“I wanted to become an actor and a star,” says Blackish’s Anthony Anderson, “so I could be on Battle of the Network Stars.” The star of the ABC sitcom and the host of To Tell the Truth was at the Banff World Media Festival earlier this month when we sat down for a quick chat.
PASADENA, Calif.–At 8:30 on the dot, the ABC-hired security personnel formed a line and started sweeping reporters and TV stars out of the ballroom. Party’s over. We’d seen this last year–but 8:30? “Don’t they know we’re talent?” said one of the ABC stars. The beefy ex-cops in the dark blue jackets were just following orders from ABC/Disney.
CTV, as usual, was quick to rush out a release declaring they have all the hot new shows so far this season. This after one week of total ratings. So, yes, Gotham opened huge as expected (3,375,000 Live + 7 viewers, gaining a million over the overnight tally) with Thursday night Shonda Rhimes drama How to
The fall season began in earnest the week of Sept. 22 to 28. After some strategic moves by CBS and ABC, CTV faced three serious challenges. Canada’s most-watched TV show–The Big Bang Theory–was temporarily bumped to a new night. CTV’s No. 1 reality show–The Amazing Race–also got moved, as did CTV’s No. 1 imported drama, Grey’s
Do you have four minutes and twenty-one seconds to sort out the good from the bad in the new fall TV season? Check out this link to my appearance Tuesday morning on CTV’s Canada AM. Co-host Marci Ean (right) asks about the new hits–including Gotham, How to Get Away with Murder, Black-ish and Transparent–and misses, including
There was no Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime in 1964–unless they were rival agencies like THRUSH on the new spy series that season, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. There wasn’t even Fox or Global or City back in ’64. The TV landscape was so much narrower and easier to get–all you needed was an antenna.
The U.S. network upfront announcements are creating the usual headaches for Canadian TV execs. Tuesday, ABC, as part of their Upfront presentation in New York, announced it is moving Grey’s Anatomy forward an hour to Thursday at 8 p.m. This will creat an all Shonda Rhimes night on ABC, with Grey’s at 8, Scandal (much