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'The Walking Dead': 4 Things Networks Can Learn From the Cable Show That's Beating Them

By Tim Molloy | The Wrap – 9 hours ago

TV's top drama is a grisly, sometimes sorrowful series that kills off characters as fast as it introduces them and almost never slows down to explain what's happening.

Networks could learn a lot from "The Walking Dead."

The AMC series, which ended the first half of its third season Sunday, currently has an average 5.32 rating in the key 18-49 demo. That's better than the rating for any show on television except for NBC's "Sunday Night Football."

Factoring in a whole week's ratings -- as networks do to account to DVR viewing -- "Walking Dead" slips behind "The Big Bang Theory" and "Modern Family" -- but just barely.

Maybe network shows should just have more zombies, or violence. "The Walking Dead" has definitely benefited from a national fascination with the undead and must show more intestines per episode than any show in TV history.

Also read: 'Walking Dead' Preview: Four Men and a Baby

But zombies and guts aren't the only reasons "Walking Dead" has a shot at finishing the season as TV's top series -- and will almost definitely be its top drama. Some viewers tune in for gruesome spectacle, while others watch through their fingers.

Successful new network dramas are rare – NBC's "Revolution" and CBS's "Elementary" are among the few this season. Those that take the most risks, like ABC's "Last Resort," are often quickly canceled. Dramas are especially big gambles for networks because they are much more expensive than reality shows and comedies.

But "The Walking Dead" makes the case for taking risks anyway -- from letting major characters die, to letting viewers sometimes turn to online friends for answers.

Here are four things network shows could learn from AMC's hit.

1. Surprise us. Asked for the main reason "The Walking Dead" is thriving, showrunner Glen Mazzara points to its unpredictability.

"The show feels grounded, it feels accessible. But it's also unpredictable, and it has a fast pace," he told TheWrap. "There was an article I read about the speed of storytelling on shows like 'Homeland' and 'The Walking Dead.' The things that usually would be saved and built to are being pulled up and sort of happening before the audience is ready.

"That's something that I learned on 'The Shield' -- a type of accelerated storytelling. Especially when you have a very hungry audience like this. We've had other versions of the show in the past that weren't as accelerated, and I think that led to a lot of audience frustration. I think that the pace of the storytelling is right now able to keep up with the audience's expectations."

The most unpredictable thing about "The Walking Dead"? Who lives and who dies. A willingness to kill major characters is perhaps the biggest difference between cable and network dramas. While networks may occasionally kill someone in a season finale, cable shows like "The Sopranos," "The Walking Dead," "Game of Thrones" and "Boardwalk Empire" have killed the characters we least expected, when we least expected.

2. Skip the backstory. Nothing slows down a story like too much explanation -- especially when it's repeated episode after episode, for viewers who haven't been watching or paying attention.

On "The Walking Dead," we don't even know what created walkers. And we don't need to know. This season, "The Walking Dead" provided some basic background in its season premiere -- and then kept moving.

"The beginning of the season reestablished all the characters and all the dynamics really quickly and gave everybody an entry point," Mazzara said. "I did anticipate that we would have new audience joining us. I thought maybe people would catch up on DVDs over hiatus or something like that. But now the train's running, and you just need to catch up. We're not going to keep going back and reestablishing the rules. I believe that the audience is on board."

3. Keep it simple. This one's tricky because, if anything, networks are too fond of simple, self-contained stories.

Networks are wary of serialized dramas like "Lost," "The Wire" and "Breaking Bad," which are most rewarding to those who watch every episode. It's incredibly satisfying to watch stories unspool over weeks or years. But it's harder for heavily serialized shows to draw in new viewers, or to play in syndication.

The self-contained nature of "CSI" episodes is one reason the show sells so well all over the world. But at their worst, sealed-off episodes limit character development and change.

"Walking Dead" is the rare show that successfully manages both self-contained and long-term stories, in part by surprising us and skipping needless backstory. It benefits from a simple setup -- people are trying to stay ahead of the zombies -- that lends itself to both small dramas (will they make it over the fence?) and big ones (should they bring a child into this world?)

"We never want to confuse things, and we certainly don't have a very complicated mythology," Mazzara said. "Part of what I like to do is to make sure every episode has a very clear mission and a very clear objective. …. Even though it is a serialized drama, every episode is hopefully satisfying within itself. ... I'm not interested in filler episodes that just connect this episode to that."

4. Leave room for debate. Shows dream of sparking the kind of online debates that make non-viewers want to join the fun. At the same time, shows are afraid of alienating new viewers with scenes that may require interpretation. "The Walking Dead" takes it as a given that viewers will go online for answers.

"Our audience communicates with each other," Mazzara said. "And they have access to all the actors through Twitter. For example, in [one] episode our guys are running through and they came across a cabin. And there's a guy suffering from some type of dementia in the cabin. Some of our audience thought that that guy was like Rip Van Winkle and was not aware that there zombies outside. Other people understand that he did suffer from dementia and was very confused that suddenly these people were in his house.

"So there were debates online: Who was this guy, what was this? We didn't need to explain it. The audience in a sense communicated and talked about it, and they were part of a community and they worked it out. I don't need to explain every single scene to people. Let people talk about it, let people discuss it. And maybe that scene works for some people, maybe it doesn't work for some people. We happen to like the scene and thought it was interesting.

"The audience figures things out. They're smart. They don't need to be spoon-fed."

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/walking-dead-4-things-networks-learn-cable-show-023052682.html

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Dec. 5, 2012

THE MIDDLE
ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Norm Macdonald returns as Mike’s brother Rusty in this holiday episode, which has the shifty sibling moving some furniture into the Heck garage – furniture that isn’t technically his. Meanwhile, Frankie (Patricia Heaton) gets hired at a department store for the holidays, just to take advantage of the employee discount. Sounds like a good plan – but there’s a catch. Bah, humbug.

LADIES OF LEISURE
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Here’s a rare telecast of an early, ahead-of-its-time talkie. Frank Capra directed this film in 1930, only three years after The Jazz Singer – and used Ladies of Leisure to showcase a stage actress who had a confident way with dialogue. The movie made her a star – and that star, in her first major movie appearance, is Barbara Stanwyck, playing a “party girl” who poses as a model for a young artist, then develops genuine feelings for him. Ralph Graves co-stars.

THE HOUR
BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET
Last week, in the Season 2 premiere, Hector (Dominic West) was seen partying with showgirl Kiki (Hannah Tointon). In tonight’s episode, he’s seen with her again – but under less pleasant circumstances. She’s been beaten up, and he’s been accused.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
It’s a Christmas episode for American Horror Story – but if you think that means warm and cuddly, you’ve never seen this series. But there’s an extra special reason to watch tonight: This hour, about a killer Santa running around in the asylum, features guest star Ian McShane, whom I still admire for his unparalleled work as Al Swearengen on Deadwood.

THE GRAMMY NOMINATIONS CONCERT LIVE
CBS, 10:00 p.m. ET
Taylor Swift and LL Cool J, the original hosts of this special five years ago, return as hosts of this live hour, in which the year’s Grammy nominations are announced – and which, this fear, emanates from Nashville for the first time. Even so, the program is a little bit country, and a little bit rock and roll. Country stars Dierks Bentley and The Band Perry are among the scheduled performers – but so are Maroon 5, fun., and, by satellite from New York, The Who.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

Business Notes
Time Warner CEO says consumers benefit from cable TV bundling
By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times - Dec. 4, 2012

Consumers may want to pick and choose what channels they pay for but Time Warner Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes says they don't know how good they have it under the current pay-television system.

"I don't think it's desirable for consumers to break the bundle," Bewkes said in remarks at the UBS Media and Communications Conference in New York on Tuesday. "You end up paying more for less."

The bundle, which is industry lingo for how cable networks are packaged and sold to distributors and customers, has become a hot topic of late because of rising pay-TV bills. On Monday, Glenn Britt, the chief executive of Time Warner Cable, which is a separate publicly traded company, warned that he was looking to drop underperforming channels.

"This stuff is just starting to cost too much. If we as a broader industry want to keep this going we need to get the prices of packages lower," Britt said.

The majority of cable networks are owned by a handful of media giants including Time Warner Inc., News Corp., Viacom and Walt Disney. Typically, these companies package all their channels together. While a pay-TV distributor may end up getting a discount on a highly rated channel through this method it also usually means carrying less popular channels as well.

"They have to figure out who gets the money and who drives the value -- we think that’s us," Bewkes said.

Time Warner's cable properties include TNT, CNN, TBS and TruTV. Bewkes reiterated that he expects "double-digit" rate increases in future contracts for those channels from distributors. TNT already gets more than $1 per subscriber per month from cable and satellite operators, according to SNL Kagan, an industry consulting firm.

With regards to the issue of people watching less live television, Bewkes noted the number of consumers watching content on platforms other than television is growing and media companies are getting paid for it.

"The monetization of the viewing is taking place even if the measurement hasn’t caught up," Bewkes said.

"This is supposed to be an erratic business of hits and misses -- well not for us."

As for CNN, which last week named former NBCUniversal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker as its new worldwide president, Bewkes said the all-news channel needs to be "much more expansive" in what it covers and not "reduce news coverage to political subjects."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-bewkes-ubs-20121204,0,7875820.story

TV Review
Passing the Class, but Failing the Test of Honesty
By Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times - Dec. 5, 2012

By the end of “Faking the Grade: Classroom Cheaters,” there is little doubt that we are a nation of weasels. What is misleading in this CNBC special, to be broadcast on Wednesday, is the implication that this is a 21st-century phenomenon.

The program looks at cheating in schools and universities, cataloging a dismaying array of examples not only by students but also by parents who helped their children cheat and by teachers who falsified grades to make their institutions look better. The litany is accompanied by observations from familiar talking heads like Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who identifies the real culprit: parents who ignore their children in favor of electronic devices.

“If they try to talk to you, and you’re looking at your BlackBerry, then you’re giving them the message that my business contacts mean more to me than you do,” he says. “And as they internalize that lack of attention, and as they internalize that neglect, they will also do anything to be successful in order to get attention.”

Gee, Dad, I’m sorry I got expelled, but it’s your iPhone’s fault? This kind of facile nonsense, along with a visit to a store that sells high-tech gizmos, like tiny transmitters, that might help a student cheat, leaves the impression that cheating is unique to our digital, godless, permissive-parent-infested age.

But modern 14-year-olds hardly invented cheating. As the program itself notes, though some recent cheating scandals have involved cellphones and such, decidedly low-tech methods are also common. The first student to lean over and copy a smart neighbor’s answer sheet was probably using a chisel and a stone tablet.

The lack of historical perspective is disappointing, but the program does make a commendable, if brief, effort to look beyond the well-publicized scandals it revisits. It is at its best when discussing whether the kind of testing that brings out the cheater in students is valuable or relevant to the real world. Especially in the information age, memorizing information and repeating it on command may be less vital than knowing where to look it up and how to relate it to life.

“We need to give kids the message that it’s the learning that’s important,” one mother says, “and it’s not passing these tests.”

Faking the Grade: Classroom Cheaters
CNBC, Wednesday night at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time.

http://tv.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/arts/television/faking-the-grade-classroom-cheaters-on-cnbc.html?ref=television&_r=0

TUESDAY'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)
Undie oomph: ‘Victoria’s Secret’ is top show
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - Dec. 5, 2012

Although this year’s “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” underperformed (or is it undie-performed?) last year’s record-setter, the special was still the highest-rated show on broadcast last night, and it led CBS to a nightly win.

“Secret” averaged a 3.5 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, finishing a tenth ahead of the No. 2 show on the night, NBC’s “The Voice,” which drew a 3.4.

That was down 24 percent from the record-high 4.6 that last year’s show attracted. But CBS dominated the timeslot, topping the combined rating of NBC’s “Parenthood” (1.7) and ABC’s “Private Practice” (1.2).

CBS’s “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” averaged a 2.9 at 8 p.m., off sharply from last year’s 4.0 but still tying ABC’s “Charlie Brown Christmas” as the top holiday special so far this season. It earned a 4.8 in kids 2-11.

Elsewhere last night, “Go On” had its biggest margin of victory yet over Fox’s “New Girl,” drawing a 2.5 in 18-49s to the latter’s 2.0 at 9 p.m. “On” matched its best rating since Oct. 9 while “Girl” was down 11 percent week to week.

ABC aired a special edition of “Shark Tank,” which usually broadcasts on Friday night, at 8 p.m. The show averaged a 1.7 in a tough hour against “Voice” and CBS’s “Rudolph,” and it pulled its second-biggest audience ever in total viewers, 6.9 million.

CBS was first for the night among 18-49s with a 2.8 average overnight rating and an 8 share. NBC was second at 2.4/7, Fox and Univision tied for third at 1.5/4, ABC was fifth at 1.4/4, and CW and Telemundo tied for 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.

NBC started the night in the lead with a 3.4 at 8 p.m. for "Voice," followed by CBS with a 2.9 for "Rudolph." ABC was third with a 1.7 for "Shark," Univision fourth with a 1.6 for "Por Ella Soy Eva," Fox fifth with a 1.3 for "Raising Hope" (1.4) and "Ben and Kate" (1.1), CW sixth with a 0.6 for "Hart of Dixie" and Telemundo seventh with a 0.5 for "Rosa Diamante."

At 9 p.m. NBC led again with a 2.1 for "Go" (2.5) and "The New Normal" (1.7), while CBS remained second with a 2.0 for a repeat of "NCIS." Fox was third with a 1.7 for "Girl" (2.0) and "The Mindy Project" (1.3), Univision fourth with a 1.5 for "Amores Verdaderos," ABC fifth with a 1.2 for "Happy Endings" (1.3) and "Don't Trust the B—- in Apartment 23" (1.2), Telemundo sixth with a 0.6 for "Corazon Valiente" and CW seventh with a 0.4 for "Emily Owens, M.D."

CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 3.5 for "Secret," with NBC second with a 1.7 for "Parenthood." Univision was third with a 1.3 for "Amor Bravio," ABC fourth with a 1.2 for "Private Practice" and Telemundo fifth with a 0.5 for "Pablo Escobar: El Patron del Mal" (0.7) and "El Rostro de la Venganza" (0.4).

CBS also finished first for the night among households with a 6.1 average overnight rating and a 10 share. NBC was second at 4.7/7, ABC third at 3.2/5, Fox fourth at 2.0/3, Univision fifth at 1.8/3, CW sixth at 1.1/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.7/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/undie-oomph-victorias-secret-is-top-show/

TV Notes
ABC Orders Paranormal Investigation Drama Series ‘Weird Desk’ For Next Summer
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Dec. 5, 2012

After having the gals covered next summer with soap Mistresses, ABC also is setting up a show for the guys. The network has given a 13-episode straight-to-series order to mystery supernatural/UFO drama Weird Desk for summer 2013. The show hails from Christina Jennings’ Canadian production company Shaftesbury, which has a U.S. division.

Written by Carl Binder (Stargate) and David Titcher (The Librarian), Weird Desk is in the vein of The X Files. Based on the alleged real-life mysteries from this world and beyond, it centers on the workings of a clandestine organization rumored to be named “Weird Desk.” Working above the levels of top secret and above the office of the President, the unit is the destination for mysterious intelligence rerouted from the CIA and NSA. Tasked with investigating and solving occurrences of the paranormal, supernatural and sometimes extra-terrestrial, “Weird Desk” is led by Morgan, an obstinate, socially inept and brilliant man who would now be dead if it weren’t for his special forces trained partner, Rosetta. Produced by Shaftesbury and distributed by ABC Studios, Weird Desk is executive produced by Shaftesbury US co-heads Tom Mazza and Maggie Murphy.

This marks the first major US network deal for Shaftesbury since launching a U.S. unit in August 2011. In going for a straight-to-series order, the company follows in the footsteps of other international production companies with U.S. outposts like Gaumont, which is behind NBC’s Hannibal and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove, Cineflix, which produces BBC America’s Copper, and the Reliance-backed Georgeville TV, which has Crossbones at NBC.

Next summer is shaping up to be one of the strongest in terms of original scripted series offerings on the broadcast networks. At ABC, Weird Desk joins Mistresses and the fourth season of Rookie Blue. (The network also may air left over episodes of comedies Happy Endings and Don’t Trust The B—-) CBS has the high-profile Stephen King-Steven Spielberg drama Under The Dome as well as Season 2 of Unforgettable. NBC has not made any formal summer scheduling announcement but the network has three new scripted series that are yet to be slotted, dramas Hannibal, Crossbones and Dracula and comedy Save Me, so it is conceivable that some original scripted content will make it to the summer.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/abc-orders-paranormal-investigation-drama-series-weird-desk-for-next-summer/

Legal Notes
Antitrust Challenge to TV Sports Deals Allowed to Move Forward
By Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter's 'Live Feed' Blog - Dec. 5, 2012

A class-action lawsuit challenging the way Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have carved up TV rights became a much bigger deal Wednesday after a New York federal judge refused to dismiss the antitrust allegations.

In May, several baseball fans filed a lawsuit against the leagues, as well as certain broadcast partners including Comcast and DirecTV, alleging the defendants were conspiring to make consumers pay a lot for "out of market" games and blacking out "in market" telecasts on MLB's digital service.

In reaction to the lawsuit, the leagues offered several reasons why the claims should fail. Among their arguments for dismissal was that the activities are the "very core of what professional sports league ventures do -- sell their jointly created product" to broadcasters.

The state of the multibillion-dollar sports TV industry is widely regarded as a given, but U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin's 53-page decision could rattle this belief to the core.

"The notion that 'the exhibition of league games on television and the Internet' is clearly a 'league issue' is contrary to longstanding precedent that agreements limiting the telecasting of professional sports games are subject to antitrust scrutiny, and analyzed under the rule of reason," the judge wrote. "Even if certain agreements by sports leagues with respect to telecasting games may be 'essential if the product [is] to be available at all,' this does not give league agreements regarding television rights blanket immunity from antitrust scrutiny."

The named plaintiffs in this case are cable and satellite TV customers who have been forced to pay out-of-market package fees to see their favorite teams. MLB reportedly makes $620 million per year from its digital division that streams games via MLB.TV and additional money from "Extra Innings" subscription package on cable and satellite services, but the plaintiffs say the fees are too high.

These fans allege that league activity on the TV and Internet front had "adversely affected and substantially lessened competition" by reducing output of live MLB and NHL game presentations, raising prices, and rendering output "unresponsive to consumer preference to view live [MLB and NHL] games, including local games, through both Internet and television media."

In response, the leagues argued for dismissal on six grounds: that the plaintiffs hadn't sufficiently alleged harm to competition, that they lacked standing, that the allegations against Comcast and DirecTV only related to their vertical distribution of games, that the alleged activities were "lawful on their face," that the plaintiffs had failed to define the relevant market and that the plaintiffs had failed to allege necessary elements of a monopolization claim.

For the most part, Scheindlin rejected the defendants' reasoning. She dismissed two of the named plaintiffs from the class action as lacking standing and only will allow the plaintiffs to pursue certain antitrust allegations against the cable and satellite defendants, but otherwise she saw enough in an amended complaint to allow the case to go forward.

The judge referred to an important U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2010 -- American Needle, which dealt with the NFL's merchandising deals -- as establishing that when teams compete against each other in a relevant market, their concerted action as a league may "deprive the marketplace of independent centers of decisionmaking and therefore of actual or potential competition."

According to the Wednesday ruling:

"The fact that the NHL and MLB are lawful joint ventures does not preclude plaintiffs from challenging the leagues' particular policies under the rule of reason. Defendants' argument that the teams cannot unlawfully conspire with respect to out-of-market games because only the leagues can own those games assumes the legality of the very agreements challenged here. There is no distinction between in-market and out-of-market games other than that the clubs have agreed to cede to the leagues the right to market the games, to which they have initial rights, outside their local territories. American Needle conclusively established that these kinds of arrangements are subject to Section 1 scrutiny."

Scheindlin added that the RSN and MVPD defendants including Comcast and DirecTV can't evade scrutiny either.

"While plaintiffs have not alleged horizontal agreements among the MVPDs, they have plausibly alleged vertical agreements that not only facilitate but are essential to the horizontal market divisions," she wrote.

And the judge believes that the plaintiffs have adequately pled allegations of how centralizing rights instead of allowing individual teams within a league to each pursue out-of-market rights deals can be harmful. Scheindlin wrote:

"Making all games available as part of a package, while it may increase output overall, does not, as a matter of law, eliminate the harm to competition wrought by preventing the individual teams from competing to sell their games outside their home territories in the first place. And plaintiffs in this case -- the consumers -- have plausibly alleged that they are the direct victims of this harm to competition."

The full decision is below. [CLICK LINK]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/antitrust-challenge-tv-sports-deals-398548

TV Review
Sundance's 'Restless' is a compelling spy mystery
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Dec 6, 2012

At this time last year Sundance premiered the terrific dramatic movie "Appropriate Adult." The cable network is now two-for-two with another strong drama entry, the four-hour miniseries "Restless" (9 p.m. Friday and Dec. 14).

Based on the novel by William Boyd, this period piece jumps back and forth in time between the 1970s and 1940s.

In the 1970s, Ruth Gilmartin (Michelle Dockery, who plays Lady Mary on "Downton Abbey") learns her mother, Sally (Charlotte Rampling, "Melancholia"), has been living a double life. Sally was born in Russia as Eva Delectorskaya and became a spy for the British Secret Service in 1939.

Flashbacks show Eva (Hayley Attwell, "Captain America") in spy mode, working for boss Lucas Romer (Rufus Sewell, "Pillars of the Earth") alongside a cadre of colleagues, including Morris Devereux (Adrian Scarborough), who cautions Eva, "When it looks like a Grade A, incontestable, unmistakable suicide, it probably isn't."

The first half of the miniseries spends much of its time setting up the mystery and introducing the characters -- in the past and the future -- while part two features exciting spy games. Neither installment would work without the other but the flashbacks benefit from a stronger dramatic tug.

In the 1970s, Sally believes she's being watched, possibly stalked by those who would have her killed. Is she to be believed? Or is she a delusional old woman, re-living the spy games of her youth when she was known as Eva?

In the 1940s, viewers see Eva learning the tricks of the spy trade and possibly falling in love with one of her superiors.

The first part of the miniseries reaches its climax with Eva traveling to America on a mission that could help draw the United States into World War II. This plot parallels nicely with a scene of Ruth in the 1970s preparing to meet a man who may be the key to her mother's past.

"Restless" could benefit from a little more development of the characters Eva works with -- it would make their stories more meaningful and poignant -- but overall this four-hour miniseries is a strong entry.

Ms. Rampling mesmerizes as a wizened spy who remains spry of mind. Even when her character makes questionable decisions -- pulling a shotgun at an inopportune time, for instance -- Ms. Rampling manages to sell the moment.

Ms. Dockery, the actress who plays Downton's Lady Mary, is cast in a more modern role. She stars in "Restless" as another strong-willed character -- a single mother -- but this time gets to play in a thriller setting that should be a thrill for "Downton" devotees.

Sundance is carried on Comcast's Channel 165 (or 164 on former Adelphia systems), Verizon Fios TV's Channel 392, DirecTV's Channel 558 and DISH Network's Channel 358. Armstrong does not carry Sundance.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/tv-radio/sundances-restless-is-a-compelling-spy-mystery-665110/

Technology Notes
Why the Daily failed: A postmortem
By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times - Dec. 4, 2012

The untimely death of the Daily illustrates the perils of the app economy.

News Corp.'s national news publication -- the first designed for tablets and smartphones -- ranks among the top-grossing news applications for Apple Inc.'s iPad, just behind the New York Times, the Economist and News Corp.'s own New York Post, according to researcher AppData.

Nonetheless, News Corp. said Monday it would cease stand-alone publication of the Daily on Dec. 15, with technology and other assets (including some staff) to be folded into its Post.

"The Daily was a bold experiment in digital publishing," News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said in a statement. "Unfortunately, our experience was that we could not find a large enough audience quickly enough to convince us the business model was sustainable in the long term."

The Daily, which was launched to great fanfare in February 2011, was a victim of the digital economy. Murdoch staffed the publication with marquee editors and journalists, the way a glossy magazine might, to attract new readers. News Corp. invested an estimated $80 million in hopes of luring young, digitally savvy subscribers.

But the app economy couldn't support such editorial largesse, said Cameron Yuill, chief executive of AdGent Digital, a digital media company.

News Corp. has never publicly revealed how many people paid 99 cents a week (or $40 a year) to read the Daily. But in an email to the staff in July, editor in chief Jesse Angelo said it attracted more than 100,000 subscribers.

That would net roughly $4 million in annual revenue -- minus Apple's 30% fee. That's hardly enough to support the Daily's staff of 120 people, many of whom were dedicated to writing and editing original content, said Yuill.

The Daily might have stood a better chance of survival if it instead drew from the reporting resources of News Corp., with its global broadcast and newspaper holdings, Yuill said. That would have substantially lowered the app-based publication's overhead.

Murdoch's experiment was one of the few digital ventures that didn't reuse stories that first appeared in other outlets. It failed to learn from the success of the Huffington Post, which mixes original reporting with comment, or draw from the wealth of content it was producing at the Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, the Post and even its Fox News Channel.

"If you were trying to launch a news app in the digital world, the model has been proven," Yuill said. "At the end of the day, the model is there for anyone who’s trying to produce content, produce it as cheaply as possible, and distribute it as widely as you can."

Other media analysts said the Daily was hobbled by a more fundamental problem: it devoted resources to creating a publication that took advantage of the iPad's ability to display vivid pictures, video and animation. But the writing failed to match the visual sizzle.

"We have to give it high marks for effort and for some of its technology," said Alan D. Mutter, a San Francisco media consultant. "The biggest problem with the Daily is that it never had a coherent editorial voice ... content still matters."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-rip-the-daily-20121203,0,7153719.story

TV Review
Strike a Pose, Repeat
By Nancy DeWolf Smith, Wall Street Journal

Fashion may be big business, but no one talks about money in HBO's new documentary highlighting the 120th anniversary of Vogue. No way. The emphasis is on the artistry of it all, and the profound significance. As Editor in Chief Anna Wintour describes it, "Fashion can tell you everything that's going on in the world."

Probably not. Ms. Wintour is just putting lipstick on the proverbial capitalist pig. As though there were something shameful about generating billions of dollars and millions of jobs by purveying clothes, accessories and beauty products.

The women who are the main focus of this film—Vogue fashion editors past and present—can be forgiven for not talking about the business side of things. Most were hired to design shoots and obviously got caught up in the excitement and challenge of styling scenes.

Nobody talks much about the clothes either. We learn more about the process here. The struggle, for instance, to a find model who could pose correctly because she "knew how she looked with a football on her face." How Grace Coddington, Vogue's current creative director, once studied various editions of "Alice in Wonderland" for months to prepare for a spooky avant-garde spread. How stressful it was when the ruffles were on the wrong side of a dress and had to be moved to the other side in less than an hour so the photographer could get the right shot. How on one set, a model's scarf that was supposed to trail her in the wind simply would not flutter and had to be tied to a piece of string and held aloft by an editor to simulate natural movement.

For entertainment value, nothing can top former Vogue fashion editor Vera Wang. She tells the story of a 1977 photo shoot where an enormous Doberman, instead of just looking fierce for effect, actually latched on to model Christie Brinkley's ankle. The resulting photo was great and nobody could tell it wasn't staged, Ms. Wang laughs. The dog later ripped to shreds the model's heathered gray Geoffrey Beene dress.

Most of the editors here have charm and pizazz that seem more appealing than the photographs they masterminded. You could wear any old rag if you had their flair and still look fantastic.

The French-born Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele was a Vogue fashion director and editor at large from 1985 to 1995. The magazine's international editor, Hamish Bowles, describes her style as "More is more. You know—layer on the bangles." Or pillows, perhaps, because Ms. De Dudzeele can't resist the urge to style the room where she is about to be interviewed for this film. When the underlings don't get it right, she steps in to rearrange pillows on a sofa and plump a bench cushion, to make everything look just so. "I do the best for the picture," she says in accented English. "I work…because I love."

Ms. De Dudzeele styled a fashion breakthrough in 1988. That is when Vogue chose a cover photograph that showed a couture Christian Lacroix T-shirt embellished with real jewels and worn with a pair of bluejeans. Even the printers were shocked at this pairing of the high and low and called to make sure the photo wasn't a mistake.

Yet Vogue's social commentary has gone way beyond mixing a $10,000 shirt with jeans. Stylist Camilla Nickerson believes that "Fashion is there to report on the world at large." One of her shoots at Vogue commented on the surveillance society (but at least people can be "chic as they're being watched"). Someone else recalls that the magazine once featured a photo, for a piece about fear of aging (and presumably the products you can buy to hide it) that was taken "using a real dermatologist."

Then there was the harrowing pictorial commentary on how high heels make victims of women, featuring a model with one entire leg encased in a metal brace with steel fracture-device pins. "Some people who were disabled found it offensive," says Ms. Nickerson. "I thought it was quite…handsome in a way."

In the heady world of high fashion it can be difficult to keep your perspective. There's actress and fashion plate Sarah Jessica Parker posing for Vogue in New York's Plaza Hotel when it was closed and awaiting renovation. A photo shows her heading down a corridor in a voluminous red ball skirt. "It was so kind of 'Blade Runner,'" Ms. Nickerson says.

It's not every woman who can expect to navigate the postapocalyptic world in Carolina Herrera silk moiré. Perhaps this is why, as Ms. Wintour says, when she joined Vogue in 1988 people seemed a little "embarrassed" by fashion. But now it's everywhere, and the luxury price tags, the frippery, the quintessential elitism of the universe that Vogue embodies—all that is easily glossed over now.

For a dose of reality, you may have to go back, at least in age, to Babs Simpson, an editor at Vogue from 1942 to 1972. Shown a recent Vogue photo of Lady Gaga, Ms. Simpson, now circa 100, doesn't mince words. "Ugly," comes the verdict. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

IN VOGUE: THE EDITOR'S EYES
Thursday, Dec. 6 at 9 p.m., HBO

* * * *

Nobody dies in "Killer Karaoke," but it's a world of hurt. This singing competition is like a hybrid of MTV's "Silent Library" and "Jackass." If you hated those or don't know what they are, consider yourself warned.

The host of TruTV's new show is Steve-O, famous for subjecting himself to painful encounters with foreign objects on "Jackass." One involved standing on a jai alai court clad only in a track suit (and helmet) while professional jai alai players hurled oranges at him with their cesta bats.

The contestants on "Killer Karaoke" aren't required to go quite that far to compete for a possible $10,000 prize. But they do have to keep singing while something unpleasant happens to them. The women often face a gross-out ordeal. Last week, a buxom preacher's daughter had to belt out "Take On Me" while being dunked in a vat of snakes and baby alligators. A songstress this week gets squished and smeared with sweat by a couple of obese men in sumo-style underpants.

The show tightens the screws on male contestants. Last week one fellow had to serve Steve-O a seven-course Mexican meal while singing "Ramblin' Man"—and wearing dog shock collars around his neck, arms and legs. The random zappings obviously affected his song phrasing: "Trying to make a LIVVVVVVING and doing the best I CAHHHHHNNNNN," he croaked, and a pitcher of margaritas or something went flying through the air.

The most electrifying challenge this week is called "Bite Club." It features a man in a padded suit trying to sing "Stuck in the Middle With You" while fending off a pit bull and other attack dogs. The sight of him near the end, still staggering around singing but now literally covered in snarling, biting animals, is quite something.

KILLER KARAOKE
Fridays 9 p.m. TruTV

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323751104578148783979185150.html?mod=WSJ_ArtsEnt_LifestyleArtEnt_6

NFL week 14 maps are up.

http://the506.com/nflmaps/2012/wk14.html

Also referee assignments for the games.

http://www.football-refs.com/nfl-referees-by-season/2012-crews/week-14/

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Dec. 6, 2012

THE BIG BANG THEORY
CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
When Sheldon (Jim Parsons) was sick, and Penny (Kaley Cuoco) was put in the unfortunate position of having to care for the highly needy patient, the result was a very funny episode showcasing both performers. Tonight, the shoe’s on the other foot, as Sheldon becomes the caregiver – to an even more demanding Amy (Mayim Bialik).

CASABLANCA
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
This classic of classics is now 70 years old. Think of that. I mean, really think about that – that a movie made during WWII, about WWII, could be so potent, and so revered, so many, many decades later. Give most of the credit to Humphrey Bogart, whose performance as Rick is the very definition of screen stardom.

GLEE
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
Last week, at Sectionals, the New Directions group wowed them “Gangnam Style,” but at the end of the number, Marley (Melissa Benoist) collapsed – a victim of Kitty’s campaign to make the new arrival so concerned about her weight that she became bulimic and ill. Dramatically, it’s overdone, but there’s an underlying message here that young viewers, and many are watching, would be smart to digest.

IN VOGUE: THE EDITOR'S EYES
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
Like the magazine that now has 120 years of history behind it, this HBO documentary about Vogue is almost overwhelmingly glossy. It’s interesting, though, for some of the unexpected or forgotten turns the magazine has taken, editorially and visually. And, of course, for being able to see (and, more memorably, hear) the editors who make the decisions that shape women’s fashion, Anna Wintour included.

PARKS AND RECREATION
NBC, 9:31 p.m. ET
Tonight’s Christmas episode is almost ridiculously overloaded with guest stars. Megan Mullally, the real-life wife of Nick Offerman (who stars as Ron), returns yet again as Tammy 2, another of Ron’s easily excitable ex-wives. So does Lucy Lawless as Diane, his current significant other. And, in a first-time role as the formerly unseen wife of office buffoon Jerry Gergich (Jim O’Heir), look who shows up for Christmas: Christie Brinkley. God bless us, everyone. (And thanks for the shout-out last week, folks! Gives me major street cred with my college students.)

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

TV Notes
Bet Your Camomile Tea, Peter, You’re a TV Star Now
By Amy Chozick, The New York Times - Dec. 6, 2012

In Beatrix Potter’s first version of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” a menacing Mrs. McGregor leans over a kitchen table and presented a steaming-hot pie to Mr. McGregor, who holds a knife and fork at the ready. The pie, of course, is stuffed with the remains of Peter’s father.

Potter’s publisher, Frederick Warne & Company, said the image was too horrific for young children. She protested, and the publisher decided to keep the story line but remove the illustration from the 1902 edition.

You might think young viewers today would be much harder to shock. But Nickelodeon, which is remaking Potter’s books as a “Peter Rabbit” animated series, concluded that the death by pie was still too horrific for children even 110 years later. But executives did want the story to be set up around a single mother, which appealed to test audiences.

“Here’s a single mom raising four bunnies,” said Teri Weiss, executive vice president of production and development for Nickelodeon preschool. “That’s an important element we thought kids could connect with.”

Nickelodeon embarked on “Peter Rabbit” with the hopes that the series, regular episodes of which are to go on the air in March, would have built-in appeal to parents who grew up with the blue-coated anthropomorphic bunny. The network, which has seen its ratings decline recently, took a similar approach with older viewers in September when it introduced an updated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

But redoing “Peter Rabbit,” one of the most popular and beloved children’s properties, comes with potential pitfalls. Change too much, and audiences who loved the original will cringe. Don’t change enough, and it could come off looking like a stale imitation of the idyllic original.

“You can’t fundamentally mess with something that has been around for that long,” Cyma Zarghami, president of Viacom’s Nickelodeon Group, said. “It was about freshening up his look.”

The new “Peter Rabbit” features computer-animated imagery in soft pastel hues. Peter and his friends get into the same type of outdoorsy adventures as they used to, set against the backdrop of the sweeping landscapes of the Lake District in England, which Potter devoted her later life to preserving. Animators visited the district and took more than 3,000 photos before embarking on recreating the scenery.

A team of animators worked exclusively on the fur of the bunnies, foxes and badgers. They made sure it blew in the wind realistically as the characters slid down a frozen lake or looked sufficiently damp after a snowball fight. “Capturing that warmth in CGI is really important,” Ms. Weiss said. “You want to feel like you’re holding a furry bunny in your hands.”

But showing Peter’s father’s death didn’t seem so warm and fuzzy. “That would scare a 4-year-old witless, and it wouldn’t get past standards and practices these days,” said Waheed Alli, the British media mogul whose Silvergate Media bought the rights to “The World of Beatrix Potter,” which includes Potter’s library of animals, and is a co-producer of the Nickelodeon version.

The series instead portrays a fatherless Peter and a cruel Mr. McGregor but doesn’t go into gory detail. In “Peter Rabbit’s Christmas Tale,” a holiday special having its premiere Dec. 14 on Nickelodeon, Peter’s mother passes down his father’s journal, filled with chronicles of adventures, and several empty pages for Peter to fill in.

Peter and his risk-averse buddy Benjamin get into outdoor mischief similar to what was in the books. The only rule the Potter estate insisted on was that Peter wear his royal-blue coat, a hand-me-down from his father, in the television series. Nickelodeon added a character, Lily Bobtail.

Lily, a city rabbit whose doctor father recently moved the family to the rural Lake District, has a pet ladybug and a “just-in-time” pouch that stores an array of helpful items that get the bunnies out of problematic situations. “We wanted a strong female lead and that was Lily,” Lord Alli said.

In the British edition, which will be broadcast on Christmas Eve on BBC1, the bunnies will have English accents. (Mr. McGregor is English in both versions.) Lord Alli said the timing was fortuitous given the recent news that the duchess of Cambridge, the wife of Prince William, is pregnant. “Princess Diana was a huge fan, and William grew up with Peter Rabbit,” he said. “We’re really keen to have a royal baby with Peter Rabbit.”

Potter initially wrote and illustrated stories about a troublemaking rabbit named Peter in the 1890s to entertain the ailing 5-year-old son of her former governess. After several publishers rejected the book, she published “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” herself in 1901. Frederick Warne & Company put out a commercial edition a year later. “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” became one of the best-selling books of all time and, along with the next five titles in the series, sold more than 150 million copies in 36 languages.

Shortly after the first 28,000 copies of “The Tales of Peter Rabbit” hit bookshelves in Britain in 1902, knockoffs began to appear in the United States. With no United States copyright, unlicensed issues of “Peter Rabbit” started to emerge, and Potter and her publisher could not stop them.

“Nickelodeon’s series is just one of a long run of spinoffs going back to the original first edition,” said John Bidwell, the curator of an exhibition on Potter’s illustrated letters currently on display at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.

And like the Nickelodeon series, in most of those spinoffs publishers and animators took out Potter’s scarier story lines. “I think it’s a just criticism of the modern Beatrix Potters is that they lack the sardonic humor that makes Beatrix Potter so much fun for kids and grown-ups,” Mr. Bidwell said.

Of course the Nickelodeon version is not a knockoff. Penguin Group, which now owns the “Peter Rabbit” publisher Frederick Warne & Company, is much more vehement about copyright. Warne retains underlying ownership and has global rights to all publishing based on the classic books and the new series. Lord Alli’s Silvergate owns merchandising, licensing and animation rights to “The World of Beatrix Potter.” Viacom partnered with both companies to bring “Peter Rabbit” to Nickelodeon.

In addition to the “Peter Rabbit” television series, a line of plush bunny toys, books and related accessories will arrive in stores soon. Nickelodeon already sells products to go with its aging “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Dora the Explorer” series. The company said “Peter Rabbit” clothing and stuffed animals could help it make inroads with babies and their parents, a group that a competitor, Disney, already appeals to.

That may initially sound like a big United States media conglomerate turning an artistic classic into a commercial cash cow, but it’s not far from what Potter herself did after she realized she had a hit. She had Peter-inspired dolls, wallpaper, tea sets and porcelain dishes, which she called her “side shows,” Mr. Bidwell said.

Lord Alli added, “She was the first person to do licensing and merchandising.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/arts/television/peter-rabbit-on-nickelodeon-for-christmas-then-as-series.html?ref=media&_r=0

TV Notes
CBS Midseason: ‘Golden Boy’ On Friday After Tuesday Previews, ‘Rules’ On Monday
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Dec. 6, 2012

CBS is going for only minor tweaks to its schedule in midseason, filling the holes left by cancelled freshmen Made In Jersey and Partners with new drama Golden Boy and veteran comedy Rules Of Engagement, respectively.

The network is keeping the crime 9-11 PM block on Friday, anchored by Blue Bloods at 10 PM, with midseason cop drama Golden Boy taking over the 9 PM slot March 8, following the February 22 season finale of veteran CSI: NY, which had a shorter, 17-episode order. Acknowledging how challenging it is to launch a new drama on Friday, CBS is trying to give Golden Boy a running start by airing its first episodes in the Tuesday 10 PM slot following originals of NCIS and NCIS: LA and pre-empting freshman Vegas. Golden Boy, executive produced by Greg Berlanti and Nicholas Wootton, is about the meteoric rise of an ambitious cop (Theo James) who becomes the youngest police commissioner in the history of New York City. Coincidentally, Blue Bloods stars Tom Selleck as the New York Police commissioner, with Len Cariou as his father, the retired NY police commissioner. CBS has not been able to successfully launch a new drama in the Friday 9 PM slot since CSI 12 years ago. Reality series Undercover Boss is staying put in the Friday 8 PM hour. I hear the network may also use the slot to try new unscripted series. CBS has a couple on tap, including The Job.

After another tough and lengthy renewal negotiation that stretched beyond upfront week, Rules Of Engagement barely clinched a 13-episode seventh season pickup. Now the veteran utility player is being summoned to CBS’ Monday comedy block where it once aired to replace Partners at 8:30 PM. What’s more, the sitcom will get a strong push as it will premiere on February 4, the night after CBS’ broadcast of the Super Bowl, where the network is expected to heavily promote its Monday comedies. Still awaiting word is CBS’ midseason comedy Friend Me, which has not been assigned a time slot yet. The series, created by Alan Kirschenbaum and Ajay Sahgal, suffered a blow with the death of Kirschenbaum. Here are CBS’ midseason scheduling plans, including return dates for Survivor and The Amazing Race:

Monday, Feb. 4

8-8:30 PM: HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9 PM: RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (7th Season Premiere)
9-9:30 PM: 2 BROKE GIRLS
9:30-10 PM: MIKE & MOLLY
10-11 PM: HAWAII FIVE-0

Wednesday, Feb. 13

8-9 PM: SURVIVOR (26th Edition premiere)
9-10 PM: CRIMINAL MINDS
10-11 PM: CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Sunday, Feb. 17

7-8 PM: 60 MINUTES
8-9 PM: THE AMAZING RACE (22nd Edition Premiere)
9-10 PM: THE GOOD WIFE
10-11 PM: THE MENTALIST

Tuesday, Feb. 26

8-9 PM: NCIS
9-10 PM: NCIS: LOS ANGELES
10-11 PM: GOLDEN BOY (Special Preview)

Tuesday, March 5

8-9 PM: NCIS
9-10 PM: NCIS: LOS ANGELES
10-11 PM: GOLDEN BOY (Special Preview)

Friday, March 8

8-9 PM: UNDERCOVER BOSS
9-10 PM: GOLDEN BOY (Time Period Premiere)
10-11 PM: BLUE BLOODS

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/cbs-midseason-golden-boy-on-friday-after-tuesday-previews-rules-on-monday/

Critic's Notes
The Year in Hate-Watching
By Margaret Lyons, Vulture.com - Dec. 6, 2012

We should have known that 2012 would be a great year for the hate-watch. This year began with Work It, one of the most hate-watchable shows in recent memory, and things took off from there: Smash gave us musical hate-watching, The Newsroom was a hubris-drenched hate-watch, The Killing a murder-tinged one, and Gallery Girls, sweet sweet Gallery Girls, became the Great Reality Hate-Watch of 2012. Truly these are blessed times.

Hate-watching isn't just about a show being bad. Otherwise we'd all be obsessed with new 90210 and Guys With Kids. Sometimes it's a matter of scale: How grand is this failure? How big was the ambition behind this fiasco? Other times it's a matter of expectations, when a show so profoundly underdelivers on its epic promise that the resulting chasm becomes more important than any of the characters on the series. A fundamental lack of self-awareness plays in, too. Let's relive the glory, the agony, the ecstasy: the hate-watches of 2012.

Smash
Was it really that bad? Yes and no. The show was a mess, and the characters were all ridiculous. These were some of the most self-serious people ever to populate a television screen: "I'm in tech"? Is that really something to hang a plot point on? That said, the musical within the show is great. The songs work, the numbers work, everyone can really really sing — there's not a shortage of talent here so much as a shortage of purpose.
Who was the most fun to loathe? Definitely Leo, the son. He's such a bizarre diversion from the general story of the show. A group of people try to stage a new musical. Also, some dumb kid smoked pot.
Is the hate-watch going to turn into a regular-watch? Quite possibly. Smash cleaned house between last season and the coming second one, dropping a bunch of characters (adios, Ellis) and adding a new show-runner. But Josh Safran's previous show-running gig was on Gossip Girl, so we might still be hate-watching but in a different capacity come spring.

The Newsroom
Was it really that bad? Yes. Oh God, yes. Come for the jingoism, stay for the misogyny.
Who was the most fun to loathe? It was actually not that fun to loathe any of these people, because within every terrible jerk bag (Don, you suck) is the hint of a previous and beloved Aaron Sorkin character. Sure, Maggie Jordan is incompetent and seemingly unfamiliar with the concept of human kindness, but … doesn't she remind you a little of Donna from West Wing? Oh, Sam Waterston's voice sounds weird and he curses constantly, but isn't he a little bit like Isaac from Sports Night?
Is the hate-watch going to turn into a regular watch? One would hope. We want to love this show the way we loved Sports Night and West Wing, not the way we "loved" Studio 60.

The Killing
Was it really that bad? Kind of. But even if The Killing had gotten amazing in its second season — which to be clear, it did not — it would never be able to recover from the ill will generated by its first season. This season was marginally better paced, but still not good.
Who was the most fun to loathe? Probably Linden, who bounces between being an emotionally present, competent investigator and being a dumdum who doesn't know how to put a phone on silent. (Yes. AGAIN.) We'd happily watch a show about Holder, though. What a swaggy adult.
Is the hate-watch going to turn into a regular watch? If the show comes back, it would have to cover a new case, with new people and new sweaters, right? It's possible that would make for a more interesting — less hate-worthy — season.

Gallery Girls
Was it really that bad? On every level, yes. The phoniness of the conceit was bad enough — it's Brooklyn vs. Manhattan, for no discernible reason — but the real crime was how terrible all the human beings on the show were. Just wretched.
Who was the most fun to loathe? It's a toss-up between Angela and Chantal, but we'll give it to Chantal for her terrifyingly bad posture. (Can you get scoliosis from a TV show? Her constantly complaining, eye-rolling, grumble-speaking, and apparent disdain for life made her the summer TV troll we could not stop obsessing over.
Is the hate-watch going to turn into a regular watch? Doubtful. Gallery Girls is not likely to make it to another season.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/12/hate-watch-newsroom-killing-gallery-girls.html

DVR Notes
ABC: Blame programming for ratings dips
By Media Life Magazine Staff - Dec. 6, 2012

The past few weeks the heads of the major broadcast networks, including Fox’s Kevin Reilly and CBS’s Les Moonves, have noted the impact of the DVR on this season’s viewership, saying it’s contributed to declines in ratings.

So it’s refreshing to hear someone who’s not blaming the DVR, but rather his network’s own programming failings, for this fall’s sharp dips.

At the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference yesterday, ABC chief financial officer Jay Rasulo admitted that this season hadn’t turned out as the network had hoped, and much of that blame went to some programming misfires, most notably the all-star season of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Despite sizeable buzz for the first-ever all-star edition, this fall’s “Stars” finished as the lowest-rated in the show’s 15-season history.

“We thought it was a great idea,” Rasulo said, according to Deadline New York. “Turns out people didn’t want to see people who could dance. They wanted people who couldn’t dance. So it’s not easy to be a taste-master in programming a network.”

Rasulo also said that while DVR usage has increased, ultimately good programming will keep bringing people in. He noted that the number of people fast-forwarding through advertisements has dipped.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/abc-blame-programming-for-ratings-dips/

Business Notes
NFL is 'frenemy' to its TV partners, analyst says
By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times

Is the National Football League biting the hands that feed it?

That's the view of Sanford C. Bernstein media analyst Todd Juenger who, in a report released Monday, called the the NFL a "frenemy" to the broadcast networks and ESPN.

Every Sunday millions of viewers flock to CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN to watch football games. That's good.

But every Thursday, millions flock to the NFL Network to watch games and that is taking away viewers and advertisers from the league's partners. That's bad.

Of course, one of the reasons the NFL launched the NFL Network was to create its own platform for games and other football-related content. The channel not only allows the NFL to promote its own brand, it also gives it a bit of leverage in negotiating with other networks who want to carry its games.

Thanks to new deals with Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, the NFL Network is now in more than 70 million homes. This season, it is carrying 13 Thursday night games. Last season it only had seven games.

The moves have paid off for the NFL Network. Its audience has grown and even though it is still not as widely distributed as a typical broadcast channel, its Thursday games have on occasion gotten more viewers than NBC's Thursday lineup. Thursday is one of the most important nights for the television industry because advertisers, particularly movie studios and car companies, like to spend heavily there in advance of the weekend.

While the NFL's strategy is paying off for itself, Juenger thinks it is hurting the big four broadcast networks. Prime time ratings for the broadcast networks are down about 8% in the key adults 18-49 demographic. Juenger attributes 25% of that drop to the NFL Network's Thursday games, which are averaging about 6 million viewers.

"As a percentage of total viewers, the NFL Network has average 7% share across both cable and broadcast on Thursday nights. "Those 6 million viewers, and 7% audience share, had to come from somewhere," noted Juenger.

As for advertising, Juenger estimates that the NFL network gets about $20 million in commercial dollars per game or $140 million for its whole season. Given that football's audience is primarily men, the network most likely feeling the sting is ESPN.

"The NFL Network effectively added a significant supply of available advertising impressions against the same target audience, in the same programming environment, as ESPN (as well as NBC's Sunday Night Football)," Juenger said. "Unless advertiser demand for impressions delivered against a 'football audience' increased proportionately, revenue for ESPN will decrease."

The NFL gets about $6 billion a year in rights fees from its TV partners. As long as the NFL is delivering big audiences on Sunday and Monday, the odds of CBS, NBC, Fox or ESPN making noise about Thursday Night Football are pretty long.

The NFL Network does not have a long-term agreement with the league for the Thursday night package. In other words, the package could be sold to another cable channel such as the NBC Sports Network or the sports channel Fox is planning to launch next year.

In other words, Thursday night football isn't going away regardless of who's carrying it.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-nfl-frenemy-broadcast-ratings-20121203,0,4350112.story

ESPN doesnt have games on sunday.

NFLN had 8 games last year not 7....1 was on saturday but it was still thursday night football.

Reminds me of that RB Eric 'sleeping with' Bieniemy .

This reminds me of the saying, Don't P down my back and tell me its raining.

He knows this how ?

TV Notes
NBC's 'Up All Night' Changes Showrunners as Multi-Camera Switch Nears
By Matthew Belloni, The Hollywood Reporter - Dec. 6, 2012

Linda Wallem, a co-creator of the hit Showtime series Nurse Jackie, has finalized a deal to become showrunner of the sophomore NBC sitcom Up All Night as it moves to a multicamera format this spring, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Wallem also is getting a rich two-year overall deal with the network's sister studio Universal Television, which produces the Christina Applegate-Will Arnett-Maya Rudolph comedy with Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video. Up All Night creator Emily Spivey will stay with the rebooted show, but current showrunner Tucker Cawley, a veteran of Everybody Loves Raymond, is departing to work as a consulting producer on Fox's The Mindy Project. He will continue to develop for Universal TV under his deal there.

NBC announced in October that Up All Night, a single-camera comedy that has struggled in the ratings despite its high-profile cast, would be re-conceived as a multicamera sitcom when the show returns from a winter hiatus in the spring. Five episodes are scheduled to air, bringing its total season order to 16. The move is a bid to cut costs and hopefully add a creative spark to the series, which features several actors with live performance experience. Sources say the actors were unhappy with the creative direction of the show.

Wallem will be reunited with NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt, with whom she worked closely at Showtime when he ran that network. Wallem co-created Nurse Jackie with Liz Brixius but the duo left the show after its fourth season. Wallem has been doing some consulting for Whitney, another ratings-challenged NBC sitcom.

Wallem is repped by CAA and Jackoway Tyerman.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nbcs-up-all-night-changes-395316

Nielsen Notes
CBS's David Poltrack touts new golden age of broadcast TV
By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times - Dec. 4, 2012

Never mind those declines in viewers and key demographics this season, broadcast television is entering a "new golden era," according to David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp.

Poltrack, who has been crunching numbers for CBS for decades, said new platforms such as digital streaming and video on demand are allowing the networks to increase their reach beyond the traditional television screen. The trick is getting accurate ratings for non-traditional viewers.

"The reason that younger adults view less TV than older adults is because they spend less time in the home and Nielsen measures viewing in the home," Poltrack said.

Speaking at the UBS Media and Communications Conference, Poltrack said that sampling of new TV shows on television was off 4% this fall, compared with last fall.

However, more people watched new shows via digital video recorders, video on demand or online. Younger viewers in particular are watching more online and on video on demand this season than they were last season.

Poltrack showed extensive research about how people are using video on demand, a platform that networks want to encourage viewers to embrace versus the DVR primarily because fast forwarding through commercials is typically not an option.

According to CBS research, almost half of the on-demand viewing of the network's new drama "Elementary" took place more than one week after the show's original air date. That is an important statistic given that networks want to be able to show the viability of VOD to advertisers as technology makes it easier to insert new ads into older shows.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-cbs-poltack-tv-20121203,0,6231614.story

TV Notes
Midseason TV: As calendar turns, so do TV lineups
A challenging fall season has networks hoping for a reboot in January
By Gary Levin, USA Today - Dec. 7, 2012

January is reset time on network TV, when fall's castaways give way to a new batch of replacement series aiming to find a wider audience.

And this midseason offers hope for a particularly welcome change after an unusually ugly fall: Viewers seem unenthused by most new shows and, with few exceptions, are watching returning series in smaller numbers. That has sent ratings for three of the four major networks tumbling, and not just because of increased DVR usage.

Some viewers turned to cable, where AMC's The Walking Dead set records and FX's Sons of Anarchy, Showtime's Homeland and HBO's Boardwalk Empire joined A&E's Duck Dynasty and Discovery's Gold Rush in chipping away viewers.

The lack of big-network heat makes next month more critical than most Januarys, and not just because of a diminished American Idol's return with yet another set of judges.

"There's an opportunity for the networks to turn their performance around a little bit," says analyst Brad Adgate of ad firm Horizon Media. For the newcomers, "it's kind of like being the sixth man on a basketball team. They're sitting on the bench after all the other shows have been sampled and are not being watched by viewers."

The problem, he says, is there might not be enough of them to make a difference for any one network. But cable offerings figure to be less of a factor in winter months than usual: Though Walking Dead will return in February with eight new episodes, there are fewer popular returning series and only a small handful of newcomers, including FX's spy drama The Americans and TNT medical drama Monday Mornings.

A rebounding NBC was the only big network to show growth this fall. It rose from fourth to first among young-adult viewers, thanks to the first fall season of The Voice and the singing competition's Monday companion Revolution.

But with those two shows shelved until late March (they'll run into summer), and Sunday Night Football signing off this month, the network has the opposite problem of its rivals: preventing its ratings from cratering without three top performers.

"It's certainly not lost on us that a lot of our success has been based on the fact that we had a lot of momentum (with) The Voice," says NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke. "We're been realistic that midseason is going to be a different story."

Among the new crop, Fox has high hopes for The Following, a grisly thriller starring Kevin Bacon as a troubled FBI agent hunting a cult of serial killers.

The show has some of the best advance buzz of the season. And it's "hugely important" to the network, says chief operating officer Joe Earley. "Obviously we've had a challenged fall, but we've also scheduled it (like) 24," which occupied the same Mondays at 9 ET/PT time period for most of its eight-year run. "It stays on in an uninterrupted pattern, 15 episodes in a row."

NBC plans two new dramas in January along with 1600 Penn, a family comedy set in the White House and the return of musical Smash, with guest star Jennifer Hudson.

ABC, often the most prolific network at churning out midyear shows, has two new dramas, a pair of sitcoms, two new reality series and the return of Dana Delany's Body of Proof, along with The Bachelor and another round of Dancing with the Stars.

CBS has the fewest changes: Look for Rules of Engagement and police drama Golden Boy, tracking the rise of a young detective to chief.

And CW is prepping a Sex and the City prequel featuring a teenage Carrie Bradshaw.

What's exiting (or is already gone) to make room?

NBC dropped Animal Practice, will bid farewell to 30 Rock Jan. 31, and is wrapping up seasons early for Parenthood and Guys With Kids, which is unlikely to return. Up All Night also rests for a last-gasp retooling.

ABC has opted against future episodes of dramas 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort, opening up key slots in the Sunday and Thursday lineups, and will say goodbye to Private Practice Tuesdays.

Foxis closing shop on freshman dramaThe Mob Doctor, and will air Fringe's sci-fi finale Jan. 18.

CBS dumped fall comedy Partners and legal drama Made in Jersey and will end CSI: NY's season early, on Feb. 22.

CW will say so long to Emily Owens, M.D. and on Dec. 17 will wrap up the once-hot Gossip Girl with a two-hour finale (8 ET/PT).

* * * *

WHAT'S IN THE MIDSEASON PIPELINE?
Highlights of television's second season, starting in January, on network and cable:

'Downton Abbey'
PBS, Jan. 6 (Sundays, 9 ET/PT, times may vary)
Abbey's third season picks up after the Great War but with plenty of Highclere Castle intrigue. The men in charge of both the upstairs and downstairs -- Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and butler Carson (Jim Carter, pictured here) -- struggle to keep up with the changing times.

'Cougar Town'
TBS, Jan. 8 (Tuesdays, 8 ET/PT)
Former ABC sitcom Cougar Town moves to cable with new episodes. Here's hoping the cul-de-sac crew's wine glasses survived the moving truck.

'Girls'
HBO, Jan. 13 (Sundays, 9 ET/PT)
Lena Dunham's Emmy-nominated comedy is back for Season 2, followed by Laura Dern's Enlightened at 9:30.

'The Carrie Diaries'
CW, Jan. 14 (Mondays, 8 ET/PT)
This Sex and the City prequel is set in 1984, featuring a 16-year-old Carrie (AnnaSophia Robb), her widowed dad and little sis.

'American Idol'
Jan. 16, Fox (Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 ET/PT)
Fox's foremost talent show is back for a 12th season with new judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban joining Randy Jackson and host Ryan Seacrest.

'Dallas'
TNT, Jan. 28 (Mondays, 9 ET/PT)
Season 2 features the last episodes with the late Larry Hagman.

'The Americans'
FX, Jan. 30 (Wednesdays, 10 ET/PT)
Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys are KGB spies posing as a married couple in 1980s suburban Washington.

'Smash'
NBC, Feb. 5 (Tuesdays, 10 ET/PT)
The story of a Broadway musical in the making returns for a second season, minus several secondary characters, but plus guest star Jennifer Hudson.

'Community'
NBC, Feb. 7 (Thursdays, 8 ET/PT)
The Greendale study group is back, later than expected but spared from a once-planned Friday berth.

'Red Widow'
ABC, March 3 (Sundays, 10 ET/PT)
Radha Mitchell is a mom thrust into the world of Russian gangsters when her drug-dealing husband is murdered.

'Zero Hour'
ABC, Feb. 14 (Thursdays, 8 ET/PT)
Anthony Edwards (ER) stars as a paranormal skeptic pulled into a DaVinci Code-style mystery when his wife is abducted.

'Golden Boy'
CBS, Feb. 26 (Fridays, 9 ET/PT)
Ambitious cop Walter William Clark Jr.(Theo James, left) is the youngest police commissioner in the history of New York. He's aided by veteran detective Don Owen (Chi McBride).

'Celebrity Diving'
ABC, March 19 (Tuesdays, 8 ET/PT)
Splashing stars, with Olympian Greg Louganis on the judging panel.

'Game of Thrones'
HBO, March 31 (Sundays)
Prepare to geek out when the fantasy series based on George R.R. Martin's books returns for Season 3.

'How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)'
ABC, April 3 (Wednesdays, 9:30 ET/PT)
The latest audition in the post-Modern Family slot, a sitcom starring Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) as a divorced mom who moves home.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2012/12/06/midseason-tv-lineup/1746985/

Critic's Notes
Bianculli's Best Bets
By David Bianculli, TVWorthWatching.com - Dec. 7, 2012

BACHELOR PARTY
IFC, 7:45 p.m. ET
This 1984 comedy isn't very good, but it does capture two performers at pivotal moments in their career. It stars Tom Hanks, the same year he made Splash, as a guest of honor at a wild party on the eve of his marriage to his devoted girlfriend. Said girlfriend is played by Tawny Kitaen. It was an early break for both performers, but for Hanks, it was only the beginning. For Kitaen, it ended up being her career zenith.

FRINGE
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
In tonight’s episode, Peter (Joshua Jackson) exhibits more of the behavior of the Observers, into which he appears to be metamorphosing. But Olivia (Anna Torv) is on the case, and there’s someone new on the horizon who may be able to help. Or not.

RESTLESS
Sundance, 9:00 p.m. ET
MINISERIES PREMIERE: Part 1 of 2. Concluding next Friday, this Sundance Channel and BBC-1 co-production teams stars from two of the boldest, most disturbing sexual dramas ever filmed: Charlotte Rampling of The Night Porter and Michael Gambon of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Here, their roles are less overt than covert. Rampling plays a former Russian refugee and British spy who fears her real identity is at risk of being discovered decades later; Gambon plays her former handler and lover. In flashbacks, their roles are played, respectively, by Hayley Atwell and Rufus Sewell, and Michelle Dockery, familiar as Lady Mary on Downton Abbey, plays the daughter of Rampling’s paranoid recluse. Quite a cast – and on the heels of Homeland, another TV exercise in seriously shifting loyalties.

HUNTED
Cinemax, 10:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: Just because Sam (Melissa George) has her back against the wall, and appears to be trapped and facing imminent death, doesn’t mean you should give up on this series, or on her. After all, that’s the way this series starting – and, quite literally, that was only the beginning.

SEXY BABY
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET
This high-concept 2012 documentary, by director Ronna Gradus, examines sexual identity by looking at how pop and music stars, and pornography and social media, are perceived by three very different representative female viewpoints. One’s a former porn star, another is a young adult with what she considers abnormal private parts, and the third is an impressionable 12-year-old girl.

http://www.tvworthwatching.com/

TV Notes
Dean Devlin Says ‘Leverage’ Season Finale Written As Series Finale
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Dec. 6, 2012

With the future of TNT‘s drama Leverage still in limbo, the executive producer took to the show’s fan site to post an open letter saying he and co-creator John Rogers decided to end the current Season 5 finale they way they envisioned the series would end — in case there was no Season 6. There had been speculation that Leverage may be cancelled after Season 5, but the network has yet to officially weigh in on the drama series’ future. Leverage, which is independently produced by Devlin’s Electric Entertainment, has been on the bubble the past couple of years but has managed to secure last-minute renewals.

The Season 5 finale is set for Christmas, December 25.

Dear LEVERAGE Fans,

As of the writing of this letter, we still do not know if there will be a season six of our show. Just as we didn’t know when we created the last three episodes which are about to air. Because of this uncertainty, John Rogers and I decided to end this season with the episode we had planned to make to end the series, way back when we shot the pilot. So, the episode that will air on Christmas is, in fact, the series finale we had always envisioned.

This is not to say we would not do a season six should we get the opportunity. Everyone involved with the show, from the cast, the crew, the writers and producers, would like nothing more than to continue telling these stories. But, in case we do not get that opportunity we felt that, creatively, after 77 episodes, we owed it to you, our fans, to end the show properly.

I sincerely hope you watch these last three episodes. They build to our conclusion. And the finale, I believe, is the most powerful episode we’ve ever done.

From all of us who make the show, thank you for watching, supporting and encouraging us. I’ve never experienced a fandom as intense, loyal and wonderful as you all.

Let’s go steal a series finale!

Dean Devlin

Executive Producer/Director LEVERAGE

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/leverage-season-finale-dean-devlin-final-episode-tnt/

TV Notes
Traditional TV season slips away
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Dec. 7, 2012

"Why are there no new episodes of X show?"

"When will Y show be back?"

These recurring questions all trace back to the same issue: Viewers need to reset their expectations when seeking new episodes of their favorite TV series.

In the era before cable networks got addicted to original, scripted shows it was easy to know when to look for your favorite programs: Anytime between September and May original episodes would be on the air; from May to August, broadcast networks put out a "Gone Fishin' " sign.

With the advent of cable that easily understood schedule has been jettisoned -- and so has a predictable programming model that succeeded it.

In the early days of cable original series, cable networks pretty much only put their programming on in the summer when the broadcast networks went into hibernation.

As ratings for cable networks climb, cable outlets have gotten more aggressive and now program shows year-round. But they don't all do it in the same way, which can make it tough to keep up with when your TV favorite is rolling out new episodes.

Most of the time the premium and prestige cable networks (HBO, Showtime, FX, AMC) follow a formula of airing a full season in a single 13-week burst (or a 10-week burst or however many episodes are ordered) -- but not always.

AMC breaks "The Walking Dead" into two half-seasons, one airing in the fall that wrapped up this past Sunday and another that begins on Feb. 10.

FX's "American Horror Story" is taking a shorter break over the holidays: After next week's episode the show takes two weeks off, returning on Jan. 2.

Basic cable network shows are more confusing. USA routinely breaks seasons of its series into multiple chunks: a batch of new episodes in the summer, maybe another batch in the fall, a batch in the winter. TNT also programs in batches.

The cable trend of breaking shows up has come full circle as the broadcast networks have taken to labeling the last new episode of the fall as a show's "winter finale" or "midseason finale."

How is a viewer to keep track? The best way is to read as much as possible about TV to make yourself media literate. I do my best to include season premiere dates and other media outlets do, too.

If you're lost and don't know where to turn, it's always smart to check the show's official homepage on the website of the network that airs the program. You can find links to network sites at http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/tv-radio/tv-network-addresses-web-site-information-632906/

'Midwife' back at midseason

PBS announced this week that the British import drama "Call the Midwife" will return for its second season on March 31, airing in America shortly after it premieres in England.

But before then, a "Call the Midwife" Christmas episode, airing in England on Christmas Day, will debut on PBS just five days later, airing at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 30 on WQED-TV.

In years past, it took British shows months (sometimes years) between their premiere in England and their debut in America, but that time has shrunk dramatically. BBC America has been aggressive in pushing U.S. premiere dates closer to those of British shows, especially "Doctor Who," sometimes just a matter of a few days difference. Now PBS is doing the same.

"It's becoming a global world," said Beth Hoppe, PBS vice president of programming, general audience. "In an Internet-connected world, someone searching for 'Call the Midwife' sees it's on over there and it changes audience expectations and needs. I just came from a meeting where we went through the pros and cons of [this sort of fast turn-around] and not everybody agrees with me but I think we've got to tighten it up."

Not only does less lag time between premieres make U.S. viewers more content, it could also deter illegal online downloading of programs. Ms. Hoppe said her daughter watched "Sherlock" from PBS's "Masterpiece Mystery!" through unofficial means online.

"My daughter didn't know it was on PBS," she said. "It's really important we tighten up those windows between the UK and US premieres if we don't want to lose ground in an increasingly connected world."

Local, national telethons

WTAE's annual "Project Bundle-Up Telethon" airs today during newscast segments beginning at 5 a.m. and culminating in a one-hour special tonight at 7 hosted by meteorologist Mike Harvey and news anchors Sally Wiggin and Michelle Wright.

Now in its 27th year, the telethon seeks to raise money to buy winter coats for area children and senior citizens. This year viewers will be able to text BUNDLEUP to 80888 to make a one-time, $10 contribution. Donations can also be made at WTAE.com under the "Community" tab.

On Wednesday WBGN's digital sub-channel 59.4 (Channel 463 on Verizon's FiOS TV), the Live Will Network, will air "121212: The Concert for Sandy Relief." Airing live 7:30 p.m.-midnight, the concert will feature performances by Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band as they raise money for the Robin Hood Relief Fund to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy. The concert will also be carried on an assortment of cable channels, including AMC, HBO and Showtime. Details: 121212concert.org.

Channel surfing

NBC's "30 Rock" will have its one-hour series finale at 8 p.m. Jan. 31. ... No official word from AMC yet but Hollywood trades report "The Killing" has been un-canceled and the show's writers have resumed work on a third season that will likely debut in May. Why is the show coming back despite low ratings and poor reviews in its second season? Reports suggest a digital deal is in the works, possibly with Netflix, that would allow AMC to share production costs. ... DirecTV's Audience Network (Channel 101) will re-air the entire series of "24" from the beginning at 8 p.m. Jan. 7 and for the first time the show will be presented in HD. ... Monaca's Dan DeLisio, a judicial staff attorney with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, will be a contestant today on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" (2:30 p.m., WPXI). ... Jeff Rhodes of Baden will be featured on next week's episode of Travel Channel's "Toy Hunter" (9 p.m. Wednesday) as host Jordan Hembrough visits Western Pennsylvania to track down more vintage toys and collectibles.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/tv-radio/tuned-in-traditional-tv-season-slips-away-665331/