPN and ESPN2.

ESPN2
Launch date: October 1993
Ownership: Walt Disney Co.
Management: George Bodenheimer, president, ESPN Inc.; Edward Erhardt, president, ESPN; Sean Bratches, Disney and ESPN networks affiliate sales & marketing; Chris Driessen, EVP/CFO
Distribution: 90 million

THE GOLF CHANNEL
Launch date: January 1995
Ownership: Comcast
Management: David Manougian, president; Keith Allo, VP, business development; Wayne Becker, VP, programming & international; Jeff Dilley, CFO
Distribution: 90 million
2007 marks the beginning of a 15-year partnership through which Golf Channel will exclusively air PGA Tour official money events. Nick Faldo recently joined the network to provide analysis of the Tour and other events.

NFL NETWORK
Launch date: November 2003
Ownership: National Football League
Management: Steve Bornstein, president/CEO; Steve Sabol, president, NFL Films; Howard Katz, COO, NFL Films; Judy Fearing, SVP, consumer marketing
Distribution: 41million
NFL Network’s dance with cable operators in the fall and winter left lingering questions — not to mention some disgruntled fans — about the weight those exclusive weekly games really carry. The network has been augmenting both its original NFL Films content and exclusive programs like the recent Scouting Combine from Indianapolis.

THE TENNIS CHANNEL
Launch date: 2003
Ownership: Private investor group including sports marketing firm IMG
Management: Ken Solomon, chairman/CEO; David Egdes, SVP, tennis industry relations; William Simon, CFO; Doug Martz, SVP, advertising sales; Randy Brown, SVP, distribution
Distribution: 10 million
The Tennis Channel offers international tournament coverage including April events the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship and Masters Series Monte Carlo, plus original programs like behind-the-scenes show Open Access and interview show Center Court.

TURNER BROADCAST SYSTEM (TBS)
Launch date: December 1976
Ownership: Time Warner Inc.
Management: David Levy, president, Turner Sports
Distribution: 92 million
It’s a new ballgame at TBS this year, the network’s last with Braves-centric MLB coverage. Beginning postseason, TBS will begin exclusive airing of MLB division and alternating league championship games. In 2008, TBS will air an exclusive MLB Sunday game of the week.

TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION (TNT)
Launch date: October 1988
Ownership: Time Warner Inc.
Management: David Levy, president, Turner Sports
Distribution: 92 million
TNT’s NBA coverage has been a consistent boon for the network, whose TNT NBA Thursday, NBA Playoffs and NBA Championship are its top-rated sports shows. TNT also covers select NASCAR events, the PGA Championship and the British Open.

VERSUS
Launch date: Launched as Outdoor Life Network in 1995, changed name to Versus in 2006
Ownership: Comcast
Management: Gavin Harvey, president
Distribution: 71 million
Versus has been stepping up coverage during the past year, first with the addition of NHL coverage, and now with coverage of the 32nd America’s Cup plus the America’s Cup Challenger Series, beginning in April.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SPORTS NETWORKS
Launch date: digital cable network launched March 2007
Ownership: Privately owned
Management: Claude Ruibal, chairman/CEO; Carlos Silva, president/COO; Thomas Hipkins, EVP/general counsel; Bo LaMotte, SVP affiliate relations
Distribution: 10,000 Internet subscribers
WCSN’s coverage of Olympic and Olympic-style sports had been relegated to a broadband site and a weekly show on Comcast SportsNet stations. A deal with Granite Broadcast brings it to linear TV in select Comcast markets; the launch kicked off March 1 in San Francisco.

http://www.cable360.net/competition/dbs/22689.html

fredfa

04-03-07, 02:45 AM

HDTV Notebook
WKYT seeks to get handle on HDTV blur
(Surprise! Multicasting leads to macroblocking)
By Scott Sloan Lexington KY Herald-Leader Mon, Apr. 02, 2007

If you watch tonight's NCAA men's basketball championship game in high-definition, chances are you may see a periodic blur or some other kind of distortion.

You've seen them before if you watched previous tournament games or some other types of HD programming transmitted by Lexington CBS affiliate WKYT.

What everyone can agree upon is the distortions exist. But just why they are there is debatable.

One theory links the blurs -- an industry term is "macroblocking" -- to WKYT's decision to divide its digital broadcast among three channels: its CBS feed, CW network feed and a 24/7 weather radar.

Other Lexington affiliates use, at most, two channels.

A WKYT executive acknowledges there have been issues with multicasting, as it's called, but says new equipment purchased by the station should reduce the signal degradation.

He also noted that some of the problems with the retransmission originate with CBS and said it also could be affected by cable and satellite companies that deliver the HD signal to their customers.

What's the problem?

The questions about the blur come weekly at high-end electronics retailer Barney Miller's, said sales manager Tony Spires.

"People have asked us about the TVs: 'Is there something wrong with my television' 'Is there something wrong with our cables?'" Spires said. "We just have to do a lot of explaining."

And while he calls WKYT a "friend and ally" in the audio/video world, he said the distortions can be "really annoying."

The distortions are most frequently noted in sporting events, which feature numerous close-up shots, quick movements and camera pans that include crowds making many random motions.

A top CBS Sports executive recently told a Syracuse, N.Y., newspaper that the broadcaster's engineers think such reductions in quality can be linked to a station's decision to broadcast more than one digital channel.

As it stands, stations can transmit digital signals at up to about 19 megabits per second.

Those bits of information can be devoted entirely to one channel's programming, like it is on Lexington's NBC affiliate WLEX, or it can be divided among the multiple feeds.

At ABC affiliate WTVQ, the station broadcasts a 24/7 weather channel on a different channel from its traditional programming.

When WLEX initially began broadcasting digitally, the station also had a channel devoted to weather, but it quickly vanished, said General Manager Tim Gilbert, after the employees noticed the primetime HD programming could look better.

"If you dedicate all (your 19 mbps) to your high-definition signal, it will be inherently more stable than if you dedicate a lower portion to it," Gilbert said.

Unlike the competition, WKYT broadcasts its traditional CBS programming as one channel and devotes two others to a 24/7 weather radar and the broadcast of programming from The CW, the network created last year by the combination of UPN and The WB.

"We were afforded the opportunity to also broadcast The CW network, and we would have been fools not to have taken advantage of that," said Chas Callaway, vice president of engineering at WKYT.

Neither The CW programming nor the weather radar is broadcast in high-definition currently, so their mbps requirements are smaller.

The station recently turned off its weather radar while airing NCAA tournament games. "That may come back now since we're not doing multiple basketball games right now," Callaway said.

No clear answer

Callaway acknowledges that some of the digital degradation occurs at WKYT, but noted "this picture can be degraded all along the way."

"And it's our experience that because of the methods that we use to do this and careful managing of the technologies that most of these don't happen here," he said.

He said some of the distortions occur at CBS nationally and some could also come from cable or satellite companies that retransmit WKYT's signal to their customers.

In Lexington, a spokesman for cable provider Insight Communications said the company recently tested its signals and didn't find any issues.

"As far as from our end, it's not us," John Dobken said.

Callaway said the problems may arise in individual viewers' homes as well if they have not properly configured their televisions.

And while those issues are out of WKYT's control, the station has made significant capital upgrades recently that should allow it in coming months to reduce the degradation linked to it.

New equipment's hope

The new equipment comes as part of a process to begin broadcasting all of WKYT's locally produced content in high-definition, as well as pass through The CW content in high-definition.

Though no firm date has been set, the station expects the changeover to be complete in the next few months.

Both the CBS and CW feeds will be broadcast in 720p, the lesser of the two commonly used resolutions -- the other being 1080 -- for high-definition viewing.

The numbers refer to the number of lines displayed vertically on the television, while the letters detail how the lines are actually drawn.

'P' -- short for progressive -- means every line is drawn sequentially, while 'I,' or interlaced, shows every other line, then fills in the remainder.

Most standard-definition televisions display in 480i.

CBS transmits most of its primetime programming in 1080i; however, WKYT has historically sent it out to viewers in 720p, Callaway said, to provide room for The CW's programming on its bandwidth.

He said that the dual 720p transmissions were the best new solution for the station because current equipment is not yet to the point where it's feasible to broadcast two channels in 1080i.

Callaway added that the 19 mbps digital transmission is sometimes not even enough currently to broadcast one feed in 1080i without macroblocking.

How the station's weather information will be broadcast on a separate channel with the new equipment, if it is, has yet to be determined.

Factoring into that decision will be issues such as the other kinds of programming currently on the air and, in general, the weather situation, Callaway said.

"What if we're not doing basketball games and we have storms coming in ... if we have to put a tiny amount of macroblocking in C.S.I. Miami to show people a full-time radar display ... then maybe we're better off," he said.

http://www.kentucky.com/179/v-print/story/32074.html

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:01 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Why 'The Sopranos' is the most influential TV drama ever
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

“The Sopranos,” which begins its final episodes April 8, is the most influential drama in the history of television.

Yeah, you heard me. You got a problem with that?

That may sound like hyperbole, but please note the choice of words: I didn’t say it was the most important, the most entertaining or even the best program ever.

Despite a disappointing first half to the show's sixth and final season, “The Sopranos” is certainly near the top of the list in all of those categories, no question. But Tony Soprano and his crew occupy a more specific niche: No one-hour drama series has had a bigger impact on how stories are told on the small screen, or more influence on what kind of fare we’ve been offered by an ever-growing array of television networks.

“The Sopranos,” which debuted on HBO Jan. 10, 1999, soon became a cultural phenomenon, then a ratings phenomenon. The complicated drama about a mob boss, his family, his shrink and his crew garnered critical raves, stacks of awards and endless media coverage for an ascendant HBO. But a more salient fact for television executives was that, at its peak, Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini) and his crew attracted an audience of 12 million every week.

The highest-ever ratings for a first-run “Sopranos” episode was nearly 13.5 million viewers for the fourth-season premiere in September 2002.

In today’s fractured media environment, that is a very respectable figure for a program on a broadcast network. For a show on cable — and premium cable, at that — that figure was, and still is, jaw-dropping. Most cable dramas would kill to pull in half (or a third) of that.

Television executives didn’t have to be rocket scientists to take away the following lessons from the success of “The Sopranos”:

Dark, challenging storytelling can draw a large number of viewers and a torrent of critical praise.

Using film-quality production values and top-notch writing will garner more good press than any ad campaign can buy.

Casting less famous but gifted actors can not only save money but also pay off during awards season.

A risk-taking, successful, buzzed-about show will not just rake in high-income viewers and the advertisers who chase them, it can brand a cable network and put it on the cultural map.

Sure, there were great television shows before “The Sopranos” came along. But what show, before or since, put an entire industry on notice and said, in effect: “Pursue moral ambiguity. Make your lead character charismatic but deeply flawed and capable of great brutality. Oh, and if you want to indulge in dream sequences, long talks in a psychiatrist’s office and meandering storytelling that imitates the essentially random nature of real life, go for it.”

Those weren’t exactly the marching orders for the TV industry before “The Sopranos” arrived. The television writers, directors and actors who chased that kind of ambitious vision were a minority, and embattled at that. They’re still a minority, but those capable of even above-average work are more hotly pursued — and richly compensated — than ever.

Even CBS, the most staid and safe of networks, is hunting for the next challenging, complex, buzzed-about drama: It’s developing “Skip Tracer,” a show created by former “Sopranos” staff writers Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess; it’s adapting the cult British series “Viva Blackpool” (with Hugh Jackman as the show’s singing lead); and it’s even commissioned “Swing Town,” a partner-swapping drama directed by Alan Poul (“Six Feet Under,” “Rome”).

At a meeting of television critics in January, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler talked about “throwing out the rule book and really trying new kinds of shows, new kinds of storytelling.”

“We wanted to find shows that are going to be talked about,” Tassler said. “So we are really experimenting.”

Whether Tassler succeeds or not, that experimentation is a direct result of what HBO set in motion years ago: By assuming that a huge chunk of the TV audience is as intelligent as the consumers of the finest films and novels, the writers and executives responsible for “The Sopranos” helped usher in the current golden age of television.

“‘The Sopranos’ demonstrated what could be accomplished with continuing story lines that grew organically out of three-dimensional characters,” said David Weddle, a “Battlestar Galactica” supervising producer. “The show demonstrated … that by following the lives of characters over a period of years, one could fashion an epic narrative with all the textured complexity of an epic novel such as ‘War and Peace.’ Feature films cannot even begin to approach narratives of this scope and complexity, so it put to rest once and for all the notion that television is an inferior medium.”

All this from a program whose opening image is of a man sitting in a psychiatrist’s office, waiting to talk about his crippling panic attacks — which began when the family of ducks nesting in his back yard took off for good. That small moment set in motion a wrenching reassessment of Tony Soprano’s supposedly contented suburban life.

Rewatching that first episode of “The Sopranos,” you realize how much of it had nothing to do with mobster lore. Tony’s tenderness toward the young ducks in his pool was an outgrowth of his own desire to be taken care of, to preserve some innocence in what he knew to be a cold and cruel world.

If “The Sopranos” had been about a Mafia boss who whacked people and hung out at a strip club, it would have lasted a season or two, if that. Creator David Chase was far more interested in exploring how a man with a volcanic temper and a bewitching degree of power could hang on to some kind of ethical code, all the while battling the negativity emanating from his black hole of a mother and a world that expected mere violence and materialism from him.

“When you look at shows like ‘The Sopranos’ … I feel like they have explored storytelling in a different way, where something will happen in an episode, and you may not see it again for three episodes or five episodes or the next season. It’s like life that way,” says Jason Katims, executive producer of “Friday Night Lights” and a veteran of “Roswell” and “My So-Called Life.”

Even when it did delve into the world of the mob — admittedly, one of the attractions for some viewers — “The Sopranos” upended expectations. Adriana La Cerva, fiance of mobster-in-training Christopher, could have been just another stereotype — a big-haired, big-mouthed Jersey girl sporting fake nails and tight pants.

But thanks to Drea de Matteo’s impassioned performance and the show’s commitment to building real, nuanced characters, the murder of Adriana near the end of season 5 ranks as one of the most wrenching deaths in TV history.

“The Sopranos” is a classic exploration of the underside of the American dream — something that anyone, of any ethnicity or income level, can understand. And Tony may be a made man, but the Mafia is by no means the show’s main or only subject matter. If anything, Soprano and his fellow mobsters know they are quite literally a dying breed, and that’s what informs the show’s evocative meditations on mortality.

That’s why it’s incomprehensible to me when representatives for the Italian-American community fuss about the way that “The Sopranos” supposedly props up ethnic stereotypes. That’s like criticizing “The Last Supper” for being too religious, or saying that “The Great Gatsby” is unfair to rich WASPs. The subject matter may be specific to one group, but the themes are universal.

Tony Soprano is too complex and specific to be a mere ethnic stereotype. If his characterization lacked depth, context and nuance — which it doesn’t — protesters would have every right to complain (as I did regarding the preposterous superficiality of Showtime’s heavy-handed Irish-American saga “Brotherhood” and NBC’s “The Black Donnellys,” a Celtic-themed festival of post-“Sopranos” clichés if there ever was one).

“The Sopranos” isn’t about one group or one subculture or even one individual: It has always been obsessed with the idea of what it means to be a man in this day and age, when the clear-cut codes of the past have little meaning.

“Whatever happened to Gary Cooper, the strong silent type?” Tony asks Dr. Jennifer Melfi, the therapist played by Lorraine Bracco, in the first season. “That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings, he just did what he needed to do.”

And now we come to the dark side of the “Sopranos” legacy: The trail of bad-boy dramas that leads all the way back to Satriale’s Pork Store, one of Tony’s hangouts.

FX’s “The Shield,” which in its 2002 pilot had take-no-prisoners cop Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) kill a fellow officer — now that was the right way to build upon the “Sopranos” legacy of moral ambiguity. The writing for that FX cop drama is every bit as surprising and compelling as what we’ve seen on HBO in the last eight years, with the morally challenged Mackey providing a window into a dark, restless soul in a violent search for redemption.

The same rigorous, challenging writing informs Showtime’s darkly cynical “Dexter” and “Weeds”; Sci Fi’s brave “Battlestar Galactica”; and HBO’s own “Rome,” “The Wire” and “Deadwood.”

But too many shows have tried to ape the moral conflict at the core of “The Sopranos” without approaching the HBO show’s depth or cinematic quality. TNT’s 2006 series “Saved” is just one of a string of shallow, forgettable cable dramas about lovable, tortured rogues with bad habits. And FX’s “Rescue Me” has flirted with the depth of an HBO series, only to back away with a joke, a wink and a shrug when things get too scary or serious.

And though broadcast dramas have certainly allowed their lead characters more flaws — Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) of “House” is a big collection of flaws in one charismatic package — they’ve more typically misfired when attempting to appropriate the moral gray area that “The Sopranos” lives in.

When Tony Soprano murdered a man during a college visit with his teen daughter during the show’s first season, it was a turning point in television history. Viewers of “The Sopranos” knew from the get-go that they were watching a show about a man involved in shady, perhaps gruesome activities, but for Chase to show the worst that Tony was capable of, and still expect viewers to keep tuning in — that took chutzpah, not to mention patient, skilled character development and a towering performance from star Gandolfini.

Contrast that with Ray Liotta’s character on “Smith,” last fall’s failed heist drama on CBS: When he killed a security guard in that show’s pilot, it felt like a cheap stunt. And the nearly unwatchable “Huff” — which eliminated the bad-boy middleman and made its troubled protagonist (Hank Azaria) a shrink — showed that some “edgy” shows are more interested in stringing together dark-drama clichés than in breaking new ground.

Still, for the last eight years, television executives, writers, producers, directors and actors have looked to “The Sopranos” as a benchmark of quality. The series hasn’t just shown us what television is capable of, it’s shown us what filmed storytelling is capable of.

These days, the best programs on television sprawl, enchant and enthrall us with the confounding, entertaining and moving people at their core and with stories that are compassionate, surprising, eloquent or just surprising and strange. Though there are other characters and programs in the history of TV that paved the way for the current television golden age, we should thank Tony and Carmela Soprano, not to mention Silvio Dante, Adriana La Cerva, Christopher Moltisanti, Dr. Melfi and all the rest, for the large role they played in getting us here.

For a while there, HBO cornered the market on intelligent, challenging programs that employed actors who are and were every bit as good — often better — than the faces that fill our multiplexes. It’s not TV, we were told, it’s HBO.

But now that most networks — broadcast and cable — are more willing to give talented people the chance to aspire to that level, Tony Soprano and company are not alone any more. No one network has a stranglehold on quality.

It’s not HBO, it’s TV.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2007/04/the_sopranos_th.html#more

CHeath

04-03-07, 07:44 AM

dad1153

04-03-07, 08:25 AM

Critic’s Notebook
Why 'The Sopranos' is the most influential TV drama ever
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

“The Sopranos,” which begins its final episodes April 8, is the most influential drama in the history of television.

“When you look at shows like ‘The Sopranos’ … I feel like they have explored storytelling in a different way, where something will happen in an episode, and you may not see it again for three episodes or five episodes or the next season. It’s like life that way,” says Jason Katims, executive producer of “Friday Night Lights” and a veteran of “Roswell” and “My So-Called Life.”

But apparently there has to be a crime or violent element for these types of shows to succeed. "Friday Night Lights" is following the "Sopranos" playbook of challenging storytelling with grown-up intelligence, but audiences haven't responded (myself included) because of the title, setting and lack of a violent hook. Guess the tribulations of a small town football coach unable to pay the repair bill for the air conditioner aren't as flashy or sexy as a New Jersey mobster having anxiety attacks in his pool.

When Season 4 of "The Sopranos" aired I hated it with a passion, felt for it the same venom and disgust many people are expressing for the first part of Season 6. When I got the DVD Box Set and rewatched Season 4 again expecting to hate it I found myself truly enjoying these episodes for the myrad of small details (throw-away lines/details/glances/musical cuts/etc.) that I missed. It dawned on me then that the biggest enemy of "The Sopranos" is the inordinate hype and week-to-week expectations that helps other regularly scheduled shows bring viewers week after week. People are so focused when a new "Sopranos" episode airs that, ironically, they can't fully enjoy it because there's no way to get every subtle detail in one sitting. During Season 5 and especially during Season 6 I made it a point to watch every "Sopranos" episode at least twice: the Sunday premiere at 9PM and one of the many repeats during the week (this is how Quentin Tarantino says he watches new movies: once on release day to get the surprises out of the way, then a second time to really pay close attention to all the details). The amount of subtle stuff packed into each episode is legion, especially after you've discussed the show online with fans that are sharing their insights (especially on "Sopranos"-themed websites, where the chatter after a show rivals the intensity of the Lost forums during that show's first two seasons).

There are Season 6 episodes that I watched as many as four times which I hated when I first watched ("The Ride" being a perfect example), but have come to admire and even like a little with repeat viewing. I doubt many of the people calling Season 6 of "The Sopranos" the worst ever have seen each episode more than once, and that truly is their loss. When stacked back-to-back from beginning to (hopefully a satisfactory) end "The Sopranos" saga makes "The Godfather" look like a pretender... and I love the first two "Godfather" movies to death (Part III is crap though).

CPanther95

04-03-07, 08:50 AM

HDTV Notebook
WKYT seeks to get handle on HDTV blur
(Surprise! Multicasting leads to macroblocking)
By Scott Sloan Lexington KY Herald-Leader Mon, Apr. 02, 2007

There's so much to comment on in that article, we'd need about 10 threads to adequately discuss.

I'll just say, "UGH!" and leave it at that.

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:19 AM

That is not right. Part of the messiness was that MASN wasn't Comcast.
MASN is an O's / N's consortium. Previously, most O's games had been on Comcast Mid-Atlantic [old HTS] .

Launched in this case equals carried, CHeath.

taz291819

04-03-07, 09:20 AM

There's so much to comment on in that article, we'd need about 10 threads to adequately discuss.

I'll just say, "UGH!" and leave it at that.

Agreed. Some SM's don't know when to take the blame for something. That station knows exactly where the problem lies.

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:24 AM

TV Sports
MLB-EI update
Deadline Removed for Extra Innings Deal
By Maury Brown bizofbaseball.com April 3, 2007

MLB's self-imposed deadline for the incumbents, iN Demand and DISH Network, has been lifted, according to Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal via the Sports Business Daily's "Morning Buzz".

MLB President & COO Bob DuPuy said late yesterday, "We will continue discussions until we reach a deal or it becomes apparent we cannot."

In the interim, DirecTV becomes the exclusive provider of Extra Innings.

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=967&Itemid=52

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:32 AM

TV Sports
MLB: EI Commentary
(cable360.net) April 3, 2007

With no word (yet) of any agreement between MLB and In Demand (or EchoStar) for the Extra Innings out-of-market games package this season, Sen. John Kerry's lobbying of Major League Baseball to cut a deal and avoid a de facto exclusive to DirecTV was criticized in two newspaper op-ed columns today.

The Wall Street Journal (no surprise) defends the league's right as a business to operate in a free market and accuses the Mass. Democrat of being a "water boy" for "Big Cable." (Ouch!)

"Nor is cable some kind of weak sister in danger of being crushed by relatively small DirecTV," the WSJ continues. "What we have here are the folks who only recently enjoyed a stranglehold—and still do in many markets—trying to fight off competition and real choice for consumers."

The Los Angeles Times features this "Kerry-mind-your-business" diatribe: "What might Congress do to 'fix' this agreement between a copyright-holder and a broadcaster? It's unclear, aside from vague threats of more hearings and the absurd possibility that the right to watch baseball games via the television-delivery system of your choosing will be re-classified by the feds as being in 'the public interest.'"

http://www.cable360.net/competition/dbs/22799.html

pwrmetal

04-03-07, 09:46 AM

OnDemand is strange, I don't subscribe to Showtime, but I can see what is available and the first three episodes of Dexter in HD are available on our OnDemand.

Last week there was nothing available from Showtime in HD.

That is odd. None of our premiums on demand have anything available in HD.

rustycruiser

04-03-07, 09:48 AM

There's so much to comment on in that article, we'd need about 10 threads to adequately discuss.

I'll just say, "UGH!" and leave it at that.

Along with a "Glad I don't live in Lexington".

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:57 AM

Monday’s metered market over-night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

AFH

04-03-07, 10:11 AM

Fred, you got any stories about the upcoming premieres of The Sopranos and Entourage?

dad1153

04-03-07, 10:13 AM

Guess you missed this on the previous page:

Critic’s Notebook
Why 'The Sopranos' is the most influential TV drama ever
From Maureen Ryan’s Chicago Tribune blog “The Watcher”

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2007/04/the_sopranos_th.html#more

Lengthy, but worth reading.

fredfa

04-03-07, 10:19 AM

Fred, you got any stories about the upcoming premieres of The Sopranos and Entourage?

I will be posting a lot of them -- but generally later in the week -- as we get closer to Sunday, Antonio.

I tend to hold reviews and previews, in the most part, until the air date is closer m-- so people don't forget.

PJO1966

04-03-07, 10:39 AM

fredfa... any word on when the up-fronts are this year?

fredfa

04-03-07, 10:41 AM

The upfronts are in the second week in May

grittree

04-03-07, 10:52 AM

That Callaway guy in Lexington needs to enter politics. He can lie to your face with the best of them.

fredfa

04-03-07, 11:07 AM

The TV Column
"Real Wedding Crashers" to Follow "Heroes" Down the Aisle
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Columnist Tuesday, April 3, 2007

You snubbed Aaron Sorkin's civics lesson masquerading as a late-night comedy show.

You ignored Paul Haggis's "Sopranos" wannabe masquerading as a drama about hot Irish mob brothers.

And now, you're going to get exactly what you deserve Mondays at 10 p.m.: an NBC reality series about fake wedding crashings.

"The Real Wedding Crashers," NBC says in its news release -- actually it screams it in all caps -- "is from THE STUDIO BEHIND THE SMASH COMEDY 'WEDDING CRASHERS,' " as well as "Punk'd" producers Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg.

It will debut on Monday, April 23, following what one trade paper calls "the premiere episode of the third installment of the first season of the net's smash 'Heroes.' "

Yes, it's come to that. When a network deigns to put on an original episode of one of its new shows, it's now heralded as "the premiere episode of the third installment of the first season" of a smash hit.

And, yesterday's announcement came just days after NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly stood in front of advertisers and invoked the name of former NBC great Grant Tinker, promising NBC would once again live by that former CEO's motto: First be best, then be first.

NBC has ordered six one-hour episodes of what it swears will be an "outrageous" show in which five "quick-thinking, hilarious" improv performers (thank goodness they didn't hire the slow-thinking, morbid improv performers) pose as wedding staff and guests, with the knowledge of the bride and groom, to save their wedding vows from being an exercise in "run-of-the-mill boredom."

At the end of each show, viewers will be "treated to a huge reveal when the 'crashers' admit to their pranks."

All this hilarity is somber news for the producers of "Black Donnellys." It's being yanked after its eighth broadcast on Monday nights; only twice with the advantage a lead-in by "the net's smash 'Heroes.' " Last week, "Donnellys" clocked about 5.4 million viewers following a "Deal or No Deal" episode that had averaged more than 12 million.

* * *

The woman admired by millions for announcing that life was not worth living in a world in which Sanjaya Malakar is crowned "American Idol" has not only tossed in the towel on her hunger strike after a mere 16 days, she's also sold out to an online dating service for fitness nuts.

"J," as she's known on her MySpace page and on YouTube, was seen in her latest YouTube video on the floor, in the dark, in front of her desk, on which sits her computer, on which, while she speaks, flashes a bright red ad for online dating service Fitness Singles:

Hi. This is J. It has been 16 days since I've started my hunger strike. I regret to inform you I went to the doctor the other day and he advised me against continuing this hunger strike. I, for medical reasons, am going to discontinue the strike.

She promised to continue to vote for "Idol" singers other than Sanjaya -- small comfort for those of us expecting to get to watch her waste away to nothing in the name of Fox reality series integrity.

If you joined me in the hunger strike, I strongly encourage you not to continue this as well. It can be very bad for you -- can end badly.

On the bright side, J notes, Matt, her one -- and only -- disciple (though there is a guy who's trying to launch a "Slim Fast for Sanjaya" movement), is ignoring her advice and will continue his hunger strike "so you can follow him on YouTube."

Fitness Singles is, by its own account, the fastest-growing online dating community for sports and fitness enthusiasts. What they're doing advertising on a YouTube posting of a woman who intended to starve herself over a TV show contestant beats us.

"Don't wait!" Fitness Singles urges us. "Search our personals of active singles in your area and post your own profile for FREE!"

But while a search of their "areas" included circus aerials, cricket, orienteering and table tennis, there is no entry under "obsessive television viewing" or starvation. Which would have been so perfect for J.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201557_pf.html

dad1153

04-03-07, 11:11 AM

Has anyone noticed that this thread is 2,000+ views higher than the infamous Lost thread as of 12:00PM? Last week for a brief period this thread was a few hundred posts ahead of the "Lost" thread, but then the new episode of the show aired and it was ahead again. Expect the same to happen again tomorrow when the next "Lost" airs, but in a few weeks the tide will have turned permanently. For what its worth right now though, congratulations to Fred for having the thread on AVS Forum with the highest number of views EVER! :)

fredfa

04-03-07, 11:16 AM

TV Sports
NCAA title game takes dive in viewers
By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter April 4, 2007

NEW YORK -- CBS got better ratings than last year for the NCAA men's basketball championship title game, but Monday's Florida-Ohio State matchup still ranked as one of the lowest-rated telecasts in history.

The game averaged a 13.6 overnight household rating/22 share, according to preliminary data released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. That was up significantly from last year's 11.2 household rating, which was the second-lowest-rated game since at least 1982. Last year's telecast -- Florida-UCLA -- scored an 11.7/18 in the metered markets before ending up lower.

Depending on how the final ratings come in, Monday night's game could be the fourth-lowest telecast in the past 10 years. The lowest rating came with 2004's UConn-Georgia Tech game that delivered an 11.0 household rating, even lower than the 12.6 for Syracuse-Kansas that happened at the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.

Monday's game peaked at a 15.6/26 between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. The top markets were in Columbus, Ohio (44.0/59); Louisville, Ky. (30.7/43); Cleveland (28.0/38); Dayton, Ohio (25.2/37); and Cincinnati (24.7/37). Jacksonville, the top Florida market, averaged a 24.6/35 in the overnight metered markets.

CBS can still claim a victory compared with last year with average overnight ratings for the full tournament averaging a 6.6/14, which is up 2% from last year's 6.5/13.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i5b1fa620d0600cc5c05a07a9adacc8df

fredfa

04-03-07, 11:17 AM

thanks dad.

Now if I could just find a way to make a living keeping this site up to date..... :(

fredfa

04-03-07, 11:21 AM

AVS Forum Notebook
400,406 Members ! ! !

Congratulations to David and Alan for quickly reaching another impressive milestone.

Half a million AVS Forum members by the end of the year is definitely within reach.

HDTVChallenged

04-03-07, 11:31 AM

HDTV Notebook
WKYT seeks to get handle on HDTV blur
(Surprise! Multicasting leads to macroblocking)
By Scott Sloan Lexington KY Herald-Leader Mon, Apr. 02, 2007

... humm ... so like I've been saying for the past 5 years now ... :D It should be "interesting" to see the results.

Frankly, I think WKYT would be better off feeding the CW-HD feed directly to cable and leaving the OTA as a SD simulcast. OTOH, it's good to have WLKY and WBKI in range. ;)

Hatfield

04-03-07, 12:30 PM

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:09 PM

TV Sports
MLB-EI update
Latest Details
By Maury Brown bizofbaseball.com April 3, 2007

More details have surfaced on where the negotiations are at on Extra Innings, the MLB television package for out-of-market games.

The Sports Business Daily reports that, “One of the holdups for EchoStar is the lack of a firm proposal on equity ownership of the MLB Channel, one Dish Network source said. It’s not clear how much ownership of the channel MLB and DirecTV is willing to give, or whether DirecTV's 20% stake would be diluted.”

Added MLB president and COO Bob DuPuy, “No deal is possible without the agreement of DirecTV. We have a contract with them and they have been fully engaged in the process, including any extensions.”

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:12 PM

Hey, Fred. I really liked the PDF you had under "Prime-Time Show Status" of the weekly schedule. I have E* and have to program my DVR manually and it really helped me out.
Has it been moved somewhere else and if so where? If you've cut it, any chance of bringing it back? Or was just too much to keep up with what with all the schedule changes and such? Completely understand if it's the latter.
Just curious.
Thanks

The answer is simple.

The program I had which converted my Excel programs to pdf doesn't seem to work anymore and I haven't found a replacement yet.

Since the most recent schedule had been updated in early February and was outdated, I took it down.

As soon as I figure out how to convert an Excel program to pdf again I will put the grid back up.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:15 PM

Washington Notebook
Cable Trade Association: Let Program-Access Ban Expire
It Claims Strong Growth from DBS Renders Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act Obsolete
By Linda Haugsted MultiChannel News 4/3/2007

Strong competition from direct-broadcast satellite and terrestrial competitors means the ban that prevents exclusive agreements between programming networks and cable operators that have invested in them is no longer needed, according to a Federal Communications Commission filing Monday by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.

Due to the growth in penetration of providers DirecTV and EchoStar Communications, more than one in three video households (approximately 28 million) now buy pay television services from vendors other than cable-television providers, according to the NCTA filing.

This means that if a channel were to refuse to deal with DBS competitors, that programmer stands to lose 30% of its distribution revenue, the filing added.

Retention of the access ban serves to “distort marketplace competition,” according to the document.

The FCC opened a docket in late February asking for comments on the ban, which is currently scheduled to expire Oct. 5. The ban was created by an act of Congress in 1992. The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act was designed to protect growing competitors from being locked out of the same popular programming available to cable systems.

The ban was reviewed in 2002 and extended for five more years. At the time of that review, DBS and other competitors had grown to serve one in four pay television households. However, cable still had a 78% penetration rate, so the ban was extended.

The NCTA noted that one in three pay television homes currently buys services from DBS and other competitive providers. Cable’s share has shrunk, according to a 2005 FCC report, to 67% of video households.

There are still 57 national and 44 regional networks that are partially owned by cable-system operators. But the NCTA filing noted that only three of the top-15 satellite-delivered networks -- TBS, TNT and Discovery Channel -- are partially owned by cable companies.

The FCC docket also asked whether the agency should revise the procedure for handling complaints for violations of the programming-access rules, perhaps delegating authority to an outside arbitrator.

The cable trade group noted that on average, one complaint per year has been filed since the ban was initiated. Most complaints have been handled through negotiation, and adding a level of bureaucracy will lengthen the process, the NCTA argued.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6430436.html?display=Breaking+News

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:17 PM

TV Sports
Mets-Cardinals Opener Drives in big number for ESPN2
By Ben Grossman Broadcasting & Cable, 4/3/2007

Sunday night’s Major League Baseball opening day game between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals averaged 2.59 million households and 3.515 million viewers on ESPN2, making it the most-watched season opener on national television since 1994.

A rematch of last year’s National League Championship Series, the game was also the most-watched regular season baseball game ever on the network.

It was the fourth-most watched MLB game overall on the network, trailing three post-season games.

The most recent opening day game to top Sunday’s was a 1994 St. Louis-Cincinnati Reds contest that averaged 2.595 million households and 3.612 million viewers on ESPN.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6430543

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:21 PM

1st Quatter Nielsen Cable Notebook
ESPN, Cartoon Net Q1 Ratings Slide
Court TV, Hallmark See Gains
By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek April 3, 2007

The first quarter of 2007 is receding in the rearview mirror, and for many perennial top-tier nets, April couldn’t have come fast enough.

Of the top-20 ad-supported cable nets, four recorded prime time ratings losses in the double-digits, a trend that carried over to the core demos. Networks that endured a particularly rocky winter were: ESPN, which lost 31 percent of its average prime time audience versus the same time a year ago; Nick-at-Nite, which fell 18 percent in prime; and TNT and Cartoon Network, both of which dropped 13 percent.

Spike TV also took a tumble, dropping 9 percent in the quarter.

While remaining relatively flat, USA Network took the quarter handily, averaging 2.73 million total viewers in prime, an increase of 3 percent versus the first quarter of 2006. The NBC Universal network also outpaced all comers with its delivery of adults 18-49 (1.19 million, up 1 percent), 25-54 (flat at 1.2 million) and 18-34 (up 3 percent to 547,000).

During the first three months of 2007, USA laid claim to 13 of ad-supported cable’s top 20 programs, thanks in large part to the consistency of its Monday night WWE Raw showcase. Of USA’s baker’s dozen, just three were non-wrestling programs; predictably, all three were premiere episodes of Monk.

Raw also allowed USA to rack up eight of the quarter’s most-watched prime time programs among members of the 18-49 demo.

Trailing USA was TNT, which ended the quarter with 2.01 million total viewers in prime. The Turner net took second among the 25-54 demo, averaging 947,000, and finished third among 18-49s (902,000). Both demos slipped 13 percent versus a year ago.

TNT also boasted the period’s single-largest audience with its presentation of the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, delivering 6.87 million viewers on the night of Feb. 18. The mid-season exhibition also served up the greatest number of 18-49s (3.64 million) and 25-54s (3.3 million), while taking the bronze amongst the younger 18-34 demo (1.94 million).

TBS landed in third place, losing 2 percent of its average prime time audience (1.68 million), while gaining ground with the 18-34 set (up 3 percent to 524,000, good enough for second place overall). The net also took second among 18-49s (991,000) and placed third among 25-54s (878,000).

Fox News Channel climbed from the eight spot a year ago to No. 4, averaging 1.6 million viewers in prime, an increase of 8 percent. The news net also upped its core 25-54 demo by 19 percent year-over-year.

Fifth place went to Lifetime, which climbed 3 percent with an average prime time audience of 1.55 million viewers. Lifetime’s best demo performance was with its adults 18-49 numbers, which inched up 11 percent to a ninth-place 591,000. The net was flat among women 18-49 (440,000) and fell 5 percent among the women 25-54 (463,000).

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were: A&E, Discovery Channel, FX, Cartoon Network and Nick-at-Night.

A&E delivered 1.54 million total viewers, an increase of 54 percent versus the same period one year ago. The network also raised its profile among adults 18-49, growing the demo 43 percent to a fifth-place 726,000, while growing its share of 25-54s by 41 percent (739,000, putting it in fourth place among ad-supported nets). A&E also elevated its 18-34 numbers by 45 percent.

Seventh-placed Discovery Channel averaged 1.36 million viewers throughout the first three months of the year, a leap of 23 percent, while raising its 18-49 numbers by 23 percent to a sixth-best 711,000. Discovery took fifth among adults 25-54 (695,000, an increase of 18 percent) and finished eighth among 18-34s (348,000, up 41 percent).

FX was steady, averaging just under 1.32 million viewers, but showed sudden growth with its 18-34 numbers, averaging 418,000, enough for fourth place. And while both suffered significant losses among the kids and young adult demos, Cartoon Network and Nick-at-Nite claimed the final two spots in the top 10, shadowing FX by a margin of less than a few thousand viewers.

Other gainers included 11th-placed Court TV, which pounded out a record quarter, finishing with 1.2 million viewers in prime, a jump of 31 percent. Court also pumped up its demos, upping its 18-49 numbers by 32 percent (517,000), while grabbing the 10 spot among viewers 25-54 (555,000, up 32 percent).

Hallmark finished the quarter up 14 percent, trailing Court by less than 3,000 viewers. Demos were generally flat, although the net did see some growth among women 18-49 (up 6 percent) and 25-54 (up 14 percent to 193,000).

AMC took 14th on the quarter, growing its total prime time audience by 24 percent, to 1.15 million, while posting similarly strong gains among 18-49s (444,000, up 26 percent), 25-54s (525,000, up 31 percent) and 18-34s (up 27 percent).

Lastly, 19th-place HGTV enjoyed significant growth in the quarter, growing 13 percent to 1.07 million, while likewise claiming top-20 spots with its delivery of adults 18-49 (403,000, a hike of 11 percent) and 25-54 (505,000, up 12 percent).

Non-ad-supported Disney Channel finished second among the total cable universe, averaging 2.46 million viewers in prime, flat versus a year ago. The Mouse also enjoyed its highest-rated first quarter of all time in prime among kids 6-11 (1.04 million) and ‘tweens 9-14 (934,000).

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003566800

RemyM

04-03-07, 03:42 PM

Mets-Cardinals Opener Drives in big number for ESPN2

Fred any word on the ratings for the Women's Final Four? I thought it usually does very well which is why baseball was pushed to the deuce.

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:46 PM

Last week’s complete network average prime-time results (with demographic and season-to-date averages) are now at the bottom of RATINGS NEWS the second post in this thread.

Iteki

04-03-07, 03:47 PM

The answer is simple.

The program I had which converted my Excel programs to pdf doesn't seem to work anymore and I haven't found a replacement yet.

Since the most recent schedule had been updated in early February and was outdated, I took it down.

As soon as I figure out how to convert an Excel program to pdf again I will put the grid back up.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Fredfa,

I use pdf995 (www.pdf995.com)...it's freeware for personal use, although it does flash a 'buy me' ad for it's own product, but no other ads.

Another option is PrimoPdf (http://primopdf.com/ ), another free program, no ads whatsoever. I haven't used it for very long, so I can't vouch for it's accuracy (pdf995 does very well).

Good Luck!

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:47 PM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
Big ratings bump for final NCAA game
CBS airing draws 16.8 million total viewers
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer April 3, 2007

When the NCAA men’s basketball tournament field of 65 was released last month, just about everybody picked defending champion Florida to meet Ohio State and their super-freshman center Greg Oden in the final.

That’s exactly what happened, and early numbers indicate the matchup was indeed highly-anticipated.

From 9-11 p.m., CBS averaged 16.8 million total viewers, according to Nielsen overnight data, a 17.5 percent boost over the 14.3 million who tuned in to watch Florida-UCLA from 9-11 p.m. a year ago.

Final numbers will likely change, however, as the game did not tip off until 9:20 p.m., and fast national data measures timeslot, not actual program, data.

Still, it’s looking like CBS will build on last year’s championship game, which averaged 17.5 million viewers when all was said and done.

Not only did the network enjoy a total viewer increase from 9-11 last night, it also posted a 10.6 overnight household rating in that period, up 15.2 percent from a 9.2 a year ago.

CBS also drew a 6.2 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, a 24.0 percent jump over last year.

In sports, viewers are generally attracted to winning dynasties, and that likely helped contribute to last night’s viewership increase. Florida became the first school to win back-to-back NCAA championships since Duke did it back in 1992.

The game helped CBS to a first place finish for the night among 18-49s, with a 5.1 average rating and a 13 share. ABC was second at 4.3/11, Fox third at 3.8/10, NBC fourth at 2.8/7, Univision fifth at 1.7/4 and CW sixth at 0.8/2.

ABC started the night in the lead with a 4.3 rating at 8 p.m. for its first hour of “Dancing with the Stars.” Fox was second with a 3.4 for “Prison Break,” NBC third with a 3.2 for “Deal or No Deal” and CBS fourth with a 2.9 for repeats of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men.” Univision was fifth that hour with a 2.0 for “La Fea Mas Bella” and CW sixth with a 0.8 for repeats of “Everybody Hates Chris” and “All of Us.”

At 9 p.m. CBS took the lead with a 5.4 average for its NCAA basketball pregame show and the first part of the game between Florida and Ohio State. ABC was second that hour with a 4.8 for the end of “Stars” and the first 15 minutes of the season premiere of “The Bachelor,” with Fox third with a 4.3 for “24” and NBC fourth with a 3.3 for another hour of “Deal.” Univision was fifth with a 1.7 for “Destilando Amor” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for repeats of “Girlfriends” and “The Game.”

At 10 p.m. CBS extended its lead with a 7.0 among 18-49s for its basketball coverage, followed by a 3.9 for ABC for the end of “The Bachelor.” NBC was third with a 2.0 for “The Black Donnellys” and Univision fourth with a 1.3 for “Cristina.”

Among households, ABC led the night with a 9.9 average rating and a 16 share. CBS was second at 8.9/14, NBC and Fox tied for third at 5.8/9, Univision fifth at 2.2/3 and CW sixth at 1.3/2.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_11214.asp

fredfa

04-03-07, 03:53 PM

Monday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

fredfa

04-03-07, 04:27 PM

Last week’s updated top 10 prime-time program ratings are now toward the bottom of RATINGS NEWS -- the second post in this thread.

fredfa

04-03-07, 04:35 PM

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
Good and Bad News For The CW

Last week all of the CW’s programs managed to finish ahead of ion. That is the good news.

The bad news: the bottom four CW all shows managed to finish behind the least-watched Univision program of the week.

I’ll have each network’s top five and bottom five results for last week posted shortly.

fredfa

04-03-07, 04:39 PM

TV Sports
Cablevision offers free mlb.tv

Maury Brown at his bizofbaseball.com reports that Cablevision has joined Cox and Comcast in offering subscribers a rebate on their charges to get access to the mlb.com streaming of live games this season.

That is in case the talks between cable/Dish and MLB for carriage of the MLB-EI package fall through.

Brown notes that Cablevision is telling its subscribers that “…the package is available as they ‘are continuing to work tirelessly to reach an agreement with Major League Baseball as quickly as possible’.”

fredfa

04-03-07, 05:01 PM

TV Sports
MLB-Extra Innings Update
Cable Would Ready In an Hour
By Staff bizofbaseball.com April 3, 2007

Face-to-face meetings are still occurring with the parties as of late Tuesday regarding a deal to keep MLB Extra Innings on cable and DISH Networks.

“We were hoping and expecting that there could be a deal done the last couple of days. Both sides are involved, and they’re continuing to talk,” In Demand spokeswoman Ellen Cooper said.

As mentioned on The Biz of Baseball, the time in which it would take to get Extra Innings back up and running on cable, and presumably DISH would be nominal.

As further reported:

If an agreement is reached, In Demand said it is prepared to supply the games to cable operators immediately. “We would be ready, technically within an hour,” Cooper said.

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php

CHeath

04-03-07, 05:45 PM

Launched in this case equals carried, CHeath.

That makes more sense. Thanks Fred.

fredfa

04-03-07, 05:50 PM

Lowest Rated Shows By Network
Week of March 26-April 1, 2007

These are the lowest-rated programs, generally excluding repeats, by network for last week.
(Shows are listed by overall rank and viewers in millions.)

A B C
63 20/20-FRI 5.81
80 GREAT AMERICAN DREAM VOTE 4.54
83 ABC SAT MOVIE OF THE WEEK 4.41
88 IN CASE OF EMERGENCY 4.32
105 SIX DEGREES 3.12

C B S
38 JERICHO 8.52
41 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 7.99
48 UNIT, THE 7.35
66 OLD CHRISTINE 5.66
68 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER 5.62

Fox
70 COPS 5.32
84 WEDDING BELLS 4.36
87 FAMILY GUY-THURS 9:30P 4.32
98 WAR AT HOME 3.65
100 WAR AT HOME-SUN 7P 5.32

N B C
67 IDENTITY 5.66
69 BLACK DONNELLYS 5.43
72 DATELINE-SAT 5.12
73 OFFICE 5.04
92 ANDY BARKER, P.I. 4.16

CW
118 GAME, THE 2.37
119 SUPERNATURAL 2.24
122 GILMORE GIRLS 1.91
124 7TH HEAVEN 1.68
125 ONE TREE HILL-4/1(S) 1.25

• Source: Nielsen Media Research

fredfa

04-03-07, 05:54 PM

Highest Rated Prime-time Shows By Network
Week of March 26-April 1, 2007
(Listed by viewers in millions; overall rank is at left)

A B C
5 DANCING WITH THE STARS 20.42
6 DANCING W/STARS RESULT-TU 17.93
18 LOST 11.52
28 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES 9.87
29 EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED. 9.87

C B S
3 CSI 22.71
7 SHARK 14.49
9 CBS NCAA BSKBL UCLA-Florida 14.37
10 SURVIVOR: FIJI 13.71
11 COLD CASE 10PM SPECIAL(S) 13.23

Fox
1 AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY 28.18
2 AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY 26.89
4 HOUSE 20.80
8 TIL DEATH 14.46
16 24 11.78

N B C
13 LAW AND ORDER:SVU 12.86
14 DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON 3/26(S) 12.18
20 DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON 10.98
26 DEAL OR NO DEAL-SUN 10.42
36 LAW AND ORDER:CRIM INTENT 8.85

CW
71 AMERICA'S TOP MODEL-2 5.32
82 FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN 4.44
107 PUSSYCAT DOLLS-WED 3.10
110 SMALLVILLE 2.81
112 EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS 2.68

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

fredfa

04-03-07, 06:06 PM

Critic’s Notebook
"Sopranos" and "Shield" — what else?
By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”

On KMOX radio Monday, Paul Harris and I discussed the return this week of two of TV's biggest, bestest shows. You can download the podcast here:

http://www.harrisonline.com/audio/aaron0402.mp3

fredfa

04-03-07, 06:15 PM

The Business of Television
Cable One Drops Court TV
License-Fee Increase Spurs Carriage Dispute
By Linda Moss MultiChannel News 4/3/2007

Cable One became the second distributor this year to object to Court TV’s proposed license-fee increase and drop the network as a result.

The Phoenix-based cable company took Court TV -- now wholly owned by Turner Broadcasting System -- off its lineup over the weekend, according to Melany Stroupe, Cable One’s director of communications. The cable operator’s carriage deal with Court TV expired March 31, and the network was dropped at midnight Saturday.

Unlike most cable companies, Cable One offered Court TV as part of its digital package, not on expanded basic. Roughly 20% of Cable One’s 720,000 subscribers are digital customers, according to Stroupe, which means that Court TV had been in about 140,000 of the operator’s homes.

“It only affects a small percentage of our customers,” she said Tuesday.

As a result of the dispute, Turner also told Cable One that it can no longer carry TNT HD, according to Stroupe.

“It was kind of an all-or-nothing deal,” she said. “We certainly want to keep TNT HD, but they pulled it.”

As to the situation with the cable company, a Turner spokesperson said, "Despite prolonged discussions, we unfortunately could not reach an agreement with Cable One for continued carriage of Court TV and TNT in HD. As of April 1, these networks are no longer available to Cable One customers. We remain hopeful that we will reach a resolution, but in the meantime, these popular Turner networks are available via a number of providers."

Earlier this year, EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network dropped Court TV over the same issue as Cable One: a license-fee increase.

“It’s a contract dispute,” Stroupe said. “Court TV was asking for, when they were purchased by Turner, a 300% rate increase, which would make it twice as expensive as any of the other channels we carry on our digital tier. So we just couldn’t come to an agreement with them.”

Dish resumed carrying Court TV after about one month, but the direct-broadcast satellite provider reinstated the network on a less widely penetrated tier that it previously was on.

Cable One added two new digital channels, GSN and WE tv, just over one month ago, Stroupe said. But the cable company would like to find a specific replacement for Court TV, she added.

“We want to continue looking for a replacement, if it’s possible,” she said.

Cable One will replace TNT HD with ESPN2 HD by the end of the week, she added.

There have been some calls about Court TV’s absence, “but it really hasn’t been overwhelming,” according to Stroupe.

“Turner is our partner, and we certainly don’t want to get into an ugly war with them,” she said. “We still carry a majority of their products. We still value them as a business partner.”

But Stroupe doesn’t expect the dispute with Court TV to be resolved.

“We can’t seem to come to an agreement or middle ground, so we’re not hopeful,” she said.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6430579.html?display=Breaking+News

fredfa

04-03-07, 06:20 PM

TV Sports
Cable-MLB Talks Still in Extra Innings
DirecTV Still Exclusive Carrier of Baseball Package on Day Two of Season
By Steve Donohue MultiChannel News 4/3/2007

With the second day of the 2007 Major League Baseball season winding down, the league continues to hammer out a deal with In Demand that could see cable operators distribute its Extra Innings subscription out-of-market game package.

Following the $700 million deal DirecTV reached with MLB last month, the top direct-broadcast satellite provider remains the only pay TV distributor marketing the Extra Innings package to subscribers. EchoStar Communications and cable operators affiliated with In Demand carried the games in previous years.

But In Demand spokeswoman Ellen Cooper said late Tuesday that the pay-per-view content supplier and MLB continue to negotiate a deal.

“We were hoping and expecting that there could be a deal done the last couple of days. Both sides are involved, and they’re continuing to talk,” Cooper said.

The delay gives DirecTV a competitive advantage over rivals such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and other major cable operators, which can’t market Extra Innings to baseball fans until a deal is sealed.

But if an agreement is reached, In Demand said it is prepared to supply the games to cable operators immediately. “We would be ready, technically within an hour,” Cooper said.

The league agreed to extend talks with In Demand last week, under pressure from Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6430581.html?display=Breaking+News

rebkell

04-03-07, 07:08 PM

dad1153

04-03-07, 07:27 PM

fredfa

04-03-07, 07:46 PM

I take it CBS had spots 12 and 15, would that be correct?

You are right:

CBS

12 CSI: MIAMI 13.12
15 CBS NCAA BSKBL-BRIDGE(S) 11.95
17 60 MINUTES 11.61
19 CRIMINAL MINDS 10.98
21 NCIS 10.84
22 NUMB3RS 10.74
23 CSI: NY 10.69

URFloorMatt

04-03-07, 08:38 PM

You know NBC's ratings are in the toilet when an original episode of Criminal Intent ranks as one of the network's highest-rated shows at #36. On the other hand this is much better than what the original Law & Order is pulling on Friday nights (on Saturday nights the "CI" repeat always gets more viewers than the "L&O" repeat), and strengthens the arguments for renewal of "CI" over the mothership.

Yes, but I doubt NBC is looking to Saturday ratings of repeats to gauge anything of value, and it would be ludicrious to assume that a Friday at 10:00 show should pull in better ratings than a Tuesday at 9:00 show.

Is there any ratings data on how Noth episodes fair against D'Onofrio episodes? I thought there was data a couple years ago back when it started that showed Noth episodes were tanking comparatively.

In a perfect world, I'd merge the two shows into one, but that's not going to happen. Of course, if McCoy is gone at the end of this season, then it really is best to just pull the plug as far as I'm concerned.

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:11 PM

Cable Nielsen Notebook
“Tudors” bow makes cable history
Royal drama reigns supreme on Showtime
By Josef Adalian Variety April 3, 2007

They're trying not to lose their heads over at Showtime in the wake of big numbers for the premiere of "The Tudors."

Feevee cabler's high-profile, big- budget costume drama notched 870,000 viewers with its Sunday premiere, more than three times the net's 2006 primetime average and well above the debuts of recent success stories "Dexter" and "Weeds."

Add in 404,000 more who tuned in for an 11 p.m. encore of "The Tudors," and Showtime said it had it best series debut night in three years, since the bow of laffer "Fat Actress."

Strong debut makes it more likely Showtime will move forward with a second season of the Ben Silverman-produced skein, though no decisions have been made. For now, execs were simply relieved to have successfully launched "The Tudors," which easily ranks as the most expensive series in the cabler's history.

"I'm wearing a crown today," quipped Showtime entertainment prexy Robert Greenblatt.

While maintaining the standard pay cable line that ratings aren't what matters most, Greenblatt admitted Nielsen numbers ain't chopped liver, either.

"The press and the buzz that the show generated is already a victory for us, but it's nice to know there's an audience as well," he said. "We can have our cake and eat it, too."

Showtime's recent skeins have been on an upward ratings trajectory.

Compared with last year's bow of "Dexter," for example, first run of "The Tudors" lured 44% more viewers. Premiere of "The Tudors" was 78% above what Showtime scored two years ago with the series debut of "Weeds."

Cabler said it's also encouraged by the sampling the skein got via its on-demand and Showtime.com platforms. It says more than 1 million people caught part of the show on those platforms, and expects that number to grow substantially once figures from online partners such as AOL and Yahoo! are counted.

A Monday encore also scored above-average numbers, generating 340,000 viewers, Greenblatt said.

Greenblatt said he'll decide "pretty quickly" on a second season for "The Tudors." Exec had quietly ordered additional scripts in advance of the premiere; six are already in the can.

If greenlit, second season of "Tudors" will begin shooting this summer for a spring 2008 debut.

Big test for "The Tudors" is still to come. Cablers such as HBO and Showtime have proved adept at luring auds to premiere episodes, only to see tune-in drop substantially in subsequent weeks.

If the show does work, it'll mark another success -- and the first in pay cable -- for exec producer Silverman and his Reveille shingle. Company's current slate includes "Ugly Betty," "The Office" and "Biggest Loser."

International homevideo and TV rights were scooped up several months ago by Peter Schlessel's worldwide acquisitions unit at Sony Pictures. As a result, "The Tudors" will be top of the heap for Sony Pictures TV Intl. to license abroad during the upcoming Mip TV trade show in Cannes.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117962435&categoryid=14

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:28 PM

TV Notebook
Jeff Greenfield defends his new colleague Katie Couric
By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

Part of the reason CBS's Katie Couric can't catch a break is because she's a she, says new colleague Jeff Greenfield.

"Much as I hate to say this, the notion that we're all done with issues of gender is not right," says ex-CNN analyst Greenfield, yesterday named CBS's senior political correspondent. He starts May 1.

"It takes a long, long time for several centuries of behavior to completely dissipate," Greenfield says. "I think people are just starting to realize that gender is a ridiculous limitation in terms of everything but sperm-bank donors."

Greenfield, 63, will report for the struggling Evening News, among other broadcasts. The dollar value of his two-year contract "is between me and the IRS." (We love it when you're butch, Greenie.)

Greenfield has a huge comfort zone at CBS, where he served as media commentator for Sunday Morning from '79 to '83.

He's worked twice before for new Evening News boss Rick Kaplan. The big guy recruited Greenfield to CNN in '98 as senior news analyst. And Kaplan was executive producer of ABC's Nightline when Greenfield was its political and media analyst for 14 years, until '97.

"Rick and I vibrate sympathetically, like tuning forks," Greenfield says. "We see the news the same."

Greenfield's CNN deal expired early last month. His last appearance was Sunday on Wolf Blitzer's Late Edition. The network "made me a perfectly fine offer to stay," he says, but he'd been looking to get out a year ago.

Though some say Greenfield's exit was about lack of face time, he denies it. After almost a decade in the 24/7 cha-cha of cable news, he was jonesing to do longer pieces "with a little bit of twinkle."

"The irony is that I thought I would do it here" at CNN, he adds. "The nature of cable news is 'What's next? What's next?' Kaplan gets it. By definition, it's very hard to get folks to focus on longer-range stuff."

Short-range, Evening News continues to be locked in third place under Couric.

CBS didn't hire Greenfield "to fix or change the Evening News," he says. Still, he doesn't deny it needs fixing. Kaplan's hiring "tells you they have a hard job."

Couric may have the hardest job of all. Criticized for being too soft, she was accused of being too tough on Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards and his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, in their 60 Minutes interview last week.

Greenfield labels it "a bum rap. Katie asked exactly the same questions everybody else was asking. If she raises her own experience [with her late husband's cancer], people say she's personalizing. If not, she's hiding something."

Sexism is at play here, he says, because TV is a venue in which "some people bring a tougher set of expectations" when a woman is on the screen.

Couric isn't alone with tough expectations. Everywhere Greenfield seems to work, his job title begins with senior.

"It's a kind way of saying 'old.' It means you're ready for the Early Bird special."

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/television/20070403_Gail_Shister___Jeff_Greenfield_defends_his_new_coll eague_Katie_Couric.html

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:32 PM

Critic’s Notebook
“Friday Night Lights”
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal blog

Catching up with the best new show of the season …

I know, I know, some of you love “Heroes” more. But I suspect you are not watching “Friday Night Lights” as closely as you should. I had missed a couple of recent episodes, but watched them over the weekend and marveled again at everything this show has going.

The characters keep getting better, the stories range wide and even when you can guess where it’s going, it makes the trip worthwhile. It’s not, after all, that Saracen wins the big game, it’s that he does it by finding another part of himself, with the help of Street, and that Street finds a better part of himself in the process — and that you share the joy he feels when the coach points out that Street may have found a new path.

The rape story was unnerving, especially since the uneasiness began the moment you see a guy alone in the restaurant on the night of the biggest football game in town. Obviously up to no good. But how great was it that we didn’t get a woman-as-victim story, or a nerd-as-hero moment, but a woman who fought and saved herself? And made sense in doing so, since she came from a family of women who understand fighting and self-preservation.

And I just totally loved the game being played in a cow pasture.

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/heldenfiles/2007/04/02/friday-night-lights/

fredfa

04-03-07, 09:38 PM

TV Notebook
The CW to Premiere “Hidden Palms” in May
By John Consoli MediaWeek April 3, 2007

The CW will premiere its long-awaited drama Hidden Palms following the May sweeps, on Wednesday, May 30 at 8 p.m., leading into original episodes of One Tree Hill. The network had sent out DVDs of the pilot to the media months ago, and there was no explanation as to why the series is being held until after the current regular season ends.

Hidden Palms, which is being executive produced by Kevin Williamson (Dawson’s Creek), will lead into the final three episodes of One Tree Hill, including that show’s season finale on June 13.

Hidden Palms focuses on a teen who is struggling to come to terms with two tragedies in Palm Springs.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/networktv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003566748

RemyM

04-03-07, 09:41 PM

TV Sports
Cablevision offers free mlb.tv

Maury Brown at his bizofbaseball.com reports that Cablevision has joined Cox and Comcast in offering subscribers a rebate on their charges to get access to the mlb.com streaming of live games this season.

This is true. A couple of people on our CAblevision Yahoo forum who had EI last season reported that they got an automated call from Cablevision. It said to email proof of ordering the $89 MLB.TV package by 5/31 and they will give you a $15/mo credit against your cable bill for the next 6 months.

eztrain

04-03-07, 09:41 PM

not sure

eztrain

04-03-07, 09:42 PM

think it is off the air for good...

eztrain

04-03-07, 09:42 PM

but I thought it was funny...

eztrain

04-03-07, 09:43 PM

I was just post about curb ur enthusiasm, strange...seem to be in another posting...

eztrain

04-03-07, 09:43 PM

sorry

fredfa

04-03-07, 10:18 PM

eztrain -- if you are still here -- "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will return to HBO probably in early 2008.

fredfa

04-03-07, 10:30 PM

TV Notebook
The end is near for “The Sopranos”
Tony Soprano looks inward on the concluding episodes of the HBO hit
By Paul Brownfield Los Angeles Times Staff Writer April 3, 2007

"The Sopranos" begins its final run of nine installments this Sunday on HBO with the sound of law enforcement banging at Tony Soprano's door. "Is this it?" Carmela says, sitting up in bed. I took that line as a poke at the audience, mocking the otherworldly hype and expectation about the conclusion of the series, which is to say who gets to live and who gets to die.

Some of what makes "The Sopranos" great is unforeseen magic, inexorably tied to the freedom success on HBO has granted — the way Robert Iler, for instance, who plays AJ Soprano, has gone in real time from chubby kid to the sullen, direction-less twentysomething that perfectly embodies the questionable citizen Tony (James Gandolfini) and Carmela (Edie Falco) have produced.

Perhaps, over the course of its eight years and 86 hours, the show's ultimate sleight-of-hand is the way in which the gruesome acts of violence these guys commit invites our repulsion even as these same crimes are quickly forgiven (and/or forgotten). Part of this, true, involves the romanticizing of the mob in popular culture, but all the buzzing about who will get bumped off as the series wraps up — Paulie? Syl? Christopher? — belies the fact that what makes "The Sopranos" meaningful is the way it observes (grouses about, really) the texture of contemporary life.

"The Sopranos" is a bitter comedy about family, the clash of the old world and the new, of parent and child, the violence and criminal behavior set off by the fact that the very same week Tony sits opposite a therapist whose job is to ask, "So, where are you?"

So where were we?

"The Sopranos" began last season with a plot event — Tony shot by his demented Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) — which set in motion a season that was, in retrospect, kind of baroque: A comatose mob boss has a near-death experience in which he's being hounded by Buddhist monks, who mistake him for a salesman of a faulty heating system.

There was also the outing of the gay mob lieutenant Vito, played as a tragedy of identity, and Tony's nephew Christopher's trip to Hollywood to woo Sir Ben Kingsley ("Sir Kingsley!" as Christopher saluted him) for his mob-themed slasher movie "Cleaver."

In the brief flush of action that propels us back into the series' final season, Tony is arrested on a gun charge, a flashback reminding us that he tossed the weapon in question into the snow back in 2004, while fleeing a raid on New York crime boss Johnny Sack's house. The gun arrest (a nuisance charge by the Essex County sheriff's office) turns out to be a palate teaser, for various bills will finally come due now, RICO cases being brought to fruition and the Cosa Nostra gasping into the 21st century without viable successors, white-haired men meting out justice and jockeying for position with other white hairs, the larger "war on terror" making them seem quaint by comparison.

The first two episodes feature ripples of the attrition: Johnny Sack is dying of cancer in prison (given counsel and comfort by an orderly played by director Sydney Pollack, in a pretty hilarious turn as an oncologist who shot his wife), while a wise guy is arrested at the after-party for the "Cleaver" screening, a movie on which Tony is the silent investor and other mobsters are the producers, including Christopher (Michael Imperioli).

This is all a continuation of last season's thematics of a changing world — Tony selling out a property in the old neighborhood to Jamba Juice, his lieutenants unable to shake down a Starbucks-like barista impervious to their muscle.

"My estimate? Historically?" Tony says Sunday of the fate awaiting mob bosses. "Eighty percent of the time it ends in the can like Johnny Sack, or on the embalming table at Cozarelli's."

He says this while sitting in a boat in upstate New York near the Canadian border with his doormat brother-in-law Bobby Bacala (Steven R. Schirripa), on a weekend getaway where Bobby and Tony's voluble sister Janice (Aida Turturro) have invited Tony and Carmela up to celebrate his birthday.

It comes as something of a shock that Tony's only turning 47: He's noticeably slower, weaker and more engrossed in his legacy. There is about this taut, superbly written lake episode (by Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider, series creator David Chase and Matthew Weiner) an idyllic quiet that slowly becomes unnerving. We're reminded, once again, that we're in the presence of nouveau riche conservatives — the offspring of immigrants relaxing as the Caribbean nanny watches the kid, everyone in agreement that they oughta build a wall around the country to keep the illegals out.

In a mob story, a secluded lake portends bad things; on "The Sopranos," that bad thing turns out to be family members in close proximity to each other over a long boozy night of karaoke and Monopoly. The Janice character arrived on the show at the beginning of Season 2 — a hippie returning from Seattle with a Rolling Stones tongue tattooed on her breast — and since then she's been nothing but a headache.

Janice only performs "acts of Janice," is how Tony described his big sister to his psychiatrist Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) last year, and at the lake the two begin laying into each other, hovering and jabbing until the replayed dynamic inevitably spills over into violence. The ensuing brawl, sumo in nature, upsets the order of things briefly; it reaffirms that Tony is ever-dependent on guile to emerge victorious.

But they are his pyrrhic victories. The years have helped make Tony Soprano a tragic figure — he's aged in his eight TV years like a president, so that the guy you see getting out his SUV at the close of the opening credits is a shadow.

Gandolfini, in his performance, has by increments become more lumbering — slower, softer and wiser, but still, if he can summon the energy, that brute.

Interviewed several years ago on National Public Radio, Chase said that he had an ending for the character in mind.

"The gangster movie is a long American tradition," he said. "But they've all been, except for 'The Godfather' trilogy … it's usually the rise and fall. It's been that way since the beginning. The criminal rises from the gutter, has his moment of glory, and then goes down and pays for his crime in a hail of bullets. That's usually the template.

"As Tony has his rise," Chase added of his protagonist, "he's always having his fall every day. His rise and his fall seem to be happening all the time together." You feel in the two episodes HBO sent out the bitter comedy unable to keep pace with what is mournful and sad — the show's final parlor trick toward absolute empathy with a sociopath examining his inner life.

The full circle arrives, glaringly, in the one place that Tony has been a constant — the therapy room. So that, as the curtain begins to close, you get the scene in which the mob guy, teary-eyed over a betrayal, is going deeper than the therapist.

"Without invalidating your feelings," she says, "is it possible that on some level you're reading into all this?"

"I've been coming here for years," Tony Soprano responds. "I know too much about the subconscious now."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-ontv3apr03,0,2409733,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

fredfa

04-03-07, 10:45 PM

The Business of Television
News Corp. shareholders OK Liberty deal
By Georg Szalai The Hollywood Reporter April 4, 2007

NEW YORK - In a special meeting here Tuesday, News Corp. shareholders approved a planned deal with John Malone's Liberty Media that will strengthen chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch's control over his entertainment conglomerate.

The transaction, green lit by shareholders representing 99.76% of outstanding Class B shares, will see News Corp. swap its controlling 38.4%stake in satellite TV operator DirecTV Group, three regional sports networks and $550 million in cash for a large chunk of News stock held by Liberty. The deal, first announced in late December, is valued at $11 billion.

The swap will boost the Murdoch family's voting stake in News Corp. from about 31% to 38%. It still needs regulatory approval and is expected to close by mid-year or the third quarter at the latest.

The close of the deal will officially end a two-year battle that started when Liberty quietly took a sizable voting stake in News Corp. by changing non-voting into voting shares.

Murdoch in reaction had his board pass an anti-takeover measure known as a "poison pill." Wall Street observers expect the News Corp. board to drop that provision as soon as the Liberty swap closes.

Analysts have argued the deal is good for both companies and should boost their respective shares.

Liberty increases its focus on owning operating assets and also gets cash in the transaction, they point out. News Corp., meanwhile, will get rid of a possible distraction and shareholder concern, as well as buy back 16% of News Corp. stock, analysts add.

Murdoch at the meeting Tuesday said a buyback of a similar size in the open market would take about 18 months.

He also said that the swap will allow News Corp. to end its exposure to the U.S. satellite TV market, which he said has become increasingly competitive.

The chairman emphasized again though that News Corp. remains happy with its satellite operations in the U.K. and Italy.

Tuesday's shareholder meeting in midtown Manhattan was a brief affair of about 10 minutes with no shareholder questions on the proposed deal.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i9e48952bbd3570d47d4ade6d7244b6fd

fredfa

04-04-07, 04:17 AM

TV Notebook
“Donnellys” officially off the air
NBC pulls plug on mob drama
By Josef Adalian Variety

NBC has whacked "The Black Donnellys," pulling the mob drama off the air effective immediately.

Decision isn't surprising, particularly after the skein tripped through another third-place finish Monday at 10 p.m. It averaged a weak 2.0/5 rating among adults 18-49, losing a big chunk of its "Deal or No Deal" lead-in.

Peacock had already signaled its lack of confidence in "Donnellys" earlier in the week by announcing plans to pull the show after its April 16 broadcast in favor of "The Real Wedding Crashers".

Net will now vamp next week by airing a second installment of new improv laffer "Thank God You're Here" in the 10 o'clock slot.

"Donnellys" was created by Oscar winners Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco. While not officially cancelled, it's unlikely NBC will order additional episodes.

Remaining half-dozen segs will stream on NBC.com.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117962485&categoryid=14

TheRatPatrol

04-04-07, 08:26 AM

TV Notebook
“Donnellys” officially off the air
NBC pulls plug on mob drama
Why don't these networks give these shows a chance to run before pulling them? How can anyone judge a show only after 2 or 3 episodes, and what about all the people out there that DVR the show and watch it later? This seems to be happening a lot the past few years.

TravelFan1

04-04-07, 08:41 AM

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6429802

The Digital Race

By Ted Hearn 4/2/2007

Washington— Going all-digital can happen in a hurry. And proof isn’t far away.

It’s in Puerto Rico. The Caribbean island’s second largest cable operator, Liberty Cablevision, last year finished converting all of its 111,000 subscribers to entirely digital video services in a rapid-fire, $10 million program that led to the shut down of traditional analog service in roughly four months.

The benefits of an all-digital platform are easy to tout. By converting scores of analog channels into digital ones, cable companies can recapture as much as two-thirds of the bandwidth on their networks. With the newfound capacity, operators can offer an array of revenue-gushing products, including more high-definition TV channels, faster high-speed data connections, additional video-on-demand services and pay-per-view offerings. An all-digital plant is also less vulnerable to piracy, a $4.8 billion-a-year problem for operators.
Snapshot
Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico
Managing director: Jose Alegría
Subscribers: 111,000
Digital penetration, before conversion: 45%
All-digital conversion began: Feb. 1, 2006
Conversion completed: May 31, 2006
Key tactics: Short-term digital simulcast; no basic tier rate increase; more channels and services for same price; customer installs set-top; disconnect holdouts.
Owner: Liberty Global, Denver

But there are plenty of risks, too. Chief among them: the costly and delicate task of coaxing millions of subscribers into paying fees to attach a digital set-top box to every analog TV set in their homes. According to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, cable households have 134 million analog TVs not connected to a set-top box that can convert digital signals into analog waves their sets can display.

By and large, U.S. cable operators want digital set-top penetration, now at about 50% nationally, to soar much higher before they even consider a forced migration to all-digital.

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, has not put a firm date on when it will convert all 26.2 million subscribers to digital service. That is not likely to happen until sometime in the next decade. It’s at 52% today.

“The question is, when do we get to the point where it is both cost effective and competitively reasonable to make the shift?” Comcast senior vice president of strategic planning Mark Coblitz said March 12 at the Association of Cable Communicators Forum in Washington, D.C.
LIBERATING TV

Liberty Cablevision had different ideas. It decided to slam on the accelerator and reclaim the analog shelf space almost at once.

Starting in February 2006, the company finished the job in about 120 days, and it did so in a place known more for sandy shores than rich demographics. Puerto Rico, population 3.9 million, has an annual median income of $13,000, compared with $46,000 for the U.S.

Jose Alegría, Liberty Cablevision managing director and architect of the company’s digital-TV transition, flirted with free programming offers to mollify any annoyed customers. But in the end, he decided that a rate freeze, combined with all the qualitative improvements that consumers would immediately experience with a digital-only platform, was sufficient to effect a smooth transition.

“We had a very limited number of upset people,” Alegría said.

Liberty Cablevision is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Global. With 24.1% voting power, chairman John Malone has effective control of the company. Malone, also chairman of Liberty Media, is seeking federal approval for that company to take control of direct-broadcast satellite TV provider DirecTV from News Corp. in an $11 billion deal.

EchoStar Communications, DirecTV’s largest satellite rival, recently asked the Federal Communications Commission to force Malone to divest Liberty Cablevision to keep pay TV competition a three-way race in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory under FCC jurisdiction.

In completing the digital transition in a hurry and with few hassles, Liberty Cablevision defied conventional wisdom. For years, U.S. cable-industry leaders have been insisting that the reclamation of analog capacity was an extended process in which consumers would set the pace.

“It’s gradual, rather than sudden,” Insight Communications CEO Michael Willner said at the ACC Forum. “We’ve tried to force converter boxes on people in the past, and there are just a group of people out there who don’t want to have anything to do with it.”

Pali Research cable analyst Richard Greenfield disagreed with Willner’s contention, arguing that cable should make the conversion sooner than later.

Why? Competition. DirecTV and EchoStar’s Dish Network have been digital from the start. AT&T and Verizon are invading cable markets with all-digital video lineups.

“I just think it’s money well spent. I think it’s a business that’s more than capable of going all-digital if it wanted to,” Greenfield said. “The ability to free up bandwidth to deliver an absolutely best-in-class service with no question is a very compelling consumer proposition.”
Slow Motion
Measuring the big cable operators' distance from analog:
Percent of Digital Customers
Comcast 52%
Time Warner Cable 54%
Cox 52%
Charter 51%
Cablevision 76%
Source: Multichannel News research, companies.

WAIVERING AT THE START

Liberty Cablevision’s DTV transition began with a little-remembered FCC ruling in August 2000 by then-Cable Services Bureau chief Deborah Lathen. Under the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, cable operators were prohibited from scrambling or otherwise encrypting the basic programming tier, which includes local TV signals and is a mandatory purchase.

The law was designed to ensure that any cable subscriber could receive local TV signals without a set-top box.

Lathen granted a waiver after Liberty Cablevision demonstrated that it had been plagued by a serious signal theft problem — about 20% of homes passed were receiving cable service illegally.

Armed with the FCC waiver, Liberty Cablevision scrambled its channels, a move that forced every customer to have an analog set-top box for every TV set, paying $3.50 per box, per month.

A year later, Liberty Cablevision launched a digital-video tier, which included new channels provided by Discovery Communications, MTV Networks, ESPN Classic, and CNN en Español. The tier reached about 45% penetration by October 2005.

Late 2005 was also the period when Alegría’s team began to think seriously about going forward with analog bandwidth recovery, in part because consumer access to black-market analog boxes had perpetuated the signal-theft problem. An all-digital platform would cut signal theft way down.

On the company side, Liberty Cablevision put about 95,000 digital set-top boxes in a warehouse ahead of the conversion and prepared the plant to deliver, on a short-term basis, a simultaneous digital telecast of the analog programming tiers.

On the consumer side, Alegría’s plan had a mix of rewards and penalties. Customers were notified by letter that they had to trade in their analog boxes for digital units in order to retain service. They were reminded again during commercial TV breaks and company-transmitted on-screen messages.

“We basically used our own media,” Alegría said. “We did this on a staggered rollout basis by geographic areas. We divided the entire footprint into four or five regions.”

The transition was financially painless for customers. For instance, the $3.50 monthly analog set-top box fee remained the same for the newly issued Motorola DCT-700 digital units.

One inconvenience: Customers had to visit one of nine regional offices to make the box swap. But no customer was more than 15 or 20 minutes by car from an office. Self-service avoided a $25.00 truck roll fee.

Before the transition, basic customers paid $42.77 per month for 63 channels. For the same price afterwards, they received not only the same number of channels but also 45 music channels; an interactive program guide; 6 local radio stations; free video-on-demand services, including Rainbow Media’s Sportskool instructional videos, and pay video-on-demand services; and access to 48 linear pay-per-view channels.

“There was no rate increase for customers,” Alegría said.

Within four weeks, 80% of Liberty Cablevision subscribers had made the switch.

The effort to act with haste did have a downside: long consumer lines.

“Your waiting times at the lobby were really long. People would wait for an hour,” said Alegría, who made sure free coffee was on hand.

What about the hard cases, the customers who wouldn’t or couldn’t cooperate? Six weeks into the campaign, Liberty Cablevision got more aggressive by cutting off service, except for one channel that contained the digital-TV conversion notification.

“We did cut them off,” Alegría said. “They would call in and we’d basically turn the service back on, on the promise that they would come in during the next week or so.”

Then there were the really, really tough cases — the handful of people who were irate or who were too old or infirm to deal with the change.

“In some cases, in the end, we basically did a truck roll for free,” Alegría said.

When it was all over, Liberty Cablevision got back 340 Megahertz of analog spectrum; signal thieves were cut off and many were converted to paying customers; and labor costs associated with maintenance of an analog platform declined.

“Because you have a digital platform out there, you don’t need to disconnect or reconnect. You can do it all from your central office and those salaries associated with field auditors decreased,” Alegría said.

Another result in the plus column: “We basically doubled the amount of per-per-view revenue after digitization, which was pretty significant,” said Alegría, who expects to recoup the $10 million digital conversion investment by mid-2008.

Whether Liberty Cablevision’s transition is a model for big multiple-system operators is a complicated question. In addition to digital simulcasts, Comcast and Time Warner plan to conserve bandwidth by using switched digital video technology. With switching, a cable operator only sends out a channel when at least one customer in a neighborhood requests it.

“It allows you to put more channels in the same space,” Comcast’s Coblitz said.

And continued reliance on analog technology to appease customers highly allergic to set-tops might work to cable’s advantage after local TV stations are forced by law to cease analog transmission on Feb. 17, 2009. Except for cable, every TV station and every pay-TV provider in the U.S. will require consumers with analog equipment to obtain set-top boxes.

“I think the cable industry still likes the benefit of not having to force customers to have a box in every room,” Pali’s Greenfield said.
PROBLEMS POSSIBLE

But cable’s decision to maintain analog service could encounter problems at the FCC.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin has hinted that it is an open regulatory question whether cable operators may downconvert digital broadcast-TV signals to analog at the headend after the Feb. 17, 2009 deadline for over-the-air stations to cease analog transmission.

A downconversion ban would mean forcing tens of millions of cable subscribers with analog reception equipment to lease set-tops to view local TV stations.

NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow told reporters March 15 that he didn’t think the FCC had legal authority to prohibit headend-initiated downconversion.

But if Martin forces the issue, that could change the pace of conversion by cable operators, small and big.

“That’s a huge issue. If you can’t downconvert, obviously then you’re going to have to move to all digital boxes at a much faster rate,” Greenfield said.

Trying to Avoid Backlash

So when will cable operators nuke their analog tiers?

After all, 80 analog channels at 6 Megahertz apiece … that’s 480 Mhz. And most of the bandwidth in a typical 750 Mhz cable system.

Operators are mostly keeping mum on how they intend to free up all that capacity and turn it over to digital Internet, phone and TV services.

The most detailed road map that large multiple-system operators have provided about their expectations for 100% digital cable networks is that they expect it to happen — someday.

In documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast has said its goal is to have 75% of its video subscribers on digital cable service by the end of 2010 and to reach “all-digital service in subsequent years.”

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in March that once the industry moves to all-digital networks, operators will be able to offer as much as 100 times more bandwidth to Internet subscribers.

“We’re now up to 50% digital [video subscribers]. We will get to 80% digital and, someday, we will have 100% digital, and then we reclaim some, if not all, of those 80 analog channels,” he said at the conference.

Meaning what? If, for instance, the company needed to ship video, audio or just big files to and from the typical household at the rate of 1 billion bits of data a second, “we could do that,” he said.

Comcast’s senior director of corporate communications Jenni Moyer said: “I don’t think there’s much more to add at this time except that digital simulcast is a step along the way.” That’s where an analog channel is also shipped for a time as a digital channel. In effect, more bandwidth is used for a time to straddle the analog and digital worlds before analog goes away.

Other operators were also closed-mouthed. “We operate in an extremely competitive environment, so we’re simply not comfortable speaking about our plans at this time,” Bright House Networks director of public affairs and communications Kena Lewis said.

It’s a sensitive subject. Big operators would dearly like to shed their analog baggage, but they would either anger a substantial portion of their customers if they forced them to take digital cable service; spend a hefty sum getting digital boxes to the existing analog footprint, especially because every TV in a household would need a digital set-top box; or, quite possibly, both.

“Comcast would face substantial consumer backlash if it attempted to compel consumers to convert to digital on a forced march,” the No. 1 operator wrote in a Jan. 30 letter to the FCC. Comcast was requesting a review of the agency’s denial of a waiver for the July 1 ban on digital set-tops with integrated security features, claiming the regulation will slow down its migration to all-digital networks.

BendBroadband in Bend, Ore., committed to converting its entire network to digital service by the end of 2008. That said, the FCC granted the smaller operator a waiver on the set-top order. But Comcast said it couldn’t make the same promise because it faced the much bigger task of shepherding millions of subscribers onto digital tiers rather than thousands.

“BendBroadband … has only 34,000 customers,” Comcast wrote. “It is a far different proposition for BendBroadband to go all-digital than for Comcast.” The Philadelphia-based operator reported 11.5 million customers for its analog TV services at the end of 2006, compared with 12.7 million digital subs.

The bottom line is that switching millions of subscribers en masse within the next two years would be costly. Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield estimated that a full conversion for Comcast would run up to $5 billion. (His calculations assumed $75 set-tops would need to be deployed to 47 million TV sets and factored in truck rolls.)

He acknowledged that today, analog service is a competitive advantage for cable, in the sense that no other multichannel video distributor can provide service sans boxes. But Greenfield believes operators should quickly take the all-digital plunge to jump out in front.

“The amount of capital [for the transition] would not destroy companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast, so why not do it today?” he said. “The bandwidth that would be created would position cable as having the killer offering today. There’s nothing better that satellite or the telcos could do.”

— Todd Spangler, with Mike Farrell

DoubleDAZ

04-04-07, 08:43 AM

I suspect much of the problem is production cost. If the network doesn't see some indication that there will be a return on their investment, what should they do? Continue to bleed money? Programs like the Donnellly's are hampered out of the box because they are replacements to begin with. Normally this means lower expectations, but a sinking 2.0 following DOND is simply unacceptable and can almost certainly be bettered by a low/no cost rerun of something else.

fredfa

04-04-07, 09:29 AM

TV Notebook
Between a rock and a hard place
'30 Rock' on NBC is critically acclaimed but a ratings loser. It's expected to be renewed, but its fate, and that of sitcoms, remains precarious
By Martin Miller Los Angeles Times Staff Writer April 4, 2007

"If I suddenly have to hang up, I'm not being rude," Tina Fey whispered into the telephone from her New York home. "My baby is a little sick, and I'm the only one here."

Fey's 18-month-old daughter Alice has a cold. Her other baby, NBC's "30 Rock," which she created, executive produces, writes and stars in, also has an illness of sorts. Fey's freshman-year sitcom, which centers on the private and professional life of a head comedy writer for TV, is suffering from Nielsenitis, typically ranking in the bottom half of the weekly TV ratings.

Although the show has enjoyed wide critical acclaim, won a Golden Globe for costar Alec Baldwin and has quickly earned a reputation as one of the best comedies on television, "30 Rock" is nevertheless officially on the renewal bubble, proving again that quality and ratings don't necessarily correlate. Sources at NBC said late Tuesday afternoon that the network is expected to announce that the show will be picked up for another season.

Certainly, that decision would be good news in the increasingly competitive world of television, where the half-life of shows continues to shrink. But as the show returns Thursday to the network's highly publicized comedy block night, it still has a mighty task ahead — drawing a much wider audience.

It won't be easy. "30 Rock" airs at 9 p.m., its third time slot since its fall debut and opposite two of the biggest shows on television, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and CBS' "CSI." Finishing in 80th place with an anemic-sized audience of about 5 million has not been unusual this season.

"I honestly don't sweat the ratings too much," said Fey, 36, the first woman to become head writer for NBC's "Saturday Night Live" but best known for her sharp wit in delivering "Weekend Update." "There are so many things that relate to the show that I can control, so I can't worry about the things beyond my control."

Sitcoms, in general, are in decline on network television, with audiences apparently tiring of the same old formulaic contrivances.

"Comedy is in a fragile place in television," said Kevin Reilly, NBC Entertainment president. "30 Rock" "needs time to flourish and needs to be protected. This is the history of shows like 'Seinfeld,' 'Cheers,' and 'Everybody Loves Raymond'; they're all shows that started near the bottom and worked their way up to the top.

"There is zero creative concern about the show, but the question is can we put it in the right spot, so it can grow. Because it does need to grow."

Critical reception

Last fall, "30 Rock" — named after the studio's address at Rockefeller Plaza — was largely overlooked in the critics' stampede to glorify, then later crucify, Aaron Sorkin's latest series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Both NBC shows were shows-within-a-show, although Sorkin's aimed for drama, Fey's for comedy.

Fey's show drew mostly positive reviews, with TV Guide anointing it the season's best new comedy. Almost every review highlighted Baldwin for his stellar turn as an intrusive corporate executive, Jack Donaghy, the network's new vice president of East Coast television and microwave programming.

The show is built around a comic triangle, a structure that loosely imitates one of Fey's all-time favorite comedies, HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show." Fey plays Liz Lemon, the romantically klutzy head writer, caught between containing a mentally unstable star portrayed by "SNL" alum Tracy Morgan and kowtowing to Baldwin's womanizing, domineering character.

"I don't take medication, I don't run down the streets in my underwear, I don't see little blue men," joked Morgan, whose character has done all that on the show, but who in real life has been twice arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. "I don't want people to think I'm really like that."

Workplace politics drives much of the show's humor, but few topics are off-limits, including sharp-edged ones about gays, race, sex, NBC's corporate culture and mental health.

As the season progressed, "30 Rock" slowly began attracting favorable buzz, especially on the Internet. Like many of its most devoted viewers, Joe Reed, a staff writer for the Web's "Television Without Pity" came late to the "30 Rock" party. He didn't start watching until the fourth or fifth episode.

"It's in the top two or three funniest shows on television," said Reed, who recaps "Studio 60" and "American Idol" (the website doesn't officially track sitcoms). "It's smart, relatable and has an improvised feel to its comedy. It's phenomenal."

Similarly, the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly and the New York Times, to name a few, have lauded the show's wit, humor and creative growth since its pilot episode. The show went on to garner nominations from the Writers Guild of America for outstanding comedy series and outstanding new series.

But sometimes critics got tough with Fey, not for her writing, but for her acting. Tom Shales of the Washington Post wrote: "Tina Fey is not Orson Welles — something that must be obvious to everyone but Tina Fey."

Usually, Fey, who first joined "SNL" in 1997 and became head writer in 1999, avoids reviews. But in her role as executive producer, she came across the Shales critique.

"I think I've grown since the pilot episode," Fey said. "I'd just had my daughter, and I didn't really feel or look like myself.

"Almost everyone is a terrible actor, except for about six people. Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Alec [Baldwin], and a few others can act. Otherwise, everyone else is just trying to present a plausible version of themselves."

"30 Rock" also can boast one of the stronger supporting comic casts in television. Jane Krakowski supplies a potent foil to Fey, while Judah Friedlander's acerbic, trucker-hat wearing writer and "SNL" alum Chris Parnell's quack Dr. Leo Spaceman often infuse the show with laugh-out-loud moments. But perhaps the show's break-out performer is Jack McBrayer, who plays the idealistic NBC page Kenneth, educated at Kentucky Mountain Bible College, who seems to regard television as sacred as religion.

The show's reputation has attracted an enviable stable of guest stars, including Rip Torn (former star of "Larry Sanders"), Isabella Rossellini, Nathan Lane, LL Cool J, John McEnroe and Paul Reubens, who memorably played a genetically inbred Austrian prince.

"Tina grew up on 'Saturday Night Live,' where the thinking was, 'Couldn't we get so and so for this piece?' So, we just go out and ask them," said Lorne Michaels, who executive produces "30 Rock" and "SNL," and originally tapped Fey for her "SNL" head writing gig.

"As the show has begun to define itself, people just want to be part of it," Michaels said.

The show's humor revs at such a high level because the writers repeatedly find clever ways around the restrictions of prime-time network television.

One episode had Fey's character conflicted over her desire to be liked and her duty to lead the writing staff. She is shown callously ignoring a colleague's baby photo, throwing another's cellphone and then sarcastically referring to a staff member in an argyle sweater as "Sherlock Homo."

Later, she overhears one of her writers call her a word the audience ultimately doesn't hear, but suffice to say can't be printed in a family newspaper or said on network television.

The episode was titled "The C Word."

Network constraints force them to be more creative and don't really bother Fey.

"I'd like to drop a couple f-bombs," she jokes. "Maybe do some bottom-half nudity."

The show's rating struggles have more to do with proper scheduling or simply getting lost among myriad entertainment choices. Fey just wants to focus on the show's quality and ignore all the external noise.

"I'm glad NBC put a stake down on Thursday night," she said.

"Yes, it's going to be hard going against 'Grey's' and 'CSI,' but there's no super safe place. Hey, it's a jungle out there."

Interview done.

The baby is still sleeping — and seems like she's doing better.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-30rock4apr04,0,7763001,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

fredfa

04-04-07, 09:41 AM

Yesterday’s metered market over-night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted just near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

kjpjr

04-04-07, 09:45 AM

I just got off the phone with a CSR for TWC in South Carolina. I called for a different reason but also asked about MLB-EI. She told me that they had gotten notice that TW would not carry MLB-EI even if an agreement is reached. I questioned her about this and she "stood her ground" and said even if became available TW would not give it the space since they did not have time to market it properly. TW owns In Demand seems hard that this would be correct but that is what I was told.

fredfa

04-04-07, 09:57 AM

Weekly Nielsen Notebook
Analysis: National Ratings in Prime Time:
Week of March 26-April 1, 2007
By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com April 4, 2007

It was another split victory in prime time for the week of March 26, with CBS first in households and total viewers and American Idol-ignited Fox No. 1 among key adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and adults 18-34. Comparably, Fox was close to year-ago levels, while the Eye net dipped by margins of 13 to 18 percent. ABC finished third in the five surveyed categories, with losses of as much as 21 percent, while erosion for fourth-place NBC was more severe at as high as 31 percent. Cellar-dweller The CW remained marred by overall mediocrity.

Worth noting on CBS was the ongoing NCAA Basketball Championship, at 14.37 million viewers (#9 overall) and a 4.9/17 among adults 18-49 (#8) on Saturday. With the right programming options there can indeed be an audience on this once potent evening. Fox, meanwhile, continues to benefit by game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, which held its own in its first head-to-head battle opposite CBS’ Survivor: Fiji. Take a look:

Thursday 8 p.m.
Survivor: Fiji
(CBS)
Viewers: 13.71 million (#10 overall)
A18-49: 4.5 rating/14 share (#10t)

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader
(Fox)
Viewers: 10.59 million (#24)
A18-49: 3.7/11 (#16t)

In season (or, more likely, series) finale news, ABC’s What About Brian signed-off with a lackluster 6.79 million viewers (#51) and a 2.8/ 8 among adults 18-49 (#37t) in the Monday 10 p.m. hour. Comparably, retention for What About Brian out of lead-in Dancing With the Stars (see rankings below) was just 33 percent in viewers and 47 percent in the demo. Considerably worse on ABC, meanwhile, were two shows that just got pink-slipped: recent returnee Six Degrees and two-episode reality/competition The Great American Dream Vote. Take a look:

The Great American Dream Vote
(ABC) Tues. 10 p.m.
Viewers: 5.88 million (#59t),
A18-49: 1.9/ 5 (#66t)
Wed. 8 p.m.
Viewers: 4.54 million (#75)
A18-49: 1.5/ 4 (#80t)

Six Degrees
(ABC) Fri. 9 p.m.
Viewers: 3.12 million (#89)
A18-49: 1.4/ 4 (#83t)

Fox has also stopped production on Friday dramedy The Wedding Bells, which faced Six Degrees, and scored a weak 4.36 million viewers (#79) and a 1.4/ 5 among adults 18-49 (#83t). Also airing in the Friday 9 p.m. hour was the time period premiere of NBC’s Raines at 6.97 million viewers (#50) and a 1.9/ 6 in the demo (#66t). Comparably, that built from lagging lead-in Identity (Viewers: #66t, 5.66 million; A18-49: #79, 1.6/ 6 at 8 p.m.) by 1.31 million viewers and 19 percent among adults 18-49. NBC was much better off with 1 vs. 100 in the Friday 8 p.m. hour.

Here are the final national ratings for the week of March 26, 2007 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago period in parentheses for the Big 4 -- the CW is not included), followed by the top 30 ranked programs for the week in total viewers and adults 18-49.

Households:
CBS: 7.3 rating/12 share (-13)
Fox: 6.3/11 (no change)
ABC: 5.7/10 (- 2)
NBC: 4.9/ 8 (-20)
CW: 1.9/ 3

Total Viewers:
CBS: 11.35 million (-13)
Fox: 10.40 (- 1)
ABC: 8.65 (- 4)
NBC: 7.30 (-21)
CW: 2.83

Adults 18-49:
Fox: 4.1 rating/12 share (- 9)
CBS: 3.3/10 (-15)
ABC: 2.8/ 8 (-20)
NBC: 2.3/ 7 (-28)
CW: 1.1/ 3

Adults 25-54:
Fox: 4.4/12 (- 8)
CBS: 4.1/11 (-18)
ABC: 3.2/ 9 (-20)
NBC: 2.7/ 7 (-29)
CW: 1.1/ 3

Adults 18-34:
Fox: 3.9/13 (- 7)
CBS: 2.4/ 8 (-11)
ABC: 2.3/ 7 (-21)
NBC: 1.8/ 6 (-31)
CW: 1.3/ 4

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

fredfa

04-04-07, 09:59 AM

fredfa

04-04-07, 11:09 AM

Tuesday’s fast national over night prime-time ratings – and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman’s view of what they mean -- have been posted near the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

fredfa

04-04-07, 11:12 AM

Overnights in the 18-49 Demo
ABC rebounds from “Dream'” nightmare
Returning “Boston Legal” outshines axed show
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer April 4, 2007

One week after “Great American Dream Vote” bombed in the 10 p.m. post-“Dancing with the Stars” timeslot, “Boston Legal” returned with ratings that looked positively sparkling in comparison.

“Legal” averaged a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, up 42 percent over “Dream’s” 1.9 rating last week.

“Legal” retained 73 percent of “Stars’” 3.7 rating. Last week “Dream” retained just 43 percent of “Stars’” 4.4 rating.

“Legal” finished second in the 10 p.m. slot in both 18-49s and total viewers, drawing roughly 4 million more in the latter than “Dream.”

“Legal” was about even to its season average, and did not post outstanding ratings. But its improvement over “Dream’s” numbers was stark.

“Dream” was canceled after just two outings last week, after it did just as poorly in its regular Wednesday 8 p.m. slot. The reality show, which invited Americans to compete for the chance to live out a dream, aired only as a special behind “Stars.”

Meanwhile, Fox was first for the night among 18-49s with a 9.4 average rating and a 25 share. CBS was second at 2.9/8, ABC and NBC tied for third at 2.6/7, Univision fifth at 1.7/4 and CW sixth at 0.9/2.

Fox led each of its two hours easily, starting with a 9.9 at 8 p.m. for “American Idol.” CBS was second that hour with a 3.2 for “NCIS,” while Univision and NBC tied for third at 1.8, Univision for “La Fea Mas Bella” and NBC for “Dateline.” That left ABC fifth with a 1.5 average for repeats of “George Lopez” and “According to Jim” and CW sixth with a 0.7 for a “Gilmore Girls” rerun.

At 9 p.m. Fox led again with an 8.9 for “House,” with ABC moving to second with a 3.7 for its “Stars” results show. CBS was third with a 2.9 for “The Unit,” NBC fourth with a 2.2 for “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” Univision fifth with a 1.7 for “Destilando Amor” and CW sixth with a 1.0 for “The Pussycat Dolls Present: Search for the Next Doll.”

With Fox out at 10 p.m. NBC took the lead with a 3.9 for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” ABC was second with a 2.7 for “Legal,” CBS third with a 2.5 for a repeat of “CSI: Miami” and Univision fourth with a 1.5 for “Nuestra Belleza Latina.”

Among households, Fox was first for the night with a 13.9 average household rating and a 22 share. CBS was second at 6.8/11, ABC third at 6.6/11, NBC fourth at 5.6/9, Univision fifth at 2.2/3 and CW sixth at 1.6/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_11242.asp

fredfa

04-04-07, 11:29 AM

TV Notebook
Peabody Award American TV Winners

The prestigious Peabody Awards were announced this morning at the University of Georgia. Here are the TV winners for United States productions.

(University if Georgia news release)

Defective Parts on Blackhawk Helicopters WTNH-TV, New Haven, CT

WTNH reporters` investigation of quality-control issues at an important local employer, Sikorsky Aircraft, prompted corrective action and a corporate shakeup.
Produced by WTNH-TV

Left Behind: The Failure of East St. Louis Schools KMOV-TV, St. Louis, MO

In 21 reports broadcast over a seven month period, KMOV exposed the school district`s violation of state and federal rules regarding special education and uncovered the school board`s awarding of more than 100 political or nepotistic jobs.
Produced by KMOV-TV

The Education of Ms. Groves NBC

Inspiring but not schmaltzy, this program tracks the learning curve of a wide-eyed, first-year middle-school teacher in Atlanta who discovers her job demands skills and resources as well as idealism.
Produced by Dateline NBC

60 Minutes: The Duke Rape Case CBS

A "60 Minutes" team led by correspondent Ed Bradley delved into the allegations of rape against Duke University lacrosse players and stopped a prosecutorial rush to judgment in its tracks.
Produced by CBS News.

Prescription Privacy/Cause for Alarm WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, IN

A pair of reports – one on inadequate tornado-warning sirens, the other on drug stores` willy-nilly disposal of clients` personal data were enterprising investigations, calls for action – and great local television.
Produced by WTHR-TV

ABC News Brian Ross Investigates: Conduct Unbecoming ABC

Brian Ross` broadcasts and web postings about Rep. Mark Foley`s sexually explicit emails to young Congressional pages triggered new revelations, speeded Foley`s resignation and may have affected the outcome of the November elections.
Produced by ABC World News Tonight, ABC News Nightline, ABC News.com "The Blotter"

Command Mistake WISH-TV, Indianapolis, IN

In a local-station investigation that spread to three continents, WISH demonstrated that U.S. Marines are sustaining head injuries that can kill or cost millions to rehab – merely for lack of helmet padding that costs $30.
Produced by WISH-TV

American Masters: Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film PBS

Ric Burns`s documentary places Warhol at the center of the late 20th century art world and shows how his work, notoriety and life embodied and influenced the culture of his time.
Produced by Steeplechase Films Inc., High Line Productions, Daniel Wolf Inc., Thirteen/WNET

For My Country? Latinos in the Military mun2

This probing but even-handed documentary examines the social, cultural and economic realities that lead a demographically disproportionate number of young Latinos to enlist in the military and questions whether they are being targeted by recruiters.
Produced by mun2

Baghdad ER Home Box Office

Filmed at the 86th Combat Support Hospital and presented without commentary or narration, this documentary is a horrifying and humbling testament to the dedication of medical personnel confronting the overwhelming brutality of war.
Produced by Home Box Office, Downtown Community Television

When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts Home Box Office

Spike Lee`s examination of Hurricane Katrina`s devastation and the government`s neglect of New Orleans in the storm`s aftermath is an epic chronicle of destruction and broken promises, a heartrending document and a profound work of art.
Produced by HBO Documentary Films in association with 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Out of Control: AIDS in Black America ABC

In a prime-time news hour, ABC explored the reasons for and consequences of a shockingly underreported fact – that blacks, who make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, now account for more than 50 percent of new cases of HIV infection.
Produced by PJ Productions, ABC News

Brotherhood Showtime

Uniformly splendid acting and a strong sense of place characterize this serial drama about two Providence, R.I. brothers, a rising politician and a smalltime gangster, and their morally compromised pursuits of the American dream.
Produced by Showtime, Mandalay Television

Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer Home Box Office

Unusually substantial for a sports biography, the film persuasively confirms the tennis champion`s heroic status in women`s history as well as athletics.
Produced by HBO Sports

Elizabeth I Home Box Office

Helen Mirren`s artistry as an actress mesmerizes throughout this beautifully produced movie that focuses on the latter half of Queen Elizabeth I`s reign -- a splendid rendering of historic events and intimate details.
Produced by Company Pictures and Channel 4 in association with HBO Films

Boondocks: Return of the King Cartoon Network

An especially daring episode of the animated series based on Aaron McGruder`s syndicated comic strip imagines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reviving from a 32-year "coma" and outraging Americans of all colors and creeds by confronting them with truths that he, at least, still holds to be self-evident.
Produced by Rebel Base, Sony Pictures Television

Scrubs NBC

A sweet-and-pungent "Wizard of Oz" parody was just one testimonial to the continuing creative vigor, six seasons into its run, of Bill Lawrence`s hellzapoppin` comedy about the staff of a Los Angeles hospital.
Produced by Touchstone Television

Ugly Betty ABC

Inspired by an internationally popular telenovela, this Americanized version defies category. It`s part comedy, part drama, part soap opera, part fashion-industry satire – but is unmistakably graced with wry intelligence and heart.
Produced by Touchstone Television

Gideon`s Daughter BBC America

This delicate character drama uses a complex father-daughter relationship to explore grief and the cult of celebrity against the backdrop of a nation mourning Princess Diana`s death.
Produced by BBC, BBC America, Talkback

The Office NBC

This American adaptation of the Peabody-winning British hit of the same title -- a comedy of workplace manners and politics presented in faux documentary form -- has firmly established its own precise voice and studied brilliance.
Produced by Reveille Studios in association with NBC Universal Television Studios

Friday Night Lights NBC

No dramatic series, broadcast or cable, is more grounded in contemporary American reality than this clear eyed serial about the hopes, dreams, livelihoods and egos intertwined with the fate of high-school football in a Texas town.
Produced by NBC Universal Television Studio in association with Imagine Entertainment and Film 44

Good Eats Food Network

Rarely has science been taught on TV in such an entertaining – and appetizing – manner as it is in Alton Brown`s goofy, tirelessly inventive series.
Produced by Be Square Productions Inc.

The Music In Me Home Box Office

What better way to inspire the study of music than with this irresistible collection of artfully photographed vignettes of young musicians, ages 7 to 11, playing everything from classical cello to zydeco accordion.
Produced by HBO Family

http://www.peabody.uga.edu/news/pressrelease.asp?ID=142

fredfa

04-04-07, 11:32 AM

TV Notebook
NBC Renews “30 Rock”

(NBC news release)

BURBANK - April 4, 2007 - NBC will renew its critically acclaimed comedy "30 Rock" (returning to the network's lineup on Thursday, April 5, with a special supersized episode at 8:40 p.m. - 9:20 p.m. ET) for the 2007-08 season, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment. The series will settle into its new time period of 9:00 - 9:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 12 for the remaining episodes.

"From the beginning, '30 Rock' has proven to be the kind of quality comedy that doesn't come around very often, and we are very pleased to have this show back for a second season," said Reilly. "We expect it to continue to build its increasingly loyal audience and become another of NBC's classic comedy series."

The freshman comedy has earned critical plaudits since its premiere last October while Alec Baldwin, one of the series stars, won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards for his spot-on performance as Jack Donaghy, a brash network executive. In addition, "30 Rock" has received extensive praise from the nation's television critics - including magazines such as TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and People, that have included the comedy on many of their "Top 10" lists of favorite series for 2006-07.

Season to date, "30 Rock" is averaging a 2.7 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 5.8 million viewers overall. With its most recent regular-slot telecast on March 8, "30 Rock" delivered a best-yet 89 percent retention of its 18-49 lead-in from "Scrubs" and with its six most recent regular-slot editions, "30 Rock" has retained more than 80 percent of its lead-in from "Scrubs." "30 Rock" is also one of the most upscale comedies on television, rating 28 percent higher among adults 18-49 living in homes with $100,000-plus incomes than it rates among all adults 18-49.

"30 Rock" is told through the comedic voice of the Emmy Award-winning Tina Fey (NBC's "Saturday Night Live," "Mean Girls") and features Baldwin ("The Departed," "The Cooler") as Donaghy, who has turned the show upside down with his meddling ways. Fey, as the single Liz Lemon, is living every comedy writer's dream -- head writer on a demanding, live TV program in New York City.

Her life is jolted when Donaghy interferes with her show, and bullies Lemon into convincing Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan, "Saturday Night Live," "The Longest Yard"), a wild and unpredictable movie star, to join the cast. Now Lemon must manage the unmanageable so that the show -- and her dream -- can go on.

Also rounding out the cast in the half-hour comedy are: Jane Krakowski ("Ally McBeal") as Jenna Maroney, the other star of "TGS With Tracy Jordan"; Scott Adsit as Pete Hornberger, the variety show's producer; Jack McBrayer as Kenneth the Page, the over-eager NBC Page -- a highly sought-after, entry-level position with the network; and Judah Friedlander as Frank, the crass and wisecracking writer. Rachel Dratch, also from "Saturday Night Live," appears in multiple episodes, playing a variety of different characters on the series.

trbarry

04-04-07, 12:00 PM

If they didn't want to force people to a premium tier cable companies could easily make the switch at least for basic customers by simply promising and promoting that the basic tier would remain unencrypted. All digital TV's would then start putting in unencrypted QAM support (not cable card) and within a few years there would be no need for basic analog cable.

The problem is they don't just want to switch to digital, they also want to force everyone to digital premium tiers with encrypted channels. That requires proprietary stuff that some customers don't want to pay for.

- Tom

Meteornotes

04-04-07, 12:40 PM

TV Notebook
“Donnellys” officially off the air
NBC pulls plug on mob drama

This is not surprising. I really wanted to like this show, but it was just "OK" at best. Haggis would have been better off taking the old EZ Streets scripts and just changing the character names. Network executives would not have noticed, and we would have gotten a much better show.

dt

haubrija

04-04-07, 12:53 PM

Fredfa,

Since we got the news on 30 Rock, you think we'll hear FNL word soon? Or is it still wait until the upfronts?

archiguy

04-04-07, 01:18 PM

This is not surprising. I really wanted to like this show, but it was just "OK" at best. Haggis would have been better off taking the old EZ Streets scripts and just changing the character names. Network executives would not have noticed, and we would have gotten a much better show.

dt

Agreed. 'EZ Streets' was an impressive effort, another potentially great show gone after just a handful of stellar episodes made it to air. Too dark & cerebral, apparently, for the unwashed masses.

fredfa

04-04-07, 01:20 PM

Fredfa,

Since we got the news on 30 Rock, you think we'll hear FNL word soon? Or is it still wait until the upfronts?

I really can't be objective about this one, but I certainly hope we
do get the news -- maybe timed to promote next week's season finale.

fredfa

04-04-07, 01:23 PM

The Business of Television
Time Warner Inks Disney Deal
By Mike Reynolds MultiChannel News 4/4/2007

Time Warner Cable and Disney reached a comprehensive multiyear distribution agreement that will extend retransmission consent for the ABC-owned broadcast television stations carried in Time Warner Cable markets, while continuing to afford distribution for varied cable networks, including a host of ESPN services, Disney Channel and ABC Family.

The pact, terms of which were not disclosed, also calls for Time Warner to launch college network ESPNU and ESPN2 HD.

Moreover, the parties announced that select systems will carry Disney Channel on Demand and ESPN Deportes.

Additionally, a trio of new HD services -- ABC Family HD, Disney Channel HD and ESPNEWS HD -- will be positioned on the operator’s systems when the networks bow next year.

Another element of the agreement will push various Disney fare to Time Warner’s Start Over platform, which enables some of its digital-cable subscribers to restart certain live in-progress programming without preplanning or the aid of recording devices. The Disney networks will also provide content, ranging from 2-10 minutes, to Time Warner’s Quick Clips platform.

Almost seven years ago, Time Warner and Disney were engaged in a nasty, high-profile retransmission fight when the operator pulled the signals for ABC stations reaching some 3.5 million of its customers in New York; Los Angeles; Houston; Fresno, Calif.; and Toledo, Ohio. The stations were off the air for 39 hours during the sweeps period of May 1 and 2, 2000 -- a move that sparked a furor and a reprimand from the Federal Communications Commission.

In announcing the deal, Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group, said in a prepared statement: “This milestone agreement combines Disney’s world-renowned brands with Time Warner Cable’s outstanding distribution platforms throughout the country.”

George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, added, “Together, The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Cable will provide leading sports, family, news and entertainment content for a fantastic and diverse consumer experience.”

Glenn Britt, CEO of Time Warner Cable, noted in a prepared statement: “This agreement will give our customers access to an even wider array of sports and high-definition programming. It will also allow us to expand our Start Over and Quick Clips services. Start Over has proven to be one of the most attractive advanced video features we’ve ever offered.”

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleid=CA6430686

fredfa

04-04-07, 01:34 PM

TV Notebook
NBC's “Friday Night Lights”, “Scrubs”, “The Office”; ABC's “Ugly Betty” Score Peabody Victories
By John Consoli MediaWeek April 4, 2007

NBC’s ratings-challenged freshman drama Friday Night Lights, along with NBC sitcoms Scrubs and The Office and ABC’s freshman comedy Ugly Betty, were winners in the 66th Annual Peabody Awards competition.

Showtime’s drama, The Brotherhood was also a winner among TV series, along with BBC America’s Gideon’s Daughter and Food Network’s Good Eats.

The winners will be honored on June 4 at a luncehon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Bob Costas, host of HBO’s Costas Now, will be the master of ceremonies.

Among the other winners were The Education of Ms. Grove, a special segment of Dateline NBC, which shadowed a first-year middle-year in Atlanta; Return of the King, an installment of the animated Boondocks series, televised by Cartoon Network; For My Country? Latinos in the Military, an exploration of how Latinos have come to be disproportionately represented in the armed services, which aired on mun2, the cable unit of Telemundo; and several documentaries and movies on HBO, including Elizabeth I.

ABC News won a Peabody for Out of Control: AIDS in Black America, and another for Brian Ross Investigates: Conduct Unbecoming, which focused on the story of Rep. Mark Foley’s sexually explicit e-mails to young Congressional pages. CBS’ 60 Minutes won for The Duke Rape Case, an Ed Bradley investigation on the rape allegations against the Duke University lacrosse team.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003567385

dad1153

04-04-07, 01:59 PM

With the Peabody Award for all those NBC shows except Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (which didn't deserve it but it would have been nice), plus the announcement of Wedding Crashers taking the post-Heroes Monday time slot, I have this unnerving feeling the ax is poised to fall any second on Aaron Sorkin's flawed masterpiece. Sob, sob... :(

rustycruiser

04-04-07, 02:36 PM

fredfa

04-04-07, 02:40 PM

I think the silent axe was swung when NBC suddenly pulled "Studio 60" earlier than planned and replaced it with "The Black Donnellys".

But dad, like everyone else, is entitled to hold out hope.

fredfa

04-04-07, 02:48 PM

Critic’s Notebook
This channel feels under the weather, but that's no excuse
By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Television Critic Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Everything we know we learned from television:

• Shut up about Sanjaya. Shut up! Shut it! Shh. Shut. It. Shut up!

• What is it about the Weather Channel that leaves us so cold? Pause. We just dropped a dollar in the "hack can" for that. But, honestly, we cannot shake the Weather Channel. It is constantly pitching "The 100 Biggest Weather Moments" or something, and we have not, after 368,841 pitches, ever responded. Do you want to know why? Because we live in California. Weather is boring. Bo-ring. The Weather Channel may well be the dumbest cable channel ever. Yes, we know that people adore it, that they live for it, that they use it daily. To which we say: Bo-ring.

• Our weekly reminder to you on why your favorite show is not on the air: 36-week television season, 22 episodes of your show. Math: the new black.

• Filming apparently continues on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Also known as "Filling the DVD."

• All those still watching "The Black Donnellys" raise your hand. Uh, higher. How about yelling out loud?

• We were enjoying a leisurely day in the sun recently when someone said, "You know on '24' when ...," and we shushed them like Sanjaya. Do not speak of "24." For it is dead.

• This thing about Sanjaya, with the transitional hair, the girl who allegedly went on a hunger strike over him and the fact that he's apparently awful but doing well on the show? Yeah, those are the things we know about that we don't want to know about. It's like caring about Anna Nicole Smith's autopsy results. Or anything about Paris Hilton. Is there a filter that stops this gunk from coming into our braincase?

• Speaking of garbage in, there's a lot of parental hand-wringing over a Kaiser Family Foundation study that said kids 2 to 7, 8 to 12 (tweeners) and 13 to 17 see a horde of food ads every day and that this less-than-subliminal bombardment sometimes features junk food and that, in turn, may, apparently, make your kid fat. We don't really care what your teenagers are eating. As long as they aren't eating their own misguided angst and regurgitating it back at you, then you should be happy. If you have a tweener, there's really no help for you. That's the group that is apparently seeing the most food advertising. We advise teaching them to use the TiVo to skip through ads, and, if they stop, punishing them somehow (like, say, taking away their ability to watch Sanjaya). If, however, you have a kid age 2 to 7 who's seeing any kind of food advertising, then you're watching the wrong channel. First off, if your DVR or VCR isn't in use, you're just a bad parent. Second, it's easy to avoid almost all commercials, product placement and even PBS-approved ads (yes, they're ads) by carefully choosing what they watch. This couldn't be easier because most of what PBS, Disney (the Playhouse block) and Nickelodeon/Noggin offer is commercial free.

Then again, our kids just watched the first two episodes of "The Sopranos" and loved them.

• Yes, that was a joke.

• A real Weather Channel show: "Your Weather Today." Oh, come on, people! Spice it up.

• As of Friday, MSNBC no longer has anything to do with Rita Cosby. She lost her show a while ago and is officially done with. Thank you, Easter Bunny!

• No doubt you have Sunday on your calendar for both "The Sopranos" and "Entourage." But don't forget, one day later is the swan-song return of "King of Queens." Pause. No, really, it's coming back for seven final episodes. Pause. You've probably seen all the media hype surrounding it. Pause. With fat guys and hot wives going out of vogue, we are a nation unsure of our next step.

• A real Weather Channel show: "Day Planner." Why not just send us some Ambien?

• Someone posted nine minutes and 41 seconds of all "The Sopranos" whackings, or so they say, and did it in chronological order. Kind of boring, actually, which proves that the show is so much more than the killings. Though seeing Tony and Ralph go at it again was chilling.

• Oh, we forgot another thing: Not interested in one thing Rosie or Elisabeth Hasselbeck has to say, not even "I saw Jesus" or "I have a 24-minute tape of the Kennedy assassination in color." Nothing. Other than Rosie should get a raise for giving "The View" more ink than it's ever had before.

• On the plus side, Bill Simmons, ESPN's Sports Guy, is not only going to keep writing but may also help the channel's TV side. Fine by us. The guy is not only funny and prolific, but maybe if he said, "Let's kill 'Around the Horn' immediately," somebody there would listen. God that show is awful.

• A real Weather Channel show: "The Climate Code." Oh, see, now you're just getting nutty. Climate codes! Yes! And to think we were pumped about "Storm Stories." That's nothing. We're gonna break "The Code," baby! A little "CC" and a beer. That's living.

• The Absurd Haiku: "Last time we did this/ We messed up the syllables/ 'King of Queens' is dead."

• Bring me the head of Ralphie.

• The High Fives: 1. Return of "The Sopranos." 2. "The Riches." 3. "The Tudors." 4. "This American Life" (on Public Radio International, by the way). 5. Discovery HD.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/04/04/DDGLTP09G91.DTL&type=printable

puckfreak

04-04-07, 03:08 PM

Question: Ratings and scheduling analyses, by both critics and viewers, often talk about the effect of pairing shows together (e.g., whether Studio 60 was/is a good show to follow Heroes). Is there any real evidence that such a scheduling symbiosis really exists? In this day and age of zillions of channels, multiple TV listing sources, DVDs and video recorders, I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who make TV viewing choices so passively, sitting stupefied in front of a TV set just waiting to see what comes next. It's not that hard to change a channel. It's not that hard to pick what you want to watch, regardless of what comes before or after, and it's not that hard to record a show no matter when it's on. Perhaps I'm being naive?— Tom

Matt Roush: The glut of TV is precisely why networks still have to think strategically about scheduling, even in a DVR universe (which hasn't spread to the entire viewing population, despite what you may have heard). First people have to find a show, and it helps if the newcomer airs in proximity to a hit and it isn't buried against behemoth competition. Eventually, once more people are on the other side of the DVR revolution, scheduling may matter less. But it's still a critical aspect of the network business, at least for now. And it's still a valid area for commentary to lament, for instance, when a network squanders a powerful lead-in like Grey's Anatomy on mediocrities like October Road or (come April 12) Notes from the Underbelly. People may not be wedded to watching every show in its actual time period — time-shifting has been a way of life since VCRs came into vogue — but to ignore the impact of scheduling is to be in the dark about why certain shows fail or succeed.

I've almost written this same question here on weekly basis, now I don't have to :)

Do those "in the know" agree or disagree with Matt's answer? I use the word answer loosely as to me it sounds like his response boils down to "that's just the way it is" with no real argument.

To me the idea of lead-in is laughable. Even if you take the DVR out of the equation, one thing that everyone does have is a remote control. Remotes make switching channels a breeze, and easily switching channels means I don't care what comes on before, or after things that I watch.

fredfa

04-04-07, 03:17 PM

The 2007-2008 Season
2007-08 pilots: High concepts, high costs, high risks
This pilot season, the stakes continue to rise for studios des
By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter April 4, 2007

Hell broke loose this pilot season with projects about purgatory dwellers sent back to Earth, the devil and his bounty hunter and zombies and vampires walking among us.

And that's just on the creative side.

For studios, producing a dozen to couple of dozen pilots within two months sure resembles going through the nine circles of hell -- from hiring a director to casting to setting up production, filming and editing and delivering the finished pilot on time to be screened by the network executives.

The stakes for production companies have gotten even higher during the past couple of years as the networks have been going for dramas with higher, more sophisticated production values and larger, more prominent casts and have been betting heavily on single-camera comedies.

All broadcast networks except Fox opted for comedy slates heavy on filmed comedies this year.

A single-camera comedy pilot is said to cost on average of more than $3 million, with the lowest-budget filmed comedies going for as much as the most expensive multicamera sitcoms. That is a big investment for the studios, especially when considering that none of the new single-camera comedies this season has made a serious dent in the ratings.

"Single-camera comedies are pretty risky for the studios, and the networks will have to step up and pitch in," 20th Century Fox Television president Gary Newman said. "On the drama side, costs are creeping up with heightened production value and the cast costs continuing to rise."

While observers note that production costs did not go up as sharply this pilot season as in the past couple of years, most agree that they are becoming more difficult to manage.

A drama pilot costs on average $4.5 million-$6.5 million to produce, with most hovering above the $5 million mark as networks push for featurelike production values in the wake of the success of such shows as "24," "Lost" and "Heroes." The number of scenes in a drama pilot has gone up substantially and is now as high as 80.

"It gets harder and harder," ABC TV Studio president Mark Pedowitz said.

But producing bigger, slicker shows has one financial upside for the studios.

"We're blessed to have the DVD and the international marketplace," Pedowitz said. "Globally, with quality shows like 'House' and '24,' American studios are moving back into primetime."

There isn't a "Lost"-size budget buster crossing the $10 million mark this season, but several pilots carry hefty price tags.

The budget for Fox's "Terminator"-themed "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is said to be in the $7 million-$8 million range. "Mrs. & Mrs. Smith," from the creative team behind the hit 2005 feature, including director Doug Liman, reportedly costs about $7.4 million. It's running neck and neck with NBC's "The Bionic Woman," a reimagination of the 1970s series. CBS' murder mystery musical "Viva Laughlin" is said to cost around $6.8 million, while ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money," which boasts a large ensemble cast led by Peter Krause, and another ensemble ABC drama pilot, the Bryan Singer-directed "Football Wives," are understood to come in at about $6.7 million.

"There has been a shift in the way viewers consume entertainment with the proliferation of new digital distribution systems," Warner Bros. TV president Peter Roth said. "The need to impress, to score a home run right off the bat, has increased geometrically."

To do that, the networks and studios are betting on big-name talent behind and in front of the camera, which creates a feeding frenzy and drives up the prices as the studios compete for the same pool of actors.

Krause, Paul Rudd, Michael Vartan, Simon Baker, Christina Applegate, Jordana Brewster and Lucy Liu all fielded multiple offers and -- with the exception of Rudd and Baker, who passed on all -- commanded top dollar for the projects they chose.

Behind the camera, the studios attracted such feature helmers as Singer, Lasse Hallstrom, Spike Lee, Guy Ritchie, Gabriele Muccino and Christopher Guest.

"There is a real belief and an excitement out there about working in television," said Jamie Erlicht, co-president of programming and production at Sony Pictures TV, which has Ritchie, Muccino and Guest directing pilots this season.

With top-level talent and big-scale production pushing the budgets up, the studios are trying to carefully manage their portfolios.

"At the beginning of the season, we talked to our writers and pushed them to be bold, but we're also trying to have a very balanced slate," 20th TV president Dana Walden said. "On the comedy side, we have some more conventional and some more adventurous half-hours."

The studio has been experimenting with the multicamera format on its successful CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother," which is not shot in front of a live audience to make room for several more sets on the soundstage. That allows for shorter scenes and more filming flexibility. 20th TV is applying that model to two of its multicamera pilots this season: "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office" at ABC and the untitled Victor Fresco project at Fox.

Meanwhile, WBTV -- the studio behind the top comedy on television, the multicamera "Two and a Half Men" -- went against the single-camera tide with only one filmed comedy pilot on its slate.

"For us, it's always been about the content, not the form," Roth said.

The struggle of this season's crop of single-camera entries and the midseason success of traditional sitcoms "Rules of Engagement" and "American Idol"-enhanced

" 'Til Death," both from Sony TV, is sure to boost the prospects of the now-cold multicamera format.

"The networks are re-examining their slates," Sony TV co-president programming Zack Van Amburg said. "Our success with 'Rules of Engagement' and ' 'Til Death' shows there's an appetite for four-camera comedy."

On the single-camera front, one way to contain costs is to film within a contained location like the ABC TV Studio-produced NBC comedy "Scrubs."

Or to do pilots the Jason Winer way. This development season, the writer-producer used a $150,000 script fee he received from 20th TV to shoot a full-length single-camera pilot, which is now in consideration at CBS along with the rest of the network's multimillion-dollar comedy pilots.

If handling big-budget productions is tough on the big studios, it is even tougher on the smaller players.

Regency Television, for instance, is fielding three high-profile pilots this season: "Smith"; the Hallstrom-directed drama "New Amsterdam" for Fox and Amy Sherman-Palladino's multicamera comedy for Fox "The Return of Jezebel James," which stars Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose.

Regency TV brass had been "really careful to take incredibly specific shots at things," company president Robin Schwartz said.

Still, "we had three projects, and each one took on a life of its own in terms of quality of the talent they attracted," she said. "I feel that every one of the shows deserves to have the full financial support as well as the focus and the attention of the studio."

While all studios are grappling with rising production costs, things are said to be worse for entities that are not vertically integrated.

"I think there is less financial struggle internally when the studio is owned (by the same company as the network)," NBC Universal TV Studio president Angela Bromstad said. "Many executive producers say they feel that, in a vertically integrated company, there is more money to do the shows -- which could be good and bad, depending on what you want your bottom line to be. Ultimately, it is good for the audience, as 'Heroes' proved, because the production value is there."

To break through the clutter, the networks went for pretty unusual concepts this season, including a comedy set at a home for the handicapped (NBC's "I'm With Stupid"), musical mystery ("Viva") and a show about partner-swapping in 1970s suburbia (CBS' "Swingtown").

"There was a tremendous openness to any and all ideas as the networks are looking for shows that can make noise and are easy to market," said David Stapf, president of CBS Paramount Network TV, which produces "Swingtown" and co-produces "Viva." "And while some concepts were pretty out there, at the core, they are relatable and accessible."

While high-concept comedies can score big, as proved by NBC's "The Office," the risk associated with them runs high.

" 'I'm With Stupid' will either be a huge success or a huge miss," Bromstad said. "There is no middle ground."

In the wake of the success of NBC drama "Heroes," which became an online hit long before its premiere, even at the pilot stage, some studios already are looking at potential digital extensions for their projects.

NBC Uni TV is looking to tie a "Lipstick Jungle's" character's job as a magazine editor to launching a real online magazine on NBC.com, and WBTV would re-create online the virtual database downloaded into the brain of the title character in NBC's "Chuck."

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