« October 29 - November 4 November 12 - November 18 »

Survey Says: DVRs Increase Viewing

November 10, 2006

It’s a “No-duh!” factoid for us ordinary viewers. But the media chatter-ers think these findings are surprising.

When Nielsen ratings include shows watched within two days of air, the number of viewers for a given show skyrocket.

For example (thanks to Media Life magazine) when “The Office” airs during its regularly timeslot: the “rating is 3.7 in all homes. But the show generates an 8.7 rating in DVR homes when time-shifted viewing is counted” (meaning the following few days).

That's double the rating.

READ MORE > >

NASA Broadcasts From Space

NASA makes history with the first live broadcasts from space in High Definition television (HDTV) on November 15. NASA, in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Discovery HD Theater and Japanese broadcast network NHK will produce the broadcasts. More info HERE.

What will we see? Black sky? Blue earth? Flying saucers! Heaven knows. (pun intended)

READ MORE > >

Lost Until February

November 09, 2006

So little to say about the hi-jinks over at ABC. The network has turned “Lost” from a show-we-love to a show-we-dread.

Last night’s “mid-season finale” was no exception. So dreadful. So many flashbacks. So many "faith vs. fate" moments. Excuse us while we gag.

And now that the show is "gone" for the next zillion weeks ... we have to ask: Why? What? Huh?

Does ABC, and the creators of "Lost," really think they gave us ANYTHING to look forward to when “Lost” returns?

No. And No.

READ MORE > >

Ed Bradley Dead at 65

The award-winning ''60 Minutes'' correspondent who we felt like we knew … whom we loved, has died.

Bradley grew up in the tough streets of Philadelphia, was wounded while covering the Vietnam War and later became CBS's first black White House correspondent.

The earring. Oh, so many milestones.

Bradley died of leukemia at Mount Sinai, CBS News announced. He joined ''60 Minutes'' in 1981, 10 years after he started with the network as a stringer in Paris.

READ MORE > >

Comedy Central Scoops White House

We've gotta send props out to Comedy Central's blog, for scooping all the major media sources on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Broadcasting and Cable reported that the channel's "token conservative" posted the story as a rumor in the middle of the night.

"The buzz I'm hearing from a friend, and a totally unconfirmed White House source (remember Comedy Central doesn't have journalistic standards), is that Rumsfeld will be out of the administration tomorrow. This is a shocker even to the totally unnamed source in the White House. Already, we are seeing reports of a White House Press conference scheduled for tomorrow at 1 p.m. Could this be it?"

Ah, citizen journalism. All the news that's fit to speculate about.

Bow Down, Comrades. American Idol Returns

November 07, 2006

It's the moment singing-in-the-shower stars and their admirers have been waiting for. The sixth season of "American Idol" is set to save FOX -- we mean, premiere -- January 16, 2007.

Hold your pants on fan-atics: The first episode will be a spine-tingling two-night, four-hour special on the 16th and 17th from 8-10pm.

READ MORE > >

America Loves Football

Really... you might be saying with your most sarcastic sneer.

And you’d be correct to be so skeptical of our notation. But NBC’s Sunday Night Football has not been the home run, er, touchdown, that it was planned to be.

When the games haven’t been must-see-match-ups, then no one watched. Well, not no one, but not that many people.

Until this week, when a hard-fought Sunday night football matchup between rival powerhouses Indianapolis and New England brought nearly 22 million people to NBC. That was well above Sunday-night football's season average of 15.5 million going into last week.

READ MORE > >

Kirstie Alley: Swimsuit Model

We’re not happy that Ms. Scientologist felt the need to show up in a bikini to the Oprah Winfrey show. But hell, if she wants to, we support her. Watch a clip HERE.

It’s a woman’s right to choose -- what she wears!

The ''Fat Actress'' donned a bikini to show off her new shape on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' fulfilling a pledge she made about a year ago.

Winfrey said Alley, who is 5-foot-8, has lost 75 pounds, after hitting a high of 220 pounds. Her weight gain was documented in various unflattering paparazzi photos.

And the actress had some inspiring things to say making this, once again, a must-see Oprah episode.

READ MORE > >

Watch TV On Your Xbox Live

Microsoft Corp. is teaming up with a handful of Hollywood studios to sell TV shows and movies that can be downloaded through the software maker's Xbox Live online video-game service and beamed straight onto television sets.

Confusing, it sounds. But supposedly it’s going to be a snap.

The company announced Monday that beginning Nov. 22, Xbox Live users with the latest console will be able to choose from shows including ''South Park,'' which airs on MTV's Comedy Central, and CBS Corp.'s ''CSI,'' and movies including Warner Bros.' ''V for Vendetta'' and Paramount Pictures' ''Mission Impossible III.''

Yeah, okay. But how is this better than Netflix? Or iTunes?

READ MORE > >

Legal Trouble for Bill O'Reilly

November 06, 2006

When he bragged about knowing private details regarding what goes on at a family planning clinic, Bill O’Reilly should have known he was asking for trouble.

Now an abortion doctor plans to ask for an investigation of both the state attorney general and O'Reilly over comments by the Fox television host that he got information from Kansas abortion records.

Dr. George Tiller said he will ask the Kansas Supreme Court on Monday to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and take possession of the records of 90 patients from two clinics.

Attorney General Phill Kline obtained the records recently after a two-year battle that prompted privacy concerns. He has said he sought the records to review them for evidence of possible crimes including rape and illegal abortions.

And now it looks like he shared the records -- illegally -- with the TV host.

READ MORE > >

Ellen Burstyn: It’s Your Problem

That’s what she said when the actress was nominated for an Emmy for a 14 second, 38 word performance.

She says she was just as flabbergasted as everyone else when she heard she'd been nominated for an Emmy this year for her blink-and-you-miss-it role in the TV movie ''Mrs. Harris.''

The 73-year-old Academy Award winner spoke publicly for the first time about her Emmy nod: ''When they told me I was nominated for that I went, 'What, are you kidding?'''

READ MORE > >

Williams and NBC Beat Couric and Co. at CBS for Evening News Ratings Game

Williams' ''Nightly News'' was knocked from its first-place perch for two weeks by Couric's ''CBS Evening News'' upon her early September debut, falling perilously close to third. But NBC returned to the top during Couric's third week, and hasn't been beaten since.

Hmm… But why aren’t CBS folk crying? (Because their ratings are already higher than they were before Couric came.)

READ MORE > >