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TV Notes
Prime-Time Stern
By Bill Carter, The New York Times - May 10, 2012


Howard Stern joins NBC’s “America’s
Got Talent” as a judge this season.
(Photo: Mark Seliger/NBC)

If anyone has a right to feel on top of the world, it’s Howard Stern — especially inside his elegant, cumulus-high apartment on the West Side of Manhattan, dominated by a solariumlike living room with views on one side extending far up the Hudson and the other encompassing the entire bucolic breadth of Central Park.

This is the aerie of a hugely successful man, which certainly describes Mr. Stern. Six years ago he cashed in decades of radio notoriety when he moved to the satellite-radio service Sirius (now Sirius XM) in one of the most lucrative deals in the history of show business, with an estimated worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

But when Mr. Stern says, “I feel blessed, I really feel fulfilled,” he’s talking about the sum of his career, not his salary.

And the reason he is talking about it at the moment is because his career has taken yet another turn, one he acknowledges he never expected.

“I had decided to slow down,” said Mr. Stern, who is 58, relaxing in that Imax-size living room on a couch long enough to contain his 6-foot-5-inch frame. His 10-year-old English bulldog, Bianca, a constant and beloved companion, was by his side. (Beth Ostrosky, his second wife, was out at the moment.) “I was going to semiretire. I was doing three days on the radio a week, and that was enough for me. I was trying to get into photography — like a retired guy.”

Instead, as billboards all over the city and promotions all over NBC are proclaiming, Mr. Stern has embarked on another high-profile, high-wire adventure, joining the most popular summer series on television, “America’s Got Talent,” as its latest judge.

There’s a certain incongruity in the move, as Mr. Stern realizes. “Me going on a family-friendly show?” he asked. (“America’s Got Talent,” a celebration of acts from singers to clowns to acrobats to much farther afield, definitely fits that description.) “I’m not crazy. I know there’s a huge population out there that thinks I’m going to come on and ruin the show.”

As if on cue, protests from organizations like the Parents Television Council (a longtime nemesis) started even before he officially joined the show. The council issued a statement suggesting the move would result in “the alienation of millions of families, and with it the alienation of tens of millions of advertising dollars,” and last week sent a letter to 91 NBC advertisers urging a formal boycott of the show.

Mr. Stern has never really been fazed by organized opposition to his raw and rude comedy, which has been labeled everything from shocking and offensive to outrageous and groundbreaking. But this is a different time and, in many ways, a different Howard Stern.

“It would be really pathetic if I was still in the same space as when I was 20 or 30, when I felt threatened by everyone, and there was no room for anyone else on the radio,” he said. “I’ve come to appreciate other people’s talents.”

That would include competitors Mr. Stern once eviscerated. “I’ve actually apologized to some people I was a real jerk to, because I feel ashamed,” he said. “I didn’t need to be that hungry. There was something going on inside me when I was angry and feeling very threatened and not feeling good about myself.”

Even so, he conceded having “a lot of trepidation” about joining “America’s Got Talent” (though he noted that he has often appeared on network television, on programs like “Late Show With David Letterman,” and within the bounds of propriety). “This is a show that’s already successful,” Mr. Stern said. “I’ve never come into anything successful before. I’ve always been hired by horrible radio stations with horrendous reputations and nothing to lose.”

So given semiretirement and his trepidation, why make this move now?

Simple, Mr. Stern said: “I love the show.” He said he has been watching most of the network talent-competition shows avidly for years: “I’m fascinated by the whole judging thing. I would talk about this stuff regularly on my show.”

NBC executives heard those comments and believed them. Paul Telegdy, NBC’s top executive in the reality arena, said that once they met with Mr. Stern, “we realized we were in the company of an insane enthusiast for what we do.”

Mr. Stern recalled: “When they called I said: ‘Are you guys nuts? As much as I think I would be a good judge, and I’d love to do it, it’s a family show, and you’ve got to think of your audience.’ ”

NBC was thinking of an audience, of course, the formidable one that follows Mr. Stern and might help to push its already popular show to new heights. “What we wanted to do was invest in the long-term future of the franchise,” Mr. Telegdy said. And the sharp ratings declines across television this season, including a plunge for the talent-competition titan “American Idol,” provided all the more reason to try to create some new excitement.

It took months of negotiations — including an undisclosed salary agreement estimated at $20 million a year and NBC’s commitment to move the show from Los Angeles to New York to accommodate his radio schedule — before Mr. Stern chose to take up what he called “a noble cause”: giving unknowns a chance at a show-business career.

“I’ve been in radio for over 35 years, and to me that’s the biggest competition in the world,” Mr. Stern said, outlining the ferocity of facing off against every kind of format and host in that medium. “And I was a music director early in my career. So I feel like I have credibility, something to offer.”

He has strong opinions, of course, many framed by what he has seen on other competition shows. He favors the unsentimental, honest judges, the ones “where you say, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be watching,” he said. For Mr. Stern that means the man who defined that persona on “American Idol,” Simon Cowell (who is also the top producer on “America’s Got Talent”), L. A. Reid from “The X Factor” and especially Len Goodman of “Dancing With the Stars.”

This is the kind of commentary Mr. Stern said that viewers should expect, though he added, “I’m not going to be a stereotype of the mean judge. I’m relying on straight talk.” He replaces Piers Morgan, who had a reputation for brutally frank assessments, and is working with the holdovers Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne.

So far at least, in tapings of the show, the relationships are working out. Ms. Osbourne, a longtime guest on Mr. Stern’s radio show, said in an e-mail message: “He is definitely a master at what he does. I am intrigued at how 40-year-old-plus males in the audience continuously scream, ‘I love you Howard,’ and all the women want to have sex with him.”

In an e-mail of his own, Mr. Mandel added: “I have nothing but positive things to say about working with Howard. Between him and me we are having more fun than a barrel of neurotic monkeys.”

“America’s Got Talent” kicks off its new season on Monday with audition episodes taped in cities like Los Angeles; St. Louis; Austin, Tex.; and New York. “So much for slowing down,” Mr. Stern said.

As for his approach to judging, he said he believed he was doing many of the performers a service. “They’re not going to be stars, and it requires somebody to say that to them. Some people get up and sing. I say to them: ‘Look, you are dull, and you’re not fun to look at. I went on radio because I wasn’t fun to look at.’ ”

He mentioned being impressed by the wide variety of acts, ranging from a builder of improvised musical instruments to a shy opera singer. Some acts played to his anarchic sense of entertainment.

“A guy came on, and his whole act was getting kicked” in an especially sensitive area, he recalled. “I’m telling you, it was the greatest act you’ve ever seen. I gave him a standing ovation.” The performance culminated with the man leaping crotch-first from a high point onto a balance beam. Mr. Stern’s face lit up at the memory. “I’m laughing hysterically. I would pay to see this.”

In chasing Mr. Stern an NBC goal was clearly to add humor. He acknowledged he provides that but noted, “Howie is the comedian on the show.”

“I don’t do one-liners,” he added. “My attitude is what’s funny.”

Mr. Stern said he would almost surely disappoint any watchdog seeking signs of how he might degrade the show. “The most sexual reference I made was when a group of very attractive women got up and danced. They were awful. They had these bikini tops on, and I said: ‘You’ve got to do something with this act. It’s not going to fly. Maybe if your implants had all exploded, we would have gotten a kick out it.’ ”

The audition audiences have been packed with his fans, and they have brought more noise and a different attitude at times. Mr. Stern said: “A sweet older couple had come on to do a dance act. It was the sweetest thing ever, and the audience is screaming. They wanted to chop their heads off. I turned around and said, ‘What is wrong with you people?’ ”

If that sounds like a more sensitive Howard Stern, he presents himself that way on the air and in person, where he comes off as effortlessly gracious and sincere. That might seem at odds with his former image as the relentless self-promoter who often declared himself “the king of all media.”

But there may be another reason for the equanimity. “I go to therapy three days a week, and it has actually really helped me. It’s not an easy road to take a good hard look at yourself, but I feel happier.”

Maybe it was the therapy or just the passage of time but Mr. Stern, who once disparaged radio as the lowest of the performance arts, now professes great satisfaction in his achievements. Of course his transition to satellite radio, where he has become far richer but much less widely heard, is still debated by fans and critics.

Not by Mr. Stern, though. “I was literally going insane doing the show on terrestrial radio,” he said, blaming censors and what he called unacceptably heavy editing. “I felt I was losing what my mission statement was.”

“Think of the guy, in his car, miserable driving to work,” he continued. “And I’m no longer feeling that guy was being properly entertained. So satellite was a saving grace for me.”

He takes pride in the expansion of satellite subscribers to about 21 million, and his own part in building that audience, even if a lawsuit he brought seeking a $300 million stock bonus from SiriusXM based on those totals was dismissed last month. (He is considering an appeal.)

But his audience is smaller than it used to be. Radio audiences are notoriously difficult to quantify, but some analysts estimate he reaches about 3 million listeners now, as opposed to the approximately 12 million he had on terrestrial radio. That leads to inevitable speculation: Is he joining “America’s Got Talent” because he has lost some of his pop-cultural punch?

Sliding into the back of a black stretch limousine that had been waiting to deliver him to his dentist, Mr. Stern said the question is fair. “I’m sure there’s some psychological component you could explore to say there’s never enough fame, and you’re power hungry. But I didn’t feel that way anymore. I felt very successful.”

Mr. Stern does not argue that nothing drives him anymore. “There’s still a part of me that just wants to prove to my parents that I’m not an idiot,” he said.

When “America’s Got Talent” shot auditions in New York, he invited his elderly parents to sit in the audience.

“My father was very tough on me,” Mr. Stern said of his childhood. “He would call me a moron.” At the taping Mr. Stern decided that a singer had no talent and told him: “I’m going to do for you what my father did for me. I’m going to say, ‘Don’t be stupid, you moron.’ That’s my father’s line.”

Then Mr. Stern called Ben, his 89-year-old father, up: “He comes onstage and he starts to lecture this guy. And he walked offstage lecturing him.”

Mr. Stern described the scene with clear admiration for his father’s ability to impart some useful sense into a young man.

“I’m still that little kid who needs that approval,” Mr. Stern said. “It’s awful.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/ar...MsPIx+crJzdQxg

Even worse I read somewhere that they were postponing the 24 theatrical movie. But I do like Touch. More than I liked Alcatraz. I still haven't watched the last few episodes of Alcatraz.

TV Notes
Thursday's Highlights: 'The Big Bang Theory'; 'Community'
By Los Angeles Times' 'Show Tracker' Blog - May 9, 2012

[ALL TIMES LISTED ARE PACIFIC TIME]

SERIES

The Big Bang Theory: Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) is making his final preparations for the NASA mission in the season finale. Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco and Mayim Bialik also star (8 p.m. CBS).

Community: Abed (Danny Pudi) starts believing there's a conspiracy and Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) is an impostor, but when he's caught sneaking around campus, he's ordered to seek professional help or go to jail. John Hodgman guest stars as his therapist in this new episode (8 p.m. NBC).

The Vampire Diaries: Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) makes a big decision aimed at protecting Elena (Nina Dobrev) in the season finale (8 p.m. KTLA).

American Idol: Jennifer Lopez performs and David Cook performs in this results episode (8 p.m. Fox).

The Office: The theft of a diaper leads to a high-speed car chase in the season finale (9 p.m. NBC).

The Secret Circle: Jake, Melissa and Adam try to save Faye from the witch hunters in the season finale (9 p.m. KTLA).

Grey's Anatomy: The residents make their choices about where to work next in the season finale (9 p.m. ABC).

Parks and Recreation: It's Election Day, and the race between Leslie and Bobby (Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd) is too close to call in the season finale (9:30 p.m. NBC).

SPECIALS

Bobby Brown Speaks: Brown talks to Matt Lauer about his life with Whitney Houston (8 p.m. E!).

SPORTS

Basketball: NBA Playoffs (5 and 7:30 p.m. TNT).

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/show...community.html

Looks like both Alcatraz and The Finder have officially been canceled.

TV Notes
Jimmy Fallon Comedy 'Guys With Kids' Gets NBC Series Order
By Tim Kenneally, TheWrap.com - May 9, 2012

Jimmy Fallon's comedy pilot "Guys With Kids" has been given the go-ahead by NBC with a 13-episode season order.

The multi-camera comedy stars Zach Cregger, Jesse Branford and Anthony Anderson as three thirty-something men who "enjoy the adventures of parenting despite the fact they haven't grown up themselves."

"Sopranos" alum Jamie Lynn Sigler, "The Cosby Show" alum Tempestt Bledsoe and Sara Rue also star.

"Late Night" funnyman Fallon is producing, along with Charlie Grandy, who penned the pilot, Amy Ozols, Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz.

Earlier Wednesday, the network also gave a series order to the Dick Wolf drama "Chicago Fire," and also renewed Wolf's "Law & Order: SVU" for a 14th season.On Monday, NBC gave the full-season go-ahead to the White House comedy "1600 Penn" starring Bill Pullman, as well as "Animal Practice," a conedy starring Justin Kirk ("Weeds") as a "House"-like veterinarian who loves animals even if he isn't crazy about their owners.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/ji...es-order-39196

TV Notes
Grey's Anatomy' Stars Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh And Justin Chambers Close Deals To Return
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - May 9, 2012

EXCLUSIVE: Big news for Grey's Anatomy fans. I've learned that all original cast members whose future on the ABC medical drama had been up in the air amid contract negotiations, have re-upped for two more seasons. That includes Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Justin Chambers as well as James Pickens, Jr. and Chandra Wilson.

With the uncertainty surrounding the core quartet, Grey's Anatomy creator-showrunner Shonda Rhimes had written the upcoming eighth season finale in a way that would leave the door open for them potentially departing Seattle Grace. The new contracts with Pompeo, Dempsey, Oh, Chambers, Pickens Jr. and Wilson pave the way for Grey's to be renewed for a ninth season, something that already was all but guaranteed.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/grey...als-to-return/

It must be because those are the two new shows I watched. I thought the finder improved a lot and was pretty darn good the last few episodes. Alcatraz was spotty, but fun.

I think that Grey's Anatomy was a big spoiler, and just before the Season Finale, they should have waited one more day.... FAIL

People put too much emphasis on spoilers. Who really cares... it's just a TV show. And yes, I've watched it since the beginning. I've seen every episode either "live" or recorded.

Business Notes
Earnings: AMC Network Up on Stronger Ad Sales, Especially at Flagship
By Tim Molloy, TheWrap.com - May 10, 2012

AMC Networks beat expectations Thursday, posting a 44.8 percent increase in net income on revenue of $326.2 million thanks in part to stronger advertising sales, led by flagship AMC.

The company posted a 19.5 percent increase in revenues to $326.2 million. Net income rose to $43.2 million (60 cents per diluted share), compared to $29.8 million (43 cents per share) in the first quarter of 2011.

The company had been expected to earn revenue of $303.9 million, according to the average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research.

As of 10:15 a.m. Thursday, shares of the stock were up 2.48 percent to $40.60.

Revenues were led by 20.8 percent growth at National Networks -- which include AMC, WE tv, IFC and Sundance Channel -- and a 3.8 percent increase in International and Other. Adjusted Operating Cash Flow totaled $126 million, an increase of 26.2 percent, or $26 million, versus the prior year period.

Growth in National Networks revenues was primarily led by a 29.7 percent increase in advertising revenues, with AMC leading the increase. The company boasted record ratings during the quarter for "The Walking Dead."

Dish Networks announced last week that it would drop AMC Networks from its lineup when their contract expires next month, saying renewal costs were too expensive and the AMC networks didn't generate enough ratings. But AMC accused Dish of threatening to drop it because it suffered a legal setback in a lawsuit in which AMC's indirect subsidiary, Voom HD, is suing Dish for breach of contract.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/ea...flagship-39236

Nielsen Notes
For 'The Office,' life after Steve Carell
The comedy's ratings are down, not surprisingly
By Louisa Ada Seltzer, Media Life Magazine - May 10, 2012

In the year since Steve Carell left "The Office," the show's ratings have dipped sharply.

Still, heading into tonight's eighth-season finale, "Office" remains NBC's top-rated show on Thursday nights, which says a lot about the state of its once-powerful lineup.

"Office" is averaging a 2.8 in adults 18-49 this season, down 24 percent from a 3.8 last season. The declines are not a surprise.

Aging shows rarely keep up the sort of ratings momentum that "Office" had maintained for years, and the departure of Carell in April 2011 was bound to result in some lost viewers.

Though the show was built as an ensemble, Carell was the heart and soul of the Dunder Mifflin crew, and this year many critics and social media users criticized what they saw as a meandering, uninspired season.

Yet compared to the other NBC shows on Thursday night, "Office" is doing very well. No other comedy is averaging more than a 1.9, and only "Office" seems likely to receive a full-season pickup for next fall.

Many of the other programs, including "30 Rock," are rumored to be getting limited 13- or 14-episode deals.

And in the 10 p.m. hour, where NBC has floundered since "ER" went off the air, three new shows have flopped this season.

With that, plus the fact that all of NBC's Thursday comedies are down from last year, NBC's average on the night is off 13 percent from last year, to a 2.1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...eve-Carell.asp

Commentary
The Folly of Having Focus Groups Judge TV Pilots
By Gavin Polone, New York Magazine's 'Vulture' Blog - May 10, 2012

Next week are the Upfronts, when the broadcast networks announce their new shows for the coming fall season, which means that this week network executives are making their final decisions on which of their 100 or so drama and comedy pilots to pick up. To make this decision, much of their attention as well as that of the producers and studio executives who created those pilots is concentrated on the research reports based on audience testing and focus groups done on each pilot. Having produced between 35 and 40 scripted pilots (I lost count years ago), I am very familiar with this process. And like most producers, I'm of two minds when it comes to the legitimacy of audience testing on pilots: (1) It is an invaluable tool, proving when a pilot connects with the public, and it's a good indicator that a show will succeed. I believe this deeply when my show has tested well. (2) It is a ridiculous and wasteful exercise, famously damning shows that end up succeeding and supporting others that fail miserably, while invalidating the judgment and experience of those the networks allegedly trust to create entertainment for their viewers. I am firmly of this mind when my show has tested poorly.

These sessions are usually done with a test audience of 48 people who are divided evenly between men and women, and who are each paid $75 for two hours of their time. They are shown the pilot and everyone is given a box with a dial that they turn one way or the other (assigning scores ranging from zero to 100) to indicate how they are enjoying what they're watching at any given moment. There is also a button they can press to indicate that they would have changed the channel had they been watching it at home. Network and studio execs and producers watch them behind a one-way mirror, and also see a playback of the pilot with the real-time dial scores laid over it via a graph with three lines for men, women, and the combined average. After the screening, twelve men and twelve women from the group are brought into separate rooms and asked for their reactions to and opinions on the pilot, which they deliver frankly and often disparagingly; the creators and execs also listen to this from behind their fake mirror.

Opinions differ among network executives as to how important these testing sessions are. One executive vice-president at a broadcast network told me that she saw testing as a "true sense of what our audience would think of the show," though she finds the instant dial reactions more valuable than the post-show debriefings because "raw data is more important than focus group. You're looking for what makes people react; you're looking for passion." However, she notes that "if we are sketchy on a pilot, testing won't get it on. As long as the testing is in the middle, everyone goes with their gut; but if testing is horrible, it is hard to get it on the air." A VP at a prominent cable network whom I talked to was more cynical about testing: If you put a baby or a dog in the pilot, the dials go up. Dials will go down when your lead is going through a tough time in the pilot. I see testing as an asset if you wanted reinforcement for something, [like] if my creative instincts tell me that that an actor isn't working and the test results reinforce that. I think it is badly used if you love a pilot and then the testing isn't good and that becomes a reason not to go forward. For me, it is [just] a selling tool to use with the internal higher-ups.

TV producers and execs who hate testing often bring up the same arguments. First, they commonly cite the famously negative testing reports for Seinfeld and Friends. The report on the unenthusiastic response to Seinfeld offered such insights as, George was negatively viewed as a wimp' who was only mildly amusing." Friends received a very low score of 41 (65 is usually considered just middling), and its report begins with overall reactions to this pilot were not very favorable. Interest in the show was very narrow.

Another common complaint is the size and makeup of these groups. One producer with a show in contention this year lamented, How can a test audience of 50 or 100 people tell you if your show will succeed? And my guess is the affluent audiences that networks target aren't sitting in a test screening so they can make 75 dollars. The idea that such a small sample can represent the whole market for a show does seem ridiculous and bound to deliver anomalous results. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman describes the inherent flaw in making judgments based on small sample sizes: The law of small numbers is part of a larger story about the workings of the mind: Statistics produce many observations that appear to beg for causal explanations but do not lend themselves to such explanations. Many facts of the world are due to chance, including accidents of sampling. And causal explanations of chance events are inevitably wrong.

This kind of reflexive reaction to any result may explain the experience of the aforementioned producer during the current pilot season; when his show was tested by the studio (which they often do before turning them into the networks to make any last-minute changes), it went extremely well. "They never had a higher testing comedy at that studio. Two days later the same cut, basically, was tested by the network and it went very badly, for whatever reason. Everyone panicked and we had to scramble in a few short days to fix something that everyone was perfectly happy with. There's no telling who is going to walk in that screening room and it can change day to day. But the latest bad test is all that matters. The previous great tests are invalidated. And the future of a show can be damned because of accidents of chance when it comes to the small group selected for the focus group. For instance, a great show with gay characters could receive a bad score because an above-average number of homophobes were randomly selected for that particular test. The producer told me a bizarre story about a test he had on a pilot a couple of years ago where he saw in the audience, and then in the smaller focus group, an actor who read for the third-lead series regular on that pilot. He didn't do well and wasn't called back. But there he was, watching the pilot he didn't get, pretending he was not familiar with it, making sure to point out that the actor who got his part was bad.

Regardless of whether you believe in testing, the networks do, so it creates great stress for those with a vested interest in a show's success. I don't think I've ever been to a test where a writer-producer didn't watch the live graph of the participants' reactions and, like a desperate gambler watching a race at an OTB parlor, gesticulate at the TV screen and implore the approval lines to move up. The above broadcast network executive acknowledged that most creators find it brutal, but went on to stress its importance. Why not get as much information as you can to find out what the audience is thinking about the show? It's not a painting. The creative community's bias against it is misguided. If you can roll with it you might be able to give them something the audience likes better.

I have found some value in testing. It can show what parts of a story are confusing; it can give you an idea of where things slow down too much and become boring; and, most usefully, it can tell you if a joke is funny or not. Either the viewers laugh or they don't. But the post-screening focus group conversations are pretty worthless. People feel like they have to talk so they come up with criticisms where they might otherwise have none, and there are always those who have some agenda they like to forward or are just showing off now that they've been given an audience; one person among twelve can easily move a discussion to distraction. And I certainly don't think the information gained by a test is worth the $25,000 that it costs.

Really, this testing ritual seems pretty outdated in the Internet age. Why stick with such a small sample size when we have the technology to quickly get the opinions of a much bigger audience? A network could put all of its pilots up on its website and let the entire populace of interested viewers vote for their favorites and leave comments on how they would like to see the show improved before it went to series. Anything less than that is like deciding who wins an election based a recent poll. Additionally, networks could probably sell ads on those online pilots, thereby recovering some of the huge costs they incur each year for productions that don't get picked for the schedule. Those shows that do subsequently get picked to go to series would then already have a constituency of viewers who felt a vested interest in the particular show they helped to get on the air. That kind of connection can translate into consumer loyalty and dollars; I have to believe that everyone who bought the 2.5 million Ruben Studdard albums sold also voted for him in season two of American Idol. (Really, there can be no other explanation.)

And if the Internet isn't the way to go with this, maybe a network could program a new series called Pick the Lineup or, if it is on NBC, The Choice. All the pilots would air and compete against each other, and the voting would be handled just as it is on AI. I bet it would work not only as a tool to pick new series but as a stand-alone ratings hit assuming, of course, this DIY-scheduling show can test well enough to make it onto the network's schedule in the first place.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/tv-pi...in-polone.html

CBS made a change to their NFL Pre/Post game show:
James Brown, Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Shannon Sharpe, Bill Cowher stay.
Charley Casserly is out.
Jason La Canfora who will leave NFL Network is in.

NFLN is a good training ground for insiders as Adam Schefter left NFLN for ESPN now JLC goes to CBS.

isnt casserly on nfln now? thought I saw him there last week

Casserly is on NFLN now so they're just swapping him and La Canfora. I didn't think Casserly was very good anyways.

What kind of ratings do pre and post shows get?

I'm an avid NFL fan. I get Sunday Ticket and I watch the 8 game channel as much as individual games. I download the shorts and watch all of them once and some several times.

However, I can't stomach pre and post game shows (or half-time, or the sideline reports, especially the inane chat with the coach etc...).

Do people actually watch those?

I'd watch the Bullit episode, including the Mustang commercial, just because.

Casserly is on NFLN during draft time but once thats over hes not really on much after that anymore.

Obviously the post games shows on the DH network do great since they get the carryover form the big national 4:15 game.

I know fox pregame avg was 5.1 milllion viewers & i think cbs was about 4.2 million.

They have updated the fios,directv,titantv guides etc now.

Dish Network uses Auto Hop commercial skipper to distinguish its DVR

From FierceCable - By Steve Donohue - May 10, 2012

Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) has added an "Auto Hop" feature to its new Hopper multiroom DVR that allows subscribers who enable the feature to automatically skip commercials in primetime programming recorded from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

Even though Dish says Auto Hop can only be used by subscribers who watch primetime programming no earlier than 1:00 a.m. the day after a program airs, the move won't earn praise from the Big Four networks that rely on advertising.

Auto Hop could help Dish position itself in ad campaigns as more consumer friendly than DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) and cable rivals such as Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Cable operators offer dozens of TV series from broadcast and cable networks through their free video-on-demand libraries, but the fast-forward function is disabled in content from most networks.

Time Warner Cable offers its digital cable subscribers a "Look Back" feature that lets viewers that miss a primetime show to watch it on demand within 72 hours of its broadcast, but fast-forward is disabled. Comcast, Verizon and other MSOs also supply subscribers with DVRs from Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) that contain a quick skip button that lets subscribers easily skip 30-second commercials recorded in programs from any network. But Dish is making a bigger effort than other providers to help subscribers skip ads.

Dish's Auto Hop feature will only work on one of its new Hopper multiroom DVRs, which has a tuner dedicated to recording every primetime show on the broadcast networks. Dish has been boasted that the Hopper has "magic" capabilities not offered by any other multichannel distributor. But the multiroom DVR, which can shuttle content to TVs connected to thin client set-tops nicknamed Joey throughout a home, does have some limitations. Dish noted in Thursday's announcement that despite the magic, Auto Hop can't skip commercials in live broadcasts.

http://links.mkt1985.com/ctt?kn=136&...E2S0&mt=1&rt=0

I'd love to know what sort of dirt Shannon "marble mouth" Sharpe has on CBS Sports execs. The man literally can't complete a sentence.

Business Notes
Sony posts $5.6-billion loss, 10% drop in sales
By Alex Pham, Los Angeles Times' 'Company Town' Blog - May 10, 2012

Sony Corp. posted a record $5.6-billion annual loss Thursday, ending a fiscal year marred by global economic turmoil and the after-effects of last spring's earthquake and tsunami in Japan and last fall's floods in Thailand.

The consumer electronics and media giant, which is in the midst of a top-to-bottom reorganization, said revenue fell 9.6% to $79.2 billion in its fiscal year ended March 31, down from $87.8 billion last year. Sony lost $5.6 billion, or $5.55 a share, nearly double the prior year's loss of $3.2 billion.

About $3.2 billion of red ink recorded for the fiscal year just ended came from a paper loss it incurred by writing down deferred tax assets. Sony had warned investors in April of the expense hit, as well as the drop in sales.

Much of last year's revenue decline was due to a steep 18.5% drop in the sales of its LCD television sets, digital cameras, personal computers and PlayStation games businesses, which made up close to half of Sony's total revenue.

Its TV and games business suffered from severe competition from lower-cost rivals that forced the company to slash prices. Meanwhile, sales of digital cameras and PCs fell after an October flood in Thailand left factories idle for weeks. The company estimated that it lost sales of $170 million while its facilities were undergoing repairs that cost $160 million.

Sony's movie business blunted the losses in electronics, recording a $416-million operating profit on $8 billion in sales. A 9.6% uptick in revenue for Sony Pictures came from its television business as well as growth in video-on-demand sales and a sale of its share in the royalties from Spider-Man merchandise.

Its music business marked a 6% drop in sales to $5.4 billion from $5.7 billion a year earlier as CD sales continued to erode. Operating profits dipped 5.2% to $450 million, down from $475 million the year before.

Its new chief executive, Kazuo Hirai, has vowed to turn things around, telling investors that "Sony will change." Last month, the company said it would eliminate 10,000 jobs. The announcement followed a corporate realignment that demoted its once-sacred television business. Instead, the company would focus more on games, digital imaging and mobile products.

As a result, Sony forecast that it would grow revenue 14% in the current fiscal year with its factories humming again. It also projected a modest $366-million profit for the year, thanks to aggressive cost-cutting and a greater emphasis on higher-margin products such as medical imaging equipment.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...s-in-2012.html

Sorry for posting these overnight ratings so late. Spent all day and most of this night chasing work leads.

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)
Fox aces another night with 'American Idol'
Network takes 17th straight Wednesday with a 4.4 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - May 10, 2012

Fox won its 17th straight Wednesday last night on the strength once again of "American Idol," the night's top show, though not by much.

"Idol" averaged a 4.4 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, down 4 percent from last week.

The show finished just a tenth ahead of the night's No. 2 program, "Modern Family" on ABC, which was up 5 percent from last week.

"Idol" actually averaged a 4.8 at 9 p.m. during its shared timeslot with "Family," but its overall average was pulled down by lower ratings in its first hour, when it averaged a 4.0.

Other shows seeing week-to-week gains included NBC's "Betty White's Off Their Rockers," with the 8 and 8:30 p.m. editions growing 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively, from last week to a 1.5 and a 1.6; CBS's "Survivor," up 4 percent over last week to a 2.7 for this season's penultimate episode; and ABC's "Revenge," up 5 percent to a 2.2.

Fox led the night among 18-49s with a 4.4 average overnight rating and a 12 share. CBS was second at 2.7/7, ABC third at 2.5/7, Univision fourth at 1.6/4, NBC fifth at 1.3/4, and CW and Telemundo tied for sixth at 0.4/1.

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-four percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

At 8 p.m. Fox was first with a 4.0 for "Idol," followed by CBS with a 2.7 for "Survivor." ABC was third with a 2.0 for "The Middle" (1.9) and "Suburgatory" (2.1). NBC and Univision tied for fourth at 1.5, NBC for "Rockers" and Univision for "Una Familia con Suerte." Telemundo was sixth with a 0.5 for "Una Maid en Manhattan" and CW seventh with a 0.3 for a repeat of "America's Next Top Model."

Fox maintained the lead at 9 p.m. with a 4.8 for more "Idol," while ABC moved to second with a 3.3 for "Family" (4.3) and "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23" (2.3). CBS was third with a 2.8 for "Criminal Minds," Univision fourth with a 1.5 for "Abismo de Pasion," NBC fifth with a 0.8 for "Rock Center with Brian Williams," Telemundo sixth with a 0.5 for "Corazon Valiente" and CW seventh with a 0.4 for a new "Top Model."

At 10 p.m. CBS moved to first with a 2.4 for the season finale of "CSI," with ABC second with a 2.2 for "Revenge." NBC was third with a 1.7 for the recently renewed "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Univision fourth with a 1.6 for "La Que No Podia Amar" and Telemundo fifth with a 0.3 for "Relaciones Peligrosas."

Fox was also first for the night among households with a 9.8 average overnight rating and a 16 share. CBS was second at 6.7/11, ABC third at 4.6/7, NBC fourth at 3.5/5, Univision fifth at 2.0/3, and the CW and Telemundo tied for sixth at 0.7/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...-high-note.asp

TV Notes
Upfronts: Playing the slots
Nets could hit primetime paydirt with a few key moves
By Rick Kissell, Variety - May 10, 2012

Network execs are hip-deep this week in scheduling decisions as the broadcasters prepare for next week's 2012-13 season sked unveilings in Gotham.

Here's a look at the top 10 opportunities for improvement in the primetime landscape.

1. NBC should move "The Voice" to Tuesday.

Most expect the net to bring back the music talent show in the fall, and there's no question that it would be better suited for Tuesday, where it originally launched and where it won't have to butt heads with the higher-rated night of "Dancing With the Stars."

This move would also serve three other purposes: NBC could launch a drama behind "Voice" Tuesday at 10 (a winnable hour), slide the results show in an hour that has been net's black hole (Wednesday at 9), and then air another drama (or bring back "Smash") behind it Wednesday at 10.

2. ABC should move "Castle" to Thursday at 8.

This has been a troubling hour for ABC, so why not try this lightish crime drama with a loyal following in one of the few weeknight hours without a crime/mystery show? It could also give "Grey's Anatomy" more support and allow the net to focus on improving at 10 and perhaps finding the heir apparent to the medical vet.

Though "Dancing" came tumbling down in the ratings this spring, it could rebound with a better cast and without "Voice" competish, so as a lead-in it would still be ample enough to support a promising new Monday drama, perhaps "Nashville."

3. Just in time for the run-up to the election, NBC should bring back "SNL Weekend Update" specials and rebroadcast them on Saturday as part of a block of comedy repeats.

It's never made sense that NBC has failed to better capitalize on the latenight institution that is consistently Saturday's highest-rated series.

If you're going to do a 3.2 rating at 11:30, why settle for a 0.7 with a drama repeat at 10:30?

4. NBC should move "The Office" from 9 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday and follow it with three new shows.

Peacock needs to roll the dice on Thursday, and who knows, maybe one of its newbies will click like ABC's "Modern Family" did when it was one of four new comedies the net tried on Wednesday in the fall a few years ago.

5. CBS should air expanded or truncated episodes of "60 Minutes" and/or "The Amazing Race" in the fall.

Doing this would make sure that "Good Wife" and the 10 p.m. drama that follows it, perhaps "The Mentalist" moving over from Thursday, start on time.

Until the net fixes its problem of starting its post-"60 Minutes" shows late so many weeks, it will really struggle to have success with dramas on the night.

6. ABC should move "Last Man Standing" and a new comedy with male and/or family appeal to Friday after "Shark Tank."

It might be tough to sell Tim Allen on a Friday slot, but "Standing" is not "Home Improvement" and Friday is a great opportunity to reach the available audience in an hour that would be appear to be wide open. It's also a good way for ABC, which has quietly done very well (and drawn some men, to boot) with "Shark" on Friday, to hold that audience for another hour.

7. NBC should save "The Biggest Loser" for midseason and pair it with "The Apprentice," with each airing 90-minute episodes from 8 to 11.

While the net will probably want to target scripted series for its post-football Sundays down the road, these reality vets are the best solution while the Peacock works on other nights.

Both shows saw declines this season and could benefit from airing shorter episodes and also being paired together.

8. Fox should pull back on either the Wednesday or Thursday edition of "The X Factor" to try out another half-hour.

With limited sked space and not a lot of hit comedies or dramas, can the net continue to turn over entire nights to singing contests next season?

Come to think of it, every two-hour reality show and hourlong results show should be thinking about cutting back as they all trended downward this season.

9. If CBS expands to four comedies on Thursday, it should open the night with "Mike & Molly."

It's the oldest-skewing of the CBS laffers and one that doesn't mesh as well with the others. It would do a solid-enough number at 8 and allow for just about anything to follow it at 8:30 and precede "The Big Bang Theory," which would shift to 9.

Of course, if CBS stick s with two comedies (and "Big Bang" leading off), "Mike" might also be a good choice to lead off Friday. This would give "Person of Interest" a chance to grow in its 9 p.m. Thursday slot and also serve as the lead-in to one of the net's new crime dramas at 10.

10. And finally, the most out-there idea: ABC should renew "GCB" but with half-hour episodes.

The show's comedy bits are funny but the storylines need work and don't support or require the hour format. How about pairing it with Reba McEntire's new "Malibu Country"?

Or, maybe in between "Dancing" seasons on Tuesday, ABC could go with a 9 o'clock hour combo of "GCB" and "Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23."

The Parents Television Council would certainly do their part to market that hour.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118053764

TV Notes
It's Official: Cougar Town' Moves To TBS
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - May 10, 2012

We broke the news on Saturday that TBS was in talks to pick up ABC's comedy series Cougar Town. As we projected on Sunday, the negotiations reached a successful conclusion, and the cable network just announced the pickup. There are no details on the order but I had heard that TBS and Cougar Town producer ABC Studios were targeting a 15-episode one.

TBS today announced a fourth-season pickup for Cougar Town to premiere in early 2013, though I hear the studio has the cast locked in for another season after that, so a fifth season could be in the cards too, bringing the series to comfortable syndicatable levels. In addition to ordering new episodes, TBS has acquired the rights to Cougar Towns first three seasons of 61 episodes that originally aired on ABC. While never a hit, the series starring Courteney Cox has enjoyed a devoted following by a core group of passionate fans. TBS' pickup of Cougar Town complicates things for two pilots, CBS' untitled Louis CK/Spike Feresten project and NBC's Kari Lizer project, both of which star Cougar Town cast members in second position, Dan Byrd and Josh Hopkins, respectively. (Chances for the latter appear very slim at NBC.)

This is the second consecutive Bill Lawrence comedy to switch networks, following Scrubs jump to ABC following its 2008 cancellation by NBC. Lawrence co-created Cougar Town with Kevin Biegel. Turner previously picked up another broadcast series, NBC drama Southland, which was recently renewed for a fifth season by TNT. Additionally, TBS brought in Conan O'Brien for a late-night show after his exit from NBC.

Here is more from TBS' release:

Cougar Town is a smart, whimsical sitcom that draws its humor from likable, relatable characters said Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies. We are thrilled to have Cougar Town moving to the TBS neighborhood as the network continues to expand its slate of original comedy series.

In Cougar Town, Cox stars as Jules Cobb, a recently divorced mom struggling with the challenges and pitfalls that come with a new chapter in her life. Jules spends much of her time enjoying wine with her group of friends known as the cul de sac crew. They include her under-achieving ex-husband, Bobby (Brian Van Holt); next-door neighbor and confidante Ellie (Christa Miller); Ellie's loveably average husband, Andy (Ian Gomez); Jules' fiancé and neighbor, Grayson (Josh Hopkins); and Jules' feisty protégé, Laurie (Busy Philipps). Meanwhile, Jules' college-student son, Travis (Dan Byrd), often proves himself more adult than anyone in the group.

Cougar Town was co-created by executive producer/writer/director Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Spin City) and executive producer/writer Kevin Biegel (Scrubs). Courteney Cox and David Arquette also serve as executive producers. Cougar Town is produced by ABC Studios.

Cougar Town is the latest project to join TBS's ever-growing slate of original series. The lineup also includes the May 24 debut of the new buddy comedy series Men at Work, starring Danny Masterson, James Lesure, Michael Cassidy, Adam Busch and Meredith Hagner. In July, TBS will launch Sullivan & Son, a new sitcom starring comedian Steve Byrne and executive-produced by Vince Vaughn, Peter Billingsley and Rob Long. This year will also include the debut of Wedding Band, a new scripted comedy series starring Brian Austin Green, Harold Perrineau, Peter Cambor, Derek Miller, Melora Hardin, Jenny Wade and Kathryn Fiore. TBS will set out to crown the ultimate nerd in the reality-competition series King of the Nerds (working title), hosted by Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstrong.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/its-...moving-to-tbs/

TV Notes
'30 Rock' Renewed for Final Season; 'Parenthood' Also Coming Back
By Tim Kenneally, TheWrap.com - May 10, 2012

"30 Rock" has received a renewal from NBC for its final season, while "Parenthood" has been renewed as well.

The Tina Fey-created "30 Rock" will go into its seventh season. "Parenthood" will return for a fourth season.

In January, TheWrap reported that "30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin had committed to at least two more seasons of the series, though reports that "30 Rock" might be winding to a close have surfaced in recent weeks. In April, amid speculation that Baldwin might exit the series, Fey appeared on "The View" and admitted that the end of the show was "on the horizon."

"As far as I know, he's not leaving the show. We're all in this together 'til the end." Fey said. "I think that he just maybe means that the end of the show -- we're in six years -- that the end of the show is visible on the horizon. We're all still on the show."

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/30...ewed-nbc-39341

* * * *

TV Notes
'Community' Renewed by NBC

Fear not, "Community" fans; the NBC sitcom will live on for fourth season.

The sitcom, which has been troubled by lukewarm ratings, a mid-season hiatus, and a nasty feud between series star Chevy Chase and creator Dan Harmon, has been re-upped with a 13-episode commitment from NBC.

The show's uncertain fate has been a cause of great concern for its small but intensely loyal following. Reacting to chatter that the show might be yanked from the air in the face of poor ratings, fans organized a flash mob at NBC headquarters in New York in an effort to convince network brass to save the show.

Maybe it worked?

In the most recent blow for the series, co-show runners Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan decided to leave the series earlier this month for a two-year development deal at 20th Century Fox TV.

Earlier Thursday, NBC renewed "30 Rock" for a seventh and final season, and "Parenthood" for a fourth season.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/co...ewed-nbc-39376

SPOILERS for Season 8 of NBC's "The Office" in this article.

Critic's Notes
Was Season 8 of The Office a Total Disaster?
By Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Magazine's 'Vulture' Blog - May 10, 2012

Will the eighth season of The Office be considered a lost season or just a transitional one? It depends on what the sitcom does next year and the year after, and in any event, this might be a distinction without a difference. Fact is, the show's first post-Steve Carrell year has been a mess, at times bordering on a disaster.

And, yet, I've continued to watch it every week. Why? Familiarity is surely a factor. I like the show, and I love these characters, and the quality of the acting is so consistently high (even when the character beats and dialogue aren't up to snuff) that I can't bring myself to just bail. But there's another aspect at play here: It has to do with the nature of TV itself, and I think it may be the real reason why I've continued to watch The Office.

On any long-running popular series, there are always two dramas happening simultaneously. One occurs onscreen: The characters go here, do this, feel that, and we debate whether what happens is funny, smart, consistent with past plotlines, and so forth. The other drama is happening behind, or beneath, the scenes; it's extra-dramatic, a struggle between the show and the medium it's a part of. Simply put, when you watch The Office, or any series, you're watching a show's writers, directors, actors, and crew fight to maintain a certain level of quality despite a relentless pace and the network's expectation that the series hit certain ratings goals or be canceled. When a show hits a natural stopping point as The Office did last spring when its comedic anchor Michael Scott (Steve Carell) quit Dunder-Mifflin and then keeps going anyway, out of pride or a desire for more profits, the enterprise takes on a heroic (or maybe foolhardy) dimension.

Can a TV show that loses its center continue on without seeming rudderless and a tad pathetic? I can't think of too many examples: NYPD Blue and Cheers, maybe, but in those cases, the shows lost co-leads (David Caruso and Shelly Long, respectively) while maintaining a central protagonist (Dennis Franz, Ted Danson) all through their runs. Law & Order and ER were more ensemble- or concept-driven, but they still lost momentum and quality when their central characters were written out or downgraded to supporting status. Spin City? A Different World? Mission: Impossible? The list of successful reinventions isn't long, that's for sure. And The Office had set itself up for disaster by making Michael Scott/Steve Carell the heart of the series and then deciding to continue after his departure. What happened on the American Office is akin to All in the Family losing Archie Bunker, Maude losing Maude, or The Mary Tyler Moore Show losing Mary. If the series had been called Michael Scott, we wouldn't be discussing any of this. On paper, Carell's exit looked to be an insurmountable blow thus my piece arguing that The Office should have called it quits after that, even though the network's bottom line required it to keep going.

In retrospect, the only thing saving the show from utter chaos and mediocrity was the clever way that it addressed its own unmoored quality within the scripts themselves. Thanks to its faux-documentary format, the series has always been rather self-aware (and, occasionally, self-regarding). But at some point probably season seven, a.k.a. Michael Scott's Very Long Goodbye The Office amped up its auto-critical sensibility, to the point where it seemed nearly as much a meta-comedy as its Thursday night schedule-mates 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Community. As on season three of Justified, another show about bruised survivors jockeying for supremacy in a power vacuum, season eight of The Office has turned the absence of leadership into its main subject. In season eight it wasn't just a sitcom that lacked a sense of direction; it was a sitcom about being directionless, about deciding to soldier on after a catastrophic loss and not having the slightest clue how to do it.

The search for a new office manager at the end of season seven doubled as an on-air audition for a new Office star, with the audience serving as a focus group; early scuttlebutt said Catherine Tate's Nellie Bertram would take Michael Scott's chair, but James Spader made such a huge impression by playing his pervert-shaman aura for laughs that the show ended up making his character Robert California the CEO. "There is a person in charge of every office in America," California told Andy, who was furious that Nellie had simply behaved as if she, and not Andy, were running the office now and had somehow claimed the title of leader. "And that person is Charles Darwin." Characters asked the question that we at home were wondering: "Why is she here?" "What is going on?" Jim asked the unseen interviewer. "That does seem to be the question, doesn't it?" Toby, the closest thing to referee in the show's pit of toothless snakes, confessed, "Human resources is a joke. I can't do anything about anything."

It got to the point where I scarcely felt I could criticize The Office without the show criticizing itself first, either directly or obliquely. Thanks to the show's Marco Polo/"Fish out of water!" approach to comedy this year, lines that might have been no more than character touches sounded like coded self-analysis, caveats, or sheepish self-justifications. Dwight's comic book character, Captain Mutato, a shape-shifter "who can fight crime like a man but make love like a mermaid," is as adaptable as the series doubtless wishes it were. The subplot about the super-narcissist Ryan trying to win back his ex-girlfriend Kelly felt like an analogy for the show trying to win back fans who abandoned it after last year (ratings are down compared to 2010-11). When the love poem that we assumed Ryan never actually wrote and was probably incapable of writing turned out to be real and moving, it felt as if The Office was saying, "Don't write us off quite yet. What we're doing right now may seem desperate and calculating, and maybe it is, but our sincerity and artistry could still surprise you."

I hope so. As season eight peters out, it's hard not to fixate on what didn't work: almost everything. Robert California and Nellie Bertram often felt more like notions for characters than actual characters, and there were times when the actors seemed flummoxed while playing them. (I did laugh, though, when California roared at Andy, "You don't even know my real name! I am the f-----g Lizard King!!" Spader is brilliant even when the material isn't.) Andy's tenure as office manager, during which he was pretty much whatever the writers needed him to be during an episode, was a sporadically enjoyable botch, and not just because the character isn't a boss-type. The "off-campus" episodes reminded me of how much better the show used to be at doing that kind of thing. ("Fundraiser," you're no "Dinner Party.") Nevertheless, I still adore these characters, even when the writing doesn't do them justice. The optimist in me relishes the idea of The Office rallying, becoming different from but equal to its earlier incarnation, and running another few years, if only for the thrill of seeing talented people beat very long odds.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/was-s...-disaster.html