Fox is banking on the O.J. Simpson case
Fox has been trying to cash in on the O.J. Simpson murder-case story for years. On Wednesday, the broadcast network announced its latest attempt. The network is developing a “tentpole event series”...
View ArticleSecond presidential debate logs 1 million viewers shy of first one
Nearly 66 million people across 12 television networks watched President Obama slug it out with GOP candidate Mitt Romney at Tuesday night’s meme-tastic, town-hall-style debate, Nielsen reports....
View ArticleBikers and zombies: Viewers follow their guts
The gates of Hades flew open Monday when FX’s bikers and AMC’s zombies began to battle for control of . . . headlines. It all started when FX announced that it had ordered a 13-episode fifth season of...
View ArticlePoll vault: If Seacrest gets Olympic gold, what about Costas?
No end of news from the London Summer Olympics: If TV viewers were in charge, Ryan Seacrest would win the gold medal for his coverage on NBC, trade publication/Web site the Hollywood Reporter...
View ArticleIt’s a jungle out there: ABC is moving Kimmel to 11:35 p.m.
In announcing that it would give Jimmy Kimmel the plum late-night time slot for which he’s been patiently waiting about a decade, ABC set up one of those Great Circle of Life stories to which its...
View ArticleThe TV Column: Oprah’s interview of Whitney Houston’s daughter scores...
The Oprah Winfrey Network copped 3.5 million viewers Sunday night when Oprah interviewed Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19-year-old daughter of the late Whitney Houston. That’s the largest audience in the...
View Article‘Ten Commandments’: Moses delivers again on the ratings
“The Ten Commandments” pulled off another of its ratings miracles over the holiday weekend, delivering ABC’s best non-sports Saturday since — well, since the last time ABC aired “The Ten Commandments,”...
View ArticleElmo puppeteer Kevin Clash resigns from ‘Sesame Street’
Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind “Sesame Street’s” Elmo since the early ’80s, has resigned from the show after a second man filed a lawsuit Tuesday, accusing him of a sexual relationship with an...
View ArticleFor all its running, ‘Good Morning America’ falls further behind
The numbers are finally in: Matt Lauer and gang beat Katie Couric by 187,000 viewers last week, according to final ratings from Nielsen. The Couric-hosted “Good Morning America” attracted an average...
View ArticleWill Jimmy Kimmel hit another post-Oscar home run?
Most of the Oscars walk-up blah-blah-blah has been Seth-MacFarlane-is-going-to-bomb-as-host this, and what-were-the-producers-thinking-when-they-cast-MacFarlane? that — with a little...
View ArticleSit tight, Matt Lauer — Ryan Seacrest not taking over ‘Today’ seat yet
Ryan Seacrest has joined “the NBC family” and will participate in its prime-time coverage of the Summer Olympics in London while continuing to host “American Idol” but cutting back on his work for E!,...
View ArticleHBO to air George H.W. Bush documentary in June
HBO says it will present “an intimate look at the life and career of George H.W. Bush” in the film “41,” debuting in June. In the documentary, executive produced by Bush’s great pal Jerry Weintraub,...
View ArticleTV Column: Fox scores big with ‘Idol’; offers rematch
Because the third episode of “American Idol” did not start until 10:57 p.m. on a school night — and because millions of DVR’s only recorded three minutes of the broadcast and totally missed the...
View Article‘Community,’ still looking for a home
“Community” fans, whose persecution complex rivals Bristol Palin’s on “Dancing With the Stars,” on Tuesday accused NBC of messing with them for sport after learning that the network had canceled plans...
View ArticleThe TV Column: MTV’s ‘Buckwild’ lands a second season
“Buckwild,” MTV’s West Virginia-set “Jersey Shore” replacement, has snagged a second season. Running in the Thursday-at-10 p.m. time slot that was once home to the hit “Jersey Shore,” “Buckwild” is the...
View Article2.7 million watch ‘SEAL Team Six,’ but ‘Real Housewives’ draw more
Real housewives of Atlanta took out SEAL Team Six on Sunday night. Yet NatGeo Channel claimed a major victory when Nielsen reported that an average of 2.7 million people watched the unveiling of its...
View ArticleBill Clinton defeats NFL in Wednesday viewership
NFL vs. Clinton — Clinton wins. By the time the dust settled, the NFL’s season kickoff game Wednesday between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys had fumbled away about 3 million viewers compared...
View ArticleNBC to air telethon to help Red Cross’s Sandy relief efforts
NBC announced Thursday that it will air a one-hour celebrity-studded telethon at 8 p.m. Friday to raise money for the American Red Cross relief efforts for Sandy victims. The network also invited its...
View Article‘Killing Lincoln’ producer stirs tempest in a tea party
PASADENA, Calif. — John Wilkes Booth “could be the poster child for the tea party,” Erik Jendresen, exec producer of National Geographic Channel’s “Killing Lincoln,” told shocked TV critics at Winter...
View ArticleSpike TV’s ‘Last Family on Earth’: Coming to a bunker near you
Viewers will help decide which families will die — and which one lucky family will survive the end of the world Dec. 21 — in a new Spike TV reality competition series called “Last Family on Earth.”...
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