Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 2601

Nielsen Notes
PBS: Guys did watch 'Downton Abbey'
By Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Daily News - Mar. 28, 2012

Turns out dudes did watch "Downton Abbey."

We knew it all along, thanks to the guys who spoke with Daily News reporter Molly Eichel last month about what the hit "Masterpiece Theater" costume drama meant to them.

And now PBS finally has some numbers to back it up.

Ratings for "Downton's" Season 2 were up at least 100 percent among female and male 18- to 34-year-olds above the previous season's average for the "Masterpiece" series, the network reported Wednesday, citing Nielsen's finale ratings. (Viewership among women 18-34 was 278 percent above the "Masterpiece" average.) Among men 35-49, viewership was also 100 percent higher than the previous season's "Masterpiece" average, while among women of the same age, the increase was 173 percent.

When all the heads were counted - an increasingly complicated process in the age of the DVR - the season averaged 7 million viewers, some 2 million more than the first season and twice the 3.5 million "Masterpiece" averaged last season. (For perspective, Sunday's fifth-season premiere of "Mad Men," the most-watched episode of the series ever, averaged 3.5 million viewers in the preliminary Nielsens, a number likely to rise when the ratings that account for delayed viewing over the following seven days finally come in.)

Some other "Downton Abbey" stats:

- With an estimated cumulative audience of 17 million for the season, "Downton Abbey" "now ranks as the most-watched 'Masterpiece' miniseries on record," said PBS. (Trivia alert: Runner-up "The Buccaneers" had 14.9 million cumulative viewers in October 1995.)

- The Feb. 19 Season 2 finale averaged 8.1 million viewers, making it PBS' most-watched show since theSeptember 2009 premiere of Ken Burns' "National Parks" series.

- Online, episodes from Season 2 were were streamed 7.1 million times through PBS' and "Masterpiece's" sites and more than 12 million times across all platforms, said PBS, citing Google Analytics.

http://www.philly.com/philly/enterta...on_Abbey_.html

Technology Notes
Satellite broadband providers expand into rural areas
By Roger Yu, USA Today - Mar. 28, 2012

Cowboys need broadband, too.

Internet providers that beam broadband connections to rural America via satellites are expanding their services as the need for faster video and downloads is becoming universal.

ViaSat and HughesNet are launching new satellites that take up the slack of lagging landline-based services and promise to increase capacity and delivery speeds. "If there is broadband wireless or wired connection, that's going to win every time," says Chris Baugh, an industry analyst at research firm NSR. "But unserved customers (are) a sizable market."

The companies have traditionally marketed to non-urban regions too far out for cable and DSL providers. But rural satellite service has remained a limited slice of the business because DSL and cable companies have expanded. Costly pricing, data-consumption caps and slow transmission speeds have also limited their growth.

But with satellite technology improving, the companies are hoping to attract customers who receive slow DSL service — 15 million to 20 million, according to a ViaSat estimate — to consider switching.

But persuading this market to try satellite service will be a challenge, Baugh says. "There is a market there, but it's a secondary market. They have DSL and, if they are to switch, they have to buy satellite equipment. It's not free."

The satellite companies also face competition from wireless carriers that are rolling out faster 4G service that rivals landline broadband in speed.

•ViaSat. The California company bought WildBlue, a satellite broadband provider, in 2009 with plans to broaden coverage. But hampered by the old satellite's limited capacity and slow transmission speed, WildBlue's growth stalled at about 400,000 customers. "It wasn't a service we were proud of," says ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg.

With a new satellite launched last year, ViaSat began selling the new service in January under a new brand, "Exede." The download speed will increase to about 12 megabits per second from 1.5 mbps on the old service, Dankberg says. Pricing starts at $50 a month for 7.5 gigabytes, not including overage fees.

•HughesNet. The company will expand this summer with a new satellite that will increase the download speed by "at least three to five times" the current 1 mbps to 5 mbps, says the company's Mike Cook. Pricing hasn't been determined. It now charges $49 to $120 a month to 620,000 customers.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/st...and/53811668/1

TV Notes
A true survivor: 'Rules of Engagement'
The CBS sitcom, now in season six, is the No. 21 show on TV
By Louisa Ada Seltzer, Media Life Magazine - Mar. 29, 2012

Say what you will about the quality of CBS's "Rules of Engagement," which is not very high. It really doesn't matter. The show is a survivor.

The sixth-year sitcom returns tonight at 8:30 p.m. after several months off the schedule to allow CBS to test out the new comedy "Rob." And yet despite the long break "Rules" is still in contention for renewal for next fall.

"Rules'" strength is its ability to patch virtually any gap in CBS's schedule and deliver good ratings. Last fall when the new sitcom "How To Be a Gentleman" bombed, the network moved "Rules" into its plum timeslot, airing behind surging comedy "The Big Bang Theory."

"Rules" improved on "Gentleman's" disappointing numbers and averaged a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen, ranking 21st this season on broadcast, ahead of bigger-buzz shows like "Glee," "The Simpsons" and "The Office."

In fact it may be "Rules'" somewhat nondescript nature that allows it to placefill so seamlessly. It's about two couples, one old, one young, and their hapless single friend, David Spade, playing in a role similar to the one he originated years ago on "Just Shoot Me."

The actors, including TV veterans Spade, Megyn Price and Patrick Warburton, are familiar and likeable, and you don't have to tune in on a consistent basis to follow the plot. It's the same sort of predictable but comfortable humor that kept "According to Jim" on the air for years, and it may be more valuable than critical acclaim, which doesn't always merit renewals.

The odds on "Rules" returning next fall are favorable.

The network is rumored to be weighing adding an additional hour of comedy to its schedule, at a time when sitcoms are hot, and "Rules" has proven it can draw viewers whether paired with a top show or airing by itself, which strengthens its chances at renewal.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...ngagement-.asp

I can think of 2, the LA Coliseum, which is only marginally newer and in basically the same condition as it's namesake in Greece, and the Rose Bowl which was built at the same time in 1922. So both stadiums are 90 years, and look it with the Rose Bowl looking the nicest, and neither have the amenities that a prospective team would be looking for like luxury boxes, vending access, etc - unless it's changed in the last 30 years you have to literally walk outside the confines of the stadium to get a hot dog and a beer at the Coliseum.

That's been one of the major problems with bringing an NFL team back to LA, those parks are just not suitable for today's NFL team.

Can't think of a third one, Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium were both designed as baseball parks so they're unsuitable as well.

As far as tax payer funded, I'm with you on that 100%, but I think that's also another reason why there's no team in LA, the City is against that sort of funding. Al Davis ended up dealing with Irwindale back when he was looking for a new home, of course that never happened either.

WEDNESDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings -and what they mean- have been posted on Analyst Marc Berman's Media INsight's Blog

Nielsen Overnights (18-49)
'American Idol' boosts Fox to another win
Averages a 5.0 in 18-49s, bettering the other Big Four combined
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - Mar. 29, 2012

It was another quiet night for broadcast, with ABC and CBS airing mostly repeats, which meant little challenge to usually dominant Fox on the night.

Fox finished first for the evening with a 5.0 adults 18-49 rating and 14 share, according to Nielsen overnights, bettering the other Big Four networks combined.

Fox's "American Idol" was up very slightly versus last week, from a 4.9 to a 5.0, though it's still lagging well behind last year's numbers.

That was by far the highest-rated show of the night. The No. 2 show, CBS's "Survivor," averaged a 2.8, flat to last week.

But a good deal of the competition was repeats. ABC and CBS both aired only one original show.

With Fox well out ahead for the night, CBS finished second at 2.1/6. Univision was third at 1.4/4, ABC fourth at 1.3/4, NBC fifth at 1.0/3, CW sixth at 0.6/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.5/1.

As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, which includes shows replayed before 3 a.m. the night before. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Forty-three percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

At 8 p.m. Fox was first with a 4.8 for "Idol," followed by CBS with a 2.8 for "Survivor." NBC was third with a 1.4 for the season finales of "Whitney" (1.5) and "Are You There, Chelsea?" (1.2), Univision fourth with a 1.3 for "Una Familia con Suerte," ABC fifth with a 1.2 for repeats of "The Middle" and "Suburgatory," CW sixth with a 0.6 for "One Tree Hill" and Telemundo seventh with a 0.5 for "Una Maid en Manhattan."

Fox was first again at 9 p.m. with a 5.2 for more "Idol," while ABC moved to second with a 1.9 for a repeat of "Modern Family" (1.9) and a new "Happy Endings" (1.9, up 6 percent from last week). CBS was third with a 1.7 for a repeat of "Criminal Minds," Univision fourth with a 1.4 for "Abismo de Pasion," NBC fifth with a 0.9 for two episodes of "Bent," CW sixth with a season-high 0.7 for "America's Next Top Model" and Telemundo seventh with a 0.6 for "Corazon Valiente."

At 10 p.m. CBS led with a 1.7 for a "CSI" rerun, with Univision second with a 1.4 for "La Que No Podia Amar." ABC was third with a 0.9 for a repeat of "Missing," NBC fourth with a 0.8 for "Rock Center with Brian Williams" and Telemundo fifth with a 0.4 for "Relaciones Peligrosas."

Fox also finished first for the night among households with a 10.2 average overnight rating and a 17 share. CBS was second at 5.2/9, ABC third at 2.9/5, NBC fourth at 2.1/3, Univision fifth at 1.9/3, CW sixth at 0.9/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.7/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...nother-win.asp

So they've been engaged for six years now?

I know people that have been engaged longer than that.

For that matter, I've know people that took longer than that to get engaged, then several more years to finally get hitched...

Actually Angels Stadium (then Anaheim Stadium) was the home of the Rams for a few years (Wikipedia says 1980 thru 1994, after which they moved to St. Louis).

That was because neither LA nor Anaheim wanted to be involved in building them a new stadium, and those were the years the Raiders occupied the Coliseum - I had season tickets, 50 yard line 15 rows up . There is no proper, modern NFL-quality football stadium in Los Angeles, or even the surrounding areas.

Why would one switch from DSL to satellite when most DSL has either no cap or 150 GB cap and satellite has 7.5 GB a month cap. WTF can you do with 7.5 GB?

Hmmm...besides the Coliseum (built for the 1932 Olympics), I can't come up with the other two pro football stadiums in LA. Care to help? The baseball stadium in Anaheim once hosted an NFL team, but that's a baseball stadium, (you know - the big "A" for "Angels"), and it's not even in LA county.

The Rose Bowl stadium's sole purpose was to host the annual Rose Bowl college football game (until it became the UCLA Bruin's home field in the early '80s.) It has never been the home of an NFL team. It has, though, hosted five NFL Super Bowls. Yes it is old, but underwent some renovation last year and this year.

Yes, he said football stadiums, not pro football, so I included the Rose Bowl. And the Rose Bowl is a far nicer place than the Coliseum, no doubt about it!

TV Notes
'Bones' Renewed for 8th Season
By Tim Molloy, TheWrap.com - Mar. 29, 2012

Fox has picked up the procedural "Bones" for an eighth season that will include its milestone 150th episode, the network announced Thursday.

The drama, created by Hart Hanson and starring Emily Deschanel as forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan and David Boreanaz as FBI agent Seeley Booth, has been one of Fox's most consistent performers. Hanson correctly predicted at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in January that the show would be back for an eighth season.

He said at the time that the season would focus on Bones and Booth raising their child together now that they are finally a couple after several seasons of will-they-or-won't-they.

"We're all excited about it and have story ideas," Hanson said. "Putting Booth and Brennan together raising a child, as far as we're concerned, reinvigorated our series. I wouldn't want to try to figure out how to do another year of them not being together."

Fox president of entertainment Kevin Reilly said Thursday that the show has "redefined the traditional crime procedural with an irreverent and adventurous sensibility."

"I'm really happy to have this distinctive, fan-favorite on our schedule for another season, he said.

Far less certain was the future of the "Bones" spinoff "The Finder," which debuted this year to unimpressive ratings.

"Bones" returns with a new night and time on Monday, April 2, at 8 p.m., for the first of seven new episodes in a row.

Hanson, Stephen Nathan, Ian Toynton, Barry Josephson and Carla Kettner are executive producers.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/bo...h-season-36632

TV Notes
Death Watch 2012: Our fall TV survival predictions
By Lynette Rice and James Hibberd, EW.com's 'Inside TV' Blog - Mar. 29, 2012

The May upfronts are just around the corner! Death is nigh, my friends! Time to check the status of nearly all broadcast shows. Here’s what we’re hearing along with each show’s current adults 18-49 average rating:

FOX

Alcatraz: 3.4 rating. Status: Not hopeful: Monday’s finale was the lowest-rated episode for the season.

Allen Gregory: DEAD

American Dad: 2.8 rating. RENEWED.

American Idol: 6.7 Wednesdays, 6.2 rating Thursdays. Status: It’s now a full-on team sport to bag on the aging music competition, but this franchise ain’t going anywhere (yet). The bigger question is how much the judging panel will change next season.

Bones: 3.0 rating. RENEWED.

Breaking In: DEAD

Family Guy: 3.9 rating. Status: Absolutely.

Fringe: 1.7 rating. Status: We’ve been hearing Fringe was doomed — until this week. There’s renewed hope for a 13-episode “final season” pickup thanks to the modest performance of Alcatraz.

Glee: 3.8 rating. Status: Of course! We gotta see what happens next at McKinley High after some of its talented seniors graduate.

Hell’s Kitchen: 3.4 rating. Status: Sure, why not?

House: 3.5 rating. Status: The doctor is out!

Kitchen Nightmares: 1.7 rating. Status: Yawn. Isn’t it time for this kitchen to close already? Especially if Gordon Ramsay’s latest, Hotel Hell, breaks out.

Napoleon Dynamite: 2.8 rating. Status: Nah. We aren’t feeling it.

New Girl: 4.2 rating. Status: Oh course, the cutest gal on Fox is coming back for another season!

Raising Hope: 2.6 rating. Status: Not the greatest performer but the auspices are awesome, especially if Fox wants to continue to try and build a four-sitcom comedy block on Tuesdays. We predict another season.

The Cleveland Show: 2.0 rating. Status: Probably.

The Finder: 2.8 rating. Status: Any optimism is unfounded.

The Simpsons: 3.5 rating: RENEWED

The X-Factor: 4.4 rating. Status: RENEWED. (But who are the new hosts and remaining judges?)

I Hate My Teenage Daughter: 2.2 rating. Status: Yanked with two episodes still in the can. Not officially canceled, but Fox never officially canceled Moment of Truth either.

Terra Nova: 3.6 rating. Status: Canceled by Fox, cuerrently shopping for another home. We’re not holding our breath, especially since stars like Jason O’Mara have already booked other shows.

Touch: 3.3 rating. Status: Kiefer Sutherland returns in this drama from Heroes‘ creator Tim Kring. Solid ratings for last month’s preview episode, and Fox just gave it a prime berth after Idol.

ABC

Castle: 2.8 rating. Status: A 10 p.m. success on ABC? This crime drama favorite will return.

Modern Family: 6.1 rating. Status: Grabs ratings AND all the awards.

Body of Proof: 2.0 rating. Status: The show does well overseas so it’s too soon to count this drama out.

Charlie’s Angels: DEAD

Cougar Town: 1.8 rating, 4.9 million. Status: Those awesome winos tried hard, but we don’t expect the Alphabet bosses to show mercy after this season.

Dancing with the Stars: 3.6 rating. Status: Even hitting a series low for its recent premiere, ABC can’t live without its fringe.

Desperate Housewives: 3.5 rating. Status: Buh bye, ladies! Stay fab.

GCB: 2.4 rating. Status: This serialized drama about a group of shrewy women in Texas can’t improve upon its low-rated older sister, Desperate Housewives. We aren’t feeling positive about a second season, but it’s too early to say.

Grey’s Anatomy: 4.4 rating. Status: Certain contracts are up this season (here’s looking at you, Meredith and McDreamy) but we have no doubt Seattle Grace will be open for another season.

Happy Endings: 3.0 rating. Status: Young, hip, pulls a decent number. It’ll earn another season.

Last Man Standing: 2.8 rating. Status: Tough one. It’s hard to let a star like Tim Allen go, but these ratings aren’t exactly upstanding. Could be close.

Man Up!: DEAD

Missing: 2.1 rating. Status: Ashley Judd better find her son quick.

Once Upon a Time: 4.2 rating. Status: Since its the highest-rated new drama of the season, we expect ABC to say yes to more fantasy.

Pan Am: 2.3 rating, 6.9 million. Status: Not technically cancelled but don’t expect Pan Am to make a return trip.

Private Practice: 3.3 rating. Status: On the bubble for the first time, but our gut says it will stick around.

Revenge: 3.0 rating. Status: Strange that ABC hasn’t already rewarded this critical fave with a renewal. It would have hell to pay if it didn’t bring the Graysons back for more beachside fun.

Suburgatory: 2.8 rating. Status: Has been a pretty stable performer. Yes?

The Bachelor: 2.9 rating. Status: Nothing official, but its all but a fait accompli.

The Middle: 2.8 rating. Status: A self-starter. ABC will give the family another go.

The River: 2.3 rating. Status: Sure didn’t attract Paranormal Activity-like audiences (The supernatural thriller is from the maker of the colossally successful movie trilogy). Dead in the water.

Work It: DEAD

NBC

30 Rock: 2.2 rating. Status: We’re hearing a seventh and final season is likely for the critical darling.

Are You There, Chelsea?: 1.9 rating. Status: We suspect nobody at NBC is drunk enough to renew this show.

Awake: 2.1 rating. Status: Stronger than The Firm and Prime Suspect, but that’s not saying much. Jury’s still out.

Bent: .9 rating. Status: Four episodes have aired, two are left. We suspect those will be its last.

Chuck: 1.3 rating. Status: So long!

Community: 1.9 rating. Status: Critics and die-hard fans love it, but delivers a cable-sized audience. We expect a renewal anyway.

Grimm: 2.2 rating. RENEWED.

Fashion Star: 1.6 rating. Status: Feels like a Bravo-sized show like Project Runway.

Fear Factor: 2.8 rating. Status: What, you don’t want to see if someone may still drink donkey semen on national TV?

Free Agents: 1.5, 3.8 million. DEAD

Harry’s Law: 1.4 rating. Status: We don’t see how NBC can afford to bring this back, and it wouldn’t fit with Grimm on Fridays.

Law & Order: SVU: 2.3 rating. Status: A modestly solid crime drama that NBC can’t afford to lose right now.

Parenthood: 2.6 rating. Status: The congenial underdog. Feels likely to return, but really depends on how many new dramas NBC orders.

Parks & Recreation: 2.2 rating. Status: Such a phenomenally funny show. It deserves another season and will probably get it.

Playboy Club: 1.5, 4.9 million. DEAD.

Prime Suspect: 1.7, 6.1 million. DEAD.

The Apprentice: 2.4 rating. Status: Celebrity versions do fine; we think another one will come down the pipeline.

The Firm: 1.2 rating. Status: Never should have been made into a series.

The Biggest Loser: 2.5 rating. Status: Feels tired, but it’s a solid player and relatively cheap to keep in the hopper.

The Office: 3.5 rating. Status: It’s NBC’s highest-rated scripted show. So, yes — even with actors exiting and the showrunner stepping down.

Rock Center With Brian Williams: 1.1 rating, 4.5 million. Status: Stick with your day job, Brian.

The Sing-Off: 1.8 rating. Status: Better suited for summer. Seems unlikely it will show up next fall.

Smash: 3.4 rating. RENEWED

The Voice: 7.4 rating. Status: Though nothing is official, negotiations are well underway over a third season and deciding which judges will make a triumphant return.

Up All Night: 2.4 rating. Status: Of all of the new NBC comedies, we think this one is most likely to return next season.

Whitney: 2.2 rating. Status: Nosedived after being moved to Wednesdays. Girl, you’re done.

THE CW

Secret Circle: 1.0 rating. Status: It fits nice with The Vampire Diaries … aside from losing a big bite of it’s audience. Probably returning, though might move to Friday.

Gossip Girl: .8 rating. Status: Not doing well, but this show is CW royalty. We predict a final season order.

90210: .9 rating. Status: Seems like a sure thing.

One Tree Hill: .9 rating. Status: Say goodbye to the kids!

Ringer: 0.8 rating, 1.8 million. Status: Not twinning. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s drama will likely get slayed.

Supernatural: .9 rating. Status: We think fans will be pleased.

The Vampire Diaries: 1.3 rating. Status: CW’s buzziest show and highest-rated series? Hell yes.

Hart of Dixie: 0.8 rating, 1.9 million. Status: Feels more on-brand, and more likely to survive, than Ringer.

America’s Top Model: RENEWED.

Nikita: 0.6 rating. Status: James say no, Lynette is thinking yes.

CBS

A Gifted Man: 1.4 rating. Status: So long, Patrick Wilson: We only hope there’s time for you to book another show for fall.

CSI: NY: 2.0 rating, and CSI: Miami: 2.5 rating. Status: We predict Gary Sinise and company says goodbye this spring, followed by David Caruso next year. CSI the mother ship was just renewed for another season, thanks to a great performance by newbie Elisabeth Shue.

Criminal Minds: 3.9 rating. RENEWED.

Hawaii 5-0: 3.5 rating. RENEWED.

How I Met Your Mother: 4.4 rating. RENEWED.

How to be a Gentleman DEAD.

Mike & Molly: 4.0 rating. RENEWED.

NCIS: 4.2 rating. RENEWED.

NCIS: LA: 3.7 rating. RENEWED.

Person of Interest: 3.3 rating. RENEWED.

Rob: 3.7 rating: Status: Did pretty well, but CBS expects big numbers from a show with a Big Bang lead-in. Might go down to the wire.

Rules of Engagement: 3.4 rating. Status: Still in flux. CBS likes this show to patch a hole when new comedies drop out.

Survivor: 3.4 rating. RENEWED.

The Amazing Race: 3.3 rating. RENEWED

The Big Bang Theory: 5.7 rating. RENEWED.

The Good Wife: 2.5 rating. RENEWED. Yey!

The Mentalist: 3.2 rating. RENEWED.

2 Broke Girls: 4.7 rating. RENEWED.

Two and A Half Men: 5.6 rating. Status: The future of the aging comedy is uncertain, because CBS doesn’t have a new deal with Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer. So we still don’t know for sure whether Kutcher will return. (But he’d be a fool not to, right?)

Undercover Boss: 2.7 rating. RENEWED.

Unforgettable: 2.6 rating. Status: The Poppy Montgomery drama performs fairly well without anybody saying a word about it, which makes us think it’s got a decent shot.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/03/29/sh...elled-fall-tv/

1. There are two large football-appropriate stadiums in Los Angeles County: the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl. As others have stated today, the Coliseum is old (but USC is going to renovate in the next couple of years after assuming title) and the Rose Bowl is undergoing renovation. Anaheim Stadium was a football stadium from ~1980 through the late '90s and was--THANKFULLY--re-made into an excellent baseball venue and is now called Angels Stadium. Of course, there's the still good, beautiful (and one of the top 5 MLB stadiums, IMO) Dodger Stadium.

2. Yes, there are plans for two new football stadiums: one downtown Los Angeles and one about 18 miles east of downtown. Only ONE will be built--probably the one downtown and will be sponsored by Farmers' Insurance, hence, "Farmers' Field" as part of a new convention complex. My guess is that the Rams will return home to downtown in the next several years and will call Farmers' Field home.

NOTE: NO PROPOSAL FOR A TAXPAYER-FINANCED FB STADIUM WILL FLY IN CALI. ZERO CHANCE. We Calis are dumb insofar as some things go--but we're far smarter than the NFL and the ruses the league uses to extort $$$ so unbelievably successfully from taxpayers in other states. That's why there's no team in Los Angeles as of now.

NOTE TWO: Farmers' Field WILL NOT BE TAXPAYER funded. Period.

Hope that clarifies.

TV Notes
FX's Anger Management' To Be Rated TV-14, Charlie Sheen Rested, Fit & Hungry
By Nellie Andreeva and David Lieberman, Deadline.com - Mar. 29, 2012

The upcoming Charlie Sheen comedy series Anger Management was understandably a focal point at FX's upfront event in New York today. Despite some of Sheen's X-Rated off-screen antics and the racy content on most of FX's other comedy series, including Louie and Wilfred, Anger Management will carry the family-friendly TV-14 rating, same as Sheen's previous series, Two And A Half Men (as well as another hit series, The Big Bang Theory). That is understandable as the series is done under Debmar-Mercury's 10-90 model whose success is tied to selling the show in broadcast syndication, something hard to do with the restrictive TV-MA rating.

FX didn't show footage from Anger Management, which is a week into production (Sheen offered first-glimpse images on Today this morning), but showed a video with Sheen who told advertisers, I'm rested, fit and hungry. During the presentation, FX President Jon Landgraf also touted the network's Cold War drama pilot The Americans starring Keri Russell. He noted that FX finished 2011 up in adults 18-49 while its main competitors USA, TNT and TBS were down. He projected one of the strongest upfront in years, up 11-12%.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/fxs-...ed-fit-hungry/

TV Sports
Jim Rome makes splash on eve of new show's debut
By Michael Hiestand, USA Today - Mar. 30, 2012

Back in 1994, Apple stock traded for less than $30, Mitt Romney had lost his only race for public office by a 17% margin and Jim Rome was best known for provoking NFL quarterback Jim Everett to physically attack him on TV for calling him "Chris" Evert.

You never know. Now Rome, with a taped joint interview of rival coaches John Calipari of Kentucky and Rick Pitino of Louisville, appears Saturday on CBS' Final Four, which might trail only NBC's Olympics and CBS' annual homage to the Masters as TV sports that truly dotes on the event it covers.

Rome's weekday talk show, ROME, debuts Tuesday (6 p.m. ET) in a CBS rollout that includes Showtime shows. "My brand — ranting, not pulling punches — hasn't changed," he said. "But the challenge now is that it's such a battle to be seen and heard these days."

Or for Rome, or other on-air interviewers, to get anybody to say much. "Guys are less and less inclined to say things. They're more careful. The stakes are much higher," he said. "The second something's said, it's viral. People want to protect their brand."

That can be boring to watch. So rather than having regular interviews like on his old ESPN2 show, Rome's Los Angeles area-based ROME will sometimes bring on bloggers — "No need to throw out an interview just to suck up five minutes each day" — who'll presumably have more to gain by trying to grab attention.

(Funny if one somehow taunted Rome into, a la Everett, flipping over a table.)

But TV's loss is Twitter's gain. "Athletes say things on Twitter they'd never say in interviews," Rome said. "Guys are reckless. Twitter is like a loaded gun. Some guys haven't been trained to use the gun."

ROME will reach CBSSN's 45 million households while his old show reached ESPN2's 99 million. But Rome says ROME is "leaner and meaner, slicker and quicker. That sounds like buzzwords. But it really is the 2.0 version."

No bold predictions for Francona

So Terry Francona, how are the Red Sox going to do this year?

"That's not fair," says Francona. "That's where I have to be careful. When I talk about the Red Sox, I have to dot my I's and cross my T's. But regardless who the manager is, they have great players and always have a chance to win."
Francona will likely be a bit more specific next week as he Wednesday debuts as a lead ESPNMLB analyst and calls four games in five days — including Boston-Detroit Thursday (7 p.m. ET).

Although there's long been a revolving door between coaching and TV, Francona has one of the odder situations. After managing Boston through a historic meltdown last season that drew national rubbernecking, he subbed for a medically-sidelined Tim McCarver on two Fox playoff games — "when Joe Buck called for that I thought he was nuts" — which led to replacing Bobby Valentine at ESPN. And Valentine replacing him in Boston's dugout. The pair haven't chatted though: "Bobby doesn't need my opinion. He's managed longer than me."

Francona, who's been candid about wanting to someday return to managing, didn't go to spring training with a team for the first time since college. "That was a big deal. If I didn't miss it, there'd be something wrong with me. But it was healthy to step down. And it's how I'm wired to jump in with both feet.…I have no interest in being bored."

After calling ESPN's marquee Sunday night games, Francona will spend Mondays at ESPN popping up all over on-air. For that studio yak, he might need to brush up on how to making over-the-top arguments and out-on-a-limb bluster.

Consider all Francona will predict about the MLB season: "You can have fun with predictions. But whoever's pitching staff stays healthy the longest, that's who's going to win — and nobody knows now." With some catchphrases thrown in, that might work.

Around the dial

This recent Bloomberg story had a catchy headline: "News Corp. said to Plan U.S. Sports Network to Rival ESPN." But that's sort of like saying, "New Cream Soda Brand to Aims at Coke and Pepsi."

That Fox might convert its Speed channel, now focused motor sports and in 82 million households, to general sports network would simply create another Lilliputian to tie down the Gulliver-like ESPN. (Google Gulliver if you don't know him — he has it goin' on! ) With channels already for MLB, NBA, NFL, golf, tennis, soccer, college sports and bocci ball — check that, no bocci channel has debuted yet— ESPN's problem isn't a possible mano-a-mano slugfest. It's death by 1,000 cuts.

ESPN isn't impregnable. Round-the-clock, it last month averaged 1.03 million viewers while ESPN2 averaged 295,000. But the nippers that surround it — like NBC Sports Network, which averaged about 64,000 viewers in the first quarter — could become a lynch mob.

But ESPN hasn't been sleeping. It's locked up the cable TV rights to various marquee events in long-term deals. Best bet if Fox re-launches Speed as a all-around sports channel: Grab cable MLB cable TV rights, whose current deals end after the 2013 season.

Spice rack: CBS put Kentucky-Louisville in the earlier — thus weaker — Final Four Saturday game in what CBS Sports' Sean McManus says was "a really close call" to put Kansas-Ohio State in the later marquee slot. But while a game with two schools from one state isn't great and, as McManus notes, "the Midwest brings an enormous amount of viewers to the TV set."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colum...ona/53873192/1

OK, but he did signal out the NFL in his statement.

If we are going to include college stadiums, why stop with the Rose Bowl? What qualifying criteria are we using here?

You mean Erik Kripke is coming back and Jim Beaver gets resurrected to stop the show meandering to a stale death?

No, thought not.

^^^ You mean fan won't be pleased that a show that was meant to run six seasons at most will now enter its eight season? Do tell!

WARNING: Spoilers for the 1st season (and minor one's for the 2nd season) in this review.

TV Review
'Game of Thrones' Season 2: A Bigger, Better, Bolder Journey Through Westeros
By Maureen Ryan, HuffingtonPost.com - Mar. 28, 2012

"Game of Thrones" (9 p.m. E.T. Sunday, HBO) is back, and it's better than ever.

The first half of "Game of Thrones'" debut season wasn't a particularly graceful experience. There's no doubt that the team adapting George R.R. Martin's compelling novels about knights, dragons and a land convulsed by rebellion faced an incredibly difficult challenge in boiling down a 700-page novel into 10 hours of television. Despite a first-rate cast and palpably respectful intentions, the first few hours of Season 1 contained quite a few rough spots, awkward transitions and clunky passages.

It's gratifying to be able to say that the first four hours of Season 2 of "Game of Thrones" are far more elegant and engaging. It helps that most of the characters are already established, but there's more to it than that; the confidence and dexterity that were on display in the second half of Season 1 are even more in evidence in Season 2. The show occasionally felt weighted down by expectations in its first season, but it demonstrates a lighter touch this year; there's a particularly amusing sequence in Episode 3 involving Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) that is both dramatically effective and comedically pleasing. It's a sign of the show's maturation that it can have a little fun with its narrative style even as it continues to take the characters and their ever more complicated world seriously.

The increased assurance and momentum are gratifying, but the show's spectacular visuals are even more rewarding on an eye-candy level. The "Game of Thrones" location scouts, set-builders and directors have really outdone themselves this time, but there's a lived-in quality to the settings that make the action that happens in them seem real and even relatable at times. The barren hall in Pyke helps inform the personality of the irascible Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide), one of many warring lords in the land of Westeros, and Dragonstone, the spectacularly forbidding castle of Stannis Baratheon, is as hard and well-hewn as the man himself. There was a rather disappointing jousting set piece in Season 1, but this year, the outdoor scenes are suitably crowded and filled with exuberant detail, and the depiction of the desert exile of royal princess Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is terrifyingly dry and desolate.

This is a tale that demands mastery of epic locations and sweeping themes, but those themes play out on a very personal and granular level: Arya Stark of the noble House Stark is now on the run and in fear for her life, and spends her life clad as a boy, hiding in muddy forests. Tyrion Lannister (Emmy winner Peter Dinklage) has gone from being the reject of the wealthy Lannister clan to serving as the powerful Hand (or chief advisor) to King Joffrey, his bratty (if not sociopathic) nephew. Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), formerly the foster brother/hostage of the Stark clan, is torn between allegiance to his father and loyalty to his adopted brother, Robb Stark (Richard Madden), one of several newly crowned kings vying for power.

Given that the second season is also only 10 hours long, the show doesn't have a ton of time to outline these conflicting alliances or establish new characters, but the actors who've been cast in key Season 2 roles have little trouble making an impression. Stephen Dillane is chillingly charismatic as Stannis Baratheon, one of several men contending for the throne of Westeros. Carice van Houton makes a wise choice as his spiritual advisor, Melisandre; she underplays what could be a melodramatic character, and lets her considerable presence weave an enigmatic spell around her.

Even though I'm a fan of Martin's novels, I must confess that I always found the Stannis retainer Davos Seaworth fairly bland and boring, but Liam Cunningham, like Emilia Clarke, ably brings to life a character who could seem rather remote on the page. Several other smaller roles have been filled with lively specificity, but I have to wonder if we'll get enough time with each of these people. Will the plight of Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), a stoic warrior who nurtures an unrequited love for royal contender Renly Baratheon, be as sadly evocative as it was in the books? Will there be time for the show to do more than lightly sketch the dilemmas of minor but interesting characters like her?

And that's the challenge of this epic: Despite the great leaps forward in quality and confidence, the degree of difficulty remains high. Each novel in Martin's projected seven-novel series adds characters, locations and relationships, and the question hanging over Season 2 is the same one that hangs over the TV endeavor as a whole: Can it convey Martin's themes about the perils of loyalty and love in a changing world and take us deep inside the characters' emotional dilemmas without quite literally losing the plot?

It's a tall order; there may not be a taller one in all of TV at the moment. "Game of Thrones" has a lot of material to condense and synthesize, and speaking for myself, I care more about the characters than absolute fidelity to the story. But there is good news: The storytelling by executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and their writing staff is increasingly assured and judicious; the first-rate cast continues to mine the full depth of the material; and the show itself is visually commanding, especially in the hands of Alan Taylor, who directed the first two episodes of the season.

Martin's books take what could be generic ideas about morality and honor and make them compelling through very specific and individual dilemmas and concerns. There are wars, love affairs, surprising reversals and a persistent, powerful but unpredictable magic that continually asserts itself at key moments. Through it all, knotty questions are constantly asked of kings, servants, mercenaries and outcasts: At what point do you draw a line and assert that someone else's actions are wrong? When do you risk everything you have to fight what you've decided is evil? How do you even decide what evil is? What ideas and relationships are worth fighting for, and when is discretion the better part of valor?

There are no easy answers, but as it gains mastery in its depiction of Martin's complex and compassionate saga, "Game of Thrones" is doing an increasingly satisfying job of exploring those questions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mauree...f=maureen-ryan

Technology Notes
Verizon Could Launch Wireless Video Offer by Year-End
By Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter - Mar. 30, 2012

Verizon Communications could launch a wireless video service that allows pay TV subscribers to watch select content on mobile devices by the end of the year if regulators greenlight a proposed deal with cable operators, CEO Lowell McAdam told the Wall Street Journal.

While subscribers of some cable firms can already watch some networks via mobile devices inside their home, cable players typically have no or fewer rights to provide video content outside of homes, the paper highlighted.

An integrated wireless content service could be offered to subscribers of Verizon Wireless, Verizon's FiOS TV service and its cable partners Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications, which have agreed to sell the telecom giant wireless spectrum for $3.9 billion. Verizon is hoping to get regulatory approval from the FCC and the Department of Justice, but rivals and other critics have called the proposed deal anti-competitive.

McAdam signaled an interest in offering a la carte programming, which lets users pick and choose content they want to buy instead of charging them for the traditional bundles of pay TV channels.
"Most content providers realize that the number of channels and the layout that you have within your home may not be appropriate for the mobile environment, and those discussions are just beginning now," McAdam told the Journal. Some content companies "have come to us and have said, 'we are willing to do an a la carte approach here'," he added.

Large entertainment companies have generally opposed a la carte offers as they want to get as many of their networks carried and paid for.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...a-carte-306314

TV Notes
Mireille Enos says her detective's quest provides a rich journey in The Killing's' new season
By David Hinckley, New York Daily News - Mar. 30, 2012

Don't count the lead detective in the Rosie Larsen murder case among those who are angry that the perp will take another season to apprehend.

Mireille Enos, who plays Detective Sarah Linden on AMC's dark murder serial The Killing, says she would respectfully disagree with critics and fans who were livid when Rosie's murder wasn't resolved in the show's first season.

I don't want to belittle anyone's opinion, says Enos. But there's so much more story to be told. I think sometimes people look for something to be angry about.

AMC has promised the mystery will be resolved by the end of the second season, which launches at 8 p.m. Sunday.

That resolution won't necessarily be clean and bright. This much, however, is certain: Prowling the center of it will be Sarah Linden, who even in TV's crowded pantheon of damaged cops stands out.

For starters, she's curt and rude to everyone, including colleagues and sometimes even crime victims.

She has great detective skills and lousy people skills, which she knows. When the show began, she was about to move to California with her boyfriend and finally try to give herself and her teenage son a stable home.

Then she happened to catch the murder of Rosie Larsen, and now, day after day, she plunges into the Seattle rain, looking for the money clue she knows is out there.

She's a gambler who's lost and lost and now can't leave the table, says Enos. Her relationship with her boyfriend is almost shot, her relationship with her son is strained, and she's lost her place to live.

I think she's keeping tally, and that there's no way she will allow all that to define her life. She's convinced that if she can solve this case, it will make everything better.

Will it? Well, maybe, and Enos says that uncertainty stretches down the road.

We plant seeds this season that I think could easily carry the show into a third season after Rosie's murder is resolved, she says, though that's still an open question.

She's also concerned beyond that.

My fear is that in 30 or 40 years, Sarah might just be alone. My hope is that she could make the changes that could make her life more comfortable.

Meanwhile, she's fun to play.

I knew from the pilot script she was fascinating, Enos says. Even her flaws. Playing her is very liberating because it gives you permission to be someone different, someone who doesn't care if you like them.

Also, makeup is a snap because Sarah doesn't care how she looks.

I can get ready in no time, says Enos. It's nice to play a character who has no beauty requirements.

What she does have to do, however, is turn her Sarah off at the end of the workday.

When the shooting is finished, I'm Mommy to my 18-month-old daughter, she says, laughing. And there's no way I'm going to bring Sarah's parenting skills home.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...icle-1.1052911

TV Review
'Magic City,' lots of glitter, little gold
Starz drama recreates a romantic era in the manner of 'Mad Men'
By Tom Conroy, Media Life Magazine - Mar. 30, 2012

TV moves slower than one might expect. "Mad Men" broke out five years ago, but we're still seeing new shows that were inspired by its success or, at least, that wouldn't have been scheduled without it.

The most recent latecomer is Starz's "Magic City," which, like ABC's "Pan Am" and NBC's "Playboy Club," is set in post-Korea, pre-Tet Offensive America, which TV creators are currently pushing as our country's golden age. The show is beautifully produced and well acted, but the scripts fall short. And the potential of the era for either nostalgia or dramatic irony has been played out. Though the glitz and melodrama will keep us diverted, the show doesn't deliver on its ambitions.

Premiering Friday, April 6, at 10 p.m. (with a sneak preview tonight at 11 p.m.), "Magic City" stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, best known as Izzy's tragic love interest on "Grey's Anatomy," as Ike Evans, the principal owner and manager of the hottest hotel on Miami Beach. As if to prove that, Frank Sinatra is performing there on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 1958.

As fans of "The Godfather: Part II" know, that same night Castro's troops will be marching on Havana. The allusion to the Cuban revolution isn't gratuitous: The wife of Ike's No. 2, Victor Lazaro (Yul Vazquez), may be stranded down in Cuba. And Ike's silent partner, the mob boss Ben Diamond (Danny Huston), will lose the revenue from his Cuban casinos, a reason to put the screws to Ike. Ike, meanwhile, may need Ben's help ending a labor dispute that threatens Sinatra's performance.

Not only is "Magic City" no "Mad Men"; it's definitely no "Godfather: Part II," a comparison that viewers wouldn't have made without the mentions of Castro and Battista. In the three episodes that were made available for review, we wait in vain for a scene that has real dramatic resonance. We might sympathize with Ike's business struggles and personal issues, but they aren't as eerily poignant as Don Draper's nor as profound as Michael Corleone's.

Unlike both "Mad Men" and the "Godfather" movies, "Magic City" is nearly humor-free. The easy jokes about the era's excessive smoking and drinking have already been made. The frequent scenes of tanning lead us to expect someone to say something ironic based on people's ignorance of skin cancer, but the writers show admirable restraint. Still, a show that's this solemn should feel more substantial.

The subplots are soapy or forgettable. Ike's two grown sons, who both work in the hotel, have love interests. Danny (Christian Cooke), a dutiful law student, is carrying on a tepid romance with Victor's daughter Mercedes (Dominik Garcia-Lorido), a chambermaid in the hotel. Although Ike is Jewish, this romance has no element of forbidden love, since both of Ike's wives were, as he says, shiksas.

Ike's other son, Stevie (Steven Strait), a swingin' playboy, meets a femme fatale named Lily (Jessica Marais) in a way that even the script admits is implausible. An exhibitionist to a degree that seems anachronistic, Lily provides much of the series' copious female nudity. We have to assume that Stevie is upset when he learns exactly how inappropriate his new lover is, because the actor reacts to both good news and bad with the same quizzical stare.

At first we think that Stevie has a thing for his beautiful young stepmother, Vera (Olga Kurylenko), but Olga's plotlines are mainly driven by her desire to prove that she can be a good Jewish wife. Too much time is spent on discussions of whether Ike's father, Arthur (Alex Rocco, another presence redolent of "The Godfather"), will attend the bas mitzvah of his granddaughter, Lauren (Taylor Blackwell).

When Ike discerns a possible way out from under Ben's thumb, it's more complicated than intriguing.

On the plus side, the midcentury-moderne look of the sets, and the physical beauty of the cast, pleases the eye even when the show isn't engaging the brain or the heart.

Unfortunately, so far "Magic City" is a pretty package with not that much inside.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...ittle-gold.asp

Technology Notes
Google Heightens Rivalry With iPad
By Amir Efrati, Wall Street Journal - Mar. 30, 2012

Google Inc., undaunted by a short-lived attempt to market and sell smartphones on its own, is now trying the approach with tablet computers in a quest to capture market share from Apple Inc.'s iPad.

The Internet search company will sell co-branded tablets directly to consumers through an online store like rivals Apple and Amazon.com Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The move is an effort to turn around sluggish sales of tablet computers powered by Google's Android software

Google went this route with Android-powered smartphones in 2010 when it offered a device called the Nexus One made by HTC Corp. But the effort was scrapped after several months amid better sales of other Android-powered smartphones.

Like the Nexus One, some future Android tablets are expected to be co-branded with Google's name, said people familiar with the matter. The company is expected to sell devices from a variety of manufacturers. Google won't make the devices and its existing partners such as Samsung Electronics Co. and AsusTeK Computer Inc. will be responsible for the hardware, these people said.

One co-branded tablet that may be sold in the online store is due to be released later this year by Taiwan-based Asus, said one of these people.

Details of the project remain unclear, including when Google plans to unveil the online store. Google is expected to release the next version of its Android software, called Jelly Bean, in the middle of this year, people familiar with the matter have said.

Google will soon manufacture its own tablets, due to its pending $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which has been approved in the U.S. and in Europe and is awaiting approval by Chinese authorities. People familiar with the Google's plans said Motorola tablets are expected to be offered in the online store.

A Google spokesman declined to comment, as did an Asus spokeswoman.

By selling tablets directly to consumers, Google is upping the ante against Apple, which debuted its market-leading iPad two years ago. Android-based tablets made by Samsung and others have been slow sellers by comparison. Last fall research firm Gartner estimated Apple would capture 73% of the tablet market versus 17% for Android.

Google also faces competition from Amazon.com, which last year jumped into tablets with its $199 Kindle Fire, in a move to scoop up the less-expensive side of the market.

Google is seeking to increase adoption of its Android software so that its search, maps and other serviceswhich generate the vast majority of its mobile revenue through the sale of adsbecome mainstays in the mobile-device world.

While that revenue is small compared to PC-based ad sales, it's a fast-growing category for Google, and tablets can command better ad prices than smartphones. Google Chief Executive Larry Page said last fall the company was on pace to generate more than $2.5 billion in revenue from mobile devices, largely through selling online ads on smartphones.

Google believes the current model for selling tablets is broken, said people familiar with its strategy. Google has watched as wireless carriers, who helped Android become the No. 1 mobile operating system for smartphones, have struggled to replicate that success with tablets.

While some wireless industry executives said Google's Nexus One smartphone effort was a failure, Google Android chief Andy Rubin said previously that the company sold more than 100,000 of these phones in three months and "broke even" on its investment.

Mr. Rubin said Google stopped the effort because other new Android-powered phones were on par with or better than the Nexus One. Google also couldn't figure out how to sell the Nexus One online on a global scale, he said, and its resources would be wasted in trying to line up wireless carriers in foreign countries to sell plans for the phone.

This time, however, Google won't have to worry about pairing with wireless carriers because tablets are primarily used with WiFi connections in people's homes.

To boost the prospects of its new online tablet store, Google was considering subsidizing the cost of future tablets in order to compete on pricing with Amazon's Kindle Fire, said one person with knowledge of the effort.

In addition, Google will lend huge marketing support to the online tablet store, said people familiar with the effort. Since the Nexus One experiment, Google has honed its mass-marketing skills, spending heavily on TV ads and other marketing to promote services other than its Web-search engine.

The first tablet running Android software optimized for tablets, Motorola's Xoom, went on sale in February 2011, nearly 11 months after the first iPad arrived. Motorola has said it sold about one million Xoom tablets in 2011, below its expectations. Several other Android-powered tablets, including two versions of Dell Inc.'s Streak tablets, have been discontinued.

Other manufacturers have noted the disappointing results. "Honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market," Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive for Samsung, said at the Mobile World Congress conference earlier this year.

Physical stores will still remain an important sales channel for Google.

Some U.S. retailers are anxious for an Apple rival to emerge in the market, said people familiar with the matter. Some retailers that sell iPads have chafed under Apple's rules that require stores to promote its products more prominently, these people said, and the retailers generate less revenue per sale of Apple products versus other electronic devices.

Google has taken other steps to be a consumer electronics brand. The company is directly overseeing the manufacturing of a Google-branded music and video streaming device, to be used in people's homes, which it is expected to sell to consumers later this year, people familiar with the matter have said. It is unclear whether Google will offer the device as part of its new online store.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...639469540.html

As a little boy, the Theme from Zorro was the first 45 record I ever bought. Cost something like 99 cents that I earned from my paper route.

For you youngsters, a 45 is a 45 RPM vinyl record that contained one song per side. A paper route was where a young boy (usually on a bicycle) delivered a full size hard-copy newspaper (a publication that contained a variety of news and life stories, want ads, and comics, etc.) to subscribers' homes, kind of like the way the internet delivers a variety blogs and websites to your computer, tablet, pad, or smart phone.