Upfronts have become look back week, and that’s bad news for broadcast television. This used to be draft day, a chance to look forward, to see where the smart minds of broadcasting were taking the medium. Now the big news is the return of shows that failed 20, ten or two years ago. Is there
NEW YORK — One of the sure signs of spring is the annual promotion of the next fall TV season. There are signs all over Manhattan, including illuminated ads on top of Yellow Cabs promoting the return of Will & Grace. That’s a straight-to-series reboot NBC will flaunt next week when all the US networks unveil their
Ryan Seacrest signed off the finale episode of American Idol Thursday night with, as TV critic Roger Catlin tweeted, a worrisome addendum: “So long America…for now.” There is some chatter that Idol will be back, and soon. The 15th and farewell season steadied at around 11 million viewers per week, still a strong draw, especially on Fox.
Wednesday morning was my first time back at Hamilton’s CHCH since the job slashing that took place right before Christmas. I was a guest on Morning Live, where I sat with Bob Cowan and previewed some of the big new shows premiering this month and next. You can watch the segment, complete with clips, here.
Everybody knows programming to tweens is the biggest crap shoot in television. Core TV viewers tend to be much older. The median age of the average NCIS viewer on CBS, for example, is north of 60. Even The Big Bang Theory has a median age viewer who is 50 years old. Viewers 12-24 are far
There’s a ton of Letterman chatter on this week’s radio chat with AM900 CHML’s Scott Thompson. Scott asks how I’d like to see it all end and I repeat my vision for the finale: Paul McCartney and Ringo return to the Ed Sullivan Theatre one last time and play “The End.” Dave walks off into
On Monday, Fox announced its new schedule for fall. You can find their full details here. Short order “event” series and comic book cross overs continue to emerge as the network survival strategy. That the reality/talent show ship has sailed is signaled with the announced demise of American Idol, for six straight seasons the most-watched
This week, CHML’s Scott Thompson and I talk a lot about traffic and public transportation in LA compared to the GTA. (Bottom line: you can get around a lot easier down south). When we finally get around to talking TV, we get to some highlights from the recent TCA press tour in Pasadena. I talk about