UPDATE: Don’t have a bird, man. Oscar ratings plummeted across the U.S. The nearly four-hour statue-fest sank 12% nation-wide in overnights compared to last year. In Buffalo, N.Y., according to my colleague Alan Pergament, ratings were down a whopping 25%. More viewers watched last week’s equally long Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special in Buffalo than
Sunday is the 87th annual Academy Awards 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC, CTV). We’re supposed to just call them the Oscars now, just like we’re supposed to stop using roman numerals for Super Bowl’s after next year’s Lth, but screw that. If you love shampoo ads, there’s a 90-minute red carpet pre-show. Ninety minutes!! So five hours
This week, CHML’s Scott Thompson wanted to ask my take on the Oscars. We went on to gab for over 16 minutes and completely ignored the awards talk. Instead we got sidetracked yakking about last week’s epic Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special. I got a call this week from my colleague Bill Carter who, in 1975
Prediction: the Oscar ratings will be down this year. Based on what? I was asked to blather about the 87th annual awards show on a couple of radio shows this week. Both times the hosts and I got sidetracked and ran out of time before getting to the Oscars. That never happens. Much as I liked “Birdman,”
If both Sheldon and Leonard left The Big Bang Theory would you still watch? Consider then how Two and a Half Men continued to be a giant profit centre for Warner Bros. Television and CBS after shedding both Charlie Sheen and Angus T. Jones. Whatever you think of the merits of the series–and most critics
I was snowed under with print deadlines yesterday so a day late with this but still wanted to draw attention to a fine show: X Company. It premiered Wednesday night sat 9 p.m. on CBC. The World War II spy drama hails from Flashpoint showrunners Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern. They’ve kept this idea simmering
There was a lot of disappointment Sunday night, on Twitter at least, in Eddie Murphy’s return to Saturday Night Live. He was lionized by Chris Rock, walked out the door and down the steps past the band, and basically took a bow. It was anticlimactic, like when Dave Keon finally returned to Maple Leaf Gardens.
There was a time when all you had to do was cup your ear and, before you even spoke, everybody knew you were doing a Gary Owens impression. The man with that unmistakable announcer’s voice died Friday at 80. Owens was already a seasoned radio hand when he became a TV star—along with Goldie Hawn,