The Winter TV Critics Tour
CBS' Tassler to Focus on New Genres

By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com JANUARY 20, 2006 -

CBS Opening Executive Comments

With a potpourri of hit product tailored to audiences of all ages on six nights of the week (Saturday, of course, is the exception), CBS remains a textbook example of how to program a network. The Eye net, in fact, won the first 15 weeks of the season in total viewers -- the longest consecutive winning streak of any network since 1988. Season to-date, CBS also ranks a solid No. 1 among adults 25-54, and remains in a horse race for first with ABC among adults 18-49. With established hits like Survivor, The Amazing Race, Two and a Half Men, King of Queens, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Without A Trace, 60 Minutes, Cold Case, Numb3rs and now…Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer and Close To Home, CBS is poised for continued success in the future.

As the network looks ahead, in addition to sitcoms Courting Alex and The New Adventures of Old Christine, and dramas Love Monkey (which debuted to modest results on Tuesday) and The Unit in midseason, CBS has acquired the rights to Game Show Marathon. Combining quiz and reality, Game Show Marathon is a tournament-style competition where celebrities (you know, the "B" level ones, I'm sure) compete in a classic game show in every episode. Also coming up at CBS are several telenovela-style dramas that are being targeted for two airings per week this summer, the return of last summer's Rock Star: INXS, and a micro-series called The Courier. The Courier is a short film that will air in primetime during commercial breaks in serialized installments of one minute or less over seven nights.

Although I personally have questioned CBS' over-emphasis on crime related programming, the recent success of Criminal Minds (which airs opposite ABC's Lost) tells me there is no end in sight to this cluttered, but successful, type of story-telling. Maybe the network should develop a comedy with a crime solving flavor (a la ABC classic Barney Miller). CBS, in addition, remains supportive of its perennial Sunday Movie franchise, despite the absence of the long-form format on its competitors, and is still in development with George Clooney for a live remake of classic theatrical Network.

As to the perennial question of whether the network will expand its successful CSI franchise, according to Nina Tassler, president, CBS Entertainment:

"Never say never, but right now we are feeling confident that the three hours that we have are growing creatively, and still performing very well. So right now we have no plans."

Regarding what we can expect in the current development season on CBS:

"This year I can tell you that we certainly concentrated on thinking outside of the box, trying new genres, experimenting with new kinds of storytelling," said Tassler. "One of the projects we have picked up is a show called Jericho, which is about a small community in the Midwest that looks out over the horizon one afternoon and sees a mushroom cloud over the Denver area. And the story unfolds in a sort of mysterious way, with slightly comedic relationships between the characters in this small town."

Although the return of Fox's American Idol will likely shift the balance of power among adults 18-49 in primetime, rock-solid CBS should have no trouble remaining the dominant player in total viewership.

On the CBS Panel Front:

COURTING ALEX (comedy)
Monday 9:30 p.m.
[SIZE=4]The Premise:
Statuesque Jenna Elman is Alex, an attractive, single, workaholic attorney who has everything in life with the exception of one thing…a life.

[SIZE=4]Who Was On the Panel:
Jenna Elfman and executive producer Rob Hanning.

[SIZE=4]The Scoop:
Regarding the inevitable comparison to the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, according to Rob Hanning:

"Back then it was the 1970s and it was a huge deal, Mary striking out on her own, moving to a new city, working in the man's world. We tried to sort of update that concept a little bit, but now it's sort of coming back the other way. Women can work their whole lives to prove they're as good as men, but then at a certain point realize they have lost an important part of who they are. They can get so caught up in having a career that they forget about what the wonderful part of being a woman is in the first place."

[SIZE=4]The Reality:
Sandwiched between Two and a Half Men and CSI: Miami, there is no reason why the affable Courting Alex should not succeed. Although I am never one to tout a new series that is reminiscent of a former classic, the pilot episode of worthy Courting Alex has the look and feel of the old Mary Tyler Moore Show (complete with her Lou Grant-like TV Dad Dabney Coleman). Let's hope that subsequent episodes have that same flavor.

If Jenna Elman and company can match the ratings of respectable former occupant Out of Practice (which is on the fence, despite improving in quality), there is a future for Elfman's Alex, who just might be able to turn the world on with her smile.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE (comedy)
Time period to be announced
The Premise:
Former Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus attempts another comeback (remember the awful Watching Ellie?) in a comedy about a divorced working mother who finds her life suddenly complicated when her ex-husband starts dating a younger woman.

Who Was On the Panel:
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and executive producer/creator Kari Lizer

The Scoop:
Since it was obvious Julia Louis-Dreyfus would be asked a question about her former character on Seinfeld, here is what she had to say about distancing herself from Elaine.

"I don't want to break away from her. I feel very proud about playing that part for a long time. My goal is to play somebody just plain funny. And I think the difference with this character is that perhaps she is a little more grounded and a bit more real in a way that Elaine wasn't. But I would say that she has a pathetic quality that is similar, so set your TiVo's."

[SIZE=4]The Reality:
Although the Seinfeld "curse" looms on the horizon (think The Michael Richards Show, Bob Patterson, Listen Up, and the aforementioned Watching Ellie), had Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her former co-stars taken a well-deserved (and much-needed) break from the sitcom world, appealing looking The Old Adventures of Old Christine would seem like more or a sure thing. With Courting Alex occupying the plum Monday 9:30 p.m. time period, maybe Old Christine can temporarily inherit the Monday 8:30 p.m. slot in place of the overrated How I Met Your Mother. If it ends up on Wednesday, the Seinfeld curse will likely snag another victim.

Did You Know?:
The New Adventures of Old Christine is actually Julia Louis-Dreyfus' fourth regularly scheduled sitcom. One year prior to Seinfeld she was featured in NBC's short-lived Day By Day.

LOVE MONKEY (drama)
Tuesday 9 p.m.
The Premise:
Based on the best-selling book by Kyle Smith, former Ed star Tom Cavanagh plays a 30something up-and-coming single record producer who tries to juggle work and dating in New York City with the help of his friends and brother-in-law (Jason Priestley).

Who Was On the Panel:
Tom Cavanagh, Jason Priestley, Judy Greer, executive producer/creator Michael Rauch, executive producer Mark Johnson and music supervisor Nic Harcourt.

The Scoop:
When asked what it is like to play a more mature role rather than a teenager on Beverly Hills, 90210, here is what Jason Priestley had to say:

"The experience of being on a show like Beverly Hills, 90210, albeit a wonderful experience, is also a terrifying experience as a young actor. You don't have to look very far through the Actors Guild directory to come across the first young guy who was big, and then crashed and burned and ended up dead at the door of the Wiltern Theater. I mean, it's gone on and on for a long time.
So to be able to have the opportunity to come back on a show like this and play an older, more mature character, and continue to work in the business, in which I love, is a wonderful thing."

The Reality:
Since Love Monkey debuted on Tuesday of this week, let's begin with the rating results. Airing at 10 p.m. out of a repeat of CSI (instead of its regularly scheduled 9 p.m. time period), Love Monkey finished third in total viewers (8.57 million) behind NBC's Law & Order: SVU and ABC's Boston Legal, but second among adults 18-49 (3.4/ 9). Although retention out of the CSI encore could have been better in total viewers (70 percent), a loss in the second half-hour of 1.62 million viewers (9.38 to 7.76 million) and 14 percent among adults 18-49 (3.7/ 9 to 3.2/ 8) could be concerning.

Assuming Fox will bombard us with more expanded episodes of American Idol (why shouldn't they, after all?), Love Monkey will certainly not benefit. But even without Idol potentially in the competitive mix, Love Monkey's only real chance is to become a cult favorite among young adults. Although the premise is ambitious (and the New York shot scenes only adds flavor to the show), like classic ABC drama thirtysomething the premise is limited.

THE UNIT (crime drama)
The period to be determined

The Premise:
A covert team of special force operatives risk their lives on undercover missions around the globe, as their wives and families maintain life on the homefront.

Who Was On the Panel:
Dennis Haysbert, Scott Foley, Robert Patrick, Regina Taylor, Audrey Marie Anderson, executive producer Shawn Ryan, and technical advisor/writer/producer Eric L. Haney.

The Scoop:
Shawn Ryan, who created FX drama The Shield, described the differences of working on The Unit and The Shield as follows:
"I have adopted, from my own personal taste in the editing room and with certain things, a different style on this show. We have a composer on The Unit. We have no composed music on The Shield, so I've been working to use composed music in a way that feels authentic and genuine to me. I have certain editing rules I apply to myself on The Shield that I don't apply to this show because this works better with a slightly more traditional editing style than The Shield does."

The Reality:
Although I personally keep wondering just how many crime related dramas CBS can support, the success of the recently introduced Criminal Minds means there could very well be room for more.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

Showtime at TCA: Net Picks Up 12 Episodes of Dexter


By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com JANUARY 20, 2006 -

At an afternoon devoted to cable network Showtime, here were the items worth noting:

• No official deal has been made to-date to pick-up original episodes of Fox's Arrested Development.

• Showtime has ordered 12 episodes of crime drama Dexter, headlined by former Six Feet Under star Michael C. Hall. The series will follow Dexter Morgan, a likeable forensics expert for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer that kills people who truly deserve it. Production will begin this spring.

• Emmy winner Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (Elvis) has been cast as King Henry VIII in new Showtime drama The Tudors, which will focus on the tumultuous early years of the King of England. Ten episodes have been ordered for a 2007 premiere.

• Showtime has announced six upcoming new documentaries, including Three Days in September (narrated by Julia Roberts); Shame, about an heroic Pakistani woman; Sexually Dangerous, which explores the fine line between normal sexual behavior and the pathological sex act; Medical Marijuana; and Persons Unknown, which examines the probable co-conspirators in the Oklahoma City bombing.

• Showtime has ordered six episodes of This American Life, an original series exploring a single theme or topic through first-person storytelling and whimsical narrative.

• Former My Wife and Kids star Damon Wayans will head to Showtime in Damon Wayan's Underground, a half-hour sketch comedy. Ten episodes have been ordered.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

TV Review
'Courting Alex,' returning to romance

New CBS sitcom steps beyond stale formulas

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 20, 2006
Jenna Elfman should be thanking the agents for John Goodman, Jason Alexander and Jon Lovitz that all three were otherwise engaged this season. They were thus not available to drag down “Courting Alex” into the muck of sitcom sameness that has dominated network comedy in recent years.

Elfman, unburdened, rises to her role, and out of that comes the first attractive, intelligent, single female to carry a CBS show in years, seemingly going back as far as the Mary Tyler Moore years, if not in fact at least in spirit.

The show premieres Monday at 9:30 p.m. in the enviable post-“Two and a Half Men” slot, and that tells you two things. First, that CBS really believes in "Alex.” But also, and perhaps more important, it tells you how far CBS has come around. This was a network whose idea of fun was long pairing pretty women such as Jami Gertz, Patricia Heaton and Leah Remini with shockingly inappropriate--inadequate works here too--mates like Mark Addy, Ray Romano and Kevin James.

That was the premise for six of CBS’s comedies the past two years, mostly uninspired variations on “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Of those six, only “King of Queens” is still performing decently. The others have either been canceled or will be soon.

Even more encouraging, "Alex” speaks to a new era of sitcoms, and at a time when the genre had been written off by so many for its utter staleness. "Alex” joins “Desperate Housewives,” “My Name is Earl,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Jake in Progress” and “Crumbs” in that regard. And while perhaps not as witty or creative as the best of them, it works because of Elfman’s credibility as the harried career woman and because of clever writing. "Alex” rarely stoops to the obvious joke.

It helps too, for the presumably female audience CBS is looking to woo, that Elfman and her male suitor, Josh Randall ("Ed"), might actually belong together. They show more chemistry in one brief on-screen kiss than Gertz and Addy of "Still Standing" have generated in four seasons.

Think about it. How many sitcoms have we watched with smart, attractive women whose entire lives seem bent on serving as emotional anchors for rudderless, clueless men? What anger does that speak to?

With "Alex" we return to the classic sitcom career woman whose life is about possibilities, not foregone conclusions.

The Alex of “Alex” is lawyer Alex Rose, a woman who has everything together at the office but can’t seem to hold anything together at home. We're talking about relationships. She takes business calls during dates and gets lectured by her divorced father and boss, Bill (Dabney Coleman), about her pulseless love life.

Then Alex meets Scott (Randall), a tavern owner and a spontaneous sort, and she realizes the fun that's been missing in her life. Type-A Alex fights her attraction to him. After all, he's refusing to sell his tavern, and that's mucking up a big business deal for Bill. But ultimately she acts on her attraction.

Elfman has grown considerably as an actress since playing flaky hippie Dharma on ABC’s “Dharma and Greg,” and she seems much more comfortable in this role. Single women who don’t quite have it together will relate better to her than to Heather Graham’s whiny list-maker on ABC's quickly canceled “Emily’s Reasons Why Not.”

“Alex” is flawed, for sure. The plot is thin, and more conflict must arise to keep audiences interested. But the jokes work because of the solid writing. And the writers create an identity and a consistent voice for Elfman.

If “Alex” succeeds, CBS could pair the show with the similarly female-skewing first-year hit “How I Met Your Mother” next year, perhaps sending dopey family sitcoms “Still Standing” and “Yes, Dear” off the schedule.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2334.asp

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Showtime at TCA: Net Picks Up 12 Episodes of Dexter


By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com JANUARY 20, 2006 -

At an afternoon devoted to cable network Showtime, here were the items worth noting:

• No official deal has been made to-date to pick-up original episodes of Fox's Arrested Development.

• Showtime has ordered 12 episodes of crime drama Dexter, headlined by former Six Feet Under star Michael C. Hall. The series will follow Dexter Morgan, a likeable forensics expert for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer that kills people who truly deserve it. Production will begin this spring.

• Emmy winner Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (Elvis) has been cast as King Henry VIII in new Showtime drama The Tudors, which will focus on the tumultuous early years of the King of England. Ten episodes have been ordered for a 2007 premiere.

• Showtime has announced six upcoming new documentaries, including Three Days in September (narrated by Julia Roberts); Shame, about an heroic Pakistani woman; Sexually Dangerous, which explores the fine line between normal sexual behavior and the pathological sex act; Medical Marijuana; and Persons Unknown, which examines the probable co-conspirators in the Oklahoma City bombing.

• Showtime has ordered six episodes of This American Life, an original series exploring a single theme or topic through first-person storytelling and whimsical narrative.

• Former My Wife and Kids star Damon Wayans will head to Showtime in Damon Wayan's Underground, a half-hour sketch comedy. Ten episodes have been ordered.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

The Winter TV Critics Tour
UPN's Ostroff Banks on Top Model and Get This Party Started

By Marc Berman MediaWeek.com JANUARY 20, 2006 -

Opening Executive Comments

Unlike corporate cousin CBS, UPN shared its TCA day with another member of the family, cable network Showtime. So, by mid-afternoon it was off to a closed circuit visit with the one-of-a-kind Liza Minnelli, who is headlining Showtime special, Liza With a Z.

Although UPN chose to open the day with a panel on bona fide hit sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, the collapse of drama South Beach in week two (1.69 million viewers, 0.7 rating/2 share among adults 18-49 on Wednesday, Jan. 18) certainly marred the network's hopeful midseason momentum. According to UPN, a planned session with the cast of South Beach was benched at the last minute due to the death of star Vanessa Williams' father earlier in the week. Couldn't they still do the session without Ms. Williams?
The good news for UPN, of course, is Everybody Hates Chris and growth for year two of critical favorite Veronica Mars. But considering how far Thursday lead-out sitcoms Love, Inc., Eve and Cuts fall out of Chris, and how far Veronica drops out of normally scheduled lead-in America's Next Top Model on Wednesday, there is still work to be done on the network, and plenty of it.

Although the Monday comedies are consistent, Top Model is the Survivor of UPN's line-up, and Friday Night Smackdown! has brought a traditionally dead evening to life, Tuesday overall and the Wednesday 9 p.m. hour could be better.

With only one other midseason show waiting in the wings, the non-scripted Get This Party Started, here is how Dawn Ostroff, president, UPN, addressed the inevitable question about the lack of upcoming new product:

"We have Get This Party Stared, and don't forget that Top Model comes back in March. So right now we'll be fine with that programming. We may wind up with another reality show, but right now we'll be fine getting through the season."

As for the lack of tune-in for South Beach this week:

"South Beach has a very challenging time period, as we all know, going up against American Idol. We also had almost 15 percent of our affiliate coverage preempted for sports, which is very unusual. So, given the fact that it's a challenging time period and we had a lot of preemptions, which will not always be the norm, we have a very patient attitude with the show."

Since one of the goals at any executive session is to address what is in development for next season, Ostroff optimistically looked ahead.

"We have some projects that just are across the board, some are single-camera, some are multi-camera. We're just in the process of now starting to pick up pilots. We feel that the line-up for Thursday night is doing well with our young women. And that's really what we sell, 18-34 year-old women."

Although Ostroff was mum on the official renewals for Everybody Hates Chris and Veronica Mars for 2006-07, she did verify that the network will have wrestling on the schedule and cycles seven and eight of America's Next Top Model. And, fortunately, there will be the possibility of the outspoken Janice Dickinson returning to Top Model in some capacity.

"I loved the segment that we did with Janice being a photographer. And I think when we saw Janice in that light, it was a great way to use her, and I think she had a great time doing it. So I would not be surprised if she shows up in more episodes in those types of settings."

Too bad UPN did not have the foresight to sign Dickinson for a project of her own before cable net Oxygen did.

On the UPN Panel Front:

EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS (comedy)
Thursday 8 p.m.

The Premise:
Inspired by the childhood of comedian Chris Rock, Everybody Hates Chris is the nostalgic tale of a teenager growing up in Brooklyn, New York in the early 1980s.

Who Was On the Panel:
Tyler Williams, Tichina Arnold, Terry Crews, and co-creator/executive producer/writer Ali LeRoi.

The Scoop:
In the event you are wondering what the ingredients of a hit sitcom are, according to Ali LeRoi (who should also be in front of the camera):

"I think the thing that makes this show entertaining is that we don't ponder at all. We don't assume the audience is stupid, and we're not trying to trick them with anything fancy. We're just trying to tell decent stories, and deliver the best jokes that we know. And we are not trying to make it flashy and quick. We just try to tell fairly informed, genuine stories. That's the universality. And the specifics of it being loosely based on Chris Rock's life are a nice entry point for the audience because they kind of know how the story ends up."

The Reality:
Last summer's hot session, Everybody Hates Chris, has delivered on its promise both in quality and quantity. For UPN, Chris is a solid hit. Too bad, though, that the network has wasted ample lead-in support on a generic sitcom like lead-out Love, Inc., which should have bit the dust after 13 episodes. If Chris Rock can come up with a sitcom about his childhood (and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith a sitcom about their marriage on UPN's All of Us) another celebrity should be game to do the same. How about it, Eddie Murphy? UPN needs a better comedy to lead-out of Everybody Hates Chris, and there has to be some funny stories to tell in your life.

Had Everybody Hates Chris been on one of the Big 3 networks, the attention would be greater. But, sadly, because it airs on UPN, it does not get the buzz it deserves. On that note, congrats to UPN for this season's The Wonder Years. Everybody Loves Raymond, which deserves a better lead-out, should not be missed.

GET THIS PARTY STARTED (comedy)(non-scripted) Tuesday 9 p.m.

The Premise:
An elite team of party planners to the stars, led by events coordinator Lara Shriftman and hosts Kristin Cavallari and Ethan Erickson, surprise one unsuspecting individual each week with an extravagant party.

Who Was On the Panel:
Kristin Cavallari, Ethan Erickson, Lara Shriftman and executive producer Allison Grodner.

The Scoop:
Until America's Next Top Model returns in March (and is repeated in the Tuesday 8 p.m. hour), repeats of Get This Party Started will lead-into the original telecast. Considering this show is a long-short, double-airing it on Tuesday means the network will remain marred by a last-place finish on the evening.

The Reality:
Given the severity of the Tuesday 9 p.m. hour, and lack of lead-in support, the real surprise will be on UPN when the initial ratings come in. They won't be extravagant.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/newsletters/proginsider/index.jsp

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Slow news days

The Newark Star-Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall TV blog Friday, January 20, 2006

We've hit a lull here near the end of the tour. UPN and Showtime went yesterday, which one critic referred to as "Time to Do My Laundry Day." Today, meanwhile, is a real grab bag: a morning session about iPods and on-demand and all the other new delivery systems, followed by visits to the sets of "Will & Grace" and "Commander in Chief."

I spent most of yesterday and will spend most of today going off the reservation to chase down other stories, but a few interesting things did happen while I was gone.

First, Showtime President Robert Greenblatt confirmed that he's very interested in picking up "Arrested Development," but only if the price is right (it's a very expensive show by network standards), and only if burnt-out creator Mitch Hurwitz is willing to stick around as showrunner.

"He's been through a lot of sort of emotional roller coaster over the last couple years," Greenblatt said. "So he finished the season for FOX, and he's in that period of, you know, thinking about whether he wants to continue the show."

Second, the cast and crew of "Everybody Hates Chris" rolled in, minus Chris Rock, which seemed like evidence that, as many had speculated, Rock had drastically cut back his involvement since the pilot. Instead, co-creator Ali LeRoi explained that Rock was too busy directing that week's episode to come.

"He's in on rewrites of absolutely every script," LeRoi said. "We go from A to Z on every script, from the inception of the story. You know, I'll do a draft, or one of the writers will do a draft. We go over it to do a polish. We always keep working on it. He's as present, and probably more present, than anyone would expect he might be."

A bigger controversy than Rock's absence was the show's Christmas episode, which revealed the truth about Santa Claus to all the show's younger viewers. A critic asked LeRoi if he was surprised by the amount of press reaction to it.

"You know, there were people that got shot that day," he said. "There's a war in Iraq. Gas prices were high. There were a lot of bad things happening. So in the landscape of things that were horrible, the fact that we got a little press, it's like, 'Man, they really just ... nothing was happening that day, huh?'"

When ABC and NBC roll in, there should be more blog-worthy material, so check this space over the weekend or on Monday morning.

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

Senators: New family tiers lack sports appeal

MediaLifeMagazine.com—These critics are tough to please. The family-friendly TV channel packages announced in recent weeks by cable and satellite providers drew criticism from several senators at a hearing on TV indecency yesterday, largely because they didn't include sports channels.

The providers created the packages after complaints from politicians, the Federal Communications Commission and family lobbying groups that there is too much sexual content on TV available to children.

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), complained that, "To have a family tier and not have sports on it, in our family, would not be proper family programming. You're going to have to come up with a family tier plus sports."

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) suggested the packages are designed to be unmarketable. Comcast declined to include ESPN in its package because the network has "some really disturbing non-family-appropriate programming," said David Cohen, Comcast executive vice president. He specifically cited two shows have run on the network, racy original series "Playmakers" and "Tilt."

Some critics have said that the cable and satellite providers should offer channels a la carte, but others counter that would drive up pricing.

EchoStar Communications' Dish Network became the latest provider to offer a family friendly programming package yesterday. The satellite company said DishFamily will be available Feb. 1 for $19.99 a month. It will have about 40 channels including Animal Planet, The Biography Channel, Food Network, Fox News Channel, CNN Headline News, The Science Channel and C-SPAN.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/cat_index_31.asp

The Digital Revolution
Gordon Tries To Re-Fly Broadcast Flag

By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable

According to a draft of a new bill, Commerce Committee Hearing member Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) is seeking support for reinstating the broadcast flag.

The "flag" technology is meant to prevent the unauthorized redistribution of digital broadcasts, one of the industry's chief concerns as it switches to digital delivery of its valuable content, some of that value by virtue of its exclusivity.

A digital broadcast flag regime was adopted by the FCC but thrown out by the court earlier this year, which said the FCC did not have the authority to impose the flag technology because it was post-transmission.

Flag backers had initially wanted to include it in the DTV transition bills, but they were stripped to the bone--a hard date for the transition to digital and a subsidy for analog sets--to comply with rules limiting budget reauthorization bills to spending-specific elements.

Prospects have dimmed for a second bill to deal with other DTV-related elements like the flag and multicast-must carry.

Smith's Digital Content Protection Act of 2006 would trump the court by granting the FCC the express power to regulate receiving devices for the purposes of "limit[ing] the unauthorized copying and indiscriminate redistribution of digital audio and video broadcast content over digital networks."

The bill would mandate the flag for digital broadcasts and includes language, attempting to appease fair use advocates like public knowledge, permitting "customary historic use of broadcast content by consumers to the extent such us is consistent with applicable law."

But it would also give the affected industries a chance to come up with their own compromise solution before the FCC issues any new broadcast flag rules.

The bill would create a private-sector panel including computer, equipment, braodcast, cable and public interest representatives to come up with that compromise.

The bill is expected to be discussed at a Jan. 24 Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the flag technologies.

The committee Friday released the witness list for that hearing:

Video

• Andy Setos, President of Engineering, Fox Entertainment Group
• Jonathan Band, Counsel, American Library Association
• Thomas B. Patton, Corporate Vice President, Government Relations, Philips Electronics North America Corporation
• Leslie Harris, Executive Director, Center for Democracy and Technology

Audio

• Mitch Bainwol, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Recording Industry Association of America
• Gary Shapiro, President and Chief Executive Officer, Consumer Electronics Association
• Dan Halyburton, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Group Operations, Susquehanna Radio

The Digital Revolution
Stevens: Let Market Test Family Tiers

By Ted Hearn Multichannel.com

Washington -- Family tiers launched by cable and direct-broadcast satellite providers deserve a market test before Congress should consider a la carte mandates, Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said Thursday.

Stevens -- who praised the move to family tiers -- said a la carte legislation was still a possibility, but it was not something he would support while cable and DBS are clearly trying to accommodate lawmakers and family groups troubled by raunchy programming.

"It's still out there, and it will have to be discussed sometime. But I do believe these voluntary efforts may result in the kind of choice and kind of controls parents have requested and family groups have demanded," Stevens said at the hearing.

Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and George Allen (R-Va.) complained that ESPN was omitted from the family tier.

"To have a family tier and not have sports on it, in our family, would not be proper family programming," said Allen, whose late father, George Allen, coached the National Football League’s Washington Redskins.

But Comcast Corp. executive vice president David Cohen explained to the Senate panel that ESPN has entertainment programming that is inappropriate for children. He mentioned ESPN series Playmakers and Tilt, both of which had “TV-MA” ratings, adding that Comcast's family tier included local TV stations, which carry lots of sports.

ESPN spokeswoman Catherine Sloane Bret said the network "would welcome discussion" on family-tier carriage from any distributor, adding that the "vast majority" of ESPN programming is family-friendly. No current ESPN program, she said, is rated TV-MA.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) called family tiers a positive step, but he said they fell short of dealing with violent programming. Rockefeller is the sponsor of a bill that would allow the Federal Communications Commission to regulate violent cable programming.

"I don't believe voluntary actions alone … are sufficient to address the issue," he added.

At the hearing, former Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti announced a massive advertising campaign, involving nearly all segments of the major media, to blast messages to parents about program-blocking technology, such as the V-chip in TVs and cable set-top boxes.

The campaign will run 18 months and cost $250 million-$300 million, he added.

"The beauty of this is that we don't torment and torture the First Amendment," Valenti said.

The Digital Revolution
Martin Wants Review of Media Ownership Rules

By Doug Halonen TVWeek.com January 20, 2006

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Friday said he hoped to launch a review of the agency's media ownership rules this year-if he can forge a consensus among the commissioners on how to proceed.

During an impromptu briefing with reporters, Mr. Martin said he tried to get the ball rolling against the rules last year but was unable to get a consensus among the two Republican and two Democratic commissioners at the agency on how to proceed.

It's widely anticipated that a third Republican commissioner will be appointed to the agency this year, giving Mr. Martin the vote he needs to command an agency majority.

"Until there is a consensus reached among any three of us, I don't think we'll be able to move forward," Mr. Martin said.

Mr. Martin also said he shared concerns that the cable industry's recently announced family-friendly programming tiers lack sports and other important industry fare that many observers believe could be critical to their success in the marketplace.

"I'm a big sports fan," Mr. Martin said, "but I think it is important that we've seen some family tiers at least being offered. That's a really important step."

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9231

Ratings Report

The series' downturn has industry insiders wondering whether its primary cause is the regime change that occurred behind the scenes after only six episodes were completed.

(The series = Commander in Chief)

You know, I enjoy this show, and I'd really like to see it become a great show. But it has one major problem, and it has nothing to do with storyline implausability or technical details.

The lead character is way too perfect. She is supposed to be the protagonist, the character we focus on and empathize with. Yet it's hard to empathize with a character who has no flaws. She never seems to be in over her head, or impatient, or tired, or frustrated. She never loses her temper, or fails to see something from another's point of view.

It's a delicate balance to avoid making her look like an overwrought emotional woman who clearly can't handle her job, but there must be some way to open her up and let audiences see her humanity, both the good and bad sides.

I could live without the family angle. In the most recent episode the country's on the verge of war and she leaves to tuck in her kid?! STOP!

Senators: New family tiers lack sports appeal

Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), complained that, "To have a family tier and not have sports on it, in our family, would not be proper family programming. You're going to have to come up with a family tier plus sports."

Isn't that the perfect argument against the whole mess. Ask 10 families and you're gonna get 10 answers of what "belongs" in the tier. This is never gonna work. Besides, how many people actually want this (not one person I know).

Why can't people just learn how to program out the cannels they don't want?

Now Ala-Cart - that's a whole different ball game.....

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Interest in 'Arrested' strictly conditional

Showtime executive says the network would take the show only if creator Mitch Hurwitz stays on board
By Lynn Smith Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 21, 2006

Showtime wants the acclaimed comedy "Arrested Development" should Fox decide to cancel it, but only on one condition: creator Mitch Hurwitz must come with it.

"If only a small fraction of the loyal audience that [watches it] on Fox came to Showtime, it would be one of our highest-rated shows," Robert Greenblatt, Showtime's president of entertainment, told the Television Critics Assn. Thursday evening.

A deal breaker in the talks with 20th Century Fox Television would be if Hurwitz chooses not to remain at the helm, Greenblatt said. "I think he's the genius behind it," he said. "And he hasn't yet come to that decision to continue the show." A decision will be reached in about two weeks, he said. Hurwitz was unavailable for comment.

Fox President of Entertainment Peter Liguori told the critics no final decision had been made to cancel "Arrested Development" but it was "highly unlikely" the low-rated show would continue past Feb. 10, when it concludes its third season.

ABC also expressed interest in acquiring the show in December, but no action has been taken, a spokesman said.

Greenblatt said the show's bold originality makes it a better fit for cable, where writers have more freedom. But observing that the show has found much of its humor in bleeping out bad language, Matthew Blank, Showtime's chairman and chief executive joked, "Maybe we'd make an exception and let him bleep."

Showtime also announced six new documentary shows and four new original series for 2006-07 including: "The Tudors," a 10-episode series starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a young Henry VII, which has yet to start filming in Ireland; "Dexter," a 12-episode series starring Michael C. Hall as a likable but twisted Miami forensics expert-serial killer; six episodes of "This American Life," adapted for television by NPR host Ira Glass; and "Three Days in September," a documentary narrated by Julia Roberts about 330 Chechen hostages killed by terrorists in 2004.

Greenblatt said "Huff," the ensemble series that stars Hank Azaria, Blythe Danner and Oliver Platt, and is about to begin its second season, would "probably" be renewed for a third.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-showtime21jan21,0,7256155,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

Critic’s Notebook
CNN is still sick with Fox envy -- and it's only getting worse

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Friday, January 20, 2006

These must be great days to work at Fox News. Not only does the 24-hour cable channel beat rival CNN like a sick, sad mule, but Roger Ailes is so deep in the heads of CNN's managers that every time they stumble over themselves in chaos -- which is often -- the chairman of Fox News looks like some kind of psyops genius.

If Ailes -- boo! -- isn't haunting the halls of CNN and driving CNN President Jonathan Klein batty with paranoia, then how else to explain Klein's relentlessly nonsensical decisions, which are driving CNN into the ground? What person rooted in reality looks at CNN and thinks, "Now there's a network on the rise"?

Well, apparently there's one person -- Klein.

If you watch CNN or Headline News with any regularity, then you know it won't be long before the Next Big Blunder. Perhaps that news crawl at the bottom of the screen will read: "We're Out of Ideas -- Try MSNBC."

Honestly, it's exhausting trying to figure out what in the world the game plan is at CNN. The current best guess: "Wait for trouble. Send Anderson Cooper right to it. Roll camera."

That's not a strategy. That's a crutch.

And now the CNN brain trust -- hard to write that without some snark on top -- has reshuffled its analyst deck and looks to be adding three conservatives. There's a rumor that CNN will soon announce that disgraced pundit Bill Bennett will join the team, though the odds are currently 99-1, which is right in Bennett's wheelhouse, virtuous gambler that he is.

Now, if this proves to be true, someone needs to put a Webcam on Ailes so the world can see him laughing uproariously for hours on end, wheezing, unable to catch his breath, astounded at the seemingly bottomless desperation of Mr. Klein. You may remember that Bennett was secretary of education under Ronald Reagan, then "drug czar" under Bush version 1.0 and later went on to host a radio show called, not surprisingly, "Morning in America."

But that's the glory. Here's the gory: When Bennett's big-time gambling was exposed, it forced libraries everywhere to refile his "The Book of Virtues" under "farce." OK, so that's a joke. Sort of. But Bennett further delved into controversy by saying, " If you wanted to reduce crime you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

And it gets worse: Fox News didn't renew his contract. If that doesn't say "you're poison," nothing does.

So if CNN picks up the very, very sloppy seconds of Fox News by hiring Bennett, it will accomplish the unthinkable: It will make MSNBC's hiring of Rita Cosby, formerly of Fox News, seem less incomprehensibly stupid.

Meanwhile, CNN's Headline News has hired talk-radio host Glenn Beck, who is just to the right of Attila the Hun. The network tried to pass him off as some kind of affable conversationalist. That lasted about four, maybe five seconds, until all kinds of media watchdog groups pointed out Beck's hate speech -- calling Hurricane Katrina victims "scumbags" and saying he hated some of the family members who lost relatives on Sept. 11 because, well, they complained too much.

Nothing like raising the level of our national discourse.

CNN also has hired former Republican congressman and strategist J.C. Watts Jr.

Who's next -- Snidely Whiplash? And do you think Klein took his management team into the "Situation Room" to discuss this transparent attempt to be Fox-y? Even if that's the goal -- and it appeared to be the goal long before Klein was hired -- what does it tell you that Fox News passed on Bennett and didn't exactly start a bidding war over Beck or Watts?

It's as if CNN's search team is mimicking the NFL by hiring either old and tired coaches or unproven newbies. Where's the deft stroke, the inspired choice? So Ted Koppel laughs off cable and CNN figures, oh well, second best choice has got to be Gambling Guy or Hate Boy?

There's a sadness here. And it has nothing to do with CNN's inability to "counter" Fox News with a respectable progressive slate of contributors. CNN used to be a reliable source for national and international news. Now it mostly chases storms and tragedy -- and Fox.

For a long time now there has been this perception that Republicans watch Fox News, Democrats watch CNN, and MSNBC picks up the undecideds. But that's simplistic. Though we may be heading, as a country, into an era where "news" channels will be defined by their ideology, godspeed to anyone left of center who can figure out what CNN wants to be.

Maybe J.C. Watts Jr. can tell us.

In the meantime, CNN will agitate itself into more confusion -- "Ha-ha, Ailes, we got Bennett!" -- as Fox News stomps it into sour grapes. Maybe someday CNN will stop simultaneously hating Fox News and wanting to be Fox News -- the Ouroboros of 24-hour newsdom -- and shift its priorities to something more attainable.

Like giving viewers a reason not to watch MSNBC instead.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/20/DDGJIGPDKI1.DTL&type=printable

Richard Hatch returns to spotlight as he testifies at tax trial

By Jack Perry projo.com staff writer Friday, January 20, 2006

PROVIDENCE, RI -- Once again the center of attention, reality television star Richard Hatch spent a long day on the witness stand in his tax-fraud trial today, asserting that he tried many times to find out how much he owed in taxes on his Survivor winnings and that he never intended to violate federal tax laws.

Starting the day looking relaxed and casual in a light-blue, button-down shirt and saying he preferred to be called "Rich," the Survivor winner appeared eager to tell his story. He frequently turned to make eye contact with the jury, used his hands to express himself and pointed out his mother, sister and "committed partner" sitting in the audience.

When asked by his lawyer, Michael Minns, if it had ever been his intention to violate federal tax laws, the Newport man who gained fame for winning the first Survivor in 2000 replied, "It has not."

But by late afternoon, prosecutor Lee Vilker started an aggressive, rapid-fire cross examination. In response to one of Vilker's questions, Hatch claimed that Vilker's "team" had previously lied to him and threatened him, an allegation that Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres told the jury to disregard.

Hatch's survival skills will be put to test again Monday, when he returns to the witness stand for more cross examination. Vilker was about an hour into his questioning when Torres concluded the trial for the day at 4:30 p.m.

Vilker told Torres he would need a "couple more hours" before he's finished. Minns plans to call an accountant to the witness stand after Hatch's testimony is completed. The attorneys are likely to make their closing arguments on Tuesday.

A federal grand jury indicted Hatch on 10 counts in September, charging Hatch with failing to pay taxes on more than $1 million in winnings from the first Survivor, as well as income from a radio program, rental income and charitable donations he allegedly used for himself.

Hatch testified today that he intended to pay taxes on his Survivor winnings and that he tried many times to find out how much he owed -- but that no one he asked could either tell him or would get back to him.

That included the reality TV show's producer, CBS and Viacom, as well as the IRS, he said.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged, under questioning by Vilker, that he filed a tax return for 2000 that didn't include his Survivor winnings, that he didn't pay taxes on the winnings, and in fact, received a $4,483 refund for the 2000 tax year.

Earlier today, Hatch alleged on the stand that about $350,000 he had set aside with an investment firm to pay possible taxes was "stolen" and "embezzled." He acknowledged that he didn't sue in an attempt to get the money back because "it wasn't a priority."

Hatch started his day on the stand talking mostly about his growing up on Aquidneck Island, job history, and how he became a contender on the show.

At times Hatch elaborated beyond his lawyer's questions in his answers in trying to explain himself to the jury. Torres tried reining him in, prompting Hatch to say:

"I've been waiting three years, your honor," Hatch said, in an apparent reference to the dispute over his taxes.

He talked about his troubled teen years and how he turned to the Horizon Bound program for help. Hatch later tried to restart the outdoor adventure program for youth. He's accused of accepting donations and spending the contributions on personal expenses without paying taxes on the money.

Hatch also emphasized how the producers of the Survivor show controlled the environment, from what people wore and ate to filming their every movement.

In his opening statement last week, Minns promised the jury that the Survivor star -- who became infamous for his scheming ways and nude prime-time appearances -- would testify. "You will meet the real Richard Hatch," he said.

Hatch was charged a year ago, but walked away from a plea agreement on two counts of federal tax evasion. In September, prosecutors succeeded in bringing additional charges against Hatch when a grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against him.

In addition to the $1 million Survivor jackpot, Hatch allegedly did not pay taxes on a car he won on the show and $326,000 he received for co-hosting a Boston talk show.

The grand jury indicted him on charges of tax evasion, filing false income-tax returns, and bank, wire and mail fraud. The most serious charge carries a maximum 30-year prison sentence and a $1-million fine.

http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi

Note to keenan:

FX sets “Thief” starting date

FX says the six-episode series “Thief” will begin its run on Tuesday, March 28.

Note to keenan:

FX sets “Thief” starting date

FX says the six-episode series “Thief” will begin its run on Tuesday, March 28.
:) Thanks Fred.

TV Review
“Courting Alex”

By Barry Garron The Hollywood Reporter

Having established one of TV's more memorable characters with Dharma Finkelstein, the latter-day flower child of "Dharma & Greg," Jenna Elfman makes a U-turn to play Alex, a workaholic lawyer with no great inclination for a life outside the office. Or so it seems at first blush.

Opening scenes show the title character in "Courting Alex" (9:30-10 PM ET/PT Monday, Jan. 23 CBS) wed to her cell phone and in hot pursuit of a complicated contractual agreement, even in the midst of a dinner date. But then it takes only minutes before another Alex breaks through. Soon she's a flirty, closet romantic who puts up only token resistance to a handsome bar owner who refuses to sell his establishment to the client of her law firm. It gives nothing away to say that, before closing credits roll, Alex has accepted second chair on his motorcycle for a ride to Coney Island. You can see it happening a mile off.

Alex's transformation from button-down barrister to coquettish counselor might be jarring except that Elfman sells the character as few others can. Even with hair pinned up and in business attire, her femininity shines through. Simultaneously sexy and relatable, Elfman wins us over with a convincing performance that shows vulnerability just beneath a placid surface.

Veteran sitcom actor Dabney Coleman is perfectly at home playing Bill, Alex's dad and the head of the family law firm. Tactless and insensitive at times, the thrice-divorced Bill is nonetheless concerned that his daughter is too bookish and missing out on all the fun.

Far less convincing is Josh Randall as Scott, the hunky and free-spirited bar owner whose pursuit of Alex is surprising only for how quickly it succeeds. Although Scott has the requisite good looks and a supposedly adventurous past, he comes off bland and one-dimensional. When the two are together, Alex is the fiery star and Scott the orbiting planet.

Also part of the mix is Hugh Bonneville, as Julian, the wacky neighbor and playful artist, and Jillian Bach as Molly, Alex's efficient but mousy assistant. Both inhabit their characters well, as does Josh Stamberg as Stephen, the office geek doomed to an unrequited longing for Alex.

The pilot script from exec producer Rob Hanning is peppered with enough funny lines so that, in the hands of Elfman and the others, the half-hour passes quickly. The overheated applause of the studio audience is merely an annoyance. Experienced sitcom director Pam Fryman brings the story to life with fluid scenes that emphasize the show's best elements.

CBS has invested in "Courting Alex" to the tune of a place in its solid Monday night comedy block and can reasonably expect healthy dividends in return.

Bottom line: The return of Jenna Elfman is good news for TV comedy and CBS

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001882632

DVD-TV Review
'Hill Street': An Avenue To Quality Storytelling

By Robert Thompson Special to The Washington Post Sunday, January 22, 2006; Y05

Twenty-five years ago this month, "Hill Street Blues" debuted on NBC. It launched a second golden age of television drama: The model it established inspired a long string of literate dramas, including "St. Elsewhere," "thirtysomething" and "Moonlighting." Alumni from the show went on to produce "L.A. Law," "Miami Vice," "Law & Order," "Twin Peaks," "NYPD Blue" and "Deadwood."

For those who missed the groundbreaking show or who want to see it again, a three-disc DVD set with all 17 episodes from the first season is available January 31 ($39.98).

With so much good drama on TV today, it's hard to remember what the medium was like a quarter-century ago. When "Hill Street Blues" premiered, the highest-rated police drama on the air was "CHiPS," while "The Love Boat" and "The Dukes of Hazzard" were still going strong. TV was amusing enough back then, but it was seldom accused of being "art."

"Hill Street Blues" changed that. It looked like a movie and unfolded like a novel. Its enormous cast, pseudo-documentary style and overlapping dialogue defied the conventional wisdom that a TV show had to be understood by those who were half-asleep.

"It took the soap opera and elevated it to an art form," said Mark Tinker, executive producer and director of the recently concluded "NYPD Blue" and the upcoming season of "Deadwood."

"With the multiple storylines and recurring characters, they took storytelling for the masses and made it into something sophisticated, intelligent and emotionally complicated," Tinker said.

"Hill Street Blues" was a high-brow show in a mostly low-brow medium. The writers and producers of the series had résumés you'd expect to see in an English department, not a cop show. As a matter of fact, three of them had once been writing teachers at such places as Harvard and Yale.

In a TV Guide cover story on June 1, 1985, novelist Joyce Carol Oates said "Hill Street Blues" was "one of the few television programs watched by a fair percentage of my Princeton colleagues, arguably because it is one of the few current television programs that is as intellectually and emotionally provocative as a good book."

In that first season, critics raved about the show, and it received a record-breaking 21 Emmy nominations, winning eight. Though it ended the year in 83rd place out of 97 shows, executives at NBC liked all the good reviews, and, as a third-place network, they had lots of holes in their schedule. What they liked most, though, was that the show performed very well with affluent 18- to 34-year-olds, the premium demographic.

NBC renewed "Hill Street Blues," its ratings climbed in the second season, and by the third it had cracked the Top 25, helping to launch the network's 20-year dominance on "must-see" Thursday night.

Originally, NBC President Fred Silverman got the ball rolling on the idea that eventually would become "Hill Street Blues." But it was co-creator Steven Bochco who would become the soul of the show.

Bochco already had written for and/or produced eight crime series when NBC asked him and Michael Kozoll to do another one. He was sick of cop shows and refused the offer, which seemed to make NBC want him even more. This proved significant, because before Bochco and Kozoll agreed to do the show, they extracted unprecedented concessions from the network. NBC offered -- though it didn't always honor -- an unheard-of promise to stay out of the creative process.

Kozoll stepped down as co-executive producer of "Hill Street" after the first season, but Bochco would spend five years using the show to chip away at the boundaries that had kept sophisticated "adult" content off the airwaves since the heyday of network radio.

Subsequent producers and shows would settle the territory that Bochco had cleared. Within a few years, network executives realized how successfully more mature shows could compete in the emerging cable era.

"Our medium would have evolved with or without 'Hill Street,' " Bochco said. "Somebody would have done it."

Perhaps, but the unique mutation that Bochco introduced to the medium would be passed on to another quarter-century of serious television drama. That Bochco had been tired of the cop show when he created "Hill Street Blues" proved important in another way. After working on eight formulaic crime series, he knew the mold well enough to break it in interesting ways.

"We very consciously were trying to do something we'd never done before. We

didn't want to do our ninth cop show -- we wanted to do our first," he said.

"Hill Street Blues" started a run of quality television that continues today. No single series, with the possible exception of "All in the Family," has had as significant an impact on the art of entertainment TV.

Much hand-wringing went on when "The Sopranos" became a hit. How, the networks asked themselves, could they compete with the level of quality that came from the freedom enjoyed by pay cable channels? It should be remembered, however, that cable learned to do "quality TV" from the networks, not the other way around. Without "Hill Street Blues," there would be no "Sopranos."

• (Robert Thompson, a professor of television at Syracuse University, is the author of "Television's Second Golden Age." He selected and wrote copy for the VHS release "The Very Best of 'Hill Street Blues.'")

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/17/AR2006011701117_pf.html

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Laurie likes House, but he's nothing like him

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Saturday, January 21, 2006

Gregory House, M.D., is unpleasant, tactless and, when he smiles, it tends to be at a joke that comes at someone else's expense. He's everything that Hugh Laurie, the lovely star of the hit Fox series "House," is not.

Talking to Laurie, however, it becomes clear that the British actor deeply respects the role he occupies. That is no doubt the reason he walked home with a Golden Globe for best actor in a television drama this week.

We cornered him on the set of "House," which airs Tuesdays at 9 on Fox (KCPQ/13), on the day before he won, to ask him why the role is so attractive to viewers -- especially the ladies.

P-I: You do realize that because of your character, you're considered to be a sex symbol?

Laurie: I refute that whole proposition. It's ridiculous.

Why? Whenever "House" isn't on the air, I get flooded with calls from women asking where you've gone.

That's so odd. Aah. I'm so embarrassed. ... You know, it's a sexy character. I'm playing a sexy character; I am not a sexy person. The character, I can see, you know, the damaged genius, the sort of Byronic hero, I can see some attraction in that. But that would be true of whoever was playing the role. If Mickey Rooney was playing the role ...

I seriously doubt that.

Oh, I think so. It's about the role. It's certainly never happened to me before in my life, so that would seem to support my theory. It's the character, not me. That's fine. I can live with that.

What was your reaction to getting nominated for a Golden Globe?

I was astonished and completely shocked. The funny thing about it was that the first thing I thought I'd do was call my wife. Then I realized, no, wait a minute, I'm talking to my wife, because she called me. My wife called me with the news. And I still don't quite know how she found out before I did. She's in London. She called me at 6 o'clock in the morning and said, "You've been nominated for a Golden Globe." I said, "Well, how the hell did you know that?" She's connected, my wife.

Can you talk about the rigors of working in American network television?

It's just brutal. I played a character in England for four years straight. We did 24 shows over four years. That's considered a lot. I've done 40 shows here, now, in about 18 months. That's incredible. I never ... that's like 16 movies back-to-back. It's almost as if I've done all the Bond movies in one go. It's like 20 movies. It's incredible. I do not know how you guys do it. How these guys write those scripts, it's absolutely amazing to me.

Another reporter asked: What do you think we'll learn about House this season?

The problem that the writers face is that they must never answer the question, "What's up with House?" They can never give it away. As soon as that problem's solved, the show is over. So, in way, they have to give an illusion of movement, an illusion of revelation, that actually is only an illusion.

But I suppose the truth is, my feeling is the audience may have suspected that the conventional path of a character like this might be, "Well, he seems like a jerk and he seems like this, but actually underneath it, he's got a heart of gold."

I think the discovery in this season is that, I'm not sure he has got a heart of gold. He might do some of the time, but he's more complicated than that.

Will there ever be a day that Dr. House will reveal that soft spot, that chink in the armor?

The question is, whom does he reveal it to? The audience may be privy to those moments, but I think the thing about House is that he will go to great lengths not to reveal it to other people. One of the things that I, personally, most admire about House is that he's not in it for the applause. He doesn't care whether he does the good thing or the bad thing. He doesn't care what other people think of it. ... He doesn't care for either, and I find that really rather thrilling. I think so much of the time these days, people want their good deeds to be recognized. They want to be applauded for their good behavior. And House doesn't care about that.

He seems to be the misanthrope who doesn't want his patients to die.

If you die, he's failed. And he does not want to fail. He has that degree of arrogance. He will not give in to failure. And if you die or you suffer, it's because ... his skills were not sufficient. And that, I think, is unacceptable to him. So, in that sense, I think he is relentless. Relentlessly good, because his own arrogance, his own conceit, will always drive him to go further and further and further to keep his patients from death.

"ER" has gotten a lot of great guest stars. Now that "House" has gotten some recognition, do you have a wish list for guest stars on a par with Cynthia Nixon and others who have been on?

I do. I have to keep it to myself because I'll get into so much trouble if the actor who then finally gets the role then reads in a newspaper, "Oh, so he wanted Clint Eastwood? Oh. Sorry!" ...

But I will say that the second half of the season concentrates pretty heavily on just the regular cast. We had some great guest stars, and will continue to I'm sure -- Sela Ward gave a whole new sort of story arc to the thing -- but the second half is really about our characters, you know, the regular people. Which I think is great, because they're so good and the characters are so intricate. There's a huge amount of mileage to be had from them.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/256462_tv21.html

The 2005-2006 TV Season
Ask Matt

(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic

Question: Breathless! After watching the first two hours of 24, that was about how I was left and totally couldn't wait to watch it again Monday night. Yeah! I am so excited that 24 is back and it is still as good as the first — better, actually. The whole first scene was totally unexpected, and I think my heart skipped a beat when President Palmer was shot. And then, to top it off, the car-bomb explosions with Michelle and then Tony. There goes my heart again just repeating it! It was fast-paced and action-packed and to see Chloe have a life outside of CTU was great, too. I think this will be the best season of 24. I don't even think I have a question, just a huge comment on this show. Thanks for letting me express my thoughts! — Amy D.

Matt Roush: It really was breathtaking, and nearly all the mail I got in the aftermath of the four-hour opener was in this tone. Oscar G. does, however, add a necessary cautionary note: "On Sunday, during the Bears-Panthers NFL playoff game on Fox, there was a commercial for the season premiere of 24, where Chloe is talking to Jack, saying that she is the last one left and that they are trying to kill her. During the show, after the shocking assassination of President Palmer, I was able to put one and one together and knew what was going to happen next. I watched in frustration the 'predictable' death of Michelle, and as Tony was sent to the hospital. Aside from the fact that the season premiere was the best television this season and Chloe is my new fantasy girl, is this what to expect from Fox, and should I go back to avoiding all 'scenes from the next episode' for fear of Fox ruining future episodes? Did they give up too much in their promos or were my television sensory radars just at peak performance after a week of Lost and The Shield? Speaking of which, how great is life in January with my three favorite shows back on television: Lost, The Shield and 24? Give me your feelings on all three. Also, I've decided that Mr. Eko, Vic Mackey and Jack Bauer are the perfect role models for a young man like myself."

More on Mr. Eko later. Hmmm, role models? Well, it's a choice. But yes, I couldn't be more thrilled to have each of these shows back on the air. It's almost too many thrills in one week, and that doesn't even include Battlestar Galactica and Invasion, among my other obsessions. Finally, rule of thumb: Though it is surely tempting, avoid 24 promos as best you can. Unless you're a spoiler junkie, which I most assuredly am not.

Question: Even though I was spoiled for my favorite character's demise on 24, it didn't make it any easier to watch it play out on screen. I personally would have liked it much better if Tony and Michelle would have not returned for Season 5 and had been allowed to have their happy ending, which is now cheapened along with previous seasons on DVD. My problem, mainly, is the way her character was disposed of so quickly, although most everyone will rave that the "shock value" is back. I just think that Palmer's death was shocking enough, while Michelle's was simply tacked on, making it gratuitous and excessive. Palmer's death will play out the rest of the season, and very well it should, considering he's a former president. I'm not looking forward to Michelle's death being swept under the rug, being forgotten by everyone except Tony — if and when he wakes up. The Michelle fans are a small but loyal minority, and although I personally know that Reiko Aylesworth has a wonderful career ahead of her, not seeing her on my screen on my favorite show is tough to accept. Thanks for letting me rant. I suppose my question would be: Do you feel her death is cheap and purely for shock value, and do you see it having any repercussions further along in the season for other characters? — Melissa

Matt Roush: I get where you're coming from, but I couldn't disagree more. The death of Michelle was possibly even more shocking than Palmer's assassination — at least for those of us who avoid spoiler sites — because it compounded the sense that everyone we had ever cared about on the show was a target (and it made the pursuit of Chloe even more intense). It's always good to keep in mind that 24 is the series that dared to kill off the wife of the series hero at the end of the very first season. This season's opening barrage of deaths is in that tradition, and I can't remember an opening act of a TV show as galvanizing as the opening of 24 this season. Pulling any of these punches would have lessened the impact. To me, this is the opposite of a cheap-shock stunt. It's a calculated risk, and I've heard from several fans who were very much put off by it. But that's the show, and I respect it for doing this. I can't say what's in store for Tony, but since he's not dead (and previous seasons have demonstrated his amazing recuperative powers), I'm pretty sure that the rage over Michelle's execution and the need to avenge her death will be a strong catalyst for what's to come. Maybe not as key to the plot as Palmer's death, given his connection to the first lady (the fabulous Jean Smart) and him being the former president and all. But I don't think Michelle or Reiko Aylesworth were diminished at all by this sudden, cruel death. We're not likely to forget it anytime soon.

Question: What a great episode of Lost (Jan. 11)! Kate and Sawyer are my favorite characters, but Mr. Eko's story blew me away! And coming off the heels of Kate's backstory episode, that's two wonderful hours of entertainment in a row. Funny how all those knee-jerk haters who said Lost was jumping the shark at the beginning of the year are strangely silent now, eh? But seriously, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's Mr. Eko seems to be the breakthrough character this year in much the same way Terry O'Quinn's Locke was last year. There's not one bad performance on Lost, but I'm hoping Emmy voters remember Adewale later this year. — Mike K.

Matt Roush: With a large ensemble like Lost's — not to mention the fact that many still consider it a genre show — I fear quite a few deserving souls from the cast will be snubbed at the Emmys (especially in a year when The Sopranos is back in the running). But Adewale was magnificent, and the episode was a brilliant way to return from the long holiday hiatus.

Another take on the episode, from Erin: "I'll admit my interest in Lost had been waning since the beginning of this season. Last week changed that. Eko is by far my favorite character now. How intense was that staring match with the mysterious smoke? I hope we will see this character develop much more as the season goes on. How do you feel about his struggles with evil deeds and the greater good he seems to be striving for? And on what side of the good-vs.-evil list, which Goodwin implied the Others had, do you think he would be on?"

If Lost is, as many have theorized, an allegory of redemption, a place for lost souls to confront their pasts while they attempt to survive an uncertain present, then I think Eko would have to be seen as one of the more heroic, even majestic, figures of the reconfigured tribe. And yes, the showdown with the smoke was astonishing.

Question: Just wanted to tell you I was able to catch the upcoming Andrew Davies adaptation of Bleak House (airing on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre, starting Sunday) while in the U.K. during the Christmas holidays. All involved in this production give amazing performances, but Gillian Anderson's Lady Dedlock is top-notch! I've already put in my order for the Bleak House DVD and will be glued to PBS on Sunday evenings when this series begins. Too bad all television is not of this quality. Thanks for listening! — A. Greenwald

Matt Roush: Thanks for writing and giving me another chance to plug what is going to be a serious early contender for my Top 10 lists this year. Bleak House is the finest Masterpiece I've seen in quite a while: great story, skillful writing and wonderful acting, especially by the luminous Gillian Anderson, who is a world and several eras removed from Agent Scully.

Question: According to TVGuide.com's Entertainment News, Fox has given Arrested Development a two-hour block on Feb. 10. Normally, that's great news, but I am curious as to why on earth they would place the show up against the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. Do they want it to fail? — Thomas

Matt Roush: This is a textbook definition of "burning off" episodes of a series the network has finally given up on. Airing the final four new episodes in a two-hour block, opposite a major TV event like the Olympics' opening ceremonies, is doing no one any real favor, except for those dedicated few who can at least take comfort in the fact these episodes were shown now and not buried until the summer. And it's not a matter of Fox wanting the show to fail. It has failed. Still, getting to see them at all is better than the alternative.

Question: I disagree with your Jan. 13 response about the appeal of Dancing with the Stars. I watch it, not for schadenfreude, but to see the stars succeed. I cannot stop smiling throughout the show as these amateurs progress. One can see hip-hop-style dancing any day on MTV, but there are rarely opportunities to watch such beautiful dancing. — Allison C.

Matt Roush: Yes, that was a cynical response to a show that doesn't really deserve it. I also grin while watching Dancing with the Stars. It's harmless fun, and I get at least as much pleasure from watching someone exceed expectations as I do watching a C-lister stumble. And not being a WWE fan, Stacy Keibler is new to me. Yowza.

Question: I have already heard some fans of The Book of Daniel talk as though anyone who dislikes the show is automatically "intolerant" or "close-minded," but that is, in itself, an example of intolerance. Not everyone who dislikes this show does so because they hate homosexuals, disapprove of religion being a part of a TV show or think that clergy are actually perfect in real life. My objections to the show are based on the show. I felt like it was just trying too hard. It was trying so hard to present "real" people and establish an irreverent tone that it simply piled flaw after flaw, secret after secret, and problem after problem into one family without bothering to take time to really explore or go beyond the big reveal. — Liz

Matt Roush: This is a very fair criticism, and you're not the only one to take this view. The critical reception was mixed, some enjoying Book of Daniel's reckless and messy qualities and others finding it over the top and all too easy to resist. I like it because it's different and well acted and executed, but I can see why others wouldn't. Richard, for example, who wrote in with a lengthy dissent that expressed a feeling of detachment from the show's characters, whose flaws branded them as weirdos and kept them from being sympathetic in his eyes. He concluded, astutely, "If (I mean, when) this show fails, I'm afraid the religious naysayers are going to claim credit that it failed because it dared to depict the 'holy' in an 'unholy' manner, but I think it is doomed because it failed the major requirement of any successful show, which is to give the viewers a person to root for."

I don't entirely agree with Richard's take — for one, I find Aidan Quinn's portrayal of Daniel to be wonderfully appealing and sympathetic, whatever the character's weaknesses — but I do agree it will be a crying shame if the religious-right watchdogs claim a victory should Daniel not survive. Given the low ratings and the timid response from advertisers, who should truly be ashamed of themselves, Daniel's fate is clearly tenuous. But much of this would likely be the situation regardless of those who tried to torpedo the show preemptively. Daniel is a risky series, and I'm glad NBC gave it a shot. Bottom line: I'll accept any criticism of a show, even when I disagree, as long as someone takes the effort to watch.

________________________________________

Question: I have read and respected your opinions for a long time now, but I have to disagree with your appraisal of The Book of Daniel. This show is demeaning to Christians and is nowhere near the accurate portrayal of "flawed beings" that it is claimed to be. Christians are not "cookie-cutter perfect" and I would certainly never claim to be, but, as a pastor's daughter, I am insulted by what is portrayed as "normal" in a minister's family (including homosexuality, drugs, adultery, the list goes on). I, for one, am proud to be one of the "narrow-minded" Christians boycotting this show and hoping that it doesn't last. I realize that a lot of other shows portray similar standards to this one, but those are not shown to be people who base their morals on biblical beliefs. I am happy to simply not watch these shows. But when they start portraying me and mine in a light that glorifies sin, that is when I take serious offense. — Teresa

Matt Roush: I still can't quite figure out if Teresa watched Book of Daniel or not, but I don't think anyone involved with the show would consider this family "normal." Certainly the characters themselves know their behavior is absurd and often regrettable. And let's keep in mind that this is drama, albeit with a strong comedic bent. Normal isn't dramatic. Should religious families be off-limits? And anyone who thinks even a minister's family is immune to the social and personal issues discussed in Daniel is reading from the book of denial. Finally, I heartily disagree that Daniel is demeaning to Christians. At its best, it illuminates the paradox of being a family of faith in a mixed-up world.

Pat, a fan of the show, wrote in to say: "I see Jesus as Daniel's conscience and guide in life, not as a real-life Jesus and certainly not as the fundamentalists portray Jesus: prejudiced, narrow-minded and critical of anyone who is different. The real Jesus taught love, compassion and acceptance. Too bad today's Christians don't know that." And I'll stop here before this column turns into a screed on religion. But just think of the emotions stirred up by this show. Gotta say I'm glad NBC at least gave it a shot.

Question: First, congrats on your great column. My weeks always start and end with you. I wanted to get your feeling on the representation of homosexuality on TV shows lately, because I feel that we've reached a turning point. I think that after a short period of (needed?) overexposure, with every show having a gay character and shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Queer as Folk, we are actually moving toward equality between gay and straight characters. For instance, I know that a lot of gay people have ground their teeth at Andrew being gay and evil on Desperate Housewives, but I actually believe that this is a good thing: We've got past the dichotomy of, on the one hand, the political correctness of the gay guy who's a great guy with no sexuality (Will & Grace) and, on the other hand, the cliché of the gay guy with nothing but his sexuality (Queer as Folk). Finally gay characters get to be something else than "just gay." They are handled the same way as straight characters and they have story lines that don't revolve only around their sexual orientation. So basically, a character can now be evil and date a hot gardener. And finally, I think I've rarely (never?) seen a gay character as relatable and realistic as the gay son on the great Book of Daniel (I'm kind of being unfaithful to Six Feet Under's David Fisher here, but hey, Christian Campbell from Reefer Madness!). I really hope the show won't get canceled, no matter what the AFA thinks. Anyway, being myself nonreligious, gay and French, I guess I'm pretty much the anti-Christ for those people. After Jack Kenny, of course. (P.S.: Please excuse my shaky English, being French and all). — Max

Matt Roush: Your English is fine, and your sentiments are appreciated. I have always contended the true breakthrough for gay characters on TV is when they're accepted first as characters, with their sexuality not being the defining characteristic. They can be good or evil, as long as they're interesting. Which Andrew certainly is these days.

Question: Instead of the usual TV-show questions I'm sure you get often, how about an awards-show question? We recently had Dennis Miller host the Critics Choice Awards and Craig Ferguson host the People's Choice Awards. Personally, I thought they both sucked [because they] never really [got] into their normal rhythms. With Jon Stewart hosting the Oscars this year, I'm not too optimistic, after his hosting of the Grammys a few years back. I wonder if the Golden Globes have it right (one of the few) by not having a host. Sure, the Oscars have the prestige and pomp of being "the best of the best," but I can only think of the Tonys and maybe Emmys with having the hosts best suited for their awards and crowd in the past few years. I know Jon Stewart hasn't hosted the show yet, but how do you think he'll do, and what if the Oscars got rid of a host altogether? — Dan

Matt Roush: I'm hoping Jon Stewart succeeds. He's a smart guy, very funny and currently at the top of his game. Which is reason enough to give him a shot, even if he wasn't the first choice (that would have been Billy Crystal). The Oscars are an institution with a long sense of tradition, which includes the idea of putting on a grand show, including clip packages (usually great), a host (a mixed bag) and (often regrettably) musical numbers. The Oscar show is a bit of a dinosaur, to be sure, but there's something comforting about its excesses, including its length and the perils that come from hosting it (just ask David Letterman). I do enjoy the briskness of the Golden Globes, but for the Oscars to do away with a host is to risk denying the show part of its sense of occasion, and its personality. However, if Jon Stewart flops and the ratings keep going south, then maybe the Oscar folks will rethink it. But for now, the Oscar show continues to be something we love to hate, and the host will remain one of its necessary evils.

On a similar awards theme, this from Louise H.: "Can you explain why the Golden Globes air on tape delay on the West Coast? For me, it is one of the most enjoyable and entertaining award shows to watch. (Maybe because there's alcohol available at the event.) Isn't it second in importance of awards shows? With the Golden Globes on tape delay, 10 pm newscasts or websites can announce winners before the show is done on the West Coast. I think tape delay takes out the fun and excitement for those watching on the West Coast. I'd love to hear your take on it."

I'm not sure, but it seems to me this is a financial decision, and NBC can make more money off the show if it can sell it in prime time in all areas. (How hard is it, anyway, to keep the blinders on for the three hours it takes to watch?) The Golden Globes is comfort food that's meant to be watched at night, not in the late afternoon. And while it has gained prominence in recent years, it's still far from a mega-event like the Oscars.

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/askmatt/

The Winter TV Critics Tour
The West Wing-Commander in Chief similarities

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” Saturday, January 21, 2006

ABC is at TCA today. On Friday about 75 critics visited the set of the ABC show "Commander in Chief." Had a press conference with the cast and producer Steven Bochco. I forgot to ask about this letter I received Jan. 10 from reader Jeff Trout:

“Here's tonight's listing for "Commander in Chief": "Sub Enchanted Evening" When a U.S. submarine on a covert mission off the coast of North Korea runs into trouble, Mac must find a way to diffuse the international crisis before things get out of hand.

Meanwhile, back on 11/14/2001 NBC aired the following episode of "The West Wing": A U.S. submarine has "gone quiet" off North Korea, putting the President into crisis mode. And he's not pleased to have to deal with a cantankerous State Department veteran (Hal Holbrook).

Seems strange that ABC is recycling West Wing Episodes in order to bolster its Tuesday Night lineup, while NBC is doing everything it can to bury The West Wing. Is it any wonder NBC is 4th in the ratings???”

Not that I would've gotten a straight answer to that one.

"Commander in Chief" has an impressive set, two soundstages long, and that's not counting the Air Force One interior, a football field long, that was the backdrop to our press conference on a third stage at Raleigh Studios. I have to say, though, that the twisty hallways of the West Wing had that oh-so-familiar, well, "West Wing" feel to them.

Aside from look-and-feel, how is "Commander in Chief" like "West Wing"? Well, as of this week, they're both in big time ratings trouble. "Commander" got pile-driven by the debut of "American Idol," which Hoovered viewers away from both ABC and NBC. Though "Idol" will stop tormenting Geena Davis soon enough, it'll then be Hugh Laurie's and "House's" turn to keep the pressure on "Commander," which has been losing points steadily all season.

Want to know how bad things are? During today's press conference, Bochco revealed something about an upcoming episode: The president's son is going to knock up a girl. In our collective experience as critics on the bus back to our hotel, we couldn't remember happening Bochco spilling the beans since his last failing show (not counting "Over There," which vanished so quickly there wasn't really time to stage a promotional intervention).

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/01/the_west_wingco.html#more

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Prankster-in-chief

The Newark Star-Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall TV blog
Saturday, January 21, 2006

From a distance, show business seems glamorous, but up close it can be pretty dull. There are so many breaks in the day, so much time spent changing lighting and camera positions, that actors have to find ways to fill their time. And, judging by recent press conferences, the most popular method is practical jokes.

I already wrote in the newspaper column about Carlos Bernard punking the "24" producers by having a guest star arrested on set, and at Friday's "Commander in Chief" session, Geena Davis explained what she did to new co-star Mark-Paul Gosselaar on his first day on the job.

Ever since the show began, Davis had a particular prank in mind to pull on a new actor, but she kept forgetting until Gosselaar was hired:

"I had the (assistant director) go in and tell him before he came in the makeup trailer, 'Just so you know, Geena's always in character. So it's not a big deal, but we do all call her Madam President. And if you happen to be sitting when she comes in, just stand.'"

So Gosselaar went to the makeup trailer, and when Davis entered, everyone stood up and called her "Madam President." Davis was so tickled that she wanted to spill the beans right then, but someone told her that the crew was really looking forward to getting in on the act. So then she walked with Gosselaar onto the set, and everyone kept calling her "Madam President." And once everyone was assembled together, the assistant director declared, "Ladies and gentlemen, the President's on the set," and everyone began to applaud like she had just arrived to deliver the State of the Union."

And then Davis said, "Well, I'd like to make my daily announcement, and I want to welcome our new staff member and admit what a horrible person I am because this is all a big joke."

Gosselaar admitted that he was taken in, but Davis revealed the truth before he had a chance to call his wife or agent and ask, "What the hell am I getting myself into?"

"I just didn't have enough time to kind of bitch about it yet," he said. "I told her, "You should have kept it going a little longer."

Only one way out

Well, if "Arrested Development" is going to live on, it will have to be at Showtime. Fox president Peter Liguori already said he's not likely to bring it back, and now ABC president Steve McPherson - the other rumored suitor - said, "I don't really forsee that happening."

He felt "Arrested" is "a really great show, and I think I could market it very well, and we have several timeslots that make sense. But I would have to say it's a longshot."

As George Bluth said on the last "Arrested" episode to air, "I guess it's Showtime."

http://www.nj.com/weblogs/tv/

Critic’s Notebook
CNN is still sick with Fox envy -- and it's only getting worse

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Friday, January 20, 2006

... There's a sadness here. And it has nothing to do with CNN's inability to "counter" Fox News with a respectable progressive slate of contributors. CNN used to be a reliable source for national and international news. Now it mostly chases storms and tragedy -- and Fox ...

Yeah, things have been going downhill since they started playing the same personality promotion game that Fox News played from the beginning. Now, merely having a Lou Dobbs hour or a Larry King show isn't annoying in itself, but they seem to do it for every freakin' time slot. It's even extended to Headline News recently.

If I could run CNN, CNN would be the "brand" I'd be pushing. Folks with distinctive one-hour shows like Lou Dobbs, Larry King and [holding nose]Nancy Grace[\end holding nose] would keep them (though I'd move Nancy Grace to CNN and get her off Headline News). But I wouldn't be pushing things like the Anderson Cooper version of the news vs. the Paula Zahn version.

CNN hasn't figured out one of Fox's secrets. They do an outstanding job of personalizing their news anchors (I'm talking about NEWS, not the talk shows). In the old days, CNN would never let their White House Correspondent come in on Saturday and SING. Nor would they let a reporter from the Washington bureau use half of her standup to comment on a previous fluff piece. Shows a side of the reporters one does not normally see. CNN is TRYING to do it. Robin Meade really cuts up on HLN. It's a technique local broadcasters have used for eons. Used to call it "happy talk." But it's gone way beyond that. Make the viewer emotionally invested in the reporters and suddenly, the news is almost secondary. Viewers know Jane Skinner has twins, Mike Jerrick has been divorced a number of times and Brian Wilson wears cowboy boots 24/7. Does Candy Crowley even SMILE? Viewers know nothing about them.

You're so right. Nancy Grace isn't going to save CNN. Nor is Anderson Cooper who is not nearly as much fun as when he did World News Now overnights on ABC.

In my mind it is even simpler: Roger Ailes (likes his politics or not) is a TV genius.
And any major decision which needs making gets made by him.
Quickly.
Period.
If it doesn't work out, he doesn't go looking for scapegoats or excuses. He just cuts his losses and moves on.
Try getting any decision made in even a month at the bureaucratic CNN (or MSNBC) operations.

In my mind it is even simpler: Roger Ailes (likes his politics or not) is a TV genius.

I don't really watch either of them, but from what I've read, he is THE MAN when it comes to FoxNews. In fact wasn't he boosted to controlling even more now?

Yes he now controls all the O&O stations.

Critic’s Notebook
Not missing her 'X'

After a timeout from series TV, Gillian Anderson is camera-shy no more
By Susan King Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 22, 2006

From the moment she stopped working on Fox's sci-fi hit "The X-Files" in 2002, Gillian Anderson knew she didn't want to be on a TV or movie set. She was burned out. The 37-year-old actress had spent nine seasons on the award-winning series as FBI agent Dana Scully, who, with her eccentric partner Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), investigated the strange and unexplained.

So she moved to London, where she had spent her childhood, did a few plays, got married, traveled and did charity work. "It took a long time before I was ready to start working in front of the camera," she says.

But Anderson, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe as Scully, has been working almost nonstop in the last few years. And several of her projects are finally arriving stateside.

Premiering (Sunday) night on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" is the eight-hour adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House." Anderson plays the tragic Lady Honoria Dedlock, who harbors a dark secret about an illicit love affair and a child born out of wedlock. The drama features a strong supporting cast, including Charles Dance as the unscrupulous attorney who learns of her past, and Timothy West as Dedlock's elderly husband.

Anderson plays herself in Michael Winterbottom's new movie-within-a-movie comedy, "Tristram Shandy: A **** and Bull Story," which opens Feb. 10. Arriving in theaters later in the year is "The Last King of Scotland," a drama about Idi Amin.


Do you feel more at home in England?

I do. I don't know if it is because my early years were spent there. I was 2 to 11, and it was my first language, so to speak. I grew up with a British accent. Even though my parents were American, I felt like a Brit, and that has always been inside my bones. I love Europe. I love the pace of Europe, and I love the history. I feel comfortable there.

So did the BBC approach you about playing Lady Dedlock?

The producer came to me. My immediate reaction, which is the same to all television which comes my way, is "No. I have done television." The films I had made I knew wouldn't be released until after this had aired [in England], so just strategically, I didn't want it to look like, "Oh, she's doing television again." So I did question it a lot. But once I read the script and talked to fellow actors in England and understood it's quite different over there for actors…. It is much easier for them in their career to go back and forth between doing television and stage and film and even radio.

Had you ever read the Dickens novel?

I hadn't read it. Once I agreed to do the project, I read it for the first time. It was never part of my college repertoire.

Why is it that Dickens seems so relevant for contemporary audiences?

I think it is because of the human condition, and the emotions and the experiences are universal to human beings. The sorrow that we feel today is the same sorrow that was felt , as well as the pain and the loss and the joy and the compassion and the love. He makes his characters so rich and so individual. They are all completely different human beings.

[B]In "Tristram Shandy" you play yourself as well as the character in the movie-within-a-movie. Were you having as much fun as you appear to on screen?

It was fun. I basically just went in for three or four days. I had wanted to work with Michael Winterbottom for a long time. I thought it would just be a blast. It was wild. He works in a very different way than a lot of directors.

How so?

On set — at least with this — he just likes to have himself, the cameraman and the boom operator. So there is no hair or makeup around. Everybody else is far, far away. He just constantly is kind of tweaking and changing something at the last minute. All of a sudden, at the spur of the moment, he decides he wants it this way. It is much more spontaneous and chaotic but in a measured kind of way. He keeps trying things and tries them as long as it takes until he gets it.

Do you feel that your post-"X-Files" career would have played out differently had you not moved to London?

I don't know what would have happened if I would have stayed here. I am sure my career would have gone in some direction or another. I am not sure when this happened. I don't know if it was with "House of Mirth" [the 2000 film based on Edith Wharton's novel], but for whatever reason, I am perceived differently [in England]. I am perceived as an actor and over here I feel like I am perceived as a TV celebrity who was in a series that has been off the air for three years. People don't know quite what to do with me. Over there I get offers for films or series like this. For some reason, they are willing to take a risk with me.

After "The X-Files" went off the air in 2002, there was talk of an "X-Files" movie. Is that still going to happen?

Oh, we have had many, many conversations about it. We have contracts. It depends on when it's written. I am asked about it all the time, so there is interest, but how long will there be interest? If we don't shoot it until 2007, and that looks like that would be the earliest, it won't be coming out until 2008. And in 2008, will people really care?

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-brief22jan22,0,4402268,print.story?coll=cl-tvent

About Television
Not missing her 'X'

Things That Go Bump in Prime Time
By Kate Aurthur The New York Times January 22, 2006

Vancouver — In a recent episode of "Supernatural," the two lead characters, both good-looking men in their 20's, walked down the hallway of an abandoned, haunted insane asylum. "Hey, Sam," one said to the other. "Who do you think is a hotter psychic, Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt or you?" The line was an acknowledgment of the large number of current shows (the hot psychics appear on "Medium" and "Ghost Whisperer," respectively) that share the otherworldly subject matter. But it was also an indication of the wry, self-aware humor that has made this show stand out.

"Supernatural," shown on Tuesday nights, chronicles the adventures of two brothers who crisscross the country's back roads in a 1967 Chevy, pursuing and destroying evil as they search for their missing father. The show has emerged as WB's only new hit of the fall season so far, attracting a loyal audience of young female viewers as well as bringing in more young men, which is one of the network's main goals.

Before its debut in September, "Supernatural" was just one of a crowded field. "We were in that mix, the one-word genre shows," said Eric Kripke, 31, the show's creator, in reference to "Threshold," "Surface" and "Invasion," new science fiction series begat by the success of "Lost."

"But it's like, we're a horror show," Mr. Kripke said. "We weren't a paranoid, government-conspiracy, alien thing. We weren't an endless-mystery 'Lost'-style format. We're just this rollicking, red-blooded horror movie."

Put the emphasis on the word "movie." "Supernatural" aims at the audience of spooky box-office winners like "The Grudge," "The Ring" and the recent remake of "The Amityville Horror," rather than looking to television for prototypes. David Janollari, WB's president of entertainment, said that when he met Mr. Kripke and heard the pitch for a weekly horror series, he thought, "That territory is being mined in the feature world, but we're not servicing it on television."

In each episode, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) travel to a new location where they suspect something dark and unearthly is happening: Mr. Kripke uses urban legends like the Hook Man (who rips open unsuspecting young couples) and Bloody Mary (who kills anyone stupid enough to say her name three times while looking in the mirror) to provide story fodder. He described these legends as "these gory little stories that are really fun to tell," and said they had interested him since childhood.

In Mr. Padalecki's sparse trailer on the show's set here, both he and Mr. Ackles said they had been intrigued by the idea of a genuinely scary television series. "I remembered the previous WB supernaturally themed shows, like 'Charmed,' 'Roswell' and 'Angel,' and I was like, 'Oh, no, not one of those,' " Mr. Padalecki recalled. But when he met with Mr. Kripke (a co-writer of the movie "Boogeyman"), along with McG ("The O.C." and the "Charlie's Angels" films) and David Nutter ("The X-Files"), two of the show's executive producers, Mr. Padalecki said they promised that "it was going to be raw and it was going to be scary."

Mr. Ackles said, "It's definitely a giant core of the show to try to scare the hell out of you."

Not an easy task on television. Peter Roth, the president of Warner Brothers Television Production, the studio behind "Supernatural," listed limited production time, a circumscribed budget and a rotating gallery of directors as the obstacles facing any series that strives for suspense. "A good scare requires a good deal of time and direction," he said. "It's the ability to use all the tricks we've learned from the masters - going back to Hitchcock."

Mr. Kripke added: "Comedy you can build in the editing room, you can build your timing out of performance. Drama, same deal. Horror or suspense, if you don't have a director who knows how to shoot that, there's nothing you can do. You have to have such a style of how you move your camera, what you choose not to see, how you can imply something."

In the show's premiere episode, viewers saw a creepy flashback to the awful night when Sam and Dean's mother was pinned to the ceiling by some mysterious force, set on fire and blown up. Their father then began the family business of hunting evil beings. As the two sons, now grown, search for the truth about their parents, they bicker their way toward mending a strained fraternal relationship. Increasingly, the brothers are led from place to place by Sam's nascent psychic abilities, which might be professionally handy but are terrifying him.

In some episodes, the show really pours on the blood. "When I tell you that not once have we run into a censorship issue that what we were showing was too violent, I mean it - and quite frankly, I'm shocked by it," Mr. Kripke said, sounding pleased. "The boyfriend hanging upside down in 'Hook Man' was eviscerated! If anything, the network is encouraging us to try to go further."

Mr. Janollari said, "The audience is not going to be satisfied if they're not getting the same visceral level of scares and thrills that they get when they go to the movies." He added, with a laugh, "There have been episodes I've watched that I've had to recoil."

Mr. Kripke named "Evil Dead II," Sam Raimi's 1987 splatterfest, as one of his three favorite movies of all time (along with "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca"). But that gruesome film serves as a model for fun, not fear, he said: "I believe aesthetically the less you see, the scarier it is. The really terrifying movies are done in shadow and leave it to the imagination."

Mr. Ackles and Mr. Padalecki - for now, at least - play the only two regular characters on the show. "It's the two of us, and it's the two of us all the time," Mr. Ackles said with a sigh. Mr. Padalecki added, "We can barely sleep."

But their punishing schedule means that every other character they meet along the way is expendable. In the surprising ending of the first episode, Sam's girlfriend died in the same way his mother did - impaled on the ceiling and then immolated. It was a twist that led the recap writer on the often-harsh Web site Television Without Pity to comment: "This is the best. WB. Show. EVER!"

Mr. Kripke said: "In our writers' room, when we're in the middle of a scare or set piece, we'll say, 'Oh, wait, it's just the boys in it.' Because we know they're not going to die, so it's always putting in a guest cast with them, and every so often killing that character. Not every time - you want the boys to be heroes and save the day."

"But every so often," Mr. Kripke continued, summarizing what might be the pleasure of watching horror, "you've got to just waste somebody."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/arts/television/22aurt.html?pagewanted=print

NESN sports TV nets high-tech studios
By Jesse Noyes
Saturday, January 21, 2006

The New England Sports Network is hustling to some new digs in Watertown and beefing up its high-definition offerings.

The cable sports channel plans to move its facilities from inside Fenway Park to the Boston suburb by the end of February, more than tripling its real estate space. The new headquarters boasts 40,139 square feet compared to the current 12,500 square feet.

The station said it would maintain studio space at Fenway Park and at TD Banknorth Garden for coverage of local sporting events.

The space in Watertown will also have two high-definition studios, large LCD screens and NESN plans to move from a tape-based to digital control room, allowing the station to eventually produce all of its in-house programming in HD, including pre- and post-game shows and its marquee Sports Desk.
NESN already broadcasts most of its game coverage in HD format, a spokesman said.

The local joins other networks preparing for a digital revolution by producing original material in HD-equipped studios. Earlier this week MTV Networks launched MHD, an all HD channel showcasing concerts and videos in greater detail. The channel’s cutting-edge studio is located high up in the mountains of Vail, Colo.

NESN plans to boost the number of its HD offerings from 176 to more than 1,200 programs a year, broadcasting over 3,300 hours of content in the high-tech format.

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=122303

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Dancing With the Blame

By Chase Squires St. Petersburg Times television critic

ABC blamed me -- yes, me -- for the "Dancing With the Stars" dance-off being a wrong move. "Bad idea: dance-off," Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, said Saturday. Then, kidding, he singled me out for blame. Thanks, but no thanks.

McPherson said TV critics and ABC employees cared more about the supposed scandal than the general public did. "Dance-gate," McPherson dubbed the furor over Kelly Monaco beating John O'Hurley last summer.

But McPherson added that ABC threw the dance-off into premiere week last fall and failed to promote the special. (Who's to blame for that? Not me.) The second time around, O'Hurley triumphed over Monaco in the public vote.

McPherson said adding a results show, another suggestion from critics, boosted the franchise. The dance show airs on Thursdays, followed by the results on Fridays.

Later, I asked McPherson if the dance-off might have placated some disgruntled fans.

"It probably won us some goodwill," he said. "It didn’t perform in the ratings ... because of where we put it, when we put it. It didn’t perform as well as we would have liked.’’

Did he hear from viewers about why ABC presented the dance-off?

"Some people were mad that he won, but we didn’t hear like 'Why are you doing this?' "

McPherson said the furor didn't hurt the franchise in the long run.

"It has just grown the franchise, if anything. We made it a better show.’’

And watched the ratings grow. "Dancing With the Stars" has resurrected ABC on Thursdays and Fridays.

Is feeling passionate about a TV show wrong? I don't think so.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2006/01/dancing_with_th.html

The Winter TV Critics Tour
ABC

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star

ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson told reporters Saturday that it was “ludicrous” to assert that the network pulled a reality series off its air last summer to appease conservative Christian groups.

The suggestion was raised by a front-page New York Times story Saturday about “Welcome to the Neighborhood,” in which seven families competed for a house on an Austin, Tex., cul-de-sac. ABC yanked the series before an episode aired. At the time, concerns were raised by anti-gay-defamation groups after a promo aired in which one of the homeowners on the cul-de-sac -- who would help decide which of the competing families won the house -- declares, “I would not tolerate living next door to homosexuals.”

But a producer told the Times that the series was actually pro-gay, and that this may have been the real reason the show was cancelled. Bill Kennedy, who created “Welcome to the Neighborhood” with his son Eric, said that a gay couple actually won over the anti-gay neighbor and were awarded the house. For this reason, said Kennedy, it became a problem to Disney, which owns ABC. The company was negotiating with Christian groups to drop their boycotts of Disney for its pro-gay policies and throw their support behind “The Chronicles of Narnia,” the Disney movie based on the C.S. Lewis children’s books.

Kennedy stressed that he could not prove that Disney wanted “Welcome to the Neighborhood” off the ABC schedule. But he argued that the coincidence raised questions “exactly why ABC cancelled the show.”

To which McPherson replied, “(The Kennedys’) theory on why the show didn’t go forward is not only ludicrious, it’s embarrassing to them.”

• McPherson said that he cancelled a new comedy, “Emily’s Reasons Why Not,” after only one week because creatively, “it just never got on track.” McPherson said ABC had begun promoting “Emily’s Reasons,” starring Heather Graham, “before we even saw a script.” Earlier this month the show debuted poorly in the ratings and was dropped along with another comedy, “Jake in Progress.”

• ABC’s news president, David Westin, declared himself “extremely proud” with the new faces anchoring the network’s “World News Tonight” and “Nightline.” He said that two “Peter Jennings Reports” will air this spring that the late news anchor was working on at the time of his death.

• On Sunday, the winter TV previews conclude with presentations by fourth-place NBC.

• Quote: “Something happens and bad stuff follows.” -- Shonda Rhimes, creator of “Grey’s Anatomy,” when pressed for details on the “Code Black” episode that will air immediately following Super Bowl XL.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/01/abc_the_a2_vers.html#more

Saturday’s network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

Breaking News from The Winter TV Critics Tour
"West Wing," adieu

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn”

As many of us have suspected, this will be the final season of "The West Wing."

Minutes ago, NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly announced that the series finale will air May 14, preceded by a one-hour retrospective.

No, Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme won't be involved in writing it.

No, John Spencer's death hadn't anything to do with it. "That was kind of determined before" Spencer died, said Reilly. "There's been some outstanding work done this season. I just wish more people had seen it.”

Allow me to suggest the correct way for "The West Wing" to end: The Republican wins.

http://www.tvbarn.com/

The Winter TV Critics Tour
"West Wing," “Will and Grace” Bow Out in May

(zap2it.com)--Two of the most-honored shows in NBC's recent history will say goodbye at the end of this season, as the network is preparing sendoffs for "The West Wing" and "Will & Grace."

NBC said going into this year that 2005-06 would be the last for "Will & Grace," and speculation had been growing that this would be it for "The West Wing" as well. With the latter show still headed toward its election night, it looks like there won't be much time for a new administration to take hold.

"We are proud to have had the opportunity to bring television viewers one of the most acclaimed series in television history," NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly says of "The West Wing." "From the venerable, moving performances by the first-rate cast to the sterling creative team behind the camera, this series has left an indelible imprint on the landscape of television drama."

Reilly also has high praise for "Will & Grace," saying the show "assembled one of the finest comedic casts on television, bringing to life the hilarious, groundbreaking scripts from [creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan] and their writing team to create what has truly become one of the classic comedies on television."

"The West Wing" will end at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, May 14, with a one-hour retrospective preceding the last episode. "Will & Grace" will bow out four days later with an hour-long episode, also paired with a look back.

Between them, the two series have won 38 Emmys -- 24 for "The West Wing" and 14 for "Will & Grace." ("The West Wing Documentary Special" also won an award for special-class program in 2002.) The awards for "Wing" include four consecutive wins for outstanding drama series, while each of the four principal actors on "W&G" has an Emmy.

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/utils/tve_article_print/1,1144,,00.html?current_url=271|99661|1|&search_id=1&cntn_id=99661

"The West Wing” Bows Out in May

NBC ANNOUNCES SPECIAL TWO-HOUR FAREWELL FOR MULTI-EMMY-WINNING "THE WEST WING" ON MAY 14 AS DRAMA CONCLUDES EPIC RUN WITH ONE-HOUR RETROSPECTIVE FOLLOWED BY SERIES FINALE AFTER SEVEN HALLMARK SEASONS

(NBC Press Release) Published: January 22, 2006

BURBANK, Calif. -- January 22, 2006 -- NBC announced that its multi-Emmy Award-winning drama "The West Wing" (Sundays, 8-9 p.m. ET) will conclude its storied run on Sunday, May 14 after seven hallmark seasons with an hour-long retrospective (7-8 p.m. ET) followed by a special series finale (8-9 p.m. ET), it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

"We are proud to have had the opportunity to bring television viewers one of the most acclaimed series in television history," said Reilly. "From the venerable, moving performances by the first-rate cast to the sterling creative team behind the camera, this series has left an indelible imprint on the landscape of television drama."

As the critically acclaimed winner of four consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstanding Drama Series, "The West Wing" -- under the direction of executive producer John Wells (NBC's "ER") ? has always offered viewers a realistic, behind-the-scenes peek into the Oval Office and the campaign trail that leads there.

The sophisticated, one-hour drama series stars Emmy winner Martin Sheen ("Apocalypse Now"), the late Emmy-winning John Spencer ("L.A. Law"), Emmy winner Bradley Whitford ("My Fellow Americans"), Emmy winner Richard Schiff ("Deep Impact"), Emmy winner Allison Janney ("American Beauty"), Emmy winner Jimmy Smits ("NYPD Blue," "L.A. Law"), Emmy winner Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H"), Emmy nominee Dule Hill ("Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk!"), Emmy nominee Janel Moloney ("Sports Night"), Emmy winner Stockard Channing ("Six Degrees of Separation"), Joshua Malina ("Sports Night"), Kristin Chenoweth ("Wicked") and Mary McCormack ("Private Parts").

"The West Wing" holds the record for most Emmys won by a series in a single season (its first) and has earned 90 total nominations to date. Other awards include a Peabody Award for Excellence in Television, five Golden Globe nominations and one Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Series, and three Television Critics Association Awards.

At the core of the current 2005-06 season is the campaign between Democratic nominee Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Republican challenger Vinick (Alan Alda) for the Presidency. President Bartlet (Sheen) and his team find themselves leading the country with the administration's days coming to a close.

The Winter TV Critics Tour
"Earl” and “The Office” get renewals for next season

(NBC Press Release) Published: January 22, 2006

BURBANK, Calif. -- January 22, 2006 -- NBC has rewarded "My Name Is Earl" (Thursdays, 9-9:30 p.m. ET) and supplied "The Office" (Thursdays, 9:30-10 p.m. ET) with full-season orders of 22 episodes each through the 2006-07 season, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

"The strength of the ratings and performance and the quality of these two shows make this a very easy decision," said Reilly. "We are confident that these comedies will only continue to increase in popularity."

"My Name Is Earl" is the season's #1 comedy and #1 new series in adults 18-49. Through the first 15 weeks of the season, "Earl" was also television's #1 Tuesday series in 18-49. Since moving to Thursday nights on January 5, "Earl" has increased NBC's 18-49 rating in the time period by 31 percent (with a 5.5 rating vs. a 4.2). Through January 15, "My Name Is Earl" is averaging a 5.3 rating, 13 share in adults 18-49 and 12.0 million overall.

Since shifting to the Thursday lineup on January 5, "The Office" has delivered its three highest regular-slot ratings ever in adults 18-49 and its three best retentions ever of its 18-49 lead-in from "My Name Is Earl." "The Office" is also one of primetime's most upscale comedies, ranking #2 in terms of the concentration of homes with incomes of $100,000 or more in its adult 18-49 audience. Through January 15, "The Office" is averaging a 3.9 rating, 9 share in adults 18-49 and 8.0 million viewers overall.

In "Earl," the title character (Jason Lee, "Almost Famous") has taken one too many wrong turns on the highway of life. However, a twist of fate turns his life into a tailspin of life-renewing events. Earl won a small lottery, and, after an epiphany, he is determined to transform his good fortune into a life-changing event as he sets out to right all the wrongs from his past.

In its first season, "My Name Is Earl" has been nominated for two Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, one Directors Guild of America Award and three Writers Guild of America Awards. It has also won the coveted People's Choice Favorite New Television Comedy Award.

Joining Earl along his quest to cleanse his karma are a few dim-witted friends: hapless brother Randy (Ethan Suplee, "Cold Mountain") and the very sexy Catalina (Nadine Velazquez, "The Bold and the Beautiful"). Even Darnell (Eddie Steeples, "Torque"), a worker at the Crab Shack where Earl drinks beer, offers his support. But it's Earl's ex-wife Joy (Jaime Pressly, "Not Another Teen Movie") who won't lift a finger to help unless there's something in it for her.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

From Reveille and NBC Universal Television Studio, "The Office" is a unique comedy series offering a smart, tongue-in-cheek documentary-style look at the humorous, and sometimes poignant, banality of the 9-to-5 white-collar work world. After airing its initial 16 episodes over two seasons, the series received three Writers Guild of America Award nominations, including Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a New Series and Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series.

"The Office" takes a painfully funny look at the interactions of the desk jockeys at Dunder Mifflin paper-supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Recent Golden Globe winner Steve Carell ("The 40-Year Old Virgin") stars as unctuous regional manager Michael Scott who hosts the documentary crew on a tour of the workplace. Jenna Fischer ("Miss Match"), John Krasinski ("Jarhead," "Kinsey"), Rainn Wilson ("Six Feet Under"), and B.J. Novak ("Punk'd") star as the employees who tolerate Michael's inappropriate behavior only because he signs their paychecks.

With unshaken enthusiasm, Michael believes he is the office funnyman and a fountain of business wisdom. Unaware of how he is perceived by his employees, Michael comes off alternately absurd and pathetic, but always hilarious.

The Winter TV Critics Tour
NBC’s Post-Olympics plans

(NBC Press Release) Published: January 22, 2006
"Deal or No Deal" Returns for a Week Beginning February 27 and Continues Weekly on Monday, March 6 -- Followed by Series Debuts of "Conviction," "Heist" and "Teachers"

"Law & Order" Moves Up One Hour to Wednesdays (9-10 p.m. ET) Beginning March 22; "The Apprentice" Resumes Competition on Monday, February 27 (9-10 p.m. ET); "Las Vegas" Rolls on to Fridays (9-10 p.m. ET) on March 3

BURBANK, Calif. -- January 22, 2006 -- NBC will introduce several new mid-season series and welcome back other hits following the closing day ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics beginning February 27 with the reprise of the smash "Deal or No Deal" followed by the series premieres of "Conviction" (March 3), "Heist" (March 22) and "Teachers" (April 6).

Other early schedule changes include "Law & Order" moving on Wednesdays to 9-10 p.m. (ET) beginning March 22. In addition, "The Apprentice" returns on Monday, February 27 (9-10 p.m. ET), and "Las Vegas" rolls on to Fridays (9-10 p.m. ET) on March 3. "Dateline NBC" also will move from Fridays (9-10 p.m. ET) to Saturdays (8-9 p.m. ET) on March 4.

The announcements were made at the Television Critics Association's January Press Tour by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

"We are not going to slip quietly into spring," said Reilly. "With these exciting new shows in our re-configured schedule, we will be very competitive -- and given the promotional momentum of the Olympics, we can give these promising shows the launch they deserve."

"Deal or No Deal" ? which debuted from December 19-23, 2005 to huge ratings -- returns on Monday, February 27 (8-9 p.m. ET) and will run at this time for a week through Friday, March 3. The first run of "Deal or No Deal" on NBC won all five of its hours among adults 18-49 and delivered season highs for its time period on four of five nights. Averaging a 4.3 rating, 13 share in 18-49 and 12.7 million viewers overall, "Deal" improved on NBC's season averages in those time periods by an average of 54 percent in 18-49 and 51 percent in total viewers.

"Deal or No Deal" will then return on a weekly basis on the following Monday, March 6 (8-9 p.m. ET). Comedian Howie Mandel returns as host of the exhilarating hit game show as contestants play and deal for a top prize of $1 million dollars in a high-energy match of nerves, instincts and raw intuition. Each night, the game of odds and chance unfolds when a contestant faces 26 sealed briefcases containing anything from a measly penny to $1 million dollars. Without knowing the amount in each briefcase, the contestant picks one -- his to keep, if he chooses, until its unsealing at game's end.

Based on the successful format from Endemol that has aired in over 35 countries, "Deal or No Deal" is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. David Goldberg is the President of Endemol USA. The series is executive-produced by Scott St. John.

"The Apprentice" follows "Deal or No Deal" when it returns on Monday, February 27 (9-10 p.m. ET).

"Law & Order" will follow in its new earlier time (9-10 p.m. ET) when it begins on March 22.

"Conviction" -- Emmy Award winner Dick Wolf's ("Law & Order"-brand series) newest series begins on Friday, March 3 (10-11 p.m. ET). This new legal drama series is a fast-paced, character-oriented story focusing on young assistant district attorneys in New York who are confronted with tough, high-profile cases that challenge their limited experience -- and force them to mature quickly or be overwhelmed.

The ensemble cast of "Conviction" includes Stephanie March, Jordan Bridges, J. August Richards, Milena Govich, Eric Balfour, Anson Mount and Julianne Nicholson. The series was created by Wolf and the pilot was written by Walon Green ("Law & Order") and Rick Eid ("Law & Order: Trial by Jury," "The Guardian"). "Conviction" is a Wolf Films production in association with NBC Universal Television Studio. Wolf, Green, Eid and Peter Jankowski are the executive producers.

"Las Vegas" precedes "Conviction" when it relocates to Fridays (9-10 p.m. ET) starting March 3.

"Heist" -- a fast-paced, cops-and-robbers drama from acclaimed director Doug Liman ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith") and writers Mark and Robb Cullen (FX's "Lucky") ? premieres on Wednesday, March 22 (10-11 p.m. ET). The series centers on a group of professional thieves who are plotting to simultaneously rob three prominent Beverly Hills jewelry stores on Oscar week. Over the course of a full season, the series follows the thieves as they plan and execute the heist, as well as the detectives who are hot on their trail. Filled with action, suspense and comedy, "Heist" takes audiences on a joy ride with car chases, gun battles, explosions and cat-and-mouse-like antics.

The ensemble cast includes the burglars -- Dougray Scott ("Dark Water"), Steve Harris ("The Practice"), Seymour Cassel ("The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"), Marika Dominczyk ("North Shore") and David Walton ("Stateside") ? and the detectives -- Michele Hicks ("The Shield"), Reno Wilson ("Blind Justice") and Billy Gardell ("Yes, Dear"). "Heist" is produced by Hypnotic, NBC Universal Television Studio and Sony Pictures Television.

The new comedy "Teachers" starts class promptly on Thursday, April 6 (9:30-10 p.m. ET) as it replaces "The Office" after the critically acclaimed comedy's season finale on Thursday, March 30 (9:30-10 p.m. ET). This comedic take on modern education centers on likable Filmore High School English teacher Jeff (Justin Bartha, "National Treasure"), who is surrounded by a school administration mired in bureaucratic red tape and rule-bound, apathetic teachers. Jeff is faced with a class of text-messaging, video-gaming, short-attention-span students who refuse to crack open a book.

But despite his own self-proclaimed indifference, deep inside there's still an occasional spark, especially for a few students who just might think he is the best teacher they will ever have. Joining Bartha in the cast is Sarah Alexander (BBC's "Coupling"), Deon Richmond ("The Cosby Show"), radio comedian Phil Hendrie, Sarah Shahi ("The L Word"), Matt Winston ("Six Feet Under") and Kali Rocca ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer").

"Teachers" is produced by NBC Universal Television Studio. Matt Tarses ("Scrubs") and Bill Wrubel ("Will & Grace") are executive producers. James Burrows (NBC's "Will & Grace") directed the pilot.

Emmy Award-winning "Law & Order," the longest running crime series and the second longest-running drama series in the history of television, is now in its 16th season on NBC. The brainchild of creator Dick Wolf, "Law & Order" is the most successful brand in the history of primetime television.

"Las Vegas" -- from Gary Scott Thompson ("The Fast and the Furious") ? is a fast-paced, sexy drama that follows the elite Las Vegas surveillance team in one of Sin City's largest resorts and casinos. The series, previously broadcast on Mondays (9-10 p.m. ET), stars Oscar and Golden Globe nominee James Caan and Josh Duhamel ("All My Children"), and is now in its third season.

"The Apprentice" stars business titan Donald Trump, who returns to test a new crew of would-be executives -- all of whom vie to become his latest apprentice executive.

Vegas moves to Friday? :(

That doesn't bode well.

There will obviously be a lot of news and comment on NBC's announcements for the rest of the day (and tomorrow). Here is a story I neglected to post yesterday regarding ABC:

The Winter TV Critics Tour
McPherson: New Platforms Must Meet ABC Requirements

By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com

Before ABC offers its content on new platforms, certain criteria must be met, Stephen McPherson, ABC entertainment president, said during his network's executive session at the Television Critics Association press tour.

"First of all, it has to be a great consumer experience," a standard the Apple iPod meets, Mr. McPherson said Saturday at the TCA Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. "We absolutely have to have digital protection. Third, it really has to complement our brand. We also look at how it complements the network. How does it become additive? And we look at it from a monetary standpoint."

Like his counterparts at other networks, Mr. McPherson said new technologies must go back to "complementing the mother ship" -- the network.

The heavily promoted midseason comedy "Emily's Reasons Why Not," which performed poorly in its first Monday 9 p.m. (ET) outing and was quickly pulled from the schedule, "never got on track," Mr. McPherson said.

"We felt like, unfortunately, it was not going to get better, we needed to make a quick change, and we saw life in 'The Bachelor,'" he said, noting that the network is pleased with the performance of the encore episode of the reality relationship series that's currently replacing "Emily's Reasons" at 9 p.m.

Scheduling "Grey's Anatomy" for after the Super Bowl made sense for the network because ABC "believes it is going to be a huge part of our future," Mr. McPherson said. "It is an asset that is only growing."

Although he said he loves the show, he called it a "long shot" for ABC to take on Fox's "Arrested Development." "We would certainly have interest if there's even a possibility," Mr. McPherson said, adding, "I don't see that happening."

ABC might put its in-development telenovela project on Mondays, but Mr. McPherson said the concept is still in the exploratory phase. "We're really interested to try and see how to translate that to a broadcast network like us," he said, noting that the Spanish-language networks put on the telenovelas for as little as $35,000 an episode.

"That's craft services on one of our shows," he joked.

While "Desperate Housewives" may have started slow at the beginning of its second season, Mr. McPherson said the story lines have built momentum recently. "At the beginning of the year we answered so many questions from last season," he said of the highly serialized "Housewives." "We got away from the heart and soul of that show."

In terms of the network's 9/11 miniseries, Mr. McPherson said he hasn't scheduled it yet because he has not seen a completed version. "It's a very ambitious piece," he said. "It's a very special piece."

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9236

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Calling Dr. Shepherd

By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic

The turns of Dr. Derek Shepherd on “Grey’s Anatomy” has been tough on actor Patrick Dempsey.

Following last season’s cliffhanger, he told reporters, “Old ladies at the airport would yell at me, ‘You are awful! How dare you do that to Meredith!"

“I was despised.”

But he has also been looked to for medical help, also in aeronautical settings.

“I was on an airplane once,” he says, “and we were getting ready to take off. And they're like: ‘There's an emergency in the back of the plane! Is there a doctor on board?" And everybody turned to look at me.

“Seriously. I was, like, debating whether or not I should get up. I'm like, ‘Well, should I just go and look and see what's going on?’

“Then I just sat back and said, ‘I'm a neurosurgeon. I don't do emergencies.’

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/01/calling_dr_shep.html

Vegas moves to Friday? :(

That doesn't bode well.
That's going to be a tough spot, CBS is pretty much steamrolling everybody on Fridays already.

Are you going to post another schedule soon with these changes? :)

But ABC beat 'em this week. The "Dancing" results show is doing very well.

I suppose there are folks who like that stuff, myself, I think I have watched about a total of 15 mins of American Idol the whole time it's been on the air(waiting for 24 to start), that sort of stuff just doesn't appeal to me at all.

There will obviously be a lot of news and comment on NBC's announcements for the rest of the day (and tomorrow).
This is assuming that a lot of people actually watch NBC.. :p :D

The Winter TV Critics Tour
NBC’s Summer Plans

(NBC Press Release)Published: January 22, 2006

Summer Fare Includes New Drama "Windfall," Alternative Series "Treasure Hunters" and Return of "Last Comic Standing"

BURBANK, Calif. -- January 22, 2006 -- NBC revealed its ambitious Summer 2006 programming lineup that features the original drama series "Windfall," the bold alternative series "Treasure Hunters" and the return of the standup comedy competition series "Last Comic Standing." The announcement was made today by Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment.

"We want people to know that NBC is not taking the summer off, and in fact, we are offering an engaging new drama in 'Windfall,' a riveting new competition series in 'Treasure Hunters' and the return of the audience favorite 'Last Comic Standing,'" said Reilly.

Premiere dates and times for the programs will be announced later.

Money changes everything for a group of 20 young adult friends who serendipitously pool their cash at a neighborhood party to buy and win a record $386 million lottery jackpot in the fresh new drama series "Windfall." Unfortunately, their initial ecstasy is tempered by the romantic, social and family complications caused by instant wealth.

The ensemble cast includes Luke Perry ("Beverly Hills, 90210"), Jason Gedrick ("Boomtown"), Lana Parrilla ("Boomtown"), Sarah Wynter ("24"), D.J. Cotrona ("Skin"), Jon Foster ("The Door in the Floor"), Alice Greczyn ("The Dukes of Hazzard") and Jaclyn DeSantis ("Road Trip"). Each winner will react differently to their good fortune, some will find freedom and good deeds while others only unexpected ethical, legal, criminal and martial problems. "Windfall" is a production of Regency Television. Laurie McCarthy ("Felicity," "CSI: Miami") is the executive producer of the series.

"Treasure Hunters" -- from Imagine Television and the producers of "Project Greenlight," "Project Runway" and "Last Comic Standing" ? is a fast-paced, adventure-reality series. In "Treasure Hunters," multi-player teams try to stay one step ahead of each other as they face intellectual and physical challenges in their quest of a promised hidden treasure. The teams must avoid elimination as they travel to historically significant locations where the must decipher cryptic codes and puzzles, each with a clue leading them closer to solving the ultimate puzzle and obtaining the coveted grand prize. Laird Macintosh ("The Great Raid") hosts the series.
The Emmy-nominated series "Last Comic Standing" will return to NBC in search of the funniest comedian in America. In its first two seasons, the show garnered critical and popular acclaim as it traveled the country looking for the best stand-up comedian, and rewarded him or her with an exclusive talent deal with the network. As with previous seasons, talent scouts will travel to major cities nationwide to see performances from thousands of aspiring and professional comedians. In addition, through an online component, aspiring participants can submit their tape to nbc.com, where online voters will determine one comedian to join those found on the nationwide search.

"Last Comic Standing" joined the NBC schedule in the summer of 2003 and averaged a 3.7 rating, 11 share in adults 18-49 and 8.3 million viewers overall. The second run of "Last Comic Standing" the following year averaged a 3.8/11 in 18-49 and 8.3 million viewers overall and was NBC's #1 series of the summer of 2004 in 18-49.

The Winter TV Critics Tour
NBC Picks Up 'Earl,' 'Office' for Full Season, Announces Midseason Changes

By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com January 22, 2006

NBC has given full-season pickups to two recently transplanted Thursday night comedies, "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office."

Both shows have 22-episode orders for the 2006-07 season, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said Sunday during the network's executive session at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. He noted the pickups reflect his belief that "Stability is the first step toward recovery."

While most of February will be dominated by the network's coverage of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, March and April will see a number of schedule changes, Mr. Reilly said.

The next installment of "The Apprentice" moves to Monday at 9 p.m. (ET) starting Feb. 27. The game show "Deal or No Deal" returns for a five-day run at 8 p.m., also starting Feb. 27, settling into its regular Monday time slot March 6.

"Law & Order" is moving from its 10 p.m. Wednesday time slot to 9 p.m. starting March 22, where it will compete head to head with ABC's "Lost." That makes room for the network's new drama "Heist" at 10 p.m.

With the changes to Monday, "Las Vegas" moves to Fridays at 9 p.m. March 3, reflecting Mr. Reilly's vow that NBC will "stop giving the competition a free pass on Friday night." On the same night, "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf's new series "Conviction," exploring the lives of young assistant district attorneys, premieres at 10 p.m.

"This is not a 'Law & Order,'" Mr. Reilly said, describing the series as "sexy and character-based."

With its star Steve Carell working on a feature film, Mr. Reilly said "The Office" will take a break from the Thursday lineup starting April 6, after the comedy "Teachers" debuts March 30 at 9:30 p.m. "Teachers," which was originally developed as a single-camera comedy, has been redeveloped as a multi-camera sitcom, with veteran director James Burrows directing the pilot.

"The West Wing" will have its series finale Sunday, May 14, at 8 p.m. At 7 p.m. NBC will run a one-hour retrospective of the Emmy-winning series.

The decision to end the show was not based on the sudden death of "West Wing" star John Spencer, Mr. Reilly said: "It's no secret ratings have been tough."

"Will & Grace" will also come to an end this spring. The show caps its eight-year run with a one-hour retrospective and a one-hour finale Thursday, May 18, starting at 8 p.m.

The move leaves the "Friends" spinoff "Joey" off the schedule, at least for the time being, Mr. Reilly said.

"We don't have any plans for 'Joey' right now," he said, noting that NBC is "asking 'Scrubs' to toe the line" with double runs on Thursdays. "We'll see how the schedule settles in and reassess," he said of "Joey."

Like its competitors ABC and CBS, Mr. Reilly said the network is getting into the English-language telenovela business with help from sister company Telemundo, which will produce a version of its novela "Body of Desire" for NBC, Mr. Reilly said, noting that it may run more than once a week during the summer.

The summer months will also include the debut of the drama "Windfall," which follows a group of friends after they win the lottery, and two reality series: "Treasure Hunters," and the returning "Last Comic Standing."

It was a mistake to put "Comic" on last fall, Mr. Reilly said, noting that it worked best as a summer show.

Calls for an advertiser boycott by groups such as the American Family Association of NBC's Friday night drama "The Book of Daniel" did not have a direct impact on ad sales for the series, Mr. Reilly said. "You let the audience vote," he said, noting that if the show attracts more viewers, advertisers would be less likely to be concerned about controversy.

Fall 2006 was also on Mr. Reilly's mind when he announced he has picked up the family crime serial "The Black Donnellys" from "Million Dollar Baby" co-writers Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco. The thriller drama "Kidnapped" and "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin's behind-the-scenes-of-Hollywood drama, "Studio 7," are already contenders for this fall.

In other news at NBC's TCA press tour day, NBC Universal Olympics coordinating producer Molly Solomon announced the debut of a one-hour figure skating report show called "Olympic Ice." The show will run on NBC Universal's USA cable network daily during the Olympics at 6 p.m. and will cover solely figure skating, which she called the most popular sport at the Games.

Fox's "American Idol" will not affect the Olympics, said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics. Calling "Idol" a "very, very strong series," Mr. Ebersol said that since the Winter Olympics occur only once every four years, there is a "uniqueness" to them.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9237

This is assuming that a lot of people actually watch NBC.. :p :D

Well, considering all the posts for VOOM!, OLN-HD, Showtime, Starz! and other such networks engender here, I think the numbers for NBC are very good.

(Now if you start comparing the peacock to CBS, Fox and ABC, thats another question.) :)

The Digital Revolution
Practice and a plan help in acquiring hi-def TV

By Mark McGuire Albany Times Union staff writer

I have lost yet another battle in the "I Want/Need a Hi-Def TV" War.

I recently asked a senior editor for a cutting-edge television, so I could "keep up with the technology." You know, for the job.

"You're lucky the company will pay for the air in the building this year," he said sardonically. Look, I'm just grateful this newspaper is still paying for pens (and, more importantly, TV columnists).

But my wife -- my sweet, lovely, compassionate (too thick? I'll stop now) life partner -- is tougher than any office dweller with purchasing power.

You think it's hard squeezing a new stapler out of your employer? Try getting my wife to put the stamp of approval on the procurement of a 42-inch hi-def Sony.

Her first response was, "Are you serious?"

I thought about my next salvo (it would be just $100 a month, plus tax and interest for only two or so years) but then decided to say nothing.

"No," she said. Then she said it eight more times. I counted.

I really think she means it.

I'm bad at this, so I guess I'll teach. Learn from my mistakes, people, and start with a plan. If you don't want to watch the game on your 1991-vintage 27-incher, you can't just wing it.

First, find a few grand you don't need for household expenses, your children's education or your retirement. Done? OK, next: As I see it, you have three great cards to play if such a high-end purchase is a negotiated line item in your household:

• You got shut out at Christmas. Of course, you appreciate those ties and socks. Who wouldn't? So don't express bitterness or disappointment at not getting a top-notch TV. Rather, pitch your holiday haul as an obvious and rectifiable oversight that you're more than willing to forgive.

"The buzz is (there) for those people who did not get a TV for Christmas," said Heather Waalkes, manager of Hippo's Home Entertainment in Albany.

OK, I'm all for catching that buzz, but we know that's not going to work in and of itself. But it's something to build on, especially when you play the next card.

• The Super Bowl is coming up! You just have to see football in high definition to really appreciate the climax of the football season.

For most fans in these parts, this might be a tough sell this year. The change-up: "But the Broncos, Seahawks, Panthers and Steelers are my second through fifth favorite teams! I can't believe you didn't know that. I'm hurt. (Pause.) It's like you don't know me anymore."

Local retailers say the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl -- referred to as "The Big Game" in advertisements due to copyright concerns -- follows only the Christmas season in terms of TV sales.

Father's Day is another biggie. Are you seeing the trend here?

According to a Consumer Electronics Association study released last month, men are "personally involved" in 63 percent of all high-definition TV purchases for the home. Women are involved in only 36 percent of such buys.

But I insist this isn't just a guy thing. To name-check Sigmund Freud -- who probably wouldn't have laid the foundation of modern psychiatry if he'd had a Toshiba 50HP95 50-inch HD Plasma TV in his den -- it's really about what women want. That's the trump card to play when you lay down:

• But you haven't lived until you've seen figure skating in hi def. The Olympics don't usually propel television sales. "I would suspect we would get a little bump," said Paul DeMilio, manager at Towne TV Audio & Appliances in Schenectady, "but not a lot."

Well, maybe that's because men haven't been approaching things the right way. Sure, high definition significantly enhances the viewing of football, NASCAR, hockey and the like. But it's truly transcendent to watch a skater pull off a triple axel into a Lutz, capped by a double Salchow into a layback spin. We're talking art, the poetry of ballet coupled with the beauty of a Mozart concerto, all with the dazzling brilliance of a Tahitian sunset.

If you can read the last two sentences with a straight face, you might -- might -- get your significant other into the store. But now comes maybe the most important part of closing the deal:

• Have a plan -- and rehearse it ahead of time with your sales person. DeMilio tells the inspiring true story of a man who called the store with a detailed sales pitch he wanted given to him when he came in later with his wife:

1. The salesperson was to show the couple the biggest LCD TV the store carried: a 60-inch Sony.

2. When the wife dismissed that out of hand, the salesperson would move on to a 55-inch model.

3. When that got shot down, the couple would be brought around the corner to see the 50-inch model, emphasizing this is one of the smallest Sony makes. This is a lie, but let's move on.

4. The moment of truth, so to speak, would arrive as the salesperson launches into a lukewarm pitch for the 50-incher -- while attempting to hide a nearby 42-inch model.

5. When discovered, the salesperson would sheepishly and dismissively show her the "small" TV, and continue pitching a bigger model.

When this little drama was actually acted out, the wife wasn't swayed: "That's the one you're getting," she told her husband, pointing to the 42-inch Sony.

And that's how he got the TV he wanted all along.

We thank you and honor you, sir, wherever you are.

Even if you're watching figure skating.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=441630

TV Review
'Courting Alex' a cute sitcom

By Rob Owen Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TV Editor Sunday, January 22, 2006

Dharma has become Greg.

That's an easy shorthand description of CBS's "Courting Alex" (9:30 p.m. Monday), a new romantic comedy starring Jenna Elfman, the hippie heart of the long-running sitcom "Dharma & Greg."

But in "Courting Alex," she plays a Greg-like lawyer. Elfman's Alex is rigid and lacks a spontaneous sense of adventure. While on a date at a classy Manhattan restaurant, she answers her cell phone and conducts business as her date grows bored.

Alex never eats dinner at home, except for take-out, and works long hours as a lawyer in the firm founded by her father (Dabney Coleman, still playing a lawyer as he did on "The Guardian").

Alex faces a challenge when she has to convince a bar owner to sell his property so one of the firm's long-time clients can get started on a new development. But she's stymied for words when she meets tavern owner Scott (Josh Randall, "Ed"). He's a former smoke jumper who fought forest fires and he rides a motorcycle. Alex can't resist, even though she wants to.

"When I negotiate, I'm doing battle, I'm a warrior," she tells her neighbor. "Warriors don't kiss!"

But this is a romantic comedy, so kisses are inevitable.

The acting talent here is marginal compared to the sitcom it replaces, "Out of Practice" (returning later in the season), but I found "Courting Alex" more enjoyable. It's an entirely disposable, wisp of a sitcom but Elfman is engaging in an entirely different way from what she was on "Dharma" and Randall puts his nice guy charm to good use.

The premiere episode has an open-ended conclusion (it feels like a movie ending more than a sitcom kicker), so where "Courting Alex" will go is not entirely certain, but it is pretty predictable that, given the history of TV sitcoms, Alex is likely to hem and haw about whether she should choose Scott or her career and somehow she'll find a way to balance both. It's cute, but the premise is slight and may not be enough upon which to build a long-running, series.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06022/640083.stm

TV Review
A 'Bleak' odyssey well worth the trip

"Masterpiece Theatre" gets back to its roots Sunday night as it begins an adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House."
By Robert Lloyd Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

"Masterpiece Theatre" gets back to its roots Sunday night (check your local PBS listings) as it begins an adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House," the story of an endless, multiparty lawsuit, a disputed will, the lawyers it enriches and the lives it ruins, with false expectations and dashed hopes. There are also the usual family secrets, unguessed relationships and unspoken loves, and more coincidences than you can shake an Infinite Improbability Drive at. And there are orphans, of course, lots of them.

You can say thank you now.

It's never too soon for a new Dickens film. He's the most cinematically translatable of novelists, whose sprawling stories — with their intertwining plots, vivid characters, Shakespearean mix of the comic and tragic, eminently speakable dialogue and marvelously described set pieces — beg to be put on the screen. (The books will, of course, survive even the failed movies — and this is not one of those.)

The current filmmakers — some of whom were involved in the recent Trollope miniseries "The Way We Live Now" and "He Knew He Was Right" — have decided to go a little dark, tonally, to create an air of almost constant foreboding (the predominant colors are blue and gray). It's not that the book doesn't merit such a treatment, being a tale with a high body count, dark secrets, children in peril, a villain of purposeless evil, a detective story, and a payoff that's almost an absurdist joke. But the treatment turns passages that are comic or satirical on the page sinister on the screen.

They've also souped things up a bit, for contemporary sensibilities. Where Dickens begins his novel in a morass of fog and inertia, the film throws itself headlong into ACTION!, with thundering hoofbeats and pounding rain. And every so often, when switching from scene to scene, it goes batty with special effects more appropriate to a modern horror movie. There is also an annoying low-frequency electronic rumble, like the sound of a Death Star, that creeps in under scenes of tension to let you know they're ... tense scenes. A few characters have been made younger, as well, possibly in the name of added verve.

What makes such dramatic Viagra dismaying is that it's so unnecessary. The screenplay, by Andrew Davies, who adapted the above-mentioned Trollope novels, "Vanity Fair," "Middlemarch" and "Pride and Prejudice" — is sharp and vital, and the acting is superb, from the long-seasoned old pros to the little children. Among the film's 80 speaking parts are such familiar faces as Nathaniel Parker (of "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries"), Pauline Collins (Oscar-nominated for "Shirley Valentine," but I remember her best as the star of "Wodehouse Playhouse"), Ian Richardson ("House of Cards") and Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon in the "Harry Potter" movies).

Most of the weight falls upon, and is gracefully borne by, Anna Maxwell as the novel's partial narrator, Esther Summerson. (You don't get heroines named "Esther" anymore.) Maxwell has that quality of appearing both "plain" and deeply beautiful, and she conveys equally well her centeredness and her longing — the perfect 19th century Brit-lit heroine. Gillian Anderson, the erstwhile Dana Scully, is equally affecting as Lady Dedlock, wilting under one of those aforementioned family secrets. And Charles Dance is quietly sinister as the villainous lawyer Tulkinghorn.

The series was broadcast in Britain last year in 15 twice-weekly episodes, partly to suggest the novel's original, 19-installment serial publication.

I happened to watch it all in a single sitting, and if you have the luxury of any sort of TV recorder and eight hours of continuous free time, I'd recommend gathering the episodes for binge viewing. The gathering force of the story and the need to know what comes next carry you along. It's never dull. But however you split it, it's well worth the time.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-bleak21jan21,0,3934324,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

The Winter TV Critics Tour
More ''Earl,'' ''Office,'' Goodbye, ''West Wing''

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

It's a regular Sunday in most of the world, including the House of Heldenfels. But out west, the TV critics' press tour goes on, and today NBC had a mixed bag of announcements for the folks there, and those of us getting the network's e-mail.

The good news: ''My Name Is Earl'' and ''The Office'' have been renewed for 2006-07. ''Earl'' has been one of the delights of the current season. ''The Office'' has been very good, too, though a bit uneven and more ratings-challenged. But NBC is apparently happy with ''The Office's'' performance on Thursdays, and so picked it up.

Could this mean the return of a Thursday-night comedy block on NBC next season? A lot will depend on whether it has two other comedies that can do well on the night. Yes, two. ''Will & Grace'' is in its last season, and NBC officially announced plans for a big send-off on May 18.

So where's the mixed news? Well, ''The West Wing'' will be done after this season, so we'll never know how the next presidential adminstration might have gone. The finale will be on May 14, with a retrospective special at 7 and the last episode at 8.

That's a Sunday night, which shows that NBC is just shoving the show off. Even for those of us who like the show, remembering that ''West Wing'' is on Sunday has been a nightmare.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

The Winter TV Critics Tour
"My name is NBC, and I am a chronic underperformer." (Hi, NBC.)

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

You can always tell what's on NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly's mind by the first thing he says. Last summer, he kicked off the executive session by comparing NBC's crap season to a colonic. Sunday morning, he was a breath away from leading us in the serenity prayer.

"O.K. I don't want to turn this morning's session into something that sounds like an AA meeting," he said. "But my theme for you this morning is going to be that stability is the first step toward recovery."

Stability. So that's what we're calling third (and soon to be fourth) place these days.

Hey, if you were in his situation going into the second half of the season, you'd be twelve stepping it too. With the exception of "My Name is Earl" and a revitalized full season of "The Office," the fall launches sputtered. Beyond a few stalwarts ("ER," "Medium," the "Law & Order" franchise), and a couple of middling favorites ("Las Vegas," "Crossing Jordan"), what does NBC have? Nothing but a long, hard look at the ugliness in the mirror.

Recovery, therefore, starts with involves cutting out the necrotic material. So along with "Will & Grace," which we already knew was on its way out, Reilly announced "The West Wing," will end this spring.

"Will & Grace" gets a two-hour finale Thursday, May 18, with a 60-minute retrospective from 8-9 and an hour-long finale between 9-10. According to a cut-down critics saw during a recent set visit there's going to be a wedding "…and a baby on the way!" which proves that all originality bled out of this series about two seasons ago.

"The West Wing" series finale is set for Sunday, May 14, and it'll get its own hour retrospective from 7 to 8 p.m., with a one-hour season finale 8 to 9, so nobody will miss "Desperate Housewives" or "Grey's Anatomy."

"Let's try to give the show a sendoff that it truly deserves," Reilly pleaded – er, said.

With the detox plan out of the way, he announced the rehabilitation portion of NBC's plans.

"Earl" and "The Office" received early pick-ups for next season, with 22 episodes orders for each, and announced another cycle of "The Apprentice" was set for the fall.

It may not appear on Thursdays, however, because starting Feb. 27, Donald Trump's new home will be Mondays at 9.

Yeah. All that talk of stability doesn't apply to NBC's post-Olympic schedule.

"Las Vegas" moves to Fridays at 9 on March 3, to provide a decent lead in for Dick Wolf's new drama "Conviction." This is Reilly's idea of being competitive.

"We're going to stop giving the competition a free pass on Friday night," he said. Hmm. We'll see about that, because we're very sketchy about the material in which he puts his faith.

Example: Reilly also envisions Howie Mandel to be the new Regis Philbin, moving "Deal or No Deal" to Mondays at 9 on March 6, after a weeklong run beginning Feb. 27.

Could work. Or he may learn a valuable lesson about how desperate viewers get in December, when nothing new is on. ("Surface," by the way, wasn't on the schedule, and Reilly would not confirm whether or not it would get a second season.)

Perhaps the most alarming move goes down on March 22, when "Law & Order" moves up an hour to Wednesdays at 9, where it will compete against ABC's "Lost" and CBS's "Criminal Minds." And on March 4, "Dateline NBC" moves from Fridays to the Saturday night bone yard at 8 p.m.

Content with his triage plans, Reilly boldly announced other fall pickups, including a 13 episode commitment to "The Black Donnellys," a new crime series from "Crash" director Paul Haggis, and an almost guarantee of a pick-up for "Kidnapped," starring Dana Delany, Jeremy Sisto, Delroy Lindo and Mykelti Williamson. Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme's "Studio 7" and an English adaptation of a Telemundo telenovela, called "Body of Desire," also are in the works.

Summer, meanwhile, brings the premieres of "Windfall," the reality series "Treasure Hunters" and, in a move most would describe as incredibly optimistic, the return of "Last Comic Standing."

"Look, all of this stuff has kind of given us a will to live," Reilly said. "But the bottom line is we've got a long way to go."

Indeed. So, let us bow our heads: May the TV gods grant Reilly the serenity to accept what he cannot change; courage to change the things he can; and the wisdom to know the difference – and to cut his losses before the situation gets too far out of hand.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/print.asp?entryID=101212

The Winter TV Critics Tour
'The West Wing' to end in May

By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 23, 2006

When President Josiah Bartlet's second term runs out on "The West Wing" this spring, NBC's portrayal of the inside workings of the White House also will draw to a close. The network and the show's executive producer, John Wells, have decided to end the award-winning critical darling after a new president is elected.

One of the last decade's most honored series, with 25 Emmys, including four consecutive wins as best drama from 2000 to 2003, "The West Wing" holds the record for most Emmys won by a series in a single season (nine in its first) and has earned 90 nominations to date. But the series has been losing audience over the last few years and has averaged 8.4 million viewers this year, its lowest audience ever.

"We went back and forth with NBC about it," Wells said. "The audience was getting smaller. We had a moment in time in which it was right in the cycle to inaugurate a new president. And the question was, is that the right moment in the life of this series for this series to end?"

On Sunday, NBC's president of entertainment, Kevin Reilly, announced to a semiannual gathering of television critics in Pasadena that the storied drama starring Martin Sheen will end May 14.

"It's no secret that the ratings have been tough for the last couple of seasons," Reilly said. "The most frustrating thing is that the work has been so outstanding. There's a point where you want to send a show off with dignity and a semblance of success."

But before the show's writers commit to paper which candidate will become the next president — Democrat Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) or Republican Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) — they must grapple with the death of actor John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry, the former chief of staff who became Santos' running mate. The actor's death did not precipitate the ending of the series, but it did alter story lines significantly, Wells said.

Since the beginning, lovable Leo has served as the show's anchor and has remained a viewer favorite. Five episodes, including the compelling Jan. 8 installment, which centered on Leo's vice presidential debate, had been produced before Spencer's death Dec. 16, just days after the show had wrapped for the holidays.

"We thought the best way to honor his work was to actually let people see it and not overreact," said executive producer Wells, a friend of Spencer's for 20 years. "But it does mean that we can't, on the air, deal with it until after the Winter Olympics," which will air on NBC next month.

Since the new year, Wells has been writing the two-part episode in which Leo will die of a heart attack. The cantankerous politician with a soft side and a sense of humor survived a heart attack last season, an illness Wells said he would have never written for the character had they known Spencer would be prone to it. The episode in which Leo dies, five days before the election, will air on April 2, Wells said.

"I've never been confronted with this, and I hope I'm never confronted with it again," he said. "Not only do you have to deal with the death of your friend — the person that you know — but then you have to keep reliving it....We'll all have to continue to grieve it because we have to put it in the narrative. The character will, sadly, die on the show. We really didn't have any other way to deal with it."

When the show's writers began researching how the government would handle the death of a vice presidential nominee just before an election, they were surprised to learn there was no constitutional provision for it. Based on the advice of election attorneys, Wells decided that Leo McGarry's name will remain on the ballot and if Santos wins, he will then appoint a vice president after his inauguration.

"To John and his team's credit, they've concocted a story that really honors his memory and his spirit and the value that he brought to the show," said Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television, the studio that produces the show. "They managed to make it as organic as one could hope for. But as well as this may have worked out logistically, we would have much preferred to have scrapped this notion and followed through with a great man and a great actor."

To be sure, the unexpected death of an actor, and consequently, a beloved character on television, presents its own complications. When John Ritter died of a heart condition in September 2003, his character, Paul Hennessy, on "8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter," died also.

Other stars whose deaths were acknowledged in the context of their shows include Nancy Marchand of "The Sopranos," David Strickland of "Suddenly Susan," Lynne Thigpen of "The District" and Phil Hartman of "NewsRadio."

Because Spencer's death occurred during the holiday hiatus, the cast and crew of "The West Wing" held a memorial service for him on their first day back to work, Wells said.

"He was at my house on Sunday, before he died on Friday," Wells said. "He was a good friend. So before we even started to deal with the notion of this wonderful character being gone, we had to accept the sad reality of our friend's death. It's been a very hectic month."

Spencer was nominated five times for an Emmy and won once for his portrayal of the intelligent, funny, always urgent McGarry. He also was nominated once for a Golden Globe for the role.

Last Thursday, Wells faced a deadline for the second part of the episode he would do anything not to write.

"Oddly, it's very dramatic, and I think it will be dramatic and very moving on the show, but boy, oh, boy," he said. "I would much rather be writing five or six more episodes with John Spencer in it than writing that."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-westwing23jan23,0,2135157,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

The Winter TV Critics Tour
NBC hopes schedule shuffle give it a ratings lift

Network plans a post-Olympic move of "Law & Order" and other programs.
By Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 23, 2006

NBC, hoping to keep ratings momentum as it skates out of the upcoming Winter Olympics, is planning a flurry of changes to its third-ranked prime-time schedule starting late next month.

Donald Trump's "The Apprentice," which has lately faded on Thursdays, will move to 9 p.m. Mondays starting Feb. 27, the network announced Sunday. It will replace the drama "Las Vegas," which is headed to 9 p.m. Fridays, followed at 10 by "Conviction," a new drama about assistant district attorneys from "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf.

"Law & Order," an NBC mainstay for years, is moving up one hour to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, in the tough time slot dominated by ABC's "Lost." The 10 p.m. perch will go to "Heist," a burglary caper from "The Bourne Identity" director Doug Liman.

And with "The Office" wrapping its season at the end of March (star Steve Carell is shooting a new feature), NBC will put the new comedy "Teachers" into the 9:30 p.m. Thursday slot starting April 6. The network has no immediate plans to return "Joey" to the schedule.

Kevin Reilly, NBC entertainment president, told reporters at the semiannual Television Critics Assn. meeting in Pasadena that despite the ratings woes this season, the network is seeing signs of recovery. But, he added, "we've got a long way to go."

The Friday moves seem particularly aggressive, given that many TV executives consider it a slow night for television, with relatively few young-adult viewers available to watch.

NBC has fizzled this winter with "The Book of Daniel," a controversial Friday drama that Reilly admitted is not delivering "the numbers we were hoping for."

But Reilly said he's not giving up on the night. "We're going to stop giving the competition a free ride" on Fridays, he said.

Looking ahead, Reilly also announced that "The West Wing" will bow out with a series finale on May 14, while "Will & Grace" will bid adieu May 18.

NBC has also ordered 22 episodes each for next season of its two emerging comedy successes, "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-nbc23jan23,0,6326862,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

The Winter TV Critics Tour
After big push, ABC pushes 'Emily' aside

Heather Graham's sitcom only debuted Jan. 9, but it won't air again. Why not? The network has its reasons.
By Maria Elena Fernandez Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 23, 2006

Oh, ABC, you cruel, cruel tease, making us believe you so loved Emily and all of her "Reasons Why Not." You plastered your affection on billboards everywhere only to abandon her after just one showing. Yes, it's true, Heather Graham's first television series will not grace ABC's Monday night lineup anymore, Steve McPherson, ABC's president of prime-time entertainment, told a gathering of television critics in Pasadena on Saturday.

"We'd spent the majority of the big, long-lead advertising money before we even saw a script, unfortunately, given the way production schedules work," he said. "And you know, creatively, we just did not get the show where it needed to be."

"Emily" premiered Jan. 9, followed by the network's second stab at "Jake in Progress," and by Jan. 16 they were both gone. Never mind that the much-hyped night was the inaugural of ABC's foray into all things romantic, from swapping spouses to soul-searching singles to the big bachelor showdown.

Although "miss-hires and mishaps" contributed to "Emily's" demise, McPherson assured, he still has love in his heart for John Stamos' "Jake." The single-camera comedy will return to the prime-time schedule sooner or later, McPherson said.

"I have a crush on John Stamos," he joked. "I really believe in that show. They've done a great job of expanding the cast, making the world a broader-appeal audience show. It's the tough thing about this business. You gotta go with your gut and love everything you do and be passionate about it and try to find a place for it to work."

Another series that McPherson still feels warm and fuzzy about is "Invasion," Shaun Cassidy's freshman sci-fi thriller, which attracts enough viewers to stay on the air but has not been able to hang on to the legions its lead-in, "Lost," brings on Wednesdays.

It is "doing the best work it has ever done," McPherson said. "Why it's not holding onto the 'Lost' audience: There's a lot of people saying to me that one hour of 'Lost' is such an intense experience.... I think it's a great example for us when to be patient and when to fold them. We think [Cassidy] has done an amazing job of not only creating that world but then reacting to what was working and wasn't working on the fly."

"Commander in Chief" — not so hot. Since the drama starring Geena Davis returned from the December hiatus, it has taken a ratings beating, acknowledged McPherson. Davis picked up a Golden Globe for her role last week and the show was nominated for best drama.

"We're hopeful that ["Commander" and "Invasion"] can be assets for us in the future, but we're realistic that it's been tough sledding," the lovelorn McPherson added.

Asked how he was feeling about the network's favorite ladies, the "Desperate Housewives" that some critics have become bored with, McPherson stood by his Wisteria Lane women. The show won its second Golden Globe last week.

"We answered so many questions at the end of the year that when we came back, there were some things [creator Marc Cherry] just wanted to touch on, and I think we got away from the heart and soul of that show," McPherson said. "I think Marc was ... kind of figuring out where to go next.... There's momentum getting back into it. I don't look it as a slump because clearly America still loves this show."

Later, McPherson contradicted his admission that the show's producers were a bit stumped at the beginning of the second season when he said that the writers of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" are "incredibly diligent about how they're mapping their future. They lay out things for multiple episodes, multiple arcs, mul-tiple years. Some of those meetings are the best meetings I have."

Ah, to be young and in love.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-abc23jan23,0,1547322,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

Well - there goes another show I like - damnit!!

First Directv sits on their a$$ with HD and then decides to raise rates on top of it.. now this...

I just cant take it any more!!

Vegas moves to Friday? :(

That doesn't bode well.

‘Friends’ Returns to TV

http://www.hollywood.com/news/detail/id/3477372

Vegas moves to Friday? :(

That doesn't bode well.No it doesn't. As much as I like the show, I don't understand why it's still on. They definitely have problems coming up with story lines that have some appeal for the masses and if it weren't for the eye-candy, Jimmy Caan, and the comedy between the characters, I wouldn't watch it either. I hope they get back to what they had in the first year and put the Lara Flynn Boyle slap-stick stuff behind them. :)

The Winter TV Critics Tour
NBC Ending 'West Wing' and 'Will & Grace'

By Bill Carter The New York Times January 23, 2006

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 22 - NBC will end two of its most successful series of recent years, "The West Wing" and "Will & Grace," at the conclusion of the current season and will shift the schedules of three other hit shows, "The Apprentice," "Las Vegas" and "Law & Order," Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment announced here today.

The moves were announced as part of a comprehensive reshaping of the prime-time schedule of NBC, which has fallen into last place among the broadcast networks. Mr. Reilly said NBC believed it had now stabilized "after major trauma" and would try to use the Winter Olympics to introduce a new lineup for March.

Along with moving several series, NBC will introduce four new ones, from Feb. 27 to April 6, in an attempt to start rebuilding the schedule before next fall. NBC now knows it will have to replace two more shows in September because "The West Wing" will have its finale on May 14 and "Will & Grace" will wrap up on May 18. Both shows' ratings, once strong, have declined sharply over the last two seasons.

Mr. Reilly, who spoke at a news conference, committed earlier than usual to bringing back a couple of newer NBC series. He said he had already ordered 22 episodes next season of "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office," the two comedies that NBC shifted to Thursday night this month. Mr. Reilly described those moves as having "defied the odds" as both scored well in their first outings on Thursday. He noted that "The Office" had been NBC's most downloaded show by far since the network made episodes available for iPods and computers on the iTunes video list.

The series of program shifts, which Mr. Reilly billed as "bold moves," includes displacing one of NBC's most reliable franchises, the original "Law & Order," from its longtime position on Wednesday nights at 10. NBC will slide the show up one hour, to 9 p.m., to make room at 10 for a new drama, "Heist," which will follow the plans of a group of professional thieves to rob three Beverly Hills jewelry stores during Oscar week. Doug Liman, director of the films "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," is one of "Heist's" creators.

"There is no more resilient show on television" than "Law & Order," Mr. Reilly said, but he left the door open to reconsidering the time period in the fall. "Law & Order" ratings have dropped this season, and on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. it will face even tougher competition from ABC's huge hit "Lost" and CBS's growing hit "Criminal Minds."

NBC will rebuild Monday around "Deal or No Deal," the game show it introduced with some success in December. After running the show at 8 p.m. for five straight nights after the Olympics, starting Feb. 27, it will become the regular 8 p.m. show on Mondays starting the next week.

The next edition of "The Apprentice," also starting Feb. 27, will follow "Deal or No Deal" at 9 p.m. on Mondays. "The Apprentice" remained a hit this season on Thursday nights at 9, though it lost ground in the ratings. Now the network has displaced it for "Earl" and "The Office." "The Apprentice" seemed to be weakened when NBC added a second edition with Martha Stewart in the fall. Mr. Reilly said he hoped the match between "Deal or No Deal" and "The Apprentice" would reinvigorate "The Apprentice" starring Donald Trump.

The moves on Monday forced the relocation of another successful NBC series, "Las Vegas," which will shift to Fridays at 9, starting March 3. Mr. Reilly said NBC hoped to bring viewers back to Fridays, a night on which most networks have been programming lower-profile shows in recent years. This season, however, CBS has done well with three dramas.

Mr. Reilly said CBS was "winning by default" and NBC would try to counter with "Las Vegas" at 9, and "Conviction," at 10, a new series that focuses more on the personal lives than on the professional work of young New York prosecutors. The show is produced by the "Law & Order" creator, Dick Wolf.

The other new series NBC will introduce in the spring is a comedy called "Teachers," about a high school English teacher trying to deal with modern students and their short attention spans. That show, starting April 6, will inherit the 9:30 Thursday spot now held by "The Office," which Mr. Reilly said would conclude its season early because its star, Steve Carell, is scheduled to start production on a movie.

All the new shows, and the finales of "West Wing" and "Will & Grace," will be emphasized in promotions during the Olympics, Mr. Reilly said. NBC hopes for some success, though Mr. Reilly said the network was trying to remain realistic about its near-term prospects to stage a comeback. "We've got a long way to go," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/arts/television/23nbc.html?ei=5094&en=8bcd0913a8d3a543&hp=&ex=1137992400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

The Winter TV Critics Tour
A Coup ... at the "White House" for NBC

By Chase Squires St. Petersburg Times television critic

Kevin Reilly, president of entertainment for NBC this morning announced what we all knew was coming: The West Wing is coming to an end.

It has nothing to do with the death of former player John Spencer, or any other character. The show simply ran out of viewers. The shame of it is, Reilly and many fans say this year has really been a strong return for the once-mighty drama.

The West Wing debuted in 1999 on Wednesday nights. It had a darn good run, moving this year as it aged to Sunday nights.

Smarter than ABC's new show Commander in Chief, there was always a political (and yes, left leaning) message below the surface. Audiences who accepted the slant could enjoy a fine show no matter their political feelings.

Anyway, show ends May 14 with a one-hour retrospective then the finale.

On April 2 and 9 will be the election everyone's been waiting for, and the result, and then on the 14th they have the inauguration of the new president.

Martin Sheen on Sunday afternoon gave us a beautiful wrap up speech that I couldn't write down fast enough, but I will transcribe from notes when I get back in the office and post here. A lot of folks had some smart, heartfelt things to say about leaving a show that delivered seven seasons, most of them quite good.

WW isn't the only show in trouble ...

Controversial Book of Daniel, an NBC hourlong drama about an Episcopal priest who talks to Jesus and has a wacky family is on the ropes. Reilly said complaints from religious groups haven't had much of an effect, but viewers just don't like it. The six-part series has aired parts one through four ... parts five and six may never air ... Reilly says he'll make the call this coming week. It's due on Friday night, we'll see.

Damn shame. I like this show a lot.

Maybe if they did it on ice or in a ballroom it would be watched.

Skating with Jesus or Dancing with the Saints?

Scrubs ...

We just had a panel on NBC's Scrubs ... Can you believe they are in their fifth year and will show their 100th episode on Tuesday? Show gets little love, just chugs along on Tuesday nights, gets yanked from the schedule and replaced at random intervals ...

Funny story: In Tuesday's episode, star Zach Braff is chugging along on a scooter, driving through puddles. He goes into one puddle, disappears entirely into it, and emerges from another nearby puddle, sans scooter.

For that brief sight gag, the crew dug a 7-foot-deep trench in the set parking lot.

"Two seconds, $70,000. Thank you NBC," joked executive producer Bill Lawrence.

Lawrence said doctors come up to him frequently with ideas for story lines.

"They say, 'You've got to do this story,'" and then tell him something funny that happened to them.

"The scary part is, nine times out of ten it's about somebody having something in their butt," Lawrence said.

ABC president of entertainment Stephen McPherson told me at a party on Friday night that NBC treats Scrubs "like a bastard stepchild." If NBC doesn't renew it, McPherson said he's bringing it to ABC.

http://www.sptimes.com/blogs/tv/

‘Friends’ Returns to TV

http://www.hollywood.com/news/detail/id/3477372


Perhaps hollywood.com got this one right.

It is a rumor which has been floating around for many months. I have not poisted anything about it so far because no one reputable has confirmed it.

I could be wrong, but with much of the TV press corps talking with NBC's top execs today, one would think someone would have asked about this.

And if they hadn't, one would suspect NBC would have more than gladly leaked the story itself to make tomorrow's headlines focus on the "Freinds" come back rather than the end of "The West Wing".

Again, it could turn out that this story is true. It is hard to believe, though, that people have been working on scripts for weeks, and agreements have been in place for a month with the principals and no one else has leaked even a sniff of the story.

No, let me correct myself. In Hollywood that is not hard to believe. It is impossible to believe.

But as many of you know, I have been wrong plenty of times.

So we'll see on this one.

Well you were doubtful on Office and now it's already been given the go for S3 ;)

I think I indicated my total lack of infallibility.

I just find it hard to fathom that the very, very, very connected folks at "Variety", "The Hollywood Reporter", "The New York Times", "People", etc., all got scooped on this one.

An agent, a star or a top studio or network executive could earn some major future favors by leaking it to one of those (or numerous other) places. Letting it slip out through hollywood.com seems a little odd.

Even more odd is NBC execs not taking the chance, with critics assembled, to crow about such a headline-grabbing coup. Of course, perhaps it is because they have had so little practice crowing lately.

And if the story is, in fact, true, it just shows how sloppy and disorganized NBC management is -- to let this opportunity slip by as the story leaks out on a fairly obscure website.

‘Friends’ Returns to TV

http://www.hollywood.com/news/detail/id/3477372

The story also says,

"Network bosses have also hinted at a second spin-off of the hit comedy, following the disappointing performance of Matt LeBlanc's show Joey. The new program will see the three male stars--Perry, Schwimmer and LeBlanc--pilot a series called It's A Guy Thing."

Perry (and possibly Schwimmer) without his TV wife? How would that work?

I suspect the whole thing is bogus.

The Winter TV Critics Tour
More specifics on the end of "The West Wing."

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic

Here's where the phrase "schedule subject to change" comes back to bite us.

In early versions of the Winter Press Tour Schedule, NBC's listed "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin and fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme among those expected to attend the drama's panel. This brewed speculation that Sorkin and Schlamme might have a hand in creating the episodes following John Spencer's untimely death in December.

All the excitement amounted to naught, however, because final lineup contained no mention of the pair. (They are developing "Studio 7," a scripted comedy that goes behind the scenes of a fictional sketch series resembling "Satutrday Night Live.")

Besides, the bigger news is that "The West Wing" will end with the exit of Josiah Barlet's (Martin Sheen) administration. Sunday morning, NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly officially announced the show would end Sunday, May 14, with a hourlong retrospective from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by the last episode at 8.

That may create a conflict in Bradley Whitford's household. Whitford, who plays Josh Lyman, Barlet's former deputy chief of staff, is married to Jane Kaczmarek, the mom on "Malcolm in the Middle." The Fox sitcom takes its last bow the same night, possibly in the same timeslot as "West Wing's" walk-talk-walk-talk down memory lane.

On the other hand, it wouldn't be surprising if on that very evening, Whitford and Kaczmarek found themselves sequestered on a tropical island for some much-deserved R&R.

As for your concerns, "West Wing" executive producer John Wells indicated the election will be decided during the April 2nd and 9th episodes, with the inauguration taking center stage in the finale. Wells also knows who's going to win but as one would expect, he refused to spill it.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/archives/101234.asp

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Andy's math adds up

By Dusty Saunders (Denver) Rocky Mountain News January 23, 2006

HOLLYWOOD - It's not surprising that Andy Rooney has offered his two cents about Katie Couric's rumored multi-million-dollar move to CBS News.

In a recent cable interview the curmudgeonly commentator noted that the network is talking about paying Couric $20 million annually if she leaves NBC's Today to take over the anchor job on the CBS Evening News.

Rooney's arithmetic produced figures noting that for $20 million CBS News could buy 80 new reporters at $250,000 a year.

"Don't give it to Katie," Rooney said. "Give it to a bunch of reporters and make CBS News the best news operation in the world."

Sean McManus, recently appointed head of CBS News, provided a grimaced smile in a press conference when reminded of Rooney's comments, saying, "Andy is never afraid to speak his mind."

Then in an effort to inject a little comedy, McManus added: "I've also assured Andy that however much we pay our anchorperson, it will not affect his salary. So I think he's calmed down a little bit."

McManus claimed that the salary of the new CBS anchor will not have any effect on the money the network spends on other resources.

Ah, the Katie Couric controversy. It never goes away.

In his first extensive interview with TV critics since taking the top news job in October, McManus (who also runs the sports division) reiterated that no decision has been made about the anchor position.

McManus stressed the network is focused on finding a solo anchor to serve as the "primary" face of CBS News.

Earlier, CBS Chairman Les Moonves indicated the network might completely change the evening newscast by using more than one anchor while regularly utilizing a pool of CBS News correspondents.

"I think having one person as your primary anchor is the way to go," McManus said.

"We're looking for someone who could serve as the face of CBS News for the next decade and a half."

He said the new anchor "probably" will come from outside the news organization.

Thus, John Roberts and Scott Pelley, once considered in the running, are probably out of the picture.

Saying he and Moonves were looking at a "handful of possibilities," McManus added: "There are relatively few people out there who have the profile and the reputation and the experience to do the job."

The permanent anchor position has been "vacant" since March when Dan Rather stepped down after 24 years.

Rather's departure came on the heels of his questionable report on 60 Minutes II, prior to the 2004 election, about President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War.

Rather was replaced by 68-year-old veteran Bob Schieffer, who holds the title of "interim anchor."

Surprise!

Recent Nielsen ratings say that the CBS Evening News, lagging for many years behind the NBC Nightly News and ABC's World News Tonight, has recently added 200,000 viewers on a regular basis.

McManus calls Schieffer "the oldest overnight sensation I know."

"He's trusted and he's very comfortable providing the news. I think people are starting to appreciate this.

"In many ways Bob is the antithesis of the 'voice of God' phrase that has been thrown around a lot.

"We think that the news should be delivered in a respectable and comfortable way, not as if you were preaching from Mount Olympus.

"I think Bob is really a good example of how we're doing that."

So why attempt to fix something that may not be broken?

Schieffer's age, of course, is a major factor. CBS News wants a younger anchor face who'll solidify the position for at least 10 years.

McManus said Schieffer, who also hosts Face the Nation on Sunday, has made it clear he wants to lighten his professional load and spend more time relaxing with his family.

Meanwhile, the Katie Couric guessing game continues.

I can’t wait for Rooney's next commentary on the subject.

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/spotlight_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23962_4407562,00.html

The Winter TV Critics Tour
'West Wing' End: May 14

By Roger Catlin Hartford Courant TV Critic

“The West Wing” will end its term May 14 at the close of its seventh season, NBC announced Sunday.

The official disclosure, coming after a day when the show's end was revealed, was part of a newsy final day of the nearly two-week TV Critics Association winter press tour Sunday at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel.

NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said the intent to end the highly honored show with a one hour episode preceded by an hour long retrospective was to “give the show the send off it truly deserves.”

The demise of the show which has won four consecutive Emmys as outstanding drama, is not because of the sudden death of actor John Spencer Dec. 16.

“That was a shocker to us all,” Reilly says. “The discussion of making this the final year was determined before that.

“It’s no secret that the ratings have been tough the last couple of seasons,” he says. “There’s a point where you want to send off show with dignity and some semblance of success.”

“The cast was just officially notified very recently,” he says. “I don’t think anybody was shocked by this.”

Reilly wouldn’t reveal details of the "West Wing" finale, but he said that executive producer John Wells “walked us through everything that’s happening. I don’t use the word ‘extraordinary’ very lightly but it will include a great sendoff to John Spencer.”

In other announcements Sunday, “Will & Grace” will conclude its eight-year run with an hour long finale May 18.

The game show “Deal or No Deal” introduced just before Christmas on NBC returns for a week of shows Feb. 27 before becoming a weekly Monday night fixture March 6.

Other new shows premiering after Olympics conclude include:

“Conviction,” from Dick Wolf of “Law & Order” fame, which will begin March 3 alongside a relocated “Las Vegas,” moved from Mondays to Fridays; and “Heist,” a cops
and robber drama from the makers of “Lucky”, starting March 22.

When “The Apprentice” returns for a new season Feb. 27, it will on the Monday night slot formerly occupied by “Las Vegas”

Full season orders have been made for both “The Office” and “My Name is Earl,” though “The Office” ends its season March 30 to allow its star Steve Carrell to make a movie. Its slot will be taken by a new comedy, “Teachers.”

The NBC summer schedule will include the ensemble drama “Windfall,” the reality series “Treasure Hunters” and the return of “Last Comic Standing.” The network may also import a telenovela from its Spanish sister network, Telemundo.

Reilly also mentioned one drama planned for the fall, “The Black Donnellys,” from Paul Haggis of “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash” fame.

A session about the comedy hit “My Name is Earl” went on Sunday despite the absence of its star Jason Lee. Reilly said Lee will be prevented from working for two to three weeks because of chicken pox, something of particular concern to the network executive. “I just hugged him at the Golden Globes and I’ve never had chicken pox.”

http://blogs.courant.com/roger_catlin_tv_eye/2006/01/west_wing_end_m.html

We too often (in my mind) make fun of many people as “Joe Six Packs” (or worse) because they don’t quite get all the intricacies of HDTV.
It seems to me most people aren’t dumb at all – but the way we get our HD is not easy. Certainly not like most have been used to: buy the set, bring it home, plug it in, and watch TV.
Rob Kasper isn’t dumb. He’s a respected columnist for the Baltimore Sun. He wrote this column the other day.
It should give pause to all of us who love HDTV.

The Digital Revolution
We got a high-tech TV, but there was nothing on, really

Rob Kasper The Baltimore Sun January 21, 2006

I plan to spend some time this weekend watching television. If the television will let me. Last weekend it wasn't so willing.

On Sunday, I was all set to watch National Football League playoffs. I couldn't wait to see those burly players flash across the screen in liquid crystal-display clarity. I looked forward to hearing the distinctive pop of tackles amplified on the six-speaker sound system. I was giddy at the prospect of hitting the mode button that made the flat-screen TV picture jump from zoom to partial zoom. Such joys, I figured, represent the pinnacle of modern civilization.

Yet as I stretched out in my favorite chair, I realized I had a problem. I didn't have a picture. The menu of programs was visible on the screen. But when I issued the command that said, in remote control lingo, "Show me the action," the screen went blank.

Being new to this highfalutin TV technology -- until recently we relied only on a rooftop antenna to deliver the miracle of television into our home -- I immediately felt dumb.

This was getting to be a familiar feeling. It was how I had felt a month earlier when a "no signal" message appeared on the screen. Our 20-year-old son bailed me out of that dilemma. He had tightened a loose cable, and the picture was restored. Now, however, this kid had vamoosed. Like many college juniors, he had fled the country, traveling to England to study for a semester. His parting words to us about our new audio-visual system were, "You guys are in way over your heads."

My backup plan, tapping the Dorsey brain trust at Soundscape where we had purchased the equipment, wouldn't work either. There are a passel of fellows whose last name is Dorsey who work at this Cold Spring Lane store. One of them had talked me out of a dark TV moment two weeks earlier. The HDMI cables -- I have no idea what they do -- had apparently been removed by some painters working in our house and reattached in the wrong slots. A member of the Dorsey brain trust had been able to figure it out in a telephone conversation. When I had switched the positions of the cables on the back of the receiver, the TV screen had jumped back to life. My latest trouble, however, had struck on a Sunday, the day that store was closed and the brain trust was resting.

Eventually I swallowed what remained of my pride and called the help desk of Dish Network, the outfit that is somehow beaming signals from a satellite to our home. After punching a bunch of numbers into the telephone and waiting for several minutes, I was connected to a very patient woman, a satellite TV mistress. She talked me through this trial. Once again I got down on my hands and knees, a supplicant in front of the system. Following her instructions, I tried to pop open the hidden door on the top right front of the satellite receiver. Time and time again I tried, but the door wouldn't budge. I fumed. My wife intervened, pressing the top, not the bottom, of the spring-loaded door. It opened. I counted to 10.

A reset button was pushed. The system did a countdown on the screen. I summoned a channel with the remote control. Suddenly the Colts and the Steelers were tussling before us. Apparently last weekend's high winds had somehow disturbed the workings of the satellite system, putting it in a dormant mode until it was revived with the reset button.

There are several lessons that I could take from this episode. One would be that rather than being served by technology, I have become its servant. Another would be that I should never let my children leave home until they have left me written instructions on how to work the new TV.

But I am trying to take a different view and see this tussle with technology as a journey on my learning curve. It is giving me fresh opportunities to appreciate everyday experiences. In other words, every time I turn the television on, and it works, it is a cause for celebration.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/bal-to.kasper21jan21,1,1620363,print.column?coll=bal-artslife-tv

The Business of TV
Lifetime Rejects Latest Offer From EchoStar

By Jon Lafayette TVWeek.com January 22, 2006

Lifetime said it rejected a "take it or leave it" offer on Sunday from EchoStar Communications' Dish Network. A Lifetime spokesperson said the offer would have cut the fee Lifetime gets for its main Lifetime Network and Lifetime Movie Network by one-third, thus crippling Lifetime's ability to create original programming for its subscribers. Lifetime said it would step up its multimedia campaign to urge viewers to "Switch From Dish."

"We have been unable to reach an agreement, even though we offered a number of options which were ultimately rejected by Lifetime," said Michael Neuman, president of EchoStar. "Dish Network will permanently replace the Lifetime Channel by month end, and we are in meaningful discussions now with a number of interesting programmers for a compelling replacement to Lifetime."

Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network have been off Dish since Dec. 31, while Lifetime and Dish have been locked in a battle over the rates Lifetime wants from Dish for carrying its networks.

Dish has added Oxygen, WE: Women's Entertainment and Encore Love as replacement programming. A Lifetime spokesperson said would listen if EchoStar made a reasonable proposal. EchoStar claimed that Lifetime had been seeking a 76 percent rate increase; Lifetime said it was seeking only about four cents more per subscriber.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9238

The Business of TV
NBC Virtually Guaranteed 4th Place Finish

By A.J. Frutkin MediaWeek.com JANUARY 23, 2006 -

The return of American Idol and 24 not only catapulted Fox back into the top spot among adults 18-49 last week, it virtually guaranteed NBC a fourth-place finish this season in the key demographic. Through Jan. 15, NBC actually had tied Fox for third among adults 18-49, with a 3.1/8. But come May, many analysts believe NBC will trail ABC, CBS and Fox by more than a ratings point and two share points.

Although Fox’s spectacular ratings leap clearly was anticipated, it still comes at an inopportune time for NBC—just as the G.E.-owned network seemed to be enjoying a bit of an uptick. The game show Deal or No Deal launched to solid numbers in December. With the Feb. 10 premiere of the Olympics, the network expects another round of strong ratings—to coincide with next month’s annual sweeps.

Even if NBC’s numbers rise for the sweeps, most advertisers said the winter games will have little impact on the network’s overall position this season. “I don’t think two weeks of the Olympics can change much for NBC,” said Steve Sternberg, executive vp and director of audience analysis at Magna Global.

NBC declined comment for this article. But with upcoming series launches like Dick Wolf’s legal drama Conviction, several buyers suggested NBC should look to its Torino coverage less as a ratings boost than as a promotional platform. “If they can deliver creatively off of the Olympics, there are still opportunities out there,” said John Rash, chief broadcast negotiator at Campbell Mithun. “The key is, do they have that second set of midseason shows?”

After revamping its Thursday-night schedule with a solid lineup of comedies such as The Office and My Name Is Earl, NBC got good news from its first two weeks of broadcasts, especially for Earl. Of course, Earl had gone up against repeats of front-runner CBS’ CSI. Last week, against new episodes of CSI and ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, Earl hit a 5.3/12 among adults 18-49, landing NBC in third place for the half hour, according to Nielsen Media Research fast national results. Earl had drawn a 5.9/14 on Jan. 12, up from a 5.2/13 when it premiered in its Thursday slot Jan. 5.

Buyers agree that the scheduling change has helped the network remain afloat on a night it once dominated. But given the increased competition coming from every network there, “it will be very difficult to return to what they were on Thursday,” said Shari Anne Brill, vp/director of programming at Carat.

Despite NBC’s virtually assured fourth-place finish this spring, the cyclical nature of the TV business leaves the net just a hit or two away from recovery. “NBC is in the same place as ABC was three years ago,” Sternberg noted. “If it doesn’t fall any further behind, it’s not in as bad a shape as many people think.”

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001882706

ESPN Zone Embarks on Nationwide Rollout of High Definition TV

BURBANK, CA UNITED STATES 01/22/2006

New York, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore Sites Converted in Time
for Super Bowl XL

BURBANK, Calif., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- ESPN Zone, the nation's premier
sports dining and entertainment concept, has kicked off a multi-million dollar
technological conversion of all eight restaurants to bring sports fans an
unrivaled High Definition (HD) viewing experience. ESPN Zone locations in New
York, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore will be converted to HD in
time for Super Bowl XL, which will be broadcast on ABC-TV Sunday, Feb. 5 at
6 PM ET. The remaining ESPN Zone locations in Chicago, Anaheim, Atlanta and
Denver will be converted to HD by the end of 2006.

With the number of sporting events now broadcast in HD supported by the
launch of ESPNHD and ESPN2HD and critical breakthroughs in hardware, the
circumstances were in place to move forward with this major initiative. Each
facility will be replacing standard definition television monitors with
Philips flat screen plasmas and LCD's. In addition, each of the large
projection screens at ESPN Zone have been converted to be able to project up
to 16 foot images in High Definition.
ESPN Zone's HD conversion is further evidence of how The Walt Disney
Company and ESPN are using technology to make its products more compelling to
consumers. "At ESPN Zone, we evaluate every element of our guests' experience
from the moment they walk through our doors," said John Pierce, Director of
Marketing, Creative Content and Communications for Disney Regional
Entertainment. "Our conversion to HD confirms our commitment to providing our
guests with the very best viewing experience possible."
In addition to the hundreds of new Philips monitors, each converted ESPN
Zone also features up to eight new HD satellite receivers, up to eight new HD
cable receivers, HD-compatible routing and switching equipment, as well as
10,000 feet of CAT 6E skew-free network cable. "Given the significant amount
and complexity of the audio / visual infrastructure in place at ESPN Zone, the
conversion to High Definition has been much more elaborate than a typical
sports bar," said Guy Savage, Manager of Audio / Visual Systems for ESPN Zone.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-23-2006/0004265197&EDATE=

We too often (in my mind) make fun of many people as “Joe Six Packs” (or worse) because they don’t quite get all the intricacies of HDTV.
It seems to me most people aren’t dumb at all – but the way we get our HD is not easy. Certainly not like most have been used to: buy the set, bring it home, plug it in, and watch TV.
Rob Kasper isn’t dumb. He’s a respected columnist for the Baltimore Sun. He wrote this column the other day.
It should give pause to all of us who love HDTV. That is the funniest thing I've read in a long time. Thanks Fredfa!

I often get so caught up in my SA8300HD thread that I lose perspective. My problem though is just the opposite. I can be ever so patient with the Joe Six-pack's of the HDTV world, because everyone was one at one time, it's the "experts" and "some" former ReplayTV/Tivo owners that give me a hard time and wear my patience thin, God love them all. :)

TV Review
'Courting Alex': Without Sparking inish

By Tom Shales Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 23, 2006; C01

Jenna Elfman may not qualify as middle-aged (her published age is 34), but there's definitely something frumpily middle-aged about her new CBS sitcom "Courting Alex." One might think any departure from the networks' usual and relentless obsession with youth would automatically be refreshing, but it isn't. Of all life's phases, middle age is the least inherently hilarious.

The fustiness emanates from the star herself, who somewhere along the way -- during or after the run of her ABC sitcom "Dharma & Greg" -- became severely de-cute-rified, ya know what I'm sayin'? We're obviously in a nebulous area here, one hard to define and pin down, but Elfman appears to have gone schoolmarmish on us.

She's the wallflower at her own dance, the pooper of her own party. She's not bad, just flat; not annoying, just weak.

Not that "Courting Alex" (9:30 tonight on Channel 9) would be a bold comedy breakthrough with a livelier and funnier star (say, Teri Garr at her peak) presiding. It's a fairly standard proposition about a successful, single Manhattan lawyer named Alex Rose who, network publicity states, enjoys "everything life has to offer -- except a life." Executive producer Rob Hanning and fellow collaborators took one from Column A, one from Column B, one from Column C and so on as they constructed a vehicle in which Elfman theoretically could shine.

They made, as it happens, one brilliant choice: casting Dabney Coleman as Bill Rose, Alex's father and, conveniently, head of the firm where she works. Coleman's professional life is a history of memorably etched performances in a parade of programs mostly unworthy of his prowess and stature. Among the exceptions are such long-lost treasures as "Buffalo Bill" on NBC and, on ABC, "The 'Slap' Maxwell Story," a daringly downbeat comedy about a daringly deadbeat dad.

Not "deadbeat dad" in the sense of the divorced father behind on child support, but in the sense of a man -- a scoundrelly sportswriter -- viewing fatherhood as a negligible blunder and looking upon his grown son as if he were a pesky extraterrestrial. The show never got the attention it deserved from Nielsen homes, but Coleman and his cohorts made it one of TV's great gourmet delicacies.

In no way could "Courting Alex" be described that way, but there are some good, snappy comic lines -- not all of them easily predicted -- and when called upon to contribute, Coleman consistently comes through with colors flying. Elfman's best moments are semi-dramatic ones, when she deals with conflicts between her personal and professional life brought on by the fact that she's in danger of falling in love with a target of a wealthy client's wrath.

That would be Josh Randall as Scott Larson, a mildly idiosyncratic entrepreneur who stands his ground against a giant heartless corporation (take your pick) that wants to tear down the tavern Larson inherited from his grandfather and put another monstrous skyscraper in its place. Alex girds herself for battle against Larson -- her father's firm having been retained by the corporation -- but finds herself semi-smitten with him instead.

What's a successful, single Manhattan lawyer named Alex Rose to do? CBS hopes that once audiences sample the pilot, they'll be compelled to tune in every week to find out. But between Elfman and Larson, to put it gently, sparks do not fly. They don't even flutter to the floor. You don't know what she sees in him, you don't know what he sees in her, and you don't know why we're supposed to see anything in either of them, singly or linked.

Gathered around Elfman -- from the aforementioned Columns this and that -- are Jillian Bach as Alex's wisecracking friend Molly (you wouldn't expect her to go through life without a wisecracking friend, would you?) and a way-too-twee Hugh Bonneville as Alex's zany neighbor Julian (you wouldn't expect her to go through life etc., etc.?). He's an artist who wants to paint a nude portrait of her and then take it from there.

Coleman is responsible for much of what energy there is, and even though he's played the same sort of sly and wily cynic before, the pleasure of his company is inescapable. Obviously -- and this is said in our usual spirit of TV-inspired, life-affirming optimism -- "Courting Alex" is the sort of show that could improve substantially on its bland first episode and turn out to be sweet and nourishing, but Elfman captures the torpor afflicting the program, and her performance, when she tells Randall, "You're actually kind of funny."

Life is too short, and television too crowded with choices, for "actually kind of" to cut it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201201_pf.html

The Winter TV Critics Tour
NBC cancels long-ailing 'West Wing'

A May finale for once top Emmy-winning series
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 23, 2006

There was little doubt that “The West Wing,” once one of television’s most-watched and most highly acclaimed dramas, was going to be canceled. The only question was when the actual announcement would come.

The answer came yesterday.

During NBC’s portion of the Television Critics Association tour, network president Kevin Reilly confirmed that this season will be the last for “Wing,” a seventh-year show whose ratings have dipped by more than half this season following a move to Sunday night.

The show will air its series finale May 14, when a new president will be sworn in. Before then, the show will have to explain the off-screen death of John Spencer, who played vice presidential candidate Leo McGarry.

Reilly also made several big programming moves, including shifting “The Apprentice” to Mondays at 9 p.m. after the Olympics, switching “Las Vegas” to Fridays and relocating Wednesday’s “Law & Order,” which has aired at 10 p.m. during its 15-year run, to 9 p.m., opposite ABC’s hit “Lost.”

It may seem surprising that NBC would announce “West Wing’s” demise four months before the finale, but while “Wing” ranks only 63rd this season among households, it was one of NBC’s most important shows for a long time. NBC likely made the early announcement out of respect.

Though it’s doubtful the show will receive any ratings bounce--ratings have sunk still further after Spencer’s death in December--it will get to finish its final months in relative peace, without worry of being yanked for low ratings and with a slew of critical salutes undoubtedly on the way.

The show won four Emmys for best drama and at its peak five years ago averaged more than 17 million total viewers. It owned its Wednesday 9 p.m. timeslot until ABC premiered “The Bachelor” four years ago, at which point “Wing’s” ratings went into decline.

Last week the show hit a series-low 1.6 in adults 18-49. This season it’s averaging 8 million total viewers.

Though they have reached a decision, “Wing” writers would not say who will win this season’s presidential election, pitting Alan Alda’s Republican candidate against Jimmy Smits’ Democrat, who was running with Spencer. They all but confirmed that Spencer’s character will die, presumably sending the Smits campaign into disarray.

The “Wing” finale will air after an hourlong tribute to the show, as will “Will & Grace,” which ends its seven-year run on May 18 with a 60-minute finale.

Reilly also said that comedies “My Name is Earl” and “The Office” will be back next fall, likely in their new Thursday timeslots, where they have performed well opposite CBS’s “CSI.” “Office” will air its season finale March 30 and will be replaced by limited run sitcom “Teachers” through May.

The new drama “Heist” will take “L&O’s” place at 10 p.m. starting March 27, and “Conviction,” a non-“L&O” drama from Dick Wolf, takes over the Friday 10 p.m. slot starting March 3. That will bump “Dateline” from Friday to Saturday at 8 p.m.

Mondays will get a new look with “Apprentice” at 9 p.m. and the December special-run hit “Deal or No Deal,” which returns as a weekly at 8 p.m. in March. The Howie Mandel game show will get another one-week nightly run starting Feb. 27.

Reilly did not say when “Friends” spinoff “Joey” will return for its final 12 episodes, but it seems all but certain the show will be canceled after that.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2365.asp

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Showtime longs to get "Arrested"

By Joanne Ostrow Denver Post Staff Columnist

Pasadena, Calif. - The folks at Showtime aren't coy about their interest in "Arrested Development." They're salivating over the series.

Showtime (part of the CBS Corp. within Viacom) has made an offer to 20th Century Fox for the show, contingent on Mitch Hurwitz continuing as the creative force behind it.

"And he hasn't yet come to that decision to continue the show," said Robert Greenblatt, Showtime's entertainment chief.

The ball is in Hurwitz's court, which is nice considering how he has been knocked around by Fox over the last year.

Small but perceptible buzz from "Weeds" (including the Golden Globe win), "Sleeper Cell" and "Huff" has encouraged the also-ran pay-cable network. But Showtime still draws only tiny audiences. Feature-film presentations are no longer exciting to viewers, they know, since audiences have abundant other ways to see things at home. Original series are the way to go, executives say. They need a grabber.

The fate of several of its series, including "Barbershop" and "Sleeper Cell," hinges on "Arrested." If the cable network lands that comedy, it would change the nature of its schedule.

The idea of picking up a broadcast network castoff isn't unprecedented: "The Paper Chase" went from CBS to Showtime in the 1980s.

Showtime is developing four new series:

"This American Life," described as a documentary reality series from Ira Glass, based on his award-winning public radio show.

A new sketch comedy from Damon Wayans called "The Underground."

A bizarre-looking drama called "Dexter," starring Michael C. Hall as a Miami forensic detective who is also a serial murderer. The catch is he apparently kills only people who deserve it.

A highbrow soap called "The Tudors," starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers ("Match Point") playing a new incarnation of Henry VIII. Initial episodes are directed by Charles McDougall, director of the "Desperate Housewives" pilot.

Until then, two things to anticipate:

"Liza With a 'Z,"' restored and digitally remastered, the 1972 Emmy-winning television event choreographed by Bob Fosse will be presented for the first time in 34 years on April 1. Eight cameras captured the single performance, and the result is spectacular. "I'm an animal of the stage; I was bred to do that," Liza Minelli said via satellite. "It's good. I was good." For once, she's understating.

"Brotherhood," the saga of a lower- middle-class Irish Catholic family in Providence, R.I., in which one brother is a politician, the other a gangster, and both are morally compromised. Blake Masters, a film writer, created the series. Henry Bromell ("Homicide: Life on the Street") is executive producer. The cast includes Jason Isaacs, Jason Clarke, Annabeth Gish and Fionnula Flanagan. The tone is darker than "The Sopranos."

Everybody loves "Chris" ratings

UPN used its time with critics to suck the air out of the room.

After praising "Everybody Hates Chris," which everybody knows saved the UPN's image and ratings this year, network chief Dawn Ostroff said it was "too far away from May" to discuss whether the show will be renewed. Read that as standing firm while cast and crew send their agents in to demand raises.

The highlight of the UPN sessions was hearing "Chris" co-creator Ali LeRoi defend the show after creatively killing off Santa Claus in a controversial episode last season. "The show is told from the perspective of a 13-year-old boy, and that boy would not believe in Santa Claus," he said.

Just because there are kids in the cast doesn't mean it's a kids' show, he noted. (In the episode, Chris tells his younger sister there's no Santa: "We don't even have a chimney, we have radiators.")

As a reminder to parents, LeRoi clarified: "You're supposed to guide your children. We're entertainment."

http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3424969

TV Review
Elfman plays a lawyer too busy for love -- gosh, how original

By Tim Goodman San Francisco Chronicle Monday, January 23, 2006

Maybe someday Jenna Elfman will get the material she deserves. Rarely has the work she's appeared in matched her skills, so perhaps the fault rests partly with her choices. In either case, Elfman has a mysteriously underdeveloped career.

True, she found a hit TV series -- and a lot of cash -- with ABC's tepid "Dharma & Greg," where she established herself as a comic actress who embodied excellent timing, an impressive inclination toward physical comedy and a perky cuteness that was hard to resist. But another actress -- Jennifer Aniston -- pretty much owned that turf and then turned it into a movie career (with mixed success), leaving Elfman, well, where?

She was the force of nature that kept "Dharma & Greg" on the air, as the material was never better than just good enough (the series, curiously enough, also never tapped into actor Thomas Gibson's well of talent, so neither Dharma nor Greg was as interesting as the actors who played them).

After that series ended, there wasn't much to speak of for Elfman. The movies "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" and "Clifford's Really Big Movie" never were going to make her the next Scarlett Johansson -- or even the next Jennifer Aniston. Which is a shame, really. Given the right material, someone ought to be able to harness the star power of a woman nearly 6 feet tall, lithe, beautiful and funny.

That someone is not at the helm of "Courting Alex,"(starting tonight, 9:30 PM ET/PT, CBS) Elfman's new sitcom on CBS, premiering tonight. Cut like a cookie right off the CBS baking sheet, "Courting Alex" makes "Dharma & Greg" seem wildly adventurous. Elfman plays Alex, a workaholic lawyer who can't find love, partly because she'd rather work.

And that's it. That's the premise. You have to court her really aggressively because she's got a couple of phones, a Blackberry, a harried secretary and a million things to do. Perhaps this is the minimalist approach to mining comedy?

"Courting Alex" is sadly predictable and unfunny at pretty much every turn. Worse, like "Dharma & Greg" before it, the series manages to give nothing to talented actors like Dabney Coleman, who plays Alex's dad, who started the law firm, and Josh Randall, who gave "Ed" a dose of stylistically wry comedy. Here the writers can't even let Coleman be cranky, which is kind of the point of Coleman in the first place.

Randall plays Scott, a bar owner (ooh, edgy) who gets to be -- you guessed it -- the guy who courts Elfman's Alex. It's a thankless task, really, other than getting to stare at Elfman while she wears the hell out of several form-fitting outfits. In the pilot, he even gets kissed once. Do you think Gibson is going to call him and say, "Be careful. It may seem like a vacuous flop that doesn't tax your talents, but, hey, it could run for five years"?

Well, let's see if it gets five episodes first. Where can this show possibly go? They're either a couple or they're not. You can't really drag that out very long before everything gets tedious, but if they settle into a long-term relationship, that courting business in the title becomes a misnomer.

Normally a show this dull and wasteful of talent would either never get on the air or never make it through a month. But clearly, someone -- justifiably -- wanted to make a star vehicle for Elfman, and star vehicles tend to get a lot of second chances. The other factor at work here is CBS. Sparkless comedies can live a long time on that network. It doesn't take a leap of logic to imagine "Courting Alex" getting reasonably good numbers on CBS' strong Monday lineup and then squatting on the schedule for all eternity.

Sad, that. "Courting Alex" is bland on bland. The writers have taken Elfman and put her in a comedic straitjacket. As Dharma, she could at least be wacky. Here she's merely harried. Randall's lo-fi dryness, a great counter to Tom Cavanagh's manic energy in "Ed," plays like boredom here. Even Hugh Bonneville as Alex's eccentric neighbor who doesn't knock (now there's a new twist), seems forced and ill-fitting in the mix.

"Courting Alex" is unoriginal, poorly written and utterly without a reason for being. Why bother making art if it's lifeless? Also, this is comedy. Somebody at CBS might want to make a note of that.

And so Elfman gets a star vehicle, but she can't drive it anywhere. Next time out, she ought to think about something really snarky for FX or HBO. Or maybe an indie film where she puts the cute in killer. Something -- anything -- that actually courts her talent.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/23/DDG5PGQKT91.DTL&type=printable

The TV Column
'The West Wing': Lame Duck
By Lisa de Moraes The Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 23, 2006; C01

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 22--NBC's fantasy White House drama "The West Wing" will end its seven-season run on May 14 with the inauguration of the new president, executive producer John Wells told television critics Sunday.

The election will be covered on April 2 and 9 and viewers will know by the end of the latter episode whether the presidential candidate played by Jimmy Smits or Alan Alda won the election -- a decision the producers "have only really in the last couple days made," at the end of "quite a brawl," Wells told critics at the very last session of Winter TV Press Tour 2006.

The show's declining ratings since its move to Sunday led producers to think that the peaceful passing of power from one leader to another would be a "really wonderful way to end the series" at its "natural place," he explained. So far this season, viewership has dropped by about a third compared with last season's numbers, which were already well below what the series had averaged in its heyday. These days it averages about 8 million viewers a week, but it remains the most upscale series on prime-time broadcast TV.

Earlier in the day the head of NBC's entertainment division, Kevin Reilly, had made it official that this season would be "West Wing's" last.

The sudden death of actor John Spencer in December has "changed a lot of the storytelling" for the final episodes, Wells said, sharing the stage with some of the writers and cast members.

The producers had shot five episodes, three of which Spencer was central to, at the time of his death. Wells said they talked about how to handle the situation over the holidays and decided the best homage they could pay Spencer was to change nothing and "let people see the last days of his work." He joked that Spencer would have been angry at him if he had changed the episodes -- "cutting his best scenes . . . so we left it."

Scrambling to deal with the reality of the actor's death, Wells said, the producers discovered there is no real provision for dealing with the death of a vice presidential candidate on the eve of an election.

We "are now dealing with the death of a character we loved after dealing with the death of a man we loved; it's a complicated and difficult time for us," he added.

Martin Sheen, who has played our fantasy president for seven seasons, was asked to reflect on what the show has meant to the country over the years.

"We can be very cynical about the people that lead us," he said, adding that he hoped the show managed "to make people realize that being a public servant is an honor . . . and that so many good and decent people do it and never get any credit.

"We were a fantasy but we had a parallel universe to reality," he continued. That changed radically, he said, when the Bush administration came into office and then 9/11 happened and "the country moved much further away from the center and we felt we were dead in the center and we gave everyone a fair shot."

The show has continued to "reflect a kind of hope that this was possible and we should aspire to this always," Sheen continued. "We were like a novel that -- the real world is like reality, but people were reading the novel and getting ideas and kind of having a hope and faith and trust in their leadership.

"If we can go out with that I don't think we can ask for much more -- all the rest was a gift."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" have each snagged a 22-episode order for next season; prime-time game show "Deal or No Deal" -- a ratings hit for NBC during its nightly, one-week run in December -- will become a weekly series in March, Mondays at 8, followed by "The Apprentice," which is moving from Thursdays; the Monday drama "Las Vegas" is moving to Fridays at 9; and "West Wing" is calling it quits, Reilly told shocked critics Sunday morning.

Barely stopping for breath, Reilly also announced he'd ordered 13 episodes of a drama series for the fall from Paul Haggis ("Million Dollar Baby," "Crash") called "The Black Donnellys," about four young Irish brothers involved with organized crime in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood; Luke Perry will star in a new summer drama, "Windfall," about a group of young adult friends who pool their cash to buy a lottery ticket, hit the $386 million jackpot and do not live happily ever after; and the stand-up competition "Last Comic Standing" is returning in the summer even though it got nuked in the ratings last fall.

Oh, and Jason Lee, star of "My Name Is Earl," has the chickenpox.

Critics were taken aback by the electrifying performance of the New Bucked-Up Reilly, having grown accustomed to seeing him at press tours honing his impression of a Washington lobbyist refusing to answer questions without the advice of his attorney.

"You guys helped make ["The West Wing"] a huge hit . . . We're going to give you DVDs . . . Watch the work, connect with it or reconnect with it and let's try to give it the send-off it truly deserves!," Reilly urged critics -- a calculated risk, given how testy they can sometimes get when someone hints they are perceived as an adjunct to a network's marketing and promo departments. But no one seemed to take it that way -- there was only "You betcha!" in their eyes.

"I don't think this was a news flash to anybody," Reilly said of the decision to pull the plug on the seven-season-old series, which he denied had anything to do with the death of Spencer. "There is a point where you want to send the show off with dignity and some semblance of success."

He did a handspring over one critic's request to divulge information about the series's finale story line, deferring to the cast and crew who, he noted, would do a Q&A session later in the day, at which, he said, "I'm sure they will tell you really little."

Another critic tried to confuse him with a question about the move of "Las Vegas" to the "death zone" on Fridays. (On its new night, "Las Vegas" will be followed by a new, non-"Law & Order" Dick Wolf series called "Conviction," about a bunch of hot young assistant DAs.) "The death zone has been created by the shows we put on [Friday]," Reilly shot back confidently, noting that Friday used to be home to "SVU, " "CSI" and "X-Files."

"That was the era where there were great shows on Friday. . . . The networks, for the most part, have put leftovers [there] and frankly, not marketed them and not told America it was important," he said. Shows now doing well on Fridays are "winning by default," he said. "We're going to stop giving the competition a free pass."

He leapt over another critic's suggestion that he should be worried about the the state of his boss Jeff Zucker's "immortal soul" for having sworn NBC would air a series finale on canceled "American Dreams" many months ago.

"Another pact with the devil for Zucker," Reilly noted, adding that corporately, they never made any such promise.

Again and again, critics tried to trip up Bucked-Up Reilly. But he was so full of vim, there was no stopping him.

One critic thought he had Reilly for sure, over the whole move of "Law & Order" to 9 p.m. Wednesday. (NBC will debut the new drama "Heist" in "L&O's" old 10 p.m. hour; it's about a group of professional thieves plotting to simultaneously rob three Beverly Hills jewelry stories during Oscar week, and will debut about two weeks after the Oscars.) "So how happy was Dick Wolf when you told him ["Law & Order"] was going up against 'Lost' " on Wednesdays at 9?

"Was he his usual cheerful self?" the critic asked smugly of TV's Greatest Living Grump.

"You know Dick; he's a pushover -- always smiling," Reilly responded with a smile.

"Would he prefer that it not move? Probably. But . . . 'Law' has been here for a long time," and it will stay around for a long time, he noted. "And we're asking it to do a job right now, and Dick's with us on it."

Yet another critic went after him with a question about the strange coincidence in which NBC announced that "The Office" would be available through iTunes the same week the show's episode featured an iPod in a major plot point, adding that there had been similar hanky-panky recently on other NBC series, like "Medium."

Reilly swore the iPod thing was a coincidence. "This has been confirmed by NBC," the network said later in the day. That said, Reilly acknowledged that "this is a fact of life now, and producers of television . . . know where their paychecks come from, they come from us, and our income comes from advertising."

"Everybody's trying to embrace the new world and you've got to find the line. . . . If it's organic we'll do it," he said.

So full of beans is New Kevin Reilly that he even told them about one instance of product placement they'd missed, where Chili's, the restaurant, appeared in "The Office," the show:

"I don't know if you saw the episode . . . but it was very funny. It was tricky to pull off, but it was just funny."

One critic thought sure a "Book of Daniel" question would give Reilly the willies. "The Book of Daniel" is the new series starring Aidan Quinn, about a Vicodin-popping priest who talks to Jesus regularly about his son who is gay, his daughter who is selling pot to finance a manga habit, whose adopted son is a skirt-chaser, and whose wife has liquid lunches to help ease the pain of losing yet another of her children.

"I was watching 'Book of Daniel' the other night; it was virtually a sustaining program," the critic said, meaning "run without advertising."

"Your commercial breaks were a festival of NBC promos; I think you had maybe one national ad in the whole show. Can you afford to keep putting that show on, or have these pressure groups . . . driven off literally all the advertisers?"

"The Mattress King has stepped up and he's going to sponsor the entire hour. And God bless him," Reilly responded.

It was breathtaking, but best quip of the day went to Greg Garcia. With a pox on Lee, Garcia appeared at an "Earl" session without his star and told critics, "Well, we think it's chickenpox. I saw him shake hands with Charlie Sheen at the Golden Globes, and [Lee] woke up the next morning with bumps all over him. So it could be anything."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201197_pf.html

Sports On TV
Simms gives fans insight on key passing notions

By Michael McCarthy USA Today

CBS' lead NFL analyst, Phil Simms, likes to punch holes in the conventional football wisdom spouted on talk radio.

During the Pittsburgh Steelers' 34-17 victory Sunday against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, Simms surprised and informed viewers with his contrary views. With the Broncos trailing the Steelers 17-3 with 1:48 to go in the first half, Denver fans howled for quarterback Jake Plummer to make a big passing play.

Wrong, Simms said. Now was the time for Plummer to be careful with the ball to avoid a big play by the Steelers that could break open the game. On the next play Plummer threw an interception trying to force a pass into coverage. The Steelers scored on the next possession to make it 24-3.

"That was not being careful. ... There's a long way to go, don't take a chance. That could be a backbreaker," Simms said.

Simms also deflated the usual notion that quarterbacks should never "throw off their back foot." He went to the replay showing Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throwing a touchdown off his back foot. "In the big games, against good defenses, you get pressure," Simms said. "If you can't throw off your back foot, you will not have success — or win — as a quarterback."

Among the highlights and lowlights of this season's final NFL broadcasts before Super Bowl XL on ABC on Feb. 5:

• Best quotes— Fox's Terry Bradshaw, who won four Super Bowls with Pittsburgh, after the Steelers' victory and before kickoff of the Carolina Panthers-Seattle Seahawks matchup for the NFC championship: "No matter who wins this game today, the Steelers will beat them in the Super Bowl."

• ESPN's Kenny Mayne on the Seahawks' bruising fullback Mack Strong during Sunday NFL Countdown: "He's the most aptly named player in NFL history. Except for Larry Centers — had Centers been a center."

• Best sideline reporting— Fox's Chris Myers, who made this succinct report on Carolina running back Nick Goings being knocked out of the game: "He was hit so hard, they're checking his helmet for damage."

• Best interview— Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver, in a taped piece on the pregame show, with Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren about unpredictable quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

Oliver: "When was the last time you wanted to strangle him?"

Holmgren: "Last week."

• Best camera work— Fox tracking the Seahawks' double- and triple-coverage of Panthers star wide receiver Steve Smith, leading Smith to rant at his teammates and coaches on the sideline.

• Biggest waste of airtime— Jiggling Jillian Barberie's sexiest man in the NFL poll on Fox's pregame show. (Brett Favre won.)

• Worst cliché— Pro athletes and coaches overuse the same hackneyed clichés. The most irritating this weekend was, "It's us against the world."

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan used it Friday in a speech to motivate his players, CBS sideline reporter Armen Keteyian said. On ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, Roethlisberger also trotted out the line to explain his team's motivation against the Broncos. Asked analyst Michael Irvin: "Why do they need all these extra motivations? It's a championship game with the chance to go to the Super Bowl."

Dump her?

During ESPN's The Sports Reporters on Sunday, Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star seemed to blame New York Knicks forward Antonio Davis' wife, Kendra, for the dispute with a fan that resulted in a five-game suspension for the player.

Said Whitlock, who called for Davis to have received a 10-game suspension: "They should take the video of this event, play it at the rookie symposium and say, 'If that's your girlfriend or wife and she would do that, dump her. And if you would go up into the stands, we don't want you in the league.' "

More Olympic TV hours:

NBC Sports announced Sunday that it is adding two more prime-time hours over three nights to its Torino Olympics coverage, for a total of 418 hours.

Two days getting additional programming are Sundays: Feb. 12, when U.S. skier Bode Miller, speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and snowboarder Shaun White are scheduled to compete, and Feb. 19, the first of two nights in which U.S. ice dance pair Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are scheduled to compete.

"Desperate Housewives might get more desperate," NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol said last week.

Programming also is being expanded Feb. 20, the final night of ice dancing.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/mccarthy/2006-01-22-mccarthy_x.htm

Sunday’s network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

The 2005-2006 TV Season
Ask Matt

(from the Ask (TV Critic) Matt (Roush) column at TVGuide.com
By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic

Question: I finally caught up on my old tapes of Invasion, which meant three hours over the last couple of days. Somehow the time off made me forget how absolutely captivating this show is. The acting is great, the production quality high, and the story original (in a genre that often lacks originality). So is it wrong that I want the series to end? That is, I want it to end the right way, with some kind of resolution. Even if it is renewed, it isn't the kind of show that will pick up viewers in year 2. I'd love to see Invasion end with a two-hour season finale that wraps everything up, because maybe more than any other show, I can't bear the thought of seeing this show disappear without resolution. So, realistically, what are the chances that, if it's not renewed, the writers will have time to do the right thing and pen a fair conclusion to the best miniseries ever? — Nick

Matt Roush: If only. By which I'm not saying "if only Invasion were to call it quits," but "if only" network TV in the U.S. worked this way. The most recent episodes of Invasion have been exceptional. Anyone who tuned out because they felt the story wasn't moving fast enough should jump back into the fold now. (Check out my recent Dispatch, written when the show returned from December hiatus.) I'm so intrigued by Nick's theory, because I also fear that the show's creative resurgence has come too late in the run to boost Invasion's viewership to the level where ABC will renew it. I'm not sure that ABC will make the call early enough to allow the writers a chance for closure, which makes me hope they'll decide to wrap the first season on a note of some resolution, even if it's open-ended, but without forcing a "to be continued" cliff-hanger on us that may never be continued. That would be awful. I love the idea of season-long miniseries — that's kind of how I look at 24 each year, and Prison Break in its first season. Invasion fits that mold beautifully, and I agree that it's on par right now with the best of the prime-time dramas. I didn't attend the critics' press tour this month, so I didn't get a chance to mix it up with the Invasion folks. But maybe they'll see this, and if I get any feedback about how they're envisioning the end of the season, I promise to share.

________________________________________

Question: Matt, I watch a lot of television. I mean a lot. Many even call it an unhealthy obsession. Since I watch more television in a week than an actual network executive, I tend to, for the most part, know how storytelling on the small screen goes. I like to think that I am more keen than the average viewer. However, for the life of me, I cannot figure out Forest Whitaker's character on The Shield this season. Something is bugging me about him. I don't think it's so much the character he is portraying, but more so the choices Mr. Whitaker is making as an actor. I've asked other people I know who watch the show and they tend to agree. I cannot even seem to find the adjectives I need to describe his characterization. Something just seems "off." Can you shed any light? Are we crazy over here in Chicago? Is he the right person for this role? Is something coming up that's going to make me put my foot in my mouth? — Jefferson

Matt Roush: If my notes are accurate (I watched the first four episodes before the new year), the first face-to-face encounter of Forest Whitaker with Michael Chiklis doesn't occur until this week's episode (Jan. 24). I'll be curious to see if you're still as ambivalent about his performance after that. Personally, I think he's terrific and brings a sly, playfully cunning quality to his Internal Affairs character that is unlike anything we've seen on The Shield to date. There's humor and subtlety in the way he worked his way into Vic's wife's confidence and yet a quiet menace to the way he has manipulated Lem. What may have thrown you is how different his style is to the blunt-force realism usually seen on The Shield. I find him fascinating, and this is the first I've heard of anyone having a problem with him. I think he was an inspired choice.

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Question: I loved, loved, loved Love Monkey. How refreshing to see a show with such a great cast and fantastic chemistry. And then you add two of my favorites, Tom Cavanagh and Jason Priestley, and I'm in heaven. How many episodes can we expect to see this season, and what did you think of the show? — Tiffany

Matt Roush: Check out my own enthusiastic review, which ran online and in the magazine, where we also published a Q&A with the charming Tom Cavanagh in the same issue. (Yes, this is a plug for my online readers to check out the magazine, which is chockful of newsy show-oriented features and items.) Eight episodes were commissioned for the show's initial order, which should take us into early March.

________________________________________

Question: I am maybe one of the biggest fans of Project Runway, because it's so different than other reality shows. However, I'm beginning to believe that maybe it's not so different. On the Jan. 19 show, General Zod — sorry... Santino — somehow wasn't voted off, yet poor Emmett was. Zod has been on the chopping block numerous of times and Emmett was only on the chopping block one other time. I think this show is rigged. You're someone with knowledge of reality shows. Don't you think this show is rigged just to keep the "villain" on? — Michelle

Matt Roush: This question came up in an earlier round, when Santino was first in danger of being "out" (and, typically, blew up at the judges), but Daniel Franco was sent packing instead. At that time, it did look like the producers might be favoring Santino because he's colorful and adds conflict to the show (this season's Wendy Pepper?), but I felt that Daniel was clearly unable to function within the rules of this game, especially where time constraints were concerned. This week, in the figure-skating-costume contest, Santino erred by designing for Santino, not Sasha Cohen. Emmett erred more fatally by not designing much of anything. The cardinal sin on Project Runway is a lack of imagination (which is why I was stunned that Marla lasted one week longer than she should have, after basically copying a party dress for Nicky Hilton out of a magazine). Still, it's a fair criticism of Runway that Santino has avoided being cut up to now because he makes for good TV. But I also think the judges may yet feel he's a better candidate for a runway show than many of those who have been ousted so far, including Emmett, who lack the vision and range of the better contestants. (If you were to ask me who I think or hope will make the Top 3, I'd pick some combination of Chloe, Daniel Vosovic, Zulema and Nick. Santino will probably stick around a little longer, until it gets down to those who are most likely to actually win. I, too, will be dismayed if he makes it to the end.)

________________________________________

Question: First of all, I wanted to say that I enjoy your column. My reason for writing is that I saw Emily's Reasons Why Not and I liked it right away (which doesn't happen often). It was really cute and funny. But then I just read in the Entertainment News that it's been canceled after only one episode! Why do networks do this? You can't expect instant success. A show needs time to gain a following. It's unrealistic to expect that to happen right away. I think it would've been great with a little more time. — Nadia

Matt Roush: I didn't do cartwheels over Emily, although I did think Heather Graham was, as you say, "cute and funny," but I thought it deserved more of a chance than one airing against CBS' dominant comedy lineup. (Always risky to program a new comedy against a hit comedy, and ABC has traditionally struggled to fill Mondays after football.) Given that production shut down after only six episodes, there probably isn't much incentive for ABC to burn off this series — and while we're on the subject, what a waste of John Stamos, to renew Jake in Progress (which I liked even less than Emily) only to bury it, having already ruined the actor's chances of joining ER, a show that could have really used him this season. As strong as ABC is in its drama lineup, it couldn't have a worse track record where comedy is concerned.

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Question: What time is Bones going to be on? Is it going to be on at 8 or 9 pm/ET? — Jackie

Matt Roush: The answer is: Both. And yes, it's confusing. Starting this week, Bones will air in the 9 pm/ET time period, following American Idol. That will continue through February until March 8, when Idol goes into results-show mode on Wednesdays, and Bones will air as its lead-in at 8 pm/ET. At which time all those who are moaning about Bones airing against Lost and Veronica Mars can relax. Depending on what mid-season changes the other networks might make, the only significant competition for Bones in the 8 pm/ET Wednesday hour (at least in my book) will be America's Next Top Model when it returns.

________________________________________

Question: I just saw the Season 5 premiere of 24. In it, Jack Bauer killed the man who had shot David Palmer. For the fourth time since the series began, Bauer committed cold-blooded murder. In your many comments about the show, why is it that you have never commented on this disturbing trend? — Irene J.

Matt Roush: On the contrary, this subject has come up a lot over the years, though never this early in the season. Jack has beheaded someone and tortured his girlfriend's ex, among other heinous acts committed in the name of saving the world. One of the ongoing themes of 24 is the dark side of heroism, showing us each year/day how far Jack Bauer is forced to go to be the good guy. When he executed Palmer's assassin, we were meant to be unnerved and disturbed by his cold fury. Save the day, avenge your boss, lose your soul. Comes with the territory. I wouldn't be surprised if the debate only intensifies this season, especially given the current political climate.

________________________________________

Question: Is Michelle Forbes amazing or what? As much as I hated to see her go, her death scene (as Commander Cain) on Battlestar Galactica was as interesting and unexpected as all her other work. I'm not sure how she pulled it off, but her face seemed to register anger, fear, defiance and resolution all in the space of about 20 seconds, and she suddenly made this detestable character sympathetic without having to say a word. As always, after watching Forbes, I thought, "Why hasn't someone made this woman a permanent presence on a major ensemble show?" After strong performances on everything from Star Trek: The Next Generation to Homicide: Life on the Street, from 24 to Prison Break, it feels like Forbes is long overdue for success at the level of Allison Janney or Felicity Huffman. But it always seems like she's around for a short time and then — bang — she's gone again! What do you think, Matt? Any chance we'll see her land a regular series and a long-term role she can really dig into and make her own? Or should we just be happy, as we are now, watching her pop up for a short time in surprising places and intriguing parts on so many cool series? — Don C.

Matt Roush: I agree, she's great in whatever she does, and she was a marvelously formidable adversary on Battlestar. It would be very cool to have her around on a sustained weekly basis on just about any show. If CSI ever had the guts to build a show around a lead female investigator, she'd be among my first picks. But my gut tells me (and I don't know this for sure) that Forbes is the sort of actor who is more comfortable taking on a variety of new roles and not getting locked into a grind for years on end. (I remember being surprised when she left Homicide after a relatively short time.) I'm wondering if she'd even accept a lead role if the CSI factory offered it to her. But I'd love it if she did. She rocks.

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Question: Now that the Sci Fi Channel is going to air the new Doctor Who series from the BBC in March, what do you think of the show, and will it make a mark here in the U.S. with sci-fi and genre fans, now that Enterprise is gone and Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel/Firefly are also gone? — Brian B.

Matt Roush: I'll be honest. I'm far from a Doctor Who expert or even a fan. The few times I ever tried watching the earlier incarnations of the show on PBS or wherever, I was underwhelmed. But I doubt I gave it much of a chance. Now that I'm more invested in the genre, especially since Farscape rekindled my passion for space fantasy and Battlestar Galactica confirmed it, I'll approach this series with an open mind. It certainly seems to be arriving with a fair amount of buzz and hype, so I can't imagine why this wouldn't work to Sci Fi's advantage.

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Question: Why was the role of Kaitlin Cooper recast on The O.C.? — Joe D.

Matt Roush: This wasn't so much a case of reconceiving a role as conceiving a brand-new one. Kaitlin was barely a blip on the O.C. radar when she was sent away to boarding school. (She was the equivalent of the young daughter on Nip/Tuck, who might as well be invisible most weeks.) Bringing her back as a precocious vixen is an opportunity to start fresh, including bringing on a new actress. Sounds like a good idea to me. But I've fallen way out of the loop on The O.C. this season, so it will probably be a while before I get around to catching up and weighing in on how she's doing. Though from all I've been hearing, if any show needs an adrenaline jolt, it's this one.

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/askmatt/

The Business of TV
Kerger Succeeds Mitchell Atop PBS

By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable

Paula Kerger, executive VP and chief operating officer of Education Broadcasting System, licensee of noncommercial WNET and WLIW New York, has been named to succeed Pat Mitchell as president and CEO of PBS starting next month.

PBS had been widely expected to pick someone from within the station ranks. WNET is one of the principal programmers for the system.

Mitchell, whose contract was up in June, will head the Museum of Television & Radio in New York, starting in March.

Kerger joined EBC in 1993 as VP, director of development and government affairs, for WNET and was named VP and station manager in 2002.

Before she came to the station, she was director of principal gifts for the Metropolitan opera.

Kerger was named unanimously by a vote of the full board at a special meeting Jan. 22 in Dallas.

Mitchell's tenure was marked by digital initiatives, the ever-present battle for funding, and most notably the strained relationship with CPB Board Chairman Ken Tomlinson, who attempted to add more conservative shows to a service he felt tilted left.

RE: Matt Roush

I agree 100% with his assessment of Whitaker's acting in The Shield, in fact, I enjoy his character far more than Glenn Close from last season. I suspect this will be the last season for The Shield and having Forrest Whitaker there for the ride will make it that much better.

Michelle Forbes is also a delight to watch and I think part of her appeal is that she shines so brightly, but for a limited time and I think that works great for her, she is very intense. Some of her best work is in the BBC series, "Messiah". She plays the wife of a troubled serial homicide inspector and the creators of the show, instead of having her deal with dialog using a British accent, they made the character deaf with no speech and she is fantastic is the role. The facial expressions and presence she projects that Matt's reader talked about are put to full use in "Messiah" and is well worth seeing.

The Overnight Ratings
Bummer: NFC game nosedives on Fox

Down by 63 percent from last year, to a 10.7

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 23, 2006

If overnight ratings for last night's NFC Championship game are any indication, this will be a down year for the Super Bowl.

For coverage of the NFC Championship game between the Carolina Panthers and victorious Seattle Seahawks from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. last night, Fox averaged a 10.7 overnight rating among viewers 18-49. That’s down 33 percent from the 16.0 CBS averaged for last year's primetime telecast of the AFC Championship game in the same timeslot.

Even more alarming, last night's NFC game was off 63 percent versus a 28.6 overnight rating for last year's NFC Championship on Fox, though that aired during the afternoon and was the highest-rated playoff game on any network since 1997.

Ratings were down for a couple of reasons. First, neither the Panthers nor Seahawks have much of a national following, not nearly as much as either of last year’s AFC and NFC champs, the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. Also, the game was a blowout, won by Seattle 34-14, and ratings fell by more than half in the dull final half hour.

As usual, final ratings will likely change due to the game’s live nature; overnights measure timeslot and not program data. But with the Pittsburgh Steelers winning yesterday’s AFC Championship, and neither the Steelers nor the Seahawks playing in a top-10 TV market, the Super Bowl could be down, too.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2366.asp

The Business of TV
DirecTV Opts for a Leasing Model

By Linda Moss Multichannel.com 1/23/2006

Adopting a strategy used by cable operators, DirecTV Inc. in March will begin leasing its set-top boxes and digital video recorders to its customers instead of selling them.

The nation’s biggest direct-broadcast satellite provider this month notified its retailers that it was migrating to a lease program effective March 1.

Those dealers were told they would only be paid commissions for leasing DirecTV’s hardware to customers, not selling those receivers.

The change in strategy aims to ultimately help drive the roll out of advanced services like HDTV and interactive, which offer new revenue streams.

“Most of our multichannel competitors use this model [leasing],” said Jim Arnold, DirecTV’s senior vice president of sales and distribution. “It’s our version of it, and we think it’s very competitive with what they do.”

Down the road, DirecTV believes the leasing program will make it easier to get advanced set-top boxes more widely distributed. In most cases, new customers won’t face big out-of-pocket expenses, though it will still cost $299 after rebate to lease the provider’s HD-DVR set-top. Even so, DirecTV believes the lease program will make it easier for customers to obtain better boxes and, thus, make it easier for the company to offer new services, such as high-definition channels.

“Consumers have expressed concern over the years that, 'Gee, do I have to buy this equipment?,’ particularly as we get into the advanced products, and what happens if that product gets obsolete and they’re stuck with old equipment,” Arnold said.

In a way, DirecTV’s move toward leasing and not selling its set-tops to consumers is ironic. Cable’s long-standing modus operandi has been to lease its hardware to subscribers.

On the flip side, cable — long mindful of DBS’s big presence in consumer-electronics stores — at times has tested selling, rather than leasing, set-tops.

Currently, DirecTV substantially subsidizes the cost of its set-tops to retailers.

Initially, the switch to leasing won’t impact consumers too much. For example, right now subscribers with basic $39.99 service already get their first standard receiver for free.

And a current promotion for the DirecTV Plus DVR won’t change. Subscribers will have to pay $99 for it, but can mail in a $100 rebate form. With leasing, a customer will pay $5.99 per month for digital recording service, get a standard set-top for free, and pay $4.99 to lease a second receiver that includes a DVR.

The Winter TV Critics Tour
'Law & Order' Creator Gets Fresh

A new series from Dick Wolf about young D.A.s stars a bunch of hotties, much to NBC's liking
By Meg James Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Dick Wolf, television's king of the procedural cop drama, built his empire on a string of grumpy old men. So when his newest series debuts in March, fans of the character actors who gave Wolf's "Law & Order" franchise gravitas — Jerry Orbach, Fred Thompson and Sam Waterston — will be in for a shock.

"Conviction," a sudsy look at the lives of seven New York assistant district attorneys, features a passel of beautiful people as its main characters, just one of whom is over 40. And that poor guy is killed off before the end of the pilot.

Asked last week whether "Conviction" is trading furrowed brows for fresh faces in a play for younger viewers, Wolf was characteristically frank.

"Unabashedly," said the 59-year-old hit maker. "That's who the advertisers want to reach. That's who the networks want to watch their shows. And it's not a mystery that people like watching people who are like themselves."

Wolf's wooing of the youth market, which he will officially unveil today in Pasadena at the semiannual gathering of the Television Critics Assn., couldn't come at a better time for NBC, the network he has made his home for more than two decades.

Last season, NBC plummeted from first place to fourth in prime time among 18- to 49-year-old viewers. Just as alarming to executives there was that their audience was rapidly turning gray. Two seasons ago, the median age of NBC's prime-time audience was just under 46 years old. This season, NBC's audience has "aged up" to 49 years.

"We're trying to turn a page right now," said Kevin Reilly, NBC's entertainment president. "We're trying to rebuild our schedule by introducing new shows that have distinct points of view. And the fact that Dick Wolf is on board with us says that he's turning a page too."

Wolf wasn't always "on board." Last year, NBC executives gave the quick hook to Wolf's fourth installment of his profitable franchise, "Law & Order: Trial by Jury." Wolf, whose shows have been the bedrock of NBC's prime-time schedule and made the company hundreds of millions of dollars, was furious.

Then, NBC delivered to Wolf what to him was the ultimate slap: It replaced his ripped-from-the-headlines show with "Inconceivable," a hormone-charged drama about a fertility clinic that survived on the air just two weeks.

NBC's reasons for canceling "Trial by Jury" were twofold, said executives involved in the decision. The network was trying to send a signal to advertisers and Hollywood's creative community that NBC was more than the "Law & Order" network. Plus, the median age of the audience for "Trial by Jury" was nearly 54.

But Wolf fumed that NBC seemed to have predetermined that the show would skew older when it placed it in the 10 p.m. Friday slot, when nearly half of the broadcast networks' audience is older than 50.

So when it came time to tear down the elaborate "Trial by Jury" sets, which had cost $2 million to build, Wolf refused.

And that, it turned out, would prove to be a masterful strategic move that eventually helped get "Conviction" greenlighted.

NBC isn't the only network sensitive about the age of its audience. Last May, CBS canceled its oldest-skewing shows: "60 Minutes 2," "JAG," "Judging Amy" and even "Joan of Arcadia." CBS was attempting to dial down the median age of its prime-time audience, which is 51.7. In comparison, ABC's audience comes in at 46.3 and Fox Broadcasting is the youngest of the Big Four networks at 41.8.

But NBC was in a particular pickle. "Our [median] age has climbed dramatically because we have older shows on our schedule," Reilly said. "Shows tend to get older audiences when they stay on the air longer."

For example, viewers who were in their mid-30s in 1990, when Wolf's first "Law & Order" launched, now are over 50. The median age of that Wednesday night show's audience is 52.1. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," the Sunday installment, is even older: 53.2. Only the Tuesday night show, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," has a median within the desired demographic and just by a whisker: 49.

"Dramas have always skewed older," Wolf said. "You have to have a certain number of miles on the odometer to have the desire to sit down and watch something that requires some thinking."

So when Wolf agreed to stock the "Conviction" cast with nothing but hotties, he got a warm reception. Gone was the "Law & Order" signature in the title. Gone was the familiar percussive theme song. And most important, Wolf deviated sharply from his tried-and-true formula: building each episode around solving a single crime.

"Conviction" will have multiple story lines and delve deeply into the fears, foibles and sex lives of its young professionals. And yes, it will be shot on those $2-million "Trial by Jury" sets that Wolf stubbornly refused to destroy.

"I knew I'd never get to build another set like that," Wolf said.

Reilly acknowledged that within NBC's Burbank office, "saving the sets" became "kind of this interesting inspiration. We had wanted to do a show about D.A.s — that concept was in the ether. And about the same time, Dick started talking about doing a show about young D.A.s."

Although NBC didn't greenlight "Conviction," which costs the company about $2.4 million an episode, just to save the sets, nobody minded that the recycling saved the network money and time.

"We were able to fast-track the show because we didn't have to spend time building sets," Reilly said. "We had the need and the opportunity to make it work."

Last week, NBC executives debated where in its lineup to place Wolf's new show. They don't have a lot of options.

NBC doesn't want to schedule it on Tuesdays opposite Fox's younger-skewing doctor drama, "House," or "American Idol," which returned last week to 35 million viewers, the show's biggest audience ever for a season premiere. Nor does NBC want to put "Conviction" in another suicide slot — Wednesdays at 9 p.m. — in which it would compete against ABC's juggernaut "Lost."

That leaves 10 p.m. Friday, the slot previously occupied by "Trial by Jury."

And that, say analysts and advertisers, won't go far in helping attract people under 35. The show's success "depends on where on the schedule NBC puts it," said Jason Maltby, president of national TV for ad-buying firm Mindshare. "And putting it on Friday night isn't going to help."

Shari Anne Brill, programming director for another ad-buying firm, Carat USA, agreed: "It's tough to launch a show at Friday at 10 when younger viewers aren't around."

While stopping short of revealing where in the lineup "Conviction" is likely to air, Reilly defended the Friday night slot, saying "Law & Order: SVU" and John Wells' "Third Watch" prospered in that hour.

Although Wolf grouses about the advertising industry's obsession with the 18-to-49 demographic, he has to admit that he's excited by the freshness of "Conviction." Instead of the police "procedural," his stock in trade, Wolf is calling the new show a "character-cedural."

He scoffs at any suggestion that he might be selling out to the youth-obsessed industry, noting that the average age of an actual New York assistant attorney is 28.

"The show reflects reality. If you walk into any courthouse around the country, you will see young people," he said. "What are people going to say, that I'm selling out to reality?"

And what a reality it is. In the first episode, a tousled assistant district attorney, played by 27-year-old Eric Balfour, accidentally leaves his badge in the bed of a character a colleague later describes as a "skinny chick with an octopus tattoo." Det. Lennie Briscoe, the iconic "Law & Order" character played by the late Orbach, never had problems like that.

Which is just the way Wolf wants it. On his trademark shows, he said, the main characters have always been portrayed as confident veterans whose personal angst rarely figures into the plot.

"You don't see Jesse Martin or one of Sam [Waterston's] assistants throwing up in the bathroom," he said. But with "Conviction," you will.

"It's great to see the legal system through the eyes of a newcomer," Wolf said. Come March, he'll find out whether TV viewers agree.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/la-fi-wolf22jan22,0,2991490,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

A Bad Back and Looking Back

By Rich Heldenfels Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

Sunday evening I picked up a box, took a step and felt a sharp, harsh twinge of greeting from my lower back. Since then I have been communing with a heating pad and learning all the different ways it can hurt to move.

As a result, I have been working at home today. I have some stuff backed up on the DVR, but I have instead been dipping into the first season of ''Hill Street Blues,'' due out on DVD soon.

I have a long, loving connection to the show. As a semi-new TV critic, I saw the original pilot, which had an even more shocking ending than the show that aired. (Hill, Renko or both was supposed to die, but they were such strong characters, the show instead kept them around.) In those days, I did other newspaper work as well as TV writing, and I was on a night shift. I bought my first VCR -- a gigantic, expensive Betamax -- so I could tape ''Hill Street Blues.''

Three episodes into the DVD, my admiration is for the most part as strong as ever. Oh, I have reservations. The Hill-Renko relationship looks more sudsy now -- not merely a partnership but an overwrought romance. And, as television has gotten faster in the years since it premiered, it doesn't feel as frantic as it did then. And its cluttered, heavily populated setting has been imitated by so many shows, it's not as startling to the eye.

But other parts are better than ever. In scene after scene, actors convey layers of emotion with an expression; things don't have to be spelled out in the dialogue. The writing is for the most part crisp, balancing humor with pain, and the characters are almost all finely drawn. It's good to have it back.

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

The Digital Revolution
Dish heaps on HD servings

New channels, new markets on the menu
By Joyzelle Davis Rocky Mountain News January 23, 2006

After waiting on the sidelines the past few years, EchoStar Communications' Dish Network has jumped into the high-definition programming market with the intention of taking the lead.

Douglas County-based EchoStar this month announced it will offer seven additional national HD channels on Feb. 1 as well as unroll local HD service in 50 markets by the end of the year. EchoStar claims its 25 total HD channels will give it the largest HD lineup among pay-TV providers; cable companies average 10 HD networks.

The addition of the local channels - which are slated to debut in Denver by mid-March - eliminates a longtime knock against the satellite provider. Cable rival Comcast, which has about 700,000 Colorado subscribers, has offered local HD channels since September 2003.

"Not being able to provide local channels was a big hurdle for Dish," especially when it came to broadcasts of sporting events, said Deepa Iyer, an analyst at consumer technology research firm Parks Associates. "So this is a big move."

Dish's announcement prompted Prudential analyst Katherine Styponias last week to upgrade EchoStar shares, saying that the new high-definition offerings "may make it easier to acquire the high-end customer that has historically gone to DirecTV."

Acquiring more high-definition customers is lucrative in part because they're likely to spend more, said Iyer, noting they pay for premium channels such as Starz Entertainment and HBO more often than regular subscribers.

EchoStar President Michael Neuman said that while affluent customers are likely to be the first to sign up for EchoStar's expanded high-definition offering, the company expects high definition to become a staple among middle-class customers as prices for HDTV sets continue to fall.

Consumers last year reported spending an average of $1,600 on HDTV sets, compared with $2,400 in 2004, according to a survey by -Leichtman Research Group. That helped boost HDTV penetration to about 12 percent of households, up from 7 percent in 2004, the report said.

"One of the largest television transitions that we'll ever see is taking place," said Neuman, who likened the adoption of high-definition television to the switch to color television from black-and-white sets. "As a multichannel distributor, you want to be ready for that."

Larger rival DirecTV, which has about 3 million more subscribers than Dish's 12 million, isn't sitting still, either. DirecTV plans to offer local channels in 36 markets by the end of March and 50 by year-end.

For both satellite providers, the addition of more HD channels is made possible by the move to next-generation MPEG4 compression technology, which allows for twice as many channels to be offered as previous MPEG2 technology. In order to shift to MPEG4, Dish and DirecTV are offering the new HD channels, including locals, only on new lines of receivers that require customers to upgrade to new models at additional cost.

The requirement means Dish's transition "isn't as simple or clear- cut as it seems" for existing subscribers, said Mark Kersey, president of BuyingHDTV.com. "There's likely going to be some resistance, and it's a little early to see how" DirecTV and Dish "are going to deal with it.

EchoStar is offering special lease deals, such as $49.99 for the ViP211 satellite HD receiver and $299 for the multiroom ViP622, to help ease the transition. Neuman, who declined to disclose EchoStar's existing number of HD subscribers, said relatively few people had actually purchased rather than leased the older HD receivers.

One opportunity Dish sees in the HD arena is the ability to add unique channels such as Voom. Most cable and satellite companies offer the same networks, which makes it "difficult to have a sustainable competitive advantage" based on content, Neuman said.

EchoStar last year obtained about a 20 percent stake in Rainbow Media's Voom - whose channels specialize in kung fu, animania and other niches - and agreed to carry the channels for 15 years. No other competitors offer Voom, although Rainbow Media has pitched other distributors, according to trade publication Multichannel News.

DirecTV has its own specialty offering with NFL Sunday Ticket, which gives the company exclusive rights to every NFL Sunday football game through 2010.

One of the greatest hurdles EchoStar and all other pay-TV providers face is convincing customers who own HDTVs that they need a specialized HD set-top box or receiver and, in the case of EchoStar, that they need to subscribe to a specialized HD programming package.

Nearly half of HDTV owners don't have special equipment to watch HD programming, according to a study by set-top box maker Scientific Atlanta. Many of those HDTV owners said they didn't get any special equipment because the picture was already a noticeable improvement over their old TVs, and 23 percent said they believed they were already receiving HD signals because logos on certain shows said they were "broadcast in HD."

Part of the problem is that retailers are more interested in making the sale than making sure that the customer has HD service when they get home, said Bruce Leichtman, principal analyst for Leichtman Research.

"It really falls to the cable and satellite providers" to explain why customers need HD signals, he said.

Randy Baumberger, president of Thornton-based retailer Ultimate Electronics, said his chain tries to do its part. But it isn't always easy.

"Consumers don't want to be educated," he said. "They want a great picture and a solution to their needs."

To do that, Ultimate's salespeople ask the consumers questions to get a sense of what they want in their TV and how they'll use it. The salesperson usually wraps up with a discussion of the need for a specific HD service because "if you lead with that, the customer would get really confused," Baumberger said. Ultimate Electronic sells DirecTV service, and customers can pick up an HD receiver in the store.

That isn't always the case at most retailers. Kersey, a former senior analyst for Current Analysis who started his Web site out of frustration during his HDTV buying experience, said stores and pay-TV providers need to do a better job of integrating HD service into the sale process. It's particularly surprising that DirecTV and Dish, which gained popularity by having a retail presence that cable doesn't, haven't pushed this angle, he said.

"When you buy a cell phone, getting a service plan isn't optional for the most part," he said.

For Dish and DirecTV, which broadcast a digital signal, the argument that subscribers need specific HD programming may be especially hard since most customers are likely happy with picture quality, analysts said. EchoStar's Neuman, however, thinks that seeing is believing.

"People who thought that they were seeing HDTV will realize the difference once they see an HD signal," Neuman said. "Side by side, there's no comparison."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_4407868,00.html

TV Notebook
Touchstone offers 'Lost' cast a raise

By Nellie Andreeva The Hollywood Reporter Jan. 23, 2006

The cast of ABC's "Lost" has even more to cheer about beyond last week's Golden Globe win for best drama series.

The drama's producer, Touchstone Television, has offered all original members of the large ensemble cast a substantial salary bump in exchange for an additional year to the actors' current contracts. The studio's pre-emptive offer would see the actors earn almost $80,000 an episode next season, the show's third, up from a range of about $20,000-$40,000 for most cast members this season.

All original cast members, including Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Naveen Andrews, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O'Quinn, Jorge Garcia, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim and Harold Perrineau, have been offered the same deal and are expected to take it. Fox, who plays the pivotal role of Jack, is said to have earned an extra bonus of at least $250,000.

However, in the spirit of the show where no character is safe from being killed off or otherwise removed from the mysterious island where the series is set, the actors are said to have no guarantees about the length of their tenure on the show.

Reps for Touchstone TV and all "Lost" cast members declined comment for this report.

The substantial raise would put the "Lost" actors on par with what the ladies of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" are now making, industry sources said. The core "Housewives" quartet of Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria, who also started off in the $20,000-$40,000 range, all reportedly received bonuses of $250,000 midway though the show's first season as well as equal salary bumps for Season 2, bringing their per-episode fees to the high-five to low-six figures, depending on each actress' starting salary.

This is understood to be the first salary bump for the "Lost" cast members, who reportedly received a bonus of an extra episode fee between Seasons 1 and 2.

"Lost," which boasts one of the largest casts and the highest production values in primetime, has been a passion project for most of the actors on the show, with many of them forfeiting their quotas when originally cast for the chance to be part of the show and work with co-creator/executive producer J.J. Abrams.

When actors sign on to do a network pilot, they are automatically committed to long-term deals that usually run at least five years. It's common industry practice that when a show is a big hit, cast members are rewarded with salary bumps and bonuses beyond the studio's contractual obligations. "Lost" has been the rare combination of a critical and commercial hit for ABC, earning a rabid worldwide following, the Emmy last year for best drama series and the drama series Golden Globe last week.

"Lost" has done very well in DVD sales, finishing 2005 as the second-best-selling TV-DVD with 1.04 million units sold, according to Home Media Retailing, and it has been the driving force for the 1.5 million downloads of Walt Disney Co.-produced series that Apple's iTunes music store has sold for viewing on iPods since Disney struck its groundbreaking download-on-demand licensing pact with Apple in October.

A new-media spinoff designed for cell phones, "Lost Video Diaries," is slated for launch on Verizon V Cast service this month.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001882918

A Critical View:
The West Wing: Time for the Republican to Win One

By James Poniewozik Time Magazine television critic Monday, Jan. 23, 2006

In politics, you dump bad news at the weekend, and that was what NBC did with the expected announcement that The West Wing will end after this season. The quality of the often-sanctimonious drama has actually improved inversely with its ratings, the show was invigorated by the campaign between Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) to succeed the Bartlet administration, which has provided a much-needed new conflict.

But the viewers never followed the show to Sunday nights, and now it's officially a lame duck.

The network has given no hint how the show will end, but there's only one choice that makes sense: let Vinick, the Republican challenger, win. I'm casting this vote for dramatic, not political reasons.

It would provide politically believable closure; rather than transition from one Democratic administration to another, it would give the characters a chance to clean out their desks and reflect with the audience. One weakness of the show has always been that it is too easy on its lead characters in the end—it has always existed in a dream world where their Democratic ideals could always ultimately be sold to the public with a principled stand and a well-written speech.

The Bartlet administration has been challenged, but never seriously repudiated—Bartlet was re-elected almost comically easy, against a dimwitted strawman played by James Brolin.

After two terms, it would been rewarding to put the cast in a position they've never really been in: seeing their party rejected by the voters (as all parties eventually are) and having to ask: what have we accomplished in eight years? (OK, seven in TV time.)

It might be a turnoff to the original fans who tune in for the finale expecting some reliable Democratic wish-fulfillment. But by having its dedicated team come out on the bottom for once, The West Wing can go out on top.

http://time.blogs.com/tuned_in/

Being the political cynic I am, my take is that the Republican will win and that is really why it's being cancelled. :)

Michelle Forbes is also a delight to watch

To me she's always Dr. Julianna Cox, the coroner on Homicide life on the street.:)

RE: Matt Roush

Michelle Forbes is also a delight to watch and I think part of her appeal is that she shines so brightly, but for a limited time and I think that works great for her, she is very intense. Some of her best work is in the BBC series, "Messiah". She plays the wife of a troubled serial homicide inspector and the creators of the show, instead of having her deal with dialog using a British accent, they made the character deaf with no speech and she is fantastic is the role. The facial expressions and presence she projects that Matt's reader talked about are put to full use in "Messiah" and is well worth seeing.

I agree 100% with your assessment of her in "Messiah." Mystery Monday on BBCAmerica is a treat. Now if we can just get our friends across the pond to work a little harder and produce more episodes....of everything.

Edit: And Ken Stott doesn't make for a bad Rebus

To me she's always Dr. Julianna Cox, the coroner on Homicide life on the street.:)

And then there was season two of "24".

I agree -- she is a delight to watch.

Sports On TV
Boding well: The bad boy NBC needs

Blessed by fuss over downhill skier Bode Miller
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 23, 2006

In the two weeks since reigning American downhill champ Bode Miller enlightened “60 Minutes” viewers about the difficulties of skiing while drunk, the U.S. Olympic Committee has been fretting about its image and urging Miller to apologize.

NBC has had no reason to fret; quite the opposite.

Now the Winter Games have a legitimate bad-boy star. And perhaps for the first time in years, because of all the publicity Miller’s comments have generated, the average American can actually name a member of the U.S. men’s ski team.

Suddenly people can’t wait to see Miller ski in the Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 10 on NBC, and hear what he has to say afterward.

Miller is either the world’s biggest dope or a marketing mastermind. Three weeks ago no one knew who he was. Now he is the face of the Winter Games, pushing even perennial skating star Michelle Kwan aside. Last week, Miller appeared on the cover of Newsweek and Time.

It’s very good timing for NBC, giving these Games star power at just the right moment. Big names such as Sarah Hughes, Picabo Street and Dan Jensen have long since retired, and while speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno seemed like a great story in 2002, the public didn't warm to him as much as expected.

Not so Miller. A fan site, bodelicious.net, has more than 20,000 messageboard posts devoted to the 28-year-old three-time Olympian. A quick Google search turns up more than 3 million hits for his name.

Miller has a great story, even skiing stone sober. The 2005 alpine World Cup champion is from New Hampshire, where he grew up in a cabin without running water or electricity. He never had a skiing lesson. He was homeschooled until he was 10.

Instead of traveling with the U.S. ski team, he joy rides to each event in his own RV with a buddy who blogs about their adventures. Last year Miller ticked off a lot of athletes and officials when he said skiers should be able to take certain performance-enhancing drugs.

He’s a hot-head for sure. Last week he was disqualified from a World Cup race for straddling a gate at the end of a slalom, and instead of sticking around to support his teammates, he left town.

Because the U.S. only pays attention to skiing every four years, such Terrell Owens-like shenanigans don’t usually get much attention. It’s only now, after his “60 Minutes” cameo, that Miller has appeared on the radar.

The best part for NBC is that Miller may be to skiing what Michael Phelps was to swimming two years ago. Miller could medal in all five alpine ski events, which would be a Winter Games first.

But even if Miller collects only one medal, it will make for goods sports TV. After all, he finished a race on one ski a few years back, angering his coaches but thrilling fans. That’s exactly the type of athlete who pumps up ratings.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2364.asp

The Business of TV
New PBS head 'a great unifier'

Public television names one of its own, Paula Kerger, as the next president and CEO after an eight-month search
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 24, 2006

NEW YORK -- After a year of fractious struggles in public broadcasting over politics and finances, the Public Broadcasting Service turned inward this week for its next leader, selecting a veteran public television station executive known for her diplomatic skills to guide PBS.

The PBS board of directors announced Monday that it has selected Paula Kerger, a top executive at New York's Thirteen/WNET, to be the system's next president and CEO. Kerger will replace outgoing president Pat Mitchell, a former commercial television executive who is taking over the helm of the Museum of Television & Radio, a nonprofit organization that preserves broadcasting programs.

Kerger's appointment was greeted with optimism by many of the system's advocates, who called her the right person to tackle its current challenges.

John Lawson, president of the Assn. of Public Television Stations, expressed hope that Kerger will be able to resolve some of the historic tensions between PBS and the 348 member stations that finance it, noting her "calm demeanor" and depth of experience.

"You've got to find a way to preserve the localization in public television, but also pursue business strategies that are necessary for survival in a content-driven world," Lawson said. "I think Paula's hiring creates perhaps a unique chance to reconcile those two competing approaches."

Kerger comes to the post after 13 years at WNET, one of public television's biggest producing stations. She was first hired to run the station's fundraising campaign, ultimately raising $79 million, the largest endowment program by a public television station. She went on to be WNET's station manager and then chief operating officer of the Educational Broadcasting Corp., the parent company of WNET and WLIW New York.

The PBS board unanimously voted for her selection during a special meeting in Dallas on Sunday. The decision followed an eight-month search process in which nearly 120 candidates were considered, said Mary Bitterman, the board's chairwoman.

As the sixth president of PBS, the 48-year-old broadcaster will be the third to come from a local station. Her three-year contract begins on March 13.

"She's someone who we felt would be a great unifier of the system," Bitterman said. "Because she knows the system well — knows both newcomers and seasoned participants and brings a respect for the accomplishments of all — she will have a very unifying influence, which will be very constructive."

Kerger is taking over PBS after a tumultuous period. Last year, congressional Republicans threatened to yank much of public broadcasting's federal funding, an attempt that was eventually defeated.

Meanwhile, the system was racked by a turbulent debate about political bias instigated largely by Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, then chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes federal money to public broadcasters. After seeking to promote conservatives to counter what he saw as a liberal slant in the system, Tomlinson was forced to resign in November when an internal investigation concluded that his efforts broke federal law.

In addition, PBS has had to cope with an aging audience and competition from cable networks that increasingly provide the kinds of the documentaries and children's programming that have long been the mainstay of public television.

The new president said she hopes to proactively make a case for PBS' value in order to head off future political squabbles and budget showdowns.

"I think unfortunately in public broadcasting we sometimes wait until there is criticism," Kerger said in an interview Monday. "There is a scope of work that no one does like public broadcasting. We really need to think about that — we need to not only tell the story better, but we need to make sure that we're putting resources into really doing the kind of work that no one else is doing."

Kerger said she is prepared to cope with the kinds of political pressures often placed on the taxpayer-supported service.

"Because we do reflect a diversity of viewpoints and because we don't always go down the safe path, that tension is always going to be there," she said. "But if we are able to focus on what I think are the two hallmarks of public broadcasting — which are authenticity and quality — then I think at the end of the day we'll prevail."

The new PBS chief said she plans to use her post to cultivate talent at local stations as well as build the resources of the PBS Foundation, which was established in 2004 to provide a stable source of financing for the system. So far, it has raised about $13 million, and Kerger said she wants to increase that to $100 million within the next five years.

She comes to the job with an extensive background in fundraising. Before joining WNET, Kerger worked as the director of principal gifts for the Metropolitan Opera. She also raised money for the U.S. Committee for UNICEF during a stint as a program development officer.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-pbs24jan24,0,7038576,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

But ABC beat 'em this week. The "Dancing" results show is doing very well.

Against reruns, however, on CBS. I still don't think it will hurt CBS's lineup (though I wouldn't be sorry to see Ghost Whisperer recognized for the silly, badly executed, second rate rip off of Medium/Touched by an Angel that it is).

The DwtS results show is really kinda riduculous -- 10 minutes of content spread over an hour. Though seeing the professionals dance with each other was pretty cool -- you see the real difference between what they were doing together vs. what they were each doing with the celebrities in terms of overall speed and quality of execution.

I have been interested (far more than I expected) by "Dancing".
There wasn't much else on in the summer, and it seems not really mean or tawdry.
And I posted a column from Newsday's Diane Werts a while back in which she pointed out that the celebs have a lot to lose by putting themselves out for ridicule.
I agree the results show is a bit stretched, but ABC is not exactly o erburdened with bench strength. So if it can pull an extra hour out of its hat with the results show (and avoid the controversy it encountered last summer) so much the better for the Mouse House.

In case you missed some of these notes .....

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Notes From The Broadcast Press Tour


By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com January 23, 2006

C B S

After touting the new strength of Friday night's "Ghost Whisperer" and "Close to Home," CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler expressed disappointment over CBS's new challenges with its TV Sunday night movie.

"It's an incredibly competitive time period," she said. "We're certainly looking at Sunday night with a tremendous amount of scrutiny."

• Trading programming between CBS and Showtime will be done only under certain conditions, Ms. Tassler said. "It's got to be beneficial for both companies."

• The network is looking for a host and contestants for its reality series "Gameshow Marathon," in which celebrities compete in a series of classic game show formats, including "Beat the Clock" and "The Price Is Right."

• CBS has several writers working on potential story lines for its summer telenovela project, some of which may contain reality hybrid elements. CBS may air telenovela episodes twice a week.

• While the reality music competition "Rock Star" will be back for a second installment with a yet-to-be-decided band, it is "unlikely" that "Amazing Race" will return to the family-of-four team model, Ms. Tassler said, noting that the show's next installment will return to the traditional competition between two-person teams.

Fox

It is "highly unlikely" that the Emmy-winning comedy "Arrested Development" will be back for another season on the network, Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori said, adding that he had no knowledge of discussions that may put the show on either ABC or Showtime.

Mr. Liguori left the door open, however, for a return of the animated comedy series "Futurama," especially after the network's success with the resurrection of "Family Guy."

• Fox has added an executive to focus on developing late-night programming, but Mr. Liguori said he doesn't expect to add new series to the time period anytime soon.

• Fox has numerous scheduling changes planned.

First-season drama "Bones" will move to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (ET) starting March 8.

"Prison Break" is back after the February sweeps, returning Mondays starting March 13 at 8 p.m.

The network also will premiere two comedies in March. "Free Ride" debuts following "American Idol" on Wednesday, March 1, before moving to Sundays at 9:30 p.m., replacing "American Dad" until late April. "The Loop" premieres after "Idol" on Wednesday, March 15, and has its time period premiere Thursday, March 16, at 8:30 p.m., after "That '70s Show." "Stacked" will return to the time period later in the season.

UPN

UPN has ordered the seventh and eighth installments of its reality series "America's Next Top Model" for the 2006-07 season. The network is likely to bring back male-skewing Friday night professional wrestling, UPN President Dawn Ostroff said.

The sixth installment of "Model" will debut Wednesday, March 8, at 8 p.m., a week after a special "Where the Girls Are" episode that will profile the series' past winners.

• The network will continue to run its low-rated midseason drama "South Beach," Ms. Ostroff said, noting it has a "very challenging" time period on Wednesdays at 8 p.m.-up against "American Idol."

• Executive producer and co-creator Chris Rock is directing an episode of his single-camera rookie comedy "Everybody Hates Chris." Executive producer Will Smith is directing an episode of his third-season comedy "All of Us."

• Michelle Williams of the former singing group Destiny's Child is guest starring on the comedy "Half & Half" for a three-episode arc as an HIV-positive record executive. The story arc supports the Know HIV/AIDS Initiative, a joint venture between CBS Corp., Viacom and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The WB


The WB is still finalizing its deal with the Tribune Broadcasting stations to continue distributing the network, WB Chairman Garth Ancier said. The talks have been ongoing (TelevisionWeek, Jan. 16). "We expect to have that done in the next few weeks," he said.

• Despite its continuing popularity, "7th Heaven," from Spelling Television, won't be back next season due to spiraling costs. WB Entertainment President David Janollari called the show's conclusion "bittersweet."

• The WB has given the go-ahead to a series that flips the format of "Beauty and The Geek." In the new show, intelligent but socially awkward women will compete in teams with good-looking but intellectually challenged men. "Geek" producers Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg are about to go into production on the reality series "Fountain of Youth," which pairs young adults with seniors and sends them on a cross-country trip from Florida to Las Vegas.

• The network has also bought a half-four live-action pilot script from Ellen DeGeneres and her brother Vance DeGeneres called "My Dog Sparky," which looks at family life from the point of view of the family dog. Ms. DeGeneres will voice the role of the dog.

http://www.tvweek.com/article.cms?articleId=29269

The Business of TV
'X-Files' Are Closed; a Lawsuit Opens

By Maria Aspan The New York Times January 23, 2006

The final episode of "The X-Files" was broadcast almost four years ago, as the F.B.I. agents Mulder and Scully stopped searching for the truth. Now the show's creator is searching for more money.

Chris Carter, the creator and executive producer of "The X-Files," which ran from 1993 to 2002, filed a lawsuit Dec. 30 claiming that 20th Century Fox Television, a division of the News Corporation, failed to honor an agreement to share profits from syndication rights to the series. The lawsuit was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

"The X-Files" first appeared in syndication on FX Network, a cable affiliate of Fox. In a 2001 agreement, Mr. Carter recommended that Fox terminate its deal with FX and begin a "second cycle" contract with other cable networks, hoping for higher competitive bids. According to Mr. Carter's lawsuit, Fox agreed to give him a 25 percent advance of the gross licensing fees over $300,000 per episode from a second contract, in addition to a profit guarantee that he had already negotiated.

In April 2002, the USA Cable division of NBC Universal, a General Electric company, and Turner Entertainment Networks, a Time Warner company, received the syndication rights to all nine seasons of "The X-Files," but Mr. Carter says that he did not receive his cable advance percentage or profit guarantee. According to the lawsuit, Fox claimed that the new syndication deal was a reassignment of the first contract rather than the beginning of a second. Both Fox and Mr. Carter's representatives declined to comment on the lawsuit.

For the many online fans of "The X-Files" who were hoping to see the characters revived in a second feature film, news of the lawsuit was discouraging. It "looks like the second movie won't happen for a while, if at all," wrote one poster on a Livejournal.com community.

But "The X-Files" has survived messy lawsuits before. In 1999, David Duchovny, the actor who played Agent Fox Mulder, also filed a lawsuit against the studio, claiming that the FX syndication deal cheated him out of potential royalties and accusing Mr. Carter of accepting compensation for keeping quiet about the deal.

The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2000 and Mr. Duchovny returned to the set. And in a coincidence that might have been taken from one of the show's plots, Mr. Duchovny's lawyer, Stanton L. Stein, now represents Mr. Carter - proof that while the truth may be out there, as the show's tagline declared, it never hurts to have a good lawyer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/business/23carter.html?pagewanted=print

About Television
CNN Headline News adds talk radio's Beck to lineup

The right-leaning host has a large listenership, but the TV network says politics won't drive his new show
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 23, 2006

NEW YORK — After reaching its highest ratings ever last year with a new lineup of topical, personality-driven prime-time programs, CNN Headline News has declared the experiment a success and is adding another provocative talk show host to the mix: Glenn Beck, a syndicated radio personality with a decidedly rightward bent.

Beginning in April, Beck — whose popular radio show, "The Glenn Beck Program," is broadcast on more than 200 stations around the country — will host an hourlong program for the CNN sister channel on "water-cooler" topics. The Philadelphia-based broadcaster recently moved his radio show to New York to be able to do the daily cable program.

Although Beck is best known as a conservative talk show host, network executives said the show would not be devoted to politics, but rather would cover a range of issues, including world events and pop culture.

"We did not set out to do a political show or a show from any political point of view or ideology," said Ken Jautz, executive vice president of CNN Worldwide, who runs the channel. "We set out to find an entertaining, engaging talk show host, and his brand of humor and lighthearted approach was one we liked.

"We like to think of this as Glenn conducting a conversation, not a confrontation," Jautz added. "We want a cordial atmosphere. It's not hot; it's not aggressive."

Still, Beck's selection has alarmed some liberal media watchdog groups, who view his new show as a sign that the CNN network is embracing the kind of opinionated conservative talk shows that helped make Fox News the top-ranked cable news channel. They've also accused Beck of using inflammatory rhetoric and have distributed excerpts of some of his most controversial statements, including his musings about killing liberal filmmaker Michael Moore and his comments that "scumbags" in New Orleans were getting all the attention after Hurricane Katrina.

"For CNN to tap an unapologetic preacher of hate signals a desperate and misguided ploy for ratings without regard for the thousands of Americans Beck has offended with his malicious commentary," David Brock, president of Media Matters, said in a statement.

Beck said comments he had made satirically had been taken out of context, describing his style as the kind of "harsh comedy" employed on the Fox television show "The Simpsons." He called himself a conservative but not a partisan, noting that he once voted for Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

"I'm a guy who has opinions, who is a conservative, but I am not a guy who believes you should listen to me and guide your life by what I say," the 41-year-old talk show host said. "I do say controversial things, but I don't believe I'm a hate-filled guy."

He said that although he planned to discuss politics on the program, it was not going to be the main thrust of the show.

"It will feel very different from anything else than I think you're seeing on cable news," he said. "By 8 or 9 at night, I know what the news is and I certainly don't want to watch two people yell at each other about the news. My philosophy about the show is to take the day's events, digest them and present them in a much more entertaining and light way."

Headline News executives said that they had examined some of Beck's more provocative statements before hiring him and felt comfortable with his approach.

"He has a style [on his radio show] that is given to lengthy monologue and anecdotes, and oftentimes that type of style, if you pluck one line or another out of it, is subject to misrepresentation," Jautz said.

Jautz also dismissed the idea that in putting together a package of personality-driven shows, the network is imitating Fox News' formula.

"We want to be different from what else is out there," he said.

There's no question that in tapping Beck, the network is getting a personality with a built-in audience. As the host of one of the top 10 talk shows in the country, with a cumulative weekly listenership of 2.75 million, Beck is an "up-and-coming dynamo" who commands a loyal following, said Michael Harrison, publisher of the radio industry trade magazine Talkers.

"He's not just a talking-point conservative — he's a full-fledged radio entertainer," Harrison added. "He's got creative bits and he's very familiar to all kinds of popular culture. There's more to his repertoire than just what bill is in Congress."

Network executives said Beck was selected because he was a proven commodity and attracted the kind of young viewers that Headline News was seeking. "I see this show as the next step in the evolution of the network," Jautz said.

Last year, Headline News enjoyed its highest ratings in its 24-year history, a growth driven largely by a package of new prime-time programs including "Nancy Grace," a legal show featuring the acerbic former prosecutor. Her show, along with "Showbiz Tonight" and "Prime News Tonight," helped Headline News pull in an average viewership of 396,000 people during weekday prime time last year, a boost of 88% over the year before, according to Nielsen Media Research. The network still lags in fourth place behind Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, but it is edging closer to the competition. In 2005, it drew the same number of 25- to 54-year-old adults — the key advertising demographic — as MSNBC.

The network's new prime-time programs, which began last February, replaced the traditional 30-minute "news wheel" that continues to be the mainstay of Headline News during the day. When he took over the channel about a year ago, Jautz decided that it needed to offer something different at night.

"Nowadays, there is so much more competition on television in news, and so much more news on other platforms, including the Web," he said. "The feeling was that by the time you got to prime time, people knew the headlines of the day and were interested in something more."

Despite some qualms that the Headline News programs would erode the audience of the flagship CNN network, the gains enjoyed by Headline News last year do not appear to have cost CNN any viewers. Although Grace nearly tripled the ratings of the 8 p.m. time slot during the last year, her competition on CNN, "Paula Zahn Now," also saw a 29% increase.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-beck23jan23,0,6151000,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

OnTelevision
Across The Universe: A battlestar is reborn

by Nancy Franklin The New Yorker

It’s easy for people who aren’t science- fiction enthusiasts to laugh at the genre—its earnestness, its lingo, its fans’ awestruck romance with the idea that God is in the details of equipment and uniforms and security codes and how many moons orbit Planet X and why it’s called Planet X in the first place. Does it have something to do with the number ten, or is it meant to be a leaning cross, or is it a reference to the mark on Captain Blah’s forehead in the second episode of the third season of “Star Bores”? (Usually, a writer’s answer to such questions is “I called it Planet X because I liked the name.”) Making fun of science fiction became even easier after William Shatner, in a 1986 “Saturday Night Live” sketch set at a “Star Trek” convention, exploded at fans who asked him insanely pointless questions, “Get a life!” At first, even civilians who had never owned a “Star Trek” trading card or a toy phaser were a little stunned by this slap at the faithful; it’s amazing that Shatner ever worked again after inflicting that Vulcan nerve pinch. But his admonition was eventually incorporated into the fans’ self-image; you see self-aware, amused references to it in sci-fi blogs when someone goes on about something in a way that he knows may brand him as a geek.

If you switch to the term “speculative fiction,” which many sci-fi writers prefer, the genre seems more interesting. In fact, the genre is so capacious that it’s not even very useful to call it a genre—at least, not as a put-down or a comment on its limitations. Stories that are geared to ask “What if?” and “What then?” and “Who are we?” and also have some life to them beyond the nuts and bolts of imagining an alternative reality are a genuine achievement. On the other hand, don’t feel bad if you don’t like watching shows filled with characters who have disturbingly shaped heads and faces. I myself am of the school that believes that frontal lobes belong inside the skull. I’m delighted when a character on TV has a brain—I just don’t want to see it.

The Sci Fi Channel, of course, is dedicated to what-if shows. For a number of years, it caught a lot of viewers in its net—viewers who would otherwise have swum right by—with “Mystery Science Theatre 3000,” a clever series in which two robots and a guy watched terrible old sci-fi and horror movies and made rude and funny comments about the onscreen action. Now the network is extending its reach, with the success of its popular Friday-night lineup, starting at eight with “Stargate SG-1,” continuing with the spinoff “Stargate Atlantis,” and ending with “Battlestar Galactica.”


While the two “Stargates” are essentially adventure series (they double as employment schemes for the very attractive), “Battlestar Galactica,” which the producers describe as a “reimagining” of the short-lived late-seventies series of the same name, begins with apocalyptic disaster and involves the quest for a new home for mankind, or what’s left of it. This version of “Galactica” was developed by David Eick and Ronald D. Moore, a “Star Trek” veteran who worked on “The Next Generation,” “Deep Space Nine,” and, briefly, “Voyager,” as well as on “Roswell,” a WB show about three teen-agers from outer space stranded here on Earth. The journey in “Battlestar Galactica” is born not of the urge to explore strange new worlds but of the need to survive; space isn’t the final frontier for these characters—it’s the last chance. And all because of those damn Cylons—robots created by man “to make life easier,” words on the screen tell us at the beginning of the four-hour miniseries that aired in late 2003, thirteen months before the series proper began, last January. These beings then waged war on their makers until, “after a long and bloody struggle,” an armistice was declared. In the four decades that followed, the Cylons never showed up for the annual keep-the-peace meetings; then one day, as the human envoy waits at a space station for his counterpart, in walks a vision of a soft-core porn star: she’s a tall, hyperblond sexpot in a tight red suit (the least revealing outfit we’ll ever see her in) and high-heeled boots, with a runway model’s stride, one foot petulantly plunking down directly in front of the other. “Are you alive?” she says, leaning toward the envoy and breathing hotly in his face. When he says, tremulously, “Yes,” she says, “Prove it,” and enlists him in a serious kiss. Seconds later, as we see from a vantage point far outside the space station, the station blows up. So much for diplomacy.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy, on board the Galactica, things are winding down. The ship, the last of the fleet that fought the war with the Cylons, is being decommissioned and turned into a museum, a relic of a long-ago war. In a ceremonial speech, its commander, William Adama (Edward James Olmos), departs from his text and talks about the high cost of wearing a uniform; sometimes it’s too high, he says, thinking of his son Zak, a military pilot who died a couple of years earlier, and of the even higher price that mankind has paid for playing God and inventing Cylons in the first place. On Galactica’s home planet, Caprica, a brilliant, sleazy computer scientist, Gaius Baltar (James Callis), has just found out that the woman he’s been sleeping with—who looks exactly like the woman in the space station—is a Cylon and has been using him to gain access to defense secrets. Shortly after Baltar—a genius but also a selfish twit, like “Lost in Space” ’s Dr. Smith to the nth power—realizes that he has played a crucial part in this nightmare, massive nuclear explosions occur all across the planet.

For further, excruciatingly detailed plot points, you can read the millions of words about the show that have been posted on the Web by fans of the old series, many of whom have invested tremendous emotional energy into deciding whether Moore’s version is good, bad, or acceptable on any level. Some fans, for example, were bothered by the fact that this version does not pick up where the last one left off; it starts all over from the beginning. And a couple of very important characters who were men in the first series are now women. But what interests people who normally don’t care about science fiction is how timely and resonant the show is, bringing into play religion and religious fanaticism, global politics, terrorism, and questions about what it means to be human. (There are also a couple of funny jabs at the media, particularly at talk-show airheads who don’t, or can’t, distinguish between news and entertainment.) There’s no woozy space-aginess in the show, no theremin or symphonic music—the score consists mainly of taiko-inspired drumming, sometimes to the point of tedium, as if you were at a never-ending Iron John weekend. “Battlestar Galactica” is frank and graphic about sex and death. It’s not the kind of show where you find out after the fact that someone is pregnant and everyone is wondering whether the baby will be an alien; here, you see the baby being made. The central twist is that both the Cylons and the human beings they’re trying to kill are religious: the humans believe in gods, and the Cylons believe in God. In killing people, they think they’re doing God’s work. A wrinkle in that twist comes when the President (played by Mary McDonnell)—who arrived on board as a Cabinet secretary, forty-third in line for the Presidency and now in that job only because the forty-two ahead of her are dead—begins to believe that she is destined to lead the survivors to a promised land, and it’s not clear whether her visions are to be taken seriously or are side effects from a cancer treatment. You’re never quite sure yourself how much to invest in certain characters—will they turn out to be Cylons, or drug-addled wackos?

There have been a couple of good episodes focussing on the realities of being stuck in space—the need for water, and the need for fuel. The characters are well drawn and have unfolded in a way that could keep people watching for several more seasons. One of the fighter pilots, a hot shot named Kara Thrace (Katee Sackhoff), whose call sign is Starbuck, was engaged to Zak Adama. She’s a smart-mouthed tomboy, too—when she’s thrown in the brig for punching a colonel, she says she’s there for “striking a superior *******,” and then smilingly admits that she’d been saving up that phrase. It takes a pleasant while before you learn how much more there is to her than her flygirl swagger. The story isn’t ridiculous—something that viewers are on the lookout for in science fiction more than in any other genre—and it raises questions that nag at you in the same way that life on Earth does. “Battlestar Galactica,” refreshingly, is as real as science fiction gets.

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/critics/060123crte_television

The Winter Olympics
After Bode Miller's Downhill Turn, Two Weeks on the Lift

By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 23, 2006; C01

Bad-boy behavior pays off, big time.

Skiing star Bode Miller goes on "60 Minutes," shoots off his mouth about getting drunk before a big competition, rips the CBS program for airing his remarks, holds a news conference to apologize and winds up on the cover of Time and Newsweek. Not exactly a downhill trajectory.

Journalists can't resist a troublemaking athlete who produces a blizzard of controversy instead of the usual sports cliches. And in the media world, doing bad things only fuels your celebrity, as Martha Stewart's post-jail television and radio gigs make clear.

"Skiing's Wild Child," declared Time. "Fast, loose and seemingly out of control," with "a smirking disrespect for the media," gushed Newsweek. In the run-up to the Olympics, it was Miller Time.

The storm began days before the Jan. 8 edition of "60 Minutes," with a CBS press release headlined "Bode Miller on Skiing Drunk." Miller told Bob Simon about his Saturday night drinking, saying: "There's been times when I've been in really tough shape at the top of the course" and that it's hard to ski "when you're wasted." It was presented as a light moment, but there was no missing the potential for a media avalanche.

While some sportswriters dismissed this as less than shocking, Ron Judd wrote in the Seattle Times: "Miller's confession to skiing drunk was highly uncouth, and it makes you want to slap the guy upside the head." Ray Grass wondered in Salt Lake City's Deseret Morning News: "Tell me, please, why anyone would go before millions of viewers and brag about being 'wasted' in the starting gate?"

Maybe because all publicity is good publicity?

Miller's agent, Lowell Taub, complained about an "out-of-context and salacious headline involving drunkenness." Miller, in his Denver Post blog, called "60 Minutes" "probably the most reputable and prestigious news program in the U.S., and I told them the story to test their integrity. . . . If they were interested in doing the right thing, or doing what they should be doing in terms of painting a role model for kids, they would have left that stuff out."

Say wha' ? Miller says on camera that he skis impaired to see whether television's oldest newsmagazine would protect him by cutting it out?

In any event, the head of U.S. skiing was not amused, calling Miller's comments "unacceptable" and "irresponsible." Under pressure, Miller summoned journalists in Switzerland and apologized to his friends, family and supporters.

"I don't need the media," Miller boasted to Newsweek, but he's too smart to believe that he could have amassed millions of dollars without all the journalistic adulation.

There was a time when an athlete's reputation might have been marred by such frank talk about drinking and hangovers, but that now seems very 20th century. Miller already has a Sirius satellite radio show and the kind of swaggering image that money can't buy. If he misbehaves at the Olympics, he'll probably get his own cable show.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201084_pf.html

TV Notebook
Hatch jury should begin deliberations tomorrow

Staff reports from the Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE - Jurors are expected to begin their deliberations (Tuesday) in the government's tax-fraud case against reality television star Richard Hatch.

Hatch completed his testimony today, as prosecutor Lee Vilker, an assistant U.S. attorney, pressed him to explain why why he had not paid taxes on his $1-million-plus Survivor winnings and more than $300,000 for co-hosting a Boston radio program.

He also questioned the Newport resident who gained famed as "the fat, naked guy" on the show's first season about why donations to his charity, Horizon Bound, were spent on personal expenses.

The jury also heard from an accountant testifying for the defense, as well as government rebuttal witnesses testifying about a check written to Hatch's charity but deposited into his personal account.

Hatch's replies varied, from not having looked on his tax form at the amount of taxes he owed to reimbursing himself for money he had already spent on the charity.

The prosecution and defense are scheduled to make their closing arguments tomorrow morning with jury instructions by U.S. District Chief Judge Ernest C. Torres to follow.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Richard Salit

The Winter TV Critics Tour
No 8th term for NBC's 'West Wing'

By Melanie McFarland Seattle Post-Intelligencer TV Critic Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Even fictional presidents cannot escape term limits.

That's one admittedly snarky way to sum up "The West Wing's" pending exit in May. Another is to simply say that Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his driven staff took us on a twisty ride for a few years, some were better than others, and each with its share of controversy and scandal. Mild does not fly in prime-time politics.

No doubt that in the coming months, many comparisons will be made between a successful politician's career and "The West Wing's" seven-season run. The show drew critical praise, was flooded with citations and inspired the faith and devotion of millions. And the drama did what all politicians say is essential to survival and success: It attracted money.

In its lowest-rated season, "The West Wing" still boasts the most upscale audience in television. The average fan's annual income tops $75,000, reports have said. NBC bragged about this for years.

But as any wise politico knows, when your numbers have gotten unfavorable, and when a key player is gone, it's time to relinquish your seat.

NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly officially announced Sunday that "The West Wing," winner of 25 prime-time Emmys, two Golden Globes and more awards than we care to list here, would end May 14. NBC plans to give it the standard sendoff, with an hourlong retrospective from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by the last episode at 8.

That means a lot of things to a lot of viewers, and certainly John Spencer's death played a major part in NBC's decision. Series star Allison Janney even said it felt very organic to close NBC's Oval Office.

"I just can't imagine doing it without him. He was one of the most important parts of the show for all of us on so many different levels," she told critics on Sunday.

But to those of us who appreciate the drama's contributions while shaking our heads at the fact that it won Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row -- undeservingly in at least two of them -- its exit is something of a relief. The old Emmy voters will be forced to find something fresher, worthier and more innovative to reward.

For now, that honor won't go to ABC's "Commander in Chief," the top-rated series of the 2005-2006 class, which is far shallower than "West Wing." Still, even with the ABC series' post-Christmas ratings slump, Geena Davis as the prez brought in more viewers on a widely reported off night, more than 11 million, than its NBC counterpart has scratched together for a show this entire season and is ranked No. 15 during the season to date, rivaling the Bartlet administration in its heyday.

But "Commander" hasn't even weathered a full season without running into problems. "The West Wing" made it through most of a decade, with a creative surge near the end of its run. That should be some comfort. Spurred on by the heated campaign pitting Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and Democratic Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), "The West Wing" became less about what Bartlet's lame-duck administration was doing than whether his successor would continue his dream.

Years from now, we'll call it a groundbreaking series that left while holding on to enough dignity to make its passing honorable. And that's enough validation for executive producer John Wells.

"The series has celebrated from the beginning ... the remarkable strength of American democracy, and part of that ... is the peaceful passing of power from one leader to another," Wells told reporters. "And we thought that was a really wonderful way to sort of end the series, the storytelling of it. So as the numbers were declining, we started to think ... we'd conclude the series at its natural place."

"The West Wing" hit its height in season three, when creator Aaron Sorkin and fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme oversaw a writing staff that produced peppery, lightning-paced dialogue that grabbed you by the ears for an hour each week. That season, it averaged 17 million viewers, according to a Reuters report.

Then "West Wing" started to head south. First Rob Lowe departed over a salary dispute, then Sorkin and Schlamme left, leaving Wells to take the reins.

Wells, whose influence continues to steer "ER," changed the focus from urgent banter to longer, deeper stories, and it took some getting used to. Some fans never got used to it, truth be told.

Not surprisingly, Seattle gave the series consistently higher ratings than most of the country, even in tougher seasons. According to Nielsen Media Research's season-to-date rankings, "The West Wing" comes in at No. 63, while in Seattle it's No. 29. Two years ago, when Wells took over and the ratings tumble accelerated, it remained in fifth place in Seattle after the November sweeps period.

Unfortunately, by the time the series regained its equilibrium, which happened midway through last season, it was well into endangered territory. Its shift by NBC from Wednesdays to Sundays at 8 p.m. this season only hastened the viewer exodus. The season opened to around 7.6 million viewers, and has more or less held steady at that.

Then Spencer died from a heart attack in December, tearing a hole in the show. His character, Leo McGarry, is in two more episodes, one in which he appears and one in which he's mentioned, before the series begins to address his death. The show returns March 12.

Wells indicated the election would be decided during the April 2 and 9 episodes, with the inauguration taking center stage in the finale. Wells knows who's going to win, but isn't dropping any hints.

To Sheen, who becomes the new president of this fictional America matters less than what the series stood for as a whole. "No matter what administration is in, the government continues because of the people who care for the country. And that's been, frankly, the most rewarding part of the show ... was that I always felt a sense that we were performing a service," he said.

"We were a fantasy, there's no question. ... We were like a novel. But people were reading the novel, and they were getting good ideas and kind of having a hope and a faith and a trust in their leadership. And if we go out with that, I don't think we can ask for much more. All the rest was a gift -- a very great, special gift."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/256722_tv24.html

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Winding down 'The West Wing'

By Hal Boedeker Orlando Sentinel Television Critic

NBC's "The West Wing" might be going out with low ratings, but the White House drama still has friends in high places. The real Washington cares about the fictional one.

Actress Kristin Chenoweth learned that a month ago when she sang at the Kennedy Center and later attended a dinner.

"I was sitting at a table with [former Sen. Tom] Daschle and Sandra Day O'Connor," Chenoweth said. "After they realized I wasn't going to tell them who was going to win president, they said never has there been a show or a movie that's ever been seen by anyone that has been more true-to-life, to more how it really is, than that show. And it's kind of cool to hear that."

The April 2 and 9 episodes will depict the presidential election between candidates played by Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits. The series will end May 14 with the new administration entering the White House.

Bradley Whitford shared his memory of another big-name fan. "Alan Greenspan once said to me, with that face that is just trained not to express anything, he said that he was really upset that when our Fed chairman died, nobody cared," Whitford said.

The session on "The West Wing" concluded the 13-day critics' tour in Pasadena, Calif. It was a bittersweet session with actors reflecting on losing co-star John Spencer, who died in December.

"It's incredibly difficult and hard," Allison Janney said. "He was a man for all of us who meant so much."

She added, "It feels like a very organic ending to the show with him gone because I just can't imagine doing it without him."

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2006/01/winding_down_th.html

Nielsen Sports Network Ratings

Rank / Net/ (week of Jan. 9-15) / Persons 2+(in millions)
1 CBS AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF-SU(S)-01/15/2006 PITTSBURGH AT INDIANAPOLIS 33.86
2 FOX FOX NFC PLAYOFF-SUN(S)-01/15/2006 CAROLINA AT CHICAGO 32.70
3 CBS AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF-SA(S)-01/14/2006 NEW ENGLAND AT DENVER 26.25
4 FOX FOX NFC PLAYOFF-SAT(S)-01/14/2006 WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 24.27
5 ABC U.S. FIGURE SKTNG CH-8PM(S)-01/14/2006 6.98
6 UPN WWE SMACKDOWN! 5.29
7 CBS NCAA BASKETBALL-SUN-2 MSU AT OHIO ST 3.17
8 ABC U.S. FIGURE SKTNG CH-4PM(S)-01/14/2006 2.71
9 ABC U.S.FIG SKTNG SPECTACULAR(S)-01/15/2006 2.63
10 CBS NCAA BASKETBALL-SAT-1 NOVA AT TEX/BAMA AT KY 2.63
11 NBC NBC SPORTS SPECIAL 1/15-A(S)-01/15/2006 DOG CHALLENGE 2.43
12 NBC NBC SPORTS SPECIAL 1/15-D(S)-01/15/2006 SKATING & GYMNASTICS 2.43
13 NBC NBC NHL VARIOUS TEAMS AND TIMES 1.96
14 NBC NBC SPORTS SPECIAL 1/14(S)-01/14/2006 STARS ON ICE 1.71
15 NBC NBC SPORTS SPECIAL 1/15-B(S)-01/15/2006 SNOWBOARD GRAND PRIX 1.48
16 NBC NBC SPORTS SPECIAL 1/15-C(S)-01/15/2006 FREESTYLE WORLD CUP 1.08

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

About Television
CNN Headline News adds talk radio's Beck to lineup

The right-leaning host has a large listenership, but the TV network says politics won't drive his new show
By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 23, 2006

NEW YORK — After reaching its highest ratings ever last year with a new lineup of topical, personality-driven prime-time programs, CNN Headline News has declared the experiment a success and is adding another provocative talk show host to the mix: Glenn Beck, a syndicated radio personality with a decidedly rightward bent.

Beginning in April, Beck — whose popular radio show, "The Glenn Beck Program," is broadcast on more than 200 stations around the country — will host an hourlong program for the CNN sister channel on "water-cooler" topics. The Philadelphia-based broadcaster recently moved his radio show to New York to be able to do the daily cable program ...

So now it's official.

"Headline News" now joins "MTV", "VH-1", "OLN" and a bunch of other channels whose names are becoming less and less truthful by the day.

As such, they're becoming more and more useless for their intended purposes, though it'll take awhile for Headline News to catch up to "MTV" in that regard.

Don't worry, though -- hire a few more talk show hosts, and you'll catch up soon enough.

Sports Media and Business
Is Michaels Having Second Thoughts?

By Richard Sandomir The New York Times January 24, 2006

In July, Al Michaels's future looked set: he would follow "Monday Night Football" to ESPN from ABC in a deal that lasts through 2013, thereby sticking with the series whose very name still sets his spine to tingling.

But ever since November, there have been waves of speculative chatter that he wanted to get out of the contract and restart talks with NBC, whose offer he rejected. From his vacation yesterday, Michaels said nothing about his future, but through an ABC Sports spokesman, he said the "Monday Night" crew had "made a pact that no one would talk about next year."

The next time we see and hear Michaels will be Feb. 5 at Super Bowl XL, ABC's farewell to the N.F.L. Michaels will be there beside John Madden, who is headed to NBC and its new Sunday night football broadcasts. Fred Gaudelli will produce the game and Drew Esocoff will direct it, then they will follow Madden to NBC.

So why didn't Michaels join NBC when he had the first chance? Why would he break up with Madden, his best "Monday Night" partner, to join ESPN, which will not carry postseason games? Why would someone as savvy as Michaels surrender the chance to call Super Bowls until he is at least 69?

Michaels said last July that he agreed to the ESPN deal because he remained tantalized by the "Monday Night Football" name and that he was not following it from ABC for financial reasons. ESPN is paying him $4 million, about $1 million more than the deal he rejected from NBC.

At the time, he knew that Madden was leaving and that he would be working with Joe Theismann at ESPN. But he did not know that Gaudelli and Esocoff would also leave, meaning his comfort zone was departing, as a unit, without him.

Whatever second thoughts Michaels has may be tied to mourning the end of "Monday Night" at the downsized ABC Sports while still being emotionally attached to the 36-year-old series. He may also be thinking about a busier existence at ESPN, which likes to use its game announcers on its studio programs as promotional devices.

Michaels would be part of ESPN's plan to turn "Monday Night Football" from a stand-alone broadcast network program into a daylong hoo-ha on its TV and radio networks, Web site and new cellphone service, ESPN Mobile.

George Bodenheimer, the president of ESPN and ABC Sports, offered a declarative, if not completely definitive, comment on Michaels last week.

"Al has a contract, and yes, it is signed," he said by telephone, "and I fully expect him to honor his agreement with us."

What is unknown is whether, or how doggedly, Michaels or his lawyers will lobby to leave the Walt Disney Company, owner of ESPN, which also pays him $2 million annually to be ABC's No. 1 N.B.A. announcer on a contract that expires after this season.

If Michaels is persistent enough with Bodenheimer and his longtime friend Bob Iger, Disney's chairman, he may succeed in leaving. Why hold an unhappy announcer to a contract with a network without Super Bowls or the late-season flexible schedule that ABC coveted so much?

ESPN could easily insert Mike Tirico, one of its most versatile and familiar voices, into the "Monday Night" slot.

But any attempt to escape Disney carries risk: if Michaels leaves ESPN, will he do so in time to reunite at NBC with Madden, Gaudelli and Esocoff?

NBC isn't twiddling teeny pigskins waiting for Michaels. For the past few months, NBC has been grooming Cris Collinsworth - who was to be its lead N.F.L. studio analyst, working with Bob Costas - as its play-by-play announcer. He has called several rehearsal games at stadiums - none of them televised - and another the weekend before last with Madden at Madden's Pleasanton, Calif., production facility, which was overseen by Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports.

Ebersol has orchestrated Collinsworth's play-by-play tutorial. One senses that he wanted Michaels, but didn't need him and opted to audition Collinsworth. But after NBC's voluntary eight-year exile from the N.F.L., Ebersol doubtlessly wants to return at full throttle, which he would do by bringing Madden and Michaels together. Interesting as a Madden-Collinsworth pairing may be, it would take time to jell.

Ebersol has shown no inclination to accelerate his decision-making, and he departed yesterday for Turin, Italy, to produce the Winter Olympics. He can wait until the early summer to see how the Michaels situation unfolds. In this, his model is his mentor, Roone Arledge, who, when he ran ABC Sports, delayed decisions until events took their course, usually to his satisfaction.

And then - who knows? - maybe he will choose Costas.

NOTES

SportsNet New York, the Mets' new cable channel, will make its debut March 16 with a Mets-Braves game, the first of its 11 spring-training broadcasts.

NBA TV will show the Feb. 26 Rockets-Magic game without announcers but with enhanced courtside audio.

NBC has added two hours to its Olympic coverage, bringing the total on broadcast and cable to 418.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/sports/football/24sandomir.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

The Winter TV Critics Tour
ABC doubling its Commandments

By Gail Shister Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist Jan. 24, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. - Why have 10 Commandments when you can have 20?

In a bizarre bit of scheduling, ABC shalt broadcast Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 The Ten Commandments and Robert Halmi Sr.'s new mini-series version within days of each other in April.

Isn't there a network commandment against that?

No dates yet, but ABC Entertainment chief Steve McPherson says DeMille's film, starring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Rameses, will air first. ABC has run Commandments every year since, oh, Moses parted the Red Sea.

"The old one is a classic. This is a new classic," McPherson said in an interview Saturday. "We think it's a nice thing to run both. Some people will watch one or the other, or both."

To Halmi, "it's probably overkill to run both, but I have nothing to do with that. The main thing is that mine is first. I am 100 percent sure. Mine is new, so it should be seen first."

An ABC rep said Halmi was mistaken, and that the $30 million, four-hour mini-series would be seen after the movie.

Halmi, 82, says his next project will be on "the creation," and "it will be even more controversial than anything I've ever done in my life."

In a more literal act of creation, one of the "slave" extras gave birth to a son during Commandments' production in Morocco, Halmi said. She named him Moses, and he was used as the newborn Moses in the mini-series.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/television//13695350.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

The Winter TV Critics Tour
Let's help ABC get it right

By Dusty Saunders (Denver) Rocky Mountain News January 24, 2006

HOLLYWOOD - My semi-annual trip out here provides the opportunity to help the networks program their schedules.

And we know they need all the help they can get.

For example, there's ABC, which Jan. 2 introduced a new Monday night lineup aimed primarily at women.

With Monday Night Football gone for the foreseeable future, programmers wanted to build a "ladies night" audience that would set the tone for the rest of this season and possibly the next.

ABC premiered Emily's Reasons Why Not, brought back the semi-failed Jake in Progress and introduced a new version of The Bachelor, this one set in Paris.

Emily, starring Heather Graham, quickly moved into the TV trivia books as one of a half-dozen series that have had one-night stands.

Jake in Progress, which, like Emily, produced terrible audience ratings, also was pulled from the schedule after one airing.

Even The Bachelor, still on the air, lacked its former audience strength.

In a move that smacks of desperation, ABC currently is filling the Emily and Jake time periods with reruns of The Bachelor and other "reality" programming.

Jake in Progress is scheduled to return at a later date, although Entertainment President Steve McPherson doesn't wax enthusiastically about it.

So what does ABC do now?

McPherson says "we'll counter-program (against the rival networks) as much as we can to get the biggest audience."

My proposal:

Dump the current version of Jake in Progress, which stars John Stamos.

Keep the title but make Jake Plummer the lead in an hour-long reality show.

Based on his Sunday performance, the hour would be heavy on drama every week, concentrating on Plummer's off-the-field activities as he attempts to forget the Steelers game.

Such a series would give ABC the counter-programming it desires while serving two demographic needs.

Men, having a painful withdrawal from MNF, would get a semi-football show. Women could then swoon over The Bachelor.

NETWORK SHAKE-UP: Speaking of scheduling, NBC will drastically revise its prime-time schedule following the Winter Olympics.

The major change: moving Law & Order from its traditional 9 p.m. Wednesday slot to 8, making room for Heist, a new drama about jewel thieves.

This schedule change means Law & Order will be competing against ABC's Lost.

That howl you hear in the background is from Dick Wolf, creator-producer of the Law & Order franchise.

However, Wolf will have a new NBC series on Friday nights for a spring tryout. Conviction deals with novice district attorneys in New York.

MILE HIGH DISASTER?: CBS may be plotting to destroy Denver - on film.

According to CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler, one potential fall series is Jericho, about a small Midwestern community that looks out over the horizon and sees a mushroom cloud over the Denver area.

"As the story unfolds in sort of mysterious ways, there sometimes are slightly comedic relationships between the characters in this small town," Tassler said.

Sounds hilarious. Tassler didn't indicate whether Jericho would have a laugh track.

ICE PROBLEM: Former track star Bruce Jenner, 55, is one of the contestants on Skating With Celebrities, Fox's not-too-subtle rip-off of ABC's Dancing With Stars.

While practicing for the on-air competition, Jenner fell and needed 16 stitches near his left eye. Telling critics he considered the show a personal challenge, Jenner observed: "Skating is not for sissies."

http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/columnist/0,1299,DRMN_84_128,00.html

Here is an interesting TV history lesson. But in my mind, it applies far more today to NBC than to ABC.
Think of it: NBC now programs 22 hours of primetime a week. Some are pretty awful – at least in terms of ratings.
But starting in September, NBC needs only program 18 hours a week, while it fills its entire Sunday night schedule (the most-watched night of the week, by the way) with the NFL.
If “Earl” and “The Office” can continue to make inroads into Thursdays, and if Las Vegas helps gain NBC some traction on Fridays, the network might be poised for a rather remarkable ratings turnaround.
Now that the TV critics are home from their winter tour here in Los Angeles, I expect some of them will pick up on this topic in the coming months.
But with the NFL filling four crucial hours for NBC in the fall (and remember, they have some flexibility to avoid the horrible late-season matchups which hurt ABC’s ratings) NBC may be closer to a turnaround than most believe.
It will still face a monumental problem of replacing its entire Sunday night schedule each January – but that is a different problem altogether.

About Television
For ABC's Monday, a history lesson

Nearly four decades ago it was in the toilet
By Tom Watson for medialifemagazine.com Jan 24, 2006

It seemed like a smart idea. With football leaving the network for good, plug a female-skewing comedy block on Monday night. If it worked, ABC would have a strong lineup going into next fall to compete with NBC and CBS.

It did not work, and how. “Emily’s Reason’s Why Not” was yanked last week after just one airing, along with the returning "Jake in Progress." The network now must come up with another strategy.

But ABC should take heart. It was just this same predicament nearly four decades ago that led to the network's all-time greatest programming move, "Monday Night Football."

ABC should take heart for another reason. While we are inclined to think of great programming achievements as the result a strategic thinking, if not cunning, they often arise out of luck or pure happenstance, or desperation. That was the case with "Monday Night Football."

Back in the '60s, when there were just three networks, no Fox, no cable, and for that matter no internet, Monday was virtually owned by CBS and NBC.

CBS had a long-entrenched comedy block dating all the way back to the days of “I Love Lucy” and “Make Room for Daddy.” By the late '60s, the lineup had evolved into “Gunsmoke,” “Here’s Lucy” and “Mayberry R.F.D.”

CBS’s programs tended to skew old and attract a more rural audience. To counter, NBC had programmed the night with the younger, more urban-skewing “Rowan and Martin’s ‘Laugh In’” and a “Monday Night Movie.” Together, they produced strong ratings.

For the 1968-69 season, “Laugh-In” on NBC was the at No. 1 show. CBS had “Gunsmoke,” which ranked No. 6, and “Here’s Lucy,” which was No. 9. ABC was virtually shut out, airing the final seasons of “The Avengers,” “Peyton Place” and “The Big Valley.”

Hoping to reverse the trend and establish a presence on Monday, ABC dumped that schedule and brought in all new shows for 1969-70. The keystone for the night, airing at 9, was an expensive primetime soap opera titled “Harold Robbins' ‘The Survivors,’” described as “a delicious blend of sin, sex and Lana Turner.”

But the show, along with the new schedule, was a catastrophe.

ABC was now desperate. Programmers latched onto the most heretical idea yet. What about scheduling sports?

It was heretical because back then network divisions were turf-conscious in the extreme. A certain amount of time was set aside each week for entertainment shows, for news programming and for sports. For the entertainment division to consider giving away a block of Monday to the sports division was unheard of. It tells you how just how desperate the situation had become.

But which sport? If it were to air in autumn, it would almost have to be professional football. And it would be a first. NFL games, including the still-new Super Bowl games, were scheduled almost exclusively on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

ABC had toyed with airing football before. But then the idea was to put it on Friday nights. That was shot down in a heartbeat. To air NFL games on a Friday night would incur the wrath of every high school team in the country. Friday night was, and still is, their traditional night of play, and the NFL did not want to be accused of competing with them and drawing away spectators from their stands.

But what of Monday night? That represented no such conflict, and from that came the deal between ABC and the NFL that launched the now just-ended 35-year reign of “NFL Monday Night Football.”

ABC realized that the event needed a high entertainment factor in order to draw casual viewers, and the network signed the legendary announcer Howard Cosell. The ever-caustic Cosell would surely rile and annoy, creating the anticipation the network knew the show needed. That he did.

By the end of the end of the 1970s, ABC’s weekly “Monday Night Football” coverage ranked among the nation’s top 30 television programs. By the end of the 80s, it was in the Top 15. Throughout the 1990s and the first part of this decade, “Monday Night Football” was a top 10 show.

First Lana Turner, now Emily, and once again ABC has a big hole on Monday night. But this time the network can look to its own history for inspiration, and the lesson is a compelling one. Let imagination, with a dollop of desperation, be your guide.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2397.asp

Here is more on the story posted by SnakeEyes late Sunday:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6976325&&#post6976325
(and, to be fair, immediately pooh-poohed by me) about the alleged series of one-hour “Friends” reunion shows.
Again, if true, perhaps NBC would be able to wait to show them on Sunday nights in February – helping to build whatever shows it has placed there after its NFL season ends.

About Television
How clever: NBC's 'Friends' reunion

Rumored deal would be a sure ratings-booster
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 24, 2006

The rumors started flying at midday yesterday. NBC, after months of negotiation, had reached a deal with the six “Friends” cast members for a series of four one-hour specials, set to air next season.

The story spread across the internet and even made it onto MSNBC. NBC quickly went into denial mode, saying there was no truth to the report, despite being confirmed by an NBC insider to Hollywood.com.

Why the denials?

It's possible that in fact the rumor is not true, but more likely NBC is holding off until all the details are worked out. It's also possible that the network is playing coy, floating the plan as a rumor to see what buzz builds in its wake.

But no matter. It’s an intriguing notion on several levels for a network that has struggled mightily since “Friends” went off the air nearly two years ago.

At one level it seems a short-term fix, the ultimate ratings stunt and one guaranteed to bring in at least half of the 54 million who watched the “Friends” sign off. That would certainly help NBC on Thursdays. It also has about it a taint of nostalgia, a struggling network seeking to revive a past that is no more.

But looking still deeper, bringing back "Friends" on such a limited basis would be a strong forward move for NBC, its return serving to reinforce the momentum the network has built over the past two months.

Indeed, in some ways it would be a triumphant return, as NBC's best argument that it is in fact poised to come back, and far quicker than ABC did following the collapse of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" five years ago. The timing of a "Friends" reunion announcement would be ideal, heading into the upfront selling season in May.

For sure, NBC has a selling job to do on media buyers. For the longest time it simply refused to admit how deeply it has sunk, and it seemed to be making few bold moves to rise from the basement as the fourth-ranked network. At last year's upfront, NBC angered buyers by sticking with its Thursday schedule, refusing to change a lineup that had been bloodied by CBS. For buyers back then, the one bright spot was “My Name is Earl.”

The first signs of a turnaround came in the fall when "Earl" caught on with viewers, quickly becoming the highest-rated sitcom among adults 18-49.

But it wasn't until December that real change came, when NBC executives admitted Thursdays were in fact sorely hurting and annnouced they were moving “Earl” and “The Office” to Thursday.

Over the weekend, speaking to TV critics, they announced yet more sweeping changes to the primetime lineup, such as putting “Apprentice” on Mondays and moving longtime Wednesday closer “Law & Order” to face ABC smash “Lost” at 9 p.m.

However those changes do, they prove to buyers that finally NBC is no longer afraid to taking chances in order to rebuild its schedule.

“Friends’” return to the schedule could give NBC that final boost it needs in its turnaround. Next fall will bring “Sunday Night Football” and its 15 million or so viewers, giving the network new leverage on a night it has struggled.

The final piece would be returning to the NBC of old, the one that understood how to draw viewers in with smart comedies like “Seinfeld,” “Cheers,” “Fraiser” and “Friends,” and could promote its other shows through them.

If NBC aired a “Friends” reunion special at the start of the season and during the three sweeps periods, it would provide a huge promotional platform for its shows and give CBS’s fading “Survivor” a real scare.

NBC will more than likely finish fourth this season. But if the network can go to the upfront in May promising a big comeback next year, built around bold strategies that made the network great in years past, buyers will be a lot more optimistic.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2398.asp

The Winter TV Critics Tour
When nonsense makes sense, it's time to leave

By Aaron Barnhart Kansas City Star in his blog “TV Barn” Tuesday, January 24, 2006

PASADENA, Calif. — It’s time to leave this fantasy world, this celebrity bunker.

And not a moment too soon. After two weeks of screening shows and interviewing talent, I can feel my defenses weakening by the hour.

For instance, I actually took an ABC publicist at her word Saturday when she said that Sandra Oh wasn’t skipping the “Grey’s Anatomy” press conference. That was funny, because earlier that morning, as I stood in the Ritz-Carlton lobby, two eyewitnesses and I could have sworn we saw the show’s biggest star (sorry, Ellen Pompeo) walking right past us in her bathrobe.

(I should mention that during a press tour you’re likely to spot VIPs returning barefoot and robed from the Ritz’s spa, which is in another building, after getting their massages and facials. You’d be amazed how quickly one gets used to the sight.)

And it’s not just the publicists. I’ve been starting to take celebrities’ ridiculous canned responses at face value. At a session for ABC’s Easter remake of “The Ten Commandments,” somebody noticed that the biography of co-star Padma Lakshmi failed to mention that she is married to author Salman Rushdie.

When I asked why, the actress rose to the occasion. “I don’t see what relevance it has to my career,” she huffed, summoning such conviction that I actually forgot her major credit to date was the Mariah Carey epic “Glitter.”

And it’s not just the celebs. Steven Bochco, the producer of “NYPD Blue,” was hauled in to take over “Commander in Chief” after the show’s creator, Rod Lurie, fell way behind producing scripts. On a set visit to the show, Bochco stunned some of the journalists, and even cast members, by revealing that in an upcoming episode, the president’s son “gets a girl pregnant.”

Later some of my fellow critics thought the show must really be in trouble if Bochco is divulging crucial storylines. (He has been tight-lipped going back to the “Hill Street Blues” days.) I thought it was because he liked and respected the press.

Clearly it was time for me to start packing.

It’s time to go when you find hollow assurances comforting. I asked NBC Olympics czar Dick Ebersol on Sunday about the security situation in Turin, Italy, a country that has troops in Iraq and whose interior minister warned just last month of the grave threat of terrorist attacks.

Speaking by satellite from New York, Ebersol said the organizers of the Turin/Torino Games had done a “pretty damned good job” of coordinating security around this sprawling site, the largest ever for a Winter Olympics. Just to be sure, however, the news division will be over there in full force.

It’s time to go when conspiracy theories start to make more sense than the denials of same. The New York Times floated a doozy Saturday when it suggested that the real reason ABC had canceled a reality contest called “Welcome to the Neighborhood” 10 days before it was to air was because certain Christian groups would flip their wigs. (In the final episode, a formerly homophobic homeowner chooses a gay couple to be his new neighbors.)

This, in turn, would damage the marketing campaign by ABC’s owner Disney, which was wooing said groups to help promote its upcoming C.S. Lewis film, “Chronicles of Narnia.”

ABC entertainment chief Steve McPherson was irritated even having to deny this suggestion, which was made by the creators of the show. Later, when asked if there was any chance the series might air somewhere, McPherson replied, “It may be dead, because these guys are such idiots.” I thought it was a pretty smart move by the producers to revive interest in a long-forgotten project by talking to the Times. But what did I know?

By then, we were all getting a little grumpy. As a late-afternoon press session dragged out in an air-chilled ballroom — as one barely coherent question after another elicited useless responses — I actually began longing for the return of that BET publicist we had busted the week before for planting questions (helpfully typed on slips of paper) in the audience.

I found myself wishing that the creator of “Scrubs,” Bill Lawrence, would just take over. During a session for the new NBC sitcom “Teachers” (airing in April), Lawrence planted himself in the press section, grabbed a mic and started to crack us up with inane softballs like, “Are you guys going to do a lot of drama in the show?”

It’s time to go when you’re standing in a gaggle of critics and everyone starts naming the show he or she thinks might be the breakout of the midseason and you say, “The Unit,” a new CBS military drama (coming in March) from “Shield” creator Shawn Ryan and playwright David Mamet ... and everyone around you says, “I hated that show.”

Yes, that unmistakable yearning for things of substance, that irrepressible interest in life outside the hermetic Hollywood bubble, can mean only one thing. It is time to return to the comforts of a heated home, civilian food, real people and, of course, my 55-inch TV and DVR loaded up with favorite shows just begging to be watched.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/01/when_nonsense_m.html#more

About Television
Bye-Bye to UPN and The WB
(CW Press Release) Tuesday, January 24, 2006

CBS CORPORATION AND WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT FORM NEW 5TH BROADCAST NETWORK

Each Company To Hold 50% Interest In The CW Television Network

Tribune Broadcasting and CBS Corporation Stations Agree To 10-Year Affiliation Agreements Covering 48% Of The Country

New Television Network To Utilize the Best Programming from CBS Corporation and Warner Bros.

Dawn Ostroff Is Tapped As President of Entertainment At The New Network; John Maatta Will Be Chief Operating Officer

The WB and UPN to Cease Operations in September 2006

January 24, 2006 (New York, NY) — CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced their intent to form a new 5th network, The CW, to be launched in the fall of 2006. The new broadcasting network will be a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corporation, with each company owning 50%. In an important strategic move that secures major market distribution for The CW, it was announced that Tribune Broadcasting and the CBS Corporation's UPN affiliates have agreed separately to sign 10-year affiliation agreements with the new network.

The announcement for the new network was made today in New York by Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation and Barry Meyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment. The Tribune Broadcasting affiliation agreements were announced by Dennis FitzSimons, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tribune Company.

At the same time, it was announced that CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment will cease operations of their respective networks -- UPN and The WB. The WB and UPN will continue to broadcast their respective network schedules independently until the fall.

The combination of Tribune's 16 major market stations and the 12 CBS-owned UPN major market affiliates give The CW instant coverage in 48% of the country. The remainder of the network's distribution system will be a combination of selected current UPN and The WB stations. The full distribution of the new network is expected to exceed 95% of the country.

Dawn Ostroff, currently President of UPN, will become President of Entertainment and John Maatta, currently Chief Operating Officer of The WB, will become Chief Operating Officer of The CW.

"This new network will serve the public with high-quality programming and maintain our ongoing commitment to our diverse audience," said Moonves. "It will clearly be greater than the sum of its parts, delivering excellent demographics to advertisers, and building a strong new affiliate body. Additionally, The CW will be able to draw from the creative talent and production resources from the top two television production studios in the business, while also seeking programming from all sources -- independent producers or other studios. With this move, we will be creating a viable entity, one well-equipped to compete, thrive and serve all our many publics in this multi-channel media universe. I'd like to thank Dawn Ostroff and all the talented people at UPN who have worked so hard. For many years UPN had financial losses, but under CBS's guidance, UPN has been able to effect a dramatic creative turnaround in a short period of time."

"This new network makes sound business and creative sense at every level -- for our viewers, advertisers, affiliates and for the shareholders of our companies," said Meyer. "Every key constituency of the network will now greatly benefit from this combination by being part of a highly rated, competitive, 5th broadcast network that is financially sound. As we form this new joint venture, we are also very pleased that in Dawn and John we have a management team of great creative vision and business acumen, one that will help to guide it successfully forward."

"This is a very exciting day for Time Warner and its shareholders in the creation of what we believe will be a very strong and viable 5th broadcast television network," said Jeff Bewkes, President & Chief Operating Officer of Time Warner. "This new network will have all the strategic asset value as an outlet for our programming that The WB presented us, but with a much firmer and more secure financial present and future. The credit goes to Barry Meyer, who continues to have tremendous vision and extraordinary business acumen as the long time leader of Warner Bros. Entertainment, a company that we are proud to say continues to be number one in its class."

"This is a great day for Tribune and its shareholders, and we are pleased to be the lead affiliate group of what will be a strong network," said FitzSimons. "We could not have had a better partner than Warner Bros. and Barry Meyer since we together launched The WB 11 years ago. Now, with the ownership role of CBS Corporation and the leadership of Leslie Moonves added to the mix, Tribune's viewers and advertisers will benefit from an even stronger programming lineup."

The 16 Tribune affiliated stations will include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Houston, Miami, Denver, St. Louis, Portland, Indianapolis, San Diego, Hartford, New Orleans and Albany. The 12 CBS Station Group television markets will include Philadelphia, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit, Tampa, Seattle, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, West Palm Beach, Norfolk, Oklahoma City and Providence. Together, these top two station groups cover the top 13 television markets, 20 of the top 25 television markets and have a total coverage area of more than 48% of the country.

The CW will incorporate The WB's current scheduling model, which consists of a 6 night-13 hour primetime lineup including Monday through Friday nights from 8-10 (EST/PST); Sundays from 7-10 (EST/PST); Sunday from 5-7 (EST/PST) outside of primetime as well as a Monday thru Friday afternoon block from 3-5 (EST/PST) and a 5-hour Saturday morning animation block. Together, the network will program 30 hours a week over seven days for its affiliated stations.

As the top creative executive, Ostroff will have available a line-up of some of the most popular programming that appeals to young adults in the media business. These programming assets range from hit reality series such as "America's Next Top Model" and The WB's "Beauty and the Geek," to hit dramas like The WB's "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls," "Supernatural," and UPN's "Veronica Mars" as well as UPN's hit comedies "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Girlfriends" and The WB's hit comedy "Reba." In addition the WWE's "Smackdown," which has been a mainstay at UPN, is expected to play a role in the schedule.

In addition, The CW will also broadcast the schedule of children's programming now known as Kids' WB!, a 5-hour original programming block on Saturday mornings from 7:00 am-Noon, considered primetime for kids. Kids' WB! has been the broadcast network ratings champion since Fall 2000, capturing 16 consecutive sweep victories as the Number One Saturday morning kids' broadcaster.

All programming, marketing, scheduling, publicity and research functions will report to Ostroff.

Maatta will be responsible for the network's business operations. Bill Morningstar, The WB's Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales will become the head of sales reporting to Maatta. Other responsibilities that will report to Maatta include business affairs, network distribution, legal, finance and human resources.

Meyer added: "This could not have happened without the tremendous energy and talent of Bruce Rosenblum, President of Warner Bros. Television Group and Nancy Tellem at CBS who worked tirelessly and cohesively together to make this new network a reality. I would also like to thank Dennis FitzSimons, who saw the great opportunity this new network presents for the Tribune Company and who continues to be one of the great professionals and broadcasters in the business today."

Moonves added: "This idea becomes a reality only when a great station group like Tribune comes on board with us and delivers the powerful reach a new network requires. With formidable flagship Tribune stations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, a great CBS line-up of owned and operated UPN stations, and strong affiliates from every available market, The CW launches as a strong competitor to the Big Four, and that's good for our business, for the viewing audience, and for free, over the air broadcasting. It is also good news for our shareholders, who will benefit from a much stronger business model, improved economics for our stations and new opportunities for our production businesses."

UPN, WB to Combine to Form New Network:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060124/tv_network.html?.v=4

About Television
UPN, The WB Merging Into CW Network

By Anthony Crupi MediaWeek.com JANUARY 24, 2006 -

Weblets UPN and The WB will cease operations in September, giving way to a new broadcast network that will build on the assets of CBS Corp. and Time Warner.

The new venture, to be named The CW Network, launches this fall with 30 hours of weekly programming aimed at the 18-34 demo.

Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corp., said that the CW Net CW "will be able to do in its first season something truly remarkable, which is to program already hit shows every day of the week…reaching that most coveted young adult demo."

Tribune Broadcasting and the CBS Corp.'s UPN affiliates have agreed separately to sign 10-year affiliation deals with the new network. Tribune boasts 16 major market stations and the CBS-owned UPN has 12 major market affiliates, giving the CW coverage in 48 percent of the country.

Dawn Ostroff, currently president of UPN, will become president of entertainment of The CW, and John Maatta, currently COO of The WB, will become COO, where he'll oversee advertising sales, finance, business affairs, distribution and legal.

The remainder of The CW's senior staff will be composed of executives from both The WB and UPN.

The CW will incorporate The WB's current scheduling model, programming six nights and 13 hours of prime time fare per week, including unscripted series such as America's Next Top Model and dramas like Smallville, Gilmore Girls andd Veronica Mars. In addition, the net will also broadcast the schedule of children's programming now known as Kids' WB!.

Moonves said Tuesday that the network would embrace online and wireless platforms but added that no plans have been ironed out as yet.

While both entities have a wealth of jointly-owned programming, Moonves said the channel would be "open to everybody" inasmuch as outside deals are concerned.

The CBS chief explained that the name of the new net is an amalgamation of the first initials of CBS and Warner Bros. "We couldn't call it the WC for obvious reasons," Moonves joked.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001883885

About Television
WB Net, UPN to merge, become the CW TV Network

By Cynthia Littleton The Hollywood Reporter Jan. 25, 2006

The WB Network and UPN will merge and become the CW Television Network, the new moniker of the conjoined network that hopes to turn the two smaller broadcast networks into a bigger power, it was announced Tuesday.

Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman and CEO Barry Meyer, CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves and Tribune Co. CEO Dennis FitzSimons made the announcement in New York.

TW and Tribune have been partners in the WB, while CBS owns UPN.

The two networks will merge operations and programming, with UPN president Dawn Ostroff to serve as president of Entertainment and John Maatta as chief operating officer.

Tribune Broadcasting is expected to be the primary station group for the new network.

The timing of the deal is opportune for both sides, sources said, in part because CBS Corp.'s existing affiliation pact with News Corp.-owned top UPN affiliates, WWOR New York and KCOP Los Angeles, is set to expire in September, while Tribune has been in protracted negotiations with WB for a new long-term affiliation deal.

The surprise news of the merger comes as the WB Network has faced pressure to perform and prove itself as a strategic asset at a time when its parent company Time Warner is under intense scrutiny on Wall Street and from maverick investor Carl Icahn.

TW has struggled with the WB's financials since the network was launched in January 1995 because of its lack of TV station holdings, which are the primary revenue drivers for broadcast networks.

Sources said WB Network chairman Garth Ancier and WB entertainment president David Janollari are expected to depart their posts following the completion of the deal.

TW president and chief operating officer Jeff Bewkes said at a recent investor conference that the WB has done only "medium," had a slight loss in 2005 and needs more hits and better affiliate relationships (HR 1/11). He also signaled that management would focus on addressing these issues in 2006.

(Paul J. Gough and Georg Szalai in New York contributed to this report.)

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001883855

About Television
The memo to CBS employees

(From the the Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart’s blog “TV Barn”)

To: All Employees
From: Leslie Moonves
Date: January 24, 2006

Today, in a joint venture with Warner Bros. Entertainment, we are announcing the intent to form a new broadcast network, The CW, to be launched in the fall of 2006. CBS and Warner Bros. will each hold a 50% interest in The CW, which will utilize the best programming from Warner Bros. and CBS Corporation, and tap the top executive talent of both organizations. Dawn Ostroff, currently President of UPN, will become The CW's President of Entertainment and John Maatta, currently Chief Operating Officer of The WB, will become Chief Operating Officer.

The CW will clearly be greater than the sum of its parts -- serving the public with high-quality programming, maintaining our ongoing commitment to minority audiences and delivering excellent demographics to advertisers. Additionally, The CW will be able to draw from the creative talent and production resources from the top two television production studios in the business, while also seeking programming from all sources -- independent producers or other studios.

In an important strategic move that secures major market distribution for The CW, Tribune Broadcasting and the CBS Corporation's UPN affiliates have agreed to sign 10-year affiliation agreements with the new network. The combination of Tribune's 16 major market stations and the 12 CBS-owned UPN major market affiliates gives The CW instant coverage in 48% of the country. The remainder of the network's distribution system will be a combination of selected current UPN and The WB stations. The full distribution of the new network is expected to exceed 95% of the country.

The CW will incorporate a schedule of a 6 night-13 hour primetime lineup including Monday through Friday nights from 8-10 (EST/PST); Sundays from 7-10 (EST/PST); Sunday from 5-7 (EST/PST) outside of primetime as well as a Monday thru Friday afternoon block from 3-5 (EST/PST) and a 5-hour Saturday morning animation block. Together, the network will program 30 hours a week over seven days for its affiliated stations.

As The CW's top creative executive, Dawn Ostroff will have available for the network a line-up of some of the most popular programming that appeals to young adults. These programming assets range from hit reality series such as "America's Next Top Model" and The WB's "Beauty and the Geek," to hit dramas like The WB's "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls," "Supernatural," and UPN's "Veronica Mars" as well as UPN's hit comedies "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Girlfriends" and The WB's hit comedy "Reba." In addition, the WWE's "Smackdown," which has been a mainstay at UPN, is expected to play a role in the schedule.

The CW will also broadcast the schedule of children's programming now known as Kids' WB!, a 5-hour original programming block on Saturday mornings from 7:00 am-Noon, considered primetime for kids. Kids' WB! has been the broadcast network ratings champion since Fall 2000, capturing 16 consecutive sweep victories as the Number One Saturday morning kids' broadcaster.

Our excitement at starting The CW is tempered by that fact that its launch means that UPN will cease independent operations this fall. Over the past few years UPN has developed an important audience and some very high-quality programming. Dawn and her team are quite simply the best in the business. Without them it simply would not have been possible for us to lay the groundwork for what I know will be a terrific 5th network.

Thanks to our UPN employees, The CW launches as a strong competitor to the Big Four, and that's good for our business, for the viewing audience, and for free, over the air broadcasting. It is also good news for our shareholders, who will benefit from a much stronger business model, improved economics for our stations and new opportunities for our production businesses.

As plans for our new network develop I will keep you informed. In the meantime, welcome to the 21st Century's 5th great television network -- The CW!

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2006/01/shouldnt_it_be_.html#more

Monday’s demo overnights
Repeats revive ABC's Monday night

Up 15 percent in 18-49s with 'Bachelor' rerun

By Diego Vasquez MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 24, 2006

Many criticized ABC for pulling “Emily’s Reasons Why Not” after only one outing, along with the returning “Jake in Progress,” but it’s looking to be a smart move after all.

Last night, airing two hours of reruns, ABC averaged a 3.8 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, a 15 percent boost over the 3.3 rating it earned two weeks ago with an all-original lineup that included episodes of “Emily” and “Jake.”

ABC even jumped ahead of fading NBC for third place on the night.

In the 9 p.m. hour, a repeat of last week’s episode of “The Bachelor” averaged a 3.3 rating, up 27 percent versus the 2.6 “Emily” and “Jake” earned in that slot two weeks ago.

And that turned into a stronger lead-in for the 10 p.m. original episode of “Bachelor,” which last night averaged a 4.1 overnight rating among 18-49s, up some 52 percent over the 2.7 it earned following “Emily” and “Jake” two weeks ago.

Over the weekend, ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson said the network did not see any chance for improvement for “Emily’s” but did think the “Bachelor” franchise, which used to be one of its highest-rated shows, still had juice. McPherson was right, as the chance to catch up on “Bachelor” at 9 is helping its original episodes.
A “Wife Swap” repeat also tied for first in its timeslot to start out the night.

Elsewhere last night, Fox’s Monday premiere of “Skating with Celebrities” averaged a 3.7 rating in the 8 p.m. timeslot, down 48.6 percent versus a 7.2 for last week’s Wednesday premiere. Of course the premiere numbers are inflated because “Skating” last week followed the Wednesday premiere of “American Idol.”

CBS’s premiere of the new Jenna Elfman comedy “Courting Alex” was more promising, as it earned a 5.0 overnight rating among 18-49s in the post-“Two and a Half Men” 9:30 p.m. slot. That is a 9 percent improvement over the 4.6 overnight rating “Out of Practice” averaged in that slot over its last four original episodes.

“Alex” helped CBS finish first for the night among 18-49s with a 5.3 average rating and a 13 share, followed by a 4.7/11 for Fox. ABC finished third at 3.8/9, NBC fourth at 3.4/8, Univision fifth at 2.0/5, WB sixth at 1.4/3 and UPN seventh at 1.2/3.

CBS and ABC started the night tied for the lead with a 4.0 rating at 8 p.m., CBS for the comedies “The King of Queens” (4.0) and “How I Met Your Mother” (4.0) and ABC for a repeat of “Wife Swap.” Fox was third that hour with its 3.7 for “Skating,” with NBC fourth with a 2.3 for “Surface,” Univision fifth with a 2.2 for “Contra Viento y Marea,” WB sixth with a 1.8 for “7th Heaven” and UPN seventh with a 1.2 for repeats of “One on One” and “All of Us.”

Fox jumped into the lead at 9 p.m. with a 5.8 average for “24.” CBS was second with a 5.4 average for “Men” (5.7) and “Alex” (5.0), NBC third with a 3.7 for “Las Vegas” and ABC fourth with its 3.3 for a repeat of “The Bachelor.” Univision was fifth that hour with a 2.3 for “Alborada,” UPN sixth with a 1.2 for repeats of “Girlfriends” and “Half and Half,” and WB seventh with a 0.9 for “Related.”

CBS took the lead during the 10 p.m. hour with a 6.4 for “CSI: Miami,” the highest-rated show of the night in the demo. NBC was second that hour with a 4.2 for “Medium,” ABC third with its 4.1 for “Bachelor” and Univision fourth with a 1.5 for “Cristina.”

CBS also finished first for the night among households, averaging a 10.0 rating and a 15 share. Fox was second at 7.7/11, NBC third at 6.6/10, ABC fourth at 5.9/9, WB fifth at 2.6/4, Univision sixth at 2.3/4 and UPN seventh at 1.9/3.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2399.asp

About Television
More on The CW
By John Eggerton Broadcasting & Cable

The WB and UPN are merging in a surprise deal unveiled Tuesday in New York.

The merged entity will be launched in fall 2006, with each company owning 50% of a new network, dubbed The CW. The WB and UPN will continue to broadcast their regular schedules until that time. Popular shows from each will morph into the new net.

Tribune WB stations and CBS's UPN affiliates will sign a 10-year affiliation agreement.

Dawn Ostroff, President of UPN, will be president of entertainment for The CW, while John Maatta, COO of The WB, will be COO. Programming, marketing, scheduling, publicity and research report to Ostroff, while Maatta will be responsible for business operations, network distribution, legal, finance and human resources.

Bill Morningstar, The WB's Executive VP, advertising sales, will become the head of sales, reporting to Maatta.

"This new network will serve the public with high-quality programming and maintain our ongoing commitment to our diverse audience," said CBS President/CEO Leslie Moonves. "The CW will be able to draw from the creative talent and production resources from the top two television production studios in the business, while also seeking programming from all sources -- independent producers or other studios.

"With this move, we will be creating a viable entity, one well-equipped to compete, thrive and serve all our many publics in this multi-channel media universe."

The combination of Tribune's 16 stations and CBS' 12 UPN stations will give the network an immediate 48% coverage of the U.S., with the rest of the affiliations described as a "combination of selected current UPN and The WB stations."

The new network will mirror The WB in its structure, with six nights of programming and a total of 13 hours of prime time fare a 30 hours of programming total per week, with shows Monday-Friday 8-10, Sunday 5-10, as well as an afternoon block Monday-Friday, 3-5, and a five-hour, Saturday animation block.

UPN has been struggling lately to crack a 1 rating.

About Television
How clever: NBC's 'Friends' reunion

What's next, a Seinfeld reunion?

And then a Cosby reunion.
If NBC got enough one-hour reunions to anchor its Sunday night post-NFL schedule next January, perhaps it would be worthwhile.

About Television
More on The CW

By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Jan 24, 2006

For nearly 10 years, UPN and the WB have fought each other to become TV’s No. 5 network, neither attracting an audience big enough to threaten the Big Four.

Starting next fall, that may finally change as the two networks will no longer be competing against each other for the same young audience.

In a surprising move this morning, UPN and the WB announced that they will merge into one network, the CW, to launch in the fall. UPN president Dawn Ostroff will head entertainment for the CW, and WB chief operating officer John Maatta will become the CW’s COO.

The current WB stations owned by Tribune and CBS’s UPN affiliates will become CW affiliates, signing a 10-year deal. Those 28 stations will give the CW clearance in 48 percent of the country, with more expected to follow.

The announcement came this morning in New York by Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman and CEO Barry Meyer, CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves and Tribune Co. CEO Dennis Fitzmons. The network will be jointly owned by Warner Bros. and CBS.

Both networks have had wild up and downs over the years since they were founded in 1995.

This year UPN has thrived while the WB has struggled. There have been layoffs at the WB following more than 18 months of sinking ratings.

The network’s fourth quarter average rating among its target 12-34 audience fell 12 percent versus last year from a 1.7 to a 1.5. UPN, meanwhile, was up 7 percent, from a 1.5 to a 1.6, in its target 18-34s.

Among households, UPN is even to last year with a 2.4 while the WB dipped 8 percent, from a 2.4 to a 2.2. That’s according to Nielsen data analyzed by Magna Global USA.

It’s unclear what the new network’s target demographic will be, though it seems it will maintain its focus on younger viewers.

While the WB programs six nights a week and UPN only five, the new network will air 30 hours of programming seven nights per week.

It’s not clear what will happen to the shows currently airing on UPN and the WB. UPN’s most-watched show, “America’s Next Top Model,” was recently renewed for two more seasons.

The WB, meanwhile, had been cutting expensive programs such as 10-year veteran “Seventh Heaven,” set to end this May. But its “Gilmore Girls” and “Smallville” have been performing quite well this season.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_2422.asp

Monday’s network prime-time ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS (the first post in this thread).

About Television
UPN, WB to Merge Into New Network

By Matea Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 24, 2006

NEW YORK -- UPN and the WB Network will cease operations this fall to make way for a new broadcast network called The CW aimed at young, ethnic viewers, CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment executives announced today.

Both companies will own 50% of the new venture, which will be carried by the Tribune Co. and the CBS UPN affiliates and offer 30 hours of programming a week, including shows like "Smallville," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Beauty and the Geek."

The news about the launch of the new network — which will dramatically reshape the broadcast television landscape — was kept tightly under wraps until this morning, when reporters were summoned to a news conference at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan.

"We're coming here with a pretty historic announcement," Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of the CBS Corp. said.

"The CW is going to be a real competitor, a destination for young audiences, diverse audiences and a real favorite with advertisers," Moonves added. "The CW will be able to do something truly remarkable: program already hit shows every single day of the week, programs that consistently rank number one or number two in their time slots in the most coveted young adult demographic."

Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment, called the new network "a partnership whose time has come."

"The CW is a brand new network that will be a 50-50 partnership between Warner Bros. Entertainment and the CBS Corp., with both companies contributing the best of their strategic assets — assets including existing hit television series, access to new programming, the strongest executive talent from both the WB and UPN and a solid national distribution system," he said.

Dawn Ostroff, currently president of UPN, will serve as entertainment president of The CW, while John Maatta, currently chief operating officer of The WB, will take on that role at the new network.

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/la-012406tv_lat,0,2831549,print.story?coll=cl-tv-features

About Television
Thoughts on the new CW

Stay Tuned For ''Supernatural Veronica,'' ''Everybody Hates Gilmore''
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog

Big TV news today. UPN and The WB will cease to exist this fall, with their respective owners combining into a single operation to be called The CW. (That's apparently supposed to stand for CBS/Warner, the network's owners. But I kept looking for another meaning: Conventional Wisdom? Childish Ways? Cash Wanted?)

It's going to be interesting to see which stations in a given market end up with the new network. Around here, the UPN affiliate looks to have the edge. But whichever station ends up with the new network, the one lacking a network is going to need a way to fill prime time.

At least it won't have to fill all that much. Neither UPN nor The WB offered a seven-night, full prime-time schedule. But some smart syndicator should be putting together a lineup of first-run shows right now for airing on the WB and UPN affiliates left out in the cold.

I'm also wondering which shows will survive on the new network. This is certainly a surprise. Sure, there has been speculation for years that one or the other of these ''weblets'' would go under,with UPN long considered the most likely to get the hook.

But after surviving for a decade, and with each network airing programs that are worth your viewing time, it seemed as if they had both figured out ways to keep going. Apparently not. Instead, they're going to end up on the heap with other unrealized visions of network power (Pax, Operation Prime Time).

http://blogs.ohio.com/beacon_tv/

The Winter TV Critics Tour
NBC’s Moves

By Matt Roush TVGuide.com TV Critic January 24, 2006

I'm often quick to criticize NBC when it blunders, which sometimes seems like a full-time job. And it's pretty clear the network is still far from perfect — witness the bungling of The Book of Daniel, buried on Fridays where low ratings would almost certainly have doomed it, even without a religious-right protest that scared away spineless advertisers.

But when NBC does something right, as in a series of aggressive moves announced over the weekend, it seems only right to take notice. Among the highlights:

Ta-ta, West Wing: Calling it quits was inevitable, but even so, I feared that NBC would, out of desperation, try to keep the franchise going after President Bartlet passes the torch to his successor. Thankfully, that will not be the case, and the show will wrap up with a retrospective and series finale on May 14. (A tribute episode to John Spencer will air before that.) Going out with dignity — what a pleasant surprise.

Moving Law & Order: Probably the biggest surprise was NBC's plan to move the venerable crime drama an hour earlier in mid-March, pitting it against Lost. But think about it. Could there be two shows less similar than Lost, with its exotic allure and tangled continuing stories, and Law & Order, with its stringent adherence to stand-alone formula? Law & Order has a built-in, though diminishing, audience and will do just fine. And if it takes a bite out of the ratings for CBS' execrable yet popular Criminal Minds, so much the better. Besides, NBC had a hole on the night, and better to use Law & Order as a lead-in for the promising-sounding Heist than putting Heist against Lost.

Moving The Apprentice: All hail NBC for not disrupting the newly invigorated Thursday-night comedy block with this fading reality show. Moving it to Mondays, following new episodes of the Howie Mandel curiosity Deal or No Deal[/B], is terrific counterprogramming to the night's hot drama (24) and comedy (Two and a Half Men) alternatives. The Apprentice is officially off my radar, and given the options, will probably stay there.

Moving Las Vegas: This seems riskier, uprooting a popular lightweight drama and moving it to Fridays as a lead-in to Dick Wolf's latest legal show, Conviction. Ratings will almost certainly go down, given the overall lower viewership on Fridays. But NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly is right to declare that CBS is winning Fridays by default with a mostly unexceptional slate of dramas. (Numbers being the one show I sometimes find time to watch). Las Vegas is actually the perfect sort of escapist programming for what's left of Friday-night viewing — or so I imagine, since I almost never watch non-TiVo'd TV live on Fridays. If Vegas doesn't work there, NBC can always put it back on Mondays after The Donald finishes his latest run.

Keeping Joey out of sight: No word yet on when or where Joey will return to the schedule, but it looks more and more as if it won't reappear until summer, when NBC can burn off the episodes it was contractually obligated to produce and make it look like it's actually providing added value to the summer schedule. But consider this the last nail in a very rickety coffin.

http://tvguide.com/tv/roush/dispatches/

About Television
Thoughts on the new CW

Stay Tuned For ''Supernatural Veronica,'' ''Everybody Hates Gilmore''
By Rich Heldenfels in his Akron Beacon Journal TV blog



It's going to be interesting to see which stations in a given market end up with the new network. Around here, the UPN affiliate looks to have the edge. But whichever station ends up with the new network, the one lacking a network is going to need a way to fill prime time.


I was wondering when one of these reporters would bring this up after reading all the previous articles. This is good news for the SF market as our CBS owned UPN station runs a great operation and broadcasts in HD.

Fred, maybe you'll finally get to see UPN programming in HD in LA, does the WB station there do HD yet, I know the News Corp owned UPN doesn't?

Yup, the WB station does great HD

About Television
UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network

By Bill Carter The New York Times January 24, 2006

Two part-time broadcast networks moved to become a combined larger one today as CBS and the Warner Brothers studio announced they were joining forces to form a new network, called the CW, out of the pieces of the UPN and WB networks.

The new venture will cherry-pick the best programs off the two decade-old mini-networks, each of which has struggled to turn a profit. The owners, each of which will take a 50 percent stake in the new venture, expressed the hope that an expanded fifth network - which will program 30 hours a week, including prime-time and some daytime shows - will succeed where a fifth and sixth in competition with each other could not.

Both the WB and UPN will continue operate independently until September, when they will be formally shut down. The new network - whose name, CW, is meant to be a combination of CBS and Warner - will commence operations on a new lineup of stations made up of the UPN group owned by CBS and those owned by the WB's station partner, Tribune Broadcasting.

Those stations will reach about 48 percent of the United States, and the new network has agreements with other affiliates to extend its distribution to 95 percent of the country.

For many of the biggest cities, the move will leave a station without network programming. In New York, the new network will be broadcast on Channel 11, which has been the WB station, with Channel 9, which has been the UPN station, dropped from the network.

Leslie Moonves, the chairman of the CBS Corporation, and Barry Meyer, the chairman of Warner Brothers Entertainment, a unit of Time Warner, made the announcement jointly at a news conference. Each executive said that the agreement to dissolve the two networks and start up the new one had been driven by the timing of affiliation agreements.

Both CBS's deal with UPN stations owned by the News Corporation and Warner Brothers deal with the Tribune stations were due to expire in September. "If we didn't come together now, we were going to be locked out for a long time," Mr. Moonves said.

The most significant advantage of bringing the two networks together will be the opportunity to build a prime-time schedule made up of the best shows from each of the two networks. "It's a scheduler's dream," Mr. Moonves said.

The shows highlighted in the presentation today included "America's Top Model," "Veronica Mars," and "Everybody Hates Chris" from UPN and "Gilmore Girls," "Smallville," and "Beauty and the Geek" from the WB.

The move is a further consolidation of broadcast power under Mr. Moonves, who earlier this month gained full executive control over the CBS Corporation, under the agreement that divided Viacom's media assets in half. The CW will likely perform far better than UPN, Mr. Moonves's previous secondary network, ever did.

In probably the most significant executive announcement tied to the new network, Mr. Moonves's lieutenant at UPN, Dawn Ostroff, was named the president of entertainment for the new network. Both top executives at the WB, Garth Ancier and David Janollari, were not given positions at the new network, though Mr. Meyer thanked them for their efforts at the WB.

The new network will aim to reach an audience of younger adults, those aged 18 to 34, who are especially sought by many advertisers. Mr. Meyer noted that Warner Brothers film division is a heavy advertiser, trying to reach that group.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/business/media/24cnd-network.html?pagewanted=print

Last week’s complete network average prime-time results (with demographic averages) are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS the first post in this thread.

So let's see. WB & UPN were both rated under Univision, the first time it was included in the English ratings. Maybe the handwriting was on the wall.

Locally, our WB and UPN affiliates broadcast in HD. WB's feed has had technical issues for years (it looks like the fields get reversed at times). But the UPN affiliate has a contract with the local NBA team that preempts prime time shows several times a week (they are moved to late at night, but not always as scheduled due to the game length, and not always in HD). I think the UPN affiliate is owned by CBS, so I suppose that's where the CW will reside.

Here's hoping the five shows I watch on these two networks survive:
+ Veronica Mars
+ Supernatural
+ Blue Collar TV
+ Everybody Hates Chris
+ Reba

Xesdeeni

Last week’s top 10 prime-time program ratings are now at the top of RATINGS NEWS -- the first post in this thread.

Here's hoping the five shows I watch on these two networks survive:
+ Veronica Mars
+ Supernatural
+ Blue Collar TV
+ Everybody Hates Chris
+ Reba

Xesdeeni

AFAIK Blue Collar Tv was already axed. All your other shows will be on the new CW network. + Supernatural is the only one I have not read about yet.

Somehow I missed the cancellation. I read they were just on haitus, but not cancelled.

Xesdeeni

Yes, Blue Collar TV has been gone a while.

But look for the two nets to play off any excess episodes of whatever shows they have axed.

Yes, I can see it now....

One network instead of two, but two times the crappy programming!! :p

Fred’s Ratings Recap
Week 18 Nielsen Ratings

American Idol, NFL Football, Skating With Celebrities and 24 pushed Fox to a big win in the season’s 18th week. Fox averaged 7.3 million more viewers than second-place CBS. In the 18-49 demographic Fox finished even farther ahead, almost doubling second-place ABC’s viewers.

Leading the way for Fox was #1 American Idol (35.53 million viewers); #2 NFC Championship (35.23); #3 American Idol’s Wednesday show (31.65); #6 the NFC Championship over run (18.74); #12 Skating With Celebrities (18.74); #16 24 (15.70); #19 the NFC Championship post-game show and #23 a 24 Preview special (14.08).

For CBS, #4 CSI led the way with 27.13 million viewers; #7 Without A Trace had 23.12, then it was #13 NCIS (17.74); #17 CSI:NY (15.55) #20 a CSI Thursday repeat (14.79) #21 a CSI:Miami repeat (14.55; #22 Criminal Minds (14.10); #24 a repeat of Two And A Half Men (13.47) and#25 a Tuesday CSI repeat (12.39).

#5 Desperate Housewives led ABC (25.33 million viewers. Then it was #8 Grey’s Anatomy (21.04); #9 Lost (19.13); #10 Dancing With The Stars (18.98); #14 Extreme Makeover Home Edition (16.12) and #18 the Dancing With The Stars results show (15.44).

NBC had a dismal week. It’s top show was #10 Golden Globes (18.77 million viewers) and its only otjher top-25 program was #15 Law and Order:SVU (16.10). More bad news for NBC: The back-to-back episodes of Scrubs finished #73 and #74 with 5.93 and 5,87 million viewers.

#76 Gilmore Girls led the WB contingent with 5.67 million viewers. The best UPN could do was #85 WWE Smackdown (4.79).

WEEKLY AVERAGES
Average rating, share and audience in each category

TOTAL VIEWERS

Fox 6.9/16, 19.2 million
CBS 4.2/10, 11.9 million
ABC 4.1/10, 11.5 million
NBC 3.4/8, 9.6 million
UNI 1.5/4, 4.1 million
WB 1.1/3, 3.2 million
UPN 0.9/2, 2.6 million

Each rating point equals 2.81 million viewers

ADULTS 18-49

Fox 7.9/20, 10.2 million
ABC 4.0/10, 5.2 million
CBS 3.6/9, 4.7 million
NBC 3.3/8, 4.3 million
UNI 1.8/4, 2.3 million
WB 1.4/3, 1.8 million
UPN 1.0/2, 1.3 million

Each rating point equals 1.30 million viewers

SEASON-TO-DATE AVERAGES
Average rating, share and audience in each category

TOTAL VIEWERS

CBS 4.6/12, 13.0 million
ABC 3.9/10, 11.0 million
NBC 3.3/8, 9.1 million
Fox 3.0/8, 8.6 million
UNI 1.4/3, 3.9 million
UPN 1.2/3, 3.4 million
WB 1.2/3, 3.3 million

Each rating point equals 2.81 million viewers

ADULTS 18-49

ABC 4.0/11, 5.2 million
CBS 3.9/11, 5.1 million
Fox 3.4/9, 4.4 million
NBC 3.1/8, 4.1 million
UNI 1.6/4, 2.1 million
UPN 1.4/4, 1.8 million
WB 1.4/4, 1.8 million

Each rating point equals 1.30 million viewers

• Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Updating…..
WB, UPN merge

Moonves plans Sept. start for new net
By Michael Learmonth Variety.com

And then there were five.

CBS Corp. Warner Bros. Entertainment and Tribune Co. announced Tuesday they're shutting down the struggling The WB and UPN networks and merging them into a new entity called The CW network.

Move will unite shows from both nets -- such as "Everybody Hates Chris," "Gilmore Girls," and "Veronica Mars" -- in a bid to create a dominant player in the younger 18-34 demographic.

"The CW is going to be a real competitor -- a destination for young audiences and diverse audiences and a real favorite among advertisers," said CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, who made the announcement with Warner Entertainment chairman and CEO Barry Meyer and Tribune Co. CEO Dennis FitzSimons.

The merger of the two entities -- which had been considered off and on since they were both founded in 1995 -- is an admission that while there may be room for a fifth broadcast net, there wasn't room for a sixth, especially when both were pursuing the same younger, female audiences.

Talks on the tie-up began in late November.

"The challenge was that there really was only room for one fifth network and you had two networks competing to be that network," said Warner Television Group president Bruce Rosenblum. "The opportunity to build a true fifth network and make it competitive with the big four is an opportunity neither company wanted to pass up."

The opportunity came when both UPN and WB affiliate agreements with local stations expire in the same month -- August -- allowing The CW to begin broadcasting in September.

"This new network makes sound business and creative sense at every level -- for our viewers, advertisers, affiliates and for the shareholders of our companies," said Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

The CW will be a 50-50 joint venture between CBS and Time Warner and will be distributed on CBS and Tribune-owned stations reaching 95% of the country.

Tribune's 25% stake in The WB network was liquidated when the network was shuttered. Tribune signed a 10-year affiliation agreement with The CW, which will start broadcasting in September.

The net will be staffed by a combination of UPN and WB executives and an undisclosed number will be laid off as a result of the merger. Moonves and Meyer said the process of evaluating executive talent would begin right away.

They did, however, reveal the two executives at the top. Dawn Ostroff, current president of UPN, will become President of Entertainment of the new entity and WB's John Matta, now COO of the WBthe WB, will become COO of The CW.

The move comes as The WB has struggled in the ratings and watched as UPN -- the perennial 6th place net -- targeted its young, female demo and moved ahead of it in the ratings.

Neither net had been consistently profitable. The WB had two profitable years in its existence; UPN was on its way to profitability, but hadn't achieved it.

But with merged schedules, Ostroff said the network will have a No. 1 or No. 2 show each night in the 18-34 demo, making The CW a bigger player in the battle for advertising dollars.

"I think what people areo going to find is all the programming appealing to this one demo is now going to be under one roof," Ostroff said. "It's going to be one-stop shopping."

The network will be a new headquarters that Meyers dubbed "neutral ground." Meyer, Moonves, CBS Entertainment prexy Nancy Tellem and Rosenblum have known each other for decades dating back to when Moonves was an exec at Warner Bros.

"It's really a very comfortable situation; everybody knows everyone and are really pleased to be in business together again," Ostroff said.

Initially, The CW will air 13 hours of primetime programming on 6 nights, and 30 hours of syndicated, kids shows and cartoons 7 days a week.

The new CW execs expect to have a schedule ready to present to advertisers at the May upfront negotiations where broadcasters make bids for roughly 80% of their advertising for the coming year.

But creating one network from two will leave many former UPN affiliates in a mad scramble for shows to put on the air in the fall. Fox TV Stations Group owns 9 UPN affiliates across the country; Sinclair Broadcasting owns 6 UPN stations.

Updating…..
UPN, WB networks combine

By David Lieberman USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Television viewers will have one fewer broadcast network to pick from this fall. CBS and Time Warner said Tuesday that they will dissolve UPN and WB, and combine many of their programs and stations to create The CW Television Network, which they will own jointly.

Executives say they will broadcast every evening except Saturday, blending the most popular programs that UPN and WB now offer.

Top shows include WB's Smallville, 7th Heaven, Beauty and the Geek, Reba, and Gilmore Girls, and UPN's Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris and Girlfriends.

CW also will air WWE Smackdown wrestling, now on UPN.

The new network will target young adults, particularly women. "This is a tough to reach demographic," says Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Barry Meyer. "It's a pretty appealing (ad) buy for a movie company."

In addition to the 13 hours of primetime, CW will broadcast shows weekdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET, Sunday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. From 7 a.m. to noon on Saturday it will air kids' shows.

Programming will run on 12 CBS-owned stations and 16 stations owned by Tribune. These stations reach about 48% of viewers; they will sign new affiliates to reach the rest.

Tribune, which now has a 24% stake in WB, will not hold equity in the new venture, but will sign a 10-year deal to carry it on its stations, including the three largest markets: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

"It's a good economic model," says Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons. "We invested in the network to get access to programming. At this point we felt that being an affiliate was the best option."

Among cities where CBS and Tribune both own stations carrying WB or UPN, Tribune will air CW in Dallas, Miami, Boston and New Orleans while CBS will air it in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Seattle.

But the combination of UPN and WB will leave some stations elsewhere, including several owned by Fox, without a network this fall. CBS chief Leslie Moonves says the CW partners haven't decided yet how they'll decide winners and losers, and whether the new network will look for cash payments.

"There are a lot of factors that go into affiliation deals," Moonves says. "Economics will be a part of this."

Although executives were eager to tout the strengths of the new venture, they also say that WB and UPN have struggled against much bigger networks and a plethora of options on cable.

Moonves says that UPN was "approaching the point where we were hoping to break even."

Warner Bros. was prepared to keep WB afloat, but "it wasn't going to serve the strategic purpose we started it for," Meyer says. "It's a challenge for a small network to generate the kinds of ratings and revenues" it needs.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-01-24-upn-wb_x.htm

Updating…..
WB Net, UPN to merge, become the CW TV Network

By Paul J. Gough The Hollywood Reporter Jan. 25, 2006

NEW YORK -- In a bombshell announcement that caught television industry insiders by surprise Tuesday morning, The WB and UPN have cut a deal to join forces as a new single network dubbed The CW that will be comprised of programming and executive talent from both of its predecessors.

In a top-secret megadeal unveiled at a surprise news conference in midtown Manhattan, CBS Corp. and Time Warner will own 50% of the new network that will eventually have coverage in more than 95% of the country. UPN president Dawn Ostroff will become The CW's president of entertainment; WB Network chief operating officer John Maata will be the chief operating officer of the newly formed entity.

Both UPN and The WB will cease operations and go off the air in September. The CW will program 13 primetime hours across six nights as well as a Kids WB block on Saturdays and two hours of syndicated programming in the weekday afternoons, essentially mirroring The WB model. While a schedule won't be released until the upfronts in May, the new network could carry shows like "Gilmore Girls," "Supernatural" and "Smallville" from The WB and "America's Next Top Model," "Veronica Mars" and "Everybody Hates Chris" from UPN.

Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp. president and CEO, said that thanks to existing programming on both networks The CW would have "already hit shows every single day of the week."

"This is a partnership whose time has come," said Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

It's also the growing realization, both parties say, that neither network was going to grow in the future. While UPN has made gains, CBS execs said that long-term projections showed that The CW would grow faster than UPN as currently formulated. And Time Warner and Tribune, its partner, haven't been happy with ratings declines at The WB.

"We saw a challenged landscape for keeping small networks alive," Meyer said.

Tribune Co., which invested in The WB with Warner Bros. in the early 1990s, will remain a major affiliate of The CW. Sixteen of the new network's affiliates, including big markets like New York and Los Angeles, will be owned by Tribune. Twelve more will be CBS-owned UPN affiliates. Tribune and CBS stations account for more than 48% of the country; the rest will be a mixture of existing UPN and WB affiliates.

"From Tribune's perspective, it was the best of both worlds," said Tribune chief executive Dennis J. FitzSimons, who attended the news conference.

Seven markets overlapped between Tribune and CBS. Tribune stations will carry The CW in Dallas, Miami, Boston and New Orleans, while CBS will own the affiliates in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Seattle. The fate of other stations, like UPN affiliate and News Corp. owned WWOR-TV in New York, hasn't been determined yet. Executives said that would be up to News Corp., whose affiliation agreements are up at the end of August.

Beyond the appointment of Ostroff and Maata, only one other personnel announcement was made Tuesday: Bill Morningstar, executive vp of advertising sales at The WB, will head ad sales for The CW.

"It will be a blend of executives from both UPN and the WB," said Meyer. Those decisions haven't been made yet and the fate of high-ranking execs like David Janollari, The WB's entertainment president, hasn't been determined. Both Moonves and Meyer said they wanted to see Janollari, who they have known in previous jobs, have a part in the new company.

"We'd like to continue our relationship with David," Meyer said.

But Garth Ancier, who was The WB's first head of programming and then returned to become chairman in an executive shift, will not be a part of The CW. Meyer said that Ancier was instrumental in the planning for today's announcement but bowed out of consideration for a job with the new network.

There's no word on the number of layoffs that will occur at The WB and UPN in preparation for the merger, or who will have jobs with the new network. Those details will emerge in the next several months, according to Moonves and Meyer. The headquarters for The CW have also not been determined, although they won't be at the former homes of either The WB or UPN.

While the media industry was surprised by the announcement -- and the identities of the three companies involved were kept secret until their executives walked out on stage -- the three companies had been working on the deal since at least Thanksgiving.

The idea was hatched when Meyer and Moonves saw each other at a dinner party. While the merger of UPN and The WB had been discussed in the past, there wasn't a time before now when it made sense, Moonves and Meyer said in separate interviews after the news conference.

In the past, The WB had a superior ratings position to UPN so it wasn't likely to be an equal merger. And affiliation agreements had tied the companies up for several years. But now, after CBS's takeover of UPN and The WB's declining fortunes, the time seemed right. And the affiliation agreements were coming to and end so both companies believed it was now or never.

"There are moments in time," said Meyer. "This is the moment in time."

Meyer and Moonves have a longstanding relationship, having worked together in the past and having known each other for more than 20 years. That's true of the other two catalysts of the deal, Warner Bros. Television Group president Bruce Rosenblum and CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group Nancy Tellem, who Moonves said kept both companies on track. All four executives previously worked together in the 1980s and early 1990s at Lorimar Television and Warner Bros. Television.

"It really does underscore relationships," Moonves said. "This could have fallen apart 20 different ways."

Another key part of the structure will have both CBS' Paramount and Warner Bros. owning 50% of all new programming, which will get around questions of whether one production company or the other will have a vested interest in keeping a program on the air.

The name of the network is simple enough: The C stands for CBS and the W stands for Warner Bros.

"We couldn't call it the WC for obvious reasons," said Moonves.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001883855

Critic’s Notebook
The new CW network: My dream lineup

By Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune TV blog January 24, 2006

News came Tuesday that the WB and UPN will shut down in the fall, and the best shows from each network will migrate to a new broadcast network called The CW, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS.

I’ve come up with a dream lineup for the new CW (and keep in mind that currently, UPN and WB broadcast only two hours of prime-time programming each weeknight):

Monday: Right now, the UPN has a block of mostly so-so comedies and the WB has “Seventh Heaven,” which is gone after this season, and “Related,” a struggling comedy-drama. This is a prime spot for some fresh, bold programming.

Get "Buffy," "Angel" and "Firefly" creator Joss Whedon on the phone and have him whip up one of his patented, obsessively loved cult dramas. Cowboys in space, vampire detectives, superhero gals -- whatever. But making Whedon the cornerstone of this night would be a smart move (and in this iTunes-oriented and DVD-crazed age, there’s no doubt The CW would make a mint from ancillary sales of any Whedon drama).

It would make sense to pair up Whedon’s new show with the critically acclaimed “Veronica Mars” (which Whedon adores and has guested on). The downside: My head might explode from sheer joy.

Tuesday: On this night, UPN will soon debut a reality show starring “Laguna Beach’s” Kristin Cavallari, “Get This Party Started” (Yes, my excitement is palpable, isn’t it?). Over on the WB, there’s the one-two punch of the wonderfully intricate, verbally complicated “Gilmore Girls” and the simple but effective, stud-muffin frightfest “Supernatural.” Personally, I think the network should keep the “Girls” on this night, but come up with a more appropriate companion for the show. “Gilmore Girls” and the terrific “Everwood” on this night would be a dream combination.

Wednesday: This is where things get tricky. Of course the new CW should air UPN’s “Veronica Mars,” but should the new network once again use “Mars” as cannon fodder against “Lost”? Tough question. Though it’d be nice to move “Mars” from the line of fire, ratings might slip if the show got shipped to another night.

How about having “Supernatural” lead into “Mars”? The spooky WB series might give a ratings boost to “Mars,” you never know. I’m open to switching the lineup and putting “Mars” first, or even keeping in place the current lead-in to “Mars,” UPN’s “America’s Next Top Model.”

As for WB’s “One Tree Hill” and UPN’s “South Beach,” the other shows currently on this night, well, the latter might be gone before I finish typing this sentence, and as for “OTH,” how about shipping it to Thursdays or Fridays? Or to the Land of Cancellation?

Thursday: Currently “Smallville” is kicking some major behind on this extremely competitive night, so it makes no sense to move it. The trouble is, on this night, UPN has the great “Everybody Hates Chris.” Would “Chris” and “Smallville” really work together? Who knows, but right now the WB’s got “Smallville” paired with the reality show “Beauty and the Geek,” so maybe the lesson is that “Smallville” works with just about anything.

“Chris” would need a new half-hour comedy companion, though. How about giving the creative folks behind “My Name Is Earl” or “The Office” this comedy slot and asking them to whip up a new half-hour show to follow “Chris”? A brand-new quality comedy would be just the ticket as a “Chris” companion. If that bold move doesn’t appeal, the network could import one of UPN’s established half-hour comedies (perhaps “Eve” or “Girlfriends”).

Alternately, giving “Smallville” a brand-new one-hour drama companion might be the best move: A “Smallville”/“Aquaman” lineup could be just the ticket. In that case, how about moving “Chris” to Sundays and building a comedy block around it?

Friday: This is every network’s trouble spot, except for the juggernaut that is CBS, which has made the night work with mix of procedurals and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

If The CW really wanted to stake a claim on this night, it would bid farewell to both UPN’s wrestling "Smackdown" and WB’s mix of stale comedies (except for “Reba,” which deserves a spot somewhere). How about importing the UPN reality stalwart “America’s Next Top Model” and the WB’s enjoyable “Beauty and the Geek” -- both fluffy shows that would give viewers a superficial but fun night of tube fare on Friday nights?

However, I’m willing to bet that the new CW execs aren’t willing to risk two of their most dependable franchises in Friday berths. So, what to do? Perhaps a new lineup of slightly edgy but feel-good reality would work here. Giving Jay McCarroll of Bravo’s “Project Runway” his own fashion-oriented reality show would be a hoot (perhaps fellow “Runway” types Santino Rice and Austin Scarlett, as well as loose-cannon supermodel and "Top Model" judge Janice Dickinson, could sit on whatever judging panel the show comes up with? How delish would that be?)

Having said all that, WWE wrestling has actually done pretty well for UPN on Fridays, and the new network might stick with it. That wouldn't be my dream, but it might be The CW's safest bet.

Saturday: Saturday night has become repeat night, so, when in Rome…. Repeats of all the new network’s best shows would work here: “Mars,” “Chris,” “Everwood,” etc.

Sunday: UPN doesn’t program any new fare on this night, and the WB has more or less given up on Sundays as well, offering a tired mixture of repeats and the aging witch series “Charmed.”

The trouble is, ABC has a stranglehold on the most affluent older viewers with its potent lineup of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” while the brash, mostly animated fare on Fox is a big draw for younger viewers. What’s a new network to do? Tough call.

My opinion: This is a night that calls for bold new programming -- not necessarily importing a current show, even a proven performer such as “Smallville” or “Chris” (though a new, quality comedy night built around "Chris" is pretty appealing).

Here’s where the CW’s secret weapon comes into play. Dawn Ostroff, current head of UPN, will be the new chief of The CW. Given how she’s rebuilt UPN from the embarrassing home of “Homeboys in Space” (yes, reader, I remember those days -- count yourself lucky if you don’t) to a genuinely non-terrible, actually pretty respectable network, it's a safe bet that she can come up with some canny move on this night. After all, “Chris” and “Veronica Mars,” both UPN shows, were on the year-end top 10 list that my colleague Sid Smith and I came up with (and here’s the thing -- that’s twice the number of NBC shows that ended up on our list).

Still, Ostroff and her new team of executives have their work cut out for them coming up with a new lineup for Sunday nights, one that can navigate the competitive waters between ABC and Fox. I’m glad I don’t have to come up with that particular programming array. But that’s why they’re paying Ostroff and her network suits the big bucks.

All things considered, though, Ostroff has some decent building blocks to work with. Once you merge the best of The WB and UPN, you have a network that’s actually a reasonable contender for legitimacy, a network that actually has a bountiful crop of watchable fare. And that’s good news for viewers.

But the best news may be this: This fall, we won’t have to choose between watching “Chris” and “Smallville” on Thursday nights.

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

About Television
Three Tribune Stations Lose Affiliations
By Allison Romano Broadcasting & Cable

When the WB and UPN merge into the new CW network next fall, Tribune Broadcasting will convert 16 of its WB stations to the new network, but have to program three outlets as independents in markets where Tribune and CBS both own stations: Philadelphia, Seattle, and Atlanta

The possibility of losing network affiliation will have Tribune's independents and others rushing to buy programming. That could make this year's NATPE, underway in Las Vegas, particularly active. "This is generating a lot of buzz out there," says Tribune Co. Chairman Dennis FitzSimons. "Time periods have opened up on a lot of stations

The network merger, announced Tuesday morning, untangles Tribune from its ownership stake in the WB network. Tribune owns a 22% stake in The WB but will not have any equity stake in the new network. But Tribune also will not be responsible for any of the shutdown costs at The WB and gets affiliations for CW in plum markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Tribune Co. Chairman Dennis FitzSimons says combining the UPN and WB lineups will strengthen his outlets. "People are not watching networks, they are watching programs," he told analysts on a conference call Tuesday. "The better the programs are, the better our stations will be."

FitzSimons says CBS' stake in the network – 12 of its UPN outlets will change to CW – gives him confidence in the future success. "We are enthused about what will happen short term with the best of both networks, and long term, one of the partners will have station interests of their own," FitzSimons said.

But Tribune will now have to program three of its WB stations--Philadelphia, Seattle and Atlanta--as independents. FitzSimons said that will result in higher prime time programming costs but that the stations will now have more inventory to sell to advertisers.

One unknown, FitzSimons said, is what Fox Television will do with its UPN stations.

Fox will be left without a UPN network affiliation in major markets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

FitzSimons said Fox could start up another programming service, and expressed interest for his independents in such a network.

Fred, you mentioned earlier that Las Vegas was moving to Fridays in the fall. Is this correct?

If so this could be the 'death march' for Las Vegas. The Monday time slot that it's in is good for the show and it's one of NBC's strongest shows. Is NBC trying to slowly get rid of the show?

It is moving to Fridays at 9 PM...and sooner than the fall. After the Olympics, I believe. But I'll check for you.

Antonio:
"Las Vegas" switches to 9 PM Fridays on March 3rd, the same night Dick Wolf's new show "Conviction" premieres at 10 PM.

If Maureen Ryan can come up with her dream lineup for the new, but badly named CW network, then so can I.

Monday

Girlfriends - 8pm
Half & Half - 8:30pm
Everybody Hates Chris - 9pm


Tuesday

Girlmore Girls - 8pm
Everwood - 9pm

Wednesday

Veronica Mars - 8pm; not sure if VM is a half hour or full hour
America's Next Top Model 9 pm

Thursday

One Tree Hill - 8pm
Related - 9pm - I'm starting to like this show more and more


Friday

Reba - 8pm
What I like about.... - 8:30pm
Beauty & the Geek - 9pm


I don't know what to do about Saturday or Sunday but Diane Ostroff can come up with something. I really hope they keep Girlfriends and Half & Half. I've been recording those shows on my dvr for 2 yrs and I like them. Also, UPN created those shows to target the audience that I would be considered a part of, so the more they can do to keep that audience the better.

Updating….
CBS, Time Warner Plan To Launch CW Network

By JOE FLINT Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL January 24, 2006 4:13 p.m.
(Brooks Barnes and Brian Steinberg contributed to this article)

Time Warner Inc.'s WB and CBS Corp.'s UPN broadcast networks are to merge, the latest sign of stress on the broadcast-television business.

Both networks were launched in January 1995, targeting younger viewers. But despite successes with individual shows, both networks have struggled to build a significant audience and to turn a profit. Company executives say a merged channel, carrying the best programs of each network, stands a better chance at financial and critical success.

The WB and UPN will cease broadcasting separately in September, to be replaced by a single network called CW, which will be owned 50-50 by CBS and Time Warner. Tribune Co., a big TV broadcaster that had been a 22.5% shareholder in the WB, has committed to air the CW network on its TV stations for at least 10 years but it won't have any ownership stake in the new outlet.

Left out in the cold is News Corp., which owns several major-market UPN affiliates including stations in New York and Los Angeles. News Corp.'s affiliation deal with UPN is due to expire in August. News Corp., which also owns the Fox broadcast network, will now have to come up with its own programming to put on the UPN stations.

"There's certainly no rending of garments going on over here," says News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher. "We view this as an opportunity."

The merger comes at a time when TV networks face increased competition from the Internet and videogames. Broadcast networks have also suffered as viewers defect to cable channels. Marketers are starting to rethink the money they put into TV advertising. In the annual TV "upfront" ad-sales market last spring, the total amount of ad dollars committed to broadcast TV for the following season fell for the first time since 2001.

These industry pressures have made it even tougher for the UPN and WB. Both networks have struggled to broaden their audiences to make them more appealing to advertisers. The majority of UPN viewers are African-American, an audience that advertisers don't pay a premium to reach. The WB, meanwhile, has tried unsuccessfully to break its image as a network that appeals only to teens.

For the current season, UPN attracted about $400 million in advertiser commitments, up about $50 million from a year earlier; in comparison, the WB, which has largely commensurate ratings but attracts a more upscale and diverse audience, scored about $675 million, or flat with a year earlier.

Neither network is profitable. The two have lost well over $2 billion since their launch, according to people familiar with their operations. At a press conference outlining the merger, Warner Bros. Entertainment Chairman Barry Meyers said CW could be profitable "right from the get go."

Both UPN and WB have a handful of shows that are successful. CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said by combining their successful programs under one roof, CW will be able to launch with "hit shows every day of the week."

The new network will be more palatable to advertisers, said Jason Maltby, president and co-executive director of national TV at WPP Group PLC's MindShare, a media-buying firm. The long-term question about both UPN and the WB, he said, was whether or not six networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and WB -- could win enough viewers, ratings and ad revenue. "This is part of a Darwinian evolutionary process, and now you'll have five networks, but this fifth network, in theory, will be stronger."

Management for the newly formed network will have to move swiftly to develop programming for the next season. Typically, networks are already deep in development for the fall, but both the WB and UPN have held back -- sparking widespread speculation in Hollywood for months that one or both could go under. The only marquee pilot program already in the works is a TV version of Aquaman, the DC comics character who lives in the deep sea and enlists sharks and other oceanic creatures to help him in his crime-fighting endeavors.

Some of the WB's biggest hits will not transfer to the new network. The network recently pulled the plug on "7th Heaven," a family drama that focuses on a minister and his family and is the WB's highest rated show, saying it would lose $16 million to keep due to high licensing fees and cast salaries. "Charmed" is likely ending its run for the same reason, while the future of the critically acclaimed "Gilmore Girls" is uncertain; creator Amy Sherman-Palladino hasn't renewed her contract.

Senior executives from each of the WB and UPN will take high level positions with the CW. Dawn Ostroff, who currently heads UPN, will hold the top creative post, president of entertainment, while WB's operating chief John Maatta will continue that role at CW, managing the network's business operations. Garth Ancier, chairman of the WB, however, won't be working at the new network; Mr. Ancier said that he wanted to move on after helping to build Fox and the WB.


NEW NETWORK

• The CW network will launch in the fall, a 50-50 partnership between CBS and Time Warner's Warner Bros.

• Tribune Co., owner of a 22.5% stake of the WB with majority owner Time Warner, and CBS's UPN affiliates each have agreed to sign 10-year agreements to carry the new network. Operation of UPN and the WB will cease in September.

• The combination of Tribune's 16 major market stations and the 12 CBS-owned UPN major market affiliates give the CW coverage in 48% of the country.

• The CW will program 30 hours a week over seven days for its affiliated stations. It will use WB's current scheduling model, which is made up of a six night, 13-hour primetime lineup which includes including Monday through Friday nights from 8-10 p.m. EST; Sundays from 7-10 p.m. EST; Sunday from 5-7 p.m. EST as well as a Monday thru Friday afternoon block from 3-5 p.m. EST and five-hour Saturday morning animation block.

Antonio:
"Las Vegas" switches to 9 PM Fridays on March 3rd, the same night Dick Wolf's new show "Conviction" premieres at 10 PM.

Thanks for the update. I would have never known that Vegas was moving until I checked the 'Now Playing' list of the 'To do list' in the dvr. I read about Conviction being in the 10pm slot but that was before I knew about 'Vegas'. It's beginning to hit me, in terms of what I think NBC is trying to do. You take one of the more popular shows on your net that skews somewhat younger and combine it with a new show that you hope will appeal to the younger demo and you have the makings for what could be come a successful night for NBC. At least that is what NBC is hoping for.

You've a young, good looking cast on 'Vegas' and an supposedly young, good looking cast on Convicted you have the potential for Friday night to work.

On another non-related point, Why hasn't that Kristin Cavallari chick from MTV's Laguna(?) Beach used up her 5 minutes of fame. She is cute and all, but I found her to be a bit pretenious on Laguna Beach. As well as the rest of the young idiots, errr...... I mean people on that reality show. I didn't know if I was watching a soap opera, reality show or a The O.C. wanna be.

Updating….
Tribune TV Stations to Lead Affiliate Group of New Network

(Tribune Press Release)
Long-Term Agreement Covers 16 Markets, Including NY, LA and Chicago

CHICAGO, January 24, 2006 -- Tribune Company today announced that it agreed to affiliate 16 of its television stations with a new broadcast network, The CW, being launched by Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corporation. The network will debut this fall and feature the best programs from The WB and UPN networks, both of which will cease operations in September 2006. Tribune stations in seven of the country’s Top 10 television markets will affiliate with the new network, including stations in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.

"This agreement is a great step forward for our TV group," said Dennis FitzSimons, Tribune chairman and chief executive officer. "Our stations, the communities they serve, and Tribune shareholders will benefit from this long-term affiliation with a network powered by two large, successful studios owned by Time Warner and CBS Corporation."

Tribune owns and operates 26 TV stations in 22 markets across the country, including 19 affiliated with The WB Network. Under the agreement, 16 of those stations will join the new network:

• WPIX-TV, New York
• KTLA-TV, Los Angeles
• WGN-TV, Chicago
• WLVI-TV, Boston KDAF-TV, Dallas
• WBDC-TV, Washington, D.C.
• KHWB-TV, Houston
• WBZL-TV, Miami
• KWGN-TV, Denver
• KPLR-TV, St. Louis
• KWBP-TV, Portland
• WTTV-TV, Indianapolis
• KSWB-TV, San Diego
• WTXX-TV, Hartford
• WNOL-TV, New Orleans
• WEWB-TV, Albany

The CW network will provide 13 hours of prime-time programming to the newly affiliated stations: Monday through Friday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (EST/PST) and Sundays from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (EST/PST). The network will also program weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (EST/PST), Sundays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., and provide a five-hour Saturday morning animation block. The WB Network will continue to operate until this fall, and Tribune’s affiliated stations will continue to air its programming.

"Tribune stations will serve as the major market distribution backbone for what will be a strong network competitor," said John Reardon, Tribune Broadcasting president. "The viewers and advertisers in the markets we serve will benefit."

Tribune and CBS own overlapping WB and UPN affiliates in seven markets: Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Miami and New Orleans. Tribune will be the affiliate in Boston, Dallas, Miami and New Orleans, and CBS will be the affiliate in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Seattle.

"We’re confident that the scale of our television group will enable us to continue to acquire quality syndicated programming, both first-run and off-network, for our three independent stations," said Reardon.

http://www.tribune.com/pressroom/releases/2006/01242006.html

If Maureen Ryan can come up with her dream lineup for the new, but badly named CW network, then so can I....................

You forgot two of the best shows they have - Smallville & Supernatural. (Also the only two shows I watch on WB & UPN)

You forgot two of the best shows they have - Smallville & Supernatural. (Also the only two shows I watch on WB & UPN)

I did forget. But from what I've seen of Supernatural, it's not going to make the cut. Smallville may, but time will tell. I don't watch either, but I know this merger isn't good for either show.

The no-brainers are Girlmore Girls, America's Next Top Model, Girlfriends, Veronica Mars, 'Chris' & Reba. Everything else is up for negotiation. I would like to see One Tree Hill stay. If they keep Gilmore Girls, ATN, Girlfriends, Half & Half, & One Tree Hill, I'll be a happy man.

I am very fond of "Related" on The WB.

It has really gotten some top-notch writing since a shaky first few episodes.

But I doubt it has any chance at all.

You forgot two of the best shows they have - Smallville & Supernatural. (Also the only two shows I watch on WB & UPN)

I enjoy a lot of WB programming, even though I can't receive WB. I've caught up with "7th Heaven" on ABC Family, "Gilmore Girls", "Smallville" on DVD... watched the first season of "One Tree Hill", own the second season, as well as the first three seasons on "Charmed", and "Supernatural" through other means. WB also has other programming that I would like to see, "Related", "Everwood", "What I Like About You" and "Reba".

UPN, however is another story. Now that "Enterprise" is no longer on the network, "Veronica Mars" is the only UPN show that I watch. "Everybody Loves Chris" might be good, but I have yet to watch it.

While I enjoy "7th Heaven", it's of the age where I will be sad to see it go, but I can understand it ending.

I'm thinking about getting a Stand-Alone TiVo (and a TiVo Series 3 HD-DVR when it comes out later) to be able to watch CW, but here's the list of shows that I hope to see:

"Related"
"Gilmore Girls"
"Supernatural"
"Veronica Mars"
"Everwood"
"Smallville"
"Aquaman"
"Everybody Loves Chris"
"What I Like About You"
"Reba"
"Charmed"

I expect to see WILAY and "Charmed" go bye-bye. Everything else remains to be seen.

~Alan

Updating….
Tribune TV Stations to Lead Affiliate Group of New Network


• KTLA-TV, Los Angeles

So the FOX owned UPN in LA just got aced, I'm assuming..? KTLA is HD, no..?

Yup, the WB station does great HD

too bad adelphia doesn't retransmit the HD feed. :(

I dont know about WB because I've never seen any of the shows since I cant get it, but as long as Smackdown makes the move to the CW, Im OK. There were a lot of rumors though that UPN wasn't going to pickup Smackdown after the end of this year, which is why they moved it to Friday nights, but its been doing well for them on friday so I dont know if thats still the plan or not.

If Maureen Ryan can come up with her dream lineup for the new, but badly named CW network, then so can I.

Monday

Girlfriends - 8pm
Half & Half - 8:30pm
Everybody Hates Chris - 9pm


Tuesday

Girlmore Girls - 8pm
Everwood - 9pm

Wednesday

Veronica Mars - 8pm; not sure if VM is a half hour or full hour
America's Next Top Model 9 pm

Thursday

One Tree Hill - 8pm
Related - 9pm - I'm starting to like this show more and more


Friday

Reba - 8pm
What I like about.... - 8:30pm
Beauty & the Geek - 9pm


I don't know what to do about Saturday or Sunday but Diane Ostroff can come up with something. I really hope they keep Girlfriends and Half & Half. I've been recording those shows on my dvr for 2 yrs and I like them. Also, UPN created those shows to target the audience that I would be considered a part of, so the more they can do to keep that audience the better.
Ditto if Maureen can.
I like to make my suggestion, being I am in the target audience also. :)

Monday
"Supernatural"
Something new

Tuesday
"Gilmore Girls"
'Veronica Mars"

Wednesday
"Smallville"
"Everwood"

Thursday
"Everybody Hates Chris"
"Beauty and the Geeks" never watch the show but we are playing at programmer right
"Americas Top Model"

Friday
"Smack down'

Saturday
No Idea

Sunday
"Charmed" until mid-season then try something new if rating are to low
"????"
Pick a card any card . It really does not matter NBC will kill everyone with football. They can try something new it may work who knows.

TV Notebook
'The Book of Daniel' is closed

By Maureen Ryan on the Chicago Tribune TV blog January 24, 2006

NBC has closed “The Book of Daniel.”

Originally planned as a limited-run series of eight episodes, the controversial program about a pill-popping Episcopal priest with a troubled family has been pulled by NBC after airing for only three weeks.

The series had garnered low ratings since its Jan. 6 debut, and the low ratings for the Jan. 20 outing of the show were the final straw. According to NBC, no further airings of the show are planned.

Some Christian groups opposed the series, and a half dozen NBC affiliates refused to air the program. One station in Nashville pulled “Daniel” after the premiere drew hundreds of complaints.

NBC apparently had jitters from the start about “Daniel,” which starred Chicagoan Aidan Quinn as minister Daniel Webster, who was hooked on prescription pain medication and had conversations with Jesus. NBC scheduled the show for Fridays, a typically a low-rated night for the broadcast networks, and the fact that all the press materials for "Daniel" described it as a “limited series” meant that, barring an unexpected ratings success, it was unlikely to come back after the airing of the eight episodes that were completed.

Creator Jack Kenny said he was surprised by the negative reactions some Christians had toward “Daniel”: In a blog he wrote for TVGuide.com, he said that he “(apparently naively) thought that this show would be embraced by most Christians. It's ironic to me that the accusation has been that the show ‘demeans’ and ‘mocks’ Christianity when the intention was always the opposite: to treat the Christian beliefs of the Webster family as second nature.”

http://tempo.typepad.com/entertainment_tv/

About Television
Frog Jumped the Shark

By John Eggerton at bcbeat.com

The WB and the UPN are folding their multicolored tents, to be replaced by a single network with the curious name, The CW.

Perhaps there will be strength in numbers, or two heads are better than one, or something like that. And I'm sure CBS and Warner Bros. are hoping to shed the "netlet" mantle that has stuck to them from the outset.

Are we supposed to keep that "The" in the name as Warner Bros. kept insisting we do with "The WB."

I hope not. I always felt it was a bit stuffy, like a guy--or a frog in this case--who wouldn't let you use his nickname.

The CW stands for the CBS Warner Bros. network I'm told.

They certainly couldn't have put it the other way around, just ask Jack Parr (Johnny Carson for pre-boomers, who got in trouble for uttering The WC (an abreviation for "water closet").

I like just CW, the abreviation for Colonial Williamsburg when I was at William & Mary (Jon Stewart's alma mater for the hip, Michael Powell's alma mater for the D.C. types).

I also have a suggestion for a network spokesperson. This time a human rather than an amphibian (UPN has never had much of a marketing personality, just that Trylon and Perisphere-like logo).

I say use onetime country truck balladeer C.W. McCall and the stations can use C.W. McCall letters.

Now that I think of it, how about a rubber duck, as in "Uh, Breaker One-Nine, this here's the Rubber Duck." the beginning of McCall's biggest hit--only hit?--"Convoy."

OK, clearly I'm punchy from having worked on the actual news story on CW, which now stands for "completely wacked" as it applies to me.

TheCW.com was not for sale, according to godaddy.com (darn it!)

http://www.bcbeat.com/

About Television
New Network Could Leave News Corp. Scrambling

By Jay Sherman TVWeek.com January 24, 2006

Although the merger of The WB and UPN into new network The CW is being hailed by most observers as a smart move that addresses uncertain futures at both networks, the combination also is proving to have some unintended consequences for a major player in the broadcasting space: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

The media giant could find itself scrambling to come up with a programming strategy for at least eight owned-and-operated television stations that currently carry UPN affiliations and are expected to lose those affiliations at the end of the summer, when UPN shuts down to make way for the launch of The CW.

Making matters even more delicate is that many of these stations are in the nation's top TV markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Other UPN-affiliated stations owned by News Corp.'s Fox Television Stations unit are in Dallas, Washington, Houston, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Baltimore and Orlando, Fla.

News Corp.'s next move remains a huge question swirling through television circles. Among the many scenarios bandied about is that Fox Television Stations will simply program these affected stations to operate as independents with no network affiliation. Another has Fox perhaps launching a second broadcast network, something some News Corp. insiders say is not likely. In a third scenario, News Corp. sells the stations that lose the UPN link.

Richard Greenfield, a media analyst with Pali Capital, said the stations most likely affected by the shutdown of UPN were in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Washington, all of which would be "orphaned." Stations in Phoenix, Minneapolis, Baltimore and Orlando potentially could compete with existing WB affiliates or other independents in those markets for The CW affiliation, Mr. Greenfield said. But when it all shakes out, News Corp. will end up with several independent stations in key television markets.

"The question for News Corp. is now whether to program these independent stations, leveraging the Fox Television Studio's programming capabilities, or to sell the stations," he said in a research note.

Said a News Corp. spokesman: "This change presents us with an opportunity to reprogram stations in some of the country's biggest markets."

People close to News Corp. said the announcement of the launch of The CW was a total surprise that caught many people off guard. However, they added that the decision to shut down UPN is not totally unexpected and that it will allay the concerns of some News Corp. officials who were weary about their continued links to a struggling UPN. These people also noted that the UPN affiliation agreement with the News Corp.-owned stations was set to expire at the end of the current television season.

But News Corp. isn't the only station group that finds itself with potentially orphaned stations after UPN and The WB shut down. In striking the 10-year affiliation agreement between The CW and Tribune Co., CBS Corp. and Tribune had to negotiate which station would carry The CW affiliation in markets where both companies owned UPN or WB stations.

In the end, Tribune's 16 major-market stations and the 12 CBS-owned UPN stations will carry the CW. The 16 Tribune-owned stations will be in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Washington, Houston, Miami, Denver, St. Louis, Portland, Indianapolis, San Diego, Hartford, New Orleans and Albany, N.Y. The CBS-owned stations will be in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit, Tampa, Fla., Seattle, Sacramento, Calif., Pittsburgh, West Palm Beach, Fla., Norfolk, Va., Oklahoma City and Providence, R.I.

That leaves Tribune owning newly independent stations in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Seattle, while CBS will own independent stations in Dallas, Boston, Miami and New Orleans.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9263

About Television
NATPE Conventioneers Speculate on Future of UPN, WB Stations

By Christopher Lisotta TVWeek.com January 24, 2006

The announcement by CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Television that they are dumping UPN and The WB for new joint venture The CW left attendees at the first full day of the National Association of Television Program Executives annual convention wondering which stations will become part of the new network and which will become independent.

Bill Lamb, president and general manager of Independence Television Co. in Louisville, Ky., which owns both the Fox and the UPN stations in the market, called his UPN affiliate representative as soon as he heard the news Tuesday morning, but said his rep had no additional information, as the only word he had gotten on the deal had come from news reports on CNN.

"Everyone is speculating," Mr. Lamb said. "No one knows anything. Somebody in every market is going to be a winner, and somebody is going to be a loser."

That speculation means station executives are going to have to hedge their bets on buying content, said Chris Mossman, VP of sales and marketing for Gray Television's UPN affiliate WCTV-TV in Tallahassee, Fla. If his station becomes the CW station in his market, he will need to buy less syndicated fare than he does now, since The CW will run 13 hours in prime time as opposed to UPN's 11 hours. But if another station in his market goes with The CW, he will have to fill 11 hours of former UPN prime time with other programming starting in the fall.

"The people I'm meeting today and tomorrow and Thursday didn't know this was coming up, so obviously there will be a lot of contingencies," Mr. Mossman said from the floor of the convention.

Not all stations that lose network affiliation are necessarily losers, said Matthew Gray, station manager for UPN affiliate WBQC-TV in Cincinnati.

If his station becomes independent, "That just means that some of the programs out there that we have an optional second run on, we may be more inclined to move that to prime Monday to Fridays," he said.

One of t