Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 2783

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Nov. 18, 2012

THE DUST BOWL
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
PREMIERE: Part 1 of 2. This two-part nonfiction miniseries, the latest from Ken Burns and company, is another evocative, surprisingly instructive, almost astoundingly relevant look at the past. This time, it’s about the environmental catastrophe that ravaged the Great Plains in the previous century – and why mankind, not nature, was at fault. For a full review, see David Sicilia’s TV Moneyland. Concludes Monday. Check local listings.

THE WIZARD OF OZ
TBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Even though it’s on cable, and its telecast is no longer a big deal, I still think it’s worth pointing out that it’s time, once again, for the first around-the-holidays TV showing of this 1939 classic. And there’s prequel coming soon, so it’s a good time to take a new look at the original. Judy Garland stars.

THE GOOD WIFE
CBS, 9:30 p.m. ET
Judd Hirsch guest stars this week, playing a particularly feisty judge – and there’s feistiness outside the court as well, including some confrontations that get dangerously physical. Julianna Margulies stars, and Amanda Peet continues her recurring guest role.

THE WALKING DEAD
AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
The psychological ramifications of Rick’s latest loss continue to shake him. And why not, since the romantic triangle that opened this series is now down to just Rick. But I can’t help thinking that we saw the gunshot, but didn’t see the results, and so maybe there’s a surprise coda down the road. Meanwhile, already down the road – or in the compound and the prison – are more dangers. And have you noticed that, in both places, the humans are more dangerous than the walkers?

HOMELAND
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET
Who would have expected, at the end of last season, where this show would take us this year? And tonight, there’s another twist, as Brody and Carrie find themselves even more tightly intertwined. Claire Danes, Damien Lewis star.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

TV Notes
‘Next Caller’ Creator Sounds Off On Series Demise
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Nov. 17, 2012

In a post on his blog, Stephen Falk, creator/executive producer of NBC midseason comedy Next Caller, discusses the network’s decision last month to pull the plug on the series. Next Caller, produced by Lionsgate TV and Universal TV, starred Dane Cook as a foul-mouthed satellite radio DJ forced to share the mic with a chipper NPR feminist (Collette Wolfe). Jeffrey Tambor, Joy Osmanski and Wolé Parks co-starred in the series whose four completed episodes won’t air. In a post titled Advice To Young TV Writers (but really: What Happened To My NBC Show), Falk describes the effect the cancellation has had on him, addresses the potential reasons for Next Caller‘s demise, shares some lessons from the experience and voices support for female comedy writers. Here is his post in his entirety.

Hey, you aspiring TV writers. It’s a hard job to crack into, but if you’re good enough and driven enough, it will happen for you. Don’t give up!

For if you work hard enough, someday you too may work on your own show for a year — from pitch to outline to script to pilot to the triumph of being picked up to series: the Golden Ticket. Then you might move across the country to actually make the show, hire a hundred actors and writers and crew members, and then in the middle of editing the 4th episode, get your show abruptly cancelled via late-night Friday phone call from Los Angeles. Then the fun part: you get to walk in shock back to your office — abandoning the confused editor waiting to lock the episode — and personally call all the actors and writers and crew and inform them the proverbial plug has been pulled and they no longer have a job, sorry. You will talk them through the tears and confusion — attempt to ameliorate the soon-to-be full-blown PTSD taking root already in them, all the while pre-knowing yours will go untreated and indeed sneak up on you weeks later. Do you clean out your office now? Do you wait — ? ****! But first you better go see about that one prop for episode 5 you had to approve — oh, yeah. None of that matters. Everything has stopped. This is the moment after the 10.0 earthquake. Suddenly, nothing is the same. You don’t have a show anymore. Twenty minutes ago it was what took up 17 hours of your day. 24 hours of your mental real estate. It literally doesn’t exist anymore. The frozen people of Vesuvius had more warning than you did.

Then you can hole up in your rented NYC apartment and sleep for a few weeks because you are so sleep deprived that you once fell asleep literally on your feet in the writers room. Also, you had to sign a 6-month lease so you’re paying for the place anyway and you’re also, you know, paralyzed. And then a hurricane might hit and you can sit in the dark for 5 days and throw out your food and attempt to soothe your dog who is traumatized by the dark and the constant wailing sirens. Eventually you will pack up your apartment and drive three-thousand miles back across the country with your dog (because she is afraid to go in a crate in a plane) and after a number of days noting the varied and constantly-changing topography of the country, listening to podcasts or music or just the sound of the motor and the snoring of your dog in the front seat next to you, you too might find yourself in a shithole Arizona motel eating Taco Bell and watching Zooey Deschanel on Letterman and drinking a bottle of Jameson’s you smartly got back at an Albertson’s in Gallup, New Mexico, not knowing when you’d find another store selling anything but beer, and realizing you’ve been avoiding writing any of this down because you are no longer an employed professional writer so have no pulpit from which to give advice. You assume you will work again, but the fatalistic side of you will be tempted to Google “professions” and see if you have any aptitude for anything other than writing. (You don’t.)

Okay, so this is clearly my indirect, cowardly way to get into finally talking about what happened to me when my midseason NBC sitcom Next Caller, was abruptly “cancelled” before it even aired a few weeks ago. As to why the decision was made to peacock us: there are many theories and reasons and sub-reasons — many having to do with them having no place for us with 5 midseason shows and never really committing to us that much in the first place by only ordering six episodes, and needing to focus advertising dollars on other shows that were working when some of their other new shows didn’t. But what it comes down to in the end is, I think, that they just didn’t like what I was doing that much.

And I say “I,” because I was not only the creator and showrunner, but the sole Executive Producer as well. So the blame falls squarely on me; which is how I wanted it. Of course this is not fair or the whole story. There is a larger discussion that has to do with network expectations verses the Creative’s expectations; the wisdom of holding to what you deem good vs. What They Want; making yourself laugh first. But I won’t have that argument here because I would like to work again and because I will get too angry and passionate and I can’t type fast enough. (But if you corner me and get a few drinks in me I will be happy to have the discussion/rant in private.) I don’t really blame anyone. The network executives are people doing a difficult job. People I mostly really like. I was a first-time showrunner 3,000 miles away — naturally it was not the most comfortable position for them. They couldn’t really keep an eye on me or give me notes in person. I wish they could have, though. If you’ve ever been separated from a romantic partner, let’s say, you know how impossible real communication is long distance. Sure you can Skype your tits or whatever, but real conversation is often strained and intentions and meanings somehow confused and corrupted by the distance and maybe also by the satellites the words have to bounce off to reach their intended targets. We are monkeys who need to look into each other’s faces to gauge true intent, and on speakerphone with 11 people (9 of whom you haven’t met) giving you notes on something you’ve made your whole writing staff stay up until 3am working on in the room, miscommunication can be the only outcome.

I am of course bummed out for myself and my bank account and my career and the resulting “waste” of a full year of my life (during which I was balancing not only making my own show but being Co-EP on the final season of Weeds). But mostly I’m really sad that the audience won’t get to see the show we made (and were in the process of making), because I managed, through fortune and hours and hours of reading scripts and taking meetings, to hire an extraordinary writing staff of fun, awesome, cool, talented writers — all of whom I plan to continue to be friends with. (Seriously, this was a good staff, and I put them through the paces; many moved across the country just to do this show; I put relationships in jeopardy for some of these folks. Whatever. They’re awesome.) The actors were similarly fantastic. Collette Wolfe is a dream. I hired her based on seeing her in Young Adult — a movie in which I think she stole the show in a 5-minute role. Collette will go on to have a crazy career and this will be but a blip. But hopefully a fun blip. Dane Cook is a natural and the nicest, most easy-going, hard working, ethical guy you could hope to meet — who also happens to live in a house that almost literally looks down on all of us. (I know some people might not like his stand-up, but he’s really good at it. Test your old opinions: go see him at the Comedy Store some night; test your old MySpace-days prejudice). Working with Jeffrey Tambor — an actor who has been in two of Top Ten sitcoms of all time — will probably be the highlight of my career. He is the nicest, most interesting, inquisitive, playful, insightful, smart man around. And not only are Joy Osmanski and Desmin Borges, Chris Perfetti and Trey Gerrald all stupendous actors, I have no doubt I will be friends with them for years to come. I will miss all of them, and already do.

This has gone on longer than I intended. I don’t love talking about my personal life that much on the Internet, but I have to get over the fact that it’s not narcissistic to acknowledge that there are some people who read my stuff and are genuinely curious and wonder what the **** happened with Next Caller. So that’s it. That’s the story. Tomorrow I will drive through the rest of Arizona and California and arrive at my house in Los Feliz, unpack, return the rental car, and try to figure out what’s next. I’m not starting from a dead stop — ironically I have yet another pilot at NBC that I wrote with my old Weeds boss Jenji Kohan that is still “in the mix,” and an old Showtime pilot I wrote that suddenly five years later has new life — but the future is, for the first time in many years, completely open and thus, terrifying.

Still want to be a writer? Of course you do. Hopefully my tale of woe sounds exciting and like a hard-shell-taco-and-whiskey you’d happy to swallow (otherwise, quit now). Good. Now go write some more. (I recommend Swork in Eagle Rock if you need a good writing cafe.)

Thanks for reading,

Stephen Falk. (Sent from outside a Starbucks in Flagstaff, AZ.)

PS: I will brag about something for a second, though. I can now say with certainty: if you ever find yourself in the position to get to put together a comedy writing staff, and then you complain that you can’t find enough funny women… Nay, if you already have a show on the air and you have like 12 guys and 2 women: you didn’t look hard enough. I insisted on having as near even as possible ratio of females to males (not including me they were 5:4), and aside from getting to be smug about it, it just makes for better energy and perspective in the room to have an even gender balance. Do it.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/next-caller-creator-sounds-off-on-series-demise/

TV Notes
Canceled shows: Does your outrage matter?
By Lynette Rice, EW.com's 'Inside TV' Blog - Nov. 17, 2012

In the last 24 hours, two broadcast nets yanked three new series off the air –ABC’s 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort, and CBS’ Partners. Though low ratings typically justify the premature deaths, that’s little consolation to viewers who connected early to the programs (or in this case, at least one of them).

“Really sad about Last Resort!” wrote a reader named Jess on the EW message board. “I love that show and I think it’s one of the better ones on TV these days.” This from someone named T Money: “I can’t believe they cancelled Last Resort. It’s So. Good. And it was steadily getting better and better after a shaky couple of episodes.” And then there was this from CRC: “That’s a shame — Last Resort had potential, IMO. 9.2 million on Thursdays at 8/7c (a crazy, over-loaded time slot) is respectable, and ABC really hasn’t done much better than that in that time slot for a long time. In a time-shifting TV economy, not sure what they expect?”

Well, the network is probably expecting a barrage of emails to save Andre Braugher and Co. – not that such an effort would likely matter. The broadcast networks are now conditioned to recognize a manufactured ”Save Our Show” campaign when they see one — especially when it looks like a digitally savvy person has ginned up “widespread outrage” by sending the same email, again and again. ”It becomes white noise,” says one exec. “If a show is headed for the gallows for creative, cost, or sales reasons,” says another longtime suit, “all the missives are the equivalent of pissing in the wind.”

That said, fans of Jericho were able to get the attention of the CBS brass in 2007 because their emails were personal and heartfelt, says one insider. (They also sent lots of peanuts). And NBC gave Chuck an umpteenth lease on life last season when fans showed support for a Zachary Levi comeback by buying turkey footlongs at Subway. “With a mixture of pride and awe I can tell you: Chuck was saved by sandwiches,” Co-Creator Josh Schwartz wrote in EW last January. “And by the greatest, most passionate fans in the universe.”

Before you start sending submarine sandwiches to ABC, Last Resort fans, consider this: it’s going to take hundreds of thousands of hoagies to get the net to reverse its decision. “So you get 20,000 letters,” says one suit about campaigns. “ You need 10 times that to make a difference.”

But hey, nothing’s impossible: Fans today have a weapon in their arsenal that wasn’t available during the days of Jericho — the colossal power of social media. No one has yet to take advantage of Twitter and Facebook in an effort to save a new show and some Last Resort lovers were already mobilizing on Creator Shawn Ryan’s feed on Friday.

“I think that fans should do whatever they feel like doing to express their frustration with the cancellation of a show,” offers one veteran programmer. “At the very least it exposes executives to the passion of viewers who invest their time and emotion in their shows. Having said that I feel that we are in a ‘have your cake and eat it too’ world where viewers don’t seem to grasp that we need to get ratings for these shows to offset their costs and that means fans watching shows live or within three days and watching the commercials. We still have definitions of hits and they are connected to monetizing shows. If viewers want to view shows on their own schedules then they can protest all they want. They have to be our partners in keeping their favorite shows alive.”

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/11/17/canceled-shows-last-resort/#more-109512

I don't know why no one answered you, but I know of two such sites - Zap TV and Titan TV. I haven't used either for quite a while, so you'll have to Google for addresses. Both will let you customize program pages, to show just the channels you want. When last I used them, one was always identical to Comcast listings, and the other seemed to get late updates better, and be more reliable when things change. I think Zap TV was the one with the later updates, but don't recall for certain. Check both. You might be better off going with the one that DOESN'T match your cable guide word-for-word with its descriptions, so that you have an alert when the program is in doubt.

American Chopper epitomizes everything wrong with reality TV. It started out great as a real-life story of a father and son creating some cool bikes, but eventually devolved into a series of manufactured 'dramas' and the epic tales of how dumb Mikey and friends could be. It became less and less about creating custom-built bikes in favor of bolting parts together and showing the endless fighting amongst the family (a lot of which was staged IMO).

This is the problem with 'reality' TV in general - you often never know what is real and what is only done because TV wanted it or because the cameras were there, and since real-life stories are often boring they make up stuff to make it interesting.

Deadliest Catch is one of the few reality shows that generally lives up to the promise, IMO.

Because he asked about seeing just movies.
The sites you listed give the entire lineup so for example it would show hbo with sports like boxing, shows like game of thrones, kids shows, talk shows etc.
He just mentioned he wants to see movies listed so its not really the same thing.

I was listening to a local morning radio show a few weeks ago. The hosts were interviewing a comedian who was appearing at a local comedy club that night who had appeared on Gene Simmons Family Jewels show a few times. The guy said that the entire show was scripted. Add in the revelation about HGTV's House Hunters shows last summer, I wouldn't doubt that the vast majority of these "unscripted" reality shows are fake.

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

Technology Notes
The Tablet Market Grows Cluttered
By Claire Cain Miller and Brian X. Chen, The New York Times - Nov. 19, 2012

Holiday shoppers with a tablet computer on their gift list this year might be forgiven for feeling a little panicked.

Look at the tablets available online or at a consumer electronics store and it can be dizzying to choose from among the dozens of slim rectangles with touch screens — each with various sizes, features, prices and applications.

Tablets were supposed to be a simple alternative to the bloated personal computer market. And when “tablet” was synonymous with “iPad,” that was true.

But this is the first holiday season in which the iPad faces competitors that have built up a solid footing in the market. Amazon and Google introduced tablets just in time for the shopping rush. As a result, many consumers and analysts say, the new market of keyboardless computers is quickly becoming as confusing as that of the old-school PC.

“What’s different about this holiday season is that consumers have not just more choice, but really good choices,” said Sarah Rotman Epps, who studies consumer computing trends at Forrester. “There have been many iPad wannabes but no real quality alternatives, and now there are several.”

While choice is a good thing for consumers, she said, it also makes shopping “confusing and complicated.”

For the companies that make tablets, the choice means everything. The stakes are much higher than the sale of individual devices. Each company is trying to snag lifelong customers for their other products — like music, apps, e-books, movies, Web search or word-processing software.

While Apple has dominated the market until now, selling more tablets than any other company, its perch is being threatened by the newcomers.

“Apple left a lot of room for rivals to grow,” said Tero Kuittinen, an independent mobile analyst.

By keeping its tablet prices so high, he said, Apple could lose its place as the biggest tablet seller, just as it did with smartphones when it lost the first-place position to Samsung, which makes less expensive phones using Google’s Android software. The iPad still dominates the market with a 50 percent share, according to third-quarter figures from the research firm IDC, but that is down from 60 percent a year ago. Samsung is in second place with an 18 percent share, Amazon is third with 9 percent, and Asus, which makes Google’s Nexus 7 tablet, is in fourth with 8.6 percent of the market.

But Google, which makes the vast majority of its revenue on Web ads, still lags in the tablet market, even though sales of its Nexus 7 tablet are approaching one million a month, according to Asus. About 98 percent of Web traffic from tablets comes from iPads, according to Onswipe, a digital publishing company. Google would like more of that traffic, as well as more buyers for apps and media from its Google Play store, as would Amazon and Microsoft.

“The first decision you make is what ecosystem am I in, do I want the Android Play store and content or some other?” said Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s vice president for engineering for Android. “So the importance of the ecosystem can’t be overstated.”

But the decisions after that are still complex.

Say, for example, that you want a tablet that runs Google’s Android operating system. There is the Nexus 7, a seven-inch tablet made by Asus, and the Nexus 10, a 10-inch tablet made by Samsung. Then there are the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (not to be confused with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, a 5.5-inch smartphone). And that’s not to mention the dozens of Android tablets made by Lenovo, Toshiba and others.

This year, Microsoft also has a tablet, called Surface. Amazon has the Kindle Fire and Fire HD, and Barnes & Noble has the Nook HD and HD+. Once shoppers choose one, they have more choices to make, like whether they want to pay $15 more for the privilege of not seeing ads on the Kindle Fire.

Even Apple, which has always prided itself on having simple product lines, now offers the new iPad, the older iPad 2 and the iPad Mini. If you factor in the various amounts of storage and the choice of cellular data or just Wi-Fi, there are essentially 14 iPad models to choose from.

Complicating the decision on hardware, different tablets connect to different online stores for apps, music and video. If you have built your music and app collection on Apple devices, an Android tablet may mean starting from scratch, and vice versa.

The proliferation of products is nothing new for a mature market, as anyone who has stood in front of a wall of televisions at Best Buy or in a parking lot of Priuses at a Toyota dealership knows.

But some consumer electronics companies that have given their customers too many options have run into trouble, said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee. They include Motorola Mobility, which is trying to rescue its cellphone business by paring its lineup of 27 devices, and Research in Motion, which offers a perplexing matrix of BlackBerrys with confusing names, like the BlackBerry Torch 9810, 9850 and 9860.

Google in particular runs this risk, said Michael Gartenberg, a technology analyst at Gartner, because it gives away its Android operating system to any device manufacturer that wants to use it, resulting in an uncontrolled array of Android devices running different versions of the software. Some apps will work only with particular versions, making it difficult to know exactly what you are getting.

Google has tried to address this problem in recent months. It gave its line of Nexus products names corresponding to their screen size and began selling them in its Play store. (Google teams up with manufacturers to build the Nexus devices.) It began running ads for the tablets online, on billboards, in print and on television, which had been rare for the company, and assigned a public relations employee to focus on selling hardware to consumers.

“I don’t think the added choice is adding complexity,” said Mr. Lockheimer of Google. “If you want to do the research, you can do it, but if you don’t want to, you can just ignore all that and get the thing your friend or family member recommended.”

For shoppers inclined to do the research, many Web sites and apps, including those from CNet, Retrevo, Decide.com and Consumer Reports, can help.

“Even those of us who eat and breathe tech, we’re still confused,” said Lawrence Fong, co-founder of BuyVia, a shopping app that compares products, including tablets. “That’s why we’re explaining each product in plain English.”

The default choice for shoppers, Ms. Rotman Epps said, is often an iPad. “It is a road-tested product, it comes with the Apple quality halo around Apple’s brand, and it’s leagues ahead in terms of the apps available for it,” she said.

But iPads are more expensive than other tablets. They range from $330 for the least expensive iPad Mini to $830 for a 64-gigabyte iPad with cellular data and Wi-Fi.

Google and Amazon advertise their tablets as offering the best value. The Nexus 7 starts at $200 and the Kindle Fire starts around $160.

Microsoft says the Surface, which starts at $500, is better for getting work done, because you can hook up a mouse, type more easily with an add-on keyboard and cover, and use some Office applications.

But the bold design of Microsoft’s new tablet software and hardware could be too confusing for Windows users, who tend to be less tech-savvy, Ms. Rotman Epps said. “Given the profile of who wants to buy a Windows tablet, complexity is not a good thing,” she said.

For many people, the biggest factor to consider when choosing a tablet is where it takes them once they turn it on — that is, which services, apps and stores selling books and music they can use.

“We’ve been in love with the glass,” said Mark Curtis, chief client officer at Fjord, a mobile design firm. “Now we’re going to fall in love with what’s behind the glass. It’s about the services they can offer.”

And, as often happens when a market matures and becomes saturated, companies are beginning to look beyond tablets to the next generation of devices, which might be worn on people’s bodies or installed in their homes, Mr. Curtis said.

If you think this year’s holiday shopping list is complicated, wait until next year, when it might include Internet-connected watches, eyeglasses or coffee pots.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/technology/which-tablet-to-buy-among-dozens-confuses-shoppers.html?hp

I'm sorry, but it's just TV. I will be honest I have/had no interest in these two shows, but shows get cancelled all the time. Anyone older than 12 or 13 should be aware of how networks work, nothing is guaranteed. Perhaps I'm more than a little cynical but I don't usually buy into a show until I know it's going to be around for a while. I hate to say this but people if these shows mean that much to you you might want to give the ramifications of that a bit of thought. It's just TV....

TV Notes
Jimmy Kimmel Explains His Hatred for Jay Leno
By Jordan Zakarin, The Hollywood Reporter's 'Live Feed' Blog - Nov. 17, 2012

In the late night wars, there is Jay Leno on one side, and everybody else on the other.

Leno has twice been named the host of the Tonight Show: in 1992, when he won the job over Johnny Carson's heir apparent, David Letterman; and in 2010, when he negotiated to get the show back after briefly handing it off to Conan O'Brien. Neither late night host has many good things to say about him -- Letterman as made a two-decade sport out of ripping Leno -- but perhaps no one is as openly hostile to him as ABC's Jimmy Kimmel.

In a new interview with Larry King, Kimmel details the origins of that animus.

"For me, it started with Letterman, and it started with a guy, at least from my standpoint, became famous on the Letterman Show," he said. "I always felt weird about how Jay got that 11:30 spot. Of course, that was NBC's decision, but the whole thing seemed pre-meditated to me."

It should come as no surprise that Kimmel resented Leno for that situation; Letterman was his childhood hero.

Back in August, Kimmel openly said of Leno "F--- him!" to an audience in New York, and in 2010, donned a prosthetic chin and makeup to impersonate -- in a less than kind manner -- the Tonight Show host.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jimmy-kimmel-explains-his-hatred-391704

Nielsen Notes (Broadcast)
Broadcast’s big hurt this fall: Dramas
The top shows are aging, the new ones aren't catching on
By Louisa Ada Seltzer, Media Life Magazine - Npv. 16, 2012

If last TV season was notable for how well comedies performed, this season may be notable for how much dramas are struggling.

Only two dramas rank among the top 10 shows on TV this fall, and just three dramas are among fall’s top 10 scripted shows.

This issue should sound familiar. After all, comedy went through a similar down cycle a few years ago before the success of "Modern Family," "2 Broke Girls" and "New Girl" helped revive the genre.

In fact, this sort of cycle has been seen for decades. Dramas and comedies seem to alternate ups and downs, while other genres like reality, sci fi or game shows pop in occasionally.

It only takes a couple of hits to turn the cycle around.

Dramas' problem seems to be a combination of aging dramas whose ratings are naturally eroding, a lack of compelling new dramas to take their place, and increased competition from cable.

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and CBS’s “NCIS,” both at least nine years old, are the top dramas on broadcast this fall, tied for No. 9 overall with a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating apiece, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day-DVR-playback data.

By comparison, the top scripted show on TV, the ABC sitcom “Modern Family,” is averaging a 4.8.

Just one new drama ranks in the top 20, NBC’s “Revolution,” which is drawing a 3.2 rating.

A number of other new dramas are struggling. ABC’s “666 Park Avenue” and “Last Resort,” for example, are averaging just 1.7. [ED. ABC cancelled these shows late Friday afternoon]

CBS already canceled one of its three new dramas, “Made in Jersey,” which drew a 0.8 in its second of just two episodes.

And some new dramas, including ABC’s “Nashville” and CBS’s “Elementary,” have not lived up to their preseason hype.

No less worrisome for the networks is the number of aging dramas on broadcast. Aging shows’ audiences naturally decline, and these shows take up a lot of primetime real estate. Fifteen dramas on the Big Five are in their fifth season or later.

Finally, these shows are facing more competition than ever on cable, where storylines and language are often more graphic and thus, to some viewers, more appealing.

AMC’s zombie drama “The Walking Dead” is the No. 1 drama this fall among 18-49s on broadcast or cable, the first time a cable show has achieved that feat during the regular season. And shows like FX’s “American Horror Story” and Showtime’s “Homeland” have seen big viewership gains.

Still, there’s some small hope for broadcast that midseason will bring a bump for dramas. Fox has the highly anticipated new drama “The Following,” and CBS will air “Elementary” behind the Super Bowl, which is sure to give the program a kick.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/broadcasts-big-hurt-this-fall-dramas/
Edited by dad1153 - 11/18/12 at 10:06pm

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Nov. 19, 2012

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Joe Manganiello, who plays an enviously toned werewolf in HBO’s True Blood, reprises a pre-Blood role by returning to this sitcom as Brad, one of Marshall’s old law-school classmates. But this time, it’s a much less flattering role, and even requires some padding because Brad, apparently, has let himself go.

THE VOICE
NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Just noting: It’s down to the Top 10 singers on this show – which means, if you’re at all interested in the goings-on here but have stopped watching during the interminable middle-act interim, it’s about time to tune in again.

THE DUST BOWL
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
PREMIERE: Part 2 of 2. The latest Ken Burns and company documentary concludes – and, once again, leaves us thinking not only about the past, but about the present. The Dust Bowl offers startling images, touching commentaries, and lessons about expansion, construction and greed that are still worth learning. For a full review, see David Sicilia’s TV Moneyland. Check local listings.

LONESOME DOVE
Encore, 8:00 p.m. ET
Part 1 of 4. This 1989 Western epic is one of the last truly great miniseries. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones star, in Larry McMurtry’s story of Texas Rangers past their prime – but still prime examples of fascinating characters. If you’ve never watched this, treat yourself. If you have – well, treat yourself again. Runs nightly through Thursday.

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is a newly restored print of the 1965 David Lean epic, an Oscar-winner starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. Based on Boris Pasternak’s novel.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

Well, he could personalize it so that just the channels he has that show movies would be displayed. That should be close enough. But you're correct, of course. It would show everything on those channels.

TV/Technology Notes
Nintendo Wii U's video, TV features delayed
By Ben Fritz, Los Angeles Times' 'Company Town' Blog

Nintendo's plans to make its Wii U a new way to watch TV and movies are on hold, at least for a few weeks.

After previously saying the features would be available when the new video game console goes on sale Sunday, Nintendo said Friday that the Wii U's video-on-demand and interactive TV options will come online later.

The Japanese video game giant said the Wii U's ability to interface with popular Internet VOD services such as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu Plus will launch in "the coming weeks."

A much-touted application, called TVii, that lets users browse, select and interact with television shows and sporting events will become available sometime in December, the company said.

The delays are a blow for Nintendo as it prepares for the high-stakes launch of the Wii U on Sunday. Sales of the company's previous living-room console, the Wii, faded quickly after a fast start.

Nintendo needs to regain the interest of gamers who now spend most of their time on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3. Both of those devices feature an array of video-on-demand features, along with better graphics than the Wii.

Still, the Wii U's success or failure rests largely on gamers' interest in its new controller, which features a touchscreen that measures 6.2 inches diagonally and can show different video than what appears on a television in order to add new perspective on a game.

The console has 29 titles available at launch, including exclusives such as "New Super Mario Bros. U" and "Sing Party" as well as altered versions of games already popular on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, including "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" and "Batman: Arkham City."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-wiiu-nintendo-tvii-20121116,0,441344.story

TV Notes
Nicollette Sheridan's 'Desperate Housewives' appeal denied
By Lynette Rice, EW.com's 'Inside TV' Blog - Nov. 18, 2012

More bummer news for former Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan: The actress’ appeal to the California Supreme Court regarding to her wrongful termination lawsuit against ABC was denied.

The response on Friday by the judge was brief, according to Deadline. Three months ago, Sheridan’s petition for a new hearing was given a thumbs-down by the California 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Sheridan first filed a lawsuit in April 2010 that claimed she was fired after complaining that series creator Marc Cherry hit her during an on-set argument. It ended in a mistrial last March.

Housewives concluded its eight-season run earlier this year.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/11/18/nicollette-sheridans-desperate-housewives-appeal-denied/

TV Notes
Starz Drama 'Spartacus' Adds A New Warrior: Julius Caesar
By Christopher John Farley, Wall Street Journal - Nov. 18, 2012

The Starz action drama "Spartacus" is ramping up its historical star power by adding Gaius Julius Caesar to the cast of characters. A problem: There is no hard evidence that Caesar actually participated in the war to put down Spartacus's famous gladiator rebellion against the Roman state.

But the cable channel isn't letting lack of proof stand in the way of its plan to turn Caesar into a Roman Empire-era action hero—and, perhaps surprisingly, some historians seem to be on the television show's side.

The addition of Caesar is one of a number of moves that Starz LLC—a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp. —is making to help promote and market the final season of the show, which is titled "Spartacus: War of the Damned" and premieres on Jan. 25.

The graphically violent series tells the fact-based story of Spartacus, a real-life gladiator who led a slave uprising against Rome between 73-71 B.C. In part because the rebellion had an established time frame, producers decided to wrap up the TV adaptation in the third season rather than draw it out.

The TV series made its premiere in 2010 with actor Andy Whitfield in the title role, and after Mr. Whitfield became ill, Liam McIntyre took over the part (Mr. Whifield died in 2011 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma).

More than six million people have viewed each episode of the show, according to Starz.

"The thing that made this season a little different is that we knew it was the final season and we had to give the story structure," "Spartacus" creator Steven S. DeKnight said in an interview. "So I had to take a look at history and move some events around. This season, more than any other, deviates a bit from history…We like to say it was historically adjacent."

The "Spartacus" TV series has launched two books published by Titan Publishing Group's Titan Books, a board game, apparel, calendars and Halloween costumes. Starz has a partnership with Ubisoft Entertainment for a coming videogame titled "Spartacus Legends," and a DVD of the new season is expected to be released in September. Starz wouldn't release financial details but a representative said that "the global licensing represents a significant revenue source for the company."

For the new season, several new actors were added to the cast, including Simon Merrells as the Roman general Marcus Crassus and 27-year-old Australian actor Todd Lasance as Caesar.

Mr. Lasance says his youthful take on the role won't resemble the elderly, doomed dictator from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." In this series, Caesar is more of a warrior than a politician, romancing women, planning battles and even wielding a sword. "It's a really hard-hitting version of Caesar," Mr. Lasance says.

Philip Freeman, a professor in the classics department at Iowa's Luther College and author of the biography "Julius Caesar," says there is no direct evidence from ancient sources that Caesar served in the war against Spartacus. "Caesar does mention the Spartacus war in his later writings, but never actually says he was there," Prof. Freeman said in an email.

Mr. DeKnight argues that because the historical record is silent on what Caesar was doing at the time of the Spartacus war, "that gave us enough leeway to say, 'Absolutely, he was involved.' Everything you see [in the show] with Caesar's involvement this year is pure speculation and pure historical fiction."

Prof. Freeman and other historians agree that, even absent hard evidence, it is reasonable to assume that Caesar may have played some part in the Spartacus war. "None of the [ancient] sources mention him going abroad for his military service during this time, so it is likely he served in Italy, where the Spartacus war was being fought," he said.

Barry Strauss, a professor of history and classics at Cornell University and the author of the book "The Spartacus War," said the Starz series has done a good job of portraying the brutality of Roman slavery and the courage of the rebels, even if the show has fudged many details. "'Spartacus' makes up characters and events and embellishes the little that is known about many of the historical figures," Prof. Strauss said in an email. "Then again, it's entertainment, not history, so I guess that's alright."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323353204578126943467165794.html

TV Notes
'Hunted' Canceled? Not So Fast, Says Cinemax
By Maureen Ryan, HuffingonPost.com

Is the Cinemax spy drama "Hunted" canceled? Well, that depends on what country you live in.

According to UK news reports, the BBC has chosen not to go further with the series, which didn't meet ratings expectations for the network.

But "Hunted" has more than one home, and Cinemax, the drama's US network and co-producer, still has plans for the Melissa George show. "Hunted" is midway through its first season, which was generally well-received on this side of the Atlantic.

"We are making plans with creator and executive producer Frank Spotnitz and star Melissa George to present a new chapter in the Sam Hunter mythology. We are very pleased with what 'Hunted' has done for Cinemax's brand and are very excited about what lies ahead," Kary Antholis, president of HBO miniseries and Cinemax programming, said in a statement released by Cinemax today.

I'm glad there's still life in "Hunted," for a few reasons: As I wrote in my review and in this piece, I think "Hunted" is a well-crafted espionage drama that manages to provide a lot of action and suspense as it also thoughtfully examines the implications of corporate espionage. It has a few flaws, sure, but overall it's a well-acted, atmospheric and worthwhile serialized drama -- and it's also a great showcase for excellent supporting performers such as Stephen Dillane and Patrick Malahide.

As it happens, I just recently finished catching up with the two seasons of "Strike Back" that aired on Cinemax in 2011 and 2012, and while that show is a much more straight-ahead action-adventure drama, it also has some interesting things to say about outsourced conflicts, damaged people and geopolitical dirty tricks. Smart yet escapist adventure that is unafraid of serialization is a very smart niche for Cinemax to fill, and I hope that "Hunted," which wraps up its debut season in a few weeks, remains part of it.

Based on the statement from the network, I'm hopeful that Sam has a future on alongside Section 20.

If you are watching "Hunted," or you're planning to catch up, return to this site after the season finale for an extensive interview with creator Frank Spotnitz that should answer many of the questions you might have. A non-spoilery section of my interview with Spotnitz is here, and a clip of "Game of Thrones" veteran Malahide in "Hunted" is on that post and below as well.

"Hunted" airs at 10 p.m. ET on Fridays on Cinemax.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/hunted-canceled_n_2138562.html

TV Sports
Notre Dame to national title game would be a boon for TV
By Michael Hiestand, USA Today - Nov. 18, 2012

The big weekend winners: College football's powers-that-be and ESPN.

Even as the Bowl Championship Series is refashioning itself into a four-team playoff and its championship game TV rights will go up for sale, Saturday night's upsets should lead to this season's title game getting record TV ratings.

The current record: The USC-Texas title game, after the 2005 season, which drew 21.7% of U.S. TV households.

But that could be topped with Notre Dame, which this season proved its TV drawing power was just dormant rather than dead, headed to ESPN's BCS title game if it can beat USC on Saturday. (ESPN/ABC folks will try to stay publicly neutral, but now they're all wearing Irish t-shirts under their suits.) And the table is set for ND's opponent to be the champion of the league that hovers somewhere between college football and the NFL, the Southeastern Conference (Alabama or Georgia).

NBC drew a 1.7 overnight rating, translating to 1.7% of the 56 urban TV markets measured for overnights, for Notre Dame's less-than-suspenseful 38-0 win Saturday against Wake Forest -- down 6% from comparable coverage of a Boston College-Notre Dame game last year.. But coming into the game, NBC's ND games averaged 3% of U.S. households -- up 76% from last year.

ESPN drew a respectable overnight for Baylor seemingly knocking Kansas State out of the BCS title picture Saturday night. The game drew a 2.2 overnight -- up 37% from comparable coverage of a Louisiana State-Mississippi game last year. And Oregon presumably being knocked out of the title picture Saturday by Stanford on ABC also did pretty well: It drew a 5.5 overnight, up 25% from regionalized coverage in the time slot last year.

Oregon and Kansas State, from relatively sparsely-populated states, might have produced a BCS title-game ratings bomb. Now, it looks like it was scripted.

Whither Gruden? After a CBS report Sunday that ESPN's Jon Gruden is preparing to return to coaching, Gruden was unavailable for comment. But ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer had this response: "Jon remains committed to ESPN. With a third of our Monday Night Football schedule still left this season, he's focused on his analyst role and preparation for our games."

CBS reporter Jason La Canfora was pretty specific Sunday, saying Gruden is putting together "candidates to join him on his staff" and is focused on college coaching -- with Arkansas and Tennessee "prepared to get into a bidding war over him."

Gruden last year signed a multi-year deal with ESPN, which, in turn, went all in with him by removing Ron Jaworski from the MNF booth. Gruden still could leave, given TV analysts with coaching prospects routinely get exit clauses in their TV deals.

But Gruden, who last coached in 2008, could go down as his generation's John Madden: After coaching success and going into TV at a relatively young age, Gruden might need a decade on-air before anybody believes he's not headed back to the sidelines.

New show: Jim Rome said Sunday that he has "never regretted leaving ESPN. Not once. I knew what I was signing up for. If I'd just swapped out a daily show for a daily show, I wouldn't have done it. But CBS was offering opportunities I wouldn't have gotten where I used to be."

Like his Jim Rome on Showtime, debuting on the CBS-owned premium cable channel Wednesday (10 p.m. ET). He says the show, on same-day tape after the first episode, will air six consecutive weeks -- scheduling hasn't been set after that.

Rome says the show will be different from the CBS Sports Network weekday show, which he describes succinctly: "Rant, interview, panel, rant, then 'see you tomorrow.' It's what I've done for 20 years. I like doing it and will keep doing it every single day. But this won't be the daily topical grind. ... I'll have people I would never normally talk to."

Wednesday's show will include actor Matthew Perry, athletes Aaron Rodgers, Tiki Barber, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher and movie producer and sports team investor Peter Guber.

Rome, whose CBS deal includes cameos on the broadcast network, suggests his latest venue will be sort of liberating: "It's premium cable, as opposed to basic cable, so I can push the envelope and do some things I haven't been able to do in the past."

Spice rack: ESPN's Hofheimer says NFL analyst Mike Ditka left the hospital Sunday after suffering "a minor stroke" Friday and will call in to ESPN's Mike & Mike in the Morning show Monday. ... MLB Network might be the next stop that Keith Olbermann eventually leaves after squabbles. But his appearances on MLBN's Hot Stove show Tuesday and Wednesday (9 a.m. ET) are being billed as cameos rather than the start of a regular gig. ... Fox studio analyst Jimmy Johnson on Sunday said Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Byron Leftwich, who subbed for the injured Ben Roethlisberger on NBC's Baltimore Ravens-Pittsburgh game Sunday night, has a release "you measure with a sun dial." And in CBS' studio, Shannon Sharpe told Dan Marino that Leftwich's release "makes Tim Tebow's release look like yours." Leftwich, on NBC's pregame, didn't exactly fight back: "I feel as though I can play a little bit." ... After the Fox NFL studio show aired video of Fox's Michael Strahan posing in costumes for People, which recently named him "the sexiest man alive," Fox studio host Curt Menefee noted the obvious: "The Village People called and you passed the audition."

Conference shuffle: An espn.com report that Maryland, from the ACC, and Rutgers, from the Big East, might join the Big Ten wouldn't seem to have many immediate TV implications.

Various networks declined comment Sunday, which isn't surprising as networks rarely want to publicly appear as rearranging college sports rather than covering them.

The moves might be good news for the conference's Big Ten Network in that it would likely add at least parts of two states to the channel's regional footprint -- and provide more overall TV tonnage. But it wouldn't be terribly good news for the Big East, whose TV rights are now up for grabs, as it alreadyhas lost some relatively mediagenic schools such as Syracuse and West Virginia.

Most national TV revenues going to conferences come from football. And ESPN/ABC's current ACC deal, running through 2017, only involves three football games per week. Meaning, Rutgers (9-1), now ranked No. 19 nationally, and Maryland (4-7) might not show up much on those marquee national TV games anyway.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2012/11/18/hiestand-tv-jim-rome-big-ten-network-college-football-ratings-jon-gruden-espn-notre-dame/1712249/

I never cared for Jay Leno either and as far as I am concerned the REAL Tonight show moved to CBS in 1993

OTOH

a)The long running NBC affiate in my area is now with CBS

b)the 2010 Super bowl ad for David's show that had JAY in it was real classy!

We all have our opinions.  For my part, the real Tonight Show ended in 1962.  Then it went down the W.C.

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

Nielsen Notes (Broadcast)
NBC scores another victory on Sunday
Ravens-Steelers game lifts network to a dominant victory
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - Nov. 18, 2012

ABC got a boost from the “American Music Awards,” and CBS was buoyed by football, but NBC still dominated another Sunday night with “Sunday Night Football.”

Last night’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens lifted NBC to a 4.9 adults 18-49 rating and 12 share in primetime, according to Nielsen overnights, 63 percent ahead of No. 2 CBS with a 3.0/8.

The game peaked with a 6.1 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. CBS also scored a 6.1 at 7 p.m. for runover from its 4 p.m. football games.

CBS had the night’s highest-rated non-football show with “60 Minutes,” which averaged a 4.1 from 7:30 to 8:30.

ABC’s “AMAs” drew a 3.6 from 8 to 11 p.m. That was down 21 percent from last year and marked an all-time low for the show, though it still boosted the network to its best Sunday night this season, with a 2.9/7.

With NBC, CBS and ABC finishing one-two-three for the night, Fox took fourth at 2.0/5, Univision fifth at 1.2/3 and Telemundo sixth 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-six percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

Also, ratings for NBC's NFL coverage are approximate as fast nationals measure timeslot and not actual program data.

CBS started the night in the lead with a 5.5 at 7 p.m. for NFL overrun and the start of "Minutes," followed by NBC with a 2.3 for "Football Night in America." ABC was third with a 1.7 for "America's Funniest Home Videos," Fox fourth with a 1.5 for a rerun of "Bob's Burgers" (1.3) and new "The Cleveland Show" (1.6), and Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth at 0.6, Univision for "Thalia… Habitame Siempre" and Telemundo for the movie "Shrek Forever After."

NBC moved to first at 8 p.m. with a 5.3 for football pregame and the start of "Sunday Night Football," and ABC moved up to second with a 3.2 for the first hour of the "AMAs." CBS was third with a 2.8 for the end of "Minutes" and start of "The Amazing Race," Fox fourth with a 2.2 for "The Simpsons" (2.5) and "Bob's Burgers" (1.8), Univision fifth with a 1.2 for "Mira Quien Baila" and Telemundo sixth with a 0.7 for its movie.

At 9 p.m. NBC was first again with a 6.0 for football, followed by ABC with a 3.5 for the "AMAs." Fox was third with a 2.3 for "Family Guy" (2.5) and "American Dad" (2.0), CBS fourth with a 2.2 for the end of "Race" and start of "The Good Wife," Univision fifth with a 1.6 for more "Baila" and Telemundo sixth with a 0.3 for "Yo Me Llamo."

NBC led again at 10 p.m. with a 5.9 for football, with ABC second with a 3.4 for the "AMAs." CBS was third with a 1.6 for the end of "Wife" and start of "The Mentalist," Univision fourth with a 1.3 for the end of "Baila" and start of "Sal y Pimienta," and Telemundo fifth with a 0.3 for more "Llamo."

CBS and NBC tied for first for the night among households, each with an 8.1 average overnight rating and a 12 share. ABC was third at 5.2/8, Fox fourth at 2.4/4, Univision fifth at 1.6/2 and Telemundo sixth at 0.5/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/nbc-scores-another-victory-on-sunday/

I'd say the show ended in 1992...

Thanks! I'll check those out.

Proves that audience is the most important. Trouble with politics is - when you get into it - you risk alienating a significant portion of your audience. Leno plays the middle. Letterman plays the left. I've always thought Letterman had the better show, but his politics turns off a huge segment of the audience. So, Leno wins.

I still remember the Dixie Chicks. Love them. They're friends. And they keep thinking radio boycotted them. We didn't. To this day, playing them sends a segment of the listenership punching the button for some other station. With today's minute-by-minute ratings, we can see it. It's suicide to send that big of a chunk of the audience elsewhere if your goal is mass appeal. If Letterman wasn't so obviously political, I'm sure it'd be more of a horse race.

Nielsen Notes (Cable)
Disney Channel's 'Sofia the First' TV Movie Pays Off in Ratings
By Michael Hiestand, USA Today - Nov. 18, 2012

Disney Channel found a ratings winner with animated TV movie Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess.

Featuring voice performances by Ariel Winter, Sara Ramirez, Wayne Brady and Tim Gunn, Sofia the First -- centered on a little girl who becomes a princess -- drove an impressive 5.2 million viewers to its Sunday premiere telecast.

The telepic became the top cable telecast among kids 2-5 in the past five years averaging 1.5 million viewers. More than 1.4 million who tuned in belonged in the adults 18-49 demo, with more than 3 million belonging in kids 2-11 and nearly 1 million in girls 2-5.

A Sofia the First series, following "Sofia's journey of becoming the best she can be, with relatable situational stories set in a magical world of castles, wizards and flying horses," will launch some time in January.

Craig Gerber developed the movie and is co-executive producer/story editor, with Jamie Mitchell as executive producer/director. John Kavanaugh is songwriter/music director and Kevin Kliesch is the composer.

Disney Channel will air encores of Sofia the First this Tuesday through Sunday. Disney Junior will also air the movie Thursday morning.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/disneys-sofia-first-ratings-393160

TV Notes
Sherman Hemsley to Get His Burial -- Four Months After His Death
By Tim Kenneally, TheWrap.com - Nov. 19, 2012

Sherman Hemsley will finally be laid to rest, nearly four months after dying at the age of 74.

Hemsley, who gained fame portraying cocky, cantankerous dry cleaner George Jefferson on "All in the Family" and, later, "The Jeffersons," will receive his funeral at noon on Wednesday at Cielo Vista Church in El Paso, Texas, where Hemsley died of lung cancer July 24.

The service will be open to the public, an employee at San Jose Funeral Home in El Paso told TheWrap.

Following the funeral, Hemsley will be buried at Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso.

Hemsley's burial was delayed by a prolonged dispute over his estate. While the actor had named longtime friend Flora Enchinton Bernal as his heir, Philadelphia resident Richard Thornton claimed to be Hemsley's brother. (According to Bernal, Hemsley, who was born in Philadelphia, had never mentioned any relatives in the past.)

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/sherman-hemsley-get-his-burial-four-months-after-his-death-65761